The challenge and the site will also be disseminated through social media and blogs, as the British government seeks to take advantage of the increasingly dominant trend for recruiting through online portals and social media.

A spokesman for Cheltenham-based GCHQ said they were hoping to catch the attention of people with very specific information technology skills, who can otherwise be difficult to reach.

“The target audience for this particular campaign is one that may not typically be attracted to traditional advertising methods and may be unaware that GCHQ is recruiting for these kinds of roles,” he said. ”Their skills may be ideally suited to our work, and yet they may not understand how they could apply them to a working environment, particularly one where they have the opportunity to contribute so much.”

Those successful in cracking the code would then be given code word access to a specific form field, which would then redirect them to the GCHQ recruitment site.

The need to find the technical experts that this exercise will track down was highlighted two months ago by Prime Minister David Cameron’s response to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s annual report. The report highlighted the problem GCHQ was facing in its “inability to retain a suitable cadre of internet specialists” to address increasingly frequent and difficult cyber threats.

Geoff Newman from web recruitment experts RecruitmentGenius.com explained how innovative efforts such as these are being used to attract applicants. ”Traditionally, finding suitable employees was made with the tap on a shoulder in an Oxbridge university. Thankfully, times have moved on, and online recruitment methods such as these help deliver a wide range of applicants to match diverse requirements. Interestingly this solution also assists in selection whereby only people with suitable abilities get to unlock the job opportunity.”

Laura is not alone. Although she’s a persona, Laura represents a significant percentage of U.S. shoppers that follow the path of the “Fretting Frugal” — one of four shopper profiles recently identified in The Complex Shopper study conducted by The Integer Group and research partner Decision Analyst. The annual study will help increase shopper marketing knowledge of considered purchases, or big-ticket items.

“This is the first study we are aware of that seeks to understand the process of a larger considered purchase – in the $100s to $1,000s – showing how shoppers are similar and different and the level of importance on a particular purchase decision,” said Xan McNelly, executive vice president, chief integration and strategy officer, The Integer Group.

Inside the shopper mind

An interesting outcome from The Complex Shopper study was uncovering four distinct shopping profiles. Here’s a preview:

Fretting Frugal — Finds big-ticket shopping as enjoyable as a trip to the dentist. He or she is nervous about making the wrong choice and is price-conscious and easily overwhelmed. They may delay big purchases or pass the responsibility to someone else.

Experience Lover — Shopping is a labor of love. Generally older and female, she values her relationship with brands and is more likely to make repeat purchases with the same company.

Passive Purchaser — Let’s get this over with … this older, high-income-earning male wants his purchases quick and easy. He doesn’t waste time researching and he’s not loyal to brands.

Social Adventurer — Believes what you buy is a reflection of your style and personality. She is urban, more likely to be a person of ethnicity and upwardly mobile. She engages via social media to connect with the brand and lets others know about her experience.

Insights about considered purchases

The study researched eight big-ticket purchase categories: automobiles, flooring, furniture, major appliances, major vacation travel, single-serve coffeemakers, vacuum cleaners and windows/doors. Each shopper group experiences vastly different emotions and behaviors based on the item for which they are shopping. For instance:

Fretting Frugals are most excited by and get the most enjoyment shopping for vacation travel, and the least excitement and enjoyment shopping for tires.

An Experience Lover needs a great deal or a sale before buying items for her home, like flooring, a single-serve coffee maker or a vacuum cleaner.

More than half of Passive Purchasers have not enjoyed any major vacation travel in six months or longer, and they were the least excited of any group (51 percent) about the process.

About 80 percent of Social Adventurers buying vacuum cleaners are surprisingly either very or extremely excited about the purchase (versus 46 percent of the next closest segment — Experience Lovers).

“Email marketing is the workhorse of online marketing for many companies trying to maintain an ongoing relationship with customers and prospects,” said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association. “The creative used in an email marketing campaign has gone from text-only to highly personalized ads targeting highly segmented lists. Each email advertisement and campaign will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting and use of the medium. The IAC Awards provides an opportunity to find out who is doing an outstanding job creating email advertising. It’s also a great marketing opportunity for the winners to promote their work to senior management, customers and prospects their outstanding work.”

“We believe that winning an industry specific award is more valuable to the participant. It allows the participants to be judges against their peers, just like in the marketplace,” said Rice.

The 2011 Best of Show winner for Email Campaign was CDMG Inc for Coffey Anderson – Email campaign. The 2011 Best of Show winner for Email Message was e-Dialog, Inc. for e-Dialog 2010 Holiday Card.

Other Top Email Advertisements for 2011 included:

British Airways won Best Airline Email message for Executive Club Mobile Campaign.

Symantec won Best Computer: Software Email message campaign for Symantec Retention Trigger Series Email Campaign.

Carlson Marketing won Best Consumer Goods Email message for Pampers Gifts to grow E Newsletter.

Miles Media won Best E-Zine Email message campaign, Best Leisure Email message campaign, Best Marketing Email message campaign and Best Travel Email message campaign for St. Pete Oil Message Campaign.

Jostens won Best Education Email message for Yearbook Avenue Email Marketing Campaign.

Olympus Corporation of the Americas won Best Electronics Email message for The New Olympus E-5: See What the Pros Have to Say!.

AT&T won Best Email Email message campaign, Best Telecommunication Email message campaign for AT&T “Like” Email Campaign.

e-Dialog, Inc. won Best Email Email message, Best of Show Email message for e-Dialog 2010 Holiday Card.

JWT INSIDE won Best Employment Email message campaign for New York-Presbyterian eCRM Campaign.

CDMG Inc. won Best Family Email message campaign for FamilyLife Email campaign.

Jefferson National won Best Financial Services Email message campaign for Top 10 Reasons.

Carlson Marketing won Best Food Industry Email message for Jam email.

Epic Media Group (Creative by Epic) won Best Game Site Email message campaign for Creative by Epic (Email/Game Site).

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Priority won Best Health Care Email message for Plans by Design Wellness Email.

VUMC Nurse Alerts! won Best Health Care Email message campaign for Nurse Alerts!.

Wyndham Hotel Group won Best Hotel and Lodging Email message campaign for Wyndham Rewards: Monthly Rates Email Campaign.

AkzoNobel/Liquid Nails and Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc. won Best Manufacturing Email message for PROfile email.

Fixation Marketing won Best Marketing Email message for Fixation Holiday Haiku.

CDMG Inc. won Best Music Email message campaign and Best of Show Email message campaign for Coffey Anderson – Email campaign.

Cessna Aircraft Company won Best Other Email message for G1000 Email.

DKI Direct won Best Pharmaceuticals Email message campaign for Compass Website and PRM Program.

Carlson Marketing won Best Retail Email message for -1 Value Rewards E Newsletter.

M Marketing Inc won Best Retail Email message campaign, Best Shopping Email message campaign for Sears Email Program.

Internet radio, which includes both online-only radio stations and the streamed content of broadcast stations, is one of the fastest-growing online media categories, according to eMarketer. Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population, or 89 million people monthly, listen to internet radio, and that number is expected to double by 2015. These listeners are highly engaged, with 73 percent changing stations multiple times a day to stay connected to their content experience.

“As consumers’ listening habits dramatically shift online, they are enjoying a variety of stations throughout the day, and advertisers face the ongoing challenge of trying to reach an increasingly fragmented audience,” said Eyal Goldwerger, CEO of TargetSpot. “With TargetSpot’s widening network of distribution partners, advertisers can reach their desired target audiences whatever their listening preferences may be.”

Musicovery allows advertisers to target by mood. Digitally Imported reaches millions of electronica and dance music fans. AUPEO! makes recommendations based on custom music stations.

TargetSpot’s internet radio advertising network now includes more than 80 radio groups and pureplay online music providers, with thousands of music, talk/news and sports channels. Using the TargetSpot network, advertisers can target internet radio listeners based upon a variety of factors, including geography down to the ZPI code level, time of day and personal listening preferences.

Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, stated, “Brand marketers recognize that their messages need to be where their consumers are spending time – and that is increasingly in digital media. Digital marketing has delivered the kind of results that have made more marketers stand up and take notice, as these latest numbers clearly demonstrate.”

“Beyond the impressive year-over-year growth of 22 percent seen during the third quarter of this year, the ongoing increases in internet advertising revenues points to a new paradigm within the advertising world — one in which digital is taking a bigger seat at the table,” said David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. “Moreover, even with a softened economy, digital advertising is making tremendous gains.”

The IAB sponsors the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which is conducted independently by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues because the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from web sites, commercial online services, free email providers, and all other companies selling online advertising.

Lang will take the role over from an interim management committee composed of Howard Averil, Maurice Edelson, and John Huey, which has been at the steering wheel for the last 10 months.

Jeff Bewkes stated, “Laura’s leadership experience, brand management expertise, understanding of digital and marketing, and string relationships with the creative and advertising communities are a great fit for Time Inc. She is the right person to lead the company as it aggressively evolves its businesses during a time of great change and opportunity in publishing.”

Bewkes continued by saying, “I want to thank Howard, Maurice and John for their seamless leadership during this transition period. They ensured that Time Inc. not only maintained its position as the industry’s premier magazine publisher, but also effectively executed the company’s ‘content everywhere’ digital strategy. Their steady stewardship and dedication to ongoing innovation have been, and will continue to be, invaluable.”

Laura Lang said, “I am thrilled to be joining the best journalists and publishing executives in the world at Time Inc. during such an exciting time for media and publishing. Time Inc’s premier brands and stellar reputation, along with Time Warner’s commitment to lead the digital transformation of all its businesses, will lead to great opportunities to deepen our connections with consumers.”

Nami Media is one of only a few companies that are primarily focused on the online traffic quality management of CPC (cost-per-click) advertising. Founded in 2001, Nami Media’s online performance technology empowers advertisers, publishers and other network partners to improve the effectiveness of their online advertising campaigns by qualifying web site traffic, selecting the most relevant feeds and ad units, as well as delivering valid clicks in real time, which also protects advertisers from low-quality queries or potential click fraud.

“Performance marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of Internet advertising, and our investment in Nami Media provides us with technology and synergies to maximize the effectiveness of our customers’ online advertising campaigns,” said Vincent L. Sadusky, president and chief executive officer of LIN Media. “Through this transaction, we have acquired a majority ownership position in a well-run company that will augment our company’s digital business.”

“We are excited about this tremendous opportunity to be part of LIN Media’s impressive portfolio of multiplatform assets,” said Alex B. Cory, chief executive officer of Nami Media. “It represents a very important piece of our strategy to significantly grow our business and enhance our already powerful reach in the traffic quality and CPC marketplace.”

“Citysearch has been a pioneer in the local space, and I can’t wait to explore the potential for where we can take it going forward,” said Salzer. “With the amazing team at Citysearch, we’ll continue to innovate and make it easy for consumers to discover and connect with local businesses.”

Prior to joining Citysearch and Linden Lab, Salzer spent five years in various roles for Activision Blizzard, including vice president of global brand management for the “Guitar Hero” franchise, vice president of global brand management on family entertainment (managing global DreamWorks, Hasbro and Fox games businesses), and director of global brand management on “Call of Duty.” Salzer has also held leadership positions at Electronic Arts and the Clorox Company. Salzer has an MBA in marketing from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, and a BA in communications and business from UCLA.

“Marketing opportunities using mobile devices are rapidly emerging, just as they did for the Internet many years ago,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “Small business owners are increasingly connected themselves and recognize mobile as a viable way to effectively and efficiently reach potential customers.”

The Ad-ology study reveals more than 80 percent of U.S. small business owners have a smartphone, compared to less than half of the general U.S. population. The ability to deliver a new ad message quickly is the number one factor in using online and mobile marketing for small business.

Social media for small business marketing has reached its tipping point. Just 10 percent say they will not use social media in 2012, down from 24 percent for 2011 and 39 percent for 2010.

Facebook is again ranked as the social media site most beneficial for business. Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube follow as the social networks with the largest gains in small business adoption from the 2011 study.

“Even the smallest businesses are putting more resources into online, and really see these newer ways of marketing as a way to reach new audiences. That said, many small businesses — even ones moving into or increasing plans for online — still rely on traditional media,” Smith said.

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in October, with 161 million unique viewers, and it reached a record high of 20.9 billion videos viewed. Facebook ranked second with 59.8 million viewers, followed by VEVO with 57 million, Microsoft Sites with 49.1 million and Viacom Digital with 48.2 million. More than 42 billion videos were viewed during the month, with the average viewer watching a record 21.1 hours. Google Sites demonstrated the highest engagement with 7.1 hours per viewer.

Americans viewed 7.5 billion video ads in October, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.3 billion. Tremor Video ranked second overall (and highest among video ad exchanges/networks) crossing the 1 billion mark for the first time. BrightRoll Video Network ranked third with 756 million, followed by Specific Media with 512 million and CBS Interactive with 415 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 3.2 billion minutes during the month, with Tremor Video delivering the highest duration of video ads at 614 million minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 47 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46.5.

The October 2011 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (54.2 million viewers) and Warner Music (30.4 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 17.7 million viewers, followed by Schmooru with 9.9 million, Maker Studios with 9.4 million and Demand Media with 7.4 million. Within the top 10 partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement with 65.1 minutes per viewer on average, while accounting for the second highest number of videos viewed (277 million) after VEVO.

Other notable findings from October 2011 include:

• 86.2 percent of the U.S. internet audience viewed online video.

• The duration of the average online content video was 5.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.

• Video ads accounted for 14.9 percent of all videos viewed and 1.4 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.