Mercuralia has come and gone and we await customer feedback on the Customer Forum from our PURL survey. Our initial objective is to listen, to our customers first, both external and internal. The second objective is to observe and probe into the accelerating evolution of the marketplace. It amazes me how quickly technology is driving change. One example is Chris Anderson’s new book, “FREE: The Future of a Radical Price”, which hit the bookstores over the weekend. The Mercury team is presently digesting the ‘FREE’ content and discussing its potential impact on our business model. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, we are focusing on the message from our customers: it’s about the data! I was with one of our large customers on Monday, July 6, and the conversation eventually centered on ‘social media’s’ impact on their customers as well as their employees and the need to participate in the conversation. Mercury is deploying two PURL campaigns for this same customer to collect new data and then developing tactics, with Mercury’s new analytic team led by Anna Barcelos, to exploit it. Exciting stuff!

Finally, thank you to Providence Chamber President Laurie White, reporter Jenna Pelletier, and Photographer Angela Gora, for their profile of Mercury in the 2009 second quarter edition of the Rhode Island Business Quarterly (RIBQ). Feedback from competitors, associates, and customers, has been very complimentary. Thank you all.

Postscript: Here’s a link to an always interesting Chris Anderson interview on his new book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”.

http://www.bordersmedia.com/borderspresents/anderson%20?cmpid=SL_20090707_RWA