We founded sophus3 in 2001, when the first internet bubble had just burst. Our first clients were auto manufacturers and they had made large investments in setting up parallel organizations such as eGM and Ford ConsumerConnect to focus on the emerging internet opportunities. Many if not most of these initiatives ended in disappointment.

The grand predictions made in the 90s about the profound effect the internet would have on people’s buying habits eventually did materialise. However, it all took a bit longer than expected. eCommerce took off in a big way once the broadband and flat rate “always-on” internet access became the norm.

The consumer today has far more information at their disposal to guide them through a buying process. Search engines have empowered the consumer to make more informed buying decisions.

For B2C companies there has been a veritable explosion of data available to them about consumer behaviour as well as customer needs and how well they were being met. However, only a minority of these companies are harnessing the information to its full advantage.

The growth of the internet and the emergence of social networking (web 2.0) have fuelled a proliferation in the number of different opportunities and media to communicate and promote products and services. In 2001, “being active on the internet” essentially meant “having a website”. Today there are dozens of ways to market on the internet. The result is that it is far more complex today to plan and manage an ideal marketing mix than it was 10 years ago.

It is therefore all the more important for senior marketing executives to have a good understanding of what is going on, what is working, what is not working in order to support the growth of shareholder value through their marketing activities.

Sophus3 has been working relentlessly during the past 10 years helping our clients gain an informational advantage. Our mission has been to separate the fact from the hype and help our clients identify trends and opportunities as well as to measure performance objectively.

We have delivered this in the form of turn-key management information systems, management reporting processes and onsite consulting. More recently we have also been holding senior management briefings to help senior executives keep up with the latest trends and issues.

All of us at sophus3 would like to thank all our clients for your loyalty to sophus3. We will continue to work hard to earn this privilege.

Thank you.