Trademark infringement, or brand advocacy? Before you release the hounds with a nasty  cease and desist, consider this approach that the Campbell’s Marketing Manager took over 46 years ago. Community managers and social media markerters should take note, this is how you do it! Campbell SOUP Company CAMDEN 1, NEW JERSEY May 19, 1964 Mr. [...]

Everything you need to know about social media measurement can be learned from this video. 1. Benchmark: How many rainbows are there normally? 2. Determine key performance indicators: Volume: “Double rainbows” Reach: “All the way” Sentiment: “WOOOHOOOOHOOO” 2. Hypothesize: “What does it mean?” 3. Report: “OMG, double rainbows all the way!” 4. When possible, replicate [...]

It looks like teens might be moving on from Facebook. According to a study from OTX and virtual fashion site Roiworld, nearly one in five teens with a Facebook profile had decreased or discontinued their use of the site as of April 2010. The main reason? Their study shows that they are beginning to lose [...]

Bucks for Zucks? Is Facebook a utility? Could it be positioned like a phone bill? Although it may seem inconceivable, try to imagine a world in which you paid for access to Facebook. Not a lot, just a buck a month. Would you stay? Would you go? This is the conversation I’m hearing with regards [...]

Adobe Ad on Wired.com spotted May 13th, 2010 “We love Apple, We Love choice We love Flash and HTML5 We love our 3 million developers We love authoring code only once We love all platforms and devices What we don’t love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create [...]

Pringle is a schickimicki fashion brand from Scotland. They’ve made cardigan sweaters for nearly 200 years and as such, their advertising is categorically predictable. Think Tilda Swinton in an evening gown spouting incoherent poetry as she stumbles through the woods, scales castle walls, swims out to sea … sigh. The fashion business has taken itself oh, so seriously [...]

You don’t need me to tell you why all of this is awesome.  Enjoy: Google Chrome – Artsy Fartsy explanation of the Google Chrome offering. Awesomesauce!   Google Goggles – A new mobile Google mash-up tool tied together with Augmented reality. Awesomesauce!   Google – Real Time Search – New service that helps you determine [...]

Ze’Germans (actually, the Swedes) are up to something very interesting for Volkswagen: they’ve created a site as a hub for something they’re calling “The Fun Theory”. The idea is based on the notion that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for [...]

You, me, the internet, South Park, the white house, even Kanye West knows that Kanye West is a “jackass”… So reflecting on his recent interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV music awards, I wonder if it was another Kanye blunder or a slimy marketing stunt from a fledgling industry. I’m not the [...]

Much has been written about the decline of journalism over the last several years. Major publications like the New York Times in the US and The Globe and Mail in Canada are now competing with millions of bloggers and citizen journalists for share of voice in an ever-fragmented media landscape. Some traditional journalists are quick [...]

The automotive business is highly competitive. Future products and feature innovation make up the key competitive edge when it comes to earning show-stopper headlines on the autoshow circuit – but headlines can’t be the only goal. We’re at a point in history when innovation is desperately needed to green up the fleet on the street [...]

Rigid restrictions on mobile marketing in Canada have hindered the development of ideas and programming, often relegating the marketing channel and its potential to the back burner. However, with the roll-out of both 3G networks and smart phones like Blackberries, iPhones and Windows mobile devices, the social networking and asset platforms that dominate the web [...]

The internet is not a “virtual world”. It is this world and it’s time you wrapped your head around it. There was a time when you could dismiss the internet as some geeky flight of fancy. Then people started to make billions of dollars and you took notice. Didn’t you? I did. There was a [...]

RIP: A Remix Manifesto is an open source documentary about copyright and remix culture. Created over a period of six years, the film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to this website, helping to create the world’s first open source documentary. Larry Lessig: “Corporations are completely taking over our [...]

What is clear about Skittles.com: it has transformed into a social media portal to social platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Wikipedia it has caused much buzz on many of these platforms, particularly Twitter, in the last 48 hours it continues to cause much debate amongst the social media pundits it resembles other websites, [...]

I’ve been in web development/creative for over 14 years. Until the mid-2000s, you had to be an expert in web technologies to be a publisher … or at least have the money to hire the experts. The game has since changed and now anyone can be a content producer and apparently, anyone can be an [...]

Sometimes video captured and uploaded to YouTube and other video-sharing sites is so graphic, the content is in violation of the platform’s policies. I’m not talking about porn or fictional horror flicks not suitable for children. I’m talking about videos that document witnesses to real-life crimes against humanity, evidence of ethnic cleansing, the plight of [...]

In the late 1990s, the media was operating in an environment controlled by a few influences. Because this impinged on freedom of expression, people in the internet scene began creating their own content, organizing their own websites, and creating their own media. This is known as the do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic, ie: “don’t hate the media, [...]

Consistency and trust continue to challenge corporate communicators in the social media space. As Sr. Counselor with Hill & Knowlton Canada, I worked with the digital team to create a concept for corporate social media communications.  This concept illustrates a consistent, consolidated approach to integrated social media communications. Dubbed “The Social Media Platform,” the model [...]

In 2004, O’Reilly Media played host to a series of conferences which birthed a notion that forever changed the way we think about the online space. Scribbled on a piece of paper and taped to a door, the topic for discussion read: “Web 2.0″. The result? Talks that have continued to inspire the web, the [...]

I’ve listened to hundreds of keynotes this year, in person and online, regarding the social media revolution that’s now upon us. I always have a soft spot for those who see this medium for what it truly is: a cultural revolution, not a commercial one. In order to understand social media, you must understand the [...]

When Scott Monty (blog/twitter) from Ford or Richard (blog/twitter) from Dell make a mistake, they correct it. People respond, trust is earned, the brand is protected and everyone moves on. When Motrin, Wal-mart, Target, Hasbro, Ticketmaster or any other brand make a mistake in social media, credibility is lost. Consumers lose trust and the offending [...]

As social media/digital experts, we tap each other every day on our blogs, podcasts, tweets, etc, to find the latest examples of amazing social media work. The problem is, many folks are stuck on everyone else’s favourites like Dell, SouthWest or any other of the top ten usual suspect/success stories. Recently Peter Kim crowdsourced a [...]

The social media / blogging glitterati have sporadically debated the strategy and tactical execution of SMPRs over the last year. The comments/no comments debate still has traction in this space. Tamera Kremer raises a call for better SEO in SMPR development. Others claim that the general public is not the target of this content. Is [...]

Some of the most popular Fan Pages on Facebook have earned their position because of good strategy combined with outstanding publicity, a strong brand or simply a random spot of luck. Finding that sweet spot within your brand or message could mean the difference between major exposure and undistinguished obscurity. In this series, we’ve already [...]

This, the second of my series on Facebook Fan Page Best Practices, discusses a common issue facing global brands. Should you create a global page or a series of regional ones? The vibrancy of a Facebook community is connected greatly to the size of the group and to the amount of activity within it. Maintaining [...]

Welcome to the first of radical trust’s series on “Best Practices for Facebook Fan Pages”. Every Facebook Page is a unique experience where users can become more deeply connected with your business or brand as they would a friend or family member. This first of several posts will deal with understanding the Facebook fan page [...]

It’s election season in Canada and the politics are thick as ever. Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and pals don’t want Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, participating in the televised debate for the upcoming Canadian federal election. Despite the Green’s earning a seat in the house and over 600k popular votes in the last [...]

Web 2.0 platforms continue to shake all verticals in the business world. The book publishing world, still vibrating from wikis and blogs, should prepare for another potential quake. WEbook has hit the ground. Infamous for being reject-ful, spiteful and outright mean to up-and-coming authors and content creators, the old-world book-publishing elite have amalgamated into a [...]

When eBay founder Pierre Omidyar was asked what the most significant lesson he had learned from his peer-to-peer auction site, he replied, “…that 135 million people have learned they can trust a complete stranger”. The story goes that Pierre sat down over a long holiday weekend about 13 years ago to write the original computer [...]

A couple of weeks ago Facebook surpassed MySpace as the most-trafficked social media site in the world (comScore). What does it mean to carry a moniker such as this? I decided to crack open the Facebook ads and pages application to look at the numbers on a global level. Insights: A few surprises turned up [...]

Joe Jaffe got a book cover and many of us got link love, but was the 2k bloggers list really worth it? In late 2006, a colleague invited me to join a compiled list of over 2000 bloggers. The purpose of this opt-in list was not clear, nor was any sort of strategy beyond gathering [...]

Radical Trust is often-quoted in magazines, radio, newspapers, trade-journals and, of course, blogs and podcasts, but recently we have a first – Tom Hayes, quotes Radical Trust in his new book Jump Point: How Network Culture is Revolutionizing Business. Thanks for the nod Tom, and good luck with the book! Check it out: Tags: books, [...]

It’s in the ads, or at least that’s what Google is banking on in the latest scheme to make YouTube a big profit centre. Since Google bought YouTube for $1.6 billion at the end of 2006, three questions, in one form or another, have continued to circulate in the social media fishbowl: 1: How will [...]

Since the advent of the internet, artists of all sorts have been using it to express their creativity and passion. With the proliferation of user-generated-content platforms like YouTube, homegrown storytelling has become the mainstream. It’s ubiquity is certain – over ten hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every sixty seconds – but it’s the [...]

[Update: I have written a follow-up post to this with the latest top ten fanpages on Facebook with deeper insights in determining best practices here] Facebook Pages have been out for several months now in an effort to create a better brand experience for both advertisers and users of this leading social network. From Facebook: [...]

For years scientists have been working on the technology to grow tissue cultures fit for consumption – think meat – to skip the complexities of farming. As the world’s population continues to grow, so too does its effort to raise, feed, house, kill and keep meat healthy and disease-free. Using a unique approach to pick [...]

Recently, The East Village Idiot smelled a rat on Facebook. “When I saw that 156,000 people had become ‘fans’ of Ticketmaster on Facebook, I got suspicious. Their fan page is now the 5th most popular on Facebook – they have more fans than Hillary Clinton. ‘Come on! There are not 156,000 people who would willingly [...]

Raising funds for this year’s Terry Fox run or Pink Ribbon campaign is no longer limited to your door knocking abilities. From Facebook apps asking you to “chip in” to crowd-sourcing real-world solutions, the ability to tap the wealth and knowledge of your social network may just be the solution you’re looking for. Social media [...]

Around the time radio started broadcasting, so too began radio advertising. It wasn’t long before entrepreneurs saw strategic opportunities in this highly-engaging new medium. Radio advertising began with basic sponsorship schemes and product placements. Their biggest challenge, however, was to develop a strategy that reached consumers effectively at a time when few consumers had radios. [...]

The conversation can be deafening, like the screaming buzz of a stadium at the peak of a rock concert. Other times the conversation is mute, like smiles exchanged on a jogging path. Friendly gestures or screaming anguish, it’s conversation that literally defines our humanity. Good conversation can be traced to antiquity, if not on record, [...]

#1 Focus on success in social media 2008 will be the year that determines which agencies actually understand social media, and which ones should stick to their core competencies. In 2006, most people were asking, “what is social media?” By 2007, the tone had changed to, “how can we participate in social media?” In 2008, [...]

As Gov. Schwarzenegger urges an end to the Hollywood writers’ strike over access to digital dollars, a new level of remix-ability and creative liberation emerges from Hollywood North. The Tracey Fragments, a new film from Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, Highway 69) is taking the right to remix, and creative commons to a new extreme. [...]

YouTube meets craigslist at HotSwap, a US-based video-classifieds site for used cars. HotSwap allows anyone to publish a car ad to sell their own car. Sellers use a video-capable handset or digi-cam to capture a walk-around of their ride, register with HotSwap and upload. For buyers, a simple navigation system makes it a cinch to [...]

Facebook stats are like crack when you first get a hold of them. The Flyers Pro application lets you do some deep digging on Facebook user stats. Here are a few things unearthed today just playing around with Canadian Stats on Facebook; Canadians on Facebook: 7 669 540 4+ million users aged 13-25 3.6+ million [...]

Sometimes I read gaping void for a laugh. Mostly I read gaping void for some truth. The truth … …of positions … …of careers … …of advertising … …of marketing … …of open source… …of mediocrity… …of naysayers… … of Radical Trust. Tags: gaping void, Hugh, Marketing Insights, PR, radical trust, Reviews, social media, Truth [...]

By all appearances, Marié Digby had the makings of a modern music legend. She had all the math: young, beautiful and talented. She’d garnered over 2.3 million views of her simple homemade video covers on YouTube (see below). Her humble beginnings likely helped her earn a place on MTV and radio play in influential music [...]

We have a lot to learn from the Swedes. For instance, how do they make a profit serving a meatball lunch for a buck? Or how do they compress an entertainment wall unit down so tight it can fit into a surfboard case? How do they know I’ll love something for exactly one year, toss [...]

Microstock photography is an offshoot of traditional stock photography – the main difference being that microstock shots are almost exclusively gathered by crowdsourcing via the internet. Typically the photos come from shutterbugs who provide royalty-free shots in exchange for a share in the revenue of their sale, ranging from a few cents to around $50. [...]

Curiously, the Dutch have a word for “free of traffic signs” and it’s “verkeersbordvrij”. My ancestors over in the mother-province of Friesland, Netherlands are up to a very interesting traffic-planning experiment and it just may spark a world-wide trend in radical trust. In order to make the streets safer for everyone, traffic planners have removed [...]

Most people would agree that social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr are largely about ego. The more ego you stroke in a social media application, the more addictive the platform becomes. A quick look at a Facebook user profile illustrates how many addictive little ego strokes there are, and how they contribute to [...]

Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was famous for being many things. He was an entertainer, an entrepreneur, an author, a debunker, a politician and a reformer. Perhaps at present he’s most notably remembered for his showmanship and fantastical hoaxes. A man infamous for hoaxes may not be the most [...]

In general, the overall numbers are surprising, you might even say shocking. Canadians are buying into social media on a grand scale, with Facebook leading the charge. Per capita, Facebook users from Halifax, Toronto, Ottawa and Calgary outnumber their nearest American cousins from Boston! And the curve continues… In sheer numbers, Torontonians dominate Facebook’s global [...]