Elinor Mills at CNet has a great piece from the Conversational Marketing Summit, challenging many of the examples of ‘conversational marketing’ that were presented as being nothing but traditional advertising wrapped up in new clothes.
Much of what I do is social media that is campaign based. Outreach and other tactics on social networks or using the tools of the read/write web in a way to support campaigns that are going on in the more traditional spaces. Unfortunately most agencies and clients appear to think this way – and the budgets are usually set up this way – and …read more

Child’s toy manufacturers are definitely on the cutting edge when it comes to online worlds and integration with real life objects. Barbie Girl has been slowly rolling out its Barbiegirld.com world world for the last few months; one of the main competitors, Bratz, also has its own place. (warning – all of the following Bratz sites have sound and no apparent way to turn it off).
The main Bratz.com site has all the things you would expect from a doll site – fashions, ecards, news, quizzes. product information. It’s also pushing hard on Bratz the movie. …read more

HSBC recently decided to add back the interest to loans that had been taken oout by ex-students. Graduates had enjoyed being interest-free after they had left university and started work. As many graduates stated that they had take out a loan with HSBC because of the extension in loan status, many were, understandably, upset about the change on terms. Enter Facebook and groups. OVer 5000 joined a protest group in the social network site, to state their opposition to the change. It appears to have worked, even as an visible sign of the graduates feelings as HSBC have backed down, …read more