By now all the hype about the value of "online conversations" has reached the corner offices and executive suites of the world's top marketers (some bookshevles may even sport a ragged copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto), but sadly the dark side of this new communications model has also reared its ugly head more than once. BusinessWeek takes a look: The venom of crowds isn't new. Ancient Rome was smothered in graffiti. …
Coke Reigns Supreme
According to The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.), Coca-Cola Co. topped the list of Harris Interactive's annual poll of "best brands" for the first time, as Sony Corp. slipped from the top spot, where it sat for seven straight years. Coca-Cola Sony Toyota Dell Ford Kraft Foods Pepsi Cola Microsoft Apple Honda To compile the list, Harris surveyed 2,372 adults online, asking them to consider the brands of …
Coming To An Agency Near You: The Four-Headed Creative
Anne Benvenuto is executive vice president of strategic services at R/GA. In the May 2007 issue of Admap Magazine she wrote an article called "Planning: the challenge of complexity" which introduces her concept of the creative hydra and other new media challenges. The creative hydra was born when a few new roles were grafted on to the traditional copywriter-art director team to help conceive programmes and …
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Crackle Paves The Path To Hollywood
The online video site formerly known as Grouper — the one purchased by Sony for $65 million last August — has a new name and a new direction. Now known as Crackle, the Sausalito-based startup will function as a Sony Pictures-backed online talent studio. The hope is that in between Hollywood and YouTube, there is an opportunity to bring together nascent actors and film-makers and turn them into tomorrow’s …
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10 Candles Burning Bright
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) is celebrating blogging's 10th anniversary, although they afix no hard and fast date to the form's emergence. The business paper asked a number of people to pontificate on the subject. Blogerati chairwoman emeritus, Elizabeth Spiers, offers some nice insight into the practice (as does Scott Karp...see video above). So I'll share some of her commentary here: Of the various …
Chan Suh Back In The Game
According to Ad Age, Chan Suh is pulling a Steve Jobs. He's back in the role of CEO at Agency.com, the company he founded in 1995. "It's like getting the band back together," Mr. Suh said. "It's time to agitate again." Mr. Suh, had stepped away from agency operations in 2004, the year after it became wholly owned by Omnicom. Mr. Suh's goal for Agency.com is to boost its emerging-media capabilities and bring the shop …
A Rise In Loaded Tweets
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) is reporting that marketers and media companies (like ESPN) have found their way to Twitter. NBC, CBS, ABC Family and MTV are among several networks experimenting with the marketing possibilities of Twitter. Marketing through Twitter -- as with any new technology -- isn't a slam dunk. Sending marketing messages on the service could alienate users who see Twitter as a way to …
Consuming Walker
It's Sunday, which means it time to open The New York Times Magazine and read "Consumed," the weekly column by Rob Walker. Today's piece is about Crocs--a shoe I'm already hooked on--so my interest level in the article isn't there. What I am interested in is finding out more about this writerman, Rob Walker. So I did some digging and found out he's from Houston originally, lived in New Orleans and Jersey City for …
