It has been a while since we’ve heard people talk about “the death of advertising.” A few years back, the birth of social media and interactive marketing had ad watchers sounding the death knell, but we now know that although advertising (and media in general) has changed, the ad biz has certainly not disappeared—and is not going to.
But what is emerging and shaking things up is a new creative class of people who might not necessarily work within our industry [...]

“Powerful Social Expressions” is a series showcasing some of ERWW PR’s most successful uses of social media in the past year.
One Young World
Young people have the passion and desire to confront world issues. But they lack a platform. One Young World, co-founded by U.K. Group Chairman Kate Robertson, aimed to give them a global megaphone.
And it did. Euro organized a summit in London attended by luminaries from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Senator John Kerry—thanks to a good cause and Euro’s [...]

“Powerful Social Expressions” is a series showcasing some of ERWW PR’s most successful uses of social media in the past year.
Headstrong: A Four-Part Series
Since agency president Marian Salzman’s successful brain tumor removal in July 2007, she’s donated her time and PR expertise to Massachusetts General—the hospital where she had the operation—and to several organizations that assist soldiers who’ve endured brain injury.
She also commemorated the milestone in a personal and moving multipart blog series, entitled “Headstrong” and featured on the Huffington [...]

At the World Futurist Convention this year in Boston, one of my favorite speeches touched on topics from artificial intelligence to Asian men and pillow lovers. You can read more about that awesome presentation here, or read Part 1 of my report on the convention, about sustainable, green technologies.
“What do you think the first conscious machine would say to us?” was how Dr. Stephen Thaler began his speech on thalamocortical algorithms in space. Dr. Thaler has worked more than 30 [...]

Students and enthusiasts attending the World Futurist Convention this year in Boston were at once shocked, overwhelmed and intrigued. Diverse teachers from all over gave lectures on subjects with only one thing in common: the future. Being one of the youngest people attending, I was personally invested in how the older generations predict the globe will unravel for my generation and that of my 14-year-old brother. To my amusement, the world is “supposed” to be extremely well off and advanced in [...]

“[Brands] need to realize that the conversation will extend beyond their control, so they should have a strong point of view and good, engaging content.” –Russ Lidstone, CEO of Euro RSCG London, in an article on UTalkMarketing
All the changes social media is bringing about now are accelerating, creating new ways for consumers and brands to interact with each other, based on these key characteristics: trust, transparency and humility.

“How Consumers Interact with Brands on Social Networks” on eMarketer
“Fickle [...]

Passion and greed. Those two words account for so much failure in new media, I can’t even begin to tell you. But I can tell you why, and you can fix it.
We’ve all been there. Sitting in the brainstorming meeting feeling the energy. Organizing ideas, turning ideas into goals and building plans to meet those goals. And it’s good: 500 Twitter followers, 750 Facebook friends and 1,000 blog readers by the third quarter of next year. Plans turn to implementation, and you slowly begin notice it. You [...]

I was looking forward to the Evan Williams keynote on Monday, March 15, at Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). Williams, the CEO of Twitter and cofounder of Pyra Labs (creator of weblog-authoring software Blogger), was going to speak about the next generation of social media. I wasn’t alone. Multiple attendees were rushing to get a spot in the front row. This was the only session I attended where the room was filled and people were standing along the walls.
Moments [...]

Foursquare, the growing location-based social networking game that allows users to “check in” at various venues, was plagued with reports of users getting robbed earlier this year. Mashable even did an article about it.
If there was anyone who doubted this social networking game would survive the backlash, they haven’t been to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). This year’s conference has only just begun, and Foursquare has a huge following here. The site experienced an extraordinary day yesterday as [...]

Social media has enabled brands to become more human than ever before. Community managers are Facebooking and tweeting on behalf of their brands, and the good ones embody the brand’s essential characteristics and tone.
It’s pretty cool stuff, and a real development in the history of branding.
With the increase in marketing-focused social media, we need new ways to measure the strength of a brand’s social media activity. Since brands are acting a whole lot more like people, it seems worthwhile to [...]