Recently in Online Marketing Category

So finally we hit the button yesterday. It has been weeks of "I can't talk about it", with plenty of "No, I can't even reveal the name" and oodles of "The logo looks really great but I can't show you."

But it all becomes worth it when the covers come off and people get to see it fresh.

It's become way too common to compare the impact of the internet with the arrival of Johannes Gutenberg's printing press all the way back in 1440. Bloggers and conference speakers continue to argue that the web changes everything we know about marketing and business in much the same way that Gutenberg's ink-stained wooden contraption supposedly changed what it was to be a writer or publisher.

We know the stories: Kraft get spanked by the ranting interwebs over the ridiculous iSnack 2.0; Cotton On forced to withdraw an entire t-shirt line over a Twitter storm that lasted just one morning. These are not the only social media PR disasters of recent times and they certainly won't be the last.

Those in charge of heritage media again revealed today how little they understand the internet and that they are unwilling to adapt. At least, that's how it would appear on the face of it.

News.com.au reported on the speech by APN News & Media chief executive Brendan Hopkins at the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association conference (PANPA).

There has always been some 'tension' between marketing and social network advocates. One side sees major business opportunities and a large audience ripe for persuasion. The other wants to preserve the innocence and non-commercial nature of these communities. Kate Carruthers (@kcarruthers) recently blogged on the issue of Twitter users continually spruiking how to get thousands of followers or how to make money from Twitter.

No one can predict a hit, online even more so. For every internet startup that catches the wave of user-behaviour, there are hundreds that smash against the rocks of indifference. Success or failure is often beyond the control of the developers behind the original vision. How their idea is used and adapted by the masses may surprise and baffle them once it is released to the world.

If one thing is true about marketing, it's that it can be unpredictable. One truism that was drummed into us in the various social media panels at CeBIT 2009 is that you can't plan to go viral, you can't predict a hit and you can't control human behaviour. Makes my job as a marketer more interesting!

In any discussion about viral video, someone is always going to mention the Dove Evolution campaign. A brilliant bite of video with an exceptionally simple concept and message, the Evolution campaign was hugely successful in strengthening Dove's brand message of natural beauty and spread that message to millions of people.

Writers have understood the power of the personal 'brand' for a long time. Publishing houses know that it is the name of the author that sells the book, not the logo on the spine. Therefore, publishers encourage writers to market themselves and cultivate their public guise. But in other industries, the personal brand was less common. Employees were the faceless minions in the company empire, separating work from their personal lives or outside activities. That is, until the internet.

Yesterday marked forty five years since the first broadcast from Radio Caroline - the subject of a new film The Boat That Rocked. Radio Caroline was a pirate operation, using loopholes in the law and the difficulties in enforcement to serve pop and rock music to the general public outside of the establishment. Radio Caroline shows us that the issues surrounding user generated content, online piracy and the slow reactions of established business to underground consumer demands is not new to the internet.