Building the Next Foursquare? Pepsi Would Like a Few Words†

Food-and-Beverage Giant Partnering With VC Firm to Nurture the Next Big Thing

Advertising Age, June 9, 2010 — Pepsi wants to get in on the ground floor of the next FourSquare. The marketer, which has been outspoken about its commitment to social media, crowdsourcing even its biggest marketing program through the Pepsi Refresh Project, is hooking up with a venture-capital firm to do just that.

Pepsi has partnered with VC firm Highland Capital Partners and Mashable to search out the best and brightest new ideas in social media. Dubbed an "innovation-incubator program," PepsiCo10 will identify as many as 10 promising entrepreneurial groups, assign them an industry mentor, and attach them to pilot programs with various PepsiCo brands.

Memo to Marketers: It's Your Fault if Your Shops Flounder†

Forrester Study Finds Client Companies Must Take the Reins in Digital World Rather Than Wait for Shops To

Advertising Age, March 29, 2010 — Eighteen months ago, Honda's chief marketing officer Steve Center wanted to curtail what he felt was the company's overemphasis on print marketing materials to communicate with customers

But rather than hunt for a hot new digital shop, Mr. Center requested that his lead agency, California-based RPA, restructure to replace its brochure-marketing group with a digital-marketing hub. "They saw that brochures can come out of all digital assets you're creating, and that's not to mention the digital brochures and things you're doing online," said Mr. Center. He's now convinced that his relationship with RPA is stronger and that Honda is using its creative assets and messaging more efficiently.

If You're Wondering What Not To Do When It Comes to Social Media, Learn From BCS†

Don't Treat Facebook, Twitter as Broadcast Tools; Converse With Fans

Advertising Age, November 30, 2009 — The BCS might not be your favorite institution, but it has kindly spent the last week creating a useful case study in how not to use social media.

In the last two weeks, the Bowl Championship Series—which determines the sport's national championship game every year—hired its first full-time executive director in Bill Hancock, retained former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer's firm to handle its PR, and added a Twitter feed (@insidetheBCS) and Facebook fan page.

The Two Faces of Facebook†

Steve Rubel on Digital Communications

Advertising Age, October 29, 2009 — I spend a lot of time gazing into a crystal ball that I know is going to be cloudy half the time. Lately I have been pondering Facebook's future.

Facebook is clearly on a roll and is knocking on Google's door as the biggest site on the web. Will it continue to dominate or see its lead slip? Here are two potential outcomes.

Digital Bridges

New research uncovers keys to successful digital-media integration

Hub, October 6, 2009 — Early digital pioneers remember the frontier days of the ’90s. Looking back, and looking around, who successfully migrated, who struggled, and what can be learned from the journey?

FTC Cracks Down on Blogger Payola, Celebrity Tweets†

Rules on Endorsements and Testimonials Extended to Social Media

Advertising Age, October 5, 2009 — The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on blogger payola.

The agency, which protects consumers from fraud or deceptive business practices, voted 4 to 0 to update its rules governing endorsements, and the new guidelines require bloggers to clearly disclose any "material connection" to an advertiser, including payments for an endorsement or free product.

Foes No More, Ad Agencies Unite With Internet Firms

Analysts say Internet companies and ad agencies have no choice but to work together to develop ways to make money from digital media.

New York Times, June 30, 2009 — Advertising agencies and Internet companies once viewed each other as foes, but are now coming together to harness the potential for online advertising. Like many other segments, online ad spending has slowed from its previous breakneck pace during the deep recession, forcing companies to devise new ways to chase fewer dollars.

What Orangutans Taught Simon Clift About Social Media†

CMO Says Unilever Is Still Trying to Shake Mind-set of One-Way Communications

Advertising Age, April 8, 2009 — Unilever is only starting to understand social media, but it's already learned plenty about its capability to make and break brands — sometimes the hard way, said Chief Marketing Officer Simon Clift at the Advertising Age Digital Conference today.

Five Years From Now, Media Will Be Totally Intangible†

Books, Boxed Software, DVDs -- All Headed to Irrelevance

Advertising Age, December 1, 2008 — I want to make a bet with you. I wager that by January 2014 almost all forms of tangible media will be either in sharp decline or completely extinct in the U.S. I am talking about not just print but all tangible forms of media — newspapers, magazines, books, DVDs, boxed software and video games.

Digital Sales Surpass CDs at Atlantic

New York Times, November 26, 2008 — Since MP3s first became popular a decade ago, music industry executives have obsessed over this question: when would digital music revenue finally surpass compact disc sales?

For Atlantic Records, the label that in years past has delivered artists like Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Led Zeppelin, that time, apparently, is now.