Last Friday night I headed down to the Gen Y Marketing Podcast recording studios after being invited on to record an episode. For anyone who doesn't regularly listen to these guys, it is well worth subscribing. Marketing Magazine has even likened them to the marketing version of Hamish and Andy and are definitely one of my favourite podcasts going around at the moment. Check out the episode here....

Using banner ads is not social media marketing. They are simply a traditional, interruption media attempting to use a old practise that doesn't work in this new space on the Interwebs. The only factor that makes them better than spam for enlarging my penis is how they can be somewhat targeted on social networking sites like Facebook. So when I state on my page I am a fan of Arrested Development, I receive ads selling Arrested Development tees. Unfortunately technology is not at a place to realise I would never wear an Arrested Development tee, even if I love the show. So when Switched on Media describes social media as using banner ads, I'm going to have to call them out. If you truly practised social media, then you'll respond to this post and we can work on your strategy, or at least redefine that page to not include the words "social media"....

Not quite absolutely nothing. I recently subscribed to B&T Magazine and found interesting the "advice column". Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to respond to the magazine in time, so I thought I'd do it here instead. Here was their question...

Nearly six months ago Sprite ran the Truth Hunters campaign. I blogged about it in February, when it received a fair bit of flack from the Gen Y Marketing Podcast boys and possibly lead to this article about not trusting your advertising agency with digital media by Julian Cole. Well six months later The Long Tail kicks in. Boing Boing ran an article on it a couple of days ago with one of the videos spiking in hits. And while buzz around this campaign increased significantly, Sprite didn't respond in any way. Imagine if they released another video. Or updated the website. Or ran another contest. Social Media doesn't have a short term option....

It's funny how things can change in only a few days. As of Friday night I was in the middle of constructing a six foot high pencil made of wood with the text "www.iwanttoworkatleoburnett.com" inscribed on the side. I had big plans to get this couriered to the Managing Director at Leo Burnett Melbourne and earn myself an interview. My plan was to go in as the naive student and learn, then ideally leverage social media and build a name for myself. But things change. I've decided that these guys aren't going to give me the experience I want. So before I make my next move someone suggested I throw this out to my small, but hopefully passion, audience. I honestly don't expect a response but I hope there's no harm in trying. Can you help me get experience in new or social media? And if anyone wants six planks of wood shaped like a pencil let me know....

I've received a fair bit of flack over my post about the Pimp My Kettle campaign. Apparently I wasn't constructive enough, which admittedly is true but by saying campaigns like this are ruining my career was apparently going too far. Well here is some justification on what a successful social media campaign should look like. Check out Julian's post on The Body Shop. So not only have they established a blog that actually works quite well, they are slowly looking to build up an authentic community. The best part of this, was that after Julian posted that, the author behind the blog commented. Simply using Google alerts this author has created a relationship that has since grown. But it goes one step further. If you were to check out Julian's post on the Pimp My Kettle campaign there is again a comment from The Body Shop. It was actually rather insightful, fits well with the brand and most importantly wouldn't have shown up in Google Alerts. This means that the author is regularly checking out Julian's blog, continuing to build this relationship. And that's how social media campaigns should work. Building relationships by providing value. Not creating false communities around passions that don't exist that will die in three months anyway. So while this is all new and we are still learning our way around, some rules and guidelines have already been set. Ignoring them does hurt my career and gives me every right to bag your shitty campaign if it deserves it....

Further to my previous post on our reliance on social media, I conducted a small experiment of my own. Changing my birthday on Facebook to yesterday instead of September 9th, I was surprised at how many people gave me birthday wishes, on both Facebook and in person. Not only were these just my friends, but my Friends too. Of all my friends and Friends, only a few questioned the date. Would things have been different a few years ago?...

If one of today's marketers doesn't pull off a decent social media campaign soon they are going to kill, or at least hurt, this highly potential channel. This leaves tomorrow's marketers in a very bad place. Case in point is Fantastic Noodles Pimp My Kettle. I made a conscious decision last year to ensure my blog refrained from slamming campaigns as much as possible. But this is worth an exception. The official page comes up fourth on a Google search. Furthermore, the page is a Ning. Oh dear. Interestingly, of their 276 "members" the majority of them are from Adelaide. As Julian Cole pointed out to me, Clemenger BBDO, the agency behind this atrocity, is from Adelaide too. I hope these guys can sleep with themselves at night. Not only are there ethical issues here but you're really fucking up my career....