One of my marketing hates is when a campaign, usually a television spot, advertises an industry and not a specific product.Most advertising fails to integrate the content with the brand. Throwing a logo at the end of a commercial rarely does anything. Same with making the logo bigger. This spot promotes online casinos, not Ladbrokes Casino. This joke of a campaign advertises instant noodles, not Fantastic Noodles.But when you see an Apple iPod commercial, you know it. They aren't advertising any MP3 Player, they are advertising iPods.Same with Coke and Pepsi do it well too. Schweppes has done it well here and I think Solo has pulled it off here too. In all four cases, they promote their specific product and brand, not the soft drink industry.Yet so many campaigns don't. A waste of money and one of the many reasons the television spot should ensure their will is all in order before a long and painful death....

Just like the Apple iPod launched the MP3 market, The Ricky Gervais Show launched the podcast market and later the audio book market.For anyone who hasn't listened, it is well worth the $50 or so for hours and hours of entertainment. Originally launched as a free podcast, they have since commercialised it at a very cheap price and made millions from it. It turned from podcast to audio book and established two whole new markets along the way. "Podcast" became Word of the Year in 2005 and people are now starting to realise the potential behind audio books...

Currently a search on Google for pigs don't fly brings up my page as eighth. For pigs dont fly (without the apostrophe) I'm third.I know there are many lists and posts around for ways to maximise your SEO, but I was hoping my readers could give me one piece of practical advice each. How do I work towards a ranking of first?...

The Internets.Social media would not exist without it.Let me explain.I had an interesting conversation last night about this very topic and thought it would be swell to blog about. In a few days I'll be preparing another post discussing the difference between new media and social media but I thought I'd get this out the way first.There are numerous definitions of social media and all of them rely on the Internet. While certain elements existed long before Al Gore was punching away at his keyboard, its full extent and potential had not been realised until recently (although some foolishly still have their doubts). As technology developed over the past twenty years, we were able to identify, engage and ultimately build a relationship with niche targets of consumers.Yes this was possible before. But not on this scale. Not this measurably. Not this easily. Not this effectively. And most importantly, not at this cost.Blogging, podcasting, social networks, image, video and file sharing and the uptake on user generated content all happened because of the Internet. Some of which still haven't hit critical mass.Without the Internet, the term "social media" would never have been coined. And people working in this area would be looking for a new job.What do you think? Does social media exist without the Internet?...

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...