1-2-3-4

It's the death of the NME classifieds as we know it...

While we're at it, here's some more things to look at over the course of a poorly received monday. I hear the sequel, tuesday, is in planning stages as we speak. Hope they sort out the plot line cos I can't make head or tail of todays storyline.

The Hype Machine

Extra, extra, read all about it...

Quick one this, given the lateness of the hour and the volume of the work, but just want to drop a note to self about the new FT.com online campaign. Nice to see a tightly integrated concept worked out across B2C and B2B. Go to their media site for some nice reasons as to why you should advertise on FT.co. The main consumer facing campaign site is here and is very simple but very effective way to demonstrate what seperates FT from the rabble.

The microsite is equally good, with a simple cityscape used as a means to demonstrate their global news coverage. Live feeds into the site keep it all relevant and dynamic.

Internet made simple - lesson 7 "searching the internet"

Nice squidoo here

Whatever happened to....

...blue pepsi?

Cleaning up the community...

My one, and only, Ajax development was for a B2B client looking to replace their aging and user unfriendly customer systems with something far more easier to install and maintain. Our solution was cheaper, easier to maintain (despite the initial learning curve) and most importantly, offered the chance for a far better user experience. This is key, as it encourages use and therefore cuts down on users having to resort to phone, mail, veiled threats to get a relatively simple task done.

Here's a link to the latest "Click" on the Beeb. It's all about business adoption of Web 2.0 technologies, which to be honest has been very swift. I'll watch it and write some more later.

Can you guess what it is yet?

1Off is a new "guide" site offering both professional and user submitted reviews of the best of the nations urban districts. Want to know where to get the best kebab on a friday night (sw6, New Kings Road in case you were wandering), or who serves the finest Bloody Mary in Norwich (no, I don't know either).

All well and good, but it's also a site dedicated to the fineries of BMW's spanking new 1 Series, which brings me to my main point. I've sat in many a brainstorm where this very thing has been discussed as a means to bring about interaction with consumers outside of the usual banner - microsite - call to action. "We want something Web 2.0" is bandied about, and the natural assumption is to look for user generated content as a means to engagment. But does it work, and is it more effective than sponsorship / community advertising?

Landrover tried the same thing with their "Go Beyond" website, offering a platform for the adventurers amongst us to share our stories of derring do. The problem, however, is that it relies on people to be bothered to engage in these things in the first place, when they may already be talking about them elsewhere, either via their own blog, or on their numerous community pages (myspace / facebook / linked in).

Back to 1off, and it's not bad. These things always rely on critical mass, eg more real people contributing that paid for contributions, and there's certainly many more entries on the site than there was last week. Writers have the opportunity to become "ambassadors", which is a nice idea, but a horrible marketing term let loose in the consumer space. (If I hear one more reference to "brand ambassadors" I think I'll reach for my escape pod pronto).

I'll add to this post later, once I've done a bit more researching into how to successfully tackle integrating community sites into the marketing mix. In the meantime - discuss.

Be polite and play nicely...

I'll write this up properly later, but in short it's a call for a set of guidelines for bloggers to abide by. A response to an ongoing bout of flame wars and online bullying that may be hard to enforce but seems to be sorely needed.

Article here