For the past few decades, marketing has been dominated by a mass-media paradigm. During that time, we’ve defined the ‘best’ marketing as that which makes the most efficient use of broadcast media, and as a result, we’ve spent decades perfecting an approach that’s all about reducing the cost of interrupting people.

Read more on Social Brands: Part Five – Change is coming…

It’s official: mobile is literally everywhere.

Google tells us that more people around the world now own a mobile phone than own a toothbrush, while the UN just revealed that more people have access to mobile phones than toilets.
Read more on Mobile and not TV is the way for social brands to go [infographics]…

We concluded our Social Brands series with the assertion that the marketers who understand how to add value to people’s lives are best placed to build enduring relationships with communities.

As with many aspects of marketing, this may seem like a statement of the obvious, but many marketers still struggle to turn this common sense into pounds and pennies. Read more on Social Brands need to avoid being a one-night stand…

In the first post in our series on Social Brands & The Future Of Marketing, we noted that, “the most successful brands don’t just predict the future; they define the future on their own terms.”

We’re continuing that theme in today’s second post in the Social Brands series, exploring the importance of building social marketing activities around the people you care about, and not around specific technological features or platforms. Read more on Social Brands – from platforms to communities…

The most successful brands don’t just predict the future; they define the future on their own terms.

To that end, we’ve developed Social Brands & The Future Of Marketing – a series of provocations designed to help you shape your brand’s vision of the future, and to start bringing that vision to life today.

We’re kicking things off today with a contention that addresses one of the thorniest questions when it comes to social media: “How do we deliver real ROI”? Read more on The Future of Marketing and Social Brands…

Continuing the series of data snapshots for social, Digital and mobile usage worldwide, here are the latest numbers for the different regions around the world. All indicators show significant growth since last year’s worldwide report, with mobile clearly the driving force for all aspects of our connected lives. It follows The Wall’s report earlier this week that picked up on the tremendous growth of social media in Brazil, which is becoming the focus for many. Read more on A global picture: social media across the world…

Read more on The state of a social nation: China has almost 600 million social media users…