Events

This summer sports fans, brands, and anglophiles will be flocking to London for the Summer Olympics.

According to JWT, social media will be playing a bigger role than ever, with an IOC sanctioned social media policy already in place for athletes and affiliates. #Olympics is expected to trend for months.

As the event approaches, expect to see lots of ads from traditional sponsors, like this…

…and a few unexpected ones, too:

Entertainment

Netflix will be turning heads with its first offering of original programming. Lilyhammer, starring The Sopranos’ Steven Van Zandt and set in Norway (you might remember it as the location of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games) is scheduled to air early February. It’s a bold move for the streaming powerhouse. We’ll see whether critics give it a gold.

In other TV news, Apple plans to enter the television market this year with a TV/computer hybrid that has a chance to do for the crowded TV market what iPod did for mp3 players.

The first installment of Peter Jackson’s two-part epic, The Hobbit will be hitting the big screen this year in time for the 75^th anniversary of J.R. Tolkien’s much loved classic. Will it be the blockbuster of the year?

Social Media

While Facebook’s early adopter markets reach the saturation point (and it plans for its early summer IPO, currently speculated at $100 billion), Google + has been growing fast, with one analyst predicting it will reach 400 million users by the year’s end.

If Zynga’s recent IPO is any indication, free and social gaming, and more generally, social design, will emerge as ‘the next big thing’ across digital industries, says Facebook VP of partnerships and platforms, Dan Rose.

Mobile

Apple’s recent announcement that its iPhone 4S will launch this month in 22 countries – including key-market China – means big business for the company. But speculation abounds as to how Apple will transition into the post-Jobsian era.

Android, on the other hand, has surged in popularity, taking nearly 50% of the U.S. smartphone market in 2011. If all goes according to plan, they’ll be hitting the 60% mark by the end of 2012.

Finally, with speculation of a leadership shuffle at struggling RIM, and with Nokia giving a boost to Windows Phone, expect to see plenty of mobile headlines this year.

Technology

Mobile payment services like Google Wallet were introduced to the U.S. last year, and will launch in the U.K. in 2012. But according to ABI research group, we shouldn’t expect to see too much growth until at least 2013 thanks to difficulties developing effective business models.

Cloud computing is also getting its fair share of buzz. While it’s been around for half a decade (is there anyone left who doesn’t have a Gmail account?), end-users will begin to see more applications emerge in areas ranging from security and databases to games and music.

And while the cloud bubble continues expanding, Berkeley scholar Vivek Wadhwa predicts that a cloudburst may rain on the market’s parade if big companies experience security breaches, which is far and away cloud computing’s biggest concern.

If you’ve got time to kill before the apocalypse, check out JWT’s slideshare, 100 Things to Watch in 2012 and Wired’s series 25 big ideas for 2012.

Image courtesy of Matti Mattila, via Flickr

Whether you’re a rookie or a veteran in the digital content space, you’re probably aware that linking is important. But knowing that linking is important and learning how to use links correctly are two different things.

Although linking has been around since the dawn of the Internet age, the world of media and marketing is changing, and the nature and importance of the link is changing with it. Here’s what digital marketers and content creators need to know about linking in 2012.

Panda updates and social media

Google recently launched Google Panda, an overhaul of its secret sauce search-ranking algorithm. And because Google Panda constantly changes what it considers a “high quality site,” brands can now no longer spend time factoring in black hat linking tactics like plugging in unrelated keywords or creating a website specifically for a keyword to improve their rankings.

Social media has also changed the game for brands because consumers are now getting their information from many different sources. Although linking is still extremely important, companies have to worry about getting their brand noticed in more places than just a search engine.

Internal vs. external linking

Digital content, whether in the form of a corporate website or blog post, should have a balance of internal links (links to other pages in the same site) and external links (links to other websites).

Once content goes live on the web it’s “crawled” by search engine bots or “spiders.” If you can use internal linking effectively then these bots will be able to easily move from one webpage to the next, boosting your SEO in the process.

Internal linking will also improve “time on site”, a measure of how compelling or “sticky” your content is. Easy navigation won’t just help bots get around; it will keep human beings on your site too.

External linking includes links on your site to other locations on the web as well as links back to your site. The best way to generate incoming links is to create quality content that others want to reference – simple as that. Another way is to write guest posts for relevant sites, demonstrating your thought leadership in a given industry (and getting a link-back in the process).

Your content will look good in the eyes of Google if other reputable websites reference your page through linking. This will then increase your PageRank and help your website slowly make its way to the top of the Google search engine.

Incoming links also have an important promotional value. If another website links to your content, you’ve engaged that site’s community – introducing your content and brand to a whole new audience.

Linking responsibly

If used correctly, the combination of internal and external linking will provide your brand’s website or blog with increased SEO success as well as increased traffic and overall interest in your site.

Don’t forget that the words you choose to link to are important. Many brands spend lots of time on keyword research. Although all linking is worthwhile, linking to specific keywords like HR software (see what we did there?) can up the benefits of linking even more.

In the end, linking is the key to getting your website ranked in organic search – in other words, that number one Google spot you’ve had your eye on. And in turn, linking will help connect your brand to communities and customers you never expected to reach.

It’s the Muppets.

The Jim Henson-created franchise has been in a slump for decades. Their biggest hit was the The Muppet Movie back in 1979. But that was before social media.

The Muppets, released last week in North America, has garnered critical acclaim and fans are pouring into theatres. But perhaps their biggest success has been online: This old-school franchise is the new kung-fu master of branded entertainment.

As Alex Rowland wrote in Sparksheet , branded entertainment works best when users forget they’re watching an ad and when they’re given opportunities to interact with the brand.

Disney chose die-hard Muppet fans Jason Segal and James Bobbin to write and direct the film, and brought in Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie for the soundtrack, ensuring an authentic Muppet experience while delivering quality content that works on multiple channels.

For two years Disney used – you guessed it – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+ to generate buzz online.

They kicked-off the campaign with a decidedly unorthodox but wholly Muppetesque cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which went viral, winning two Webbies along the way.

Next, Kermit appeared in *cough* person at the world premier of the latest Pirates of the Carribean installment for the release of The Muppets’ first trailer.

Arguably the campaign’s biggest hit, the series of trailer parodies poked fun at this year’s most anticipated blockbusters. The lighthearted videos capture what so many fans love about the Muppets – their infectious silliness.

As one of the first official brands to join Google+, the Muppets filled the user engagement quota by hosting a Google+ hangout.

As opening weekend approached, the Muppets took a tongue-in-cheek spin on cause marketing with their “Muppets Fan-A-Thon.”

Riffing on the film’s central plot point, Muppet characters urged viewers to “pledge a like” on Facebook. If the page reached the modest goal of a “bazillion” likes, Disney would release advanced screening locations. No, they didn’t reach the bazillion mark, but with 2 million likes, Disney’s not complaining.

Finally, taking aim at haters on Digg and YouTube, the franchise released another viral hit. This time, ill-fated Beaker burns down the set with his rendition of “Dust in the Wind.”

Yes, The Muppets’ aesthetic is 1970s oddball. Yes, their jokes are goofy. But that’s why we love them, and it took a flawlessly executed social media campaign to remind us.

And in case you haven’t had your fill of Muppet-driven branded content, check out our Q&A with Sesame Street’s new media director, Dan Lewis.

For some it’s fall, for others it’s spring, but for legions of people around the world, it’s something else entirely: It’s Movember.

For the uninitiated, Movember (a portmanteau bridging the words “moustache” and “November”) is a month-long campaign that raises awareness and money for men’s health issues, including prostate cancer and depression.

The campaign, stipulating that men must grow a patch of whiskers below the nose but that nary a hair shall migrate to the sideburns or below the chin, is so unequivocally masculine, novel and (relatively) painless, that it attracts men (and women) of all stripes and ages.

While Movember’s beginnings were humble – the idea was hatched by a group of Australian pub mates in 1999 – it has since gone global. Last year alone the movement raised $76.8 million, a blowout compared to $54,000 in 2004.

One reason for Movember’s growing success is that the once-decentralized movement has coalesced into a full-fledged foundation and bonafide brand. The campaign is officially organized by the Movember Foundation, which has its own website, Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Another reason is the number of brands that are getting behind the movement, either as direct sponsors, or indirectly by giving donations.

This cause marketing approach allows both Movember and the brands that support it to gain exposure and attract good vibes. Brands sponsor events and create publicity, and Movember gets mo’ money.

Of course, where would moustaches be without the tools that help us groom them, which explains why Movember’s official sponsors happen to be hygiene products… and beer.

Schick is doing its part with a cross-Canada tour, distributing free products on campuses while simultaneously engaging the most involved demographic in the campaign.

Meanwhile, Speedstick is upping user engagement with a series of videos featuring the misadventures of a clumsy Mo’ man.

From local to global, the number of brands capitalizing on Movember through Facebook and Twitter is surprisingly large, but it makes perfect sense: The platforms let them produce tailored content faster than it takes some guys to grow peach fuzz – and at a much lower cost than billboards and TV spots.

Mercedes, an official sponsor, has taken this route, urging users to ‘like’ it for donations.

Then there’s Mr. Clean, Proctor & Gamble’s famously tonsured mascot. His Facebook profile pic features a decidedly hirsute photo, and with every ‘like’, his ‘stache grows a little thicker.

It’s a win-win-win tactic: raise awareness, establish a brand purpose and increase the popularity of your Facebook page.

And then there’s mobile apps. It turns out people love to digitally impose nose-neighbours on their faces. At least that’s what Ogilvy Group UK’s Picamo suggests.

The £0.69 app lets users (digitally) try on a selection of 30 moustaches and share the results on social networking sites, with profits going to Movember.

Google has also joined in, showcasing the movement in its latest instalment of “The web is what you make of it” video series.

TOMS Shoes, a cause marketing leader, is offering limited edition moustachioed footwear. All proceeds go directly to the cause.

Usually, we don’t associate prostate cancer with humour. But that’s one reason for the campaign’s popularity: No one likes prostate cancer, everyone thinks moustaches are funny.

This lighthearted take and the campaign’s hip(ster?) gloss make it a very attractive charity opportunity for brands.

And while some bigger brands (like PepsiCo) have been participating indirectly with contests for staff members, as the buzz on the fuzz keeps growing, their participation probably will, too.

A couple of major production companies are linked to the new online channels, including Lionsgate and FremantleMedia (co-producer of The X Factor).

YouTube is also partnering with a number of prominent media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters and Slate to generate original content.

YouTube’s latest foray into original television programming has critics asking a couple of important questions. First, why is the company doing this? Second, will these new channels be a cable TV killer?

“Cable television expanded our viewing possibilities from just a handful of channels to hundreds, and brought us some of the most defining media experiences of the last few decades – think MTV, ESPN and CNN,” YouTube’s global head of content partnerships wrote in a blog post, adding that YouTube hopes to do the same with its upcoming channels.

Eweek’s Clint Boulton points out that adding professionally-produced content could help YouTube increase the amount of time users spend on the popular site; these new channels are expected to generate about 25 hours of unique content a day.

The Daily Mail’s Rob Waugh writes that many advertisers aren’t keen on running ads before user-generated videos. So adding more branded channels is a smart business move.

Let’s keep in mind that Google is shelling out about $100 million for these new channels. As All Things D notes, that’s not that much for Google (considering how much revenue YouTube is expected to generate this year).

Mainstream TV shows and movies are made on million dollar budgets; the latest Transformers movie alone reportedly had a production budget of nearly $200 million. It will probably take more than $100 million to take down cable TV. But for that price, it’s certainly worth a try.

Last December, Groupon reportedly rebuffed Google’s $6-billion buyout offer, earning headlines and some headshakes around the world. In June, the company filed its long awaited S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling its desire to become a publicly-traded company. Its IPO is being valued at $20 billion.

With promises of new repeat customers and increased sales, businesses have flocked to Groupon in droves. But in the aftermath of cars washed, teeth whitened, and yoga classes taught, some merchants have questioned whether they’re getting the raw end of the daily deal.

Back in February, online marketing consultant John Kurien wrote a think piece for Sparksheet predicting that Groupon and its host of competitors were a game-changing opportunity for online retailers. In the piece, Kurien outlines three ways that marketers could leverage these social commerce sites.

In light of all that’s happened since, we decided it was time to check back in and see how Groupon’s partner merchants are faring in these three areas.

Acquiring new customers

Image via noclipmode.com

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason stressed that it is not the deal itself that benefits merchants; rather, it’s the customer acquisitions from the deal that make it lucrative. In other words, the onus lies on the merchant to engage its new customers, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, or plain old email address acquisition.

As part of his ‘anti-Groupon’ series for TechCrunch, guest contributor Rocky Agrawal spotlights Posies Café owner Jessie from Portland, Ore., who nearly bankrupted her business by running a Groupon deal.

In an interview with Agrawal, Jessie acknowledged that aside from running a bad deal (her $13 deal was more than twice her average sale of $5), she also did little to convert her new patrons into regulars.

Agrawal argues that Jessie’s story exemplifies the flaws inherent in Groupon’s merchant information pipeline.

On the flipside, American Apparel praised Groupon’s ability to court new customers. After selling more than 130,000 discounted gift cards via Groupon, the retail giant reportedly signed up roughly 25 percent of new customers to its email list, generating nearly $1 million in surplus revenue.

Selling up

Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr

Once a business has courted a new customer with a discount, Kurien suggests, chances are they will spend more than the amount of the coupon

According to a Groupon survey, diners who cash in restaurant deals are highly likely to spend more than the coupon value – roughly 98 percent of patrons, says Groupon.

Restaurant owner Carey Friedman of Grandpa Eddie’s BBQ in Richmond, Virginia, supports this claim. Friedman even went so far as to write a post for TechCrunch on just how positive his Groupon experience was.

Not only did Grandpa Eddie’s Groupon customers spend an average of $12 more than the coupon, but 70 percent of them were new customers. Even better is that 800 of these new customers returned to the restaurant after they had already claimed the coupon.

While this experience was overwhelmingly positive, this New York Times article suggests that running a restaurant deal is still a crapshoot.

Aside from restaurants, businesses of all types have experienced the highs and lows of running a deal. Whatever the business, merchants must have enough sense to navigate Groupon’s terms and methodically calibrate a deal so that it is difficult for customers to spend just the value of the coupon.

To that end, Groupon champion Bob McKeon credits a strong understanding of Groupon’s terms to the success of his photo printing business. If a merchant is unwilling or unable to discount his or her product by 75 percent, he says, running a deal is not the right move.

Free publicity

Image by Narisa via Flickr

One of the most enticing aspects of social commerce is the social aspect. After scoring a deal, many people’s first inclination is to share it with friends, either through email or social media. This brings a viral aspect to the deal, and means that no matter how many people sign up, businesses will earn a good deal of exposure.

Harvard professor Benjamin G. Edelman, one of the authors of To Groupon or Not to Groupon: The Profitability of Deep Discounts, names the free publicity factor as one of Groupon’s greatest strengths.

In his TechCrunch post, restaurateur Friedman also points out that his barbecue joint gained new customers from the exposure alone. These were people who didn’t necessarily buy the deal, but who saw the brand name – either on Groupon itself or through social networks – and figured they’d give it a try.

Café owner Michele Casadei Massari also acknowledges the promotional benefits of a Groupon deal, pointing out perhaps its biggest attribute – it’s free.

“Groupon gave us a massive marketing campaign that a small business like ours would never be able to afford,” Massari mentioned in the New York Times piece.

So what does the future hold for Groupon, its subscribers, its merchants and its eventual shareholders?

Considering its ever-mounting number of competitors, it remains to be seen whether people will tire of being constantly bombarded with deal-mails or, conversely, whether Groupon and the like will breed a society of ultra-dealmongers. That is, those consumers who wait only for deals to buy, consequently eroding prices.

One thing’s for sure is that the cacophony of nay-sayers is growing louder and more difficult to ignore in light of the IPO, leaving many critics wondering whether Groupon will regret spurning Google’s billions when it had the chance.

Every brand wants its content to go viral, but in the end it comes down to what Alex calls “the perfect combination of creative genius, market timing an emotionally engaged audience.”

While most people would consider the duel between the Old Spice hunks as the epitome of viral branded content, what truly makes a video (branded or not) go viral is the emotional response it evokes from an audience, whether it’s laughs, tears or anything in between.

Helping brands find this much sought-after sweet spot is the aptly-named Lucky Branded Entertainment, a New York-based creative agency and film production company that creates entertaining web content for brands.

As a reference tool, Lucky created The Viral Collection – a curated compilation of the web’s most popular viral branded videos. According to the site, TVC is a free resource “for marketers, creative directors and social media experts,” featuring more than 700 videos and counting.

Below are some of our favorites from the collection:

To promote the 2012 Focus, Ford tapped spokespuppet Doug to star alongside “Ford Marketing Specialist” John (comedic actor John Ross Bowie) in a series of YouTube adverts highlighting the newly redesigned Focus. 

Every time I see Starburst candies, and by see I mean forage through a pack for the yellows and pinks, I think of this commercial. Five years later, this spot still strikes a chord. 

Produced by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund, “Dear 16 Year Old Me” is a heart-wrenching cautionary PSA about the dangers of melanoma. (I highly suggest watching with tissues handy.)

A look at how Google Chrome can help capture and preserve life’s most precious moments. (I’d keep the tissues around for this one, too.) 

What happened when tea giant Tetley took to the supermarket with a band of butlers to promote its “Infusions” line of beverages. Note to self: change supermarkets.

Evian’s grown-up rendition of one of the web’s earliest viral hits, the dancing Oogachaka baby. 

Below are some of our recent favourites from around the social networks:

This Week on Twitter

@brandchannelhub: Twitter Proves Mettle With Oslo Tragedy, Winehouse Demise http://bit.ly/nYkLw8

@mashable: Why Location-Based Gaming Is The Next Killer App [OPINION] – http://on.mash.to/oSpMN3

@fastcompany: Who should brands target on @Facebook? Hint: It’s not their fans. http://bit.ly/r754ii

@mtlgazette: Women aren’t pushed to enter tech world http://dlvr.it/cJt3j (Stay tuned for Ja-Naé Duane’s take on this issue on Sparksheet)

@spafax_arjun: David Meerman Scott: Are Google, Facebook, and Twitter Taking Social Backwards http://huff.to/lIJVN4

@NeimanLab: Condé Nast’s Scott Dadich on reinventing mags for the iPad http://nie.mn/kpUQ4u (He must’ve read Charles Lim’s Sparksheet column on The Problem with Magazine Apps)

@smashingmag: New Note on DesignInformer: 50 Things Every Creative Should Know -http://www.the-50.org/

@spafax: Great interviews on @thepulse Pulse Network New Marketing TV by @sparksheet Editor Dan Levy (@danjl). http://ow.ly/5A6in #spafax (Props, Dan!)

@fastcompany: RT @DavidHazeltine: Why Smart #Brands Are Embracing @Tumblr http://bit.ly/kfLNax

Going viral

SONIC’s “Heart’s Desire” Commercial

Is Sonic’s food really that good? The fast food chain’s latest TV spot will leave you in stitches… and craving cheesy tots.

The Google+ Trailer

Google+ gets The Social Network treatment.

Pictures of the week

The next frontier of marketing: Planet earth.

A sampling from AdWeek’s “20 Clever Bus-Shelter Ads to Brighten Your Travels.”

“Im watching u,” reads a text message sent to passersby of this Australian bus shelter. But don’t worry, it’s not a stalker. It’s an ad promoting the latest season of Big Brother using Bluetooth transmission. "Big Brother is back. 7 PM weeknights on TEN" reads the next message 30 seconds later. Phew!

Vitaminwater won't just recharge you, it will also recharge your mobile device. Nifty!

Plenty of techies are praising Google+’s clean design and privacy features, but others are decidedly less impressed.

Of course, with any new social network there’s always room for improvement ­­­­– and Google is sure to take these critiques to heart as it continues to tweak the platform.

Here’s what a sampling of tech writers are saying about Google’s latest project:

Mule Design’s Mike Monteiro:

Putting screenshots of Google+ and Twitter next to each other you’ll notice two things. One, there’s a lot more density on the Twitter side. That means more stuff, and stuff is good, as long as stuff is ordered, which [Twitter] generally seems to be.

Mashable’s Ben Parr:
The core of Google+ is the Stream, which doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s a lot like Google Buzz or the Facebook News Feed.

Wired’s Shimrit Ben-Yair:
On Facebook I overshare. On Twitter, I undershare. If Google hits that spot in the middle, we can revolutionize social interaction.

The Guardian’s Charles Arthur:
Google+, with its complicated desktop interface, strikes me as something which looks wonderful on a 21in screen, but once you shift onto a smartphone (which is where more and more people are going to experience the web) then it’s going to struggle to be useful.

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler:

Whether they’ll admit it or not, Google is making a bold and perhaps risky move by attempting to attack social from scratch. What if they flop again?

Don’t be dazzled by those flashy iPad magazine apps or digital page-turners. Creating something like the Wired iPad app may get a round of high-fives from print designers, but put it beside the web experience and it becomes decoration more than anything useful.

The mentality with most magazine apps seems to be, “Let’s make it look just like print.” After all, a tablet is roughly the same size and thickness as a print magazine, so users will use it the same way, right?

Wrong.

Technology changes the way we use things

Think about the evolution of the calendar. A printed calendar typically consists of 12 pages: new month, new page, new cute kitten image.

For added convenience, there are also miniature versions of the previous month’s and next month’s layouts, and on the back of the calendar there’s a grid of all 12.

You simply fill the boxes with content, then flip to the next page when the month is through.

Now take that static interface and translate it to a digital device. On a dynamic interface, time can be represented in a variety of ways and the content can be manipulated to suit whatever you’re interested in at that moment.

You can sort by hours, days, weeks, or months. Or you can choose to view only work appointments or your kid’s soccer games or jam sessions with your band. You don’t have to see everything at the same time.

By shifting to digital, a calendar becomes more versatile and useful than ever. And because of alerts, we don’t even have to check it anymore!

Screenshot of Klok, a time-tracking app.

So what does that have to do with magazines?

What makes a magazine is a whole other discussion, but I think we can agree that it’s not about the neat columns and colourful pages. Ultimately, it’s about the content and the experience of consuming that content.

The goal of designing magazines for the screen should be to improve the magazine experience, even if it means breaking some of the rules of print.

While the print reader is forced to move from issue to issue, page to page, column of text to column of text – next, next, next – the web reader scrolls through at her own pace and can fly off to anywhere she pleases.

There is no one direction. If there is a natural “next”, there will be an easy way to get to it, placed right where she’d expect it.

On a touchscreen tablet, swiping is so much fun that designers have started using it as a way to move to the next article (instead of the next page), transforming our conception of a magazine from a series of pages to a collection of articles.

This is a significant shift, but again, swiping is meant to mirror the way we flip through pages in a print publication. It’s still about moving forward. What if we were no longer compelled to move in a single direction at all?

The Wired magazine app includes a sentimental artifact of print design: long texts broken into columns on a screen.

What’s “next”?

The “linear to web” shift that we saw with calendars hasn’t happened yet with magazines, and won’t happen until we rethink the idea of “next.”

From radio to TV to print, the old media paradigm is all about one thing (program, ad, article) leading to another. But the web experience isn’t linear. Instead of a single thread of content it’s, well, a web.

New media already got over this hump a decade ago. A network consisting of linked web pages (you know it as the World Wide Web) really took off when users were able to easily browse and contribute to that network (Web 2.0.).

Now our networked devices weave that content into our daily lives through things like blogs and RSS feeds and cloud-based organization tools (see: Google).

The reason this content is so nimble is because it was born digitally and is semantically formatted, not bound to a series of arbitrary separations like pages in a PDF.

How can magazines catch up? Wouldn’t you like to know!

For starters, design for the medium and stop making magazine apps that simply add a pretty layer of decoration to an existing product. Focus on the content and the experience. And don’t try to make it look like print, just because.

Happening now in Cannes, France, from June 19-25, the festival is a global summit for communications industry professionals to celebrate their achievements, forecast digital and marketing trends, and learn from their peers. Above all else, the Lions are the industry’s most prestigious awards show.

Over four evenings during the course of the week, Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Lions are handed out in 13 categories to shortlisted entries, selected from more than 28,000 submissions.

Some of the winners already crowned include Droga5 and Bing’s integrated scavenger-hunt campaign for Jay-Z’s Decoded autobiography, which sent fans dashing around New York to piece together pages from the rap mogul’s first book. It also left judges speechless (and out of breath), taking home top prize in the Outdoor category.

Romanian candy bar producer ROM also caused a stir by changing their nationalist packaging to an American flag. The wrapper switch caused a massive public outcry in Romania, resulting in a wildly successful campaign and two Grand Prix awards in the Direct and Promotion & Activation categories.

Cannes also offers a smorgasbord of seminars, workshops, master classes and exhibits. Conducted by industry and media big-wigs such as Sir Martin Sorrell, Arianna Huffington and Tim Armstrong, and paneled by popular personalities such as JoBro Nick Jonas and Martha Stewart, the events cover a range of topics, from “the future of mobility and marketing,” to “storytelling and the technology that fuels it.”

At Monday’s Kraft Foods seminar, bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell stressed the importance of tweaking ideas over innovating them, pointing out how Facebook was not the first social network, only the most successful.

On Wednesday, Google Executive Chairman (and Cannes Lions 2011 Media Person of the Year) Eric Schmidt took the stage to discuss a world with no credits cards and fewer car crashes, the future according to Google.

You can follow the action on Twitter @Cannes_Lions/#canneslions, or on the event’s official site: www.canneslions.com

Put down that bestselling business book, pause the podcast, and forget what your college professor may have taught you. It’s time to listen to Radiohead.

Having turned the digital media world upside down with their 2007 “pay what you can” album In Rainbows, the boys from Oxfordshire have now turned to the much-maligned world of print with its recent release, The King of Limbs.

Pegged as the first “Newspaper Album,” the band first offered its fans a crack at their music online, followed by vinyl and CD releases.

Radiohead also assembled large pieces of artwork, 635 tiny pieces of art, and a newspaper in an oxo-degradable plastic bag, enabling fans to experience its brand in both a high-tech and high-touch fashion.

And the English band is just one of many brands making the jump from Web to print – and beyond.

Print as new media

There’s an increasing argument afoot that print is making a comeback – as if it ever really went away. With online content and digital toys aplenty, the simplicity and tangibility of print somehow seems new and exciting again, with some marketers now even talking of print as a “new” form of communication in their marketing mix.

While we may think of Web-to-print in the context of made-to-order photo books, simple brochures and greeting cards, brands both big and small are creating content and communities that start online but ultimately move back to print as an end product.

“It’s no secret that we are engaging in more media as consumers every day… including mobile, tablets, online and new ones that have yet to be created,” opines Joe Pulizzi, a leading author, speaker, and content marketing evangelist. “Print is still a part of that mix.”

By Design Publishing, for example, has emerged as a Web-to-print platform that arms real estate agents with a turnkey way to publish in print their very own bi-monthly magazine.

Real estate agents simply use an online platform to assemble articles related to home, décor, and travel. With their name and photos emblazoned on the front cover, and throughout the printed magazine, the publication claims to provide helpful and entertaining content that can keep a real estate agent top-of-mind with their client base.

Since its inception, By Design Publishing has distributed approximately 12 million copies of its personal branding magazines to agents’ mailing lists.

“I believe we just need to recognize the best way to create, find and re-imagine our content marketing,” says Pulizzi. “Historically, we’ve focused our content marketing on deliverables, like a custom magazine. After that, we stepped back and said, ‘well, we have this online outlet that we need to promote with.’ Thus, the print-to-Web process was born – we create the content for the print deliverable, then recycle the content online.”

Today, Pulizzi says that since most content is created digitally, we think about the process as “Web-to-print.” In reality, he says, it’s “Web-to-everything.” In other words, content hatched online doesn’t just stay there. It spreads everywhere.

Image via simplemarketingblog.com

One story equals ten deliverables

Content experts, like Pulizzi, advocate a smarter approach to distribution. An idea that first starts online needs to be thought about in all the ways content is distributed, including social media, PR, e-newsletters, tablets, mobile, and print.

Even a long-form article for a custom magazine can have dozens of additional stories tied to it that can help achieve marketing objectives.

“So, instead of one story equals one deliverable,” Pulizzi says, “we need to think of one story equals ten deliverables multi-channel.”

Putting his money where his mouth is, Pulizzi launched Chief Content Officer (CCO), a print magazine that also publishes in online and mobile-ready formats. Pulizzi says that from his experience, consumers still believe that if something is written in print, it’s more important.

“That’s not necessarily true, but that’s the perception,” Pulizzi says. “No one ever turns down an opportunity to be interviewed or promoted in the magazine. They don’t call up and say, ‘I’d like to be featured in your blog.’ That never happens. It happens every day in print.”

Shashi Bellamkonda, Director of Social Media at Network Solutions and a regularly featured technology speaker, agrees. Bellamkonda says that while he’s entrenched in digital media on a daily basis, as a consumer he still subscribes to print media because he’s keen on “the feel” of a daily newspaper.

Bellamkonda says that in Washington, D.C. he sees local print newspaper circulation (dailies, weeklies, and monthlies) holding strong, as well as amateur projects on the rise thanks to outfits like Customink.com, where users have the ability to easily design their own print materials and t-shirts.

In a world increasingly influenced by digital marketing, Bellamkonda adds, the “what’s old is new again” print strategy can sometimes cut through the clutter.

“I pay more attention to my direct mail pieces, as there is so little of it coming,” Bellamkonda says. “Also, due to the overload of e-mail, a well-delivered snail message has a very good chance of being opened.”

Image via campsite-studio.com

We are all publishers

With interest in the Web-to-print model brimming, tech startups and industry giants alike are trying their hands at the old print game.

LocalsGuide, an early adopter, has used the Web-to-print model for years to leverage social communities capable of generating hyperlocal news. By soliciting articles, interviews, and photos from citizens, LocalsGuide is able to produce a print publication that is mailed to homes throughout Southern Oregon. This community-powered publication has become a model for local news all over the United States.

There is also an onslaught of Web-to-print tools geared towards consumers. Services such as Blurb and Lulu allow amateur writers and photographers to design books and portfolios online, and receive a printed product in the mail. Another unique undertaking, a partnership between Wikimedia Foundation and a German startup called PediaPress, allows people to create custom books from crowdsourced wiki content.

Demonstrating that the concept works equally well for both large and small organizations, the innovators at Google have launched their own magazine in the U.K., an online publication called Think Quarterly, with hints of print distribution to boot.

Called a “breathing space in a busy world” by Google, Think Quarterly’s first edition packed 62 pages that could be consumed in a full-screen view to mimic the magazine experience. While Google is careful to clarify that Think Quarterly is not a consumer magazine, 1500 printed copies of the first edition were sent to its partners in the U.K.

Thanks to Web-to-print technology, says Pulizzi, “we now have the tools that we can effectively be publishers. There are no barriers to entry for any company to compete at a high-level in niche content areas.”

Until recent years, it was a tall task for non-media companies to develop multiple-channel content strategies. Today, Web-to-print can serve as one of many methods for brands to get their stories out to everyone, everywhere.

It’s easy to see why some companies avoid the blogosphere. Blogs are a pain to maintain. Readership grows slowly and not always steadily. And it’s hard to communicate your company’s values without sounding like a worn-out press release.

But a survey of the blogosphere reveals a slightly more optimistic picture. In spite of the challenges, smart companies are maintaining successful blogs by telling relevant stories to well-defined and engaged communities.

Finding the right voice

Corporate blogging works well for brands that create a distinctive voice people trust. Many technology-related businesses find success by providing expert opinions about developments in their industry. Tech companies also benefit from a sophisticated understanding of the Web; they just ‘get it’ when it comes to capitalizing on a blog’s strengths, giving them an advantage over, say, a scuba gear company.

Google’s continued success in the blogosphere is directly related to its expert content. The Official Google Blog consistently ranks as a top technology blog, according to Technorati. It’s no surprise that people trust Google when it comes to finding strategies for maximizing search results or managing digital content. With separate blogs for its various applications, such as Google Docs and Gmail, Google keeps users informed by highlighting the most effective ways to use its services.

Engaging loyal customers in your business

Some of the most successful corporate blogs are collaborations between brands and their customers. Of the larger companies in the blogosphere, none invites users to participate in its business practices like Starbucks. My Starbucks Idea is devoted to aggregating comments and suggestions.

Starbucks’ loyal customers have generated more than 24,000 product ideas for new coffee or espresso drinks, including fan-favourites like “skinny” holiday beverages. This process has also produced the Starbucks Card Mobile, which allows customers to pay on their phones. To top it off, Starbucks keeps people updated throughout the development process by indicating whether an idea is in the review or launch phase.

Identifying, understanding and catering to a community

Once a company finds its voice and establishes the best way to engage customers, a corporate blog can focus on building communities around its brand.

In a sense, Lululemon can be credited for fostering an entire lifestyle community built around yoga. The clothing and accessory company’s blog extends this community online, offering expert opinions from yogis and runners alike.

From demystifying its product lingo to sharing yoga techniques and retreat dates, the company proves that understanding and catering to the values of a particular community is what any great blog – and indeed, brand – is all about.

Whole Foods Market uses a similar strategy to cater to its own community of health food lovers. The Whole Story provides healthy recipes, shares shopping tips, and offers tangible rewards in the form of in-store promotions. It even follows produce on its journey from farm to market, taking readers behind the scenes of the local food business.

Telling the right story

Lululemon and Whole Foods Market build stories around their customers’ lifestyles, which reflect the brands’ values. General Electric, on the other hand, uses its blog to mine the company’s own impressive story.

Edison’s Desk lends a human voice to GE’s technologies while reinforcing the company’s history. The blog integrates Thomas Edison’s story into even its most recent posts on the correlation between science and music. This innovative approach to branded storytelling differentiates GE from its competitors.

Corporate blogs and social media

Corporate blogs may garner less attention than in previous years, but companies that use them successfully understand that blogs are an effective tool for telling stories and building communities around those stories.

Of course, the corporate blog is best used as part of a larger new media strategy. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube et al give brands the ability to reach a tremendous number of people simultaneously.

But harnessing the strengths of the corporate blog, companies can use them in combination with social networks to turn fragmented conversations into fully engaged communities.

Airlines + Travel Marketing

Cebu Pacific Air creates an upbeat alternative to the inflight safety snoozefest.

Heathrow Airport announces the winners of this year’s Travel Product Awards; MacBook Pro and Gucci fragrance among the key brands chosen by the voting public.

Cheap app posits serious security threat – Plane Finder AR soon to be on the no-fly list.

Media + Magazines

Online fashion retailers Net-a-Porter and My-Wardrobe.com pinch some big editorial names from the world of magazines to increase clicks via custom content.

Will Kindle sales revert the publishing monolith back to a cottage industry? A few thoughts on the ups and downs of the eBook world.

Looking for titles to fill up your eBook reader? SuperScholar compiles a list of the 50 most influential books of the last 50 (or so) years.

Branded Content + Entertainment

Major television networks notably absent from list of Google TV’s newly named list of Programming Partners.

iPad sales blow DVD player out of the water, taking top-position as the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product.

A 700% increase in scannable barcodes ushers in a new era of interactive advertising.

Airlines + Travel Marketing

Who will pay for inflight WiFi? Not companies, it seems.

Looks like the Florida tourism industry is doing fine despite the Gulf oil spill.

The iPad is coming to an airplane down under.

Branded Content + Entertainment

Disney is selling Toy Story 3 tickets…on Facebook.

Online video viewers are young, rich and educated, according to Pew.

What will Google TV mean for online marketers?

Media + Magazines

Is Wired’s iPad app the future of magazines – or a throwback to the CD-ROM of the ‘90s?

How do you spell retweet? AP Stylebook adds guidelines for new media.

How digital self-publishing is shaking up the traditional book industry.

Photo by re:publica10 via flickr

Jeff Jarvis is Associate Professor and Interactive Program director at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. He was the creator and founding managing editor of Entertainment Weekly.

Are we entering a world where journalists are becoming more like brands, and brands more like journalists?

Yes, I think so. We have to teach students how to market themselves and market what they do. We see journalists doing this everywhere by linking to their stories on Twitter and having Facebook pages and so on. So yes, journalists should become more like brands.

Back in the day, the big brand of the newspaper would rub off on the journalist. In this new world, journalists’ brands add up to form the bigger brand of the media outlet.

In your book you explore how brands, companies and entire industries can re-shape themselves in Google’s image. What would Google Airlines look like?

Airlines are kind of a problem now. They tend to treat their costumers likes prisoners. In the U.S. we have legislation that guarantees customers air and water, but not a great experience.

Now that we can get online before and during our flight, we can create networks. We can go on and say, “Who else wants a ride downtown?,” “Where should I eat in Ottawa?,” or whatever.

There is wisdom in that cabin. And a smart airline will try to figure out how to get that wisdom out of it. When I fly tomorrow, the airline should ask me where I stayed, where I ate, what was good and what was bad.

In other words, I have value as a passenger. Now, if they did that, they could become a publisher and they could end up reducing their costs. That’s just a small example of how they can build relationships and work with their costumers instead of fighting them.

Airlines have us by their scarcity because only certain companies fly to certain places, but the model of trying to charge you for a pillow or a pretzel is not a viable business model in the Internet age.

What would Google do if it were a magazine publisher?

I think it’s the same for magazines. Magazine readers are smart and brands have an advantage because they have a community already. Brands have to figure out how to mobilize and enable that community to do what they want to do.

Sparksheet recently spoke to New Yorker.com editor Blake Eskin about how the 85-year-old magazine has embraced the digital age without compromising its content or its brand. Do you think that’s possible for all media outlets?

I think that the New Yorker is unique. The New Yorker has a strong voice and they’re reluctant to change that – and perhaps they should be. But they are also at the center of a community, of a smart crowd, so they have a great opportunity to collaborate with their readers and to get new content and new information out of them.

Let’s talk about personal branding. How did Jeff Jarvis go from unknown magazine editor to notable media critic and professor in just a few short years?

Every point in my career was purely accidental. That sounds a little bit like false modesty because I do have an ego and I like the attention – I won’t deny that – but it was never a smart strategy. It just kind of happened.

Are electric bikes the future of green(ish) transportation?

Riots in Athens may be bad, but they’re leading to deep discounts for travellers.

Bad PR and customer relations aside, as dog lovers this Delta lost pet story broke our hearts.

Branded Content + Entertainment

A recent study claimed that TiVo doesn’t impact advertising’s effectiveness. Really?

Speaking of TiVo, a recovering Law & Order addict wonders whether the original AVOD system is stuck in the ‘90s.

As Google announces Google TV, allowing you to surf and search the Web on your TV screen, NewTeeVee ponders some unanswered questions.

Media + Magazines

To mark the Huffington Post’s fifth birthday, Nieman Lab put together six branding lessons gleaned from the online newspaper’s stunning success.

The New York Times on striking a balance clever and SEO-friendly headlines.

Check out this great list of reporters and media outlets covering the publishing industry beat.

Disclosure: Sparksheet is published by Spafax, a WPP company.

At Sparksheet we’re very interested in how brands are serving the Transumer, or the consumer in transit. As someone who spends a lot of time on the road, what do you look for in a travel brand?

If you’re talking about airlines, research shows that the most critical thing is how you’re received at the check-in desk and upon boarding the plane. There’s nothing more irritating than when you see the flight crew chatting amongst themselves instead of talking to you. In my opinion, the devil’s in the detail. It’s not the big stuff. What turns me on is when people are attentive and welcoming.

The key thing for travel brands is that they can get you where you’re going on time. Beyond that I think technology is important – entertainment, music. Maybe I shouldn’t say this but a lot of the Eastern airlines – Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates – these airlines are thriving because they’ve invested a lot in equipment and service.

I always travel by scheduled aircraft and very rarely charter a private plane, which is extremely luxurious but not very green. I flew Jet Airways and Kingfisher when I was travelling in India. A lot of people say they’re not profitable and won’t be profitable, but their service is absolutely outstanding. The Western airlines face a lot of challenges in competing with them. As a Transumer, as you call it, those are the things that I look for.

I get the impression that the major airlines see investment in the soft touches – video, food, etc. – as relatively unimportant, but I think it makes a hell of a difference.

These days brands like JetBlue can sell off millions of dollars of inventory with one measly tweet. What does this mean for the future of advertising?

The answer to the JetBlue tweet example is that the price point – or the offer – is probably a big determinant to the success of the campaign. So the outcome isn’t a surprise, but it tells you something about the power of the social media. Population-wise, Facebook is the third- or fourth-largest country on the planet. But these things are going to be fluctuating. I’m not saying they’re going to be here today, gone tomorrow, but they’ll fluctuate – it’s early days.

Things have become much more fragmented and very, very different. I heard a figure from a client today that, in America, 34 percent of their consumers’ time is spent online. The figure we usually fasten in on is 20 percent, I’ve seen 28 percent from Morgan Stanley. But clients are only spending about 12 or 13 percent of their budgets online.

Media habits are changing, becoming much more one to one. That’s good news, but it’s also bad news because it’s highly fragmented, and therefore you don’t have large globs of ad revenue sticking to properties anymore. So it makes life for newspapers, magazines, and free-to-air TV much more difficult.

It also means that smaller fragmented audiences are much more important. For example, the Transumer audience becomes much more important because it becomes more defined and more easily addressable and targetable.

The JetBlue example shows you how violently media consumption – particularly amongst younger people – is changing, how it is likely to keep changing, and how specific it can all be. And actually it can be very effective and cheap for everyone.

What’s the missing link in getting brands to seriously spend on the Web? Is it that advertisers flock to quality content, and that just doesn’t exist to scale online?

Time. A lot of it’s to do with time. I’ve described it in the past as “age” but that’s gotten me in trouble. Agencies are run by old people like me, and older people like me are media owners and clients as well.

People take time to change. They might not get it yet. You become the CEO of a company and it’s taken you 25 years and the last thing you want in your last four or five years is violent change. You want things to go on just as they have before. So it’s a natural human emotion if you like – a human feeling – to resist this change. But it’s only a question of time. Because if consumers are spending 20, or 25 percent of their time online and clients are spending 12 or 13 percent of their budgets online, there’s a natural gravitational pull to that 25 percent.

By the time the spend gets to 25 percent, say over the next five years, we’ll probably be spending a third of our time online. And so, as one of our clients said, maybe by then there’ll be less of a gap as we’ll all be used to it. It’s purely a function of time and people’s unwillingness and resistance to change.

You’ve said that you agree with Rupert Murdoch’s decision to charge for content. Why – and what do you think his real motivation is?

Because the current models – the new media models and certainly the old media models – are under a lot of pressure. Craigslist has destroyed classified advertising for “old media” and there are very few new media companies that make any money. Google is an exception. Their new CFO is doing a lot of good and Google is a much more intimidating company than it was even six months ago, if that’s possible, with a market cap well in excess of Berkshire Hathaway’s.

So I think that life has changed. I think that if someone like Rupert Murdoch, who follows his business intensely, sees circulation coming down, and ad revenues coming down, there are only a few ways to deal with it: one, by getting people to pay for content; two, by more consolidation amongst media owners, which is why he’s asking for relaxation in media concentration rules; and three, as media concentrates, and a lot of newspapers and magazines close, governments are going to have to see whether they will protect the private industry – protect you or me from the diminution of editorial content.

Do you think that part of his motivation is that if consumers pay, advertisers will follow? After all, a paid site implies quality content.

No, his central point is that giving it away for free doesn’t make sense. Kindle doesn’t give it away for free, so why should Rupert Murdoch? In my view, if the consumer can pay for content, they’ll pay for it.

And Google does seem to have modified its initial position. This is all about trying to generate revenue from all sources – traditional and new – in a world where platforms have been disintermediated, in a world where fragmentation makes it very difficult.

It’s got to change – after all, how many new media companies are actually making money? They say they are, but Mark Zuckerberg says I need to earn one cent more than my cost!

Can branded content connect with consumers the same way traditional media can?

Yes, branded content is a way forward and even the UK authorities have reversed their position against it. But fundamentally, consumers are not stupid. I’ve seen some very crude product placement in various markets, like in a soap opera where a woman opens a fridge and there’s only a can of Coke in there! It can be much more subtle than that and it will be more subtle than that. But people have to understand that it’s happening and brands have to recognize that the consumer can’t be hoodwinked.

What role will the emerging Chinese consumer class play in shaping the global travel industry?

The world has to change the way they look at the Chinese. There’s a lot of them. They’re the biggest group of visitors to France now. They’re already out there – there’s 1.3 billion of them. You’re talking about a lot of people with the disposable income to travel. People say Chinese aren’t rich but 150 million to 200 million are consumers already – with middle class habits – and there’s a lot more coming.

And don’t forget about the Indians. There’s more than a billion of them, too. Between them it’s one third of the world’s population and shortly 40 percent of the world’s GNP. So, ignore at your peril.