Here's a quick post!

A Forrester survey of interactive marketers reports that RSS and blog usage is on the rise and the category has risen quickly over the last 12 months.

" If marketers have been slow to jump on mobile and gaming, social media is a different story...," says a piece in Advertising Age Digital, talking about the survey.

1. 40% of marketers are using or piloting RSS, up from 10% last year


2. 34% are use or piloting blogs, up from 13% in the 2006 study

".. social networks, which have the slowest adoption of all social media tactics but still notched 20% penetration in terms of marketer use." the article comments.

India is showing a slightly different trend - social networks have actually seen some traction and marketers are looking at forming or participating in communities. On the other hand, adoption of blogs - corporate and usage of blogosphere for marketing has still been fringe but interest levels are on the rise. Another trend that will hopefully manifest itself strongly, soon, is 'experts' blogging.

The piece has an interesting comment about consumers adopting emergent media faster than the marketer can keep pace, and need for the latter to stay updated (and ahead)- our own Social Media Workshop/s and talks are an attempt to help the marketer do so...

While the fun has just begun, I am glad there are figures and clear directions available for marketers here too to establish trends...

The Advertising Age story is here.

What Kishore used was different, but the shop-keeper brought out the Movo Slim and I immediately fell in love.

The credit card sized device - 7 mm thick - neatly fits into my pocket, plays mp 3 music - drag and drop from the PC - as also save pics and data files; let's me not just listen to FM - 32 presets -

Phew! Finally!See all PDFs here!

"Believe me the workshop was really helpful to understand the rising influence of social media in contemporary times and also the technology that is making this happen," writes Tejas, NDTV.com who attended the workshop, "...a great initiative on your part to get the community together!" another senior participant. Grateful :).

(have you seen the new www.ndtv.com yet?)

Updated at 6.47 pm, 27 March 2007

All PPTs (PDF) are up now. Files were heavy and I have had to remove images and content. Have had to remove all PDFs - the page formatting was totally a mess. Hope to crack this by tomorrow. Meanwhile, mail me your requests and I will send you the files by email till I figure out a way here.

First updated at 1.12 am, 26 March 2007

I just lost 45 minutes worth of effort trying to upload the presentations - there was an error - going to sleep now as we leave for Jaipur tomorrow morning. Updates will now have to wait until Tuesday. Apologies all.

BTW - I was able to attend the initial part of Kiruba's podcasting workshop today. I think he totally rocks and is among the most engaging speakers I have met. Shame I couldn't stay the entire duration. Would have, had it been anything other than the monthly reiki follow-up meeting. Another day I guess...

You don't need to use the mouse, once started: Press 'Tab' to get a parallel button on the side; press 'Enter' to get one below. You can change text as you go along, add buttons, share online or through e mail or print. Neat I think.

Found it through this post by Jason Clarke of Download Squad.

We conducted the first edition of a unique ' language + customer service workshop' for one of our clients today and quite enjoyed the experience. I don't really want to miss any opportunity to talk about my experiences as a consumer, and resultant learnings as a marketer. This one's for my favourite consumer technology brand anyway. Back home just a while ago, I found this podcast via Odeo.

If you are obsessed with grammar, you might enjoy this :)

powered by ODEO

India PR has a loyal readership among the public relations agencies and Hobbit, who runs the blog (and does a phenomenal job of it and does so remaining anonymous) requested me to do a piece for the site and I wrote something for a relatively younger audience.

Here are the excepts from the piece "Experiments with Social Media":

"Last month a client of ours, in the online publishing space, was complaining about staff spending time on Orkut while in office. He wanted this to stop…

We recommended, as part of our strategy, that it be made a part of the KRA for the team to spend time - every day- on not just Orkut but on other social networking and book-marking sites - participating & gaining insights from conversations they pick up; creating, managing relevant & synergetic communities.

The initial shock from both parties however led to quick adoption..."

and;

Blog\Works Social Media Workshop on Friday, 23 March, New Delhi - Blogs; Wikis; Podcasts; Content Communities; Social Networks...Registered yet!!??

See PDF here:Blogworks Social Media Workshop.pdf

The workshop covers: Concept clarity on web 2.0, social media tools etc.; utility of blogs and other emergent social media tools on/ for corporates and brands; practical walk-through on setting up some of the important tools.

Who would benefit: Leadership and mid-management executives from corporates; public relations & advertising agencies; brand managers; HR professionals looking at blogs and social media for their brands and for clients.

Fee: Rs. 10,000/-, per participant.

Date: 23 March 2007

Time: Registrations begin 9.00 am; Programme begins at 9.30 am sharp (ends 5.30 pm)

Venue: FMCC Campus, Plot No. 8, Balaji Estate, Guru Ravidass Marg, Kalkaji, New Delhi - 110019.

Register by writing to: workshop@blogworks.inor call me at +91 98 106 40163.

I have added an email subscription option to my blog. Take a minute to opt in...

The link is just below my profile.

Cheers.

The ad has no mention of any Nike product but the connect with the Nike spirit of 'Just do it' is so strong that no product is needed - its about a way of life. With cricket fever reaching a crescendo in the country, the timing is great.

Advertising and entertainment will seamlessly merge, I think- focus would be again creating brand communities rather than highlight 'a product'.

Part of the nature conservation movement?

CMS VATAVARAN 2007 – Competitive Environment and Wildlife Film Festival is now accepting entries for its 4th Festival, slated for 12 - 16 September 2007, in New Delhi.

CMS VATAVARAN awards/recognizes films in all genres (documentaries, docu-dramas, narratives, shorts, advertising campaigns, public service announcements, new media, etc), which inform, educate, foster knowledge, understanding and action on environment, wildlife issues or other socially relevant environment themes. Among the new initiatives are introduction of an International Competitive Category and FEJI-Young Environmental Journalist Award. Don't have to be a professional film-maker to participate. Anyone can.

Entries open till 30 April 2007. More information at www.cmsvatavaran.org

Many of these trends are led by the youth and as notebook PCs become mainstream, given the falling prices, I think the individual will seek to stand apart again...with youth leading the trend.

As against mobile handsets, where differentiated design has been as much a driver as the features, laptops have all looked the same - until now!

This piece in The Economic Times today made an interesting read. It says:

"BLOG POSTS are now finding their way into the marketing strategies of motorcycle makers.What started as platforms to share passions and frustrations of bikers are now being tracked by corporates to fine-tune their offerings. Instead of tedious market surveys and data crunching, companies now get reviews within hours of product launch, courtesy blogs."

Delighted to note that marketers are beginning to understand the value of blogs & social media and are using them for immediate, true feedback instead? of commissioned research that's not just time-consuming but also expensive (and often inaccurate?)

I just changed my car for a new one and relied heavily on blog posts, forum discussions, word-of-mouth (company brochures helped me decide the colour, nothing more :)).

In my opinion, however, the loop will not be complete until we put the customer in the center and then surround him/her with peer reviews, expert opinion and marketer's inputs (the last bit is TOTALLY missing today). It is the logical next step and we are hoping to participate in that space.

I was with a marketer friend last week and tried to partly address concerns/ reservations she had about competition using a marketer's blog to malign the brand. A couple of points we spoke about, a couple I am adding now: