iMedia Connection - ad:tech blog

It's not often that industry panels produce surprise results, but moderator Amanda Richman publicly admitted her surprise during a session on Wednesday at ad:tech New York.
Richman had assembled brand marketers from HP, Phillips, and Tourism Queensland for a panel called "Marketing 3.0 -- Building great brands in the digital age" expecting each member to present a different solution for building a brand, but each and every one touted the branding power of social media.
"Today we think social media is word-of-monitor," said Zdenek Kratky, director of marketing for Phillips, discussing a successful Facebook campaign for the Sonicare toothbrush. "It's great -- there's credibility there. We know something is more credible when it comes from a friend."
Rod Lehman, senior director, Americas marketing for HP, offered a similar sentiment. HP invested $100,000 in an online campaign to promote new software, but largely relied on customers and prospects to do the promotion via a free trial. The campaign ultimately returned $28 million in profits after promotion on blogs.
"If recommendations come from someone you trust versus from the brand itself, we see a much higher conversion rate," Lehman said.
While all of the present marketers had successfully used social media to boost their online branding, Chance... Read more