Why not check out their blog for yourself? In the last few months we’ve been working to produce relevant and current content about different ingredients, cooking methods, cookery and crockery, famous chefs, cooking school, recopies and more. All under the concept of “Inspiring Better Cooks”. We’ve been also working on their twitter and facebook presence making it easier for customers to communicate with them.  The Essential Ingredient community person Tristan is always ready to chat about one of life’s most celebrated pleasure – FOOD!

But the ad isn’t the only thing broken. It’s the brand communication strategy that needs fixing. If you’re going to claim to be “living in my world” why don’t you have something about it on your website? in branches? How about having a real person helping people out on twitter?

1. Yes, Interns know how to use facebook but do they know how brands should act on facebook? do they have the experience needed to comply with legal requirements, customer service or negative buzz? Knowing how to do something doesn’t mean you’re good at it and brands should realise it’s not a tech thing, it’s a marketing thing.

2. Interns usually leave quickly. They’ve done their part and left you with an excel spreadsheet with some sketchy strategy. There is no implementation, no buy-in from management and in most cases no one to pick up the project where the intern left it.

3. Interns cant see the big picture. They will usually be working on the “social media stuff” focusing on one platform (probably facebook) without considering other aspects of the business. Social media should be part of your communication strategy and if your intern isn’t part of that team in your business your social media strategy will be lacking.

What are your thoughts? Is an intern better than nothing? thanks to Drew for getting me to write this post.

pepsi, originally uploaded by FRANkVizeum.

Pepsi is trying to save the world and get some advertising at the same time. How? Well, they would like YOU to come up with an idea, promote it and win between 5k-250k to make it come true. It’s a great idea that finally has been picked up by a mega brand (although the name: “Refresheverything” is a bit try hard). Think about all the money that goes every year towards re-branding/ad production/Superbowl broadcasting – Pepsi is going to spend the same amount (around $1,300,000 per month) to sponsor people’s dreams. True, they’re not doing it because they’re really concerned, it’s more of a way to get piggybacked into people facebook profiles but hey, beggars cant be choosers. Maybe this can be a new way we do advertising? How about a company helping out in a tsunami? How about a tyre company sponsoring a road? How about an energy company sponsoring people who make energy?

Click here to view the embedded video.

What are your thoughts about earned media towards 2010?

Here’s another (very funny) video via Mo and Henry Feagins:

Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of ‘Friendster’ Civilization

I’m not overly optimistic about the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In fact I don’t believe the answer will come from politicians. I think it needs to come from economists, entrepreneurs and the market. We need to change the debate from “saving the world” (which unfortunately doesn’t carry enough punch) to “making money”. What does this has to do with branding?

At the moment, all countries (brands) are more or less the same. Everyone is looking for someone else to lead or to come up with the best excuse for not cutting emissions. This is the chance to leapfrog. If I was pitching for the brand called Australia I would pitch a strategy taking the lead on environmental AND economic growth for it to become Australia’s next export in terms of knowledge, products and services. Investing in new sustainable energy solutions, social entrepreneurship and green collar jobs is not a “pie in the sky” anymore – New York is already committed to a greener buildings and better energy use: “New York City Council voted overwhelmingly to pass the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan – a package of bills aiming to reduce New York City’s carbon emissions by almost 5%, create more than 17,000 jobs, and save New Yorkers $700 million dollars a year in energy costs.”

In five years the Australia brand can be recognised as a global leader in sustainable housing solutions, environmental living, bio-fuels, and more. This move will have a positive effect on wild life (therefore tourism dollars),  Education (therefore more money from overseas students) and improved health care with huge benefits to the economy (less money spent on health = more money spent on other things like education). What do you think? Can we do it?

Here’s something from Seth Godin in his post “Watch the money“: If you’re in the music business but you never buy tickets or downloads, can you really empathize with the people you’re selling to?… if you work for a non-profit and you don’t give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job?… Money is more than a transfer of value. It’s a statement of belief. An ad agency that won’t buy ads, a consultant who won’t buy consulting, and a waiter who doesn’t tip big—it’s a sign, and not a good one”.

If there is one rule when it comes to building your brand and business social assets it is to buy it from the people who invest in it themselves. They have probably faced the same problem you’re facing and have the hands on experience to build a sustainable social business solution. Do you think brands should have a community/social officer?

1.MUSIC: Artists are doing it for themselves – Superstar artists are now using social media to launch their new video/show/single using Ustream.tv and facebook: That’s right both Shakira and Chamillionaire did this in the last week against their record label’s advice and I expect to see many more artists doing this “social media” thing in the near future. So if you’re a record label or a music related business this act represent both threat and opportunity. When your artists know better than you how to reach their audience, there is a problem.  It’s up to you to keep up.

2.NEWSPAPERS: What will be the new model? Rupert Murdoch continues his war against google and wants to charge for online content. That’s great. Now he’s saying that without eTablets, “Newspapers Will Go Out Of Business.” Do you actually know anyone who owns an e-tablet? Any way you look at it, the newspaper model is broken (now they might charge you for a day pass?) . People are getting their news from other sources for free. Will people pay to get the same content on an e-paper? I don’t believe quality journalism is broken but I feel the delivery mechanism is. In a world where everything is shared by niches what’s the role social media and crowds can play within a publication? I’m sure Murdoch is working on it but if I was working for a newspaper or a magazine I’ll be thinking about it too.

3.ADVERTISING: The rise of the consumer-ambassador – When Coca-cola is doing it you know it’s real but they are not the only ones. More and more brands are using reality type “social” campaigns featuring real people to earn brand recognition, more fans/followers and the holy grail: organic google juice. Think about how many mentions your brand can get when people are constantly adding content, twittering and blogging about it, sharing the content with their friends and their friends friends. When the consumer journey starts with a google search, your first page is the most valued property you have. In this kind of world you need to be sure of what happens when someone is googling you.