As companies move more into the social realm, and promote their Twitter handles, Facebook fan pages and YouTube accounts many marketers are asking themselves where does that leave the company website.

For years we worried about ownership and collecting all the domain names associated with our businesses. Today, more campaigns are centered around social networks leaving websites with an entirely new role.

Brand websites are not going anywhere, their purpose has just changed. Marketers need to start thinking of this hub as the brain. (more…)

Industry executives from News Corp. announced a recent request for proposals to several creative shops looking for help with the struggling social network MySpace as it gears up to relaunch in a massive branding campaign unlike anything the company has done before.

MySpace, the network widely known for its connection to the music industry and a place for amateur musicians to sell music and get recognized has been drowning in a sea of stronger networks as their global unique visitors has fallen from 127 million in April of 2009 to 111 million in April of 2010 according to ComScore. In comparison, Facebook’s global unique visitors grew from 307 million to 519 million in that same time period. (more…)

Have you ever wondered what you would say if the whole world were listening? Well, MySpace and Titan have launched a joint promotion called Step Up to the Mic which combines digital out-of-home and social media in an experiment to attract advertisers.

The promotion has no intention of creating revenue and according to Brandweek.com no money will be changing hands between the two companies. The concept is looking to the future in hopes that advertisers may wish to sponsor similar dialogues or create their own promotion around a specific event, such as Halloween or Christmas. (more…)

To promote its new model of laptop, Toshiba is having 11 average people uploading video to tell consumers how they use the product - rather than have the computer maker publicize it themselves. In the user-generated content (UGC) campaign Boring vs. Normal, the two American towns will compete to prove which town represents the bigger misnomer. (more…)

Mountain Dew will be collaborating in an online original interactive thriller where fans get to decide the fate of the characters. The multi-platform production presents a new way in which brands are merging with digital companies.

Paramount Digital Entertainment announced that the new studio quality episodics called Circle of 8 will be produced by Milchan/Van Eyssen. The digital productions will provide participants with a unique and engaging consumer experience with interactive elements as well as an exciting plot and supernatural journey. (more…)

Restaurant traffic has dropped 2.6 per cent in the Spring quarter compared to last year - its steepest decline since 1981. More people are eating at home and with barbecue season upon us, people have a tendency to stay outside near their own grills. In an effort to increase brand awareness and bring people back indoors for burgers, Johnny Rockets is tying in with the movie Fame for a new integrated marketing campaign.

Partnering with MGM and Lakeside Entertainment to promote the September 25 release of the remake of the Oscar winning movie, the restaurant chain will begin a blitz starting tomorrow to promote the Fame National Talent Search. (more…)

In the Spring of 2008 a folk rock band called Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska via Chicago. It was on this stop that passengers witnessed a United Airlines baggage handler throw lead singer, Dave Carroll’s Taylor guitar. The $3,500 instrument was later discovered to be severely damaged and so ensued a year long battle to finally have the airlines deny any responsibility or compensation. As one clever commentator noted, this is when Carroll decided not to get mad, but to get viral. (more…)

A new report by ComScore revealed Russia is the world’s leader in online social network engagement. The report looked at 40 individual countries and their total online population and then compared that to the number of people who use social networks. Russia ranked number one with 59 per cent, or 18.9 million people, visiting a social network at least once in April.

The study dispels many myths that some people, including me, had about social networks. I just assumed America would be a leader in social network penetration because of how prevalent social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and MySpace are in our North American culture. As it turns out America ranked ninth in the study, well behind countries such as Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico and Spain. (more…)

Creative marketing and strategy agency Independents United is using user-generated content (UGC) to compile a book of memories documenting the UK’s many summer music festivals. The book will be called Festival Annual ‘09 and will be made up entirely of photos and stories supplied to the company through a MySpace page. The company is stressing that this is not a book about the festivals or even the music there, it is about the people that attend the festivals.

Independents United is betting festival goers, despite possibly having thousands of digital photographs already, will spend money on a real, tangible book. I personally feel it is a good bet, I think people still like to have something they can hold and something they can be a part of. It’s also a great example of how new and old media can be blended to create something entirely original. (more…)

The Boston Globe has settled on a platform by Pluck to help the paper make the most of user-generated content (UGC) hosted on its subsidiary website Boston.com. The Boston Globe has recognized the need to have a much stronger online presence and the need to be able to interact with users, the Pluck platform will allow Boston.com to do all this and more.

Pluck, a subsidiary of Demand Media, specializes in driving traffic to clients’ websites using a variety of social media strategies. Boston.com will be using a product called Sitelife, a complete social network. Sitelife allows a company to have all the tools of a social network, customized to their needs. This is a great benefit for companies that want to host their own networks and not just exist within a bigger social network such as Bebo or MySpace. (more…)