Marketing Peer Briefing - Oct07

If you weren't there, here's what you missed: Web 2.0 - All Hype or a Legitimate Marketing Opportunity?

According to Tony Boatman former Microsoft SE Asia group marketing manager, the online world has changed big time in the last four years, many brands associated with wb 2.0 did not exist before this. Plainly, web 1.0 is the era of publisher content which is passive and text based. Web 2.0 is participants where user generated content is the core - a paradigm shift from user without control to a user- generated-environment. He said social networking is not new. For example, Manchester United is a social network which millions talk, write, and blog about. The difference is the methods and mediums that the message enters the market.

He shared the opportunity and risks of web 2.0 and personally thinks banner ads on social network sites don't work. "My advice and experience is to tell a story, immerse your customer in the story and in your brand, bring them in and showcase what you do. Consumers look around for recommendations from people they know. Social networking will not work if you are looking purely at sales figures. It is great for building a brand campaign for people to recognise and interact."

Successful examples are Volvo on Live Messenger, Doritos with Superbowl, Starwood entering 2^nd Life, Disney's with Dogster and Cyworld with its personalised avatars. The draw for any brand or company is consumer's data - to build a warehouse to store, use it and manipulate the data and use it to their best interest.

"Scale is critical. In 2005 Microsoft Live messenger from Microsoft exploded from 25 million to 50 million members in three months. The tech and web savvy are hungry for more. With competition between major players in the digital sectors, the interactive is pushed forwards which is a perfect scenario for social networking."

Managing the delicate balance in the cult of the amateur is tough. Unregulated content, misinformation, copyright infringement has led to a call for more regulations. This may lead a regression back to the era of web 1.0. Ending, he posed a question to the conference attendees, "Corporations are willing to hear from the consumers but are they willing to give the customers what they want?"