http://smartcrowds.com/blog The SmartCrowds Narrative Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:35:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en For the last 2-3 months, BrandAdda  has been in lights-on mode. The site has been up, but there is no action on it behind the scenes. Due to lack of success on the business front, we have decided to shut it down. At this unfortunate juncture, a saying comes to mind: It ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2010/02/18/sayonara-brandadda/ Our throats are hoarse screaming "Engagement Marketing" for a long time. No idea how many have listened :). Here's a report by some well known entities (WetPaint, and the Altimeter Group - which was joined by the famous Jeremiah Owyang recently) that should be a good read for Brands that ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/09/08/brands-engagement/ Nice article on Adage that talks about the impedance mismatch between company structure and the benefits that social media could bring. http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/09/03/social-media-company-structure/ A great article by Freddie Laker on adage, with the following comment from yours truly... "Love the article!. Not only am I big believer, but have actually built a product to promote this concept. I agree with jamiesocial that a "campaign" is not the right frame of reference for conversations, and ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/07/23/sustainable-brand-conversations/ We couldn't agree more with Mr Vaidyanathan's views in this article published by Economic Times. Our experience talking to some brands can be summarized as follows. They agree that online engagement is important and highly impactful, but they are reluctant to invest the time, are happy with the status quo, ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/06/18/the-net-is-the-real-world-mr-vaidyanathan-ceo-icici-pru-life/ Mashable posted a thought provoking article on the question "Is Social Media making Corporate Websites irrelevant?". Our short answer is "no", but our long answer is about the role that corporate websites play in the overall digital footprint of a brand. Adam Ostrow, the author of the Mashable article, articulates ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/05/26/engagement-in-a-box/ In a recent post, we outlined the what of Engagement Marketing. We laid out the essential characteristics of Engagement Marketing. Hopefully, this will help Brands understand it better. Naturally, the next question a Brand might ask is "Why is it good for me?". The very core of Engagement Marketing is to ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/05/11/7-reasons-why-engagement-marketing-is-good-for-brands/ Engagement Marketing is a new genre of marketing that is enabled by the ease of access and interactivity of the internet, and by the penetration of internet usage in every aspect of our lives. Some call it Conversational Marketing. We like to call it Partnership Marketing. Even Dialogue Marketing orTwo-way ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/05/11/7-attributes-of-engagement-marketing/ We are happy to report the latest addition to the SmartCrowds team - Arun Prabhakar. Arun completed his graduation this year at MEC, Cochin.  He likes to tinker with code and websites. He was part of the design & editing team for his campus website, and was also the organizer for ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/05/06/welcome-our-latest-warrior-arun-prabhakar/ This wonderful description of a brand was given by Tom Bernardin, Chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide. We often perceive a brand to be just a product, but really it's so much more. It's a face, a warm fuzzy feeling, a bright light of cheer on a dark rainy ... http://smartcrowds.com/blog/2009/04/29/a-brand-has-to-fit-into-a-human-purpose/