A Monster of a question: Is there any ROI for social media measures?13 February 2012

Having indulged in the world of social media for several years now, it is quite astonishing how I managed to avoid answering the question: “What is the return of investment on social media?” This question was raised at a social media seminar we held recently . It’s a logical question because in this digital age, [...]

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Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!20 December 2011

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Elephants and Emails: a tale of sustainability22 November 2011

What’s the link between a Dot Com CEO’s gruesome killing of an African elephant and a communications company’s stranded email? Supply chain infection! For the past 12 years Media Wise and The Green Place have used the webhosting services of U.S.-based GoDaddy, one of the biggest providers worldwide. GoDaddy offered good value for money. We [...]

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The forgotten dangers of Social Media – are you prepared for your employees’ mistakes?10 November 2011

The forgotten dangers of Social Media – are you prepared for your employees’ mistakes? Embracing the world of social media in research, work as well as in my private life helps me to discover new and challenging tools, interesting topics, great campaigns and gives me helpful insights into today’s international marketing world. Nevertheless it is [...]

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Are we CSR practitioners writing ourselves out of the script?7 September 2011

I have been mulling over this: if we are successful in our jobs of fully integrating CSR into a company ethos, its business practices, and its product development, then surely we CSR practitioners will have made ourselves redundant? Our extinction, then, will become proof of a job well done.  We have made visible progress and [...]

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Who had the upper hand, Merkel or Sarkozy? Body language speaks volumes.21 July 2011

Newspapers around the world today ran photos of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister Nicholas Sarkozy pointing fingers as they attempted to break through the Franco-German deadlock in deciding how to deal with the Euro financial crisis. Who had the upper hand in consummating the deal reached later? Let’s examine the body language. [...]

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Electric Cars, flogging a long dead horse?26 January 2011

Then… What most people don’t know about electric vehicles (EV) is that they existed years before the gasoline-powered car came along. The first of these EV’s appeared in the mid 1830’s. In the years 1899 and 1900 the EV outsold all other types of cars (steam, gasoline) in the USA, and by the early 1900′s [...]

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How a good social policy can save the Queen and pizza24 November 2010

News just in: The British Queen and her family are now on Facebook. As of last week it’s possible to “like” the British Monarchy on Facebook. But while it’s great for marketing, social media can also bring great risks. The royal family’s ‘wall’ was suddenly bombarded with nasty comments. The Queen is not alone in [...]

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When in Rome, don’t do as the Romans do!8 November 2010

Unless you speak flawless Italian, on your next business trip to Rome don’t attempt to speak the local language if you want to achieve your communications goals. New research suggests non-native accents are less credible. University of Chicago psychologists Shiri Lev-Ari and Boaz Keysar explore the consequences of speaking a language with a foreign accent [...]

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Lost in Pronunciation8 October 2010

Recently, while aboard a flight to Geneva, the Swiss captain offered his apologies for the delay in taking off, which he attributed to “seek voke.” I wondered what he meant. Sick folk? Who was sick? After puzzling a while I realised what he had meant to say: “thick fog”. How much meaning must get lost [...]

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