Simon Mainwaring

We First provides consulting and training to help companies tell the story of their good work in ways that build their business

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February 25, 2010

Customer curation: What brands and ad agencies do about it

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“Radio equals listening to the playlists of unknown radio people. Newspapers equal reading the playlists of unknown newspaper people. I want to read and hear lists curated by people I know.” I read these words a couple of weeks ago. They touched on an important trend that will change the advertising industry. Traditional silos (television, […]

“Radio equals listening to the playlists of unknown radio people. Newspapers equal reading the playlists of unknown newspaper people. I want to read and hear lists curated by people I know.” I read these words a couple of weeks ago. They touched on an important trend that will change the advertising industry. Traditional silos (television, …

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February 22, 2010

Go Glocal: How to build communities most effectively

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Last week the Brookings Institute kindly included me in the U.S./Islamic World Forum in Qatar. It was a fantastic collaborative and learning experience. The theme for our working group was ‘New Media in the Age of Globalization”. Our group was comprised of State Dept. officials, religious leaders, private sector business leaders, Middle Eastern philanthropists and …

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February 19, 2010

GUEST SPEAKER: CAMERON SINCLAIR, ARCH. FOR HUMANITY, TED PRIZE WINNER

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Cameron Sinclair founded the wonderful organization Architecture for Humanity that does so much meaningful work in distressed areas like Burma, New Orleans and now Haiti. What’s so exciting about their work is their commitment to emergency and long-term relief, their insistence and transparency and the insights Cameron provides as to how NGO’s and relief organizations …

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February 17, 2010

Brian Solis, ‘Putting the Public Back in Public Relations’: Review and Giveaway

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As anyone who follows my tweets will tell you, I’m a big fan of Brian’s thinking and really enjoyed this week’s book that he wrote with industry leader, Deirdre Breakenridge, called Putting the Public Back in Public Relations. Brian and Deirdre deep dive into the future of PR techniques in the social media and web …

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February 14, 2010

Consumers are the new ad agency

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These are fighting words, especially from an ad guy such as myself, but I see several reasons to argue the case. 1. CONSUMER GENERATED CONTENT HAS EARNED RESPECT: Last week the New York Times contained a provocative piece noting that the most popular Super Bowl ad was created by consumers (Doritos). This is just one, …

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February 11, 2010

Brands, be thankful for angry customers

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For a long time advertising has operated on a conceit that brands and consumers were in dialogue when, in truth, brands were dictating consumer behavior, pushing messaging on the public and often exploiting their trust or gullibility. Phrases such as “We’re here to help you”, “We put you first” and notions like customer-centric companies sounded …

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