Marketing Pilgrim

Late last week the parent company of WordPress, Automattic, unveiled BuddyPress which is designed to build social networks around WordPress sites reports paidcontent.org.

While the idea of being able to build a social network is certainly not new (Ning has found some considerable success here) the ability to do it around existing WordPress sites certainly deserves notice. With millions of blogs and sites using WordPress the impact could be significant.
Matt Mullenweg of Automattic lays it out in his blog saying

“There’s been a dearth of Open Source tools that enable the social web. I don’t think BuddyPress will be something you use instead of your existing social networks… but if you wanted to start something new maybe with more control, friendlier terms of service, or just something customized and tweaked to fit into your existing site, then BuddyPress is a great framework.”

AdAge reports the latest Spencer Stuart survey shows 300 CMO’s (chief marketing officers) looking to survive the downturn by concentrating on short-term strategies at the expense of mid and long term outlooks. Even with this attitude they are able to say that they can emerge after the clouds break on this recession with the growth they all need. While the article charges these folks as traditionally optimistic this type of thinking appears to be more wishful than anything else.

Another Stuart survey showed that the average tenure of a CMO these days is 28 months so maybe this is why long and mid term growth strategies are more easily shelved. By the time a new CMO in a sizable organization gets their ‘sea legs’ half of that period could well be gone thus not leaving much time to anything but short term survival moves considering the TTL (time to live) these folks have.

Larry Page gave an emotional and inspiring commencement speech at the University of Michigan. During his speech, he shared how he had envisioned Google in a dream:

You know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don’t have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?

Each year Millward Brown compiles its Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (pdf). For the past three years Google has sat atop of the list and this year has the distinction of being the first $100 billion brand.

Outside the Top 10, but showing impressive growth in brand equity, are Blackberry (#16, up 100%), Amazon (#26, up 85%) and AT&T (#28, up 67%).

The highest new entry is Pampers (#31). Pertinent don’t you think, considering our economy is down the crapper?

Apparently, Google’s engineers have adult attention deficit disorder. I’m being serious! Because of ADD, we now have Google Search integrated directly into the Gmail interface:

I used to have a problem. People would ask me questions, over chat or email, and I’d have to leave Gmail to search Google for an answer. Then I’d have to select the answer, copy it, go back to Gmail and paste the answer into the chat window or my reply. Sometimes I’d get distracted and forget to go back to Gmail, and I’d have to go through it all again when I remembered what I’d been doing.

Poor guy.

Anyway, head to the Gmail Labs tab in your account and you’ll see the option to switch on Google Search within Gmail. You’ll then get this in your sidebar:

It was only a matter of time but it appears as if the time has arrived. While the buzz from some folks inside of AOL is very positive about the addition of Tim Armstrong it is going to get louder as more major hires are announced. The first is the hiring of a new top ad sales executive for the company. Not a surprise considering Armstrong’s pedigree and the importance of showing that AOL is still in the business of generating revenue through its properties.

As reported by the WSJ

Jeff Levick, who has worked at Google since 2001, most recently as vice president of industry development and marketing, is the latest in a series of Google executives who have announced plans to leave the company.