Meatball Sundae is the book every CEO should read next year. Or any CMO. Or any senior manager. What the heck, EVERYBODY should read it. And it shipped today.

A meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas.

The meatballs are the foundation, the things we need (and sometimes want). These are the commodities that so many businesses are built on.

The sundae toppings (hot fudge and the like) are the New Marketing, the social networks, Google, blogs and fancy stuff that make people all excited.

The challenge most organizations face: they try to mix them. They attempt to slap new marketing onto old and end up with nothing but a failed website.

This book explores the 14 trends that are changing our world and how organizations can either embrace them or be punished by them.

A couple of essential readings, you should buy into:

• Dale Dougherty, Web 2.0 and Advertising: Do We See Eye to Eye?

  An essential post with the questions that advertisers and web 2.0 companies are having regarding each other.

  questions of both technology and media companies to find out what advertisers mean by relevance. She says she’d like to see advertising for new cars, even though she doesn’t own a car and doesn’t drive. She’s not in the market for a car but she’s interested in learning more about new cars through their advertising. How would an advertiser know about that preference, and would they care to know?

  If sites or services become too commercialized, or as users catch on that the content is really a commercial in disguise, then they can choose to go elsewhere. They can shift their attention to a new site. I hope the threat of user migration is enough to keep Web 2.0 sites honest, and counteract the aggressive tendencies of advertisers.

• Hugh McLeod, author of Gaping Void, revisits its Global Microbrand.
  

  and posts more brilliant cartoons:

  
  Source: Gaping Void

• Customer 2.0 straight from Microsoft’s IT EA Team

  It is not just about aligning to the business… it is about aligning with the business to the same end goal: the customer.

• Fast Company explains why Did the Web Help Kanye Outsell 50 Cent?

  The media blitz sparked by 50 Cent’s threat to retire only illustrates the growing advantage that the Internet, once seen as a threat, now offers to the recording industry. “There’s been a change in the past couple of years. New media was the underdeveloped stepchild. Now it’s first on the marketing plan”

• Is the ad network dead?

  , or how networks are expanding, not retracting.

  For all the planners and buyers who struggled to understand the difference between ad networks over the past couple of years, the change will mean the end of sameness. For all the web publishers who strung networks together in order to extract a living, it will mean the end of anonymity. We are having something of a renaissance online and the harbinger of change is the network.

• What marketers think

  
  Source: emarketer

• Word of Mouth is big.

  Total WoM marketing expenditures are projected to climb at a compound annual rate of 30.4% in the 2006-2011 period to $3.70 billion as brand marketers take advantage of dedicated WoM marketing strategies for improved return on investment (ROI),

The big trend here seems to be the need for a closer relationship to customers, allowing them to narrow their profiles, choosing the way that brands reach them, and through new channels that favor conversations. Seems simple, right ? Some people even call it marketing.

Having just read The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda, it was a strange coincidence that he’s announcing the Reebok TimeTanium Limited Edition, available at RbkCustom.

The design on the shoe surface was generated by his code, also printed on the outsole. A colorful product design made for those who feel that a shoe is a personal item.

In his book, Maeda makes a point on the role of emotion, that often surpasses our efforts to simplify things. It’s our natural instinct to look for products that we feel emotionally connected, are unique or have character.

Product personalization is now ordinary, with examples spanning from popular shows like Pimp My Ride or the recently launched Zune Originals.

The mass customization trend is stronger in online marketing, with widgets for social network profiles, facebook apps, and personal aggregators. Similarly, sites like Etsy allow users to pick unique items that relate to their personality.

With the recent launch of Google’s Android, the open mobile platform, developers and users can now create their own applications, and apply the same web principles to their cell phones. Again, pimping their product.

With the announcement last Monday of 1 million iPhones sold after 74 days, the apple gadget had one of the most successful consumer electronics launches in years, slashing the previous iPod milestone.

Considering the recent price reductions and the yet to come worldwide launches, it came to mind a note that JPC wrote regarding Al Ries article on AdAge, predicting that the iPhone would be a failure.

I don’t know about Laura and Al, but I’m seriously reviewing their convergence theory. Or perhaps the marketeers should reconsider the assumption that the iPhone was a convergent device. With the current sales numbers and the holiday season coming, Steve Jobs must be doing something right. At least, Apple has a hell of a “convergent” brand.

Having recently used the iPhone and seeing other consumers reactions, i doubt that anyone is worried about convergence. Most consumers are looking for something different that offers a great experience. A purple cow experience.
I guess Seth Godin was right, but for marketing’s sake, let’s all hope that Al isn’t Steve Ballmer’s friend (that predicted a iPhone failure for other reasons).

Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what Google says it is.

Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine Editor in Chief, speaking at ad:tech

After having been scouted byBlogger’s Choice Awards for Best Marketing Blog, i’ve now been tagged by “The Marketer” and others, as part of the honorable mention list at Power 150, a global ranking of top English-language Marketing Blogs.

Another portuguese author is also there, the ever inspiring planner Sergio Santos of The Hidden Persuader, but way above me at #64. Hey, i’ve been around for less than a year, so i guess i’m doing fine for a rookie, don’t you think so? At least it’s been a hell of a ride so far, joining Feedurner’s Marketing and Advertising Network, becoming part of crew at Prt.sc, exchanging knowledge with peers and standing on the shoulder of some giants.

Having started more focused on digital marketing, this blog has gradually been expanding to broader themes, including the more mainstream “conversational marketing”, with some insights on traditional advertising and with special attention to what i like to call future marketing.

With online advertising playing an important role last year (specially the big deals by MS and Google), more eyes have been wondering around here. Except for those folks that keep bringing thousands of hits when searching for the “Heroes Soundtrack”. Well, no problem, i guess search engines are building their own long tail at this blog.

Back to the honorable mentions, Gordon Whitehead spreads some link love amongst the bloggers below #150. I’ve tried to do a bit more than that, and actually visited every single one of them (but skimming through the overcrowded PR ones), so here are my own honorable mentions:

• One of my favourite topics at Ageless Marketing
• If i was a agency planner, i would be reading this one
• but I’m more like David, with a little more restraining speaking about client work.
• Just in case any crisis comes along
• Novell’s CMO is blogging
• Poor template. Never mind. Great content
• A regular at my feed reader: Ogilivy PR
• Tasty marketing thoughts at eSoup
• Fine writing at BrandTarot
• Leo Burnett, blogging from Toronto
• Brand storms from the corporate blog of Durbin Media Group
• Well, that’s a fresh view:theclientsideblog.com
• Connecting the dots at Digital Influence Mapping
• Taking notes at the marketing community
• more hot-wiring ideas with mindblob
• Juicy posts at Influence 2.0
• Word-Of-Mouth turns academic with Walter Carl
• The movie of marketing or the marketing of movies?
• More free ebooks, Chip! (pardonthedisruption.com)
• More goodies from Canada
• More conversation
• Bryan know stuff
• Get your hands on these email marketing tips
• if i hadn’t a blog, i would be writing for you guys (specially with such a similar tag line)
• Ernie Schenck, calling advertising
• Adverlicio.us: a longtime favorite Online Advertising collection

I questioned Todd why some blogs sponsored by large media companies are included, and i have to agree with him when he says “every blog should be listed no matter who they’re sponsored by because all blogs benefit the reader”. But the real problem with this particular list is that it just ruined my feed reader, with a lot more blogs added and fewer sleeping hours.

So now I really have to THANK YOU, dear readers, for pushing me to keep writing and inspiring for almost one year. If this blog reaches the top 150 next year, then it’s because we both had fun at this humble place.

So don’t forget to visit the coolest blog from the list!
(Hey, sometimes we need to indulge ourselves a bit, right?)

Today’s marketers need to integrate crowdsourcing, co-creation and collaboration as part of their vocabulary, as Drew McLellan, Gavin Heaton and fellow co-authors seem to do, successfully releasing their book “The Age of The Conversation” yesterday, a 3 month collaboration between 100 bloggers.

The resulting book, The Age of Conversation, brings together over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators in a ground-breaking and unusual publication. And in the spirit of conversation, you can follow-up and extend your interest in the topics covered in the book at the Age of Conversation blog — www.ageofconversation.com.

With articles by personal favourites such as Greg Verdino, Cord Silverstein, David Polinchock, Richard Huntington, Tom Fishburne, Gareth Kay or Roger from Creative Think, the book has also some interesting contributions such as a google map with all the authors or the cover by the ever inspiring David Armano.

Over 100 of the world’s leading marketers contributed with a chapter, with part of the profits going to a children’s charity fund. As i’m inclined to save some trees (and it’s cheaper), i’ll get myself an electronic version at lulu.com/ageofconversation.

It’s not as big as Wikipedia, but it’s a damn fine example of “architecture of participation“.

I’m back to work, but the stories from last week rock festival are not over yet. The nice folks at Torke Stunt did a cool ambient/guerrilla marketing stunt, with a rugby team delighting the short people that didn’t stood at the front rows.

Challenge
Optimus is a mobile phone company based in Portugal. Our task was to create a brand experience targeted to young people within a big music festival context.

Solution
Under the brand’s tagline:”Experience it”,a service called “Broad Shoulders” was created. Ten big men offered their Broad Shoulders for people to climb in order to see better the concerts or just to find a lost friend amongst the crowd.

Results
This service was greatly accepted by young people, creating word of mouth in the three days of the music festival as more people were asking for the Broad Shoulders service.

Great info-graphics. Bad accent. Inspiring predictions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj8ZadKgdC0&v3