Understanding the role of Integrated Marketing Communications begins with a clear distinction of the dynamics of a brand.

As competition creates infinite choices, companies look for ways to connect emotionally with customers, become irreplaceable, and create lifelong relationships. A strong brand stands out in a densely crowded marketplace. People fall in love with brands, trust them, and believe in their superiority. - Designing Brand Identity (Wheeler, 2009)

A brand is only as good as the extensions that communicate its meaning, purpose, focus, values, attributes, and unique elements. Integrated Marketing Communications is a unique approach to controlling these extensions ensuring seamless communication with consumers.

Today's brands are not one-sided but rather rely upon the successful management of a varied collection of touchpoints.

Social media has surpassed search, and is poised to overtake online display advertising as the No. 1 source of digital media planning and buying, according to the latest edition of a quarterly survey of U.S. advertising agencies.

The survey, conducted by Strata, the agency media software and processing firm owned by Comcast, found that 69% of agency executives now consider social the “focus” of their digital ad spending -- up 32% over the past year, and now a close second behind display (71%) as the dominant digital media-buying platform in the minds of agency executives.

For the full article, click here.

In the race for influence and audience attention sometimes we forget to take time for disconnected tranquility. Such was the case with a recent visit to a local Barnes and Noble, an ideal location for inspiration, critical thinking, and self exploration. After all, it's good to know thyself!

A recent article from strategy + business caught my attention and is based on the idea of How to Make a Region Innovative. With today's talk of innovation, creativity, cause, impact, and progress across industry, the time to talk about real fundamental building blocks of creating real genius and thriving environments is now.

The following are a collection of tidbits from the outstanding article that are sure to prove vital for those interested in building a thriving community and one in which ideation breeds innovation, technology fuels growth, collaboration adds to creativity, and regions are changed.

Clusters can be vitally important to a country’s innovation and prosperity, but when they are misunderstood, they do not realize their potential.

To generate one groundbreaking technological development after another, innovation must be embedded within long-lived social institutions and networks.

Four different sectors must be linked together: government, business, civil society (not-for-profit organizations), and academia.

This is called the quad.

In most communities, this quad alignment can be deliberately developed if leaders put three measures into effect. First, they should construct cross-sector networks that are richer, more diverse, and more deliberately structured than those of the past.

Think synergy.

We now know how to accelerate the process by drawing on the collective efforts of leaders in all four sectors of the quad.

Second, these leaders should continually reform the way their organizations are managed — creating a climate that fosters innovation, and adjusting the incentives and organizational structures to reward creativity and collaboration.

Reinforcement breeds solutions.

Third, leaders should invest in talented, innovative individuals, attracting, retaining, and empowering the right mix of people who can foster serial innovation.

Always hire people better then yourself.

To build a thriving community requires the collaborative efforts of several entities. Here's where it gets really interesting and should capture the attention of most visitors to this blog. Business.

Businesses provide the cluster with its economic engine. Because they will close down if they fail to innovate successfully, they take the many risks that innovation entails. The private sector furnishes a large part of the capital needed to fund strategic innovation. 

What does this mean for business? Does this confirm the work and efforts of your organization? Where can we add value to this equation of building an innovative region? 

The answers are inspiring and thought provoking helping to shed some light on the power of people, press, process, and product the four fundamentals of creativity.

The marketing landscape is an arena where individuals and brands must realize that consumers lack confidence in advertising. Audiences have a knack for recognizing pitches and sales tactics aimed at bottom line growth. Markets are bombarded with messaging from all sides aimed at their wallets and attention leading to reluctance over purchase intent and a lack of authenticity. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith call this a trust deficit.

The most successful companies are those who engage in relevant conversations and create experiences that resonate with changing consumer tastes. Trust is a glue that helps capture attention, build advocacy, and establish repeat business. People are the core of business.

The Web has changed to be more humanized, and the people who will succeed in understanding this and using the Web to build businesses are called Trust Agents.

The United States is getting younger thanks in large part to the growth of minorities who not only overindex in technology adoption but serve as pioneers and mainstays in social media activity. The rising influx of digital natives and social media butterflies has created an atmosphere of marketing and communications where technological aptitude and digital savvy separate the haves from the have nots.

Likewise, there are people out there right now working to understand these new technologies and learning everything about how to use them--from etiquette to audience building and beyond.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing many marketers and small business owners is the reluctance to grasp the potential and legitimate value found in social media strategy. Time and significant effort are valid reasons for apprehension but this does not slow down the movers and shakers in new media from capturing attention, maximizing opportunities, and establishing a lasting presence.

Like your kids, they know more about technology, and maybe even more about people, than you do; and that makes them very powerful.

Paper Edit: Selections from interview to be used during a recruitment piece to help drive the essence of what it means to be in the Army.

In the Army, you’re part of a team.

CPT Y: Once one soldier receives help, he's willing to help another soldier. That's the one thing I ask of every soldier.

CPT Y: So as much as possible, you want to open up all avenues to help every soldier possible.

CPT Z: And once they get that help, it -- it builds up a pride that "Hey, I like what I'm doing.  I'm working for somebody that's going to take care of me, that's going to take care of my family, and they'll take care of my battle buddies if they need help."

CPT Y: So if they're willing to reach out that hand to help each other, it becomes contagious.

CPT Y: Nobody falls asleep at night to be in the Army to say I just want to get by tomorrow.  They want to contribute.

CPT Y: We're servants to our nation.  We're servants to our soldiers, and we're servants to our unit.

Leadership + Trust: The essence of the Army.

CPT Y: Soldiers are the -- are the heartbeat; that -- they're the pulse

CPT Y: I may be a Commander, but I'm a man, I'm a husband, I'm a father, and I've -- I've had -- made my fair share of mistakes and had shortcomings.  At the same time, somebody was always there to help me.

CPT Y: You don't treat them like cases; you treat them like people.  And you exhaust all possibilities to get him all the help that's possible.  That's our approach.

CPT Z:  Well, it's -- it's just listening to the soldier –

CPT Y: Soldiers need to see that you're human also;

CPT Y: It’s an underlying trust that you build with your soldiers.

Everyone in the Army is connected.  Family knows no boundaries.

CPT Z:  Well, there's a stereotype that if you're in the Army, that you've got to be a man, you've got to take care of your family.  And you -- you don't -- you don't ask for help.  You -- you just drive through that wall and -- and crush it.  And I think -- I think once you get that soldier through that wall, it just opens the floodgates to let -- to let us be able to help him.

CPT Y: I -- I wouldn't know what I'd be able to do without the love and support of -- of my family, especially my kids.

CPT Y:   A soldier is no good without his family.

An Army unit is a very special thing.

CPT Z:  There's no other employer in the world that will -- will support its employees like the Army does.

CPT Y: Every soldier wants to be a part of the team.

CPT Y: If one soldier is hurting, his friends are going to know about it. 

CPT Y: Motivation is -- it's probably stronger than money when it comes to our unit and the success of our unit.  And that motivation is also key to -- to the spirit of the unit.

CPT Y: We actually, as Commanders, live for our soldiers as -- as we do our own families.  If one of my soldiers is hurt, it's -- it's more than personal because if they -- if they're without, then I feel like it's -- it's -- it's my fault or my First Sergeant, he feels the same way.  So we have to ensure that they have the basic necessities to keep them healthy, and that's where it starts, with motivation.

CPT Y: You'll never read about it.  You'll never see it.  There's -- there's no science to it; it's just a culture that once you put this uniform on, that you're part of a family.

CPT Z: And that's one of the great things about being in the Army.  It doesn't matter what other organization you're in; if you're working at WalMart, if you're at Microsoft or Pepsi, no -- they're not going to support you like the Army does.

(Digital Storytelling IMC634 - WVU IMC)

In How to Make Money with Social Media: An Insider's Guide on Using New and Emerging Media to Grow Your Business, Jamie Turner and Reshma Shah, PH.D. offer some great analogies for understanding the differences between some of the most popular social networking sites on the internet.

Facebook

Facebook is like a pub. It's a casual place where you can go to talk about what you did over the weekend, tell a dirty joke, or tell people about the checkers convention you attended last week.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is like a trade show. You wouldn't tell people at a trade show what you did in Vegas last weekend, would you? Okay maybe you would, but the average businessperson wouldn't.

Twitter

Twitter is like a cocktail party. Just be sure you send out tweets that are helpful. New Tweeple make the mistake of taking Twitter seriously when its home page asks, "What's happening?" Well, we've got some bad news for you. Nobody cares what you're doing now. They care about information that will help them in their daily lives.

YouTube

YouTube is like Times Square on New Year's Eve. Times Square on New Year's Eve is packed with people clamoring for attention, which illustrates the problem. Just as it's hard to stand out in Times Square, it's hard to stand out on YouTube. Too much competition exists. So if you want to use YouTube to make money, you need to build awareness for your YouTube channel first.

The take-home lesson. Not all networks are one and the same. Investigate what's right for you. Remember to think strategically about social media as you strive to make it in an arena where trust, authenticity, and resonance are paramount.

The Guy Behind the Blog.

Jose Huitron is the author of Vista Hispano, a blog providing insights into the trends and changing dynamics of the U.S. Hispanic market. He is a strong communicator and digital native with a keen eye into the cultural shifts that have forced today’s individuals, organizations, and brands to think outside-the-box. He is currently the founder of HUB 81, an integrated marketing and public relations consultancy blending strategic capabilities with a passion for all things digital, multicultural, and creative. Schedule a consulting session today.

The power of visual elements and a good story go hand in hand when creating an effective advertising spot. The following are my attempts at reverse-engineering two shooting scripts for several Allstate advertisements.

Allstate TV Ad: My Bad

 Allstate TV Ad: Road Workers

With sites like Pinterest causing significant tidal waves of attention in the world of social media it becomes increasingly important to explore the difference between the social graph and the interest graph.

We spend a lot of time building our networks and sharing content across various forms of media. There's no doubt that individuals choose their associates based on common interests. Within this dynamic resides the power of the interest graph. 

Twitter is a strong online destination for many becuase it empowers individuals and brands to follow their interests and add to the conversation. Pinterest is beginning to dominate this niche by allowing us to share our interests solely in a visual format. There's truth to that old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words and for Pinterest images come with style, structure, and impact placing visual elements at the forefront.

Interest Graph vs Social Graph

In real life, there is a constant interplay between the interest graph and the social graph. In high school, you gravitate towards people with common interests, and they become your social connections. In your professional career, you attend interest-specific events and connect with people who share that interest, but then become friends and start to share experiences.

There is a mirror process beginning to happen online. People are forming communities and connections through Twitter and social media like blogging around shared interests, which then spill over into the real world through meetups, conferences, and other offline happenings.

This process is going to reshape your social graph. It will be easier to find collaborators of all stripes, from band mates to business contractors. It will be easier to share your knowledge and experience with people who need it. It will be easier to do more of the stuff you want to do with people who can actually help you do it. And entrepreneurs who make this process easier and more fun stand to win big. (Why the Interest Graph will Reshape Social Networks) 

Remember when e-business was first coined by IBM in 1997. Yes that's the same company that is trying to make the world a smarter planet. These days IBM has its sights deadlocked on what it describes as social business.

What is it and why is it important for today's brands?

Let's think beyond social media and the digital properties that help brands spark conversation, engage auidences, and build advocacy. Social business is a culture of authenticity, dialogue, and collaboration.

Welcome to the world of social business.

Consumers now wield unprecedented power over how brands are perceived and purchases are made. Crowdsourcing is changing industry landscapes by leveling the intelligence playing field at an extraordinary rate. In addition, employees are demanding social tools in the workplace, and are actively sidestepping established hierarchies and IT processes to use them. As a result, the world finds itself at a transformative point with regard to how business is done.

The following demo video for Cars.com provides an excellent window into the power of social business and why its important for today's brands.

The preceding video does a good job of showing how consumers tap into their networks and harness the value of recommendations to make purchasing decisions. Think of social business as an opportunity to increase value, drive conversation, and build a culture of collaboration.

Here are three characteristics of a social business:

• Engaged—deeply connecting people, including customers, employees, and partners, to be involved in productive, efficient ways.
• Transparent—removing boundaries to information, experts and assets, helping people align every action to drive business results.
• Nimble—speeding up business with information and insight to anticipate and address evolving opportunities.

Welcome to a new arena of social that goes beyond the popular microblogs of the day and into a new plateau for business efficiency and consumer value.