GUEST POST:The following blog post was written by my mate, Ben Ayers, senior factual and new media publicist for ITV. I implore you to read it. It’s very good! You can subscribe to his blog while you’re at it too.

If 2007 is the year of social networking and short form video (think Facebook and Cadbury’s respectively), then 2008 has to be the year of truly creative PR and marketing. Social nets and video, the two cornerstones of the online world have reached a tipping point this year and it’s playtime.

The rise and rise of video on the web has undoubtedly supported the advertising model which has emerged as the victor over subscription, but it’s the social networks that are grabbing all the attention.

Don’t get me wrong. Traditional online advertising has come a long way as it’s evolved and advertisers have listened to users about what they like and more significantly, what they don’t (pop ups with a hidden ‘close’ tab spring to mind). But there is heaps of inventory available for sale on a myriad of sites and although there are good deals to be had for buyers, there is still a feeling that apart from search, it’s a bit like pissing in the wind.

Online advertising isn’t a massive revenue driver for some of the big newspaper and magazine institutions online. They are still in the main supported by the print revenue from their older brothers and sisters, especially in the magazine world. Sadly for them, that continues to be eaten away as audiences migrate online. Those willing to look into the crystal ball and invest in their online offerings will survive. The same applies for television.

Social nets ‘jewel in the crown’ for advertisers and publishers

The good news for marketers and print outlets alike is that social networking offers the real jewel in the crown: the chance to target and understand their potential customers so well that the Sainsbury’s store card suddenly looks like child’s play. Social nets should be a marketing person’s wet dream. When we finally all work out how to work with them.

I believe that survival for many off and online publications will depend on blending the social element with their content. This will be the key to building their revenues. For instance, a women’s magazine with a strong ‘foodie’ leaning will at some point have to decide whether to create a network based around sharing recipes and how to make’ videos and ditch other, less marketable elements of their offering. A successful social network for people into horse riding will quickly overshadow the biggest print horse riding magazine. The potential for targeted advertising is obvious and the money will follow.

It’s these rich relationships that marketers and PR people should be looking to tap into. Great content combined with social networks could see the long tail really start to pay off for everyone.

Outdoor opportunities

Apart from online, the only advertising sector to show significant growth is outdoor which has risen by 33.8% in the six years to 2006. It seems that this medium could work genuinely well with online to create dynamic campaigns. Outdoor is getting exciting, from vibrating posters to runway ads and combined with digital, offers really exciting possibilities. Imagine, for example, if outdoor sites teased up online campaigns with ‘clues’.

The internet has turned marketers into conversationalists and in the extreme, entertainers. We have to come up with better and cleverer ways to get attention and more importantly, hold interest.

Buzzing with the fans

While traditional marketing campaigns still have a place in TV and film, attention is increasingly turning to the bloggers and fanbases to spread the word when it comes to getting ‘down with the kids’.

A great recent example of this new kind of engagement has been Warner Brothers’ elaborate buzz campaign for the new Batman movie Dark Knight.

To drive speculation about who would be playing the joker agency 42Entertainment put a series of election posters for the character Harvey Dent in selected US cities. A teaser site featuring the election poster was launched online and before long there were reports of the posters being defaced with the words ‘I believe in Harvey Dent too!’ and comic stores being littered with playing cards daubed with the same phrase. Fans who typed in ‘ibelieveinharveydenttoo’ were sent to a new site, encouraging them to send off their email address to receive a code which would allow them to gradually reveal a picture of the joker.

Within hours the campaign had created a frenzy of discussion among comic book and superhero fans in forums across the web.

This is the kind of good old fashioned PR stuntery which would have Mark Borkowski tipping his hat.

Regardless of who we are trying to target the online space is easily the most dynamic. It’s up to us, as marketing and PR professionals, to creatively engage. So get out there and play while you still can. In years to come it could be a whole lot different.