Digital Digest: What Edelman Canada is reading in digital marketing, technology and strategy. Fresh links served up Fridays.

Nearly three years ago, Mark Hendrickson left his day job to found Plancast, a social network that helps friends share their plans and get together in real life. Unfortunately, user adoption was slow and it never achieved the needed critical mass. Mark’s detailed and loving post-mortem on Plancast (see last item) is a reminder that despite our best intentions communities sometimes fail.

Increasingly communicators and marketers are engaging directly with customers to create passionate communities around their products, services and a shared vision. But as Mark learned, the threat of community failure is never that far away. This week’s edition of Edelman Canada’s Digital Digest examines communities that failed to thrive, or that hurt the brand rather than help it. Read more »

January 27, 2012 by Matthew Hayles in Digital Digest, Our Ideas | 0 comments

Earlier this week, Edelman released the global findings from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer – the 12th year of the firm’s annual trust and credibility survey.  Next week, we’ll unveil Canada-specific findings at our launch event at Toronto’s Windsor Arms hotel.

I’m confident that it will be a great discussion – our global CEO Richard Edelman, will host a panel of industry-leading experts, including former Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, Heart and Stroke Foundation CEO David Sculthorpe, Globe and Mail media reporter Steve Ladurantaye and Executive Director, Schulich Executive Education Centre, Alan Middleton.  John Clinton, our Canadian CEO, will act as moderator.

Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of shifts in trust around the world – from the rising influence of NGOs, to trust as an essential line of business, to the rise of authority figures.   Yet regardless of the results, one question tends to come up each year:  why does trust matter  – and what is the true connection between trust and reputation? Read more »

January 26, 2012 by Lisa Kimmel in Our Ideas | 0 comments