Hey there! So I really wanted to add the Something Borrowed option too, but couldn’t think of anything, so the three in the title will have to do. So… It’s been a little quiet here last week, since Kevin Green’s great guest post about LinkedIn (and if you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing a great ongoing discussion in the comments). But there’s a good reason for that, which is where the Something New and Something Old part comes in….

For me, the best marketing or advertising success stories are exactly that – real stories. People connect with people, and that’s when the magic happens. Sure, brands and products are important – but if you don’t touch that inner emotion that takes a potential customer from intent to the buying trigger, then you won’t get the sale, simple as. Israeli creative agency smoyz clearly understand this, as their recent Facebook campaign for Kleenex shows. The goal was simple – to…

I just wanted to say thank you for reading, commenting and making this blog better. While I may write, you make the magic happen in the comments and social conversations elsewhere – and I’m so grateful for that. Here’s to more of the same in 2012 and beyond – let’s continue to grow together. Personally and professionally, let’s make 2012 the year that we truly come together and make all the real magic happen. In the meantime… this is for…

Take a look at the video at the end of this post. It’s a fan-made homage to the band Dashboard Confessional and their song So Long, So Long. There’s nothing special about it. It’s a simple piece of video, made with Windows Movie Maker then put up on Youtube for the creator’s friends to see. And yet… Its simplicity is also its strength. The mood and pace of the video complement the song perfectly, and doesn’t take away from the song itself. There are no…

This is a guest post by Bruce Aristeo. It was late, and after a long day I stretched out my arms, took a deep breath, and let out a huge sigh. My hands reached out and I began clicking, swiping, and typing as my shoulders curled inward around my chest as if humped over in pain. My eyes were focusing and scanning the screen, my receptors acting as the light on a copy machine, pin-pointing each pixel and assigning the…

A lot of people continue to talk about Klout and whether it’s something to take note of, or simply another tool that’s fun to use but doesn’t offer real value. Personally, I’m in the second camp. Probably because I don’t feel you can measure influence purely by what you do online, and most definitely because there are so many variations that make up a single decision that – to me – it’s impossible to say what influenced that decision the…

Jodi’s Voice was set up out of tragedy. It was named after Jodi Sanderholm, who was murdered by a stalker that had been watching her for ten years. Jodi was only 19 when she died – which meant she had been watched by her killer since she was only nine years old. Sadly, this is commonplace among stalking victims. Many victims begin being stalked when they are young. In Canada, for example, 11% of women aged 15 and older have been stalked….

There’s a lot of buzz online at the minute about a video doing the rounds from U.K. online content specialists Purplefeather. In the video (seen below), a blind beggar is struggling to get people to put money in his tin. They see him, but most walk by. Then a girl walks by, sees the man, looks at his sign and has a brainwave (I won’t spoil it in case you haven’t seen the video yet). It’s this action, and the…

Over at Bonsai Interactive Marketing, we’re helping Toronto-based insurance broker The Shepherd Group (TSG) redefine the insurance industry. Led by owner Neil Shepherd, TSG aims to be different from your usual run-of-the-mill insurance company. Traditionally a very stuffy and old boys school industry, Neil wants TSG to lead insurance into a more modern approach. This takes in buying insurance online (still a relative novelty in Canada) to how the insurance industry uses social media and online marketing, to connecting with…

A lot of people say there’s no value to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, etc, and that it’s just a bunch of losers sharing what they had for breakfast. To anyone that says that, this video is for them. My sincere thanks to everyone who’s stepped forward and shown that the human race is still an amazing one. Thank you. If you can help Kira, please connect with her on Twitter at @ksiddall. This post contains a video. If you…