A PR or Advertising person attending Internet Week walks into a bar…. No, it’s not necessarily a joke that requires a fill-in-the-blank answer.

There were many of us PR/Advertising-savvy types at Internet Week (#IWNY), and after the sessions and panels had wrapped, many of us did continue our networking and socializing at the bar parties afterwards. Need proof? Checked Twitpic or Facebook lately?

All kidding aside, there were some rather serious business-oriented lessons to be had from this year’s Internet Week. I’ll share a few of those with you here, keeping with a “bar” theme. (I’ll take some poetic license with the “bar” thing, so just work with me here, OK?)

“Bar” #1: Storytelling, Humor and “Touchy-Feely” Moves to B2B

It’s very clear at this point that “THE BAR IS RAISED” regarding engaging in an effective and relevant way via social media, and that’s no longer limited to B2C companies, but also B2Bs as well. After all, companies are made up of people, and those people have emotions that (whether they are conscious of it or not) are driving many decisions. At Internet Week, there was great emphasis on using strategies in corporate communication efforts that only a few years ago, some might have dismissed as too “touchy-feely” for business.

This year amongst business types, there seemed to be an increased appreciation and perceived business value for reaching out for that emotional connection. There were many mentions of “storytelling”, both auditory and visual, within a corporate context. There were a lot of discussions about how “humor” is important and can not only help connect with an audience, but also may help a brand diffuse a situation if there is some unwanted brand-mocking going on.

“Bar” #2: There’s a Social Media Strategy for Every Business (You Just Have  to Figure it Out)

“BAR NONE”, today’s companies, B2C or B2B, can certainly benefit from some type of social media presence. Of course, you didn’t really need to attend Internet Week to know this, but it was certainly reinforced as to how many different shapes, flavors, and textures that social media presence can have and that there is a strategy out there that will be a good fit, if only you just dedicate some time to figure that out. There are so many options, formats and mediums available when it comes to social media, and a much larger price to pay in abstaining. Authenticity resonates, so it’s also important, whatever the approach/strategy, that the social media presence be true to the “voice” of the company/brand.

“Bar” #3: Messages have to Be Crafted With Two-Way Communications in Mind

“DON’T BAR-K”. (OK, so “bar” is in there. It counts!) This year’s Internet Week attendees realize that the era when only one-way communication was sufficient is over.  Barking at people about what your company feels is important with timing of your company’s choosing will no longer cut it. Companies can still craft messages, but that they also need to listen, engage, and do it all in a timely, relevant manner. Just as it wouldn’t be a good idea to crash a bar party and thrust your business cards into everyone’s hands suddenly without an introduction and some conversation, this holds true for today’s online business presence as well. Also, timing is important. Even if you love animals, if you’re not expecting a dog to bark, and he does suddenly, it can be startling. If in real estate, it’s “location, location, location”, then in social media it’s “timing, timing, timing”. People and companies are surely more receptive when the timing is right.

Hope these 3 “bar” tips I’ve shared here are helpful and satisfying. Speaking of satisfying, all this “bar” talk is making me crave a bar of a different kind. (Hmm. Should I go with milk or dark?) It must be Internet Week sweets truck withdrawal.

-Stephanie Grayson (@Critiques4Geeks)

Stephanie Grayson is an experienced corporate communications professional in New York who sometimes guest-blogs on PR and Advertising when cool people ask her to.

• Ben Edwards, VP, Digital Strategy & Development, IBM
• Noah Elkin, Senior Analyst, eMarketer
• James Gross, Vice President, Federated Media
• Marc-Henri Magdelenat, Director, Microsoft Mobile Media

All of the panelists had really interesting perspectives and insight on mobile marketing. Some of the key takeaways:

• The mobile web will be more pervasive than desktop computing by 2015.
• The panelists all agreed that while we have been hearing that this year is the year of mobile marketing for the past ten years, this year is really the year—and here’s why—the audience is there now. We have reached the tipping point due to critical mass of active users. Marketers are always looking to reach audiences where they are; and their mobile now.
• How people interact with their mobile devices is different than any other platform. It’s a more personal experience; their interactions are based on personal preference. This creates a more fragmented audience and as a result, mobile campaigns must be more targeted.
• In the next year there will be a significant increase in mobile commerce, along with a much richer browser experience due to innovations included in HTML5.

The net-net of this discussion is that if you’re not integrating mobile into your marketing campaigns by now, you’re missing the boat. What do you think? Do you see the value in creating mobile marketing campaigns? Are you integrating mobile components into overall communications plans?

I liked most of the ads. In 30 seconds, most of them did a good job of message, branding, creativity, and resonating with the audience.

My #1 favorite: Pedigree Crazy Pets. It just made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

There was a strong tie between Pepsi and Coca Cola. I thought they both did an amazing job and didn’t disappoint.

The worst ads, in my opinion, were for cars and, well, its a trade off between Acura and Cadillac.

There was the usual“What was that?” ad. For me, it was The ladders. So what was that? Not sure…

Send me your thoughts

I was agreeing with his sentiments…

Then just yesterday, Spencer Spinnell, director of Google Print Ads, posted a blog that Google is discontinuing its print ad sales program for newspapers on Feb 28 – a program that includes no less than…800 U.S. newspapers!

Spinnell says Google will continue to devote a team of people to look at how they can help newspaper companies. That’s nice. Maybe open a museum?

“It is clear that the current Print Ads product is not the right solution, so we are freeing up those resources to try to come up with new and innovative online solutions that will have a meaningful impact for users, advertisers and publishers.”

Can you imagine a world with no more newspapers? I’m not sure that will happen. But I do see a trend here. I think this industry is going to shrink enormously in the next few years, especially if more companies like Google start pulling their advertising dollars. And I’m sure they will.

You probably already know about Airborne’s great immune system supporting formula. Now, to help Spread Airborne to the people you care about, we’ve come up with a really fun way to deliver a free sample.

We invite you to visit SpreadAirborne.com. There, you’ll meet Sebastian – a romance novel hero whose long flowing locks won’t get in the way of his unwavering mission to deliver a free Airborne sample to whomever you think needs it most.

So if you know a busy mom, a soccer mom or even a Mr. Mom whose immune system could use a little help during this back to school season, please visit SpreadAirborne.com.

Um…what??

I’ll leave the snarky commentary to the professionals. Let me just say that, with Microsoft’s announcement that the Jerry Seinfeld campaign is about to be 86′d, those looking for a new set of baffling advertising creative to deconstruct should be pleased. Very pleased.

A great article in USA TODAY covers the arena and the players well:

McDonald’s spent zero on digital marketing at the 04 Games, this year 10% of its Olympic budget went to new media. Kleenex: 30%. Coke: 50%. And Speedo: 100% of its budget went to online social media channels this Olympics.
Nike, Lenovo, GE, Bank of America and Johnson & Johnson are all on board with their initiatives as well. Incredible.

Get this: Millions of Americans will watch the Olympics but never turn on a TV set. The Beijing Games is the first Olympics ever where up to 5% of the viewers will watch their Olympic coverage via personal computers or mobile phones.
I think probably even more…

We can see the advertising game plan is changing. Budgets have shifted tremendously from traditional advertising media to digital online outreach that impacts and engages the hip, trendsetting and very important 18-26 age group. From Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogging to mobile phones, all the “social networking” avenues are being covered. Millions of people are being touched and drawn in with online games, videos, blogging and mobile pushes. And getting the Olympic players involved has been key to making it so much more touchy and feely, giving this the adrenaline rush it needs to make it spiral and viral.

This is exciting. And its the tip of the iceberg for advertising to come…

With its roster of esteemed judges, the ACE Awards are considered to be one of the industry’s best creative awards, and this year set an all-time record, with 436 entries from across the U.S. and from as far away as Australia.

You can view all the categories and the winning campaigns. The categories really span the entire marketing spectrum: Integrated marketing, print, online, rich media, website, broadcast video, TV and radio, direct mail, promo materials, event marketing, branding, and PR.

I always find it really interesting to look at these campaigns and to see what the winning agencies, big and small, are producing. It’s a great benchmark.

Enjoy!

Delivermagazine.com is the companion website to the magazine, and is even more resourceful. Both always cover some aspect of direct mail (of course), but do a great job of embracing traditional and new media channels with research, news, case studies and video clips. And by the way, back issues of Deliver magazine are all archived on the website.

Not only is the content well worth reading, but the visual aspect of the magazine (especially) and the website, are just impressive and attractive.

Its well worth subscribing to the magazine (free) as well as getting email updates.

Kudos to USPS for an inspiring magazine and website!

Just to give you an idea of topics, here are some charts that they have sent out recently that I found interesting:
- Why You Must Pay More Attention to Your ‘About Us’ Page . Open access until July 3rd
- Should Tech Marketers Hide Prices? (access passed)
- Tech Buyers Don’t Always Tell the Truth on Registration Forms (access passed)
- Display Ads Do Work — And They’re Getting Better (access passed)

If you haven’t subscribed to this yet, I recommend it.
Here’s the link to subscribe

Arrington’s frustrating customer service phone calls that-get-nowhere with Comcast lead him to tweet and then blog about his frustration. Read it, it’s great.

But if Comcast has not wisened up to improve their customer service department, they have cleverly entered the social media realm and have appointed a specific person to monitor and track the “tweetosphere” and “blogsphere” to see what customers are saying, to communicate with them and take action.

So this CTO (Chief Twitter Officer, I love that term) guy caught Arrington’s tweet and within 20 minutes he got a call from Comcast who sent a team to Arrington’s house to fix his Internet connection. Viola!

How cool. I don’t know about you – I suspect your experiences may be pretty similar – but I have spent hours on many exasperating customer service calls to Verizon, Optimum, HP, Dell (to name a few) with a person who is either not qualified or knowledgeable enough to help me, or there is a communication gap between us, and understanding each other is quite a feat (thanks to the glories of global call center outsourcing). The problem can takes days to get sorted out.

And what d’ya know? Arrington’s story snowballed from a small Twitter tweet into a huge online conversation. Jeff Jarvis from Technorati Buzz Machine blog, the Techmeme blog and all Arrington’s other influential tech buddies picked up on this and, of course, blogged.

The story is also nicely covered in Catharine Taylor’s blog in the SocialMedia Insider.

So, corporations: Take note and prick up your ears, be proactive and jump into the social media world. This just may be the most burgeoning and powerful (and probably the cheapest) tool to:

(a) Communicate with your customers
(b) Mitigate negative PR
(c) Increase your branding
(d) Advertise
(e) Grow your business
(f) Improve customer support and satisfaction
(g) All of the above

Need I say more?

Well, I think I’m gonna be tweeting from now on – good and bad – on my next Verizon/Optimum/HP/Dell experience.

Maybe I’ll finally get some service. Although, granted, I’m not Michael Arrington…