Now it is hard not to share these statistics without at least commenting on the challenges that traditional publishers face. I like to believe that this shift does not mean that print is dead by any means. Rather the measurability of online media and the maturing of it as an advertising medium is driving the increased spending. Furthermore, the interactivity that comes with social media and the ability to build deeper relationships with customers (beyond the actual ad unit) is heavily influencing how marketers allocate their budgets. Not to mention that some advertisers may feel they are getting better value for money too.

I believe print will always have an important place. We do still like magazines even if we don't like paying for them. After all, it is the print publications that do a lot to build their digital brands too. Nevertheless, it is a watershed moment. I do wonder how much money has moved away from traditional publishers to new digital only publishers. It is one thing if the $$ is going from Wired Magazine's print edition to its online version. It is something else if a lot of that money is going to the likes of Gizmodo who don't have any print equivalents.

Few people know that I spent a lot of time last year working with a client to help launch a new business, develop its first product and market it. That business was Bundle Corporation and their first product launched at the end of January. So much time on it that for a while I worried my son's first word would be "Bundle"!

It has been an exhilarating experience working in a semi-startup environment (the company was incubated within Razorfish with the idea originating out of Citibank) and running the product and marketing functions while the company extended its management team. Being deeply involved in all parts of the business from concept to testing working with some incredibly talented leaders both on the Bundle Corporation and the Razorfish side made it very special.

With the first product out (not surprisingly it is social to the core embodying many of the core principles that I advocate everyday) and a story in Adweek that talks of the Razorfish relationship, I can discuss this work more now. Watch the space as I peal the onion and discuss the fascinating social product that Bundle is. I'll also discuss how agencies like Razorfish are providing digital business transformation services with Chief Innovation Officers and Chief Executive Officers as our core clients. More to come. And in the meantime, read the Fast Company coverage of Bundle and watch Robert Scoble's interview with the CEO of Bundle. 

Social influence marketing (SIM) campaigns achieve success in the long term. Here are some tips that will help your SIM campaign flourish during its lifespan:

There's no question that Toyota is in deep trouble with its current recall crisis. But could these issues actually be helping its brand? Shockingly, an analysis of Toyota shows that its Social Influence Marketing (SIM) Score shows this. Who'd have thought that a crisis of such significant magnitude could actually help a brand's perception? This seems to be true, at least in the short term, even though sales may be dropping. Let me explain how.

I truly believe that every chief marketing officer is going to need to become more of a chief technology officer in tomorrow's world. Those that don't will struggle (as my CEO once said). Here's a deck created using Prezi (a novel cloud computing based presentation solution) highlighting some of the key take aways.

  You can also view the report in its entirety. I co-authored the first piece titled, "Social Brands are Enabled through Cloud Services and Distributed Application Technologies" with the Razorfish CTO, Ray Velez.

Marketing via social media means marketing directly to influencers -- rather than just consumers. And social influence marketing (SIM) requires a whole new game plan. Establish your SIM campaign with these tips in mind: