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2010 is set to be the year that social media marketing graduates. The year when it will be included, as a matter of course, in 360 communications plans. We have seen many brands in the last year turning to social as an answer to stripped down budgets. And only to be surprised that creating an engaging voice in the social web is not as “free” as first assumed.

The 2010 graduation will bring with it a host of changes - technical, communicative and cultural. All of which will contribute to the marketing mix becoming ever more integrated. However, that true integration is not only dependant on the structure of agencies and businesses but on cementing a true social media approach in both PROs’ and clients’ attitudes.

As the web becomes ever more “real time” the inevitable question is what will happen when it can anticipate our movements, thoughts, feelings and wants before we actually have them. Brian Solis started discussions about the “Predictive Web” this month on his blog, and he may well be hitting on a point of interest for 2010. Services such as PlanCast, that allow us to update followers ahead of time about what we will be up to, are likely to be a focus of 2010 and beyond.

2009 was about getting involved with social media. Many brands were grappling to develop their online presence by tacking social media amplification at the end of a campaign, rather than adopting a fully integrated strategy. 2010 is the year of measurement and social media’s full integration into communication plans.

As users will require ways to access all of the sites they are involved with from one place and manage them all at once. This will lead to the rise in the popularity of lifestreaming tools and the management of online presences.

The popularity of applications, widgets is rising as consumers require easy-to-use tools to navigate the social web. Brands are increasingly likely to adopt this way of interacting with consumers by producing something of use and interest to their customers.

Sending a DM tweet to a contact whilst out for lunch and updating your Facebook status on the way home from work is nothing new. However, the idea of being in contact wherever and whenever is set to reach new heights of popularity this year as more and more people choose internet enabled mobile devices for staying connected 24/7 with GPS and location based capabilities to tie into new services such as Four Square.

We are incredibly passionate about the campaigns we are involved in and our hard work and dedication, going hand in hand with our innovative and dynamic clients, has resulted in a fruitful 2009. In no particular order, here are the top client campaigns that have excited us, inspired us, and achieved fantastic results:

Barbie’s 50th birthday broadcast project (Mattel)

2009 marked the 50th birthday of the world’s favourite doll and Mattel asked Ogilvy PR London to help kick off the party in Europe with a big bang at the International Toy Fair, Nuremberg in February  this year. We combined visually compelling broadcast content with innovative digital tools, including a social media press release, to provide the media around the world with an engaging story package of Barbie’s birthday.

Future Focus digital campaign (IBM)

Ogilvy PR supported the series of ‘IBM Future Focus’ events for mid-market businesses through a social media campaign. This campaign was a first for IBM in the UK, bringing together social media interaction, video content creation and live publishing across multiple platforms. Through a programme of harnessing key influencers to contribute to the content, and integrating social media in to the onsite activities, through video, live blogging and micro blogging, IBM was able to bring an audience with relatively low social media engagement into the heart of a social campaign.

Corporate digital survey project (LexisNexis)

In order to raise the profile of information service provider LexisNexis as a corporate sponsor of the Online Information 2009 event, a survey was conducted examining people’s perceptions of the importance and influence of online information in determining their purchasing decisions.  The survey results served to establish LexisNexis as a thought leader in the online social media space. We achieved positive coverage across multiple outlets, such as Brand Republic.

Rightmove iPhone app launch (2Ergo)

This trade campaign for mobile technology provider 2ergo involved working with a select number of key online influencers, technology press and mobile analysts to give them a preview of the product before it went live at an exclusive event. We also created a YouTube channel to host video content.  As a result of the coverage generated about and the app, the Rightmove iPhone app shot up to first place on the UK downloads chart within days of its release. You can view some selected trade press articles on the Mobile Choice and IT Pro websites.

The Brazilian food journey campaign (Brazilian tourist board Embratur)

The campaign aimed to endorse Brazil as a tourist destination via one of its most unique cultural offerings; its food. We invited a restaurant reviewer to experience the Brazilian restaurant scene at first hand by setting up a trip to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with an itinerary that took in a mixture of top-end restaurants, markets, juice bars and bakeries in order to show the full spectrum of Brazilian eating. As a result of the press trip to Brazil, coverage was generated in the Financial Times, Guardian online and Evening Standard twice.

The examples above provide a small insight into the type of work we have been involved in during 2009.  Here’s to what promises to be a fantastic 2010!

Hot on the heels of the recent launch of OgilvyEarth, our sister sustainability practice, we’ve commissioned a study about businesses’ and consumers’ current views on CSR commitment. What it shows us is that regardless of the fears in the business community, consumers’ loyalty to ethical and social issues is holding up during the recession. We believe that now is the opportunity for business leaders to prove that they’re sincere and truly committed to CSR promises. 

In partnership with research firm Populus we’ve interviewed over 2,000 British opinion formers and consumers. An overwhelming majority of those business leaders (67 per cent to be precise) see trust in companies’ CSR issues as a key aspect for corporate success. At the same time, over a third of business leaders think that companies, which scale back on CSR during the economic downturn, will regret the decision come the recovery.

The survey results also prove that recession has done little to curb consumer demand for products with social and environmental credentials. Nearly 40 per cent of consumers are actually more concerned with environmental and social issues than they were before the recession began. There is also a growing trend to put business under more scrutiny. Some 29 per cent of consumers admit to paying more attention now to a product’s environmental and social credentials compared with 12 months ago.

In our view one possible victim of the recession is consumer trust in businesses’ commitment to sticking to their word on sustainability. Surprisingly enough, only one third of consumers expressed confidence in UK companies to remain committed to their social and environmental promises.

To see what the papers and trade’s have being saying about this check out the Financial Times,  The Independent, PR Week or UTalkMarketing.