In January 2009, the IPA hosted a 44 Club event at the London College of Fashion, entitled "Social Media Futures - The future of advertising and agencies in a networked society."
The event had the potential to be great, and should have been great - unfortunately it wasn't. I blogged about the event and wrote a post which in hindsight I now view as overly harsh, and one that I certainly wouldn't write today.
However, I wasn't the only person who expressed disappointment, with Amelia, John, Robin and Anjali all expressing their views.
To give the IPA massive credit, within 7 days of the event Nigel Gwilliam (Head of Digital at the IPA) was analysing exactly where the IPA went wrong and how the IPA could ultimately deliver what their members wanted.(I should point out that I wasn't and still am not a member of an IPA member agency, which goes someway to why I feel uncomfortable about my original post.)
Nine months later, Nigel has chaired and facilitated a very passionate & talented group of digital communications experts. This "IPA social" group have collaborated to write 10 principles that clients and agencies should bear in mind when developing Social Media campaigns. However, the group are also keen to point out that these principles are starting points for further discussion and are not cast in stone.
Each of the 10 principles are hosted on individual blogs (listed below), with the IPA acting as hub for the IPA Social Project, and everybody is encouraged to read and discuss the principles... after all social media is basically lots of people having conversations online.
Tuesday 6th October sees the IPA host a follow up event - which will see Mark Earls, Neil Perkin and Amelia Torode presenting their views, with Amelia, Katy Lindemann, Asi Sharabi and John Willshire joining in with a panel discussion.
If you're going along then drop me a tweet and say hello - if you cant make it then have a read of the 10 principles and join in the conversation online.
I was full of expectation nine months ago, and once again I'm full of expectation - but I know that these guys will absolutely nail it and add traction to a great debate.
The 10 Principles
1. People not consumers – Mark Earls
2. Social agenda not business agenda – Le’Nise Brothers
3. Continuous conversation not campaigning – John V Willshire
4. Long term impacts not quick fixes – Faris Yakob
5. Marketing with people not to people – Katy Lindemann
6. Being authentic not persuasive – Neil Perkin
7. Perpetual beta – Jamie Coomber
8. Technology changes, people don’t – Amelia Torode
9. Change will never be this slow again – Graeme Wood
10. Measurement – Asi Sharabi

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