“Connection” is the latest buzzword being thrown around these days. Depending on what type of “expert” you’re listening to, this simply means some form of social media, pay-per-click, search, syndicated content and video.

People don’t go online looking for a brand’s message. They’re usually there to find a solution to a problem, be entertained or just hang out with their friends. People online care less about an ad and more about what their friends think!

Hallelujah! Brands are finally waking up to the realization that relevant, authentic content is something worth investing in. We’ve been talking to ourselves about this for years and I’m happy to report that we’re now getting traction with a lot of brands around this idea.

Don’t take my word for it! Check out P&G’s Ted McConnell’s comments on adage.

And if you really want to see the power of social media conquering brand messages that don’t resonate well, read this article about how an LA blogger and Twittering mom took down a Motrin ad in 48 hrs.

Look out for tons of new things from Indusblue in this last quarter of ‘08 and throughout ‘09. I won’t give away too many secrets, but let’s just say we’re working on something big!

I stumbled on the very wonderfully designed website of my local grocery store chain Sobeys today and was pleasantly surprised by how well it was designed. Grocery shopping for me is like shoe shopping for many women, I’ll treat myself to a Whole Foods once in a way but for me grocery therapy is perfect after a stressful day of work and kids.

In any case I wondered what a grocery store could offer online. And looking past the very slick design, I didn’t find a whole lot of substance beyond recipes, that I would otherwise find at Food Network or another trusted source. In fact, one of the biggest things missing in my opinion was any kind of Social Media integration, no comments, favouriting, community of any sort. Where there was an opportunity for creating a real dialog with the consumer the slick site really doesn’t deliver for me.

Another thing that goes beyond the site design and functionality is the brand new rewards program that they offer called Club Sobeys. One point for ever full dollar you spend. Not bad I guess but the obvious question is how much is a point worth, so I dug deeper. The answer completely turned me off. The feature product that you can redeem points for is a much sought after Kitchen Aid stand mixer redeemable for a whopping 69,000 points. So do the math, if you spend around $400 in groceries a month, that is about $4800 a year. So to get that stand mixer I’d have to shop at Sobeys for 14 years. Forget that.

I wish I found this earlier I would have convinced my wife not to spend the $20 to join Club Sobeys, definitely not worth the money.

Movements cannot be created. They are the result of like-minded individuals energized and organized into one big community. Movements can, however, be encouraged and there is one happening in Canada right now called Hockeyville, and it has taken on a life of its own.

If you’re not familiar with the Kraft Hockeyville campaign, a quick survey of the website, www.cbc.ca/hockeyville, will show you just how powerful a well conceived Web 2.0 campaign can be - 640 Canadian cities and towns, hundreds of thousands of passionate supporters, 50 Facebook groups, municipal and provincial politicians taking shots at each other and their towns and regular coverage on local newscasts across all networks. This was not all part of a master plan but the phenomenal by-product of a great campaign architecture, and it’s the stuff of dreams for Kraft, the campaign’s key sponsor.

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