BtoB magazine had an excellent Q&A in its Feb. 8 issue about the impact of emerging media on direct marketing. The panelists included Bruce Biegel, managing director, Winterberry Group; Adam Christensen, manager-social media, IBM Corp.; Michael Mendenhall, CMO, Hewlett-Packard Co.; Laura Ramos, VP-principal analyst, Forrester Research; and David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author of “The New Rules of Marketing and

It's been a few days since Undercover Boss (Sundays at 9/8c) aired right after the Super Bowl. We're still a little obsessed with it and like to talk about the show to anyone who will listen.

If you haven't seen it, the premise is simple: The head of a large corporation trades in his suit and tie for a week as he "trains" with several employees in the field (and a documentary crew gets it all on camera). Sunday's

It's the day after the Super Bowl, and the people we follow/read/talk to are discussing the ads more than the game itself. Could that be because we're in PR?

For all the hype--and the expense--the ads were underwhelming. A few were entertaining, a few were emotional, but most were simply forgettable. Worst of all, some were memorable, but we can't remember the brand. 

Here were some of our favorites and the ones

"Freeze! This is the police! You're under arrest! On your knees! Put your hands on top of your head!"

We know the scene too well. Some police officer has finally cornered a suspect after a 10-block chase through the city. It's a staple of every copy show on TV.

Marketing that is designed to interrupt our lives follows the same model.

Sale!

Best interest rate available!

Guaranteed!

We see these

Peter Shankman was the featured speaker at yesterday's NAMA/PRSA meeting in Nashville. Peter is the founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), an e-mail that goes out three times a day to 125,000 subscribers, filled with requests from reporters for sources on whatever story they're working at the moment. We use it to see if our clients would be a good fit for any of the stories and, if so, pitch them.

Peter shared his four rules

Ann Handley is the chief content officer for MarketingProfs, an educational community of more than 350,000 marketing professionals.

Social Media Examiner has a great interview with Ann about how her organization manages employees' social media use.

A couple of the highlights:

• Personal stuff isn't bad. It can humanize a brand. As long as it's relevant.
• It's important for companies to tie social media