Three rocks. Three different stories. The secret of branding is revealed. "Open your mind to your brand's stories, don't discard them. Reveal them, strengthen them, and allow them to define your brand's identity," explains Martin Lindstrom, recognized as one of the world's primary on- and offline branding gurus. He shares his ideas on how to simplify and strengthen the brand building process. (more)

IMG Notebook:
Online Points To Ponder

• The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced that Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of $3.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006. The 2006 first quarter revenues represent a 38 percent increase over Q1 2005 at $2.8 billion and a 6 percent increase over Q4 2005 total at $3.6 billion.
• Visitation to blogs continues to grow rapidly, showing a 56-percent increase during the past year to 58.7 million visitors. This figure represents 34 percent of the total internet audience according to recent comScore data.
  
• Looking to the future? According to a study released this week by Experience, four in 10 students spend at least 10 hours a week online. Forty-three percent of respondents said they go online at least 10 hours a week, while 31 percent spend between six and 10 hours a week online and 19 percent visit the Web for three to five hours a week. By contrast, just 17 percent said they watch TV more than 10 hours a week, and a mere 1 percent spend 10 hours a week reading magazines or newspapers.

David Baker is so tired of "tactical list of things you must do to produce a good newsletter". In this column he takes a more strategic approach by analyzing the three factors necessary for any successful newsletter program: value exchange, audience type, and the editorial process. The clients that think he's making things too complicated often come back two or three months down the road asking for help in optimizing permission, content, design, measurement. Maybe his approach isn't too complicated after all. (more)

Greetings!

Welcome to the IMG Roundup e-newsletter. Created by Julie Clark, IMG Roundup is a resource of Integrated Media Group, providing pro audio marketing professionals with links to valuable articles directly related to their own online marketing programs and efforts.