You’d think big firms would have cottoned on to online etiquette in the 21st century.  Here’s a global clothing retailer that may have used a Kiwi designer’s online work without permission on their t-shirts (as covered on TVNZ’s Close-Up show). If that’s the case, shame on you, H&M!

The beauty of the internet is that it is easy to find great work online; and it’s just as easy to get in touch with the owner of the work and collaborate with them with beneficial results for everyone. Not in this case, it would appear.

Twitter - the microblog service where each post can only be a max of 140 characters - is getting hugely popular, even though many people are still working out just how to benefit from it.  This article shows some real world Twitter uses that are getting good PR and customer service results for the U.S company involved.

With some mildly, soft-core bedroom scenes, including one with her gay male friend from New Zealand, the thinly disguised auto-biographical (reportedly), online novel by Moscow expat, American lawyer Deirdre Dare, and her see-through lingerie photos, have taken Ms Dare to centre stage in the world’s mainstream media. Personal branding sent viral to the max.

Here’s her website. Good luck, Ms Dare.

The government’s ‘tough guys’ image seen in John Key’s handshaking with a broken hand of 120 rugby league players (see yesterday’s post) has been boosted by social development minister Paula Bennett’s successful intervention recently in a teenaged girls’ street brawl.

Whether this impromptu ’street-wise’ branding will serve them well going forward remains to be seen.  But it’s certainly a positive look in what it says about the minister as a person and perhaps a signpost towards the government’s intentions towards its proposed ‘boot camp’ youth policies.

New prime minister John Key has been somewhat missing-in-action since coming to office in November but it has been interesting to watch the media ruckus over his broken right arm and the repeating of the fact that Mr Key shook hands with 120 rugby league players soon after breaking his arm and before getting medical treatment.  A nice bit of mythology in the making.

Some good thoughts here from Beth Harte on the links and separations between PR and marketing; and where social media fits into the mix; and why the term ’social media marketing’ may be a bit of a tangle of concepts.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Have a relaxing break and see you in 2009. Facttactic will be back in action in early January, and I look forward to seeing you then.

Adam