We Are Q Inc.

The power of the digitally connected community is great. Marketers are understanding that consumers and their connected communities select and favour the products and brands that are engaged in the most relevant dialogue with them. So, before a marketer can engage with an influencer, they first need to identify who those influencers are. To satisfy [...]

Brainstorming as we know it – is the harvesting of ideas (good and bad) through a non-threatening, non-critical dump of ideas by a group. Right? In the early 50′s, Alex Osborn of BBDO popularized Brainstorming in his surprise best selling book Your Creative Power. His ideas have permeated popular culture and even given rise to institutions like [...]

                    Online advertising is great. It built the Internet. Online advertising mimed the TV broadcast model. We can thank online ads for the freemium model. The problem is, online advertising’s best before date is immanent. Even Google thinks so! On January 19th, 2012 Google announced a [...]

I’m excited to be moderating the Social Commerce panel at nextMEDIA conference in Toronto, December 6th, 2011. Post your questions to @marinamann We have a superb panel line up and what promises to be a heated discussion on social commerce including a few case studies, insights and strong opinions. Social Commerce, The New Normal Influence Economy  [...]

Marcel LeBrun from Radian6 describes his perspective on the consumer-ization of everything and the brand conversations that are happening. A few key principals from the video worth noting include the notion that Social Media has moved from a crisis tool to an amazing media to where brands can have real conversations with customers. Marketers have reached a common understanding [...]

Getting small businesses to spend money on advertising is hard work. Since its launch in 2008, Groupon has built a multi-billion dollar business doing it. However, despite the media and business success-stories, many small businesses and customer have surfaced detailed horror stories. Victims of their own group-selling success, some small business owners are no longer interested [...]

Innovation isn’t that complicated when you think about it. You could say, innovation is taking complicated business processes and reducing them to simple concepts. Google search – a blank page with a search box; Groupon – get your friends together to take advantage of a good deal (and take a big bite out of the [...]

As the effects of the recession roll into year four -  relief is in sight:  2010 holiday online spending grew substantially over an abysmal 2009 of eCommerce revenues. Nevertheless, it’s increasingly clear to Marketers that lifestyle and behaviour changes born of economic abundance and endless borrowing have translated into values of thrift, and conscious choices [...]