Sleazy Conference Sponsorships

As marketing guy for a leading market research company, I allocate a lot of staff time and resources in matching our executives and leading thinkers with relevant speaking engagements at important industry conferences. It’s usually a fair trade: my company contributes talent, coordination resources and original content to enable the conference to happen; in return, my company receives exposure and conversation with relevant stakeholders.Read the rest

Online Reviews & Half-Truths

Reports like Christopher Elliott’s February 7, 2005 New York Times story – Hotel Reviews Online: In Bed With Hope, Half-Truths and Hype – wrongly pigeonhole valuable online ratings and community sites. Nobody can argue there are bad, disingenuous people online, but this story was at least partly a victim of the cliché trap.… Read the rest