We’ve all seen the effects and consequences of a successful social media marketing campaign on the web: Relatively unknown websites melting down their web hosting servers, ordinary people reaching rock-star status overnight (sometimes unwillingly) and new trends becoming mainstream in less than a week.

But what happens when one of Hollywood’s most brilliant minds decides to use social media marketing as the main strategy to promote his upcoming feature film? Enter the secretive world of J.J. Abrams and 01-18-08 (aka Cloverfield / Slusho / Cheese / Chocolate / Overnight). Things are about to get outrageously weird…so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!

Keep reading: Case study: 1-18-08 social media marketing

While doing my weekend rounds searching for interesting stuff in YouTube, I found a couple of fascinating videos that are definitely worth sharing with you today.

Both of these videos are clips from a remarkable TV show that runs in the United Kingdom called “Trick of the mind”. This show features Derren Brown - a true master in psychology, persuasion, hypnosis and magic (an interesting set of skills to say the least). I won’t keep you in suspense about it any longer… take it away Derren:

Keep reading: Hidden commands and NLP - live demo

For the past few days, this fun video has been spreading virally around the web. But there is one very important difference between this and other viral videos: This particular video is part of a carefully planned and brilliantly executed social media marketing campaign by the smart folks over at Connected Ventures (the company behind popular sites like BustedTees and CollegeHumor.)

At first glance it may look like just a fun day at the office, but upon careful inspection, you can see that this seemingly casual video serves various goals for its creators…

Keep reading: Case study: Vimeo social media marketing

Few marketers and copywriters are familiar with the name Edward Bernays. He’s not your average guru. But his work is legendary and even today, we are all affected by his influence without knowing it.

For more than half a century, Bernays (nephew of Sigmund Freud), pioneered the techniques and strategies of shaping and manipulating public opinion. He called his craft “engineering of consent”.

Keep reading: Meet the father of propaganda