Summary
This report offers a theory of marketing from Lenovo, an electronics firm, which suggests that, following the digital revolution, consumers have evolved from friendly and obedient "dogs" to finicky "cats" in terms of how they respond to marketing. Issues covered by the presentation include proper use of crowdsourcing, increasing personalisation in communications, and measuring engagement as a way of determining ultimate ROI. Brands cited as positive examples of appealing to "cats" are Oreo, Hippo, Volkswagen and Expedia.

Summary
The role of consumer co-creation in developing multi-market Asian brands is the focus of this paper. It focuses on a co-creation project undertaken by Mizone, a beverage brand that has grown strongly in the APAC region, with an independent brand voice in different Asian markets. The key business challenge for Mizone was to develop a consistent, but differentiated, brand voice and vision that worked across markets, supported the growth of the brand and was relevant to consumers. It achieved this through a research process involving ethnography, online communities and co-creation workshops. Using this process, the authors argue, helped to root the brand vision and purpose in consumer truth and allowed Mizone to rapidly test and re-iterate the activations and articulations of the brand vision in real time.

Summary
Philips, the domestic appliance and personal care company, wanted to identify, understand and assist its most enthusiastic customers - "superpromoters" - in India. Philips is used as a case study to illustrate how superpromoters can help a brand grow in terms of revenue and reputation; can motivate employees; can help a brand make strategic and tactical decisions; are ideal co-creators. The authors found most companies don't have much information on their most enthusiastic customers, hence they suffer superpromoter blindness. The study encourages more brands to engage with and listen to their superpromoters.

Summary
This article discusses many of the core trends which defined South by Southwest Interactive 2013. Wearable technology, exemplified by Google Glass and Nike's FuelBand, was one notable hot topic, working alongside the advent of voice-recognition tools like Apple's Siri and motion-sensor technology such as Leap Motion to close the gap between the digital and physical worlds. The crowdsourcing initiatives of PepsiCo and Lego, and personalisation efforts of platforms like Foursquare, also show consumers are becoming more empowered, and that these companies are starting to find innovative ways through the chaos unleashed by the forces of digital.

Summary
In this article, executives from LEGO discuss its successful Cuusoo online crowdsourcing platform, which has helped the company create several new products by successfully engaging with the community it knows as AFOLs - or "Adult Fans of Lego". Digital leaders at PepsiCo and Frito-Lay also outline their own strategies in this space, including attempts to prepare for any undesirable repercussions resulting from attempts to connect with consumers in this way.

Summary
While consumer participation online has increased, the creation of original content is still scarce and it can be difficult for marketers to get online consumers to create for brands rather than around them. This article suggests that online consumers can be separated into three pools that will each interact with a brand differently: Creators (scarcest), Brand Enthusiasts and Spectators (the majority). Creators can be reached to generate novel ideas and original content, Enthusiasts play an important role in refining and spreading them, while Spectators validate and will ultimately form the largest purchase group. Included is a case study from SFR, the French telecommunications company, of how this works in practice.

Summary
There are new tools and services that marketers should become more familiar with in 2013. Crowd-sourcing tools, such as Zoopa, are going to become more popular. Samsung used Zoopa to find bloggers for its Global Blogger Olympic campaign. Also in this space is Scoopshot, a photographic community, originally used by media owners to provide front-page photos. Real-time data tools, such as Quantcast, will prosper and will allow brands to target their online advertising to niche audiences using sophisticated algorithms. And brands using real-world tools to enable consumers to customise and enhance their original products, in the way that Disney World embraced 3D printing to boost its Disney Princess doll offering.

Summary
Digital media is key for reaching new car buyers in India, but with the array of information already on offer, this digital content must also be engaging at every level of interaction. Grey Digital India had this in mind when it was tasked with launching the new Volkswagen Jetta. It targeted its audience with the mantra of 'maximum knowledge, minimum effort', using various social media channels. First, it wanted to offer its target audience the opportunity to 'test-drive' the new model from the comfort of their own homes and did this with the development of a dedicated YouTube channel. It then essentially made the audience advertise the car themselves via the launch of a Twitter campaign, which showcased the extremes they would go to drive the new Jetta.

Summary
This presentation addresses how brands can build research communities through social media. It looks at what works and what doesn’t, and provides case studies into how social media communities are currently being used to move beyond buzz towards deeper insights for brands, products and communication. Future opportunities for realising social media's full potential for customer understanding are looked into, including uses of the image-sharing website, Pinterest.

Summary
This presentation from Starcom MediaVest looks at how advertising planning has evolved over time and how in turn, measurement of its results has also changed. It suggests ways for keeping up with the rapid pace of change in research tools and techniques and also looks at managing the challenge of cost, speed and accuracy to make the most of research budgets. Looking ahead, ways of incorporating next generation approaches into the research mix are suggested. An example from Coca-Cola is included.