One unique point that I haven’t heard over and over again is this:

Users are not interested in talking about products. They are interested in talking about their lives, and products are part of those lives. Build meaningful relationships with your consumers by supporting their needs and understanding your brand’s role in their lives.

I like that last part: understand your brand’s role in their lives.

(via Carly)

Facebook’s Big Changes - “Facebook’s latest round of updates announced this week will affect everyone: marketers, developers, publishers, consumers and anyone else remotely connected to their site and platform. And some of the changes will especially impact marketers.”

(What’s this? Each “Friday links” post contains a summary of the best links that are sent around the agency each week. Some weeks are better than others.)

But half a billion doesn’t seem like so much when it’s compared with the $1.4 billion Microsoft (MSFT) spent in fiscal 2009, or the $811 million Dell (DELL) spent on ads I can’t remember ever seeing.

Yet even if you despise Apple and never use their products, you tend to remember their ads. How does Apple get so much bang from its marketing buck?

The author lists five reasons why he thinks Apple’s advertising is so successful. Of those five, numbers three and four are the most important in my opinion.

Why You Can’t Stop Playing Bejeweled - “Every title has its own secret sauce, but solving the mystery of their deep engagement isn’t as hard as you might think. In fact, it often comes down to six factors.”

City of Los Angeles to use Gmail for all employees - “Because Los Angeles will be among the earliest adopters of the Google system, council members expressed concern that the city might be signing on before Google’s cloud system was fully proven.”

(What’s this? Each “Friday links” post contains a summary of the best links that are sent around the agency each week. Some weeks are better than others.)

We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter…For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times.

You would have to look pretty hard to find another Fortune 500 company that has performed this well in these difficult economic times. Why is Apple succeeding when others aren’t?

Part of it is because they stay true to their brand, to who their customers expect them to be.

It would be easy for Apple to remove features, use cheaper components, and sell products at a lower price. But that’s not who they are. That’s not what their users expect. Their users expect (no, demand) a good user experience. They demand a well built, finely tuned piece of computing hardware.

“But I thought people were tightening their belts and spending less?” They are, but I believe Apple can sidestep this issue for the most part because they have been able to achieve greater perceived value beyond price.

It’s hard to stay true to who you are when times are tough, but as Apple has shown, the rewards can be great.

What you’ll experience are ridiculously good designs. Millions of iterations are folded into what you see. Everything is the product of a million successful tries. The colors and shapes and structures and textures work. If it’s alive it’s good design.

Then look closer. Check out the subtleties. It’s not just green, it’s a dozen shades of green. That red may be orange from a different angle. Then flip it over. There’s a whole new design lesson on the underside.

(via 37Signals)

The Army Experience Center - The Army is rebranding itself for a new generation-and being picketed for enticing kids with violent video games.

(What’s this? Each “Friday links” post contains a summary of the best links that are sent around the agency each week. Some weeks are better than others.)

IBM Study: The end of advertising as we know it - “User-generated advertising is as prevalent (and appealing) as agency-created spots.”

Live Blogging the US Berkeley Media Technology Summit - “While only 8 percent of consumer time is dedicated to reading newspapers, it receives 23 percent of advertising spending, she said. In contrast, 33 percent of media time is spent online, yet only 14 percent of advertising budgets have shifted to the Internet.”

(What’s this? Each “Friday links” post contains a summary of the best links that are sent around the agency each week. Some weeks are better than others.)

Metered broadband is the future - According to Verizon’s CTO at least.

Lessons from The Rocky Mountain News - John Temple, former editor and publisher of The Rocky Mountain News opens the UC Berkeley Media Technology Summit with this presentation (30 minutes).

Responsibility Project - This is an interesting strategic move by Liberty Mutual. They are owning a position on being responsible and what that means.

(What’s this? Each “Friday links” post contains a summary of the best links that are sent around the agency each week. Some weeks are better than others.)