In the early days of my marketing career, I spent a fair amount of time both in front of, and behind, focus group room mirrors, leading or observing consumers play a brand personification game.  The game is simple: the moderator provides the name of a brand.  The consumers create a profile — using words, photos or other prompts to represent the brand as a person — complete with gender, … Read more

That’s what almost 400 attendees learned at social media blog Mashable’s first Social Good Conference at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan last Friday.  The conference closed out Mashable’s Summer of Social Good initiative to raise $35,000 via social media for the Humane Society of the United States, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Oxfam, and LIVESTRONG.

Instead, presenters from these four organizations, along with Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg, non-profit … Read more