Social media accelerated the protest-to-revolution lifecycle. Now some in Egypt seem to be turning to social media to accelerate the lifecycle from revolution to a return to normalcy.

Back during the height of the protests in Egypt, Fast Company wrote about how social media was accelerating the pace of revolution. Now it looks like activists in Egypt are turning to social media to accelerate the next phase of revolution: the return to normalcy. A video was posted to YouTube Thursday called “From Egypt with Love,” which seems to be trying to encourage tourists, and possibly business people as well, to look at the Middle East with fresh eyes.

Not sure if it’s the decade change or a mid-life marketing crisis, but the marketing gurus at Starbucks have decided that their mermaid logo design is so iconic they no longer need to tell the world their name or what they sell. Clearly, they think their mermaid is on the level of the golden arches and Nike’s swoosh. What do you think? (See comments below.)

Visit the website.

Listen to the short talk from John Follis.

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“G-Cred“, a term coined by John Follis in ’05, and described in this ’07 ADWEEK column, is now part of the Web 2.0 lingo. This encore presentation of an ’08 Follis interview discusses what G-Cred is and why every product, service, and professional must have it. Right click to download interview. You can also buy the 12-pg ebook: G-cred, the New Measure of Credibility: Why every product, service, and person needs it, and how to get it.

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I never plug other people’s stuff unless I believe it 100%. Well I believe in Gary Vaynerchuk and his book 200%. Yesterday, in NYC, I got a chance to meet the man himself when he personally signed my copy. If you don’t yet know about Gary or his book, Google it.

“CEO of the decade” and marketing genius Steve Jobs uses neither Twitter or Facebook as part of Apple’s marketing. So, what does that say about Social Media and the need to make it a key part of a marketing plan?

My analogy…

During the Gold Rush, the guy who got really rich with an explosive business was not a prospector. He was the guy who made the pants for the prospectors — Levi Strauss. Steve Jobs is today’s Levi Strauss.

The modern day Levi Strauss.

Listen to John Follis and other top marketing thought leaders discuss the most relevant topics of the day. http://themarketingshow.net

With the explosion of online marketing and social media traditional advertising — or the “A-word” as I call it — has become quite unfashionable. Additionally, many small businesses have dabbled with it, with questionable results. As a result, more and more people are asking if advertising really works. If you listen to Internet Marketing gurus like Gary Vaynerchuk (who I’m a big fan of btw), the answer is pretty clear. “No.” They say that if businesses want to be smart they should stop pissing away their precious dollars on traditional advertising (TV, radio, print, outdoor) and start using Twitter, Facebook and Blogs.

Well, that kinda depends.

There’s a company called GEICO — maybe you’ve heard of it — and they seem pretty happy with their advertising — maybe you’ve seen it. GEICO spent 483 million on (mostly TV) advertising in 2006. I can’t find their ’07 — ’09 numbers, but considering that I see their ads everywhere I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more than 483 million now. So, if advertising doesn’t work you have to ask why GEICO would be throwing away that kind of money year after year.

Another company you may have heard of, Apple, is also big believer in advertising. They continue to run heavy print, TV and outdoor ads with great success.

And, it’s not just major national brands that benefit from advertising. I’m about to begin the 12th consecutive year of an ad campaign for a small client with a limited budget — a New York City church. We’ve run ads on the NYC city subways for 12 years, and it’s not inexpensive for a small client. So, last year because of the economy they told me that they (reluctantly) had to stop advertising after a successful 11-year run. But, after doing some research, they learned that the ad campaign — which has been covered in The New Times, USAToday and TIME — was more effective in attracting people than all their other marketing initiatives combined. They cut spending in other areas and continued the successful advertising with a good ROI.

Is the world (and world of commerce) rapidly moving more online? Yes. Should you be leveraging social media as part of your marketing plan? Definitely. But, to broadly claim that traditional advertising doesn’t work, or isn’t as cost-effective as social media, simply isn’t true. It really depends on what you’re selling and who you’re selling to. And, any advertising effort that isn’t as effective as it could be probably has more to do with product, client, or agency, that’s doing it.