We know from our own experiences that the media we consume, where and how we consume it, how we form judgements about brands, and what influences those judgements bring about, have all altered radically in the past few years, and look set to keep changing.

Consumers won’t just sit and listen to advertising messages. They have been empowered by new media to go and find out for themselves. Advertising still influences the purchasing decision, but it is just one in a list of items that may include blogs, message boards, price comparison web-sites, events and content creation.

The biggest driver of these changes is digital media. More accurately, it’s the speed with which digital media has become not just part of most people’s media repertoire but an integral part of the way they live their lives.

Brands must respond to this not by simply ‘doing a bit of digital’ but by making digital an integral part of their planning processes. Digital has to be fully incorporated within the thinking, strategy and execution of a brands marketing strategy.

Remember when Chaos Theory was fashionable, and you were always hearing about the dramatic effects that could be caused by a butterfly flapping its wings? Here’s the marketing equivalent: one consumer bad-mouths your product and the next thing you know you’re poised to lose 1,000 sales.

If consumers are all talking amongst themselves these days (on or off-line) how do we become part of that dialogue?

Becoming part of the dialogue isn’t just a nice new bit of marketing jargon: it works.

People don’t talk much about dog food, but they’re obsessed with dogs, especially dogs that need love and attention. At the start of 2008 Pedigree began a campaign to raise awareness of the work that dog re-homing centres do – providing care for abandoned dogs until a new home can be found for them.

The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness of the issue but also to raise money. For every Pedigree product purchased between January 1 and March 31 Pedigree would make a donation to this cause.

The most talked-about element of the campaign was the creation of an ad-funded programme called Dog Rescue - a programme looking behind the scenes at the dog rescue centres in Manchester and Uxbridge, two of the busiest in the UK. Viewers would get to know key members of staff at both of these centres and the care and attention that they provide to the dogs in need.

Regularly reaching a viewing audience of two million, the series created a dialogue with pet lovers and provided them with a real and meaningful way to help out the dogs at the centres.

There was a hugely successful online Adoption Drive campaign for placing many of the dogs in the series in homes.

The campaign was so effective that even people who didn’t own a dog were buying Pedigree products just to make a donation!

Brian McNamara is head of digital MediaCom Ireland http://www.mediacomdublin.com You can contact him on brian.mcnamara@mediacom.com