The News of the World has just published news that Heather Mills is dating a “toyboy hunk” called Jamie Walker.

It’s less than an hour after the story was published online and there are currently 47 results in Google for a search on “Heather Mills” “Jamie Walker”, and only the News of the World piece refers to a story on the couple.

I wonder how long it will be before there are millions of web pages mentioning Heather and Jamie.

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Whether you’re using your family name to gain notoriety (Paris Hilton) or riding on the coattails of a world famous sibling (Jamie Lynn Spears), today’s fame is family sized.

Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan are two celebs with fame embracing relatives. Both sets of families have appeared on reality TV shows.

With the Kardashians being talk of the town, and the Lohan’s new series Living Lohan currently airing, I thought it would be good to judge which Beverly Hills family is the most talked about online, the Kardashians or the Lohans?

Most Wikipedia entries
Lohan: 5 (Lindsay Lohan, Aliana Lohan, Dina Lohan, Living Lohan, Michael Lohan)
Kardashian: 9 (Robert Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Rob Kardashian Jnr, Kris Jener, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Bruce Jenner, Brody Jenner)
Winner: Kardashian

Most reader comments left on latest TMZ post
Lohan: 125 (see here)
Kardashian: 178 (see here)
Winner: Kardashian

Most blog mentions in 24 hours
Lohan: 371
Kardashian: 169
Winner: Lohan

Most Google search results
Lindsay Lohan: 33,600,000
Kim Kardashian: 8,190,000
Winner: Lohan

Most YouTube videos
Living Lohan: 84
Keeping up with the Kardashians: 124
Winner: Kardashian

Most links to official website (according to Yahoo)
www.lindsaylohanmusic.com: 1,102
www.officialkimkardashian.com: 4,299
Winner: Kardashian

Most Google News entries (past month)
Lohan: 4,272
Kardashian: 471
Winner: Lohan

Most del.ico.us posts
Lindsay Lohan: 2,033
Kim Kardashian: 775
Winner: Lohan

Most E! Online discussions
Living Lohan: 57
Keeping up with the Kardashians: 186
Winner: Kardashian

and the MOST TALKED ABOUT ONLINE is... the Kardashians

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This week Emma Jones from home working website Enterprise Nation asked me “When marketing an online brand, should all marketing stay online?”.

See my response on the Enterprise Nation website.

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If you’ve not yet seen the Amy Winehouse video, where she appears to have turned one of the world’s most innocent songs into a race filled chant, click here.

Below is the Google search results for her name on the day the video first appeared on the News of the World website.

The only mention of the controversial video is within the News Results at the top of the page.

I’ll be monitoring this to see if any of the main listings are taken over by the hundereds of websites and blogs that will no doubt be commenting on it.

It will be interesting to see if this story has more of a viral effect than Amy caught smoking crack on film.

What will cause more online conversation, racism or drugs?

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Author of 12 books and an expert on everything to do with branding, Jonathan Gabay is one of the most respected names in the world of marketing.

When he’s not writing influential books Jonathan travels the world spreading his knowledge on marketing, branding and communications.

This week I spoke to Jonathan about the re-launching of our favourite chocolate brands, how internet only players can compete with established names online and managing online reputation.

What do you think of Mars, Nestle and Cadbury’s bringing back old confectionery brands such as Marathon, Wispa and Opal Fruits?
The ancient Greeks had a term:  νόστος = nostos = returning home, and άλγος = algos = pain/longing .

The power of nostalgia in branding is one never to be underestimated.  However, FMCG companies have to be careful of the time between relaunching brands.  You can’t reintroduce a chocolate bar for nostalgia’s sake if it was only off the market for a question of a few years.

Snickers is renaming to Marathon for a limited period. Do you think there is a risk of confusing a generation of young people not familiar with Marathon, or is the logo and branding on the packet stronger than the name?
The trouble with reverting to an old brand name and then going back to a new one is that it shows a lack of confidence in a brand:  My opinion? Stay in for the long race not just a quick Marathon.

Cadbury’s brought back Wispa in response to several online petitions. What do you think is the primary motivation for people to join Facebook groups such as ‘Bring Back Wispa’?
Fun, nostalgia and sense of the consumer having a say in a much-loved brand.

An online petition has brought a brand back but do you think the internet generation will ever create a FMCG product? Will we see online petitions like ‘the campaign for Banana flavour KitKat’?
A brand leader is like a conductor of an orchestra.  If he (or she) totally dismisses out of hand what the audience wants, they could end up conducting nothing more than a one-man Penny Flute.

YouTube is one of my favourite internet brands. The word ‘tube’, which itself has connotations to traditional TV sets, is appropriately enclosed in an TV shaped box, ‘You’ adds a sense of personalisation, and the tagline ‘broadcast yourself’ says it all in two words. What’s your favourite internet only brand and why?
Google.  It is useful, distinctive and even has the accolade of being a verb in the Oxford dictionary. I also like Leonbaileygreen.com.  Fun, informative and sharp why thank you!.

What can internet only brands do to compete with online offerings from established bricks and mortar competitors?
The question should be reversed.  Give it ten years and most of the high street will be on the Wi-Fi street.

Do you think big brands are actively doing enough to achieve positive first page results on Google for their brand names?
I hope so - I teach a lot of them how to achieve that aim!

With universal search Google now shows news results alongside some brand name searches, making online reputation management more important than ever. Is reading a bad news story on a brand, when you’ve searched for it, more damaging than coming across the bad news story in a newspaper, or is it the same?
Someone famously said that “all publicity is good publicity” That’s not necessarily true, especially on the web.  Brands receiving bad PR could always be consoled by the PR men saying “today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapping paper.” Pieces on the web linger much longer and because people read in short bursts on the web, they sometimes see the bad news headlines and just take it as read, rather than delve to find out more of the real truth behind the story.

And finally, what do you think is the next big trend in the world of branding?
More personalization and more permission based intrusion. That includes everything from the world of technology with customizable computers and interactive video ads on the go, to FMCG chocolate bars that come in banana flavours.

See more about Jonathan Gabay on the Brand Forensics website.

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Britain’s Got Talent may have beat I’d Do Anything in the Saturday night ratings battle, but which of the show’s star is being talked about most online?

I’ve analysed the online mentions of Jodie Prenger and George Sampson to see which of the two has the highest online profile.

Google Search Results
Jodie Prenger – 25,200
George Sampson – 73,000
WINNER: George Sampson

Google News
Jodie Prenger – 225
George Sampson – 274
WINNER: George Sampson

DigitalSpy forum threads
Jodie Prenger – 39
George Sampson – 105
WINNER: George Sampson

Blog mentions
Jodie Prenger – 215
George Sampson – 1,333
WINNER: George Sampson

Not only did he win the ratings battle but George Sampson is more famous than Jodie Prenger.

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If you search for something positive [smiling] you get positive results.

If you search for the negative [crime] you get negative results.

If you search for something that you consider to be positive [dunkin donuts], you realise that other people might consider it to be negative.

If you search for something that you consider to be negative, but you’re only presented with the positive, you’re either wrong or seeing the results of good reputation management (search results manipulation).

If at first the world doesn’t understand your request [paris], you make changes to the way you request what you want [paris hilton].

If after your search [paris hilton] you’re presented with related search options [one night in paris] you might – though unlikely – learn something new about what you were searching for.

Search exposes brands and people more than ever. Effort should be put into encouraging positive dialogue about brands, rather than silencing the negative – concentrate on that and you’ll only get more of it.

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Coleen McLoughlin, fiancée of Wayne Rooney, is one of many footballers wives and girlfriends who shot to fame because of their partner’s status on the pitch. She’s estimated to be worth £5m in her own right, thanks to her high profile and clever brand building.

Coleen’s brand has taken the fashion, style and beauty route. Last year she earned millions being the face of Asda’s clothing range, writing a weekly column in Closer magazine, presenting her own TV show and launching a perfume.

By involving herself in numerous fashion and beauty based projects, and avoiding the usual ‘lads mag and falling out of nightclubs’ routine, Coleen has managed to become a style icon; unusually respected in the fashion industry.

But how does Coleen’s website help to communicate her brand message which is essentially ‘a normal girl who’s become an expert on fashion, style and beauty’?

Unfortunately, Brand Coleen, worth an estimated £5m, doesn’t have an online presence.

This is one brand that isn’t using the internet to communicate its message.

Here are three reasons why Coleen McLoughlin needs a website…

1. Brand Extension
Last year Coleen signed a 10 year beauty deal with Robertet, through whom she launched her first perfume. Coleen could use a website to capture data on her brand followers, to help shape the decision of the most sensible next launch.

2. Trust
Coleen is competing with many celebrities in a competitive beauty market. We often hear the line “I chose the bottle and scent myself” from many celebs to which most people are cynical of. Coleen can use a series of ‘behind the scenes’ articles and videos to demonstrate the work she puts into her products.

3. New Markets
If Coleen decides to introduce her brand to foreign markets, where she isn’t as well known, people will be ‘Blind Googling’ (searching Google for someone they don’t know) her. If she creates her own website she can tell her brand story, if not, blogs, forums and newspaper websites will come up in the search results tell their version for her.

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In the fashion industry image is everything. And Kate Moss, one of the world’s most famous fashion models, benefits from newspaper and magazine column inches touting her as a style icon, to promote her Topshop clothing range.

Her celebrity status and public persona all help to create the sellable brand that is Kate Moss. But what could Kate be doing to market her brand on the internet? Here are five online marketing tips for Kate Moss…

1. An official website
Kate needs her own website which is themed the ‘career of a supermodel’. It should be a portal of Kate’s life and include a career timeline, a profile of the campaigns she appears in and her Topshop collection.

She should also create a dialogue with wannabe models and designers offering tips on how to get into the fashion industry,

2. Social networks
Fancy making friends with Kate? An official profile from which Kate has a dialogue with her fans would help her to connect with an online community.

She would then be able to leverage this community help her in various different ways. For instance, she could ask her online friends to put a Kate Moss for Topshop application on their personal profile.

3. Bury negative web pages

Search for Kate Moss in Google and you get the ‘Cocaine Kate’ story from the Daily Mirror on the first page.

One way Kate could try to bury negative web pages like this is by creating an official website which links to other positive fan websites (read my Tom Cruise example)

4. Viral competition
Kate should celebrate her successful foray into fashion design by offering someone the chance to design part of her collection.

Entrants can be asked to submit a design for a dress in the Topshop collection. Every entrant could then have to rate other entries.

5. Guest blogs
Fashion blogs are becoming increasingly influential. Bloggers are noticing and reporting on trends much quicker than newspapers and magazines.

Kate should guest blog on fashion blogs every few months adding her views and thoughts on what trends she thinks are coming in.

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This year’s Eurovision song contest has caused much controversy after Western European nations were again left out in the cold. X-Factor star Andy Abraham represented the UK and came last, whilst Russia triumphed with their star Dima Bilan.

Dima may have won the contest, but is he more talked about on the internet than our Andy Abraham? I’ve analysed both Eurovision stars to see which of them is most talked about online.

Search results in Yahoo!
Andy Abraham – 687,000
Dima Bilan – 4,000,000
WINNER: Dima Bilan

Stories on Google News
Andy Abraham – 340
Dima Bilan – 446
WINNER: Dima Bilan

YouTube videos
Andy Abraham - 188
Dima Bilan – 2,990
WINNER: Dima Bilan

MySpace friends
Andy Abraham – 2,724
Dima Bilan - 710
WINNER: Andy Abraham

Mentions on blogs
Andy Abraham – 3,964
Dima Bilan – 144,363
WINNER: Dima Bilan

So Dima Bilan is more famous online than Andy Abraham. Of course there is political voting going on but it looks as if Dima has built up a Europe wide online fan base.

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