I had an interesting day in Washington DC yesterday, spending time with Andy Mirsky of Mirsky and Company at his “Digital Lunch Group.” Every month, local members of the media, law and policy institutes meet and discuss current issues surrounding the intersection of digital life, business, and of course, politics. 

I had the chance to share some thinking regarding how digital fits into integrated communications planning, and more importantly, the opportunity for brands who are willing to become conversational and engage in social media.  I believe the risk to companies today is in NOT participating, and we discussed different ways that companies can scale their involvement.  Our goal (as reporters, lawyers, policy makers or public relations professionals) is relatively simple in theory but difficult in practice: engage in digital dialogue that influences as opposed to controls. 

We also talked a bit about the tendency for marketers to latch on to the shiniest toy - the toy right now being social networks.  Luckily, social networking sites and blogs exist to do such that. MySpace, Facebook and Bebo offer numerous possibilities for ownership of content and advertisements. Companies should not rush out to build their own network without considering the possibility first of participating where others are already congregating.

Michael Bassik, Vice President of Internet Strategy at MSHC Partners, Inc., explained how the web has become a pivotal political communication medium and targeted ad-serving database for 2008 US presidential contenders. Specifically, as ad-spending continues to increase on a yearly basis, political organizations and players are beginning to see the potential return on engagement and ownership in online media, although are still quite hesitant to embrace the opportunity at at spending levels that would be considered best practices by mainstream marketers. His presentation was compelling, and it made me look even more forward to seeing how the election plays out from a digital marketing perspective.

Great discussion this afternoon and thank you Andy for the invitation. For more information regarding the Digital Media Lunch Group and its next meeting at Burson-Marsteller’s office in Washington, DC, please contact Andy Mirsky at (202) 339-0303.