The Honda blog, which launched yesterday, encourages Honda enthusiasts to register and share the blog. It’s hosted by 2TalkAbout, which is “a new, independent blog network that lets consumers talk about their favourite topics, products and brands. Honda is the first brand that has decided to join the 2TalkAbout network from the start.” Those adding comments can also give each post a star rating. It’s a novel approach to developing the use of blogs and it will be interesting to watch its success. For myself, I’m not sure I’ll be wanting to read about Honda owners asking other Honda owners whether anyone knows anything about the engine specs for the Type R.

The Guinness blog looks as sumptuous as the product it represents. Posts are made by a variety of members of the Guinness team and range (so far) from how the last Guinness ad was made to musings on St Patrick’s Day. The blog states its purpose as an attempt by the business to let the Guinness team and Guinness drinkers communicate more closely. There are a couple of minor glitches (the home button takes you back to the registration page and the permalinks look a bit scary), but overall I’m guessing Guinness fans will love it, and it ticks the right boxes for what this kind of blog should be: open, transparent, honest, relevant, oh – and interesting.

Tom Reynolds is an Emergency Medical Technician. His Random Acts of Reality (Trying to kill as few people as possible…) tells us about life as part of an ambulance crew in London’s busy east end. NeeNaw is written by Mark Myers, who’s an Emergency Medical Dispatcher (the person on the other end of the phone when you dial 999).

Their thoughts give an astonishingly fresh view on the world in which most of us are consumers, and about which many of us have complaints, preconceptions and opinions. Who makes the decisions about how long we wait for an ambulance? How could it be done better? What’s it like to be on the receiving end of the public at its worst – ill, frightened, angry, unfamiliar with the system.

Both the blogs recently won awards in the 2005 Medical Weblogs Awards, Best Medical Blog going to Random Acts of Reality and Nee Naw emerging as Best New Medical Blog.
Just in case you were still wondering if they really make a good read, Reynolds’ now has a publishing contract through The Friday Project. OK, maybe getting published isn’t perfect proof of being worthwhile reading, but in this particular case, it seems a good validation for this very readable work.

Maybe I’ll even be a little less quick to criticise and more willing to ask what I can do to make things work better as and when I’m next brought face to face with the seemingly impenetrable policies of the NHS.

Levi’s, Nokia, Audi and Budget Car Rentals all ran campaigns on blogs last year, of which Budget’s was probably the most fun, rejuvenating the slightly tired format of the online treasure hunt by posting daily video clues on a blog, linked to stickers placed around US cities (nudged on by a tempting prize of $160,000). Budget sensibly hired BL Ochman to create the campaign, which was run exclusively through bloggers and blogs.

Blogvertising looks like it can offer significant value to brands – if they get it right. Budget’s low-cost campaign drove 20,000 unique visitors an hour to their blog, with several thousand registering to play. The campaign was also in the upper quartile in terms of click-throughs. Audi used just 0.5% of its advertising budget on blog ads, which drove 29% of traffic to its site.

With advertising on bulletin boards and chat rooms generally spurned, it may be hard for marketers and advertisers to get their heads around just how different blogs can be. Every decent branding book worth its salt is clearly tells businesses to stop pushing their messages out and to start pulling their consumers in. Blogging is going to play a huge role in this. As ever, the trick will be getting it right – a challenge for the innovators, but tough in an industry that’s long had the monopoly of owning the message.

Drop a Jeans Size – a smart name for what was the Special K diet – advocates a simple two-week diet where two meals a day are replaced with a bowl of Special K (in any of its varieties).

To support the campaign, the site uses online message boards and blogging groups to drive mutual support among dieters – and powerful word of mouth for the Special K diet.

Kellogg’s clearly understands its audience.

There are now nearly 1,000 postings in the public message boards alone, fuelled by a mostly female audience from around the country. The tone is familiar from message boards on sites such as handbag.com and ivillage; open, supportive and interactive, (though it’s a shame Kellogg’s have set up their boards in a way that doesn’t allow threads to be followed or commented on).

Perhaps the most innovative element is the fact that Kellogg’s appear to be using blogging to allow dieters to form small support groups, inviting friends to join them. A great idea for engaging the audience, offering a helpful support tool – oh, and it also spreads the word about the diet and the Kellogg’s site.

The risk is that precisely because there is so much potential in blogging (not even thinking about how google-friendly blogs can be), that this can be seen as a simple marketing tool – and used as such.

Blogs don’t work like that. We don’t watch TV to see the ads, we won’t read a blog to get a pure marketing message.

To be successful, blogs have to be personal, interesting – and truthful!

It’s just plain offensive to presume that we’ll be duped by phoney characters pretending to blog. The Cillit Bang spam on Tom Coate’s blog is perhaps the most extreme example, but others have failed too, for example L’Oreal failed (and learned) with their phony “Claire” blog in France. To quote Shel Israel on the story ‘in the blogosphere you should use only true stories unless you have masochistic tendencies.’

Success depends on transparency, a strong advocate, a clear statement of intent – and some interesting stories to tell. Whether that comes from one person or a team, you need to know who’s talking to you and why.

Bob Lutz shows the way with his Fastlane blog. As Vice Chairman of General Motors, his blog makes use of podcasts, video and of course regular blogging, to tell you what’s driving Bob and his team this week. While I’d have to doubt that Bob writes all his own posts, I certainly believe that the enthusiasm and voice are his. And Bob’s fanclub is now out and cheering for GM alongside him.