For Donna Karan, connecting with consumers is the work of one person in particular. And when it comes to dusting off a somewhat older brand and making it relevant to a younger consumer, few have done a better job than Aliza Licht, known in the digital world as DKNY PR GIRL. Licht, Donna Karan's senior vice president of global communications, is the woman behind the DKNY PR Girl persona. And her social media savvy is her natural stream of consciousness. In a way, Twitter has become her diary: Her posts cover anything from a behind-the-scenes Fashion Week moment to a …

When it comes to building a brand, fashion giants have stepped into the spotlight, cloaked in digital media from head to toe. Burberry, Donna Karan and Patagonia are among the most revolutionary. But plenty of others have used a variety of ideas to sell their brands. Through social media events, publishing their own online content and courting guest bloggers, they're also showing marketers and technologists what they can expect next from the runway.

When David Kenny made the leap earlier this year from cloud operator Akamai to a storied role on Yahoo's board to the CEO's desk at The Weather Channel, you could almost hear people in the industry saying, "The Weather Channel?" But for Kenny, a self-described data geek and technology junkie, twc is all that and more. As he explains, there is no data more important to human beings than the weather, and TWC has been one of the earliest innovators in figuring out new and better ways of bringing it to people. Armed with that base, he says he's going …

If there's one thing that's shaped marketing in the digital age, it's metrics. In less than a decade, those in the business of selling anything have found themselves awash in data, numbers and analysis. And yet, experts say, with digital marketing still in its relative infancy, most companies are wielding those digital tools kind of like cavemen, as clubs and cudgels instead of as lasers and scalpels. "We recently finished research on CMOs at global marketers and found that 77 percent of them aren't sure where best to reach their customers. And that's a critical component of any digital strategy," …

For small companies, brands and agencies, nothing has leveled the playing field like digital marketing. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a little guy. And because newer companies tend to be less bogged down by painstakingly slow planning processes or layers of departmental approvals, they often possess an agility that big consumer product companies just don't have. Increasingly, though, mighty marketers are dispelling that flat-footed stereotype and learning how to produce viral, mobile and social initiatives with greater speed - and more effectiveness - than even they might have imagined five years ago.

By the time Barbara "Barbie" Millicent Roberts dumped her longtime boyfriend Ken Carson in 2004 (after 43 years!), he was pretty much a loser - to her, and to their company, Mattel. After the couple split, in fact, he practically disappeared. But following his unexpected star-turn in 2010's Toy Story 3, the toymaker decided that Ken was ready for a comeback. Mattel began planning a relaunch in time for Ken's 50th anniversary in March 2011. It created a new model, Sweet Talkin' Ken, while agency hl Group developed a digital and social campaign around a possible reunion of America's plastic …

Look up the FX show Untitled Jersey City Project on imdb.com, and you'll see one of the site's typical pages, listing the names of the director, stars, producers, etc. What you won't see are the names of the agency (MediaCom), marketer (Audi) and network (FX) that teamed up to develop the original short-form series as a vehicle - no pun intended - for the 2012 Audi A6. Billed as a "work-in-progress television drama," the 16-minute show, parceled into two-minute episodes, which ended with a link to an FX-hosted site, aired on Sunday nights last fall during the network's movie slot. …

Buick, long the solid and staid choice of those who wanted to seem professional without looking ostentatious, had watched its market share slip slowly away as its core drivers aged. The brand had once been the perfect car for, say, a doctor who made house calls. He wanted to look like he was doing well (but not too well). The problem, though, was that the brand's image was, to most people, about as relevant as doctors who made house calls. However, in a harsh economic climate, the idea of luxury that didn't bask in ostentation was as timely as ever, …

At OMMA, we sometimes get burned out with the barrage of media and technology news - especially recent research that's found it might be making us depressed and hurting our self-esteem. Even the most cynical of us find ourselves constantly clicking on reliable digital distractions: baby animals, fluffy cats and goofy dogs. After months of OMMA editors swapping Lolcats over email, we thought it would be a good idea if we could get an expert to validate our burgeoning obsession. We called Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Institute, who holds a Ph.D. in media psychology, to see …

Perhaps the best way to talk about disruptive start-up NewsCred is to describe what it's not. It's not trying to compete with the Associated Press, but it is a newswire, albeit for the digital arena. It's not encouraging a publication to shed staff journalists, but it does give freelancers incentive to not be tied down to a single news organization. It's also not trying to condense or cheapen the quality of journalism. NewsCred is simply trying to marry good journalism to its appropriate outlet. And as most people know, the key to any successful marriage comes from mutually beneficial exchanges, …