The Hashtag is well down the path to ubiquitous marketing use. One hashtag, all platforms and a common brand meme. Like it.

“If you are already using hashtags in an advertising campaign through other channels, you can amplify these campaigns by including your hashtags in Facebook advertising … Any hashtags that you use on other platforms that are connected to your Facebook page will be automatically clickable and searchable on Facebook.”

“Facebook and hashtags are two words social marketers absolutely must pay attention to,” Michael Lazerow, CMO Salesforce Marketing Cloud told USA Today. “The door is open for companies to better discover their customers’ immediate interests, creating the potential for increased real-time marketing based around ongoing pop culture, sports and other major events.”

Prior to the hashtag launch, Facebook also introduced sponsored, targeted posts in Newsfeed, another tid-bit of social ad prowess that it borrowed from Twitter. And we use the phrase “borrowed” pretty losely.

Related articles:

• Facebook finally introduces hashtags – maybe we’ll all talk a little more
• #Ready? Clickable Hashtags are Coming to Your Facebook Newsfeed
• Facebook Finally Gets Hashtags: How They Work
• Clickable Hashtags on Facebook
• Facebook introduces #hashtags, taking a page from Twitter
• Use Hashtags to Increase the Reach of your Tweets
• What a #copycat: Facebook apes Twitter with hashtags
• Introducing Hashtags on Facebook… #Finally!
• Facebook introduces hashtags; no details on other new tools
• Is Facebook #ready?

WPP’s moves into “big data” are a potential source of competitive differentiation. While other agencies are attempting to do this, none are attempting to nail it down at a holding company level. The potential for WPP’s agencies to share the insights and develop cross silo discipline solutions could be very powerful.

In short, “We’ll have access to behavioural data that Twitter has developed, which will be available to our media planning and buying business, to Kantar, and to our public relations and public affairs businesses,” Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP’s chief executive, told the Financial Times. Dick Costolo, chief executive of Twitter, said “marketers are leveraging the platform for brand insights, relevant real-time messaging, and customer research”. “This partnership will benefit clients by pairing Twitter with WPP’s world-class analytics, targeting, and creative capabilities,” he said.

While much of this data is available through third parties, getting that data into a consolidated useable form, and sharing across a network is a whole other matter. And doing it outside the confines of a media agency should broaden understanding of what the various holding companies can do with the data.

You can see how it works here.

Well, San Francisco has Sightglass and Blue Bottle and a few other hot little places to grab a great brew. But Melbourne has this:

On the occasion of the World Barista Championships and World Brewers Cup being hosted in Melbourne, Broadsheet has created this map of the city’s top specialty coffee for you to explore and enjoy. The spirit of these competitions is what we think coffee in Melbourne is all about: creativity, the pursuit of excellence and a constant exploration of the potential.

Specialty coffee is by no means a rare find in Melbourne, but rather, is increasingly becoming the standard offering across the city. From narrow city spaces to converted corner milk bars – if there’s life, there’s a barista waiting to take your order.

Cafe culture is an intrinsic part of our day-to-day life in Melbourne. We happily make that detour to our favourite cafe every morning, we meet friends for coffee, and we’ll even wait in a long line for a table at that new place.From May 23 to 26, 2013, Melbourne will host the world’s top coffee professionals as they compete for the title of World Barista Champion. It offers Melbourne an opportunity to demonstrate that, as a city, we are producing a wide variety and volume of coffee on an international scale; at a quality that is truly world-class.

Take this map with you, and find your own way.

Was looking at a new Keep Cup just today. Brilliant story of the birth of a ‘Good Brand’. Good Brands aren’t just really good, they do good. Love their new campaign – ‘Salute the Reuser’ which amplifies their brilliant purpose.