At least on its own. And there is big difference between building the brand and activating the brand. Sergio Zyman highlights this as he recalls the New Coke disaster. What’s also interesting in his comments is how important hubris is in the PR element of any launch.

"What we saw was an increase in awareness, an increase in feeling good about what the company was," he said. "They were great ads, but that’s what they were: ads. Not really good marketing tools. … In those days, advertising was really the only element of marketing. You put an ad on the air, consumers liked it, everybody writes about it, the bottlers felt happy, and there was nothing else."

In advance of New Coke, Mr. Zyman says the company ramped up ad spending, doubled price promotion and employed deep discounts — to no avail. "The only thing left was to change the product or change the advertising," he said.

"I think we were lazy in really recognizing that we needed to reactivate or reposition the brand. If we had done that through an advertising process, I don’t think New Coke would have ever happened, but there was such resistance to any kind of change in the advertising position of the brand that we introduced a change in the taste," Mr. Zyman said. "I know, you’ll say that’s ridiculous, and I agree. But it happened.

This is well worth a listen. Loved Gary’s insights and they very much reflect what we learnt at Dell.

Pure Black Racing – In Black & White – Episode 2 from Pure Black Racing on Vimeo.

The Edison/Arbitron results show that 51% of Americans 12+ are now using Facebook. Amazing recognition.

What it doesn’t comprehend is the difference in tools. Facebook and Twitter are not technology – they are media sites powered by very cool technology. That’s different than consumption devices like eReaders. Facebook and Twitter are tools for creating and distributing content. A Kindle or Tablet is a consumption device.

Also not comprehended is that as distribution platforms, they are interdependent and interrelated. I haven’t visited my Facebook page in ages. But I post to it constantly, via Twitter and Foursquare.

Some other interesting thoughts from Jay on the rankings:

Last year, 7% of Americans surveyed used Twitter (and ExactTarget (client) research found 5% follow a brand on Twitter). This year, 8% of Americans use it. That’s not exactly hockey stick growth rates.

Hang on to your sombrero when you read this sentence: MySpace – which has become the butt of social media jokes that SecondLife is too pitiable to inhabit – has more than double the users of Twitter. Double!

300% more Americans listen to Pandora radio than use Twitter. Even Linkedin is bigger that Twitter, and when was the last time you got an invite to a Linkedin-focused conference?

So, is Twitter overhyped?