The start of the Oscars began, for me, with a little song lyric running through my brain: I’m everywoman. This is after spotting the ad spot for Poise.

But I doubt Whoopi Goldberg’s latest comedic turn in advertising (and rewriting history) was what Chaka Kahn (or Whitney Houston) had in mind when she belted the anthem. Nor did the artists behind iconic female figures like the Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty, or historic women like Joan of Arc and Lady Godiva.

Yet the campaign took a lighthearted and unexpected approach for a product that targets a more sensitive issue for women. Particularly for a product brand with a name that’s a fine example of a well-intentioned, euphemism that for a time marked most “feminine” products–and has been a trademark of Kimberly-Clark since 1945. More...

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Forget traffic. Forget dollars and cents. For measuring ROI in social media, engagement metrics are all that matter.

Okay, we all know that pure numbers can’t measure the world. Social media is particularly tricky to tack down to numbers; how do you measure the quantitative value of this comment thread on Facebook?

Is that one point for iPhone? A negative point for BlackBerry? How many for Android? Does it add .000001 percent to Apple’s brand valuation? You get my point. We know this post has value, but trying to quantify that value might not be the right exercise. More...

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The first .COM, "Symbolics," was registered on March 15th 1985. Two years later, its total number was barely one hundred.

Even though some of today's best global brands were among the first to secure their .COM back then (kudos to Xerox, HP, IBM, Intel, AT&T, GE), it wasn't until well into the Internet boom that the one million mark was reached, in 1997.

Today, the number of domain names that exist hovers around 200,000,000 (likely surpassed by the time you've finished reading this... sentence).

But, at over 80 million, .COM is still the biggest and best. It remains an integral part of our lives, globally recognized, and easily the strongest "brand" out of the 260+ gTLDs and ccTLDs that followed it. It's the extension of choice, from a user perspective- automatically assumed, and no matter what your web browser, the default extension. Let's be frank, "Amazon.Org," "eBay.Biz," "Match.Name" or "Monster.Jobs" just doesn't quite roll off the tongue as nicely. More...

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Introducing That’s Debatable – a new approach we’ll be taking to expand upon the popular brandchannel debate section to provide a platform for debating the “big picture,” sharing more perspectives, and delivering more value to our readers.

That’s Debatable will take on big topics in our industry that offer rich opportunities for debating the merits of different points of view. We’re jumping in with one of the most widely debated topics out there right now: social media. What does it do for brands? How does it work? How do we measure it? How do we use it to a brand’s best advantage?

Over the next 10 weeks, we’ll be posting a new point/counterpoint on a social media hot button each week to hear what you have to say on the matter. We’ll also be sharing some thoughts of our own – Interbrand experts across the global network will be weighing in on each topic with perspectives and examples to keep the fire of controversy burning bright. We’re also posting a social media survey that covers the Top 10 questions we hear most often – from clients, industry thought leaders, and readers like you – so we have some data to round out our understanding of how people feel about social media. When the 10 weeks are up, we’ll do the legwork to collect all of the ideas and conversations shared throughout this edition of That’s Debatable, and share the results with all of you.

We hope you’ll share your thoughts with us – take the survey, offer your comments, suggest new topics, tell us what you’ve posted on your own blog that’s relevant to the conversation. That’s Debatable is here so all of our opinions can be heard and used to collectively shape the best way to build brand value.

Thanks for playing.

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Tired of associating toilet paper with quilting ladies and layers? Or the warm-and-fuzzies of bears and puppies?

Well, Cottonelle has seen to that by bringing the popular vote to a very familiar idiosyncrasy. Cottonelle’s The Great Debate asks: do you roll over or under? More...

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