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Tablets can change lives. Two thirds of UK tablet owners and nine out of 10 e-readers use their kit for up to two hours every day, and more than one quarter admit to using it on the toilet, and 14% risk using it in the bathtub, according to UM’s Tablet In Touch report.

And there’s huge potential for brands to interact with consumers on tablets and e-readers, though they do need to make sure they enhance the user experience, say UM.

UK, German and Canadian companies are lagging their counterparts in emerging markets when it comes to using social media. Firms in China, India and Brazil are, on average, 20 to 30 percentage points more likely to communicate on such channels than those in developed countries, according to a global KPMG survey, Going Social: How Businesses Are Making The Most of Social Media.

Consumers are worried, assuming the future will be worse than the present. Who is there to turn to for new ideas and leadership? Politicians are not seen as inspirational, nor are they trusted to come up with solutions to the big problems of our time – be they widening pay gaps, the financial crisis or climate change. No surprise, perhaps, that brands feel there is a space to step into, says Sabine Stork.*

Japanese advertising agency ADK has partnered with cocreation outfit eYeka in Japan to tap into consumer-rooted creative ideas to help clients innovate their marketing and communications. “The duty of an agency is to embrace change before its clients do, so we have decided to take the lead with a new, open model where we integrate consumer ideas from [the] start to fuel creative ideas, to produce fresher campaigns that will truly resonate with audiences worldwide,” says Kenichiro Omori, head of the global business division, ADK.

LVMH has launched its Exploring The Future Of Tradition project, aiming to create forums in 10 cities around the world – London, Paris, Sao Paolo, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Roma, Madrid and Geneva, writes Maria Stadtmueller.

The luxury brand wants to offer ‘young talent’ – in the form of students – an opportunity to exchange ideas with its senior execs and world class experts.

Make way for the experience brands. They’re the ones improving how people experience and interact with them as a point of differentiation from rivals, says Jack Morton Worldwide in its Best Experience Brands study conducted in the US, UK, Asia and Australia. Eighty percent of consumers agree (60% strongly) that overall experience with a brand is the single biggest factor in determining future purchase (in the UK, 71% of consumers agree, and 45% strongly agree).

Muscling in on social networks, which are individual spaces created by personal connections, can be detrimental to brands, warns TNS in its Digital Life: Understanding The Opportunity For Growth Online report.

The research firm says 57% of people in developed markets do not want to engage with brands via social media, a figure which rises to 60% in the US and 61% in the UK.

Some people think a reliance in comms on new technology à la augmented reality, QR codes, location-based services and the like is stifling creativity. But Laurent Delaporte, vp of Microsoft Advertising EMEA, isn’t one of them. Steve Mullins caught up with him at last week’s Microsoft Advertising Imagine London 2011 event.