DA Group launches social media platform for advertisers

LONDON - A social media platform is launching this week in a bid to attract brands who want to place social networking at the heart of major marketing campaigns.

The platform has been developed by a division within the digital media company DA Group.

The technology behind the Huzu platform is designed to create, support and build online communities with the same elements of interaction and user-generated content found in major social networks.

The DA Group has already struck partnerships with Ogilvy, Big Interactive and The Union as it gets set to launch.

The finished product is now being offered to digital agencies to customise solutions for their own clients.

Duncan Stokes, group creative services director at Ogilvy, said: "Every modern marketing plan should embrace social media.

"The web is not so much a destination any more, but more a massive online community of conversations.

"And it is a phenomenon that on the one hand has changed the way people think about brands and on the other, opened up so much more opportunity to the dynamic thinkers in the marketing business."