As a mother of a wee one I have a particular interest in both diapers (for obvious reasons) and coffee (I can't even remember what it feels like to sleep eight hours in a row…bring on the caffeine). Both panelists had great case studies to share about how they tracked down the love online, harnessed it and put it to work to grow their brands.

gDiapers now has a network of "gMums" across the country (and the whole "mum" thing is for real…the founders hail from Austrailia) who sing the praises of the flushable diapers. Enticed only by a branded t-shirt and some free product these moms do everything from sampling at social gatherings to leading in-store demos. The devotion to the stylish and planet-friendly baby-buns-covers has resulted in moms creating a gDiaper myspace page, a mom-moderated Yahoo group and loads of message board conversations. By letting go of the World Wide Web reigns just a bit, gDiapers has allowed throngs of brand evangelists to feel empowered to spread the love online and, in the case of the gMums, take the virtual love back into the real world.

Peet's, in a more formal effort, recently wrapped up its online campaign asking fans to write stories of why they love Peet's and send their tales of love-at-first-sip to five friends. In exchange for the outpouring of love, those who share, and their friends, are entered to win free coffee for a year. The biggest learning Brian imparted was to work with what you've got - for Peet's that included a devoted and passionate fan-base as well as established infrastructure to collect the stories (an existing - mail list and Web program) and to ability to fulfill free coffee for a year through the company's mail order business.

One thing was clear from the presentations - both gDiapers and Peet's have dedicated fan-bases eager to engage with the brands and quick to spread the love...and both companies are doing their best to tap into online opportunities in innovative and authentic ways.

- Erica