Ok, Thanksgiving is over and we are now in the long period between turkey-day and Christmas.

In case you'd not noticed, various PR and Marketing agencies have ramped up their efforts on behalf of the manufacturers they represent to gain your attention for the upcoming holiday season.

The long march toward Christmas is under way; what can you expect? Between now and the end of November a battle for attention will be fought using tried and true traditional tactics, as well as some new ones that utilize social media. Lets take a look.

The Old - traditional product announcements :
Today Dyson announced their freakin' cool new fan. Yes, it costs more than $300, but it uses new technology, so that justifies the price . No, I won't be ordering one, but that's the beginning of the holiday season. This was a traditional media campaign engaging select mainstream media in a way that generated buzz around the product.
Nothing new here.

The New -  Social Media Engagement:
Today social media savvy orgs are engaging folk where they party and play. Microsoft is encouraging Twitter peeps to engage with the Xbox360 through @majornelson , or engage in Windows 7 houseparties to build the buzz.

The effective:
So, what is really going to get your money this holiday season? The traditional media marketing methods are old, tried and true. But they get results.

The new social media methods are still being proven. They don't have the years of track-record behind them, but the are engaging. And they are hitting engaged consumers (you) where they work and play -- this Future Shop blog, Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare etc.

So who do you trust? Where are you going for your gift-giving advice / suggestions? Me, I'm going with my gut. Read lots of reviews, and use the Force (TM) .