For thirteen years, Resource Interactive has studied retailers online during their high-stakes holiday season. Why the holiday focus? We’ve noticed that certain competitive advantages become highly conspicuous during these days of intense consumerism—the holiday season can either make or break the year for retailers. In other words, it offers us the opportunity to survey a retailer’s biggest moment and best effort.

Our second book, The Open Brand: When Push comes to Pull in a Web-Made World (New Riders/AIGA, March 2008) shows how marketing and branding are being transformed by the technology-inspired power shift from brands to consumers, and shows marketers how to embrace the future as it unfolds today. The Open Brand illuminates both the risks and rewards of opening up to consumer involvement, and describes the On-Demand, Personal, Engaging and Networked consumer experiences that will ensure brands’ relevance in a web-made world.

When it comes to holiday marketing in the digital landscape, who was OPEN?

We monitored 50 e-commerce retailers during the 2007 Holiday season and found retailers that invited customers to co-create the experience and brands in ways that were relevant and meaningful for their customers. We’ve compiled the best examples in the hopes of inspiring and educating brands about involving consumers in O.P.E.N. experiences.