The noise in the social media marketing space has been deafening of late. Advertising Age declared branded applications the holy grail. Adweek concluded they were a colossal waste of time. And the New York Times reported that social advertising was ineffective, at best.

The truth is the industry is nascent. And there’s no way to ignore social networks, which today boast a population of 500 million people worldwide and many billions more over the next decade.

In an effort to cut through this noise, Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi announced today the launch of its REAL Social Suite. REAL is an acronym for Reach, Engage, Amplify and Listen