One of the people I encountered in Barcelona during this past week, where I chaired the New Media in Marketing and Communications Strategy conference (about which a post soon), was Guillaume du Gardier, pictured in a photo I took on Wednesday evening.

I’ve known Guillaume since 2004, one of my earliest connections from mutual interests founded largely on blogging.

We worked together during most of 2005, along with Elizabeth Albrycht, in Blogging Planet.

So seeing Guillaume again in Barcelona was terrific. And catching up with him about his role with Ferrero as their New Media Manager was just great.

Interesting to see some of the fruits of Guillaume’s labours with social media at Ferrero. For instance, the launch of a new website for Ferrero France.

A major improvement in appearance, visual brand identity for the company and its different products, as well as a much better interactive experience for visitors, all wrapped up in a modern and highly attractive presentation.

Just compare the new look to the old one to see the difference.

The new website is just one of the things Guillaume has been doing regarding social media and communication since he joined Ferrero a year ago. Lots going on behind the scenes, for instance, with internal use of tools like blogs.

We’d hoped to record a conversation in Barcelona but time was our enemy. So I’m hoping that we’ll be able to talk on the phone soon and record our conversation for an FIR Interview podcast.

Stay tuned.