"It has been most successful marketing programme in the history of the games, " says Mr Chernyshenko.

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"Corporations are very good at promoting themselves, they recognise that everyone needs a Twitter and a Facebook account, they are aware the networks exist but they don't have the strategies in place to deal with the issues that can arise from those networks, " said Dr Lisa Harris, head of the digital marketing masters programme at the University of Southampton.

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He described his brief as carrying out the "biggest corporate turnaround programme in the UK" and focused in particular on its marketing operation.

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