One of our, er, your messages is missing.

Lame Dolby reference aside, The Royal Navy will deliver a message from you to anyone at Get The Message. Pretty well done, but I do not know what purpose this serves whatsoever. As you can see though, I sent the spam tin lads one.
(Via.)

Getty Images acting just like a record label.

No images in this post kids, sorry.

Saw this on your favorite Ubiquitous Persuader’s blog via The Cartoonist and was like wtf? Getty Images in Germany went after copywriter Jürgen Schöneich, claiming he might be using images on his site that he doesn’t have the rights for. Images which were in his portfolio of work agencies had already paid and secured rights for.

(Getty and other stock sites use image recognition software that scans and compares pixel patterns to those in the original already on file. According to their TOS, they pursue anyone to protect a copyright. Hey, wait, maybe they can find Hoffa.)

Protecting photographers is one thing, but this is a desperate move to make more money off an existing revenue stream that was, um, never a revenue stream, nor was it an attempt by users rip them off. It’s not like he was taking an image and selling t-shirts with it. Besides, stock photo houses have been gouging agencies for years when it came to licensing.

$1,500 for an image for the company newsletter that 35 people will see? Yeah, that’s fair.

More reasons this is bad:

Record labels tried this too. “Let’s sue Napster and teens downloading songs.”

Uh, let’s not.

The images aren’t being used commercially. Even if you argued that the images in online portfolios help the person get more work, you’re stretching things. The images are examples of past work only.

How can you accurately tell who your audience is? Just like their inaccurate pricing structure for offline work, what do you base internet fees on in this case, “potential” audience? Actual? Say it’s the latter, what methods do you use to monitor views?

What if nobody clicks on the sample?

The net may be far from private, but an outside agency monitoring your personal blog crosses a line. Plus, how do you go from changing the end use of an image once used in a printed brochure to that of one now living online as a sample. Double dip much?

Based on that logic, Photodisc would let me sell t-shirts with an image on it, but I couldn’t display that same image to potential customers?

(Do software companies charge agencies each time a different user sits down at a computer that only has one license of a given program?)

Possible workarounds. Seems like you could get around this by claiming the samples are being used in an editorial context, much like images on sports and entertainment sites that link back to source images. Worst case, put the work in a PDF and keep it from public view.

Ultimately though, Getty and sites like Corbis could simply grant an exemption to the end-users and anyone associated with the project:

Use the images in the specific case of self-promotion only; maybe even add a disclaimer that points back to Getty and says the images are samples.

Otherwise, stock houses will end up like travel agents wondering where all their business went. People will then use more work off Flickr because a lot of it already has a Creative Commons designation, or maybe they go to places like iStockphoto.com.

Keep doing stuff like this and I know where they won’t be going.

The price of freedom.

Or the price of scooping CNN on a story. On any given day, that’s basically what you’re looking at on Drudge with their sponsors. I tried Add-Art, the pop-up blocker for Firefox that replaces ads with miscellaneous art? Oh it works alright, but the thing is, I started to miss Drudge’s dysfunctional family at the top every day. Each page refresh bringing with it yet another under-represented grassroots movement, PAC or rejected QVC product. Then I realized that’s what we’re all about here in this country. Drudge really is America, isn’t it:

“Come for the free press and teeth whiteners—stay for the agendas.”

He can do it all.

You know you’ve come up when you have your sport drink, condom, sex toy and video game sequel. Check out 50 talking about his new game Blood on the Sand before Newsday shuts the free stuff down.

Tags: Blood on the Sand

Penn won’t go viral. And he doesn’t know what will.

Who does. Just give up 5:29 of your day and you might figure it out. (Via.)

Game logos then and now.

Cool progression on games radar of video game logo development for titles like Tomb Raider, among others. Logo and packaging used to be better graphically than the game, but not no more. Eventually, it’ll end up as vector like these covers.

Trolling the net so you don’t have to.

This banner ad got caught in the net as I was pulling it up. Not really sure what species it is, but with a name like that, you don’t just catch and release—you’re clicking.











Please remember, this site isn’t a recipe, gossip or fashion exchange—it’s an inspiration exchange. If Mariel Hemingway and Leeza Gibbons are IN, so am I. (If, I was a woman.)

Trust me. Bacon dispensors for public restrooms are going to be HUGE.

Via Dave Fleet.

West Bank wallvertising—all the kids are doing it!

Awesome. $40 per message and taggers will cover up that nasty wall with your brand. Does it really need more explaining than that?

Barney Frank to head government-run advertising agency oversight committee thing.

I thought I rambled. What the hell is he even saying? Why do I have this fear that the government is going to start an advertising oversight committee and Frank is going to be CCGO? (Chief Creative Government Officer.) Watch him wander through the CNBC clip answering questions nobody asked and constantly attacking corporate golf sponsorships:

“If the justification is marketing, bringing your brand to the attention of the public, presumably you do that by putting your name on a tournament. What’s that got to do with taking some of your employees and putting them up in luxury hotels?”

I’m all for spending wisely and nixing private jets for companies getting bailout cash, but don’t let’s not forget agencies here. (Stopping golf outings wouldn’t do anything.) Has he even seen what agencies spend on outings and shoots? I don’t recall ever seeing a CD stay at a Red Roof.

Anchor Darren Rovell then clouds the issue further by introducing sports marketing into the mix, which throws Barney even more off-track. Fox he lets interrupt, but here, watch Barney man up and take a stand! Cue scene in Good Will Hunting where Ben Affleck as Chuckie pretends to be Will during a job interview:

“Nobody in this town works without a retainer guys. You think you can find someone who does, let me tell you you have my blessin’. But I think we all know that person isn't going to represent you as well as I can. Reee-TAIN-er! ... Retainer.”

Barney, if that agency ever does come to fruition and you choose to head it up? Mister, you’ve got my vote.

Congrats! The public hates your design. Now what?

Maybe you saw the New York Times article out about the Tropicana redesign and how that’s just going over like gangbusters. While it’s nice to respond to the public outcry, it’s ironic given they’re owned by Pepsi, a brand itself that has ignored public opinion regarding its own redesign issues.

From everything I’ve seen, Pepsi went out of its way to ignore the full range of comments about their redesign. Ironic even more given the common denominator for both efforts in this case is the design work of Arnell. As for the response, Neil Campbell from Tropicana:

“Rather, the criticism is being heeded because it came ... from some of “our most loyal consumers.””

Thing is, people have been saying stuff about brands for a long time now on blogs and elsewhere, not just on Twitter when something goes wrong.

Unlike Pepsi, Tropicana is responding to their loyalists now by going back to the old packaging. It’s easy to look back and say would/should/coulda when things go bad. Listening to those who love and use your stuff ahead of time produces a more genuine connection however, not just reaching out to the ones with the most followers.

Are the two mutually exclusive? Maybe. Tropicana CEO Massimo d'Amore:

“...people do not buy design. They buy products.”

True for the most part. Even though I tear into the new Pepsi work I still use both products because I prefer them to any other brands. I don’t care what the Tropicana in my fridge looks like right now, I just know I like it over others I’ve tried.

For consumers though, packaging is the one thing that they subconsciously count on to anchor the brand in their mind. The last line of defense in the grocery aisle. You do not mess with what Mommy Bloggers™ put in the fridge or on the dinner table.

If an ad campaign like Snicker’s near gay-almost kiss gets people up in arms? No problem. People still have the familiarity of the packaging to fall back on. Ads may create moods for the brand, but packaging lasts longer in the cycle—and in consumers’ minds.

Still, I feel for any designer whose work fails to go over well because I’ve been there. Haven’t we all? If the work was good, but the product relaunch failed because of other factors like shortages, poor distribution, lousy ad campaign, etc., that’s one thing.

But if the public hated what you did and was actually vocal enough to get the work changed back, that’s different.

Polarizing an audience isn’t always bad. Look at Burger King’s work with The King, a character you either hated or loved. Sales were up though for a long time with him so the brand likely loved the extra PR. Wendy’s red-haired freaks? Not so much. Franchisees screamed “JUMP!” and the brand said “How high?”
Unrealistic to expect, but when an agency creates major negative buzz resulting in a brand scrapping its relaunch at a cost of millions, don’t they owe them something back? (Pepsi is still happy with Arnell apparently, even though agencies have lost clients over far less.)

I understand the argument against doing this can be made by looking at other creative fields: Jim Carry ain’t giving back part of his 20 million per picture fee just because a film tanks. He gets his up front because the studio knows signing him guarantees a return of x-amount come opening weekend. The success of the film is still dependent on the director, producer, crew and studio.

Same with athletes. Beckham, T.O. or A-Rod ain’t giving back anything either. Ultimately, if they don’t perform, it comes back to bite them in terms of asking price down the road, but most dudes get their dollars, whether they play or not, (no matter what the reason). Like movies too, many things have to come together for them to succeed, from coaches, game plans and teammates doing their part.

In this case however, it begins and ends with the vision of the designer. (To a lesser degree, the marketing director who brought them in.) I side with the agency but have to always respect the brand.

As it is with a logo, packaging is sold in on the idea of how it makes people feel about your brand. You’re convincing the client that your design will do good things for them in the eyes of consumers.

Redesigning any brand packaging is risky. (I’ve done package redesign on major brands and know the careful moves you have to make in evolving a look forward.) Any change, revolutionary or not, is risky.

People expect consistency from their brands.

Listening to the Fan in New York yesterday and head something by chance that applies here. Coach John Calipari of likely Final Four team Memphis was talking about their run this year and said that when you’re very successful as they’d been, people expect you not to lose any game. A result other than a W? Unacceptable. (Don’t Yankee fans always expect to be there in October?)

Same here I suspect with the outcry. You expect brands like a Pepsi, a Coke, an Apple, etc., to not make mistakes each time out, and so you give them less room to breathe than you would a Peet’s Coffee or a Super 8.

Sure, some will hate, some will love what you do, but you hope the negative response is minimal, because you can live with that. When it’s not, you need to listen—maybe even ahead of time.

Tags: Pepsi, Tropicana

(Images via.)

You can’t count on people.

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.”

— Tommy Lee Jones from Men In Black........

A little harsh, but when discussing why something works online and why it doesn’t, don’t discount the role people play, either positively or negatively.

“The consumer is in charge” makes for a nice soundbite, but there’s more to it than that. They may be in charge, but they don’t all act the same way. When you put together a site or other online effort, you try and plan for every contingency: Target a specific demo, focus group it to death, throw in usability standards, A-B test it, Beta it, slap it etc., and yet, people will still do whatever they want because they’re unpredictable.

Consider how many times a brand throws money at something, only to have it get little traffic, or worse, it generates negative PR. Maybe a community site was supposed to be the second coming of Facebook here, yet failed to take off.

See visual above.

I don’t mean you can’t predict behavior in general or that people won’t sniff out the obvious fake blog. You can, and they will. Run an ad during the Super Bowl for a free meal at Denny’s? Expect lines around the store. Likewise, throw out a warning about tainted peanut butter and sales drop.

I’m talking about something more subtle where people use and explore things in ways you don’t expect or asked for.

When that happens then, the question becomes, do you let things take on a life of their own and go with the flow? Or do you fight it and make it conform to what you originally intended?

Below are 10 examples of various things that I’ve come across that touch on this:

1) #Hashtags — Aka, #flight1549, #sully, #hero and #usairways. These are labels people use in updates and posts to be more easily picked up in searches, yet nobody uses the same ones. Ever. Discussions for the Super Bowl? At least four. Hudson plane landing? The four you see and then some. The Oscars? I lost count. Anytime a new story goes up, see how many people put in a tag they think is relevant.

Then watch how many people ignore those and add their own in.

2) Twitter — Taken at face value, it’s supposed to be about answering the question “What are you doing?” Instead, maybe half the people answer that at any one time, the remainder use it for chat, a link dump, a shameless self-promotional vehicle, an attempt to be clever or a customer service hotline.

This shows people using it the way they want and altering the original intent of the site, resulting in a different experience for everyone.

Additionally, look at how many third-party apps have sprung up because of Twitter’s open API. Not every site’s meaningful, but it shows a site being open to the possibilities that experimentation brings.

3) Random Logo Project — The genesis of this post actually. It’s a thing in the sidebar I made over a year ago where people submit logos they find. That was the intent anyway. Wherever you are, find a real logo, tag it, upload it. Simple, right?

No. I got signs. I got comps from agencies of logos that never made it past the client. I got shots of stuffed animals. *sigh*

Speaking of tags, people were asked to add randomlogoproject so I could find images more easily. Instead, only half the people added it. This meant I had to go in and add it to every one that didn’t have one. Tedious, considering the limits of batch editing in Flickr with someone else’s images. I reminded people from time to time, but at the end of the day?

They just did what they wanted.

4) Facebook TOS — After all the discussion over Beacon and ad sales, you would think they would be more clued-in about their users, but they go ahead and change their TOS, not expecting that someone would be watching, let alone care. Above all else, it was definitely a lesson that online, someone is always watching what you do, even if you think they aren’t.

5) Comments — Many people are bloggers, and as such, run vastly different blogs. There are no standards when it comes to comments. Go to 10 different blogs and you get 10 different scenarios: Comments closed after one month. No comments allowed on this one. Registration for comments on that one. Anonymous comments allowed here, but not there. Moderated comments there, but not here. Overly sensitive bloggers editing comments while others allow spam.

Try running blogger outreach without taking that into consideration.

6) Blip.fm — Twitter for music. Like any file sharing site, it based its community growth on songs people uploaded. Soon as the labels came sniffing around with lawyers, Blip stopped allowing that unless it was to existing servers somewhere else. Quest Love from The Roots had been a user until that point, but told them that by making that one change, they just chased him away—along with all his followers. While the change may have been important to Blip, it was more important to the people using it.

7) Pepsi Max Suicide ad — Ran once in Germany. Bloggers all over jumped on it. I’m fairly sure nobody at BBDO thought it would create headaches for Pepsi, and if they did, they probably thought the brand could weather it. Unfortunately for them, bloggers with a suicide agenda were lying in wait.

8) Reviews — Reviews in general are a problem for product and service-related sites because here you’re at the mercy of the public. You could get 99 out of 100 people loving you, and yet one guy has this thing where he can’t give five stars. Ever.

9) Mad Men on Twitter — Less about Twitter, more about brandjacking. Fans of the show decided to extend the life of some of the characters over to Twitter. Initially, show creator AMC wasn’t happy about it. Only later did they see that maybe people were just into the show so much that they shouldn’t fight it.

10) iPhone in India — Apple counted on the love people have here for the iPhone carrying over to India. In a part of the world that has already adopted mobile, seemed like a no-brainer. Wrong: The price was too high. Four times the average monthly salary of their intended target. An example of failing to understand local economies, sure, but also a case of counting on everyone reacting to your brand in the same way they had everywhere else.

Why? Because when it comes to counting on people...

Soon to be appearing in Playboy’s Hot Conspiracy Theorists of YouTube April edition.

Aka, Ann Coulter’s whackier, hotter sister. In looking for a recap of Obama’s speech last night, this gem popped up on YouTube. You watch, mesmerized that what she’s saying might come to pass. Then you say, nah, couldn’t be true. Could it?

Or could it. Then again, one comment sums her up fairly well:

“honestly i just clicked on this vid because there was a hot chik... — ohnoesfedzilla.”

Tags: Obama

Kill ‘em if ya got ‘em.

All those ideas that died in the brainstorm or at the client now have a home. (Besides award shows.) Steve Hall over at AdRants along with book publisher Blurb and Ammo Marketing have created Killed Ideas. Which is... basically for ideas you love that the client didn’t. Unlike award shows too, it doesn’t cost $500 per entry. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Submit your ideas by March 31st and it may make into Killed Ideas Volume 1, the first collection of the 50 best dead ideas. (Speaking of stuff that never ran, how ironic if someone enters something that did.) So get to coming up with stuff the client will hate and enter now. (Follow them on their blog and on Twitter too.)

Tags: Killed Ideas

But wait, there’s more.

.
– More Pepsi logo love. (Via.)
– Oh look, another site for teens to leave in six months.
– Don’t be afraid of blogosphering or the Facebook.
– Before ?love, there was The Mysterians.
– The death of Google.
– Must See TV for Entrepreneurs and anyone wanting to understand them.
– Half-mill half-pipe.
– Before we nuke ‘em back into the stone age, first, check out life there.

I’ll pass on the foot massage, but everything else is cool.

You may have heard about NiN drummer Josh Freese’s promotion for his latest CD. Or, not. You will though because it has a variety of “prize” levels, including him washing your car or spending the day at Disney World with you, based on how much someone spends. It’s a cool way to get the word out for any band or musician though “in times like these.” Hard to stick out from the gajillion bands on MySpace, well, getting a foot massage from a drummer qualifies. Josh basically wrote, sang and played everything on the new CD, but wanted to bring attention to it in a different way.

Having paid for the production on his own, he didn’t have a lot of money to put behind it like the majors would, so even though he hired a publicist to do some interviews, this promotion was it in terms of support. He even created the clip above. (The idea steals the thunder from my Win a Week With U2 promotion. C’mon, Edge bagging your groceries? Hi-larry-ass.) And yes, Josh is prepared to follow through on any of the packages, included writing an entire CD about you and then marketing it on iTunes, PLUS raw lasagana. You can’t beat that, you really can’t.

That is, if any of you freeloaders shell out 75K.

Tags: Josh Freese

Contextual got it rightness.

Usually, I’m finding stuff like this. Not today. Forgetting that a 10-year old whiz kid graf artist is taking over in England, at least the ads they ran for the story fit this time. Graf supplies used to be whatever colors the local hardware store had for you to boost. Now it’s just a click away. Legally.

OMG!!!! THE AD THEY DIDN’T WANT YOU TO SEE!!!!

Need to do away with the “rejected” premise in general for ads. But if they did reject it, it’s probably because of the heavy-handed execution. (See below.) Wonder how Obama feels being congratulated first by humanists, and now by Catholics. Here I thought Sean Penn’s acceptance speech on YouTube with the Proposition 8 hate crowd was bad, read any of the 13,100+ comments on CatholicVote.org and see why the internet needs an auto-cull feature.

Just another day in the Borg.

This odd, smokey, organic mass is actually time lapse of the masses in St. Petersburg, Russia by Alexey Titarenko. Check out the rest.
(Via.)

MobiLenin, or BanksyHerring.

From the Everyone famous for 15 pixels department: Jürgen Scheible, aka MobiLenin, is a former Nokia programmer-slash-digital artist who uses light projections on exteriors linked by a cell phone he app he wrote to paint on them in real time. Not sure if Nokia has sponsored him but it looks like it based on this clip. Okay, maybe his fashion has co-opted a Beatles trippy Coldplay chic—whatever that is—and Light projections are not really new, nor is his “painting” style amazing.

It’s childlike, probably owing to limits of the basic interface, but I could see it mimicing old school grafitti wars soon enough.) The kind where one artist would go up against another over a few hours.) How long before the iPhone sponsors outdoor competitions with this? How long beofre Mommy Bloggers™ in Ohio are tagging each other’s houses. Isn’t that what Fashion and hi-tech inventions do? Find their way down to flyover country soon enough I suppose.

Share a LOL.

Is Sex in the City humor something so awesome that I just don’t get? Is it a guy thing? A corporate brand who let the lawyers write the spots thing? See what you think and get back to me on that.

Here’s a niche site concept.

Who doesn’t love a good captcha. Especially one that could compete with eBay as a sub-niche site. Duibay.com is available on GoDaddy too! For now. Imagine though a one-stop resource for all your drinking needs. Lady DUI, take note.

Oscar recap madness! Hugh grinds, Coke pwns, and Frito-Lay’s TrueNuts finds its calling.

What stood out:

• Mickey was robbed. (I just hope his chihuahuas are ok after he lost to Penn.)

• Having parts of the script read over the actual scenes was cool.

• Having the Who’s in Your Oscar Five read the nominations for best actress/actor? About as comfortable as a Hugh Jackman Barbara Walters lap dance. Someone spray down the lavalier please.

• Way too many musical numbers. Hugh can dance, I just don’t want to see it.

• Just once, would love to hear someone respond to the “What are you wearing” question by going: “Old Navy.” Nice placement if you can get it.

A few updates from Twitter:

Kevin Pollock: “Boy, you'd never know Jerry has been one of the TRUE pricks for over 45 years.”

FrankAdman: “I have no desire to direct a movie. It's hard enough to get a headline to work.”

qoolquest: “dog will someone send HSM cast friggin home already?!?!?!?”

Oh yeah, and commercials:

Coke and Coke Zero had a nice series of cause-specific spots out and overall, had the most even tone of the night, especially the skywriting “Ahhh” spot. JC Penny tried to convince you they were are will be cool, and Hyundai beat you down like Rodney King throughout the night with their buy-back offer spots. The nicest, coolest series though was for Frito-Lay’s™ TrueNorth Nuts, and it’s also the one that drives me nuts now.

Directed by Helen Hunt, it’s the story of Lisa Nigro, a former Chicago police officer who opened up a restaurant for the homeless, and then won the chance to have her story made into a commercial. Read about it here and watch the clip. Before you read further and feel the love, I do like these spots a lot.

Problem though: I’ve never seen a brand make it more difficult to get the word out with one of its commercials. Surprising to me that the interactive people on the TrueNorth microsite didn’t even include an embed or share link for the actual clips, let alone having the clips already up on YouTube.

Hugh’s nuts were already posted on YouTube before he finished the dance, so not really seeing why they couldn’t post these spots. Ad bloggers left and right will be covering the TrueNorth ad today. Pepsi must have had a media buy in the millions, and they couldn’t even include a clip to help them get the word out? All they had was a PR release. Way to grab onto the future.

Wait, what, people actually talked about the spots?

That said, more than a few people who liked it also wondered what the connection to nuts was. Yeah there’s a connection to the actual name of the brand, TrueNorth. Yes, the story of TrueNorth was about finding the one passion to make your their nuts be the one thing they focused on most when starting the company. A story about someone else’s one “true north” in life to play off that? Sure. Fine. That works.

Still, it’s one of the common themes for major brands in vogue: Take the name of the product and personify/humanify/verbalize/nounalize it. (Kraft your salad anyone?) Even if you connect the two dots between product name and purpose in life, and even if you know the origin of the True North name, people’s reaction was still:

“Oh, odd commercial for a peanut brand.”

It just doesn’t connect to the actual product beyond actual name. Taking it one step further as only I do, it also rings less true because the parent company is megalithic Frito-Lay, and not some smaller independent Mom & Pop brand trying to establish itself. At least then I’d give them a pass.

(Note: While they said there was to be only one commercial shown during the awards, Majora Carter’s South Bronx story also ran.)

Until next year.

(Image via.)

Tags: True North nuts

The Follow Culture. Part 3.

(The final entry in the series on why people follow, continued from part 1 and part 2.)

I can’t Qwit you.

Yes you can. It’s easy. Let me show you how. When it comes to people following me, I never expected as many as I have. Seriously. Great if it happened, otherwise, it really was no big deal.

Having said that, if you ended up following me, thanks, but don’t get mad if I don’t follow back. (Although at times, I've had issues with glitches when it comes to follows, so it’s likely people fell through the cracks along the way. Don’t hate.)

One example of how crazy people can get over this point though happened recently. Someone followed then unfollowed me three times in one day. (I'd been on assignment and was away from the laptop, only to return to 100+ emails. Not four hours later after their initial follow, I noticed the person had followed then unfollowed me twice—before I even had a chance to follow them. Like they were trying to get my attention in some kind of weird “Next time you see our waitress, could you tell her we need the check?” way when you’re at Pizza Hut.

Good luck with that. Please, at least let me insult you first so I can earn the unfollow the old-fashioned way.

As it is, I use Qwitter, which allows you to see when someone unfollows so you can return the favor, just to mess with them. (Something Facebook doesn’t like to offer or encourage its users to do because of precisely this type of crap with the nearly internet famous.) Qwitter’s exit interview though is limited because it only lets you know when someone stopped following after your last update.

(Could be they stopped following you for another reason besides what you wrote, like, maybe you never followed them, or maybe you like fictional creatures like the centaur. For this, Qwitter needs an itemized list with checkboxes so you can work on improving yourself and choice of favorite pet.)

It’ll get worse before it gets better.

Just like the economy I suppose, but as more and more companies jump on the social media bandwagon, there’ll be no end in sight to the pointless follows that do no more than inflate someone’s numbers. After all, who needs meaningful content when you’re following 13,004 people—and one of them is Anderson Cooper.

There’s one thing affecting this scenario though that seems to be missing from most social media enthusiast, guru and expert posts, and while a topic for a future post, is relevant here:

Everyone uses the online space in their own way.

You do it with it want you want, and I’ll do with it what I want. There are no set rules other than just to use common sense. (Wait, scratch that. It’s the internet, what was I thinking.

It’s not one size fits all, yet that’s what I see on blogs or other publications and magazines* in love with the “Customer is in charge now!” mantra. (Funny how it sounds an awful lot like the second coming of “The customer is always right.”)

On one hand you have people who could care less about Facebook or Twitter and are content to just write their blog. On the other, you have PR people shilling endlessly and retweeting everything Seth Godin says—at 2:00 am on a Saturday night. Then there’s everything in betweet.**

What’s it all means.

Summing things up nicely, well, you can’t. I went off in all different directions in these posts because there isn’t one way to approach it. The reasons why people are seemingly obsessed with who they follow and who follows them are many. There’s also no one site that it happens with either. That’s not a cop-out, it’s just that all of this is connected organically and not caused by any one thing because people are on more than one site at a time.

This culture of following permeates everything online, and is the basis for a lot of what shapes community experiences with social media, not just how many people you follow or what brands poke you on Facebook.

Again, the needs for every group vary. Advertisers don’t care if an individual is bummed because they only have 20 friends. Most brands are only interested in the largest numbers of eyes that key influencers supposedly deliver from a business standpoint.

For their part, the individual user with the 20 “friends” could care less about that because to them, it’s personal, not business.

On the other hand, maybe they’re okay with that 20 because they don’t care all that much about being online. Whichever group you’re talking about though, no followers equals no community, and no community ultimately equals no interest from anyone—advertisers or “influencers.”

Who’s right? Both? Neither?











Another prevailing mindset is that there are certain ways to use social media and certain ways not to, and that’s it. I don’t think you can apply hard and fast rules like that though.

Unless you’re a celebrity of any sort, micro, real, imagined or whatever, it’s not one thing or the other that guarantees you or your brand will be popular online, let alone “getting it right” when it comes to promoting your product.

For every Shaq, there’s a real fake Britney. For every Zappos, there’s a Pepsi. Brands attend a seminar or read an article on How To Do Social Media, then panic when the community at large doesn’t react the way they thought it would, especially when a fake character starts following them.

Works for Mad Men, others, not so much.

You could also do everything on a *yawn* Top 10 Ways To Use Social Media or Top 10 Twitter Tips list*** and still not get it right. A list I purposely avoided including because nobody’s Top 10 is the same. Five things on it might be, but then after that? Your call.

Those things are popular because they’re easy SEO-friendly topics that help drive blog traffic, even if they are recycling the same topics. Others live to spread tips on How To Get 10,000 Followers in Two Days—GUARANTEED!

10,000 followers? In only two days? Guaranteed? And to think mom said you wouldn’t amount to anything.


*If I had to call out everyone who does it, I’d have to go to part 4 in this series, and as much as I can’t predict the future, I can tell you that ain’t happening.

**The other hell of social media: Cute names and language specific to the site. You dig, my Tweeps?

***They have these lists at 7-Eleven—next to the Slim Jims.

“Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Nor does it look like the support is refused by any candidate either. Especially the part with Mitt Romeny’s signature and photo right above the name of the PAC. Hey, if Drudge wants to keeping running this stuff, I’ll keep blogging about it. While I realize Hope don’t float for a large percentage of the country, and the honeymoon was over for them before it ever began, maybe try and be a little less blatant with the messaging. Jumping from office to PAC to another eventual run in 2012? Priceless.

You didn’t think political campaigns took time off did you?

Dan, I want to vote for you, really, I do. You look like you connect with the people: A) Mommy bloggers, B) Inner-city youth, C) Seniors and D) Single working moms, (maybe they blog, not sure).

Problem is I can’t. First of all, while your “potential candidacy” sounds awesome, I have not a single clue what your candidacy is for. Second, even if you’re only exploring at this point, I’m thinking your information technology director might want to look into getting more accurate email lists.

Hard to vote for a guy in CT when you live in NJ.

Hmmm, this one’s tough.

“who are these going to??? i’ll give u the chance to give me your passwords to all ur email accounts...otherwise, we’re not workin things out... and there will be nothin else to say to eachother, except when it comes to xaden..”

Turn over all my passwords to a spammer or post the email on a blog. What to do, what to do.

Classical music ain’t so bad.

My .love. of classical music notwithstanding, or my .love. of conferences with astronomical ticket prices, this is a pretty amazing performance for a high school band. (Hi-res version here.) As music director at TED, Thomas Dolby has a series of blog posts on some of the acts and behind the scenes stories, people you likely never heard of such as Naturally 7 or have, like Regina Spektor. The band above is from Venuzuela and puts a twist on traditional orchestra performances with a half-marching band, half-movie score vibe. The arrangements by conductor Gustavo Dudame likely have a lot to do with it but still, mesmerizing to watch.

(Via, with hi-res version here.)

Tags: TED

Twitter contextual madness.

Less madness than near-juxtapositional hilarity. Remember kids, less is more on Twitter.

When it comes to smoking, doesn’t Fabio just ooze “quit?”

(You know what to do with the image, don’t make me come over there.)










(Via.)

Only on:

.









Tags: Facebook, craigslist, eBay, Amazon, Wiki, MySpace

Hey this has always been pretty useful.

About as useful as age verification on beer and alcohol sites.

The Power of Power.

“We need something to run Oscar week. Acura wants to push the TL, more powerful VTEC, blah, blah. It’s going to appear on IMDB.”

“Hmmm. Powerful engine, what about... the Power of Film?”

“I like it. So, will it be films about driving and cars?”

“Nah, why would it be. Just films that had the most Oscar nominations. That’s kinda powerful, right? Amadeus, Lord of the Rings, etc.”

“Yeah, yeah. I mean, they didn’t have cars, but they had carts and carriages I think. Powerful engine = how many times a film has been nominated. That’s a powerful connection to the brand, right?”

“Close enough, and, we can put all of Acura’s commercials in the page takeover and call them films.”

“Yeah, I like it. Let’s run with that.”

Tags: Academy Awards

The 728 x 90 band.

Aka, a banner ad that doesn’t suck, aka, band in a box in a banner. Brands | Bands | Fans came across a different use of the internet cancer known as the banner ad. They have more background info but the short version is that VV Brown performs LEAVE! and Crying Blood with the band in a box scaled up from a banner. (Brown’s last video also had a thing for small; she was in the tiny house.) While the bass player looks like he wished they went for the 160 x 600 tower, it’s a nice twist. (OH™) You can watch the video or click through to other links.

Tags: VV Brown, LEAVE!, Crying Blood

Who needs a hug...

That way, I could share the love with others. Like chimp lady, who really could use a hug right about now, (from a different species that is).

Or your money back?

Our lady of blessed money shot, pray for us?

Sex sells, even in church. Or outside in this case. Banners for Mercy’s Cross Church in Sherwood, Arkansas feature their Porn Sunday series about the difference between sex and pornography. (Less mutually exclusive and more sequential in my mind: The former leading to the latter when you no longer get... the former. Circle of married life!) Anyway, most people in the news report thought it was a topic worth mentioning, while a few thought it should be kept private. (But then nobody would know about the probl... oh forget it.) All I know is church wasn’t like this when I went. Probably a good thing because I was seven. In all seriousness, having worked with Plaid for a church client of theirs in getting new members in, (ouch), you do need to wake people up from time to time. Well done. Everyone else, lighten up, of all the things to get bent out of shape over, it’s just sex in church.

Okay, so maybe soccer players are a bunch of pussies.

Via Corey at the formerly greatest blog name ever Wild Pack of Family Dogs. The ritual is explained here. On view in a real match here. So yeah, it’s a lot like Ray Lewis getting the troops fired up, but awesome nonetheless.

Tags: adidas

The Ubiquitous Persuaders, aka, why Google will eventually rape you.

“Unfortunately, most advertisers and their agencies seem incapable of realizing the stunningly obvious fact that virtually everyone filters everything they see and hear, then chooses to ignore those parts that don’t excite, enthuse, inform, or have relevance to them.”

“Google will eventually rape you.”

Not to make fun of rape, but to the paradigm shifters, envelope pushers and BDAs out there, those two quotes announce that George Parker’s back with another look at how screwed up advertising is. For those thinking his latest book will be another F-bomb tirade on par with his regular AdScam blog posts, not so.

As with his previous title MadScam, George again shows that rantings aside, he knows a good deal more than most when it comes to the ad game.

If you need a word count however, the use of his favorite four letter friend this time out is a distant second to his No. 1, the acronym for big dumb agency:

BDA: 73
Fuck (and derivative): 12
Sir Martin: 9
Paradigm: 5
Guru: 4
Poisoned Dwarf: 3
Douchenozzle: 1
Boddingtons: 0

Instead of concocting an elaborate set of unproven theories about consumer attitudes or writing lovingly of his time in the trenches, George takes a different approach. Using Vance Packard’s 50-year old advertising classic The Hidden Persuaders, he updated, re-imagined and re-adapted it for today’s ad crowd.

Still, there will be a few people who don’t care about how advertising “used to be” because to them, they think they’re at the forefront of developing new ways for how people interact with brands. In their minds, the old ways don’t work anymore because advertising as consumers know it is dead, so why bother to learn the past.

They’d be wrong, because as much as digital will drive much of how consumers experience a brand from here out, it still will not be the only way they do it. (Little thing called history > forget > doomed > repeat > remember?)

To continually have this insular mindset that says only digital matters is as detrimental as traditional shops or creatives who think “engaging with customers” via social media and/or using search is a fad.

Note to both: It all matters because no media is an island.

Digital freaks: do you really think you’ll wake up tomorrow and TV will disappear? World of SEO: Do you really think you’re ready to run a full brand by yourselves? Traditionals: do you really think it’s all bullshit that someone researches the hell out of stuff on Google, or blogs about customer service horror stories that contrast with the feel-good vibe established in epic TV productions?

Much of what George covers though is obvious, and still true: The message is as important as the messenger. Amazing website? Slick :30 spot? Funky viral that has no relation to the brand? Doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t entertain and connect.

How many more options do we have now to view a brand, probably too many, right? Yet when you add it all up, how much of what we are exposed to fails at the “connecting” part that brands and agencies had hoped for.

While MadScam showed simple tactics businesses could use to help their brands, Persuaders shows how much of what Packard wrote still applies when it comes to the secret hidden messages thinking behind those tactics. George covers everything that brands can use to get the word out, from TV to blogs to guerilla and beyond.

Reading UP, it became apparent that nothing seems to have changed in the 50 years since the original book came out. Whether influencing how voters feel about candidates or focus groups deciding what products get marketed, the methods are the same. (He also gets in a nice shot at the world I love so much: pharmaceuticals.)

Another four letter word Parker uses? Business.

The prevailing industry mindset on the creative side is that awards are the only thing that matter, and business, well, that’s just for the suits to deal with. While he constantly gives BDAs static about this over on AdScam, don’t miss his point: As recent industry layoffs show, having a cool job in digital doesn’t mean you’re any more safe than having a ton of awards for TV spots means you’re bulletproof.

You do need to know what your client’s industry is and how it runs.

Having said that however, he notes the business of number crunching by large shops and putting profitability over creative considerations is in effect killing the industry, and that the next generation full of smaller shops may be better poised to figure out the best ways to be compensated by clients.

Speaking of, while he wouldn’t refuse being paid in pints, order a copy now youngins. You might actually learn something.

(It’s even available for the Kindle, his favorite new toy.)

Tags: Ubiquitous Persuaders, George Parker

It’s not your fault.

iwasyoungnstupid.com
iwaslittleandstupid.com
iwasyoungandsilly.com
iwaslittlenstupid.com
iwasyoungnsilly.com
iwaslittleandsilly.com
iwaslittlensilly.com
easyiwasyoungnsilly.com
easyiwasyoungandstupid.com
easyiwasyoungnstupid.com
iwasyoungandstupidsite.com
iwasyoungandstupidonline.com
iwasyoungandstupidstore.com
iwasyoungandstupidnow.com
iwasyoungandstupidblog.com
iwasyoungandstupidshop.com
iwasyoungandstupidtoday.com
theiwasyoungandstupid.com
myiwasyoungandstupid.com
newiwasyoungandstupid.com
freeiwasyoungandstupid.com
bestiwasyoungandstupid.com

Nah. None of those will do. But Iwasyoungandstupid.com will.

Tags: Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod

Sure it’s overused in commercials and movies,

...but I do not get tired of this* song. Even in a new Nike spot. Arsenal and Man U fans? They left you hanging.


*Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi, O Fortuna.

Tags: Arsenal, Manchester United

Billy, Vince, Tony, Snuggie, Slanket and whoever else—move over.

How often do you get true blogging gold thrown in your lap, what, maaaaybe once every few years? I mean true gold. As you know, I was fortunate enough recently to experience it a second time. That doesn’t happen often. You’d have better luck being First! on a Lindsay Lohan post at TMZ.

For the first time ever here though, you are about to witness gold for a third time.

I GIVE YOU SELF–AFFIRMATION! SELF-AFFIRMATION CHEERS! SELF-AFFIRMATION PUZZLES TO YOUR LIFE! SELF–AFFIRMATION TRINKETS! Only thing better would be if they shipped it to you in a Snuggie. Thank you Good Cheer Company, thank you.




(Via Scheuguy.)

Pass fail.

Except for Paris Hilton’s flacks, nobody really cares about copy when things fail. 401-like pages are the ‘special’ cousin of legal disclaimers. Best you can do is hope for one like I recently got when Blip died before it refreshed.