last week i was on the marketing 101 panel at the startupLA conference. it was
actually a lot of fun, and there were some great questions afterwards. here’s some of my favorites, and my answers:
Q. what’s the fastest way for a new company to get exposure?
A. look for existing communities that are comprised of your target demographic and approach them. if there’s already a connected group of folks that you feel will be interested in what you’ve got it’s a lot faster to generate authentic exposure through that network than trying to aggregate a community from scratch. from a completely different perspective, cliff allen of suretomeet.com who was on the panel with me, said the fastest way for a new company to get exposure is spam. so there you go. choose your own adventure.
Q. is social media, like facebook, going to be the future of advertising?
A. its impact on the process is hugely important. i think it’s certainly something that now needs to be factored into any kind of advertising plan. but i also think it’s completely foolish to altogether write off exposure media (which is what advertising has been primarily dependent on up until like yesterday). it’s not a battle between whether engagement or exposure media is better adapted to the natural selection of marketing, it’s about pursuing a symbiotic relationship between the two, and developing integrated strategies that are overall more effective. that’s the future…. or at least it ought to be.
Q. what’s one piece of marketing advice that is most important for a new company?
A. know your audience. really really understand who you’re talking to. or who you should be talking to. the danger in making a message that isn’t relevant or that isn’t approaching your audience on their own terms is not just that we, as consumers, “tune it out,” it’s that unconsciously we translate messages we don’t relate to as being “not for us.” that’s the #1 thing to avoid.
(and my #1 favorite…) Q. if you had $10,000 to spend on advertising and you couldn’t use any of it on the internet, what would you do?
A. throw an event. and if you’re targeting people over 50, buy some print.
my good friend marsi frey was the visual effects producer on this goodby silverstein & partners spot for HP.
the flow of the whole thing has such a slick pace that it actually has the feel of more substantial scripted entertainment. that’s right, the ad is entertaining.
we’re embarking on a new experiment for the winter issue of the do lab artist network publication. looking for animators/ motion graphics/ v-fx artists to participate.
For the past year we have been producing a quarterly arts publication showcasing the diversity of artistic expression within, and relevant to, the Do LaB’s community. For our forthcoming issue we seek to spotlight the creative output from various sonic creators combined with that of visual effects, motion graphics, and animation artists.
Many talented musicians have submitted original music, and we are now seeking the rockstar visual artists in our midst interested in creating an interpretation, accompaniment, or re-envisioning of the music through THEIR eyes to complete this collaborative, cross-media experiment.
We are calling this an experiment because we have never attempted to do anything quite like this before, and are just as curious as you to discover where such a project can lead and what kind of dynamic creations it can inspire.
The end-results of this collaboration will be distributed to the Do LaB database and beyond, as well as screened at one of our upcoming events.
If this project sounds like something you would like to participate in, you can get all the info HERE.
this friday i will be part of the Marketing 101 panel at the StartupLA conference, an event “committed to building the startup community in Los Angeles.”
i’m really excited to be a part of it and share my insight, and i’m also excited that the organizers included this panel in the programming. marketing isn’t necessarily at the forefront of many technologists’ discussions, and precisely because of that, an opportunity to gain some understanding of the options and pitfalls in the current marketing landscape is crucial. (even if the understanding is just basic enough to glean that you could use a better understanding ;).)
after all, as any event producer knows, it doesn’t matter if you’ve booked the best music and curated the most amazing art, if no one comes to your party…it doesn’t matter.
my panel is at 3:35 on friday, october 26. for more info on the whole event visit: startuplaevent.com
worst case scenario, who would lose out if the music industry disappeared?
the fans and musicians would still be able to connect now that they have the internet to act as matchmaker. in fact, even huge acts such as Radiohead and NIN are starting to ditch their labels , cutting out the despotic middleman to regain more control over the relationship with their fans. so they would always have each other.
sure, the record *industry people* would lose out, but no one seems to really like them that much anyway, so that’s not really enough to rally around.
and then there’s the third element of this music ecosystem: brands. beyond being simply sensory crack, music is a significant community-creating, identity-defining force. often, it has been the primordial ooze from which new cultural shifts evolve. for brands (and hence the advertising/marketing industry) that need to speak to specific communities, facilitate the expression of specific identities, and that are affected by changing cultural tides, there is ALOT invested in this industry. and conveniently, the investment isn’t dependent on selling music.
from NPR’s on the beat:
Honda announced this week an online-advertising initiative that would generate $500,000 to $1 million for Sony/BMG. The advertising plans will include interactive video exposure for Avril Lavigne, Dido, Christina Aguilera, and Alicia Keyes.
For decades, artists and record labels scoffed at the notion that Madison Avenue would one day own the record business, but those days are over. Advertising agencies are now doing significant business with all the major labels, generating millions of dollars in income. This seismic philosophical shift was inevitable. As music sales began to recede, the market had to change.
so if you’re wondering about what’s going to “save” the music industry (and no, it’s not gonna be rick rubin’s ridiculous “subscription model” idea— i got mad love for rick as a producer, but give me a break), it can ONLY be a model that does not depend on the desperate idea of trying to sell something which can easily be copied for free.
it’s not fucking rocket science. after all, advertising figured it out. and now music has something that advertisers are in desperate search of: people’s attention. in a consumer landscape where all the standard channels for disseminating a message are fracturing, music still compels people’s attention and sustains that relationship like nothing else. music itself has become a channel. obviously one that needs to be treated differently than some kind of affiliate TV network, but a channel nonetheless.
and at the end of the day, artists stand to gain from this model too. according to on the beat:
While some bands would rather quit music than sell their songs to a commercial advertiser, many have made the transition with great ease. Money, of course, is a great motivator, but the secondary benefits of a strong advertising campaign can be equally important to an artist’s career. Consider this: In the past, hit songs got repeated commercial radio airplay in America, but with programming so tight, many artists will never achieve a hit record that way. Commercial radio programming is just too narrowcast.
So, artists have to look elsewhere for their exposure and TV advertising is the most effective way to generate mass awareness.
Putting a song in a car commercial still won’t get an artist a hit single, but millions will be exposed to their music.
As the Norwegian band Royksopp knows, selling the rights to a strong song can be enormously effective. Their track, Remind Me, has been used on many of the Geico “Caveman” commercials. Royksopp is not alone. The list of recent bands who sold their music for ad campaigns is amazing. Critical darlings like Postal Service, Bloc Party, Of Montreal, the Flaming Lips, MIA and Badly Drawn Boy are all on that list. And legacy artists can really cash in. Songs like Queen’s You’re my Best Friend to AT&T and the Rolling Stones‘ I’m Free to Chase have earned a pretty penny for these bands.
When done right, the advertisers add credibility to their brand in selecting the right songs. Target, Apple, Budweiser, Volkswagen and Motorola have all demonstrated excellent A&R sensibilities with their choice in song selections on TV ads.
For those naysayers, it’s important to remember that the artist makes the final decision whether to associate with a product or service.
And given that it’s impossible to watch more than a few minutes of ads, without a contemporary song cutting in, the artists are clearly comfortable with this change in the business marketplace.
