i don’t have much time to write here at the moment (and there’s a very good reason for that, which should be ready by next week) but i just saw something in a business week blog that begged to be mentioned.
at a very interesting meeting with ignited earlier this week, when i presented my perspective that real life events are just as much “social media” as anything online, jason turner, the VP of interactive, called me a “channel agnostic.” i instantly loved this phrase.
Bottom line here is that many big ad agencies are making a huge mistake. They are pushing their corporate clients to chase technology, not their consumers…. For example, sending big b2b companies who sell to 45-year-old men and women to FaceBook or Second Life is just nutty.
Different demographic groups participate in vastly different ways across the spectrum of social media. And they are constantly moving through it as they age, change careers, have families, etc. You just can’t send everyone to “social networking sites.” Companies and their ad agencies have to identify their consumers and locate their communities. Then they have to understand the culture and rules of these communities because they differ dramatically.
What you have to do is get to know their customer culture…. A different way of connecting to the consumer.
What ad agencies need to learn is how to do this. They have to connect their clients to their customers, not the latest technology. And if they do their job right, they might even discover, heaven help us, that some of them belong in print. Because that is where most 40 and 50 year old managers in the US, Europe and Asia spend their time. Still.
connecting clients to customers, not the latest technology…. this channel agnostic couldn’t have said it better.
the do lab’s hope flower, 2006
photo by: Natalia Valik
it’s the middle of summer. this means i’ve been spending time lately putting together the next issue of the Do Lab Artist Network. it started in the winter, when a ton of the producers we work with at the do were making noise about the new noise they were making, so i got the idea to put together an email from the dolab covering the latest moves happening in the music in our music-driven scene. i realized even then that if we were to do this on a quarterly basis, we could time the spring issue to coincide perfectly with the peak of promotions for lightning in a bottle, the do’s music festival. it just so happened that there were a bunch of new videos (music and doc-stylie) coming out of our community at that time, so the spring issue was dedicated to this multimedia explosion. with LIB over, and my move to a freelance lifestyle giving me insomnia, i started sharing work space with skin.graft designs in an effort to curb the sensation that my home was my office, hoping this would get me back to sleeping normally. it’s no surprise then that summer is going to be the do lab artist network “vogue” issue with a focus on fashion designers/photographers.
as always any do lab project inevitably becomes more than just the sum of its parts. (the do motto is “go big” after all). a great part of the reason that i cherish what i get to do with the do is that at its most profound, my ideas and projects develop into all sorts of insights on everything from branding, to campaign strategy, to business organization, the artist network publication is now no exception.
for the past seven years the do has been producing events, and in the past couple of years is when the scale of these productions has begun to grow exponentially. we now count such companies as redbull, scion, lexus, and the coachella music festival among our portfolio of clients (and before the fall issue of the artist network comes out we will have added summer sonic festival in japan, electric picnic in ireland, virgin festival in baltimore, and that’s all i can keep track of so far). on top of this we are still also producing our own events. we had our biggest creation ever (LIB) go down just a couple of months ago. creating events for our community is what the dolab was doing before any big corporate brands ever knew our name, and it’s still where our heart is and always will be.
what we do isn’t just about entertainment. it’s about taking people’s breath away. people come to our events to have visions, make discoveries, get inspired, fall in love, (among other things you don’t mention in polite company). we design super dynamic, interactive environments, and our creations move people. it’s hard to describe what it’s like to see people ride up to the giant hope flower, and look up at this insanity that was pulled out of the ether of magic and heavy machinery, speechless, tears streaming uncontrollably down their faces.
then a funny thing happens when you are the consistent purveyor of epic, life-changing, reality-bending experiences… you end up developing a very dedicated and suuper engaged community.
people not only keep coming back to event after event, but people spend the time in between telling their friends about it, or talking to the new friends they made there about it. people become interested not just in participating in the experience, but in actually being a part of the creation process itself. our events run on an army of volunteers, and everything we build is the result of a kaleidoscope of collaboration. the fact that an event production crew said “sure, let’s do it,” when i suggested we start an arts publication is testament to this collaborative spirit.
(…. and thank god that segue brings us back to the point–i was getting so far into back-story exposition there, i was kind of getting worried about how i’d be able to suavely transition us back to the action. did you notice?)
in the process of brand development there are elements that are the well-established usual suspects. experience and design are crucial, “content is king,” and community is…. well, you know. but there is such a vital element that is so often neglected.
culture.
in all the time i worked at house of blues, the only kind of communications we ever sent out to our huge database of avid music fans were emails bugging them to buy tickets. there’s a never-ending stream of popular musicians touring through the clubs at any given moment, and yet the idea of leveraging these relationships with culture creators into, say, a house of blues publication, that could, for instance, offer its readers exclusive interviews with the artists, conducted over drinks after soundcheck…. would have been considered ridiculous. instead it was all just emails about show pre-sales and desperate reminders. cuz what would a concert promotion company get out of becoming a publisher, right? (you know… just thinking about the out of control drinks at the house of blues restaurant–a chocolate vodka concoction that sips like an alcoholic tiramisu, margaritas that are so whipped you’ll feel like any other margarita is cheating on you thereafter–i’d be down to read an interview even with the bartenders.)
anyway…something really strange and amazing happened to the open rates on do lab emails that we were sending out leading up to our music festival. they kept getting better with each one! which is unheard of in the land of event reminder emails. the difference between the kind of “reminders” that the do sends vs. house of blues–or, i suppose, really any other major concert promoter–is that we make sure to approach each communication with our community as not just another opportunity to send a banner ad into their inbox, but as culture creation. that is, a transmission of the aesthetics, sound, news, and values of the community.
not like hiring the words “culture” and “marketing” as a team to model your brand’s latest collection is all that new. in fact, no less a sage than faith popcorn has already hailed “culture as the new medium,” pointing out that in the future (and by that i mean, you know… the present) brands need to find ways to “embed” themselves within culture to stay relevant and competitive, and that considering a “culture plan” is just as important as a “media plan.” culture marketing, however, depends on the process of co-opting existing culture. and hey, i’m not knockin’ that. the hippies, hipsters, and hiphop-sters are all equally entitled to free redbull, and brand logos on their flyers. it’s all love, baby, fo sho. but i’m not talking about “embedding” your brand into culture here. (most “sponsorship” at this point has devolved into essentially nothing more than just getting a new place to put a billboard.) this post is called “create culture.”
it’s about brands being platforms of cultural expression. in the ballyhooed (what the hell kind of word is ballyhoo?) future where “brands are the new networks, and advertising agencies are like Hollywood producers” you can think of culture as… cable. mtv, in fact, is THE perfect example of a brand creating culture. (in case you didn’t really think i meant that the concept should be applied literally, you’re wrong.)
ok, but not every brand is mtv or house of blues or even the do lab for that matter, that has cultural content literally walking through its doors, right? and by the same token, not all cultural content is created equally relevant to your particular community (though music is almost always a good place to start). either way, it’s not necessarily about brands needing to create their own proprietary cultural content (we’ve totally got enough of that already, thanks). but perhaps partnering with culture creators to license their stuff would be a direction to consider. after all, the do lab artist network is not us stroking our own egos on our decor and lighting designs, it’s about the many varied cultural creators relevant to our community.
culture not only facilitates communication within a community–it is a medium for expression and communication at its core, after all–but it’s a way to build brand value! think of it like the advanced level you get to in the game after you beat the koopa at the end of the “creating community” level. and this level involves giving something back.
you know… sometimes the point isn’t about how many people see your ad, it’s about actually changing people’s behavior.
if it’s a matter of getting them to drink diet pepsi vs. diet coke, or getting them to shop at target vs. walmart… no one’s gonna die.
it’s not really a matter of life or death.
however, when the ad is for an hiv-awareness campaign…. it actually IS.
i have no idea if this was just a spec or if the spot actually ran, but if it did, i think it’s pretty fucking tragic:
“you have no idea what a difference that makes” …. they may as well have added “and hey, ignorance is bliss, right?” at the end, cuz it’s not like that ad conveys ANYTHING about the difference that DOES make.
so…. just keep having no idea.
don’t get me wrong, it’s hot, and you want to watch it…but is it really something that’s going to change people’s behavior?
since i’m not actually the target audience for this, a couple of gay friends later the consensus to that question is:
“not so sure.”
exactly what good does a sensational and even popular ad do, if the message isn’t effective? priority #1 should be to make an message that works, not a video that gets passed around.
the idea that some ad agency is actually thinking that it’s more important that a lot of people see their ad than that anyone is actually motivated to use a condom…. is kind of sick.
the point isn’t about making an ad viral… it’s about making a message that might actually help STOP the virus.
do 11 year olds really talk like sitcom writers now? i mean, it’s kinda funny… in a mildly disturbing sort of way. like one-liners are the next evolution of jr.’s “first words”…an eventually unmanageably annoying evolution, but, like the kids say… whatever.
check out these little Red “characters” (such as chill, grumpy, whatever, flirty) that were developed for beRed.com (now teens.aol.com) by ATTIK.
how to step up to the challenge of creating campaign elements that let kids know RED is the place for them?
when you show up at teens.aol.com, by the way, you’re greeted with a paparazzi shot of britney in a car with some guy obscured by the rear view mirror and big sunglasses, with the caption, “who’s that guy?run, guy we don’t know. run!”
so it’s nice at least that the messaging tone is consistent.
oh, chill also has a different aspect to his personality in other settings, like “why should i worry when my parents do it for me?” it’s like that fairy tale… you know, be Red and the seven obnoxious tween dwarfs? classic. originally these were developed as door hangers too:
now you can also find them as banners at profgilzot.com. (and while you’re doing that, check out the stunningly rock and roll SAT prep tutor illustrated there. seriously, like straight outta williamsburg.)
it’s undoubtedly great identity marketing: gotta speak to the audience on their own terms if you want to get across that your product is for them. unfortunately, why are those the terms? anyone remember all those post 9/11 predictions about “the death of irony”? yeah…. THERE was a trend forecast that was spot on, evidently.
tho… i guess i’m not helping any. but i mean, irony’s ok for adults, right? so maybe you should have to be over a certain age for us to allow ourselves to subject you to it?
you know, back in the day, people used to get dressed up to fly on an airplane? it wasn’t simply about getting from point a to point b, it was actually–before the concept even really existed in the kind of marketing sense it does today–an experience. same like when movie theaters were once movie “palaces” and likewise, banks were too. participating in this space-age activity of flight somehow commanded respect for the sheer wonder of human mastery over the laws of physics themselves.
now, the entire process of flying is like the biggest pain in the ass ever, ranging in degree of horror from irritating teeth cleaning to root canal without anesthesia. it may still be the safest way to travel, or whatever, but the whole experience is so fucking antiquated, it’s like…who cares? i mean… everything about it is a holdover from a bygone era, from those arm rests that still have ash trays built in, to the whole centralized process of having to get to an airport. somehow, in comparison to, for example, having to drive for three hours to get to the closest commercial airplane from santa barbara, even the NYC subway system is more progressive in terms of the decentralization of its accessibility.
and that’s all before i even bring up the T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-M thing.
wasn’t the teleporter supposed to have already been invented by this point?
anyway, short of that, it’s nice to know that someone out there’s giving any kind of crap about addressing the fact that the air-travel experience that once upon a time carried as much weight as dressing up for sunday mass has essentially turned into the equivalent of taking a greyhoud in the sky.
thanks boeing, for–at least coming off like you’re–taking this issue seriously. we’ll see how well it flies (badumching).
maybe boeing should start its own airline? but they’re probably way too smart to think about dealing with all THAT noise.
** side note, speaking of antiquated, i’d just like to reiterate again, how ridiculous it is that all the brands and publications out there producing dynamic online content INSIST on chaining it down to their sites, without considering any way to let that shit move, by making sure it’s branded and embeddalbe. (i had to go looking for the video on youtube instead of being able to get the code right on the boeing site.**
