a hundred avatars

Fun! (or, media that is really social)

I loved this video from Volkswagen, which goes to show the power of a brand going beyond its purview to bring a benefit greater than itself to people's lives. (as well as the power of what Thaler and Sunstein's Nudge calls libertarian paternalism). More brands should really think about how to help people, beyond just RTBs.

 

It also raises an interesting question with viral videos as to what credit (or blame) an agency in Sweden should get for changing brand perception of a global brand in the US. For me, this video does more to improve my opinion of VW than anything Crispin has done for them here in the US.

Tribes and Members, by a Member of the Tribe

Two TED talks I recently came across and an interesting article from Ad Age.

The first, of Dave Logan on Tribal Leadership 

 

 And the second, the inimitable Seth Godin 

 

And the article:  No More Joe Consumer

All are interesting (and flawed, in their own way, but who cares, they're interesting), with the main point being the importance of tribes (and individuals with unique backgrounds) in the spreading of ideas over the 20th Century model driven by mass production, mechanization and advertising

Good stuff. Guess I picked a good time to go back to the fringes, since that's where it all is happening.

Although the whole 'Tribes' motif could be negative (you aren't you, you're your group) the most interesting interpretations are humanistic and empowering. 

1. Tribes are self selected, not just inherited. Great point that Godin makes: you don't need everyone, you just need 1000 people who will spread your message.
2. Tribes aren't really as much about their leaders as they are about the group. If the point he makes is true (leaders have charisma because they lead, they don't lead because they have charisma), tribes are a matter of will?
3.  Godin: You don’t need everyone, you just need 1000 people who will spread your message 
4. Good questions Godin ends his talk to move us forward that every 'tribal leader' should ask: Who are you upsetting? Who are you connecting? Who are you leading? 

What's great about this? Well in Adland all of it begins to upends the  notion of the USP and the WHO. Less single minded ness, less always trying to answer the question "do we have their permission to do X' from people who are worried that the answer is no.  All of this means that you don’t need people’s permission to lead them, just a good idea that you can convince people to coalesce around.

SPEWing good ideas

Tom O'Brien recently tweeted a link to Neal Stephenson's Spew, a piece in WIRED from what is essentially the dawn of time, 1994. What's crazy about it, given when it was published, is how prescient NS was on where we would be 15 years later.

Go ahead. Read the piece. It's really good, in the way that a cyberpunk piece called 'Spew' from 1994 is good. I know sometimes the links don't come through when these blogposts pop up on Facebook, but Google it if you don't see the link and read it.  I'll wait...

OK, it's not the Baroque Cycle or even Snow Crash, but it's sort of what we do for a living (or should be), right?

Anyway, a few things occurred to me while reading the piece:

1. Why don't people move more quickly? TV networks, publishers or advertisers don't respond to niche opportunities anywhere near as quickly as they do in the piece. I don't understand why, unless ennui, inertia or fear are fair explanations. There's no good excuse why, and we can accelerate how we move against opportunity. We just need a better infrastructure.
2. Try harder to find it: finding insights that are actionable.  Frankly in this day and age it's not hard to find information that matters, but honestly a lot of what we see in the business world is more often than not the result of outdated models that measure something that we all agree matters as opposed to the things that actually are happening. Not sure why this is the case.
3. WTF? Do you think anyone who read this piece 15 years ago really understood what NS was talking about? Did he? Did pieces like this create our reality (which is pretty spot on, at least from the perspective of what is possible) or was NS just so hyperaware that he intuited the next 15?
4. DIY: NS captures where culture really comes from perfectly.  As much as in his future there seems to be some sort of corporate-entertainment-technology complex that produces 'everything' they need to be culture vultures to find out what is really happening.  Technology that centralizes culture doesn't actually centralize culture creation but rather paradoxically just seems to help figure out what's really going on. Then the 'centralizer' can figure out how to take advantage (or not) of what's going on.
5. Intuition and in person: As much as the character in Spew has access to all the information out there, he's not purely quant driven in his approach.  He knows  "something is there" without being able to put his finger on it and really can only find out by going to where the target is and seeing it in person. Data feed doesn't replace human touch.

I'm on a panel about 'Multicultural Millenials' and...

...and I figured I would try to get your help.

The nice folks at the NY Latino International Film Festival have been kind enough to invite me to speak on a panel next week. The topic is 'Multicultural Millenials' or as they've put it in the description:

Bilingual, digitally fluent, “Multicultural Millennials”, particularly bilingual Latinos, have emerged as the nation’s most powerful population segment, strongly influencing mainstream culture, lifestyle and media consumption. Here we discuss how this population shift has created great opportunity for content producers, distributors and advertisers, and how these groups can effectively dialogue to create and promote compelling programming for the new, multiethnic face of America.

It's at 3 PM on July 30 at HBO (1100 Ave of the Americas b/w 42/43rd Sts – 15th floor) but I'm not writing this post to shamelessly plug.

I'm posting to elicit some ideas.  Sure, I'm going to follow Guy's advice. And yes, I have some opinions on the subject already: the fluidity of identity, multicultural or not; lack of importance of authority; they don't twitter or pay for music; Univision isn't producing content for them, which is why they're going to UGC; blah blah blah...

OK, I have some more homework to do to prepare. But as part of that homework, as the panel is a week away, I thought I would see if anyone else has found resources or info online that are particularly enlightening about these so-called multicultural millenials.

I'm very open to stealing your ideas...I'll give credit, of course...

Twitter is for old people and apparently so is boring research

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6703399.ece

I thought this article was interesting, as much for the (half baked) insights this kid has as for the idea that one kid, texting a bunch of friends can make a piece of research that is more valuable that all the other stuff a huge investment bank is generating.

Kind of makes you wonder if we or our clients are using our intuition to dig for consumer insights or letting 'corporate constipation' stand in the way of digging for good ideas.

Anyway, it was interesting and sparked some very good ideas. (thanks Eliza for sending it to me.)

The Power of the Human Interface

Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

that was sweet. via ivette

America's Most Wanted

Nada, nothing new, but I really enjoyed this bit with the guys from Nortec Collective during this episode of Kurt Anderson's Studio 360. 

Never ceases to amaze what openness happens when people ignore borders and follow hearts and instincts.

There's also a great interview with Toumani Diabate, who is the 73rd generation of his family in Mali to play the kora. 

In this case following the borders follows the heart. It would be cool if Nortec started to work with him, since both interviews mention Bjork. But the Nortec guys didn't work with her, they just had a taco together.

New really means new. Different really means different.

I was fortunate to be invited to participate in the Horowitz “New Generation: Everyone, Everywhere, All the Time” conference.  At the conference Adriana Waterston presented some of their findings.  Afterwards a group of us were asked to respond to the implication of these changes on how people and brands behave. 

Some thoughts:

(Caveat: I don’t have the presentation yet so although directionally the data is right, I may be a little off in my numbers. Deal, ok?)

The behavior of the non-White members of the New Generation (18-35) across multiple screens is shockingly distinct from that of White non Hispanics. Although black, Latino and Asians do all the same things (user generated content, mobile video, etc etc etc) we’ve heard “the kids today” do,  Horowitz found is that they do it all a lot more. A lot.  

For example, about half of  non Latino whites 18-34 make content vs. about 70% of Latinos the same age. Blacks and Asians fall into the middle. Blogs and social networks also vastly overindex. Huge implications for brands and others who want to connect with these groups, right?

Broadband penetration does lag amongst Hispanics. A bit more than I thought. But when you control for age, it’s pretty much a commodity amongst younger Latinos. So what content are you giving them to fill the fat pipes going into their homes? And once we all have 4G speed on our laptops and cell phones?

Another point:  The question isn’t which latinos under 35 have smart phones that can deal with social networks and mobile video. The question is which Latinos under 35 don’t  have them.

The future? Already here.  Multicultural youth aren’t lagging what used to be called the general market in adopting and adapting new technologies. This intense use of multiple screens tells me that however much non Hispanic whites who have grown up digital feel underserved and underwhelmed by most of the content they have, Hispanics in particular are fleeing options in both English and Spanish in droves.

Yes they still watch TV. In both languages. But the dissatisfaction they have with existing options is driving them increasingly to create the content themselves.  If I were in the content business (wait, I am in the content business, aren’t I?) I would push to find more ways to shape that across mobile and broadband and engage them in the creation and selection of content that feels right for them.

Brands who believe in the market have a responsibility to make this stuff come into existence.  This isn’t just about doing the right thing, it’s about doing something that makes money and creates a new and better reality for everyone. 

This may be a bit cliche, but I read a quote today from someone’s profile on Facebook (wish I could remember whose) from Antoine de St Exupery that sums it up:

If you want to build a ship
don't herd people together to collect wood
and don't assign them tasks and work,
but rather teach them to long for the 
endless immensity of the sea.

Our people are already heading for the beach. Let's make the experience as grand as we can...

You & your social media brand

How well do you stack up, without overdoing it?

Blogging & Managing your Personal Brand

View more presentations from Corinne . (tags: commenting identity)

via John Gerzema

Sir Ken Robinson on 'The Element'

Sir Ken Robinson talks about his new book, 'The Element' at the RSA. Find the intersection between talent and passion.