a hundred avatars

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.

reinventing Law & Order with Cy Vance

I was fortunate enough last night to meet Cyrus Vance Jr, a man who is (not quite yet) candidate for the office of Manhattan DA.  As difficult as things are today (really, today) the opportunity for change, in politics and in business are many, and fascinating. Really, things are moving in the right direction, despite all indications to the contrary. In no particular order, my thoughts from last night are:

1. Vision is everything.  Personality, experience and connections are great, but a clear and simply articulated vision carries the day (for me, at least). Too many positions proceed status quo ante, even with a change in who holds the position. Without the vision, we all just have jobs. I won't get into Cy's vision, but he has a comprehensive, humane view of the role of the DA in the lives of New Yorkers. Right on.
2. Politics is local: The flip side to the vision thing. Even in the face of the most clearly defined and articulate vision for change with a future focus, ultimately hands have to get dirty.  The broad cross-section of NY in attendance was to the credit of our host. That said, Cy (or any candidate or any brand's) challenge is to balance those intensely local and specific desires with how it fits into the overall umbrella vision. How do you balance the unchanged essence with the 
3. The role + the man as brand: Only briefly touched upon at dinner was the importance of viewing building the brand in both the position and the person. For what is, after Las Vegas' forensics department probably one of the most well branded law enforcement offices in the nation (I mean, who else has their own sound effect?), the brand is weak. Morgenthau's office has failed to use this to their advantage. Maybe, to his credit, it's because he wasn't interested in extending his brand. But not doing so diminishes the role in an era when both personal and positional power derive from the ability to capture not only the attention but the imagination. 
4. Intersection of business and politics:  Now is the time for well intentioned people coming together with a focus on progress and change. Transparency means being open about your vested interests not an absence of them. Things are too screwed up right now to waste time questioning people's motives. The more we can align motives to make the world a better place, the better off we'll be, sooner.
5. Opportunity for critical, creative and elastic thinking: Change.gov from Obama's transition is just one example. The role of DA has been viewed for years as an adversarial, hierarchical one. The opportunity for technology and new forms of analysis (remember massive humanities?) are present and the opportunity to use new techniques in visualization, communication and rapid feedback are here, now.  Like 311 in NYC, using increasingly pervasive technology to open up government and law enforcement to everyone, the quicker we can improve the city and make the office responsive to the people in the best possible way. 

 

Change for me

As some of you know, my experiment in bringing account planning into the world of PR went phenomenally well until, well, it didn’t...

But as one door closes, another opens.

I’m writing to let you know that I have joined Winglatino as Head of Strategy. It’s the best of all worlds (for me) in these interesting times: a shop with great creative ambitions and credentials, exciting new leadership and a solid base as a part of the Grey Global Group/WPP.

You can find us at www.winglatino.com (watch that space) or if you're reading this here, you already know all the many ways to find me...

Oh, and of course if you need a great agency .... 

The practice of social

Put the practice into social media best practice...

After being pinged by Dino to respond to a meme on here on "Social Media Best Practice" I came across this podcast on various views of the notion of practice from Buddhist perspectives

Dino's point was that the lesson from social media is that focus should shift more to how we think about brand values than focusing solely on marketing tactics. I'm going to talk even less than he did about social media and more on thoughts on the word 'practice.'

I'm going to finally summarize that Dharma talk in an effort to add a different perspective to the notion of practice.

Although all Buddhist traditions focus on the cessation of suffering and the interdependency of all things (!), each tradition has a different take on the 'how to', or 'practice'. Perhaps these various perspectives will be of some use in our own increasingly interdependent vehicles of values and communication.

What is interesting is that Buddhist practice (meditation, mindfulness training, etc) is by definition a neutral tool. By itself it has no impact on behavior, but the notion of calling it 'practice' as a part of (or opposed to?) ritual by definition means that we are moving beyond passivity, actively seeking to diminish our suffering or that of someone else. It means an engagement with our selves and a take on how what we do impacts others.

Analogously, older forms of advertising are built on passive mechanisms. Sure spending $100MM on TV advertising feels like an action, but because it wasn't constructed with feedback and interdependence in mind, just how valuable is it? Blind ritual, lacking in introspection, right?

By using tools that help cultivate our potential, we must rely on instinct and individual judgement. We question the input of our senses, but external tools (quant studies, etc) will only be of so much use as technology accelerates our feeling that we are a part of a larger whole, connected. Is it any surprise that sustainability thinking has arisen around the same time as digital social networks?

At the same time, another lesson is learned from Buddhist traditions. Some traditions say, our inherent Buddha nature that aids us in perfecting ourselves, that cultivation alone is insufficient.

In this case one wonders if these are the intellectual forbears of those who claim that strategy alone guides the way. Does a brand have an inherent value in and of itself outside of its behavior? Digital social media brings practice and theory together in a way that was previously difficult to understand.

Or is who we are defined by what we do? Is, ultimately, the value of a practice in just that: the practice.

Looking at the word "practice" through various definitions, one finds three main uses of the word that are remotely relevant to this now longwinded analysis (blog posts are supposed to be short?!): practice as repetition; practice as taking an idea into action; internalizing a concept and bringing it to true realization and integration into one's being.

Now that I've completely overanalyzed 'social media best practice', it's the last of the three that I think is relevant to us.

Social media is about a preparation that is, to paraphrase Dogen, at best a continuous mistake. To do it well, we must use our judgement (that's the 'best' part) but be flexible and open-minded. Best practice here is about not fixating on the tool, but rather on relishing their lack of relevance. Best practice here is an internalization of the challenge that no fixed center brings to our work. Rather than generate illusions of effect (400 GRPs X MB copytesting score of Y=Excel Lies) we can look at the role of interdependent relationships between people and seek to understand and encourage those.

Despite the chaos of the last few weeks (and it has always been thus) the future is bright, but challenging. Paradoxically, technology fades as it improves and it will just bring us all closer together as humans, not avatars. Those of us who make a living at creating those networks should be well disposed to, well, practice.