Not another web marketing mystro

June 15, 2010

Supreme Master TV's supremely bad outdoor advertising

Made a facebook comment the other day to an outdoor advert I think might be worthy of a post:

"The message though admirable is confusing - who is this woman? Is she an extreme master who doesn't feel the cold? Is that why she's got that look of concentration? What's the snow and ice got to do with it all? Why is she a hovering apparition of a torso? Was the poster made with Microsoft word? If superfluous adjectives are the go why not call it Absolute Supreme Master TV or The Most Omnipresent Absolute Supreme Extreme Master TV? Took this @ Wynyard station - and I love it!"

We’ll it just made me think about all the money that goes into advertising and when done badly, it kind of seems like a waste.

Rather than just poke fun, I want to offer a solution. My opinion is in an oversaturated environment of advertising messages - simplicity actually stands out. Now that's a no brainer but it's still rarely executed and that in itself offers advertisers an real opportunity. The image below (in the black) was a quick Photoshopping to illustrate an alternative.

So in light of that I’d remove everything on this billboard. I’d appeal to the more selfish nature of us all because saving the planet is just too hard and people tend to ignore the too hard. Basically it’s all about getting people to SaveYourself.com. This landing page would put a case for how saving the planet in fact is an act of saving yourself... do this through a bunch of real stories or interviews with interesting people – perhaps you’d offer community contributions etc. The SumpremeMaster.TV is the consistent back-drop to all this. You take it out of people’s faces and get them interested enough to want to find out more.

It all comes down to movement, advertising needs to activate movement because in the end that’s what an exchange is - it moves energy in terms of goods, service, experience through capital. If any advert is a mental dead-end it’s likely to be an exchange dead-end too and that can’t be too good for the bottom line.

Comments [0]

June 1, 2010

Online Kula Ring

Have you heard of the Kula Ring? A brief explanation is that it represents a practice of cultural sharing along a ring of participants. The item/s that are passed along this tribal ring hold great cultural significance. What I found so fascinating about this was how prestige is signified by increasing the value of the gift before passing it along the ring. The items could be seasonal products and necklaces / armshells (valued similarly to money) and these would often accumulate when progressed through the ring.

Another interesting facet is the idea of ownership. People only temporarily have possession of kula items but ownership is attributed to the originator of the item. This creates a sense of responsibility for each item as there’s a sense that they could be one day returned. In terms of perishables the value is kept in-tact via continual exchange in the ring

Anyway, I had a thought about how this could work online. I was prompted when watching @rachelbotsman who writes / talks a lot about collaborative consumption (Tedx Sydney talk: ). She talks about the rise of an economy that doesn’t include money, triggered in part by online applications and communities.

The ‘what if’ questions here might be:

A) How could a cyclic exchange occur online?

B) What item/s would be exchanged?

Some answers might be:

A) Small rings could start on social networks that have a nature of open sharing (Twitter’s probably the best candidate). These rings would pass an item along and have new participants enter the ring with every revolution completed.

B) The most obvious item would need to be virtual. Perhaps a very draft idea (such as this one) that gets share along a ring (of likeminded people) and grows ‘legs’ as it passes through. Legs meaning ways of making it more achievable.

Basically it’s an idea for creating groups of collaboration that goes beyond a straight one on one / or one to many exchange.

Some things to check-out:

The Gift (Marcel Mauss): http://www.scribd.com/doc/31595522/Gift

Collaborative consumption (Rachel Botsman) http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com

Conscious enterprise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscious_enterprise

(download)

Comments [0]

June 1, 2010

Idea: Self tree – roaming application

What is it for?

A way to keep track of your daily goals / intentions, keep them present within your thinking and retrieve timely relevant quotes and affirmations for a community of users.

How does it work?

It's a user nurtured virtual tree that grows in relation to a user's daily intentions.The intentions are the tree's virtual nourishment (like water) it helps the tree grow. The tree is a smart phone / desktop application. It grows exponentially when ‘watered’ regularly. The intentions are categorized according to what a person wants to achieve, focus on or what is most important on the given day.

The growth / color / structure of the tree depends on the sum and relationship of a person’s intentions over time. All seedlings look alike however the tree becomes highly individualized based on the user’s interactions / intentions. Each intentions is represented by a sprouting leaf that grows also with time.

Notes can be added every time an intention is made creating an archive of intentions (revealed by clicking leaves). Each intention is also accompanied by a relevant motivational quotations (from a database of quotes). Intentions can be published to other social networks like Twitter / Facebook / Foursquare - as a means of remind and 'go through' with such. When an intention is published is becomes more concrete and more likely followed.

All trees hold a unique code that allows people to transfer between various workstations / apps / smart phones etc. User's can view a website with snapshots off other peoples trees positioned in a virtual forest.

Background

The concept is based on the benefits of taking a moment for self examination for achieving health and wellbeing. It is also grounded in the principle that we are all subject to various social and psychological interdependent ‘layers’. The intention categories are loosely based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Other benefits

A holistic reflection of oneself is often beneficial for achieving health and well being
There is a belief that concrete intentions more likely achieve actualization
Encourages time-out to re-evaluate / reflect
Encourage community connections / support from like-minded people (with similar intentions)

Comments [0]

January 31, 2010

When your product is not about money - people throw money at it

There's bound to be controversy when you start talking about core features of anything, especially something like advertising and marketing - but say we invite a little discussion (and controversy) and state the obvious that essentially we're trying to address a communication problem. The problem is simple - you the so and so of the whatever company needs to communicate that your product has value enough for someone to take notice and relinquish some hard-earned cash. A few ideas get thrown around and added to a document titled [fill in the blanks] strategy or [fill in the blanks] campaign etc. Essentially, we're still attempting to solve a communication problem. So, what's this communication thing? Because we're reducing things left right and center, why not do it even further by saying communication is all about gaining a mutual understanding? If we don't understand each other, communication gets really tricky. And how does understanding come about? Strip it down once more and lets say that at the very least when you can connect to some type of shared experience/s, understanding will follow. At that point the billion dollar question is how does a brand connect with people's shared experiences? Your product at some point must have come about to "fill a gap in the market". This is essentially saying, there is a human need that is not being met or there's a human problem that's not being solved and that's why the product is there. So whatever it is you sell somehow solves people's problems and meets a human need. This is not necessarily a material need - there's markets for emotional needs, economic needs, intellectual needs etc. So the shared experience involves the conditions that brought about the need for your product to exist in the first place. Some companies go beyond marketing and branding and ask the question: why? Why does the company exist? What is it's contribution? etc. These questions are not esoteric but are at the core of knowing how brands can make a real connection and find social authenticity. When your brand does that it becomes a cultural resource. It's economic strength is secondary to it's purpose, its contribution - but important to keep the possibility of it's exchange, as a valuable resource alive. To put it simply: when your product is not about money, people throw money at it.

Comments [0]

January 7, 2010

The secret behind Lawrence the Tiger's 2010 wishes

What is he thinking?

A silhouette of a woman, cars popping up, the few confident looking people in focus behind the majority faded others - this is about how our incessant and needy thoughts function. They're the ongoing background thoughts that seek to find resolution, a feeling of completion or peace by getting the things we desire - the recognition (or love) of another (woman image) or material things (car images).

The few in the forefront are the mythical end point - they're the Superclass, those who have all the material desires and recognition at their disposal. The problem is it's based on a big myth - there's always another car, a bigger yaught, a more prestigious mansion and always someone who still doesn't give us the recognition we believe we deserve.

There can be no end point to this because this story only survives if we never find completion. But we're sold anyway by the temporary high we get every time we buy into this with our belief and our hard earned cash - the misplaced idea we're getting closer is like an addictive hunger, never satisfied and always begging for more.

So what's Lawrence's Year of the Tiger secret?

Lawrence points to how in 2010 this story is most powerfully sold by immersive / interactive experiences found in new media (usually a combination of images, footage, music / voice). These tools are often used to perpetuate the story as they offer an quick outlet to our "unfulfilled" reality and we are compelled to drop our guard or suspend our disbelief to immerse ourselves in this "better" prescribed reality. While this happens we become less conscious of our own reality and more susceptible to unconscious influences of this new reality often with direct agendas in mind.

The good news is Lawrence sees another force surfacing in 2010 - the conscious consumer. The conscious consumer seeks real information on products and services and being more conscious and self-aware, this consumer is not as vulnerable. The world map indicates the world wide web (internet) - This is where the conscious consumer seeks authentic information published by people without direct agenda or affiliation on anything he or she is compelled to buy or become involved in. As the internet is filled with information from every angle, the conscious consumer learns how to discern and spot a fake (information with affiliation) very quickly.

The 1+1=2, is an equation that shows why this story is so unreliable. It basically states that you are not complete right now (1) until you fulfill certain requirements or obtain certain things. The you of this mythical future (the other 1) is the completed you, the one at peace, the one not lacking. This means the incomplete you and the complete you are two separate entities. This simple equation shows the absurdity of that statement - there are not two of you, only the one - so in truth you are complete right at this very moment. You don't need to do or get anything to complete you.

Lawrence says "I suppose I should wish you a happy new year" because not all people are ready to he really happy (or fully conscious) and only those who understand Lawrence's thoughts will have a Happy New Year and be able to receive the Year of the Tiger love and luck.

If you know someone who is ready to be happy and lucky throughout the Year of the Tiger - let them know about this. The Law of Reciprocity will undoubtedly spread the the happiness and luck back to you in this auspicious year.

Comments [0]

December 12, 2009

No?

What's the exercise here? To write a short email with one purpose in mind: to introduce people to have conversations about subjects that just keep cropping up in this blog, rather slipping consistently through the cracks... (I gave myself 10 minutes)

Where will these conversations occur?

Start on Twitter and go wherever they naturally do.

Conversations about what?

What happens when how we normally do things and long-held beliefs no longer stands in an open market? What happens when traditional advertising no longer works? What's the alternative? When traditional business models can't be justified and are no longer effective in the market - what happens? Where is this all going?

The context

A general pessimism is even more apparent now than ever before with things like corporate-speak, political "promises" and traditional advertising veneers that say nothing really about what a business is really like. Not only economically but socially we are subject to trends in the "open market". The market is also subject to our attitudes and opinions because they influence how we chose to spend.

So the market is always adapting - the speed of this adaption is also subject to our beliefs and traditions. AND, although a lot of things appear to go on as they always have - things are changing dramatically beneath our feet. Again - what is happening and where is this all going?

Here goes...

Email subject: No?

This is a challenge to look at things differently. I want to confront what we're grown to believe by exchanging ideas. I'm interested in how our present situation affects lagging concepts from our past - this is very evident to me through things like:

social media
the availability of information on the internet
a general pessimism of commercial-speak and traditional marketing
we can fill in the blanks....

There are no conclusions, rather arguments, mixed opinions and generally a clearing of the air.

But this is not for you?

If ideas should fester, disappear and aggravate us like sharp stones trapped in our shoes, then - no.

OR if a catalyst is needed for change to occur, starting with the exchange of ideas with no particular agenda, then - Yes..

...to having conversations that need no conclusion about things that really matter!

Comments [1]

December 10, 2009

Do ads even need to make sense anymore?

I don't think they do. Perhaps the more sense they make, the less potential disruption to what's expected occurs - rendering them less noticeable? I'm not actually that moved by the whole disruption strategy of traditional advertising but a disruption to normality - that's artistic. And lets face it advertising has always been tailing art (just to be controversial).

This is not art (by no means...or maybe), not anything grand and it probably makes some sense if you think about it. The great thing though is the idea came to me on the train this morning and with the help of a trusty ex-post production wiz Agus, in no time we whacked up something I'd much rather watch than a commercial...

Comments [0]

December 9, 2009

Social Media Marketing - an Economy of Experience?

Take the "media" out of social media and you're left with the word "social". It's easy to be tangled in metrics about what makes social media successful and overlook that simple point. Facebook and the like suit our present communication needs, so we use it. It works because connecting with people through social media is easy in a time starved and an otherwise disconnected daily existence.

How many of us find emailing someone next to us at work far easier (and quicker) than starting a conversation? It's often much simpler to say happy birthday to a close friend on a social network than sending a (paper) card - great for trees but not so good if you're trying to sell birthday cards…

Have a look at the huge growth rate of social media over the past few years - it takes about 10 seconds to watch the little blue dot representing Facebook.com bubble up and eclipse everything else in its path between 2006-2009. We'd expect a similar trend if the Interaction Consortium did a worldwide piece. The US, for example has internet users checking Facebook every 37 minutes, they post to Flickr 5 times a day, watch YouTube for 2.5 hrs a day and update Twitter every 3 hours… according to Razorfish.

But stats and technology aside, we're still in the realm of social significance. Whether a brand communicates outside or within social media, we need to question: does it provide value or hold any significance in our social exchanges? In other words, will anyone talk about it? Would anyone really care?

A Razorfish survey puts it bluntly: "Consumers don't want conversation with brands - they want deals". We can just as easily say "…they want value". And it's easy to offer value in terms of deals - a discount / a "free coke and fries…" but when a product offers value just with an association to its brand - that's an exchange we're more than willing to pay for.

Speeding down this technological highway we're leaving commodities and services for experiences posts Laurel Papworth. Deals are great but in an "Experiential Economy" they're only as good as the experience we want out of them. Who would go for a 50% or even a 99% discount from a product that has 0% value to us? An experience that no one wants, even for free would have next to no takers (apart from a few freebie hunters).

"The best job in the world" is a prime example of the value of experience. The experience of typing on a keyboard is just that much better from a tropical beach bungalow than a crammed office - even with walls decorated with snow peaked mountains, climbers scaling cliffs, sail boats etc. above words like "leadership", "direction", "motivation" and "Freedom"…

The point is "real" experiences are what makes social waves. If the service or product offered are the best vehicles to these, they'll be big waves!

And the experiences don't even need to be direct - most of the time they're not. It's even easier for a brand to offer experience by association. Like the teenage boy branding himself with his favorite band, absorbing more of the lifestyle and experiences the band promotes the more paraphernalia he buys.

Hear more at Sydney Social Media Marketing 2010 Bootcamp - The Era of Marketing

Learn more from Laurel Papworth,Tourism Queensland Marketing Manager, Robyn Quinn (The best job in the world campaign) and other industry leaders at Sydney Social Media Marketing 2010 Bootcamp – The Era of Marketing

And talking about deals deals deals…

All friends of Photolibrary can take advantage of this special offer: Delegates will be entitled to a 15% DISCOUNT... we all love a good deal!

Pixel Alchemy | Transforming Pixels to Gold
www.pixelalchemy.com.au

Comments [0]

November 11, 2009

stsooys tbh cya wknd wb??

I like Bourdieu. First he's got a very French sounding name that gives him instant philosophy street cred (first name is also Pierre) but that's not a good reason to like someone. A better reason is that he's said long ago that the purpose of a lot of what we do or say is to distinguish ourselves from others. We develop strange languages to isolate ourselves from other groups, while hardening the glue within our own group. We create 'secret' codes as a way to know if we're 'in' or 'out'.

True, he talked about the privileged class trying to keep out the plebs who just don't get things like "high" art (why wouldn't they get that when you put a urinal in a gallery, it becomes art?) but why not apply this to other tribes like kid's SMS language - what does "stsooys tbh cya wknd wb" mean and if you don't know you were probably born before Netscape was the choice browser.

So people are always going to create new spaces and new languages to distinguish themselves from everybody else and before this space reaches critical mass there's a bunch there already figuring out clever ways to get in and sell a lot of something. This is like adding more oil to the water and bound to disperse the congenial gathering fast - look at what happened to MySpace: more people on it, more marketing budget spent on it = less 'cool' / less the choice online communication platform.

Now look at the business hype about using Twitter, is that good for Google Wave?

Should we think less about the technology and more about why we are using it?

www.pixelalchemy.com.au holistic online marketing

Comments [0]

November 10, 2009

Twitter spammed full of marketing messages?

Some interesting reactions to the Toyota Yaris agency showdown. Toyota hosts an agency battle for social media triumph on a budget of 15K each... 15K is lunch money for them, but the trophy awarded to the hippest, most social media-savy agency (judged by Toyota's marketing team) is priceless and is sure to be a fine statement in the "pool room".

Here's the info: http://mumbrella.com.au/the-yaris-social-media-chase-one-green-bean-and-the-population-take-early-lead-with-hothouse-catching-fast-saatchi-saatchi-in-neutral-iris-non-starter-11262#comment-20508

Social media commentator Laurel Papworth, hits backs with a clever YouTube video:

Think the video hits the nail on the head!

What happens when a interruption style marketing over-saturates places people go to escape it? People move elsewhere…

When Twitter gets spammed full of marketing messages, we’ll all start to ignore it…

Although I’m kicking myself that I didn’t get a lift from Wolfy (read Mumbrella post) when the train broke down in North Sydney last week – instead walked the Harbour Bridge in sweltering heat!

All the while though, Toyota Yaris which is not yet released is gaining more and more attention, aided too greatly by Laurel's video and posts. So, is negative attention in the social media space really negative? In other words, will you buy Cheeseybite (formerly known as iSnack2.0)? Don't think I would.

Comments [0]

Tags