march 2008

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Part 3.

If you read blogs, whether they be technology, marketing, education or even business focused, you will be repeatedly hit with the message that the world is changing. Or worse ... that the world has changed, and it is we, the business folks -- the marketers, accountants, analysts, managers and teachers who are needing to catch up. For those working in agencies, the call is also shrill -- with writers variously predicting the death of agencies or demanding a refocus. And while this is one of my favourite topics, the larger picture is about the future of brands and the way that we, as category-resistant consumers are embracing, shunning and extolling them.

But while the consumer landscape has undergone a profound change, it is easy to see why business is slow to move -- for no matter how advanced we are in our "home life", evidence of a leakage from home to profession is minute. Take for example, the humble wiki. How many of you heard of a wiki? How many of you have you have used one? How many have set one up? Who has read something on Wikipedia?

Now I am guessing that many of my blog's readers would raise their hand at at least one of the previous questions. But now ask yourself, does this apply at work? Extend the same question to blogs. Does your company have a blog? Are you involved in it? If not, why not? What are the barriers preventing you?

The skunk blog

There was a time where I did not think that every company or brand needed a blog. I saw blogs as yet another communications channel to be chosen or rejected based on an understanding of your audience and your objectives. But as the pace of digital innovation accelerates, and as it is matched, step for step, by our interest in technology, the measures by which we understand "audience" are shifting. With longer working hours and a blurring of the boundaries between "work" and "life", we are always on the lookout for approaches, tools and technologies (not to mention friends, networks and colleagues) that will help us filter, assess and analyse information regardless of its source. We are in effect "Continuously Connected". This has a profound implication for brands and consumer experience ... and in many ways it is making our experience SMALLER, not larger.

If we think about (and measure) the impact and reach of a brand based on the touchpoints that we have with it, then the digital brand is going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the non-digital brand. And while this takes brand valuation down a "transactional" path, there is some benefit ...

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One of the things that I like about social media is that it compresses the time between thought and action. As soon as you think of an idea, you can test it with an audience.

Take Age of Conversation, for example. With this book, we went from a concept to having 103 authors from 12 countries in about three weeks. And two and a half months later we had books available for purchase.

And if you thought that was amazing ... one of the most compelling aspects of this is that all of the 103 authors committed their time, their thinking and their expertise for FREE. That's right, everyone signed away any rights to royalties -- in the name of charity. For every sale, ALL profits go to Variety, the Children's Charity. This means that for a single purchase, you not only get some great thinking -- you are also making positive difference in a child's life. The story doesn't get better than that!

What you can do ...

We are currently doing a push (a "bum rush") on the Amazon charts. We aim to garner online attention to generate more sales and reach a wider audience. You can help by purchasing a copy here. You can also write a review, blog about the book and our efforts, and tell your friends. Please, tell your friends -- or better yet, buy one for them.

Right now we have just cracked the Top 300 books and Top 40 for "business books". Every time you buy (one at a time please), you push us a little further -- and help Variety help more kids.

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In support of Earth Hour, the Servant of Chaos blog will be blacked out for 24 hours. Very Staufenburger don't you think?

Thanks to Neil Perkin for the tip.

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Some weeks ago I happened upon the Big Think site. It is a startup headed up by Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins (former Charlie Rose producers) and its focus is on bringing conversation about ideas -- addressing the "meta" or the "physical" aspects of our modern existence. You can listen to and engage with ideas through text and video. There are some great videos already available, including Dan Gilbert on What is Happiness and Gillian Caldwell from Witness. And if you have a big idea of your own ... submit it here and join the conversation!

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He has only been in New York for a short time, but Paull Young is already hitting the small screen. Here he is talking Social Media on Fox Business. He cover a lot about social media and small business in a short time, including:

• The relevance of socia media in the small business marketing mix
• The importance of understanding and listening to your community first
• The need to relinquish "command and control" brand messaging.

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The Age of Conversation Bum Rush on the Amazon charts. From today, you can buy the book directly on Amazon -- with all profits going directly to Variety,the Children's Charity.

Please use THIS LINK to purchase your copy.

And if you are buying MORE than ONE copy, please do so one at a time (this improves our "best seller" status).

Keep up-to-date with our progress over at Chris Wilson's blog here.

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It is a beautiful day in Sydney. A busy week is drawing to a close and I am looking forward to a weekend with family and friends. Next week, I will be in New York meeting up with some of the brightest and most talented people I know -- the Blogger Socialites. Really, life is good.

But not everyone has the luxury of my rosy view of the next few days. An email this afternoon from my friend, Todd Andrlik shows how very different his weekend will be. You see, Todd's sister, Tricia, was diagnosed last week with the same aggressive form of breast cancer as Susan Reynolds -- invasive lobular carcinoma. That means that Tricia will spend the weekend in hospital undergoing a double mastectomy.

Todd has setup a website to keep family and friends up-to-date. You can share your support for Todd and for Tricia and her family by visiting the site -- 4tricia.com. And as you can imagine, there will be additional stresses and worries associated with medical costs -- with years of treatment and associated costs ahead. For those who can, you can support Tricia's family in three different ways directly from the site. Even the smallest donation helps.

Please keep Tricia in your thoughts over the next few days. And hold your loved ones close.

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A couple of days ago, Drew McLellan and I announced the the title of the successor to Age of Conversation. But before we all start thinking about the next edition -- about what is in it and why -- there is some unfinished work still to be done on the first edition.

Chris Wilson has spearheaded and orchestrated a bum rush on the Amazon charts for the book, and it starts tomorrow (Friday). If you have not yet purchased your copy, SATURDAY is the day to do it. If you want to purchase MORE than one copy, Saturday is the day to do it ... one at a time.

All this is designed to push the book up the Amazon charts, one sale at a time.

Remember, by purchasing the book, you not only get access to some sharp insight and commentary about the world of business and social media -- you also support Variety, the Children's Charity. If you want to know how you can help, Chris lays out the immediate steps neatly here -- and the plan of action for Saturday here.

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Part 2.

Late last year I was thinking about trends and opportunities for 2008, hoping to discover some gold. And while I don't normally do trend forecasting, I actually found it interesting and challenging -- and a lot of hard work. What I found, however, was not that I had an undiscovered gift for beyond the horizon forecasting ... I found great benefit, instead, in enforcing a discipline upon my thinking. You see, writing a blog trains you to write in a short form -- you distill ideas down to a manageable size. But to really order my thinking around the patterns that emerged from my research, I had to dig deeper ... find those connections and similarities. I had to play with the data and find  a way to craft it all into a cohesive story.

I must admit that I was disappointed to find that I had no ground breaking ideas to report. Then I realised that blogging had provided me with an unexpected benefit -- a constantly inquiring focus and a mountain of ready data. By going back over a number of posts over the last 12 months, I could see actual hypertext links between pieces of information. Tags and categories helped form the patterns ... and comments from my readers helped open my eyes on some points or suggest completely new ways of thinking. And while I write hundreds of posts per year, often forgetting the detail of many, there are some that achieve mythical status in my mind. And while re-reading some of the posts made me want more, it also made me wonder, "what is it that causes one post to stand out among many?". (Here's a hint, it is the future of your brand.)

Coming to grip with infatuationFor as long as I can remember I have loved words. I am fascinated by their sound and their shape. I love listening to the way they are pronounced by different people. And I especially enjoy a good performer holding onto the long ends of a word and reminding us of the sexy way words transform our world. In many ways, this infatuation of mine was always going to lead to some kind of writing. No wonder I ended up working in marketing and blogging (or worse, combining the two).

But as I poured over thousands of words, trying to connect sentences, ideas, actions and conversations it became obvious to me that I was under the spell of some kind of infatuation. This exercise on trends and opportunities had become something else. Something beyond itself. It had become "meta". There were many levels of connectedness rolling around in my head. I could imagine ...

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The Future of Your Brand is Content).

The way this works is by adding value to the point of interaction within the life of a consumer. For example, when I rode a Ducati motorcycle, I loved it. It made me love the brand. There was nothing like that small adrenaline rush I got while riding. The street cred was awesome. And you could see it in the eyes of everyone around you (and in the eyes of your fellow Ducatisti). But what happens if you have a product that isn't sexy? How do you find a way to build that connection with your consumers and allow them to tell your story?

In this great presentation above, Paul Isakson provides the answer -- "add value through content". Now, of course this is easier said than done, but Paul also provides some great examples of campaigns that are already doing just that -- Nike, My Vegas and the Dominos Pizza Tracker. But for all those agencies out there, just remember there are pitfalls -- see content will kill your agency.

Update: Iain Tait has a nice post that tracks the rise of the ad agency from the boom in the 60s and asks what a NEW agency would look like now (via Kevin Rothermel).

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kudaker

Drew McLellan and I had so much fun publishing The Age of Conversation that we thought we'd do it again. This year, though, we took a different approach. We asked the community of authors and readers to choose the topic. Overwhelmingly, the choice was "why don't people get it?".

That means that the title of the book this year will be "Age of Conversation: Why Don't People Get It?".

In another twist on the original, the plan is to have authors contribute a chapter to a topic. So rather than having chapters devoted to an interpretation of a single theme, we have chosen a number of themes around which each author can structure their chapter. There will be more on this approach in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, I would like to share the MOST amazing news of all!Drew and I are excited to know that this time around we will have 275 contributing authors. That's right, we have a large number of the original authors returning along with a raft of new contributors. It is going to be an awesome exercise. The authors are as follows:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brent Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley, C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Doug Hanna, Doug Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, Gi Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Reginald Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Eric Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Helipern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Berg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkins, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Raj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, R.J. Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

This post is from from my other blog here

This post is from from my other blog here

FanFou for example.

This great post shows how you can tap into the Chinese conversation -- even if you don't speak the language (just follow the instructions) -- or check out the YouTube clip. There are many Chinese people who speak and write a small amount of English, so it is possible to engage in basic online conversation (also for Firefox users, add this auto-translation button to your Favourites bar). And with the Beijing Olympics coming up later this year ... and many questions round the "Tibet Situation", it could be a fascinating way to gain some insight into China and Chinese thinking ahead of time.

So, now I just need to figure out how to translate "servantofchaos". Hmmm ... maybe I should just stick to "Gavin Heaton" for now! If you are interested, you can find me at FanFou.com/servantofchaos

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cityofsound

While it seems hardly anytime at all since we held the inaugural Interesting South conference, we are already well into planning the next event ...

So, I want you to do TWO things:1. Come join our Facebook group2. Mark MAY 12 in your diary!

AND if you feel you would like to contribute to the event as a speaker, check out the Facebook page, download the speakers nomination form (see below) and send it through to me! Looking forward to it!

Download interesting_south_speaker_topic_form.doc

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Pimp Our Ads campaign. The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority have created a site that serves up buckets of content for young people to mashup. Not only can they create their own posters (targeting their friends with road safety messaging), they can also win a great prize for their creative efforts (that's right they can win a car). The message, the medium, the incentive and the target audience all combine to create a great digital campaign.

And as Trevor Cook points out, the six week campaign with a budget of around $60,000 saw about 8000 new ads created by the kids who were the target of the message. How is that for ROI?

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I don't know what I like most about this ... whether it is The Hoff on the judging panel of a talent quest, or the young girl who does an awesome yodelling performance.

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And, ok, it may not exactly be a Friday Folly ... but it may make you smile at the end of a busy week.

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The Futue of Your Brand is Play -- Part 1 here.

When I think back on my childhood friends and how those friendships started, I am amazed. I try to think what it was that drew me towards a particular child. I wonder what he or she saw in me. How did I negotiate the subtle rituals of friendship and why does "finding" new friends become more difficult as you grow older?

One of my nephews is master "friender" and I have been fascinated by his approach for years. I watch as he approaches groups of unknown kids. I observe his body language ... when he hesitates, when he moves forward. I listen to his tone of voice. And I watch the other kids too. I love the naivety and openness of the way he interacts. It is both completely self conscious and unknowing. It is a complex performance which I should, by rights, pay to see.

But the thing that makes this work is that the kids are playing with the same building blocks. At this stage of life, the world is relatively small. Our personal knowledge bases are just being established. We are still learning. Filtering. Growing.

And while the ease with which most kids operate are bound up in the complex rules of our societies and cultures, they are also subject to the developmental themes that permeate our young lives. Understanding these themes explains at least a little, how we make friends and provides vital clues for brands seeking to reach new markets. We only need to test against a certain number of criteria before we discover an affinity ... and from that affinity we can build a more grounded relationship -- one experience at a time.

The Future of Your Brand is Play, I talked about why some kids advertising works really well -- because it taps into the nature and methods of kid's play (and I used the Green Machine as an example). There are four major elements to this:P -- for powerL -- for learning and curiosityA -- for adventureY -- the yelp of surprise and delight

By structuring your messaging and experience design around these elements you are actually working with the major developmental themes of childhood. For example, when kids introduce themselves to each other, one of the last things they do is say their name. It is peripheral to the task at hand. The first step is to establish affinity -- to walk through the building blocks of personal development, giving and taking, finding connections and moving to the next. If there are enough connections across these developmental themes, then the kids will become friends -- at least for a period of time -- ...

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When I saw this ad the other night I laughed out loud. Audacious. Daring even. It apparently even caused outrage and complaint in the community which is a good sign of effectiveness. But would it make you buy the product? Penny Warneford, who is helping Kolotex with the campaign (or perhaps managing the crisis it has created) said, "The advertising is the result of extensive research which is right on target". It seems to me that she is right. And we have come a long way since the ads with the blue dye.

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quick smart!

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Blogger Social, which now happens in just a matter of weeks will be the first time that I have the opportunity to meet in person with the many friends that have come into my world over the last couple of years.It is going to be fabulous!

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The Future of Your Brand Is ... which will be unfolding here over the coming weeks.

Working in kids marketing is an interesting challenge. Of course, there are ethical issues that you need to balance -- the same can be said about any form of marketing -- but there is something far more brutal in kids marketing than first meets the eye. It is the kids. They are a tough audience. There is no engagement, no discussion, no "pussy footing" around an issue. Either you are ON or your are out the door. There is no in-between.

One of the great things about this is that you know very quickly if your marketing is going to be successful. This is especially true online, where almost real time results can be seen flicking across your WebTrends or Google Analytics dashboards. But equally, this means that failure is also swift and judgment harsh. For those of us working with social media, we will be used to seeing the occasional unpleasant message in comments or on a forum some place. It comes as part of the landscape. But kids will be direct. Unwittingly cruel. And frighteningly honest. It is one thing to have "constructive criticism" on the campaign that you have taken months to craft, but quite another to be told "this sucks" by a 10 year old. It is even worse to have this echo across the web with alarming speed.

As a way of mitigating the risk of failure, one of the approaches I have used successfully is to align messaging, activation and engagement with the core developmental needs of kids at various ages. But to do this well you need to go deep. Really deep. And it needs to be personal. This is not just about the kids that you market to, but it is understanding on an emotional level, what worked and what did not FOR YOU. It means going back into your own imaginings and memories. It means searching honestly for the things that thrilled, frightened and fascinated you. It means being authentic.

The art of surprise

"I don't know a lot about art, but I know what I like"

In Australia, this quote was famously dropped by Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, but anyone involved in the world of advertising or marketing would have heard it a thousand times. It is the defence of the unprepared client, the unready account director and the floundering creative director. It means that, in reality, the brief was ill prepared. It means that there was precious little by way of insight or analysis. It is the excuse that absolves one of responsibility -- unless, of course, you are responsible for the creative.

And while I have heard this line a thousand times, there is some truth to the statement.

When I put together a brief I try not to be too prescriptive. After all, ...

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International Women's Day was launched in Copenhagen. Tomorrow, in Sydney, thousands will gather at Sydney Town Hall at 11am.

And in honour of International Women's Day, I thought it worth remembering that there are some fantastic blogs by women -- and what better place to start than with the W-list. If your blog/name is not on the list, then join up here to add your blog to the W Magical List of Women Bloggers. Also check out Wowowow.

Here are a couple of my local favourites that don't seem to be listed -- Dipping into the Blogpond by Meg Tsiamis, Laurel Papworth and Our Great Southern Land by Jayne.

2020 Hindsight by Susan Kitchens21st Century Collaborative by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach4-women-in-insurance by Dina A. Privitera45 Things by Anita BruzzeseAbide | Living with chronic illness by Sharon BroganA Girl Must Shop by Megan GarnhumA Little Pregnant by JulieA Look at Art & Design by Lisa MikulskiA Lucid Spoonful by Paula CrossfieldAerophant by Tai MosesAffirmagy Blog by Kristen SchuerleinAide-Memoire by Kate CarruthersAll for Women by Leigh, Naom, Patricia, and BarbaraAlkamae by Susan ReidAllied by Jeneane Sessum[[http://www.artlook.typepad.com/|]]Ample Sanity by Anne MatthewsandHow To Reach Women by Tami Andersonangiemckaig.com: still