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Mass Participation and the Propagation of Memes

July 27, 2010 in Advertising | No comments

As recently as twenty years ago, pop culture ideas used to last a few years: parachute pants, pet potbellied pigs, the Super Bowl Shuffle…  Over time, as communication platforms began to supersede regionality and even nationality, those lifespans began to shrink: think William Hung, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Dancing Babies…

Today, pop culture ideas have the lifespan of mayflies.  As fast as something interesting appears, it gets shared, modified, name-checked by celebrities, then tossed aside like an empty soda can.  These accelerated life cycles spring directly from the internet and how it simplifies the act of forwarding.  Just this morning, a friend of mine in Italy posted this remarkable two minute video to his Facebook page and I’ve already retweeted it from Element 79′s Twitter account.  Simply because it’s awesome.  Best as I can tell, it’s a two minute viral piece for Levi’s but that doesn’t matter–again, because it’s awesome.

Clay Shirky cites this incredible ease of sharing as the driving force behind our ability to organize without organizations.  People in one region can share local news with the whole world simply by pressing a computer key.  And so we now enjoy an endless series of unrelated comic memes like Double Rainbows and Trololo Man and Kia Hamsters…Dennis Ryan, Chicago Advertising, Element 79

All of this is an incredibly long set up for a silly but highly-enjoyable website I tripped over this past weekend called “Motivated Photos.”  The entire site is dedicated to viewer submitted riffs on the classic “Successories” style of motivational poster: those pedantic images framed in black with atop two-sized serif font headlines set in white capital letters.  Except this site is less focused on inspirational platitudes and more inclined to smartassery like this, or this, or this.

Sure, the site features way too much political stuff and many of the posts are exceedingly puerile, but that’s what you get with user-generated content: 70% dreck, 20% good, 10%great.  You have to skim for the cream, but it’s definitely there.  And definitely funny.

Happy Tuesday.

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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A Devastatingly Accurate Graphic Representation of Retweeting on Twitter

July 19, 2010 in Advertising | 1 comment

It takes a few months of playing around on Twitter to get a handle on all the hashtags, the follow Fridays and other arcania of the platform.  Candidly, I’m still largely ignorant of its master level details.

But I stumbled upon this visual depiction of retweeting that somehow manages to both inform and pass judgment.  Like all great design, it is both simple and elegant.

Dennis Ryan, Element 79, Chicago Advertising

Graphic by HmnCntpd

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

follow us on Twitter: @element79

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Yes, Brands Are Opinions, Even the Element 79 Brand

April 26, 2010 in Advertising | 1 comment

In today’s socially-networked, immediate-impact world, brands suffer when negative opinions spread unchecked.  When those negative opinions are unfounded or severely exaggerated, the damage can be massive (ask any ex-Bear Stearns employee about that one).

Because in today’s socially-networked, immediate-impact world, opinion trumps reality.  As soon as it forms, opinion spreads through mass viral channels like Facebook, Twitter and blogs.  And because it is opinion, it doesn’t require fact-checking.

Last week, I got a wake up call that this truth applies to our Element 79 brand as well.  In the finals of a new business pitch, a CEO mentioned that he Googled Element 79 and wondered when we were gonna merge with DDB?

We’re not.  Never were.  But due to a newspaper column written by a speculatively-inclined columnist for the Chicago Sun Times over fifteen months ago, that rumor popped up in our prospect’s search engine.  Worse, when I shared this anecdote with a few friends at other shops in town, they admitted hearing the same thing.  When the rumor mill, or at least irrelevant suppositions, can influence the outcome of new business, you’ve got trouble.

We’ve spent two years reinventing and rebuilding our agency.  And slowly, we’ve been regrowing.  Today we have about 110 people busy working to help our clients thrive during these tight times.  We want Cricket to leverage their national coverage into a leadership position for value innovation in wireless.  We want Supercuts to show the value of their affordable haircare so that if and when the economy turns better, people realize they don’t have to pay more to look good.

We want Amway to help people supplement their incomes and Central DuPage Hospital to be the first choice for superior healthcare — especially as they bring Illinois’ first Proton Therapy Center online this Summer.  And we want Harris to keep helping people realize how much better the right bank can be.

We also want to do big things for the half-dozen new clients we’ve brought in these past five months.  We want LasikPlus to show glasses wearers that this simple procedure can radically improve their lives quickly and safely.  We can’t wait for the private equity firm GTCR to launch their revamped website and concise brand story in May.  And we take inordinate pride in winning three new brands–Wolf Chili, Alexia, and Banquet–from our friends at ConAgra.

There’s an old adage about physicians taking their own medicine.  And so we’re also going to be taking some steps to clean up our online hygiene.

It wasn’t good news to hear.  But like criticism from a smart coach, it will make us better.  And that’s the daily goal.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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PS:  Michael Gabriel and Gus Gavino made the video above for a recent pitch.  Though we didn’t prevail there, the energy of this piece is just delightful.  The track is “100,000 Thoughts” by Tap Tap.


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Thanks Twitter But I Don’t Want To Be Followed By Lydia Lancaster (ditzybabe83454)

March 29, 2010 in Advertising | No comments

My daughter and I attended the matinee of “Trust” at the Lookingglass Theatre yesterday.  This imaginatively-presented new play centers around an internet sexual predator and a freshman at New Trier High School.  We found it well-acted and decidedly well-intentioned, although that led to a few ham-fisted moments in the writing.  Still, this tale of the real dangers inherent to easy iPhone and laptop access is enough to make any parent yearn for more Luddite times.

So the topic of inappropriate web contact was already fresh in my mind when I received not just one but two consecutive notices from women I don’t know who nonetheless feel comfortable introducing themselves while topless.  Apparently these aggressively body-confident gals feel compelled to follow both my agency and personal Twitter feeds.

While it would feed my ego to pretend our Tweets provide the kind of entertaining and rewarding commentary that works like a bug light on nymphomaniacs, the truth is I fit a profile: middle aged professional male.  And so my inbox gets bombarded with pitches for every baldness, weight control and erectile dysfunction remedy imaginable.  These are the methods taken by some of the less savory corners of my chosen profession.

Spam goes everywhere–I get that.  And yes, I’m painfully aware of Internet Rule 34 (“If it exists, there is porn of it”).  It just bums me out that everything, everywhere merits a Parental Advisory sticker.  We were just looking to play in the social network, not ‘play’ wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

So no Lydia, I won’t be following you back.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79


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A Currently Accurate Graph Regarding Monetizing Twitter

March 22, 2010 in Advertising | 1 comment

Dennis Ryan Element 79 Chicago Advertising

11Points.com (“Because Top Ten Lists are for cowards”) included this with a list of other funny charts about the micro-blogging platform.  Like all great satire, there’s more than a drop of truth to the commentary.

By the way, “Food Trucks” refers to street vendors or mobile mini restaurants in major cities.  Twitter is often their only marketing as they tweet their current location or specials for their fan followers.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79


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I Watched the 82nd Annual Academy Awards™…On Twitter

March 8, 2010 in Advertising | 2 comments

That’s right–Sunday night I skipped the show and conducted an experiment: just how different would it be to experience the Oscars in a crowdsourced way, by logging onto Twitter and only following anything with an #oscars hashtag?  Would it be as interesting to hear other’s thoughts about hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin instead of developing my own?  Would the community discussion influence how I felt about the ridiculously-addendumed title “Precious: Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire”? Would I be more involved with an annual event I find leaden and boring?

No.  No.  And no.  Experiencing the Oscars via Twitter doesn’t change much at all, aside from robbing one of seeing the dress Charlize Theron wore that apparently featured Cinnabons as pasties.  In the end, I lasted about an hour and a half before snapping off the laptop and heading for bed…which pretty much mirrors how I experience the show on TV every year.

Twitter isn’t a replacement medium, it’s an adjacent medium–a way to add sociability to an otherwise snoreburger fest of sitting in front of the tube and waiting for something to happen.  In the totally ephemeral 140 characters of @waxgirl333: “#oscars would be so boring without twitter”  She’s right–it brings an engaging new layer to passively watching any major telecast, whether it’s the Academy Awards or the Super Bowl or the Olymics (Curling?  Yes.  Hockey?  No–the game moves waaay too fast.).  During the long, boring stretches, you can check Twitter and see if anyone has something snappy to say.

Ultimately, the show didn’t hold my attention for three or four hours, but then again, few things do.  That said, from the literally tens of thousands of tweets that popped up during my shortened stint, here are twenty favorites:

@
trentvanegas LMAO!!!! As did the rest of the viewing audience #oscars RT @EW At Elton John party: The whole crowd just gasped at the sight of Judd Nelson

@
tommytrc RT @DonaBogart: Ouch. The John Hughes Tribute made me feel very old. #oscars

@MC1487 The song “Thank Heavens for Little Girls” will always creep me out, no matter the context. #Oscars #CreepyCreepy

@JacqKD Funny how Taylor Hackford doesn’t mention “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” in his career. #Oscars

@lilnerdette RT @popcandy: Actually, here’s a place where you can watch all of the animated shorts: http://bit.ly/j0KyP

@SuburbanTurmoil Hey Rachel McAdams. Grandma called. She wants her curtains back. #oscars

@ianedgar Weird racially profiling direction. Black people react to other black person winning prize! They must be so proud. #oscars

@TheOnion: King Latifah Returns For Wife http://onion.com/78XfU7 #Oscars

@matthewcrosby Not seen Precious but it looks like the world’s most depressing Eminem video #oscars (via @sonnypike)

@mtgcolorpie Coming up: Tyler Perry, Sarah Jessica Parker and a salute to horror films. My favorite sentence ever. /throws up

@TheDaveCarlson “Well I already have two of these” is the FAIL of the night. #oscars

@kateritchie Did charlieze not think before placing two cinnabons on top of her chest? Stylist fail. #oscars

daddyscratches I can’t remember ever seeing so many painfully sharp-looking shoulder blades and frightfully tissue-free collarbones in one place. #oscars

@moviecricket #oscars 12 down, 12 to go. Settle in, folks. On the bright side, no musical numbers since Neil Patrick Harris.

@quinnnorton: Have just realized this is the original awkward reality show. #oscars

@sreenet: Avatar: The second time you watch it, the special effects get better, but the acting and dialog get worse. #oscars

@NOLAnotes This co-hosting thing is not doing it for me. Two talents squandered instead of the usual one. #oscars

@nowtoronto Best way not to get your acceptance speech cut short: “Thirteen years ago, the doctors told me I wasn’t going to survive …” #oscars

@akmcquade Why isn’t bob costas explaining the difference between sound mixing and osund editing? #shutupcostas #oscars

@andylevy The first four hours of this show have really flown by! #oscars

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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Is Ballmer Crowdsourcing His POV On A Twitter Acquisition?

March 4, 2010 in Advertising | No comments

Mary Jo Foley, who regularly blogs on ZDNet regarding all things Microsoft, wrote a post yesterday describing how CEO Steve Ballmer neither confirms nor denies any purchase interest in Twitter.  Responding to a question on Tuesday about whether he might buy the microblogging service outright, Ballmer did little more than top line pro and con arguments.  In just five sentences, he used “not clear” twice and “far less clear” once.

In an earlier time, this kind of non-response response would suggest he’s dodging the question.  But these days, there’s a very good chance the Microsoft leader is doing something far cagier…

He may be crowdsourcing it.

With all their resources, Microsoft can get a raft of M&A analysts on the job in no time (and no doubt already has).  But as Ballmer goes on to say in his (non)response, “…as an independent, they have a lot of value and a lot of credibility, I think, with their user community.  Would they have that same credibility with the user community if they were captive?  Not clear.”

Should Microsoft Buy Twitter, Crowdsource, Element 79 Advertising Chicago

For those keeping score, that was his third “not clear.”

My supposition doesn’t mean he can’t make the decision on his own–quite the contrary.  Ballmer definitely will make the call.  But he might not be at that point yet.  Raising the issue might be a brilliant tactic to quickly amass informed opinion from a huge diversity of viewpoints–a treasure trove of input unfettered by corporate myopia and much more representative of the marketplace.  Just by suggesting the argument, someone of his stature fires online debate among informed and passionate industry pundits and opinion leaders.  In short order, he will be able to assess a wide spectrum of prevailing thinking on issues like how Microsoft might leverage Twitter, how it could evolve this new asset into a ‘real time search’ unit, and how to align social-computing technology into Windows.  Best of all, these perspectives come fast, cheap, and readily accessible.

Crowdsourcing opinion in this manner makes smart business sense.  The final purchase opinion will be his, but the information informing it could come from sources far and wide.

That much IS clear.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79


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And So, The Golden Era of Social Networks Begins To Dim…

March 2, 2010 in Advertising | 1 comment

If you are in your forties, you remember the early days of cable television when it did not carry commercials. And if you’re now a parent in your forties, you recognize just how saturated Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and the rest have become with their non-stop barrages of pop-up ads and relentless cross-promotion.

Marketers voraciously consume any platforms that aggregate a market, be it through broadcast or narrowcast.  Thus Fan pages and the ever-expanding reach of Facebook Connect, CMO Twitter feeds and iPhone apps.  It’s impossible to deny that advertising messed up cable when it was a nascent phenomenon, just as it will soon mess up Facebook, Twitter, et al.  That’s already begun to happen as those platforms scramble for ways to cash in on marketing dollars and ‘synergies’, but at the moment, the larger threat to Social Networks is legislation.

In Erik Sass’ provocative piece for MediaPost, he describes how the FDA is investigating the way over-the-counter pharmaceutical manufacturers leverage social media.  This government body has already announced that they are considering imposing a code of conduct; a possibility that prompted the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) to submit its own voluntary standards in hopes of fending off legislation.  The result has been loads of theoretical conjecture and debates over the limits of various marketers’ “spheres of influence.”

Pharma messages have always carried heavy legal constraints.  If you watched the Olympic coverage of the Four Man Bobsled Finals, you saw three different pharma ads for three different products, each saddled with a disclaimer that mentioned the same potential side effect of “suicidal thoughts.”  That’s a pretty strong deterrent in an erstwhile sales message; “On second thought, maybe I’ll just learn to live with my Restless Leg Syndrome, Doc…”

And so regulatory agencies will try to clamp down on social network messages, an act that will inevitably expand beyond marketers to influence and limit individual networking.  Safeguards, filters, guidelines: right now, they are set at the platform level but soon, expect to see them emanating from regulatory bodies.

I don’t think this because I’m a pessimist, it’s just that I’ve seen it before.  You know, back when MTV aired music videos.

Yeah, I know.  I’m in my forties.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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Timing Is Everything: From Dashing to Exceeding Expectations

February 23, 2010 in Advertising | No comments

We have this lovely little ad hoc thing at the agency called, unimaginatively enough, Breakfast Club, where every Friday morning, four or five people at the office provide some breakfast for the rest of us.  Over the months and years, the Breakfast Club has become a nice way to end the week by sharing a cup of coffee and maybe a homemade scone or a bit of egg casserole.

Last Friday, the scheduled Breakfast Club hosts did the unprecedented and waved off at the last minute due to an unfortunate confluence of client travel and personal illness.  There was disappointment–not getting your danish can do that to you.  One note on Facebook conjectured Breakfast Club had been given up for Lent.  Hardly.

First thing Monday morning, a Spartan offering of donut holes and coffee sat on a break room table, an intentionally underwhelming display meant to be, as a tweet from @jennylui read, “Just a little something to whet ur whistle before we blow ur mind. At 4 pm.”

By mid-afternoon, the rhetoric had escalated.  Tweets and emails promised “the single greatest breakfast club ever.”  That was all–no explanation, no hint of their plans.

Four o’clock arrived and a far larger crowd than usual gathered at our main meeting room to find an amazing troika: a proper English breakfast, vodka drinks, and the DePaul Mens a Cappella group, DMaC.  For the next hour or so, these college undergrads worked their way through a varied catalogue, from Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” to a surprisingly moving rendition of Toto’s “Africa.”  Pure, multi-octave voices, loose but conscious choreography and an undercurrent of collegiate wit created a deeply engaging performance that lived up to its billing.  And provided an unprecedented backdrop to eggs, beans and crumpets.

From dashing expectations to wildly exceeding them–if you can ever get a shot at redemption and nail it, the effect is twice as impactful.  Well done Ron D’Innocenzo, Jenny Lui, Mike D’Amico and Josh Witherspoon: John Hughes himself would have been proud.

And whoever has Breakfast Club this week is so hosed…

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79


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The Best Way To Scale Social Media? Use TV. And Vice Versa.

February 18, 2010 in Advertising | No comments

One of the biggest complaints about Social Media is how difficult it is to scale.  Sure, your Twitter feed may have a thousand followers, but aren’t those people likely to already be in your brand’s camp?  And what exactly do you do with them, besides, you know, be social about your brand and stuff?  It’s way too micro, too one-to-one.  It’s simply not scalable unless you happen to be that allegorical advertiser with a million monkeys typing on a million socially-networked Dell computers…

No, what’s scalable is aggregating a big, whomping audience around one cool, memorable thirty second TV spot.  Television is scalable–that’s long proven.

Unfortunately, those big, whomping audiences are increasingly rare in today’s hyper-proliferated media world.  People simply don’t gather in one place anymore.  But they’re doing that right now.  And they did it last Sunday.  The Winter Olympics and the recent Super Bowl have drawn huge television audiences.  One reason for this resurgence in the most traditional of mediums?  Social media.

In an article for Advertising Age, John Rash posits that one of the reasons why the Vancouver Olympics are drawing an audience that’s 25% larger than four years ago in Turin could be the effect of tweets and Facebook updates.  The “I got it first” nature of so many social network messages, particularly when they concern an event or a personality, can actually drive larger audiences to the television.  Given a reminder, lots of us would like to catch a glimpse of Lindsey Vonn’s downhill gold or Shaun White’s latest halfpipe innovation, thus re-aggregating an audience around specific events.  And it is better watching it on television, particularly if you have one of those HD big screens that had such huge price drops last Holiday season.

Events like the Super Bowl or the Olympics get everyone talking, but most advertisers don’t need everyone; they just need large like-minded groups.  Integrating and encouraging messages on social media that drive traffic to television events large or small can clearly serve that purpose.

Media scalability is still very much possible.  Chances are, you’ve been experiencing it personally these past few weeks.  It’s not about any one medium; it’s about integrating multiple mediums.

Want to aggregate an audience?  Aggregate your media messages.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79


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