fish out of water

Do you imagine what your media consumption would be like if you weren't in advertising?

If I was not an ad (wo)man, hardly any billboards would catch my attention, except maybe the really massively gross DingDong Dantes-bronze-and-only-in-underwear ones. I would never read the paper. I would flip ads during every TV show commercial gap.

I wouldn't find myself thinking that this or that brand must not have had a budget for talent fees given the slew of unremarkable-looking people they cast in their television commercial. I wouldn't be imagining the near-scuffle between clients and creatives about an insistence on Koreanovela-looking elvish posers when I watch an ad for a certain dandruff shampoo. I wouldn't have wondered what kind of lame strategist told X newspaper to advertise that they have more pages by a million percent, even if those pages are made up mostly of ads. I wouldn't find myself wondering which DTI represenative this or that softdrink brand must have wooed in order to get a permit for their prize-by-the-minute text-in-raffle promo.

I wouldn't have taken note of all the additionally utilized ad spaces during my trip to Beijing (taxicab seats, bathroom mirrors, art spaces), or the building-to-building LED billboards in Times Square.

I would probably be one hundred percent banner blind. I definitely wouldn't smile when I come across one of my own banner ads, and I especially wouldn't click on any of them just in case the positive interaction from my single impression might raise the CTR.

I might still have found Ashton Kutcher hot (might?!) but not because he said in his SNL opening that he does "social media optimization".

I don't think I would start every work morning by checking RSS and Bit.ly. I don't think I would have started mobile browsing... I never would have started playing casual games like the very addictive Chocolatier series because a client almost got into on-demand prepaid gaming and I wanted to try to understand the market.

The first thing to come to mind upon seeing a great content idea like Expedition 206 or an AWESOME viral like The Man Your Man Could Smell Like wouldn't be how long the clients gave their agency to develop the campaign, how roomy their digital budget was or how clearly set their objectives and key communication were in their ad brief.

I wouldn't have Become a Fan of Penshoppe or Magic 89.9, just to see how they are maximizing their Facebook accounts. I wouldn't be following Scott Monty, Alex Bogusky or Chris Andersen in hopes of picking up some good social media, digital creative or tech intel.

In fact, I don't think I would have joined Facebook until maybe a few months ago. I definitely wouldn't be registering on any and every social network I come across just in case it takes off, and then at least people would know that I was there "from the start".


Marshall McLuhan said once that the only thing the fish doesn't notice is water, and for normal people that is media. Most people, most regular people, will follow Ellen because they like her or want to win a prize, not because they want to see how she engages her audience via microblog. Most people will click, view and pay attention to ads they like, not because they are ads that their competitor has just launched. Most people will catch sight of a billboard or a print ad only because it is interesting, shocking, revolting, appealing. And most people only notice a minute fraction of the 3000 ad images that are catapulted their way everyday on the train, reading the paper, checking their e-mail or watching their favorite TV show.

Ad men have given up a luxury. Of seeing a promotional material, and of not noticing. Of TV or radio as white noise. Of banner blindness. In as much as they say this about the average consumer nowadays, we really do need to be "always on". Because part of our jobs is to go beyond consumption, and be critical consumers. Because we need to keep up, because we need to be ahead.

content via manmercial

Have been trying to shift mindsets at work from "promo" to "content". I know that should be a cardinal rule but you'd be surprised how easy it is to forget content, brand utlitity or content strategy once a digital project gets bogged down by deadlines, timelines, "usability"...

Was reminded of that by the Manmercials by Old Spice.

Most have decent video view counts, but "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" is the most popular one!


From the ad agency, Wieden+Kennedy: "We're not saying this body wash will make your man smell into a romantic millionaire jet fighter pilot, but we are insinuating it." Ahhh. Thanks for clearing that up. Props also on a highly product-focused ad that is equally entertaining. Both clear and clever!

The agency is receiving props for skipping a multi-million dollar spot during the Superbowl and going viral instead. With almost three million views in just over three weeks, they must have overshot KPI's by a million percent. Nice.

play therapy

Our entire family was stressed out a few weeks ago from work (and in my younger brother's case, school) so Mom decided to bring out our old Lego too help everybody relax. We sat on the floor and got to work.

It was the first time for my niece, Ellie, to Lego! She's four.

 We all got down on the floor to work. Ellie was amused.

My masterpiece... and Ellie in the background. 
I am especially proud of the truck I made from scratch!

It's nice to look away from the multiple screens once in awhile and go back to creating with our hands. 

beyourdigitalbest: new media isn't new

Repost from Dave Trott's Blog


NEW MEDIA ISN'T NEW

We read endless articles and interviews about how new media has changed the world overnight.

Everything is totally different all of a sudden.

Those who don’t accept it are dinosaurs.

And like the dinosaurs, they’ll disappear.

Personally, I think this is herd mentality.

Insecure people feel safer when they group together.

So these people are looking for a group to join.

It’s not as nasty as racism, sexism, ageism, nationalism, classism, or religious-fundamentalism.

But it is based on a similar need to be part of a larger group.

Not far short of playground behaviour.

On your own you’re vulnerable.

As part of a group you’re more secure.

You can’t get picked on as you could when you were an individual.

And you can safely insult anyone who isn’t in your group.

Sort of football supporter behaviour.

Our group’s great, and if you’re not in it you’re crap.

It’s like that with a lot of new-media name calling.

But, if you accept Rogers Technology Adaptation bell-curve, new-media evangelists are a small part of the real world.

Which may be why they feel the need to group together.

According to Rogers, Innovators make up 2.5% of the total.

Early Adopters make up 13.5%.

Then everyone else (the rest of us) make up 84%.

So how does the world of constantly evolving media look to the rest of us?

Are we counting down to the second the latest innovation is going to be released at a silicone valley press conference?

Strangely enough, no.

What we’re doing is getting on with our lives.

Media is just a way stuff gets delivered to us.

Mainly, we’re not even aware of media.

Certainly we don’t think about it.

I heard a man the other day saying he’d just had an unsettling experience in a motorway service station.

He’d pulled into the rest area to use the toilet.

He went into a cubicle and locked the door.

Then he took his trousers and underpants down.

Then he sat down.

After a while, he heard someone enter the cubicle next to him.

They locked the door and sat down.

Then they said, “How you doing mate, alright?”

He was a bit embarrassed, but he didn’t want to appear rude.

So he replied, “Er, yes thanks.”

He hoped that would be the end of it.

But the man next door said, “What’s new then, everything going okay?”

He didn’t quite know how to answer.

So he said, “Er, yes, everything’s fine thank you.”

Then the man said, “The wife, the kids, work, everything ticking over?”

By now he was getting irritated, he said curtly, “As I said, fine thank you.”

Then the man said, “So apart from all that, what are you up to you old bugger?”

He thought this was starting to get a bit personal.

So he said, louder, “Exactly the same thing as you are I imagine.”

Then the man said, “Hang on a bit Chris. I’ll have to put the mobile down for a sec, the bloke in the next cubicle keeps trying to talk to me.”

Some people adapt to changes in media faster than others.

Seth Godin, the new media guru, says we don’t know where any of this is going to end.

We can’t see the future until it gets here.

So anyone who predicts the death of anything is pretending to a knowledge they don’t have.

All we know is stuff changes.

Always has, always will.

And we’ll absorb it into our lives.

Always have, always will.

*This blog is the newest addition to my RSS, in the folder labeled “First”. If I can’t read any of the dozens of other feeds, this is one of those that I absolutely, have to, gotta read regularly.