Your Work vs. the Reasons Why You Work

It can be a strange thing for a business owner or manager to present themselves on behalf of their company - where should the lines between a professional profile and a personal profile be drawn? It comes down to the level of comfort you have with "being your brand". If you own a store on Main Street, then you probably should "be your brand" - your friends will also be your customers (or should be), and your customers should become your friends. In person-to-person transactions, the best way to build repeat business is to build "sociability" into each professional transaction.

However, if you are selling "professional services", then you may not want personal details associated with your work life. Do you really want to know about your Doctor's weekend habits? Do you want your clients to know about yours? It's a tough call.

I personally couldn't care less what people know about me, but I still try to keep some distance between my personal and professional lives. At the end of the day, my clients are extremely important to me, and I count many as great friends, but other things are equally (or more) important than business stuff, and I choose to try to keep things partitioned - if only to remind myself when it is time to stop working. That's a big one - and it is a tough line to draw in the sand.

I spend a lot of my time talking with people about strategy, but it is important to have a life-strategy too - and that strategy should start with knowing where to draw the line between work and the reasons why you work.

Sociable Communications’ Favourite Viral Advertising 2010

One of the key criteria of any ad campaign is the number of views any ad receives – literally the quantity of pairs-of-eyeballs any ad receives. As such, viral advertising should be judged for its quality for sure, but viewer quantity is also a key criteria. As such, I present my favourite viral video advertisements for 2010, with my humble commentary.

Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

This is (and will always likely be) legendary. It added “I’m on a Horse” to the lexicon. I laughed my ass off to everything the Old Spice guy did (including the brilliant ‘Twitter Responses’ campaign). And more to the point, I personally purchased Old Spice deodorant for the first time ever – I never would have considered doing so without this ad, and that call-to-action made the difference. I appreciate the Axe ads, but they weren’t for me – the Old Spice ads did hit the target though – until I ran out of Old Spice, and went back to my old habits. They may want to address that…



Arcade Fire – The Wilderness Downtown (Featuring “We Used to Wait”)

This is a game-changer in the world of music marketing and promotion – and a stunning example of how free web tools can be manipulated and embraced to create new (and shockingly personalized) works of art. And, the “video” is so damned good that you almost don’t notice how great the song is until your second pass through the “video” process (and let’s face it, didn’t everyone try it a few times??).

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

Toyota – Swagger Wagon

Maybe it’s just the place I’m at in my life, but this ad blew my mind. There’s a whole series of viral ads with these characters, and I kind of want to hang out with these folks. This honestly makes me want to buy one of these vans, if only to support a company that could be this funny and cool.



Also, “Dare to dream – you could be this!!”



Transport Accident Commission, Victoria, Australia – Twenty Year Retrospective

The TAC in Victoria, Australia has been making deeply impactful conventional (as it were) television ads for twenty years. The Aussies don’t screw around with metaphors like us North Americans – they go for the throat, and get proven results with significantly reduced fatalities from drunk driving. This ad went global on the internet, and may hopefully make a global difference in the same way TAC’s television ads have had in Australia.



Axe – Clean Your Balls

From the divine to the inane… OK, this ad is a bit easy, but what the hell – an ad like this is designed for a viral space, and a brand like Axe is the one to do it with. Check out the long close-up on the golf balls – the tension is palpable. This kind of writing and direction takes some thought, and a bit of courage from the advertiser’s point-of-view. “Cleans right through the prickly surface”. Funny, well-cast, and smart (in spite of the over-the-top stupidity of the concept).



Adidas – Star Wars Cantina

Yeah, what can you say – awesome digital effects, funny, relevant celebrities, and Star Wars. Nerd heaven. Jedi Snoop-Dogg, David Beckham and Jay Baruchel (in particular) are genius. Baruchel sniffing the blaster is perfect – wouldn’t you do the same if you could?



Nike – Write the Future

This puts the aspirations of anyone who as even played a sport into a global context, and allows everyone to dream big, alongside their sports heroes. Ergo, if you wear Nike shoes, you can live your dream. Or something like that.



Tipp-Ex White and Rewrite – NSFW - A Hunter Shoots a Bear

This was a first – something I hadn’t seen before on YouTube, let alone in advertising, online or otherwise. The first time I saw it, I was legitimately surprised, and then delighted. I was even led to wonder about the technology itself, though I suspect YouTube was instrumental is adjusting their interface to allow this to work. It also had people trying new variations over and over – I bet the average viewing time was close to ten minutes – unbelievable for any advertisement. I just wonder how much it translated into purchase – I’ve never heard of (or seen) the product, and I almost worry that their product distribution didn’t match their impact. Still, the sheer depth of thought they put into this execution is stunning.

Independent Resurgence and the Demise of the Mainstream

I always look to trends in music as indicators of shifting consumer patterns.  Music is a great bellwether for predicting significant shifts in popular culture.

Rock ‘n’ Roll overthrew swing bands in the early 50s, bringing a whole new wave of fashion and culture.  Then, in 1964, America turned to the Beatles as those pop culture heroes from the 50s became increasingly faded, bloated and over-produced.

In the mid-Seventies, punk and hip hop raised a street-level middle-finger to the faded, increasingly bloated music of the time – disco, prog rock, and stadium rock.

In the early 90s, grunge and “mainstream independent” music was a response to the fading, bloated excess of the mid-80s hair-and-fashion-based music of the time.

Of course, like all trends, each of these revolutions were co-opted and commercialized by the mainstream.  The Beatles begat the Monkees.  The Sex Pistols begat Adam and the Ants.  Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five begat MC Hammer.  Hell, you could say that Nirvana begat Limp Bizkit.

However, Nirvana’s Nevermind (which I will use as a revolutionary benchmark) was released in 1991, and nothing has shook the ground that hard since. Toronto’s “New Music” radio station still rotates Nirvana and early Pearl Jam (to say nothing of early Tragically Hip) more than any other music, in spite of the fact that the latter two have a deep well of great (and more current) ‘new music’.

I think we are overdue for a revolution.

The problem is that consumer consumption habits have changed significantly over the past decade.  According to my prior examples, a “revolution” should come along about every fourteen years or so.  By that math, 2005 should have been the tipping point – but by that time, music downloads were rampant.  The recording industry was reeling.  And more significantly, people weren’t buying actual recordings (in the traditional, physical sense).  If people were buying music, they were downloading MP3s (which are a significant step back in terms of audio quality compared to 24-bit CDs).  MTV and Much Music didn’t play music anymore.  Clubs and bars didn’t host original live music anymore (at least in Canada, compared to the live music explosion of 1990 – 1995).

Since 2005, our mainstream pop culture touchstones increasingly rest with television – and not “music television”.  Canadian/American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, and auto-tuned vocals are the new normal.  If a revolution was ever due, the time is now.

So where are the revolutionaries?

The revolution is already here.  There are songwriters telling better stories that ever.  There are bands with more edge than ever.  There are bands with less edge – though intentionally so, to great emotional effect.  And, there are bands that are finding new and innovative means of reaching a new audience.  The difference is that these musicians aren’t enormous “stars” – they are simply career musicians, period.

My point is that some revolutions are coup d’états, while others happen gradually - slowly, until everything has changed and nobody is the wiser, and everyone is generally better off.  These are the revolutions of the end-user.  In commerce, like in politics, the majority (and end-user demand) usually has a way of ruling things sooner or later.

The “digital revolution” may have thrown off old patterns of creative revolution, but it hasn’t fundamentally damaged the artistic world – it has just necessitated some innovation.  At worst, it has defined niches that are supported by the fact that artists have potential access to a global market, rather than a local market: artists may not need to water-down their vision in order to pay bills.  Great art is, by nature, often polarizing – but if a potential audience is global rather than local, then you can “polarize away”, secure in the knowledge that those who like your work will be equally as large a group as those who don’t like it.  You can comfortably ignore the naysayers, because the fans are potentially greater than you ever could have found through conventional means.

This new revolution is about distribution.  The old musical revolutions were still supported by a major-label economic structure that helped to motivate the masses.  Now, artists can motivate their audience themselves, with a bit of excellent creative work, and some creative self-marketing.

The new revolution is not about mass-consumer choices, but creative freedom, distribution opportunities, and economic reward.  The same goes for any brand marketing – businesses large and small can focus on their target and/or niche better now than they ever could before.  The classic “Four Ps of Marketing” include placement – which means product distribution and availability to the consumer.  Businesses, like musicians and artists, can now also communicate with a closely-targeted market with efficiency and effectiveness, and they can gain the economic benefit that flows from that level of focus.

Frequency and Relevancy – The Sociable Rules of Content Generation

If you review a few dates on this blog, you will see that I have broken a rule I so often espouse: when blogging, set a goal for frequency of posting, and stick to it. The problem is that I also recommend relevancy with every post: thought leadership can’t be established without relevant content. If your blogs, tweets or status updates aren’t directly relevant to your target audience, then it is better to say nothing. So, I’ve been saying nothing.

That’s not to say I’m not busy - but I won’t post information about my work on behalf of clients (my rule #4 of social media engagement is to respect privacy). The bottom line is that there are few rules with social media engagement, but if you are doing it at all, you need to set some goals and stick to them - so I'm providing a few "rules" of my own. My goals were sidetracked by my Rule #10 – until a client called me on my lack of posting frequency. Point taken – a client’s confidence was shaken in my ability, and it all comes back to revenue generation.

Since one of my unspoken rules of content generation is that blogs don’t need to be essays:

Sociable Communications’ Select Rules of Content Generation:

1. If you don’t have anything relevant to say, say nothing.

2. Know the ‘Who’ - who you are talking to.

3. Know the ‘Why’ - know your goals. Are you in it to build thought leadership? Drive sales? Brag?

4. Re-purpose existing content – if it’s worth saying in one place, say it in every place.

5. Respect privacy, and always give credit where credit is due.

6. Follow your company’s Code of Business Conduct and all other Company policies. If you don’t have any policies, write them and keep records of content generation.

7. Remember that your local posts can have global significance – and know that the Internet is permanent. When in doubt, do not post.

8. You don’t hold all of the keys – share your blogging opportunities with other staff. They have valuable insights too.

9. Do not say anything that could be perceived as confrontational, arrogant, libellous, unprofessional or slanderous – unless that is your goal.

10. If content generation isn’t generating revenue somehow, they why bother doing it?

My favourite is the last one. We are all too busy to do things that don’t add value. If you are participating in social media engagement, then always add value – if other people find your information valuable, then they will feed value back to you. At least, that is my goal.

Marketing to Middle-Aged Men - Anything is Possible.

Middle-aged men are trickier to market to than many think. Lazy marketers develop tactics that disparage the “clueless loser” guy, or they’ll pile boobs ‘n’ booze into advertising, confidently assuming that it’ll speak to all middle-aged males - one way or the other. It may reach them, but will it penetrate? Men don’t need to be reminded of their failures, inability or complacency - they need is to feel like anything is possible.

From a social perspective, I have a theory about men that may define a better means of reaching these guys in a manner that will generate better results. Think about this: ask any man who their best male friend is. Ask who their next-best male friend is. Chances are that those names are men who were still boys when they met each other in their teenage years. The deepest relationships that men develop with other men are usually cemented before they turn 20. Men are experts are building acquaintances – business contacts, golfing buddies, drinking partners, husbands-of-wives-friends - but they never let someone “in” quite like they did when they were seventeen. That old friend may now have nothing else in common with their 45-year-old self, but that guy was “there” when their seventeen-year-old guard was down – and that’s why they are still there now.

Men are generally still the neurotic, insecure boys that much advertising ridicules – but they very rarely wear it with such inelegance. They often have a deep, persistent need to reconnect with a younger, more confident, more idealistic version of themselves, because that younger version knew how to dream without limits. They retain their oldest friends because they don’t know how (or don’t want) to build deep connections with newer acquaintances. And more to the point, they can’t (or won’t) trust new people when ever-present social, political or grown-up business concerns are apparent.

Truly effective marketing tactics should dig deeper into a man’s psyche and soul. Most men aspire to innovation and leadership, but their actions rarely match their goals. What is missing in marketing to middle-aged men is an understanding of what this teenage-friend theory reveals. Men need comfort, peace-of-mind, and simplicity, aligned with non-judgemental trust. People are judged every day, but sometimes you just need to be yourself. Men don’t need another salesman trying to be their “buddy”, and they need to be disparaged even less – they get enough of that already. They need to know that their core beliefs are respected and reflected, if not shared, without judgement.

Every young guy wanted to be a star athlete, rock star or mogul. It didn’t happen, and they’re all a little pissed off about it now, but their earliest friends who shared the articulation of those dreams understand the disappointment in learning that the dreams weren’t achievable (for whichever reason). Those friends also understand how those dreams evolved into the present reality – for better or worse. Nothing can touch that – not golf partners, drinking buddies, or even life partners. Good marketers should dissect, understand and respect that.

This explains the success of Nike, Four Seasons Hotels, or most luxury brands for that matter: it is always preferable (if not possible) to “just do it”; you deserve the best, without question or judgement (as long as you can pay the bill). Middle-aged men almost always aspire to be better than their current reality (even if actions rarely match goals), and leveraged aspirations are therefore a powerful marketing tool if applied creatively.

Men aren’t clueless or desperate – they are just very resistant to change, and they need an occasional comfort-zone separate from their daily concerns that does not represent dramatic change. If marketers understand that every 40-year-old man is still an 18-year-old at heart, then they should also understand that “boobs ‘n’ booze” won’t speak to them in an efficient manner: in their hearts, they know that the conventional “party picture” is a reality that is now beyond their grasp. Again, they’re a bit pissed off about it, but it’s a fact, and they don’t need another reminder of their fading dreams and abilities. What they do need is to feel like anything is possible – anything at all. Is it better to suggest the achievement of an impossible dream – or to deliver a sense of confidence, aspiration and security, such as that which comes from sharing in the confidence of a best friend?

Remember what life was like when you were seventeen? It probably sucked – but in hindsight, didn’t the world seem to be your oyster? Everything was going to change after high school – you would go to school, go to work, get money, and get a life. All of those things happened – just not as most people planned. But, if smart marketers can remember that we all remember the shimmering possibility represented in teenage/early 20s dreaming, there is a huge opportunity to leverage a brand in a manner that is relevant, exciting, personable and sustainable. Anything is possible.

Moosehead and Sleeman: My Animal is Bigger than Yours

Moosehead beer has a new campaign in Ontario that has partnered with Roots, the venerable Canadian clothing line, to provide co-branded promotional goods. The radio spots supporting this campaign pair an exec from each company who discuss the relative Canadian merits of the Moosehead and Roots brands. A final comment points out that a Moose, the obvious symbol of Moosehead Beer (with a logo that looks not dissimilar to the Caribou on the Canadian quarter) is “bigger” than a Beaver (appearing on the classic Roots brand icon, as well as on the lowly nickel).

The Canadian beer business has traditionally been pretty scrappy, and not usually adept at subtlety. However, the Roots “beaver” icon is striking similar to the trademarked icon seen on every single bottle of Sleeman beer. Sleeman was the neck-and-neck competitor for the title of “biggest independent brewery in Canada” until Sleeman was purchased by Japan’s Sapporo some years ago, and Sleeman would still be seen as a clear, direct competitor in the “super-premium” segment of the domestic Canadian brewing industry.

Is it possible that the Moosehead folks (or their creative agency) were able to lob such a subtle grenade into the brewing industry, striking at the heart of the icon displayed on every single bottle of their competitors’ brew? Could this light-hearted banter in a radio spot in fact be a shot across Sleeman’s bow? Both Moosehead and Sleeman boast “roots” that go back to the early days of this nation, and it seems somehow probable that the similarity between their icons and national coinage is not a co-incidence.

In the wild, a Moose is clearly bigger than a Beaver. If the fine folks at Moosehead did intellectualize this campaign down to the point of quietly hinting at their superiority to Sleeman, then huge kudos to the team - what a great way to rattle the consumer confidence of those who patronize the direct competition.

Lazy Marketers – How can anyone build a sustainable brand if consumer stress is the result of your brand promise?

Tyler Durden said it best: “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.”

The New Economics Foundation is a think tank based in the UK who recently published a spectacular document that calculates the “real value to society of different professions” (http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/bit-rich).

Their calculations estimate the share of social and environmental damage caused by overconsumption that is attributable to advertising, and advertising executives rank spectacularly low in their research in terms of their net benefit to society. The math suggests that a daycare worker generates at least £7 of societal benefit for every £1 they are paid, while an advertising executive destroys £11 of value for every pound they are paid. It goes without saying that ad execs earn much more than daycare workers.

The suggestion is that advertising “encourages high consumer spending and indebtedness. It can create insatiable aspirations, fuelling feelings of dissatisfaction, inadequacy and stress.” This study quantifies what we all suspect – advertising may be a necessary evil if we want to be entertained with “free” radio and television, but at its foundation the job of advertising is to keep us “chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.” By igniting consumer stress, advertisers are in fact generating negative value.

I run a marketing agency, so I guess that makes me an “ad exec” of sorts. I do keep my clients branding efforts as “human” as the brand will allow (that’s the “Sociable” element of the company name), but the fact is that I am working to sell more “units” of whatever my client is “selling”. This New Economics Foundation paper has me thinking about my prospective client base, but also about marketing strategy. Is all marketing and advertising evil?

In difficult economic times, people need to cut back and purchase only essential items. Cars and clothes are necessary, but perhaps the designer labels can be cut back? Perhaps it makes sense to buy a used car instead of new? Nobody will put these thoughts on a billboard, but we all know it makes sense – and when was the last time you felt remorseful for a smart decision?

If someone buys something they don’t really need they will likely feel an eventual degree of buyer’s remorse. I therefore have to wonder - how the hell anyone can build a sustainable brand or product line in the long-term if consumer remorse, pain and stress are built into the brand promise?

I don’t question The New Economics Foundations’ results, but I do believe these results are driven by lazy marketing and lazy marketers. Before a business fabricates an illusion to support sales, how about developing an understanding of how the product can provide real, quantifiable value in the lives of your consumers? Instead of scaring your customers into a purchase decision, how about revealing a genuine significance? You may not sell as many units this quarter, but your business may still be here in twenty years. It is a big world, and consumer needs are as diverse as its population. Unless your business goal is to dump a load of consumer crap on the world and pack your business in next year, you need to get past the greed of generating immediate cash flow, and generate real value to a targeted consumer.

Otherwise, in the words of Tyler Durden, your customers will be thinking…. “we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.” A twenty-year-plus return will almost definitely be greater than a one-year fast burn – and you may even generate some incremental societal value along the way.