Kate @ Stickywood

Nuff said

2010-02-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

For almost a year I really enjoyed writing this blog. Ran into interesting people, read a heap, liked the interaction.

Then I took some time out to devote to other things before starting back here a few weeks back.

But the truth is, I've lost the motivation to keep writing...at least on this subject...for now.

So hoo roo, until we meet again. Thankyou for your thoughts, comments and random musings.

This it is: two Aussie brand entertainment campaigns that snuck in before 2010

2010-01-19T16:34:00.001-08:00

This is it!

Having worked in the world of brand entertainment for a few years now, I've had too many "Is this it? Is this really it?" moments to count.

I'm sure those folks who work in the world of brands and mobile can relate.

"This is it! The year that [insert mobile or brand entertainment here] is going to take off."

Last year there were several clues that a shift was occurring in the Australian market: TV networks burdened by bad balance sheets; brands becoming more demanding of media owners and looking to make their dollars count in a tough climate; a few highly visible and successful brand entertainment campaigns like Rexona's Greatest Athlete; and of course, the many articles that spewed forth weekly from our press.

Sadly this didn't turn out to be the case, and developing large scale brand entertainment projects in the small Australian market is still as challenging as ever.

There were however, two campaigns that snuck in before the end of the year to give me a good feeling about 2010.

Over summer, Tourism Australia premiered their TV series No Leave, No Life. Based on their campaign of the same name, the series drew on the insight that Australian's are not as laid back and relaxed as we might think - we don't take enough holidays and need to restore our work life balance. Apparently we've accumulated 123 million days of leave between us!

This Network 7 series plucked little Aussie battlers in need of a break from their workplace, and whisked them away for a dream holiday experience.

The focus was on driving a connection with the audience through the integration of stories about the Australian experience, and the No Leave, No Life message rather than leveraging it across a bunch of mediums.

You can view the series here - it rated through the roof for a non ratings season prime time offering, proving (yet again) that programmers and brands can work together to attract and entertain audiences.

Coles also launched The Great Aussie Cook Off, a national competition and TV series to find Australia’s best family of home cooks (disclaimer, this is a Brand New Media property). In this instance, the TV series on Network Nine was the centrepiece, but by no means the primary connection point for audiences.

Research BNM did in early 2008, showed that despite the plethora of cooking shows, people wanted to see real families from a diverse range of backgrounds cooking their own recipes.

In each episode, families competed head to head to see who could cook the best three course meal, using the same mandatory ingredients – as voted by the audience.

You could watch the show, purchase the cookbook or download that week's recipes online, buy the recipe ingredients on special, cook the recipe and vote for your favourite. In contrast to the Tourism Australia campaign, the emphasis was on leveraging the family home cooking proposition across a range of channels, particularly in-store.

Obviously, one of these campaigns belongs to a major tourism body and the other a major retailer, so we can assume they had very different objectives.

2010 may not be 'the year', but with the introduction of additional FTA digital channels, we might be getting closer.

A hat full of rabbits and a lovely campaign for the Sci Fi Channel's Alice

2010-01-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

Forgive me readers for it has been six months since my last post.

Rather than regale you of with tales of all the things I've been exploring in the space I created by getting off this darn blog, I'm just going to get into it.

I spotted this today via Contagious. It's a Fallon created campaign to promote Alice, a contemporary re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland that aired on the Sci Fi Channel in the States last December.

This is a smart, creative, beautiful campaign, one that did something a bit interesting with banner ads (you heard right) and launched a series of eye catching building projections. All the pieces fit together in a way that creates a genuine story and helped deliver the channel's best ever numbers for a Sunday night show.

This little video tells all.

And how can you not love the casting of Kathy Bates as the Queen of Hearts?

Things are changing around here

2009-09-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

Dear loyal readers, young upstarts who've reminded me I haven't written a post in a good while, and the rest of you.

Yes it's been almost 3 make that 6 months since my last post. Somehow the world has continued regardless.

I've been utilising my 'blog' time in other interesting non bloggy ways AND I've been thinking about re-invigorating and changing the direction of this thing.

So I'll be back with the new improved version in 2010

See you then.

A blanket ban on brand entertainment

2009-06-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

For decades, brands have appeared in, funded, produced, marketed and sponsored entertainment. Proctor & Gamble set up their own production company to create radio serials back in the 30s. Soap operas had an obvious beginning. Recently in a meeting with Reg Grundy, our most famous television pioneer explained how brand funding gave him a start in television. Graham Kennedy's paid for 'in program advertisements' where he pilloried products for minutes on end were legendary.

No one called this brand entertainment.

In recent years, we've witnessed a product placement juggernaut and a move towards more sophisticated attempts to weave brands into storytelling. Taking their cue from the sports sponsorship model, brands have also become smarter about leveraging the value of their involvement with entertainment.

Everyone (including me) has called this brand entertainment, or something similar.

But it seems to me, this is where the whole damn trouble began - the emergence of this now ubiquitous phrase, and the invention of this 'new discipline' has a lot to answer for.

Frankly the language seems outdated, and it's holding us back.

Because as more than one observer has noted, the term 'brand entertainment' still has a bit of a stink about it.

Not in the minds of audience or marketers necessarily. But certainly in the worlds of media owners, TV networks, major production companies etc, there is still an unwarranted stigma attached to the notion of brand entertainment.

There is absolutely no guarantee that because a production company, online platform or network develops a show, finds the brands and then dictates their involvement that a) the brand integration will be any more sophisticated or better executed than if a brand were to do it all themselves (with the right partners and expertise) and b) the entertainment values will be superior.

Look at Network Nine's homemade, I'd suggest it's fairly heavyhanded on the brand integration front. Only it's not badged as brand entertainment, as it's a network commissioned show. And given it's ratings performance, it's hard to say that it's delivering for audiences.

Brands invested 50 million pounds in Quantum of Solace but no one says 'oh yeah, Quantum of Solace is a brand funded movie'.

As I've written about previously, brand funded entertainment is not entirely blameless for the position it finds itself in. However, given it's burdened by a legacy of language, I've got a simple solution.

I vote we kill off these phrases - brand funded TV, branded content, advertiser funded programming, brand entertainment, branded entertainment.

What entertainment is not brand funded one way or another?

Let's return to one simple word.

Entertainment.

Which is after all what we're all working hard to create.

I reckon that solves everything.

Bill Wasik, Susan Boyle and Henry Jenkins

2009-06-23T23:51:00.001-07:00

If you have a spare few hours, Henry Jenkins' eight part If it doesn't spread it's dead series makes for some fascinating theoretical reading.

But if you're on a lunch break, try this article from Salon.com on 'viral culture'.

It's an interview with Bill Wasik, 'internet instigator' and original inventor of the flash mob.

It's insightful, pragmatic. In particular I like his analysis of the Susan Boyle phenomenon and what he calls the 'nanostory' (there's a lot more to the article than SB but thought it worth mentioning).

"I define nanostory as the basic unit of this kind of churning viral culture. Susan Boyle is a classic example of a nanostory. She burst onto the scene. Not just in Britain but here in the U.S. with a few YouTube videos. And immediately what she becomes is not just a little celebrity but this giant symbol of all this stuff about the culture that people want to hang on her. Her age or her appearance becomes symbolic of cutting against this youth- and beauty-obsessed media culture. The sort of style of music she likes, these throwback Broadway songs, wind up being indicative of some kind of more transcendent approach to music.

She becomes this giant symbol and all this meaning gets heaped upon her. But then of course, there's nothing to sustain it. She became this giant micro-star at a point when she wasn't going to be on television again for many weeks. If you can't feed the machine, then it shuts down. We'll just be distracted onto the next thing if it doesn't give us more to keep us going. That, to me, is a classic example of a nanostory. It is a short-lived media phenomenon that is driven by the sheer quantity and speed of the contemporary conversation. So many hours of cable news to fill, there are so many blogs that need refreshing. Now there's Twitter and more. And so we seize upon these tiny little things and try to elevate them into sensations, but of course they can't bear up under the weight of it."

For a different viewpoint, you can check our Henry Jenkin's view here

Five great entertainment marketing blogs

2009-06-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

The latest incarnation of the B&T Top Marketing Blogs list has inspired a little list of my own.

I thought I'd highlight five blogs which are a great resource for anyone working in the intersecting worlds of brands, content, filmmaking and digital media.

Gary Hayes' Personalize Media offers insightful, detailed and in depth posts on what might be dubbed the socialisation of entertainment (see his presentation here on 'The Future of Social Media Entertainment' and this post on the socialisation of TV and gaming). Gary's blog has an emphasis on quality rather than frequency - it's a great resource for anyone interested in gaming, virtual worlds and cross platform storytelling.

Christy Dena is an Australian cross media specialist and academic. Her 'corner of the universe' is a seemingly limitless resource for anyone interested in cross platform entertainment and ARGs in particular. Definitely one for a rainy day, you'll always find something to keep you interested.

NewTeeVee is a great source of news on the latest developments, launches, announcements from the world of entertainment, online video and related technologies.

Julian Cole's Adspace Pioneers often unearths intriguing memes and great examples of non professional content creators doing interesting things (especially Youtubers, see this post on Blunty3000 as an example). Julian also shares useful tidbits from both his workings with, and observations about, brands active in the social media space like this great post on some practical campaign learnings and this one which identifies film marketing campaigns that have utilised social media.

Chris Thilk's Movie Marketing Madness blog is a good resource for anyone working in entertainment marketing. He's a bit bower bird like in the way he collects bits and pieces from the world of movie marketing and advertising, and writes a good combination of news and opinion.

5 new examples of brand entertainment in 2009

2009-06-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

This is a follow up to my February post - another 5 examples of brand entertainment efforts so far in 2009 (namely campaigns that have launched since Marh 09). These lists are by no means exhaustive, and if there's a big initiative you know of that should be included in this one or the next, please drop me a line or add your comment.

Only in a Womans World

Frito Lay's Only in a Woman’s World, is an online series designed to support a new range of female targeted er---um....chips. It's billed as an initiative that "humorously addresses and even celebrates the universal conflicts women feel" - read guilt around snacking. The campaign has been rolled out across a range of channels. Apart from the webisodes and online destination, it includes more traditional advertising elements such as print advertising.

While criticised for being cliched (it does perhaps take the 'start with your audience' mantra a little too far), audiences seem to have responded, with the videos generating some decent numbers on the Youtube channel (upwards of 500,000 views for the most popular).

Diet Coke and the Little Black Dress

This is a nice local one from my colleagues at Naked in Sydney. For this year's Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, Diet Coke commissioned a group of top Australian designers to re-imagine the 'Little Black Dress' with the classic contour bottle as their starting point. Designers such as Romance was Born, Alice McCall and Alex Perry designed a series of pieces for an exclusive catwalk show. Each of the designers also created their very own 'one off' Diet Coke bottle. This snappy little video from the talented folks at TCO (who produced all the content) says it all - it shows the way the content really amplified the partnership and turned up all over town.

PUMA, Ocean Racing and RipeTV

The PUMA team is competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, which means a gruelling nine months of racing 37,000 nautical miles between Alicante in Spain and St Petersburg. Seriously epic.

This is your classic naming rights sports marketing model, but they've leveraged it well and extended the reach of the partnership through RipeTV's reality based series, social media and mobile.

If you're a mad keen sailor you can read more and follow the trials and tribulations at the PUMA Ocean Racing blog, join the Facebook fan page, watch plenty of videos on the Youtube channel, and peruse the mobile site. They've also set up a dedicated media site (smart).

Married on My Space

Produced by reality giants Endemol, Married on MySpace kicked off in March with a call out to vote for which lucky couple would not only star in their own wedding, but in this 13 part online series. Users voted Elle and Tito as the bride and groom to be, and have since had a hand in all the decisions made along the way - including the wedding dress! The brand integration (talked up mightily in Ad Age) sneaks in pretty naturally through all the decisions that underpin any trip down the aisle - from buying the ring to choosing the location.

Sprite and a green eyed world

Sponsored by Sprite, this interactive reality series invites users to follow a bunch of unknown musicians in their quest for fame and fortune across the seas. The series consists of 5 "seasons", each focused on a different promising young star. Katie Vogel is first up, and you can start the journey with her at home with her family in London.

Users can interact with Katie via Facebook, as well as the Youtube channel. The level of integration between these two environments is quite seamless (and I logged on to Facebook directly via the Youtube page). Fans can add comments directly to the video via an embedded button located on the video itself. These comments then appear in a users Facebook news feed. According to Marketing Vox:

this is reportedly the first time that YouTube has allowed an on-screen prompt - other than annotations and advertising - and is designed to encourage social interaction around content outside of its own modules (i.e., video response, comment section).

The idea doesn't feel new, the content is just OK (and hey who knows whether it will sell soft drinks) but the integration between the two platforms is nice.

Update: Julian Cole of Adspace Pioneers has written a really really useful post with no less than 11 examples of musicians using social media.

Pixar and collective creativity

2009-05-26T21:40:00.001-07:00

"How Pixar fosters collective creativity" is a fantastically informative and inspiring article from the Harvard Business Review by Ed Catmull, co-founder and President of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.

I've read it a few times over the last week and for me it lifts the lid on Pixar's magical fusion of commerciality and creativity. It really calls out Pixar's championing of ideas, free thinking and most importantly, people, all within a highly structured and carefully considered framework.

It also highlights the importance of trust and letting go of what you think you know - something that's incredibly challenging in any marriage of creativity and commercial thinking.

A must read.

Branded fun and games on Twitter

2009-05-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Image via PSFK

I'm still at the stage where stumbling across a brand's involvement in Twitter piques my curiosity.

Agencies haven't yet been struck down by the Twitter version of an affliction that hit them not so long ago called 'the answer to everything is a Facebook application'.

Maybe it's not far off but I'm still really interested in how people are utilising it in campaigns and otherwise.

Currently the @Ispylevis initiative is surprising smooth urban-y types on Australian city streets with free pairs of Levis - they've using Twitter to both post winner pics and announce their geographical location in real time (a bit like a digital version of the Black Thunders only cooler).

Last week Adage reported on Twitter's role in launching Eminem's new album Relapse. The magazine observed (with just a hint of hyperbole) that since first releasing the new album artwork on Twitter in April, @eminem has generated some impressive results:

By using Twitter to dispense short, often disturbing thoughts and links to multimedia components revolving around a mental institution, they've helped make the album the most highly anticipated hip-hop release of the year -- and set it up for a sequel in the second half of 2009.

Then today I saw this via @PSFK, a puzzle style Twitter game to help launch Sony's new Terminator film. You can check our their article here, or get involved yourself by following @resistance2018.

Change is a process: innovation in the minds of networks and kids

2009-05-21T23:54:00.001-07:00

Lately it seems we've become even more obsessed with predicting the death of everything.

Two things I came across on Friday brought to mind Mark Twain's much remarked upon quote:

Reports of my death are an exaggeration

On Friday I read this piece in the NY Times giving a roundup of the major announcements at this year's US Network Upfronts. In particular, it reported Network plans to both create and expand on strategies to link advertisers more closely with content.

One example was Turner Network's TVinContext:

Turner’s “TVinContext” initiative will look to place advertising content adjacent to relevant scenes. For example, a scene in the theatrical film Hitch in which actor Will Smith has an allergic reaction to something he ate would be followed immediately with a spot for the allergy medicine Zyrtec.

The fact that this (hardly new) strategy is being announced as the year's big innovation, gives you a sense of not just where Networks are at, but to a degree, clients and audiences as well. It's also interesting in that the 2008 Upfronts were dominated by discussions about branded content rather than contextual or integrated advertising.

Does this mean we're sliding backwards? More like sideways.

A few minutes later, I was reminded of this illuminating video from Peter Hirschberg's TED Talk on the future of TV and the internet (via avc.com)

Taking in these two things in quick succession, simply reminded me the pace of change is uneven and unpredictable, and that change is a process rather than an event.

Great Adspace Pioneers post: 12 films utilising social media marketing

2009-05-18T21:52:00.001-07:00

Over at Adspace Pioneers, Julian Cole has assembled a list of 12 films utilising social media in their marketing efforts.

A great resource and worth checking out.

It's time for networks to change their attitude towards brand entertainment

2009-05-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

One of the frustrations of working in brand entertainment space is that TV network programmers remain unconvinced of brand funded television's merits. It's something we're constantly banging our heads against.

While prime time shows like Australian Idol and Australia's Next Top Model are network commissioned, they are at the very least part brand funded when you consider the role that sponsors, contra and licensing play in generating revenue and saving dollars on the bottom line.

As programming budgets shrink, and audiences fragment, we'll see an increasing move towards the part commissioned, part brand funded TV model which is a great thing for this market. (Nine's Homemade is a classic example of this, although the response from audiences suggests they're not finding it overly entertaining).

Currently, in the minds of network programmers, '100% brand funded television' still equates to a fundamental trade off between entertainment quality and advertiser needs. It means off-peak scheduling and free programming for a slot they'd rather not worry about.

They're inherently suspicious, their policies around brand entertainment tend to change fairly regularly, and despite the obvious benefits (delivering value to audiences and brands, higher yields, lower programming costs), there is, as someone said to me recently, "still a bit of a stink" around it.

The most frustrating thing is the artificial dichotomy between the potential entertainment value in a commissioned show, versus a brand funded show. Small screen history is littered with discarded network shows that failed to rate and cost big money.

Who says a brand funded show can't be entertaining? Or can't deliver a big audience?

There's no doubt that brand funded TV producers are partially to blame for the 'down and dirty' reputation. In the past this kind of programming has been characterised by lower production values, a plethora of logos, and a crappy offpeak timeslot.

This was because producers were forced to monetise poor timeslots by over capitalising on the number of brands involved. They were often bending over backwards to squeeze dollars from skeptical marketers, who then approached the content as they would an ad - more logos please!

This paradigm is now old and outdated.

The reality is that there are many more places for producers to distribute brand funded content - in a sense, the TV element is becoming a launch-pad or marketing tool for a bigger content play online.

In addition, marketers are a hell of a lot more sophisticated. They recognise the danger of compromising the entertainment integrity, and the audiences' interests. If brands are not providing value for an audience, they might as well spend their money on something else.

Overall, if the dynamics of brand funded TV are to change, network attitudes have to change.

Network support = bigger budgets = better production values = better timeslot = better marketing support = better value for brands = less brands required to fund the proposition.

V Raw: embracing your inner casserole

2009-05-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

In these early wintry months I've been dusting off my big pot and making some tasty soups and casseroles (try this lovely Italian vegetable soup with celeriac and borlotti beans).

Without a doubt, these hearty dishes always taste better the next day, when the flavours have had a chance to infuse.

I think a few more marketers need to embrace their inner casserole and give their campaigns a bit more time on the stove (see this previous post on taking the long view of brand entertainment).

So it's great to see Frucor and OMD have brought back the highly successful V Raw campaign.

The strength of this campaign was always its insight around young people and their lack of access to creative industry jobs - something that is even more pertinent in this climate.

Once again, V has teamed up with folks at places like Diesel and The Glue Society to offer internships to aspiring young creatives.

Start knocking at that door.

Social Psycho: a fascinating experiment

2009-04-16T02:36:00.000-07:00

I was giving a presentation a couple of weeks back talkin' bout entertainment, when a lad at the back made the comment 'apart from Tourism Queensland, which was largely international in terms of entrants, Australian's don't seem to have much of an appetite for getting involved in user generated content campaigns'.

There's plenty of evidence to the contrary. In other words, Australians are watching stuff, making their own, and talking about it. This can only mean that clients and agencies are failing to ignite interest from audiences.

I've said this before, I think there is a genuine interest in experimentation, but a lack of creativity, bravery and importantly an effort to understand the relationship between people and the environment. This has got us stuck in a rut where Doritos, Subway, Toshiba, Samboy and Nissan are the norm, and Six Beers of Separation is the exception (it's early days so we haven't yet seen them really take off but it's a much more interesting concept).

But here's one I'm really excited about. I'm completely intrigued, involved and plotting my part in this new creative commons project. It's called Social Psycho and in truth, there is not a brand in sight.

It's the brainchild of one Marcus Brown from Munich - storyteller, stirrer and tweet reader.

As the video above suggests, Marcus has unearthed a cracking premise:

What would happen when someone who had access to the personal data of hundreds or thousands of people completely lost it and became unhinged? What would happen if that said person was extremely web savvy, had accounts of facebook, twitter, friendfeed, blogs and knew their way around Google maps etc.?

Social Psycho is a work of fiction that intends to build on this terrifying idea and I'm inviting you to get involved. It's my new project. Although I will be mainly writing and developing the main character of the story, you are invited to develop sub-plots and characters in order to build stories of your own."

Marcus has set up a Google group and is inviting us to take on a character or help develop the story in whatever way we like - via blogs, videos, twitter etc. There are already some curious discussions and sinister ideas bubbling away on his murderous stove.

It's a project created by Marcus, with our help, and all for the princely sum of time and occupied minds.

Get involved. Experiment. At your peril.

And brands, take note.

Six Beers of Separation launches on Youtube

2009-04-13T17:49:00.001-07:00

I wrote about this a while back, but the Tooheys Six Beers of Separation series is now up and running on Youtube.

Full episodes are coming soon, but check out the trailer below - if it doesn't make you thirsty, the top notch production values and a strong premise suggest it will be an interesting watch.

Coraline: building a beautiful story

2009-04-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

Have a look at this beautiful looking film Coraline. Directed by Henry Selick, and based on the novel by Neil Gaiman , Coraline was released in February in the US.

It's the first feature from animation studio Laika. The film looks to be a masterpiece of stopmotion animation - everything you see on screen has actually been handcrafted.

Laika is Phil Knight's post Nike plaything (he bought Will Vinton Animation Studios and renamed it Laika) and he tasked Wieden + Kennedy with marketing the company's first feature.

The campaign looks to have been both well crafted and respectful of its audience (both in terms of the marketing and the film itself).

One of the really cool things they did was send out 50 one off boxes to some key bloggers. Each of the boxes was handmade, totally unique and contained bits and pieces from the set. Who wouldn't want to get their hands on one?

You can read about the W+K story here and check out some of the artwork, or watch a delightful little trailer they've produced for the campaign.

HT @carlmoggy

Content: what role should a brand play?

2009-03-19T22:26:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, I was part of a That's Advertainment panel discussion at AIMIA's V21 conference in Melbourne. I have to admit to really enjoying the experience of tossing around thoughts with three smart folks in Christy Dena (cross media storyteller and University of Sydney PHD student), Matt Houltham (Publicis Digital) and Frankie Ralston-Good (Naked's Melbourne MD). I thought it was a pretty vibrant discussion that happily bounced us around the brand entertainment space.

One thing that really resonated with me was an analogy Frankie used to illustrate the different ways that brands can utilise content to engage audiences. She argued that we're still applying old world thinking to new ways of doing things without necessarily "understanding that eco system and the role a brand should (versus could) play in that scenario".

Here is an excerpt from thoughts Frankie shared at the conference (inspired by a previous conversation she had with Brett Rolfe)

What we actually need to do is to think in different ways about brands and our interactions with people. As an example, imagine our consumers as a group of mates sitting around a camp fire sharing ghost stories. As a brand, how do you get involved? Are you a newcomer that sits down and joins the conversation? The fire that keeps everyone warm? Perhaps even the space in which everyone sits? Are you actually the story that is being shared? Or could you be the memory of the night's events that gets passed around and repeated in the days that follow?

If we don't develop new ways of looking at content, its creation, its consumption and distribution we will continue with a hit or miss approach. We know how badly things can go when brands and their advisors pick the wrong place to be. And if I may return to my camp fire, we should always consider the understandings and beliefs consumers currently have about us before we do anything. If a stranger turns up in the middle of a wood, and starts talking randomly about ghosts we are more likely to reach for a weapon than invite them into our tent.

p.s Thanks to Debra, Karla and Kylie from Ish Media for putting together an entertaining panel and awesome video presentation

brand entertainment: a bit of a stink?

2009-03-19T03:09:00.001-07:00

I was in a meeting last week and someone mentioned they think brand entertainment in this market still has 'a bit of a stink around it'.

We were talking in the context of television and in a way I think he's right.

What do you think?

Harnessing social media flash-fads

2009-03-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Into the Wood series part #2. Brett Rolfe - colleague, friend and inspirational t-shirt guy - imparts some wisdom on the topic of flash fads

Flickr: thenoodleator

Alright, who's old enough to remember 'All Your Base Are Belong to Us'? Back in 2001, AYBABTU was one of the first 'internet memes', fads based on creating, sharing and remixing content around a specific idea or theme. Since then we've seen everything from dancing hamsters and leet-speaking cats to Diet Coke+Mentos cocktails and the comeback of the most exciting and dynamic musical genius of recent times.

Digital media and the internet have provided us with easy means to make our own digital content and remix content from other sources. The advent of online communities and social networks has dramatically increased the ease with which we can share this material.

These technological facilities have fuelled our passion for participative fads. Driven by the desire to share rituals, to have a sense of belonging and purpose (however transitory and apparently superficial), we seek out new social content and forms of social play. The speed with which we can discover and exploit novelty has increased with each new form of social technology, compressing the adoption curve until we now move from inception through cool to lame in a matter of weeks if not days.

The integration of creative facility with social connection in digital platforms like facebook, MySpace and flickr allows anyone to spark a social fad that might be picked up and spread to social circles far beyond their own. Some time back it became all the rage to tag inanimate objects as your friends in facebook. More recently flickr and facebook have become home to a plethora of fake album covers created based on a simple random process. If you feel the urge to share a little something of yourself, you might alternately like to upload a photo of the books you keep beside the bed.

The important thing about each of these flash-fads is that not only are they interesting to participate in passively (are people actually still reading Nicholas Negroponte, at bedtime no less?), they are almost as easy to participate in actively. Perhaps the most challenging thing is to identify those things that have not yet climbed to the dizzying heights of fad-dom, and predict which have the qualities that will capture the imaginations of thousands of followers. In a recent glimpse into a facebook profile (hi Greer!), I stumbled across a remixed Mr Men graphic where you can tag each character as one of your friends... I'd never seen it before, but watch this space.

These faddish spaces provide a rich, fertile territory that is reminiscent of Barthes' notion of a ‘writerly text’, constantly open to interpretation and engagement. It is little wonder, then, that they are so appealing to communications professionals looking for vectors through which to deliver brand meaning. Those who remember cherishing their Coke yoyo will appreciate how powerful a tool these trend-based vectors can be. But what role can (and should) a brand play, in this environment? Where are brands welcome (and even invited), and where will their involvement be perceived as intrusive and unwanted?

There are perhaps three different points that a brand can become involved in a flash-fad, determined by what point the fad is at when the brand engages. Asking which point a brand should become involved is an important question, as different brands have different appetites for innovation. As Grant McCracken discusses in ’Flock and Flow’, some brands thrive on the cutting edge of trends, others are more at home with the mass consumption of the late majority. Misunderstanding the nature of a brand, or leaping onto a flash-fad at the wrong point can be detrimental to the image of the brand and its relationship with consumers.

For most brands, the most obvious approach with flash-fads is 'jumping on the bandwagon', getting aboard a fad-in-progress, and riding the wave to mass popularity. The challenge here is timing and brand fit - if you can locate a suitable trend, the window of opportunity is often narrower than marketing departments need to deploy a campaign. More ambitious is creating your own fad, wading into the murky social waters and sparking your own outrageously successful participative trend. History does not record the many (many) failures, but examples like Burger King's Simpsonize Me show that it can be done.

An interestingly post-modern twist is the option of critically re-interpreting (or remixing) a trend that has already moved through the innovation cycle. Public imagination was captured by Improv Everywhere's mass performance happening Frozen Grand Central. The act was clearly the inspiration for the less-than-inspiring promotional stunt for the launch of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening in Australia. That effort felt derivative, and in every way 'less' than the original. A much more engaging spin was T-Mobile's tongue-in-cheek dance commercial which remixed and responded to the original in an innovative and imaginative way.

With the creative and connective power of digital technology only likely to increase, it seems inevitable that flash-fads will become more common, faster, and more highly refined. The rewards for brand successfully engaging with these trends are real, but they are limited by the difficulty of meshing with unpredictable social mass behaviour, and ultimately by the speed with which such fads will fade from social consciousness.

Brett Rolfe is the Digital Communications Director at Naked Communications and writes his own blog at www.digitalstrategist.com

User generated campaigns are only as good as the ideas behind them

2009-03-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Recent campaign launches from Samboy, Doritos, and Subway have stimulated quite a bit of chatter about the merits and downfalls of this style of campaign. Accusations of boring, lazy creatives, and scoring bigger agency resourcing budgets have been some of the criticisms levelled here.

I think these examples show a willingness to experiment, and to try something different.

But at the end of the day, this style of campaign is only as interesting as:

1. the idea itself - how compelling is it? what value does it offer?

and

2. the people you engage

and

3. the way you enable their involvement

and

4. the way they respond

Using social media isn't interesting. But ideas and people are.

Remember the whole world is your creative department. But give 'em something interesting to play with.

Clap Me Happy

2009-03-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

For the very first post in the Into the Wood guest series, Annik Skelton goes undercover to review one of the biggest entertainment brands in the country.

Hope for my arse

Hillsong Church in Sydney sure knows how to draw a crowd - 20,000 per week to be exact. Growing up around Norwest in the late nineties, I was frequently urged by my Hill-Singing schoolmates to join them at youth group every Friday night or attend a Sunday service. At first I refused because I preferred to spend my weekends drinking with boys, then later in life I had a reputation to preserve. Besides, if I wanted to watch people swaying with arms outstretched and delirious expressions on their faces, I’d just go to Parklife.

As a kid, I attended a small traditional Anglican church in Northmead. But after fourteen years, I got bored and left. I disagreed personally with certain fundamental points of the Christian faith and quite frankly, I had better things to do with my time, like shoplifting. I didn’t believe enough to practise Christianity outside of church, and the services weren’t interesting enough for me to attend simply for the sake of it. Maybe they just weren’t trying hard enough to engage me?

Eight years later, I decided to check out the most notoriously entertaining church around – Hillsong. On Sunday night, my friend Julia and I headed North-West and pulled into a carpark buzzing with unusually good-looking, smiling people.

Straight ahead for the kool-aid?

“Welcome to church!” a man greeted us as we entered the building.

“Okay,” I replied as we made a beeline for the gift shop. Here we browsed the books, DVDs, stationery, and impressive selection of Hillsong music. I considered making a purchase, but then I figured I could just take a $50 note and wipe my arse with it.

Actually, it was roughly 5:50pm

“PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE AUDITORIUM WHILE THERE ARE STILL SEATS!” a voice boomed overhead, interrupting our shopping.

Inside, there was a mad scramble for seats. We shuffled down several rows, only to find that most of the chairs had been “reserved” with a bible, a jacket or a handbag. We pushed them onto the floor and sat down while the ushers weren’t looking.

Our father who art in heaven, guide me to a fricking seat...

The stage was lit up like a KISS concert, with four wide-screens above, and then additional screens placed throughout the higher seats on each side of the auditorium. Smoke machines billowed around the stage and several hundred young people stood crowded up the front. As Brian Houston walked towards the microphone, the room erupted with cheers and applause and immaculate orgasms. He smiled and informed us, “You have brought the presence of God here with you tonight.” I was pretty sure the only things I’d brought were a notepad and a packet of cigarettes, but whatever.

It’s the Holy Spirit! No wait, it’s just $100k worth of stage lighting.

Brian proceeded with his introduction, his voice gradually gaining speed and volume as one of the keyboard players added some dramatic strings in the background. “Tonight people will be healed. Tonight people will be touched! TONIGHT PEOPLE WILL BE SAVED! The band hit it and we were away. I took a lot of notes throughout the service. Below are some points I jotted down about the presentation and format of the service:

1. Music – I counted nine songs during the 90 minutes before I bailed. During each song, they killed the house lights and brought the focus in on the stage where 20 odd musicians were spread out. The strobes and smoke machines kicked in and the screens showed a black & white live stream of the band members. The lights were carefully themed for each song and emphasised the music’s intensity impressively. For the final chorus, the camera zoomed in on the main singer’s chiselled face through the raised hands of those in the “mosh pit”. All very MTV. Hillsong has cleverly emulated pretty much every element of the soft-rock music industry. And holy shit, the kids love it and want to buy their records!

2. Tithing – this was opened by a cute little anecdote about the joy of giving (10% minimum, please, and we will accept various forms of payment including your first born child.) Again, the strings built tension in the background and the lights were dimmed and brightened in accordance with the speaker’s intensity.

3. Fodder – some cool videos were shown of “Church News” and “Church Life” describing upcoming events where we were urged to bring friends and family. Fuck, even I wanted to go to some of this stuff. They’ve got break-dancing and live album recordings and celebrities and free stuff. All you need is a hip flask of vodka and you’ve got yourself a pretty sweet Saturday night! Between each video, we were shown ads for Hillsong products or services. Because there wasn’t enough Hillsong branding around already.

The toilets in God’s house never run out of paper.

4. Speakers – each speaker used the same techniques to get the crowd hyped up. Sentences were heavy on verbs (empowerment) and abstract nouns (attainment), with constant mentions of eternity (where do you want to spend it?) Repetition is the key. Repetition is the key. They were fascinating to listen to as they gained momentum and intensity. I found myself wondering where it would end... Would Brian Houston’s head explode, splashing glitter and long-dead brain cells on those in the front rows? Would the devoted crowd, high on joy and conformity, lose control of their pent-up teenage lust and trample each other to death in a rush to get to the stage and touch Brian? Unfortunately, no.

5. Open prayer – okay, this was when shit started to get a bit heavy. The lady who introduced the open prayer time kicked things off by speaking to us in tongues. Apparently I was the only person who was bothered by this, as everybody else jumped up and reached out and started yelling and chanting and rambling in various languages. The lady in front of me was swaying and murmuring feverishly as she hugged herself. The boy next to me was on his knees with his hands clenched into fists high above his head, shouting “FOREVER YAHWEH!” I was playing Spider Solitaire on my iPhone.

I hope nobody notices I forgot to put on deodorant..”]

At no point during the service did I glean any learning of the Bible or the Pentecostal beliefs. I began to wonder what the whole point of the service was, other than the odd $50k I estimate were paid in tithes and listening to a pretty decent band. Every part of the night was structured with the intent to keep eyes on the stage – even the brief Bible reading involved dramatic background music, red lights and smoke machines.

As I walked out the door, a man stood at the microphone (strings in background) and shouted out:

“You didn’t come to a performance tonight! You didn’t come to a concert tonight! You didn’t come to a show tonight! You came to a CELEBRATION of GOD!”

Celebrate my arse.

You can find more storytelling goodness from Annik over at Hide & Neek

8 big brand entertainment initiatives in 2009. And it's only February.

2009-02-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Despite the doom and gloom, it’s going to be a defining year for brand entertainment.

Here’s a quick look at some of the initiatives that have already emerged in 2009.

1.The Tmobile Dance
In January, over 350 dancers converged on Liverpool Street station to performed an inspiring routine for surprised morning commuters. The 3 minute piece from their Life's for Sharing campaign, was filmed using hidden cameras so as to capture spontaneous reaction of commuters.

Not only did the ad go to air on TV within 48 hours of filming, it went around the globe. Commentators were divided on whether flashmobbing still has legs, but did the ad seemed to strike a chord with punters? The video has attracted 4.6million+ Youtube views and stirred up

lots of chat and PR. On February 7 police had to close the station when flashmob of 13,000 turned up to recreate the Dance after responding to a T-mobile callout via Facebook. As to sales or any other measures, looking forward to hearing more.

2.Rexona's Greatest Athlete

Greatest Athlete pits eight of Australia’s highest profile athletes against each other in a “gruelling test of their physical prowess and mental toughness.” The platform revolves around an eight part television series on Network Nine, that leverages both Rexona’s performance credentials and its sporting ambassadors.

Some brands have previously made the mistake of throwing everything into production at the expense of a broader content marketing effort. There is a kind of 'holy grail' attributed to the creation of a television show. In this case, Rexona have focused on building an entertainment platform, which evolves across a number of channels. It's a lot more than a TV show. You can watch all the episodes here online.

3.Cadbury Eyebrows
The latest effort from A Glass and a Half Productions has received largely positive reviews from some unlikely sources and more than 4 million views. Cadbury Eyebrows starts with two ten year olds waiting to be shot for the family portrait. When backs are turned, the children cut a range of eyebrow dance moves to the sound of 'Don't Stop the Rock' by electro-funk superstar, Freestyle. On the back of its success, Orange and Cadbury have teamed up to launch the ringtone (downloaded 125,000 times in the first 11 days).

Is it an ad? Is it brand entertainment? I reckon it's both, but most importantly, it’s about the surprise and childlike joy that defines the Cadbury chocolate experience.

4.Gatorade and the Quest for G
This one is a little more puzzling – it’s the latest TBWA campaign for Gatorade and it can only be described as 'a take off of a take off'. Its starting point is Monty Python and the Holy Grail and it’s layered with references designed to appeal to the die hard fan. Produced to coincide with the NBA All Stars Game, it launched with short spot during the Superbowl - the full series can be viewed Youtube. When you work this one out, can you let me know?

5. Nintendo and the Wiinoma

In January, Nintendo announced the launch of Wiinoma, a dedicated Japanese broadcast TV channel. An internet connection is all Japanese Wii owners need to access original Nintendo produced content - from cartoons to cookery (hmmm not sure about that last one). There are plans for world expansion, potentially opening up 18+ million living rooms around the world. While Nintendo says the channel will "see it make the critical shift towards content-based revenues", it's really based on a traditional advertising model (Dentsu will produce the programs and sell the ads). Still, it's an exciting development - a heady mix of old and new that should make TV networks sit up.

6. King Gee Jack of all Trades
I wrote about Jack of all Trades in January this year, when the third series debuted on Network Nine with over 1 million viewers (thanks to its scheduling in the cricket). It's an entertainment platform model (similar to Rexona's Greatest Athlete) that aims to uncover Australia's greatest tradie. The fact it's in its third series is testament to its appeal to brands and audiences. Not bad.

7. Audi's Truth in 24
In March, ESPN will air a documentary called Truth in 24. The production follows an Audi team's pursuit of victory at the infamous Le Mans race. The brand reportedly took a hands off approach to it's involvement in the film and there was no guarantee Audi would come out triumphant (still with 8 victories in 9 years, it probably had a pretty good chance).

Marketing Managers take note:

“There was an element of uncertainty with this film from the outset,” said Scott Keogh, Audi of America’s chief marketing officer. “But we wanted to honestly depict the drama, the triumphs and the setbacks of Le Mans racing and spirit of motorsports that is woven into Audi’s DNA. To accomplish that it was essential to let the outstanding storytellers at NFL Films do their jobs without interference and with unprecedented behind-the-scenes access before, during and after the races they filmed.” (Yep, especially of that last sentence)

8. Cheetos and Boing Boing
This is a good example of why a) partnerships make sense and b) it doesn't have to be complicated. Boing Boing have a big audience. And they have lots of sway due to their ridiculous level of credibility. Cheetos pays Boing Boing to create a video series they know will appeal to their hard-to-please-marketing-savvy-fickle-as-all-hell audience. And they take over advertising for the month. Boing Boing make some cool Cheetos content, tell people about it (and that Cheetos slipped them some cash) and Boing Boing, or should I say ker-ching ker-ching.

Got a campaign you think is worthy of inclusion? Let me know

Two interesting reads: crowdsourcing and spreadable media

2009-02-17T02:02:00.000-08:00

Here's two things I've been thinking a lot about over the last week or two.

First, Neil Perkin's 'crowdsourcing' project. Neil put a call out for people to contribute slides to a presentation on the subject of community. With the addition of bookends and a few tweaks, he 'sourced' a surprisingly cohesive, smart and by its very nature, authentic presentation, and I'm totally enamoured with the idea.

In a funny way, one of Neil's observations about entertainment sums up the whole presentation - quite simply it's more fun if it's shared.

The second is Henry Jenkins' eight part spreadable media serialisation entitled I f it doesn't spread, it's dead.

I've only just started reading, but so far it's an interesting look at the concepts of memes and viral media, and the weaknesses of biological metaphors. It suggests that a theoretical emphasis on self replication comes at the expense of understanding the way ideas are transformed 'as they pass from hand to hand'.

Discuss.

How can brands stand out in the music space?

2009-02-16T15:35:00.001-08:00

When it comes to brands, music is one hell of a crowded marketplace.

The two Cs - clutter and credibility - means that brands really need a reason to be in this space. They need to be involve audiences in the right way and genuinely enhance the music experience for the people that matter - fans and audiences. Otherwise there just ain't room.

Bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails understand this, but it's a more difficult thing for brands to differentiate themselves in this way.

My colleague Brett pointed this one out to me. Nokia's involvement in the Good Vibrations music festival is a good example of a brand doing smart things in music. Especially in a festival environment where signage, promo girls and water pistols are the norm.

Reason to be there
You could send an SMS and download the Nokia mobile festival guide with chances to win freebies, VIP passes (worth it for the loos), Nokia Comes With Music phones, and most importantly, the festival map and program. You know that bit of scrunched up soaked paper that you keep losing throughout the day, forcing you to talk to strangers and search underneath empty beer cans in the dark?

Genuinely enhance the experience
Nokia provided free WiFi access across the festival (apparently this was a little on the dodgy side).

Involve the audience
Nokia set up a Mobile ‘portal’ (available through WiFi) that provided info about the day and let you rate your favourite acts (good idea not to make it too hard). And if you enjoyed the music, they plan on loading up the top picks on a Best of Good Vibrations playlist available on the Nokia Music Store after the event.

What's your favourite brand in music example?

When is an ad just an ad?

2009-02-13T19:54:00.001-08:00

Yesterday a creative director said to me "an ad is really branded content, in this case it just happens to be 3 minutes long".

Um no.

It's not.

Well at least not always.

No doubt I'll be accused of getting caught up in semantics here, but client discussions often hover around the role of content in a marketing strategy, and a brand's place within the content (checkout my previous post on 'planning your brand entertainment experiment').

And we often find ourselves having to defend the entertainment or interest value of something from a well meaning client wearing an advertising straitjacket.

I'm the first to admit there are no rules.

Is Cadbury Eyebrows an ad? Yes. Is it branded content? Yes.

Is Rexona's Greatest Athlete an ad? No. Is it branded content? Yes. Is it an advertising platform? Yes.

But is retailer Harvey Norman's latest TV effort flogging flat screens an ad? Yes. Is it branded content? No.

As Rohit Bhargava writes in his post on how to create a content marketing strategy, it has to be about more than you.

"This is not a sales pitch. It needs to be useful and offer more context beyond just how great your product/service is."

Cadbury Eyebrows is about the childlike delight inherent in the brand experience.

Greatest Athlete is an entertainment platform that leverages Rexona's performance credentials and sporting ambassadors.

What about you, what are you offering?

Marketers know a lot more about audiences than television programmers

2009-02-09T01:11:00.000-08:00

Today's article in The Australian about the networks accusing each other of copycat behaviour strikes me as old news.

I've said this before, but brand owners know a hell of a lot more about audiences than television networks.

I've got an idea, why don't they work together?

Let's call it brand entertainment.

7 things you didn't know about me

2009-02-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

Dirk and Julian have tagged me in their game of hide and reveal - otherwise known as '7 things you didn't know about me'.

So I thought I'd better fess up. And then I'll get back to business.

1. My mum was the deputy head mistress at my high school

That's right, she didn't just drop me off on the first day she also marched on up to her office. I spent the first few weeks attempting to appear unfazed and defiantly cool while secretly dying of embarrassment. She was formidable but fair. I certainly didn't get away with much. Mum was adventurous, curious, strongwilled and a woman of firm opinions. She was also an excellent teacher. She died a few years ago.

2. This is my second attempt at a blog

The first was called Lipstick Diaries - musings on the lesbian dating scene. It lasted about two weeks. I shut it down because it was searingly dull. I was bored even writing it.

3. Well I guess that was really two things you didn't know about me

4. I grew up a queen of extra curricular activities

At one time or another I did classical ballet, jazz ballet, physical culture, scottish highland dancing, singing lessons, speech and drama, amateur theatre, acting classes, basketball, netball, orchestra, choir, horseriding lessons, swimming lessons, tennis lessons, clarinet lessons, piano lessons and hockey. It's scarred me with a short attention span and an appreciation for new projects.

5. In 2008 I had my favourite ever holiday

Africa. It was wild. I visited a good friend in Sudan who also accidentally booked us on a five star safari in Tanzania (we thought we were camping). I went white water rafting in Uganda and stayed in a fancy tent on the Nile. And I met and went away with a fabulous local guy in the magical place that is Zanzibar. It was a holiday of contrasts - poverty and comfort, being alone and in company. And it was incredible.

6. I love to dress up

At my new years day night soiree I busted out 11 different outfits. But even more impressive, I debuted one fabulous pair of shoes that worked with every ensemble.

7. In 2007 I completed the Sydney Leadership program

This is a year long experiential social leadership program run by The Benevolent Society and Social Leadership Australia. It was a very challenging, personally confronting and rewarding experience and I recommend it. I was lucky enough to meet some very smart and interesting people, and get acquainted with thinkers like Adam Kahane and Dean Williams. It completely changed my ideas about leadership and I wrote this little post over at The Flasher about it a while back.

The days of writing about the death of the TVC are numbered

2009-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

'The days of the TVC are numbered'.

I thought I'd post my 'for' argument that appears in today's copy of B&T magazine.

It's (cough cough) a topic that has been written about a few times before but it still seems to provoke discussion.

I hope you find it entertaining if nothing else.

Damn, how did I end up on the unwinnable side of the debate?

I’m sitting here snatching some time during the ad breaks and racking my brain for that elusive first argument.

I’m watching Mad Men series 2. I saw the first on DVD and my brother keeps promising to download the second for me so I can watch it all in one go but it never seems to materialise (hey if you haven’t checked out Mad Men on Twitter, you must, I’m following nearly all the characters).

Anyway, I just can’t see TV commercials going anywhere fast. I mean ad breaks give me time to shuffle off to the kitchen, and trawl about on the net which I seem to be doing a lot more of lately. And I can flick around and watch a few things at once which is useful with the amount of crap on.

So... still thinking. This is hard.

I just put out a call on Twitter for some food for thought on the topic. People responded with comments about participatory culture, ‘conversation’, the amount of entertainment choices available and blah blah blah.

OK sure I agree our entertainment consumption is becoming more social with video sharing sites and gaming and stuff, but I’ll often have a good chat in front of the TV...especially when the ads are on. There’s plenty of so called ‘conversation’ happening there so take that digital boffins.

Back to the task.

I guess there’s the ‘interruption’ argument that people often tout.

You know, like a TVC is the equivalent of someone you don’t know (or even like that much) yelling at you about something you have no interest in? Look sometimes it takes a lot to get someone’s attention and shouting loudly and waving can help.

I don’t think that’s it.

And I mean, if I’m finding the ads to be an interruption I can always just switch off or jump online and go do something else. It’s not like I HAVE to sit through them is it?

And if it’s a brand or product that really interests me, I can find stuff for myself. Like a few of my friends have PVRs now and we’ve been chatting about them online and swapping ATR tips (appointment to record). One of them sent me a Nielsen stat from the New York Times recently noting over half the audiences for US prime time shows like Greys are now watching via delayed viewing.

Show’s back. Maybe an idea will come to me in the next break.

*Image from Nataliedee

Scoring big on sponsorship ROI models

2009-01-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to watch the Australian Open Tennis these past few days because my set top box is playing up and 7 is the only channel not working.

Still I’ve been following the highs, the lows, and of course, the outfits.

Sponsors like Garnier and Kia pour big money into the tennis. And indeed, when done well, sports and entertainment sponsorships can be a really effective way to connect with consumers, borrow interest, reposition a brand, provoke consideration and all the rest.

Today the Australian Open released Roy Morgan Research which Adnews ran under the headline ‘Major sponsors scored big with the Australian Open this year’.

The research indicates:

Major tournament sponsors Kia and Garnier are heavily associated with the Australian Open by those who watch the tennis on TV (41% and 34%) and those who have attended professional tennis in the last 12 months (53% and 48%).

But what does this actually mean? Who cares if people have associated your brand with the tournament unless it translates into something meaningful? Given that these brands are all over the Open, surely this is a 'hygiene factor'? While I’m sure the brands involved have their own activation strategies and specific measurement methodologies, this highlights the underlying tension between industry standard metrics and tailored measurement.

On the one hand, standardised ROI models mean that there is a shared language around results and comparative success. On the other hand, these results don’t always mean a great deal.

For the last few years, agencies have scrambled to develop standardized ROI models for brand entertainment.

I’ve seen (and probably created) my share of doozies based on dubious spreadsheet calculations and logo sizes.

But standard schmandard I say. Entertainment means a lot of things to a lot of different people. In addition, the way people engage with entertainment (with or without the help of brands) varies wildly.

We might be able to standardize the types of questions asked, but rarely the challenges we face and outcome we're striving for. And never the behavior we want to elicit.

I think I feel another post coming on.

Violating the aesthetic distance in the Australian blogosphere

2009-01-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

This week has been one of drama in the local, vocal, and maybe even a little parochial, blogosphere. We've heard allegations of deceit and accusations of bad hairstyles. And we've witnessed a tearful plea from Zac Martin, defender of the digitally free and one Seth Godin.

This same week I happened to be re-reading David Mamet's book on the movie business Bambi vs Godzilla (I've written about it previously here). Specifically, I've been reading the chapter Aesthetic Distance.

In the context of film, aesthetic distance is "the name for that condition whose existence allows the audience to suspend its judgement (to in effect lower its guard) in return for receipt of a specialized experience."

It is in effect, the degree of our involvement in the story.

A "violation of the aesthetic distance" occurs when we are "yanked out of the drama"; when something ruptures our engagement with the story and in effect reminds us that this is a film, and they are actors. It's the point when we can no longer suspend our disbelief.

I think this week has seen both the creation and violation of aesthetic distance but I'm still looking forward to the next chapter in the Australian blogosphere.

Australian first: brand funded show in top ten

2009-01-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

"Brand entertainment just doesn't rate"

Heard that before?

On Sunday, the 100% brand funded TV program King Gee Jack of all Trades broke into the top ten programs.

Sunday All People Top 20
1 Nine News Nine 1,397,000
2 Seven News Seven 1,339,000
3 One Day Cricket Aust V SA Game 2 Session 2 Nine 1,285,000
4 20 To 1 (R) Nine 1,216,000
5 Two And A Half Men (R) Nine 1,116,000
6 Flashpoint Nine 1,112,000
7 Hot Property Seven 1,068,000
8 Jack Of All Trades Nine 1,043,000
9 The Mentalist (R) Nine 960,000
10 The Rich List Seven 951,000
11 Eye For An Elephant ABC1 943,000
12 The Big Bang Theory Nine 929,000
13 Outback Wildlife Rescue Seven 901,000
14 One Day Cricket Aust V SA Game 2 Session 1 Nine 851,000
15 ABC News ABC1 782,000
16 Cold Case (R) Nine 762,000
17 M: Nine Months Seven 756,000
18 ABC News Up-Date ABC1 747,000
19 About A Boy (R) Ten 562,000
20 Bad News Bears Ten 529,000

Source: OzTAM. Rankings are for metro average audiences.

This is the highest ratings result achieved by a brand funded program in this market.

A kind of Australian Idol meets Backyard Blitz, the program pits four Aussie tradies against each other in a contest to find the greatest tradie in the land.

King Gee Jack of all Trades is produced by Brand New Media and is now in its third series on Network Nine.

So who says brand entertainment doesn't rate?

*Brand New Media is part owner of Stickywood

Taking the long view on brand entertainment

2009-01-15T15:36:00.001-08:00

Recently, there’s been a lot of interesting discussion around the dichotomy between the short and long; between one off campaigns and an ongoing conversation.

I don’t agree that there isn’t room for social media marketing initiatives like the Whopper Sacrifice (233,000 odd people defriended at last count), but I’m definitely an advocate of longer term thinking espoused by people like Peter Kim, Mack Collier and Gavin Heaton. The kind that puts people, communication and social enterprise at the heart of business and builds value over time. Rather than the sort that relies on making a bit of noise every time a new flavour is released.

When it comes to brands creating entertainment, there are similar advantages in taking the longer term view.

The highlight of any marketer’s calendar is without a doubt, shooting the new TVC. There’s only one thing that’s sexier these days - making your own content.

This (along with staff turnover) is why marketing managers often want to launch a new campaign platform every year. It’s not because of ‘wear out’, or negative feedback from the trade, but because it’s the best damn part of the job. Compared to doing a sales roadshow, it’s a heap of fun and if it’s good, you can look smug at barbeques for weeks.

Obviously that’s not reason enough.

Marketers need to take the long view and build content platforms and entertainment assets that can evolve and grow over time.

This allows for innovation, experimentation and evolution; for fusion of content and product. It speaks to the reality that few get it right first time; that problems are rarely solved overnight; that learning is a constant and that big, bold ideas need time to sprout wings. For the beancounters, it can mean serious cost efficiencies.

Critically, it helps locate the asset at the core of business rather than quarantining it as a marketing plan output. And if done well, it can excite, engage and unite people across a business in a common goal.

Importantly, it enables the involvement of other people in story creation. This might be the contribution of the customer service team to the sales story, or the audience's involvement in the journey of a character.

Everyone wants to be known for something. So what do you want your brand to be known for? What asset might support that vision, lend it interest, connect people or maybe even do something nice for the world?

Do audiences expect their theatre to be brand free?

2009-01-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

On the weekend I went to see famed Canadian director Robert Le Page’s production of Lip Synch as part of the Sydney Festival.

The production was 9 hours, punctuated by 5 intervals.

Despite this herculean duration, time seemed to float by. The production had a filmic like quality and a rich visual language. It was incredibly moving, inspired and at times very funny.

Lip Synch got me thinking about two things.

First, Le Page’s company Ex Machina receives a significant amount of government funding which means he can spend up to two years developing a work like this. This incubation period is a rare luxury in the world of theatre and one unimaginable in Australia’s climate.

It also flys in the face of the notion of beta testing which characterises a lot of creative development in the world of digital. New dramatic texts may have their own beta phase through creative workshops, dramaturg involvement and readings, but rarely do they incorporate the views, feedback and experiences of the audience.

Second, theatre is one arena where brand involvement still amounts to traditional sponsorship and rarely leaps the integration fence. Is it taboo or something that has gone largely unexplored?

One exception is Pot Noodle, a musical comedy that premiered at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Created by the smart folks at UK ad outfit Mother especially for their client Unilever, it was set in a Pot Noodle factory, and based on creative concepts that had underpinned years of advertising.

So the big question is, do audiences expect the theatre environment to remain ‘clean’?

Content marketing: what should we call it?

2009-01-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

If you haven't stumbled upon it, Joe Pulizzi writes a very informative blog on the subject of marketing and content.

Right now there's an interesting discussion going on about finding a universal definition for what Joe calls 'content marketing'.

I avoid the term 'branded content' because it sounds like the brand bit has been pasted onto some random content. I like the word 'entertainment' because it suggests a connection with the audience.

That's why I use 'brand entertainment' (and because Stickywood is a brand entertainment consultancy business).

But this is too narrow to encompass everything you might stick under the umbrella of content marketing.

Sometimes we industry folks get hung up on semantics and buzz words (in protest Julian is putting a ban on 'social media' and Mark Earle and crew are having a B free January). But I think Joe's thought about client comprehension and education makes this cause a worthy one.

So what do you think? Join the discussion and have your say here.

Entertainment for convergence culture

2009-01-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

Over at Faris’ place he’s posted a link to his insightful new preface for the Brazilian version of Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture.

It’s a first class summation of ‘participatory culture’.

Here's a taste:

"The convergence he is referring to isn’t the convergence of devices and suppliers that the telecoms and technology industry is obsessed by, but rather the convergence of modes; of production with consumption, of the mainstream with the underground."

and

"The story of participatory culture runs through reality TV, the cheap way to fill airtime that became a global phenomenon, through knowledge communities, fan fiction, Photoshop and cross platform, or transmedia, storytelling – anywhere there are gaps in the canonical narrative that people can rush to fill.”

So anyway, Faris also mentions Heroes as the first entertainment property created for convergence culture. Heroes first aired back in September 2006.

However I think I can proudly say that the Aussies pipped the Yankees at the post on this one.

In 2003, a then little known outfit called Hoodlum Entertainment created Fat Cow Motel for pay TV operator Austar and its TV, mobile and broadband platforms.

It was set in the rural town of Fat Cow, a small place where big things happened. Participants were invited to help solve a series of mysteries over 13 weeks to help keep the town alive.

In light of its success, it was picked up by ABC.

Hoodlum were quite simply ahead of their time.

You can take a look at this and other case studies here.

Hoodlum are now recognised as a global leader in interactive storytelling having recently scored a Bafta and an Emmy for their work on Spooks and Emmerdale respectively.

I write this not to gloat but because I have a professional crush on Hoodlum and hope I will work with Nathan and Tracey at some point.

Box Office Success: nobody knows anything

2009-01-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

The weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald article (via The Guardian) on gender domination at the box office highlighted just how up its own arse Hollywood can be.

It seems 2007 was the year of the big bloke blockbuster; a time when There will be Blood and No Country for Old Men sang the success of men, and films with female leads generally stank (apart from Juno). In retaliation, Jeff Robinov at Warner Bros announced a ban on leading ladies.

This makes me think of three things. No four.

First, Jeff is a bit of a dill and I’m not sure how he ended up with the big Warner Bros gig.

Second, it reminds me of the famous William Goldman quote about Hollywood: Nobody knows anything.

Malcolm Gladwell gives the comment a bit more context in his New Yorker piece 'The Formula' - which looks at whether or not technology can help predict box office success (a bit like stock market charting).

Said Goldman:

“Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess.” One of the highest-grossing movies in history, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” was offered to every studio in Hollywood, Goldman writes, and every one of them turned it down except Paramount: “Why did Paramount say yes? Because nobody knows anything. And why did all the other studios say no? Because nobody knows anything. And why did Universal, the mightiest studio of all, pass on Star Wars? . . . Because nobody, nobody—not now, not ever—knows the least goddamn thing about what is or isn’t going to work at the box office.”

Third, I wonder why someone would completely jettison female leads based on a year of particularly bad films? Lucky good old Jeff isn’t running the local film industry as a lacklustre decade of Australian films would almost certainly mean us shutting up shop for good.

And fourth, this Nobody knows anything notion is what makes this business exciting. It’s the magic bit. Sure, you can interrogate, strategise, and research the bejeesus out of something, but sometimes an idea just works. Just because.

Twitter is encouraging an unhealthy obsession with 'the numbers'

2009-01-05T01:49:00.000-08:00

I can't help but be slightly irritated by people on Twitter obsessing and boasting about their followers. The old 'Gee, I can't believe I've got 4,000 followers already' or the more annoying 'help @person get to 1,000 followers'. It's like turning up to a party saying 'Gosh, what a surprise I can't believe how tantalisingly fabulous I look in my Diane Furstenburg high waisted pant suit' or 'Please help @Corey Delaney attract more than 100 people to his party'.

(For a great post on the emphasis on raw numbers see this one from Mack Collier on authority).

So why are we actively promoting a meaningless view of metrics - the kind we're often trying to steer our clients away from?

It's not that numbers aren't important in the right context.

But an obsession with reach (vs impact) has been one of the barriers to marketers genuinely engaging with disciplines like social media, brand entertainment, experiential marketing and other 'softer' disciplines which are seen as not capable of delivering 'hard numbers' (either in terms of sales or people).

Too much emphasis on the body count diverts attention from the effect communication has on behaviour. It's much more about the what and when and less about the why.

And in the case of Twitter, it's not even always about who.

If we're asking our clients to recalibrate their concept of metrics, we should do the same.

p.s happy new year to my many followers.

Next year: it's gonna be big

2008-12-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

It's going to be a big year for brand entertainment in 2009, so I'm taking some time off to finish my new Christmas album and indulge in some festivities.

See you in the new year. Bright and early.

Mad Men and Twitter: it's a great story

2008-12-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

I just can't get enough of the conversation around Mad Men and Twitter.

It's not just that I happen to be watching the show myself right now. Or even that I work in the industry.

It's just that what's unfolded has all the hallmarks of a great story.

Great stories change the landscape.

They create new ways of looking at the world. They spawn copycat followers. Give birth to new genres and hybrids. Invent different ways for us to watch and engage. And generate legions of hungry new fans intent on gobbling them up.

I think the Mad Men and Twitter story falls into this category (it also has exciting implications for the way brands can interact with their audiences through an entertainment vehicle).

David and Goliath style legal wrangles (AMC vs fans). Characters cut down in their prime (@PeggyOlson). The triumph of the 'little people' over the establishment (@Peggy_Olson).

There is a report you can download at We are Sterling Cooper which provides a fantastically detailed overview of the whole thing.

And look out for Ben Cooper's upcoming article in Inside Film.

Ben, any relation to the Cooper in Sterling?

Since when did ads become 'digital films'?

2008-12-14T16:01:00.001-08:00

There's been lots of interesting rants and observations recently about the misuse and appropriation of labels like viral and social media.

I thought it was high time I chimed in with my own.

I'm not against labels per say.

They can be oppressive, and inherently construct a definition of 'the other' through exclusion. They can be used by the dominant culture to maim minorities.

But they can also engender a sense of pride and belonging, and help us 'identify' with ourselves or others.

In the world of communications, labels can cut a useful swathe through language, improve group comprehension and contextualise human behaviour.

One label that has caught my eye recently is digital films.

Since when did ads become digital films?

Since TVCs found their way online, online production budgets opened up and content became 'cool'.

I don't want to be a hand wringing pedant but an ad is an ad is an ad.

At what point can we say something is a film versus an ad?

Film is an artform. If you believe Wikipedia, it's also a 'cultural artefact' that reflects and affects the world around us.

I like my filmic friend Jaydub's thoughts on this subject:

A film tells a narrative to entertain, explore the human condition or make commentary. That's not to say an ad can't tell a narrative or any of the above, but if the biggest point of an ad is to sell a product, calling it a film is fanciful self promotion and an insult to the institution of scriptwriters, directors and film industry professionals.

The democratisation of production and distribution means that the art of film making is no longer just the domain of industry.

It means brands have a role to play too.

But that doesn't change the basic nature of what connects a film to its audience.

In simple terms, a brand funded film needs to have the entertainment and the audience as the primary concerns - ahead of the brand.

Otherwise, it's really just an ad.

So agencies, choose carefully and claim with pride.

Twitter, TV and social consumption

2008-12-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

Over the last few weeks, my television viewing has become much more social.

Rather than being due to an influx of visitors, it's because I’ve been watching with one eye on Twitter and the other on the remote.

Monday night I was just getting into Dexter (and discussing the merits of the opening credits with Stan, and series bingeing with Zac) when MadeinMelbourne started her inimitable Twitter ‘ticker’ commentary on ABC series The Howard Years.

After a fleeting moment of indecision, I stayed with Dexter, and continued checking on MadeinMelbourne’s suitably outraged observations. I felt genuinely connected to both series at the same time, but in very different ways.

Twitter is influencing the way we involve ourselves in entertainment. For recent discussions on this, check out Ben's conversion to Mad Men and Fallon's work with the Sci Fi Channel and Eureka.

Importantly, Twitter is also changing the way we physically consume entertainment, as my Monday night experience showed.

MTV recently took this a little further when they launched The Hills Back Channel, where fans can simultaneously watch the show and comment in realtime.

All this has got me thinking about the potential of the Twitter TV combo. About how it will help redefine the concept of the attention span.

From mass consumption to multiple consumption.

Don't they know it's entertainment

2008-12-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

When we talk about user generated content or consumer created entertainment, we're generally referring to the digital species.

Saturday's Do they know it's not Band Aid Christmas Spectacular not only raised more than $2,000 for Icee, but reminded me of the joys to be found in content creation of the old fashioned kind.

This was no loser generated content effort. Oh no.

With a little help from their friends, Emma and Sonya put on a spectacular night of 80s tunes, and not just from the DJ booth (thanks to Chris aka one half of the Pedestrian boys).

Hosted by the charming, disarming and generally hilarious Kate Smith, talented friends performed numbers by artists who were part of the original Band Aid - Bob Dylan, Bowie and The Bangles.

Of course, we all knew where the night was heading. We were hurtling happily towards a We are the World group sing-along with Bob, Bono and the rest.

Willie made an appearance too

It did get me thinking about what can enable this sort of entertainment - the kind that is enjoyed by a few friends, in a little gallery in Darlinghurst, for a good cause.

And even though there's something nice about the homespun variety, the world of digital means that if we really wanted to, we could turn our little concert into something much bigger.

Hey, who knows, next Christmas there could be groups of people all over swilling cheap wine and singing red faced as they clutch their Stevie Wonder cut out and sway in unison.

p.s Thanks to Emma B for the great pics

One brand or many? That is the question

2008-12-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

The question that many clients are asking themselves at the moment is ‘should I go brand entertainment alone or partner with others?’

There is no right answer, but there are a few questions you can ask.

1. Who are you talking to?

What do you know about their attitudes towards entertainment; their needs and behaviours?

You might be chatting to young men with an interest in sport.

Now these guys are well used to a bunch of brands loudly waving and jumping around in their sport. And not always in the most subtle fashion. Logos on jerseys, giant signs, branded cars, halftime sponsored entertainment. This is all part of any sporting experience.

In the last year, they’ve probably watched Nutrigrain in Football Superstar, lapped up brand soaked films like Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk, and bobbed around at the V Festival. Just for starters.

Some audiences are more amenable than others.

2. What kind of entertainment are you exploring?
Equally, the rules change depending on the game. The type of brand involvement audiences will embrace in reality based entertainment for example, differs from what they might accept in documentary style film making.

Think about the conventions of the genre. You don’t have to be wholly obedient but be aware of what’s gone before you and what people expect. Be aware of where brands can add value or credibility versus where they might be seen to be detrimental or intrusive.

3. What’s your entertainment challenge?

Ask yourself things like….

Are you in a low interest or highly cluttered category? Do you need to ‘borrow interest’ from another brand?

Have you lost relevance or credibility? What friends and associations might help your cause?

Can a friendly retail brand help extend your distribution footprint?

How can other brands help YOU solve your problem.

4. What’s your budget?
For brands with a small budget, inviting few friends along for the ride can help make that dollar go further. A social media campaign might also develop TV and event legs with some extra cash.

It’s important that you don’t spend all your funds on production and leave nothing for your campaign. Entertainment with no audience is really just content.

Sharing funds can help reduce the perceived risk associated with a discipline which still makes some marketing folks (and CEOs) nervous. And if it’s still new for you, it’s a good way to dip your toe in and experiment.

5. How will other brands help you involve the audience?
How can they stimulate conversation? Inject interest? Provide a reward? Help you to leverage their audience relationships?

Or quite simply, ask yourself how can they make your brand more entertaining?

An audience led model for entertainment

2008-12-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favourite Stickywood tools. It's ridiculously simple and really useful.

Clients usually go 'aha' when they see this.

So I thought I'd share it.

The layers in the circle represent the different ways that audiences can engage with content and entertainment (in the broadest sense). The closer your brand is to the centre of the circle, the smaller the distance between you and your audience.

Eat
Broadcast entertainment consumed in a passive way. Stuff people watch or 'eat up' (e.g traditional TV).

Play
This denotes a level of interaction. Audiences can play with the entertainment (e.g music festival, mobile game)

Shape
The audience can influence the content (e.g ARG, user generated content)

Share
People are enabled to share the content with others (e.g video sharing sites like Youtube)

Eat. Play. Shape. Share.

It's a handy matrix when exploring ways that audiences can engage with entertainment.

Use it wisely.

What if brand entertainment took over?

2008-11-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

As I was walking to work this morning, I had a thought.

What if every single brand in Australia that currently talks (or even shouts) at its audience with television advertising, turned to entertainment and conversation instead.

Does anyone know just how many advertisers that would be?

We'd be swamped with witty brand repartee and genuine responses to our gripes. We'd have games coming out of our ears and reality TV burning holes in our eyes. User generated content would be waking us up in the morning, and provenance documentaries would be sending us to sleep at night.

As brand entertainment further encroaches on marketing, ideas like Spreadable Media (thanks Faris) and the Natural Selection of Interesting (thanks Laith) will become increasingly important.

Ensuring you're delivering against a consumer need will be just as paramount.

And enabling your audience as curators, consumers, creators and conversationalists should be a no brainer.

A love story that's not about chocolate

2008-11-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Check out Loveatfirstsite, a Lacta chocolate online entertainment effort from the Ogilvy Worldwide team in Athens.

The thing I like about it is there is a clearly defined role for the brand aka "Lov it, Lacta". It's not a love story about chocolate. Or about people who love chocolate. Or who are stuffing their face with chocolate while pursuing love.

It's a genuinely entertaining love story and Lacta is the architect, the entertainer, the enabler - the brand is ultimately what allows you to progress the narrative (unique codes on pack can help you unravel the trickier bits).

It feels like they've missed a trick with their Facebook effort. They could have really engaged people in the telling of serendipitous tales of love and "whatever happened to that guy I met on..." kinda stories.

Still. I like it. What about you?

The year sponsorship dollars migrated to the virtual world

2008-11-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

Sport and music. These passions help define us, connect us with likeminded folks, enable self expression and generally make us happy. They also happen to be squillion dollar industries that attract major sponsorship dollars from brands around the globe.

With the launch of Football Superstars and Music Mogul, 2008 just might go down as the year traditional sponsorship dollars began migrating from the real world to the virtual world.

Football Superstars is a massively multiplayer online game, where fans can emulate the on and off-pitch lives of footballers they've long envied. Alongside thousands of fellow players, they can train, create their own side... maybe even work their way to the top of the ladder and indulge in the hedonistic lifestyle enjoyed by their offline heroes (WAGs, virtual scandals etc etc). Its currently recruiting enthusiasts at a rate of 3-4,000 a day.

Sponsors who've signed up so far include Puma and more recently Reebok. While Puma's brand integration sounds very Second Life, Reebok will bridge the virtual-real world divide with its ambassador program; a search for real world amateur players who will compete for sponsorship.

Last week, Music Mogul announced its arrival. A team of video game and music industry heavyweights are behind this online virtual music world gearing up for its first preview this week. Set in a virtual LA, Music Mogul will provide music wannabes with an industry backed Idol style competition. Described as 'a virtual world with real world benefits', users will also be able to share performance videos, attend virtual album releases, undertake missions to earn real world rewards, and well, live life like a rockstar. No brand partners have yet been announced.

Unlike worlds like Second Life and Habbo Hotel, Football Superstars and Music Mogul are built around existing offline passions and as such, have ready made, highly involved tribes prepared to spend time and money on their hobby.

Sports and music fans are willing participants in both the community and commercial aspects of their passion. And they will no doubt be attracted to the idea of converting their real world aspiration into a virtual reality. It's this connection to aspiration that has long fuelled the sponsorship strategies of brands from Coca-Cola to Adidas.

The challenges for brands partnering with virtual worlds are not unlike those they face in the world we know. Creating a global platform while building local programs, enhancing the consumer experience, broader business integration, and delivering the right return on investment.

Still, it will be interesting to see which ones get it right.

p.s I visited Music Mogul last week and it was nothing more than a holding page, but there was no tool allowing me to sign up. Opportunity lost. Poor first experience. I emailed them and was told "Thankyou for your interest. The site will formally launch on Nov 24 and you can register then". Yeah but...oh don't worry about it. I'm betting the experience will improve.

Too many entertainment choices: and not just for audiences

2008-11-19T00:49:00.000-08:00

This is a list of just some of the entertainment vehicles brands now have at their disposal.

Some list hey?

You can see why marketers might be overwhelmed.

Here's a list of all the things you need to think about when sifting through the opportunities

OK so it's a tad more complicated, but people tend to skip this bit.

Start here and you're on your way.

Postsecret and my first i-pod

2008-11-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Starting a blog is a little bit like the first time you get hold of an i-pod.

You find yourself spending hours downloading all your CDs, and scouring the web for old faves. Then there's the joy of new discoveries. And remixes. At parties, you're the one leading the music charge and the i-pod war.

In quieter times, you retreat for many hours beneath a set of little white headphones (much to the chagrin of some).

The best bit is when you dust off an old favourite and rekindle the flame...that tune you'd forgotten you even had. The one that reminds you of...oh..never mind.

That happened to me in a blogging sense today when I dug out my old and almost forgotten friend, Postsecret.

If you don't know it, get acquainted. I also recommend the books by Frank Warren.

Planning your brand entertainment experiment

2008-11-15T02:11:00.000-08:00

Over the last week I've been checking in on the Corolla Ninja Kittens post on Campaign Brief. It's the comments that got my attention with no less than 94 opinions shared - it's essentially a tirade of negative sentiment punctuated by some congratulatory chatter and inside info on a creative honcho's penchant for dwarfs and strange animals. Tough audience.

Expect more of the same from this audience because traditional marketers are becoming more willing to experiment with brand entertainment. They're sticking their heads above the trenches.

This is in part driven by digital media taking some of the guesswork and much of the expense out of this kind of experiment. What's more, digital transparency means even the crudest measurement efforts can generate useful learnings. And quickly.

As we move into an era of experimentation, we can look forward to a few Eureka moments and plenty of false prophets. And no doubt we'll be hearing about it on Campaign Brief.

So here's a few questions to ask yourself when doing your laboratory testing. I'm not sure if this will help you avoid an industry caning but it might improve the results of your experiment.

1. Understand your audience' entertainment needs

It's not enough to produce something entertaining and spruik it in places where they spend time. Think about your audience' needs and behaviours around entertainment. How do these play out in the context of different channels?

2. Know your place

Identify a clear role for the brand in the entertainment, and the place for entertainment in your communications. If you don't have a reason to be there, audiences won't have a reason to stick around.

3. Define your entertainment challenge

We talk about this one a lot. Entertainment can do and be lots of things. What's the central problem your entertainment strategy is going to help you address?

4. Build your strategy

Apply the same rigour here as you would to your communications strategy. What's the solution to your entertainment challenge? What contact points should you be exploring? How might the brand behave in these environments? What kind of social object are you creating? How will you engage the audience? As curators, consumers, creators and conversationalists?

5. Pick your partners

What creative partners will help you realise your ambition? Do you need help to create an idea from scratch? Or the right producer to turn your idea into a viable entertainment concept? Think about specialist skills you require. A television comedy series is a long way from a narrative driven game.

6. Don't build it if they're not going to come

The content cesspool means there's no room for a 'build it and they will come' mentality. What does your distribution matrix look like? What distribution partners do you need? How does your commercial model stack up? How might other brand partners help you deliver against your entertainment challenge, offset financial risk or help extend your distribution?

7. For good measure

How will you know if you're successful? This should clearly link back to your original challenge and strategy. Do you need to undertake an assessment 'pre, during and post'? What tracking tools might be required?

Honey, the infomercial is the oldest trick in the book

2008-11-13T14:51:00.001-08:00

If you were wondering what became of home shopping posterchild Honeyshed, check out this post from Greg Verdino - it's a nice little survey of the site's potted history and new ambitions.

Honeyshed has relaunched, and while it might be NEW and IMPROVED I'm not sure it comes with a MONEYBACK GUARANTEE.

Sorry. I can't help but use bad home shopping analogies.

Honeyshed is billed as 'home shopping' for a new generation, but you know, a steak knife is still a steak knife. And while infomercials have sold plenty of those over the years, the question is whether it's relevant to the 'digital generation'.

While the jury's still out, I'm looking forward to ordering my Alexander McQueen gut buster.

Brand entertainment on the rise

2008-11-11T23:25:00.001-08:00

Is it just me or...

Last week, creative outfit Three Drunk Monkeys emerged as the brains behind 30 seconds. Carat has just poached Tim Flattery (ex Mitchells, Becker) for its branded content post. Tooheys is launching a reality TV show with Radical Media. TCO is flying (as always) with a Sam Smith announcement. And Samedi is teasing us with a few videos uploads on said youtube channel (more on that later).

Is brand entertainment in Australia about to grow up? I think yes.

Anyone know of any other exciting new announcements which support my humble theory?

Tooheys and its six beers of separation

2008-11-09T16:01:00.001-08:00

Check out the hyper produced super slick website for Tooheys Extra Dry's new 6 Beers of Separation campaign. Nice hey.

It borrows from the six degrees idea. Essentially they're looking for four new reality TV guinea pigs. To enter, you nominate your hero, and the five people that will get you there 'within six degrees'. If you win, you go off travelling about the place, meeting each of your chosen ones (over a beer of course). They'll send a crew with you and hey presto...there's your TV show.

TICKS
Feels kinda loose. To take a leaf out of Clay Shirky's blog, maybe that's a good thing
It's a topical play on a social convention

Nice fit with the brand
Six degrees is a social media marketer's wet dream (whooh Tooheys)
Content is in the hands of consumers (go Tooheys)
Hey they're doing something in brand entertainment. That's a tick.

CROSSES
They've been doing a bit of forum spamming (oh no Tooheys)
Entirely talent dependent. Could go either way. But I kinda like that.
When asking people to really get involved, it helps to demonstrate what you're asking them to do
Where's the social media bit? (oh woe Tooheys)

Tell me there's a social media bit.

Product Placement 101: make it believable

2008-11-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

Interesting piece from Madison & Vine on Coke, Mercedes and a new film called Slumdog Millionaire. It seems the squalid shantytowns of Mumbai did not add up to an ideal backdrop for either brand.

In this instance, the filmmaker utilised the brands in shot and then 'allegedly' asked permission from their owners. Permission was refused, so he dropped the Merc from the slum scenes and removed the Coke label from the bottle.

There you have it: product displacement.

M&V also commented on the challenges of product placement in blockbuster films:

Slumdog presents an entertainment marketing conundrum: Only a handful of companies have the global presence to benefit from the worldwide exposure that a motion picture generates.

I think the real quandry is that unless product placement is contextually relevant (or culturally resonant), it struggles to do anything much. Particularly for brands like Coke and Mercedes. Especially in a mass platform like a global film release. Certainly not as a standalone piece of communication.

It has to be believable.

One of the most enduring entertainment marriages is that of 007 and his faithful Aston Martin. The car has featured in no less than five Bond films, including the just released Quantum of Solace.

Interestingly, Jam has taken a look at the buzz generated by brands who've spent 50 million pounds getting Daniel Craig to call on that phone while driving that car and sipping on that drink. On the surface, it appears that at least one brand - Ford - is generating considerable talkability. But scratch below, and the plot thickens. Amongst both die-hards and mainstream audiences, the tone of conversation around Ford's involvement is overwhelmingly negative.

Having Bond speeding away in a Ford is akin to him sleeping with a cardigan clad house frau.

People just don't buy it.

Update: There's a series of opinion pieces on product placement in this month's Marketing Magazine. Check it out.

Sarah Palin, comedy and election 2.0

2008-11-04T01:27:00.000-08:00

It's the race that stopped the nation and I'm not talking about the Melbourne Cup.

There's been lots of insightful discussion about Election 2.0, and for me it's been interesting to see that it's tickled America's funnybone. Not only have Americans re-engaged with the politics, they've been laughing all the way to the polling booth.

Tina Fey's uncanny Sarah Palin impersonation has sent Saturday Night Live ratings soaring, Paris gave us a giggle with her views on 'fo po' and late night politically comedic shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have had a field day.

As plenty of commentators have pointed out, there is no shortage of material. But I also wonder if it's symptomatic of America's gloomy mood? After all, history has shown that in difficult times, people turn toward entertainment to 'forget their troubles and get happy'.

Have performers hit comedy gold or does it signal something more?

Either way, for Sarah Palin, sketch show parodies and prank phone calls have created a pseudo entertainment campaign. The defining kind, but the wrong kind.

Update: The laughs continue with Palin's aides revealing she thought Africa was a country

why brands are the new entertainers

2008-10-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

Back in the 1880s, the industrial revolution meant at least two things for Americans. They had cash and they had time. This in turn meant they wanted a little entertainment. And regular like. Vaudeville evolved from the old variety show format to meet this need for good wholesome entertainment. The kind you could afford, and take your family to.

These days we've got more cash, less time and we're more entertainment-addicted than ever. Brands, take your places please.

At last week's L21 conference I talked about why brands must become the new entertainers (alongside those other maestros of the time, audiences). The new vaudevillians if you like. And why marketers need to be both masters of conversation and mistresses of entertainment.

In the spirit of a good list, here are 5 reasons to support this:

1. We expect to be entertained. All the time. And in a way that's convenient, relevant and personal.

2. We don't forgive interruptions to our entertainment experiences in the way we once did simply because we don't have to. We can go elsewhere.

3. Our lives are becoming more defined by entertainment. This is reflected in the increasingly social and experiential nature of our entertainment consumption.

4. We're in the age of conversation and entertainment is at the heart of most conversations that happen online. Not to mention at the watercooler.

5. In the 'content cesspool' that is the internet, it's trusted brands and people that can help us both wade through the muck and amplify our entertainment experience.

This isn't an exhaustive list so feel free to add your own No. 6.

If I were Jane McGonigal, I would also talk about the way that brands can engineer happiness by creating an alternate branded reality that's better than our unbranded reality. But I'll leave that to the brilliant lady herself.

Are brands the solution to the content cesspool?

2008-10-29T23:55:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt imparted this observation to an army of magazine executives visiting the Google campus:

"The internet is fast becoming a cesspool where false information thrives....brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool."

With 12 hours of video being uploaded to Youtube every minute (the equivalent of 250 always on channels with no repeats) you can see why it's on the man's mind.

It's also been on mine - it's going to be interesting to observe the evolving role of brands in creating and curating entertainment that resonates with audiences (if you missed Jane McGonigal's fantastic presentation on 'The Rise of the Happiness Brands' you can view it here).

Within our own networks, people we perceive to possess real social capital directly influence the entertainment we consume. I trust my friend Sonya's advice on anything fashion-ish and the cARTel's* advice when it comes to art gallery stuff.

But brands can help too - particularly online. If I know a brand suggests something edgy (American Apparel) or just plain interesting (HBO); if it represents credibility within a certain subject (like Johnsons does in baby) then that trusted signal can steer me through the cesspool and straight to the good stuff. And, it helps me build my social network capital.

I reckon it's a win win. What do you reckon?

*If you're wondering about the cARTel, it's an art buying group made up of 4 like minded ladies (including me). Together we buy contemporary art with an eye to the market and art that is visually interesting or provocative or beautiful. Most of all we buy it because we like it.

Nescafe Goldblend - a story from the 80s

2008-10-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

I had to share this.

I was scratching around for examples of episodic short format content when I came across Nescafe's Love over Gold campaign from the 80s.

I have to say it's really good. This tension-filled love story between a foxy fellow (so English) and his classy looking neighbour had me hooked.

Sometimes my job is really fun.

An epic brand entertainment campaign

2008-10-28T03:32:00.001-07:00

Today I presented at the L21 Rebranding and Repositioning conference in Sydney - a day too early to see Tourism Australia's MD present on 'Rebranding Australia'. This is without a doubt, the biggest brand entertainment campaign of the year.

LOVE:

Scale, ambition and sheer opportunism

Gratuitous product placement in the film (it's so right)

Epic romanticism

Partnership strategy (20th Century Fox, Qantas etc)

NOT SO SURE ABOUT:

Whether it will resonate with international audiences

The 'closed set' nature of the campaign.

I think a campaign that draws on themes of self reflection/personalisation/release AND 'borrows interest' (to quote Faris) from a much anticipated film launch is missing something by not enabling greater participation from audiences.

When I think about what inspires me to visit far away places it's generally the lure of old friends, a cheap deal, a deepheld curiosity, romantic belief or lust for adventure.

But it's the stories - personal tales, inspirational photos - from friends and likeminded folk, that can turn a twinge of fantasy into a trip across the world.

DON'T ENVY:

The person who signs off on the marketing activity for Tourism Australia

Update: You know I just had an idea thanks to Faris' comment. Tourism Australia are spending $40M on their advertising campaign right? We're not talking spare change here people. And we know distance is a significant barrier to people travelling to Australia...

What if they cut their budget in half and gave away $20M worth of flights? Think of the word of mouth, free PR, the stories, the feel good factor! It would be huge! And they'd still get thousands of visitors spending their hard earned currency on our shores.

The rise of social media entertainment

2008-10-26T00:21:00.000-07:00

I've just spent two days at the SPAA Fringe Conference in Sydney and I have to admit I've come over all inspired. For two days at the Chauvel Cinema, a throng of rowdy film makers, TV types, producers and the rest gathered to share ideas, swap stories and rub shoulders with the funding bods and those that make decisions about the projects gracing both our big and small screens. (Watch out for Rendered Life - winner of the SDA pitch competition, it's a story set inside the internet about the adventures of two postal workers who actually deliver all our mail).

Towards the end of Friday, I began to get a bit twitchy. I started tapping my foot at the roundtables and fidgeting in the plenarys. Because if there was one thing that was notably absent from discussions it was....audiences. That's right, the very people we were ultimately gathered together to serve and who are in effect, the executives with real power in the entertainment business.

Thankfully, the awesome Gary Hayes turned up bright and early on Saturday morning and gave an enthralling talk on social media entertainment and the rise of virtual worlds. You can see his presentation here.

The other surprising thing was even after admitting my branded intentions, no one hunted me down in the bathroom and held me hostage under the hair dryer. In fact it prompted some unexpected conversations including one with Mike Cowap from Screen Australia on his organisation's view of funding models which incorporate brand involvement.

Well done to the SPAA folks for a really stimulating couple of days.

The writing process and the art of the screenplay

2008-10-23T00:42:00.000-07:00

I'm still a pretty green blogger and so every day is akin to peering under a rock in a forest and uncovering a whole new world of interesting thinkers and writers I didn't know existed. One of the things I'm enjoying is learning more about people's writing process (check out this great post from Laurel Papworth on how she typically attacks a blog post).

I'm also reading a great book at the moment by intellectual gymnast, acidic commentator and writer David Mamet. Bambi vs Godzilla is a series of tell-all-tales on the nature of Hollywood. His blatant disregard for the titans of the movie business makes for some sharp and funny writing. In addition, Mamet provides some fascinating insights into the art of the screenplay - below are the questions he believes every scene in your film must answer:

1. Who wants what from whom
2. What happens if they don't get it
3. Why now

The simplicity of a great story.

This little film inspired the book's title. A classic animation from 1969.

Have you seen somebody else's phone?

2008-10-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Nokia has just launched TV ad in the UK as a lead in to their online drama Somebody else's phone. I'll be watching this one with interest.

Firstly because it's designed for global interaction appearing in 10 different languages. Secondly, because they've introduced it with a TVC rather than using digital media to enable discovery and pull us into the story. Thirdly, because they're using a mix of digital and more traditional media like outdoor and radio. And last, because I'm looking forward to observing how they utilise social media (so far I've just checked out Jade Yu's facebook page).

The drama unfolds over six weeks after which time "the characters' stories will confront crucial decisions that will affect their future."

I've had an initial look at the website but it's hard to get a picture of the interconnected lives of the characters and who they are. Maybe this is just the beginning.

Here's the ad.

Let me know what you think.

Update: I wanted to like this. I really did. But I've given it a crack and it's like reading through a random bunch of text messages from people you don't know and aren't necessarily that interested in. I think the important thing in narrative driven games is to enable both shallow and deep participation, but I can't find the right entry point for me in this one.

Give your category a shot in the arm

2008-10-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

One of the simple (and often overlooked) virtues of brand entertainment is its ability to influence category growth. Brand entertainment can be very effective in stimulating consumer demand and giving the category a leg up.

A good example of this is The Block, 'the original' Aussie renovation show. Crass and gratuitous product placement eventually sent its ratings into freefall (who could forget the chocolate cameos) but at its peak The Block was delivering 3million + viewers.

The program tapped into our burgeoning obsession with home renovation and spawned a bunch of copycat formats. It picked us up off the couch and sent us rushing off to purchase matching tablewares. It inspired bathroom makeovers and kitchen refreshers. Not to mention our greedy appetite for home lifestyle magazines.

Similarly, UK hardware retailer B&Q invested a million pounds several years back in a DIY show for ITV. Due to the UK's hefty restrictions on in-program advertising, its association was limited to run of the mill sponsorship benefits. However B&Q's primary purpose was to drive growth in a flat category. The company knew they would directly benefit from the flow on effect in sales.

The deteriorating economic situation means some categories are already under pressure. This is the ideal time for brands to explore entertainment opportunities which might give their category that much needed shot in the arm.

That's entertainment...or is it?

2008-10-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

Entertainment is an impossibly broad term that means different things to different people. It might be anything from a film, a sudoko game or a social experience, and it can invoke any number of feelings in us like amusement, connection or pleasure. For me the commonality in the expression relates to how it makes us feel.

My definition is an experience you actively choose to engage with because of the feeling you derive.

This may be still too nebulous. It's hard to capture the meaning without being too broad or too narrow.

I'd love to hear some other thoughts or alternative expressions?

p.s take a look at Natalie Wood playing Gypsy Rose Lee, the original mistress of burlesque and a lady born to entertain

We're living in an entertainment culture

2008-10-14T23:35:00.001-07:00

This piece in the New York Times highlights how much the place of advertising in culture has changed. It talks about the release of Nielsen delayed viewing figures for the big new season shows in the US. While popular shows like Greys Anatomy are doing pretty well, the numbers for shows targeting younger audiences make for interesting reading.

The article notes that for the 18-49 demographic, Heroes and The Office are delivering between 42% and 48% of their audience numbers respectively, via delayed viewing. For 90210 this figure is more like 53%.

That's means around HALF the audiences for these shows are recording their favourite programs, watching them later, and more than likely skipping through the ads.

We might be watching more TV but our viewing behaviour has changed dramatically. We're no longer willing to forgive the interruption of advertising when tools like PVRs mean we don't have to.

Brands need to work harder to understand the entertainment needs of their audiences. We live in an entertainment culture, and if audiences are the new entertainment executives, brands are queuing up to audition.

Anti-poverty campaigning the old way

2008-10-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I spent 6 months (0ver 2 years) volunteering and writing a research paper at an NGO in Phnomn Penh, Cambodia. Womyns Agenda for Change worked incredibly hard to support the empowerment of local sex workers and garment workers - ordinary, brave women burdened by poverty and weighed down by the responsibility of caring for their families. Some were still in their mid teens.

"Empowerment" is an oft quoted, and rarely substantiated characteristic of Western aid programs. But in this instance, thanks to the right support (and the amazing Rosanna Barbero), the women themselves made this a reality. Previously isolated and stigmatised, they began to join forces in a grassroots movement to agitate for social change, dignity, rights and a life free from discrimination and harassment.

My researched centred around the sex worker program - Women's Network for Unity. At the end of my time there, a splintered, geographically isolated group of women had morphed into a social collective numbering more than 5,000. Through this grassroots network, they provided each other with emotional support, education and assistance. They came together for collective decisionmaking, lobbied government, campaigned loudly on World AIDS Day and celebrated with each other on International Womens Day.

All this against a backdrop of poverty and adversity. And all without the tools of social media that have become so central to the modern day notion of a collective. It was one of the most inspiring times of my life.

Can brands help break the mould?

2008-10-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

David Dale's piece on network copy-catting highlights an opportunity for brands and TV programmers to work together. Sounds crazy but it's true.

Brands spend millions of dollars a year in understanding what consumers want, need or at least might think they need (Proctor & Gamble alone spends $200m annually). A lot of time is spent exploring how these insights intersect with wider trends in culture, changing social norms, the socio-economic landscape and category developments. Launching a product because you can is not reason enough. Just ask Google. Its 'always start with the user' mantra as been a formula for success.

This approach contrasts markedly with the way networks launch new programs. As David Dale points out:

Television programming has always gone in waves - a station notices that another station has a hit, assumes that represents a trend in public taste, and copies what it imagines to be the most appealing details.

Network product launches revolve around the latest trends at sales conferences, what's working for their competitors and largely superficial observations on why a format has sparked interest from audiences. I'm not suggesting we research the bejesus out of everything. We all know that's a recipe for the death of original ideas. Only that more often than not, networks are second guessing the needs of their viewers.

TV programmers are extremely skeptical about what role brands have to play in developing television entertainment (other than they're paying for it). Yet it occurs to me that brands (and their agencies) have oodles of expertise in understanding consumer behaviour. This is the ammunition they have to blast us with new products and ideas.

Surely there's an opportunity for brands to work with networks to better understand their audiences and support the development of ideas that break the mould or even just entertain us. At the very least, it might give us a break from the CSI franchise.

Bland should be banned

2008-10-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

Part of me wants to applaud a brand in a fairly dull category for doing something different. But Noble Rise's Blandaid campaign is what gives brand entertainment (and social media) a bad name. It's advertising masquerading as 'content'. And worse, it's not even funny.

It's a series of ads posted on Youtube. About which I'm not allowed to comment as the 'add comments' function has been disabled. If you don't want people playing with your idea, don't take on social media.

The brand makes a feeble attempt to recruit me in its efforts to 'take a stand against bland'; a movement which is basically meaningless and culturally irrelevant. Its ultimate failure is the refusal to let me get involved. What kind of cause is this? Blandaid ignores the concept of community inherent in a channel like Youtube. It breaks with the conversational nature of social media, effectively hijacking it with a one way message. I know this post is harsh but in the words of J'aime "no offence but it's true". And I for one, am taking a stand.

The return of the hidden persuaders

2008-10-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

Subliminal advertising? Have we returned to the era of The Hidden Persuaders? Network Ten has had an official rap over the knuckles from the ACMA for their use of 'subliminal advertising' in last year's ARIAs broadcast.

I find Network Ten's role in this B-list scandal to be bizarre. First, because this kind of simplistic trickery is hugely devaluing for brands in an era of transparency. And second, because it's a technique that came under fire decades ago and has never really been proven effective. Hopefully, in 2008 Ten will find more interesting ways to add value to sponsors of the ARIAs.

How do you engage an apathetic public in politics?

2008-10-08T21:33:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton apparently. The political hopeful has just released her second "fake" presidency bid video on Funnyordie. Is Paris the panacea for an apathetic country where only 64% of people voted in the last general election?

With an election campaign of movie length proportions, an entertainment driven tactic to engage voters feels appropriate. Yes. Let's make voting fun!

The more I think about it, the more I like it. It really plays with some of the conventions of a traditionally "serious" category.

Obama clearly wins the prize for his social media nouse. Let's see how Paris and her quest for "fake" campaign unfolds. And whether they've thought beyond a couple of spoof videos, into how it might really permeate culture and increase voter turnout.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

'Perfect' but at what expense?

2008-10-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

My colleague Rob Perkins kindly pointed me in the direction of this interview with Clay Shirky on brands and the way advertising can undermine their human qualities. His point is that brands (and agencies) often focus on the endgame of high production values in a super slick ad at the expense of being a little 'rough around the edges' and inviting dialogue. Would it be that bad if brands weren't perfect? Just like us inferior humans?

Media owners need to let go...but not at any cost

2008-10-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Too many brands are frightened of "letting go" but I thought this was an interesting example of a media owner allowing readers to interact with and shape its content (good) but in a way that undermined its own credibility (bad).

O Estado De S. Paulo , a major Sao Paulo daily asked readers what news and pictures they'd like to see gracing the front page of their Sunday paper. Sunday subscribers received a blank front page one week with a kind of "fill in the boxes" challenge which readers could complete online. The following Sunday, those that submitted their own front pages were sent personalised editions of the paper (around 1,000 people). It was sponsored by Nissan as part of its 'escape the pattern' campaign. Interesting media tactic, but at what cost to the masthead?

In recent years, there's been a trend for publications to invite readers to take
on editorial roles (Girlfriend's reader produced issue being a notable example).
Only this isn't about entertainment consumption, it's about news. Who would
you trust to bring you the most relevant news of the day? A credible (?) daily
newspaper or you at your most imaginative from a week prior? Has anyone
seen a good example of where an initiative like this has added real value for
both a publication and its readers?

A gentle breeze is blowing in TV land

2008-10-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen it already, Paul McIntyre wrote this piece in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald outlining four reasons why the networks are "learning to love branded programs". I don't know if you could call it the winds of change, but there's certainly a gentle breeze in the air. The network players are (albeit through gritted teeth) slowly coming around to the idea that brand entertainment will play a bigger role in their business. Seven has recently set up its own brand entertainment department and Nine is making a few more noises in this arena. I just know that if I were a network, I'd want to be first in the line.

No more posters

2008-10-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw the gentle, wild and kind of eccentric ingenue Goldfrapp at the Sydney Opera House. It was pretty sublime. I actually resorted to doing a little mobile filming which a) I never do and b) looked pretty crappy from all the way up in the nosebleed section. The point is, I wanted some way of reliving the experience. I came out of the concert and was greeted by a dull dull dull range of merchandise at the desk. The very same stuff that's been selling at gigs for decades. I realised merch-makers still have their heads in vinyl.

What I wanted was a personalised souvenir from the experience. Poster schmoster and I can download the album on i-tunes. Why not text me a link to download a clip from the night? Enable over the top hyperbolic gushing with other fans. Or give me a little post concert grab that really captured the moment for the band - they were clearly overwhelmed by the crowd's reaction. This idea of helping us relive the experience is something not just the music industry but brands could really learn from. The experience doesn't have to stop there. Help me keep it going.

Taken Off

2008-10-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

For any ladies already burdened by the weight of the man drought, Taken Out would have been a frightening experience. Some of the blokes on trial made Willie Mason look like Alain de Botton and while it sounds as though the folks at Fremantle struggled with the casting, I’m still pondering why anyone ever thought this show would be a success.

It doesn’t have any roots in contemporary culture or draw on any really juicy truths. At best it borrows from the superficial art of selection that characterises online dating. But c'mon... romance…it’s seriously rich territory.

There is a huge public appetite for this kind of fodder. We’ve got more than a million singles on RSVP, a million more unmarried adults now than a decade ago (just ask Bernard), and a heap of yummy mummys and dapper daddies on the hunt for a shiny new partner.

I’d like to see RSVP make the first move and put a dating show at the heart of their marketing strategy. Imagine how much they know about the modern day mating game. And what it could do for their brand.

Starting out

2008-09-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 weeks and 3 days since Stickywood emerged from its planning cocoon. It's giving me the odd sleepless night but mostly I'm excited about all the great stuff we've got simmering away on the stove. And so far we've received some great feedback from clients. It'll be time to make an announcement real soon.