Jaffe Juice

If you haven't written a book, you can't work at crayon

A while back (January to be precise), I posted that if you don't blog, you can't work at crayon.

For the most part, I don't think this was a particularly provocative statement at all.

In fact, I believe that blogging is a bare minimum in terms of demonstrating both a baseline understanding of the space and being able to apply this in first-hand, practical terms.

Whilst some people argued that Twitter should count as a blogging equivalent, I largely ignored them as twits.

Well now I'd like to up the stakes and take this to the next level. And so with that said, here's the new bar: if you aren't a published author, you can't work at crayon (and a book on Twitter doesn't count)

Whilst it might sound elitest and a tad snobby, it's too bad. That's the way it is. To be a crayonista, you need to be a prolific thought leader and to prove it, you need to be a published author. Anything else is just fooling yourself into believing you're better than you actually are.

I'm kidding of course (kind of).

The real reason for this post is to congratulate fellow crayonista and our Chief Strategy Officer, Greg Verdino on his own book deal. Greg is writing a book on microMARKETING and his book is slated to be released in Q2 of 2010. My third book is due out in Q1 of 2010 so it's going to be a busy first half of 2010 for crayon!

Here's a little blurb of Greg's book to arouse your curiosity:

Enter micromarketing – a new approach to building brands, marketing products and services, and growing meaningful long-term customer (and corporate) value.  Micromarketing emphasizes relationships over reach, interactions over interruption, and the network effect over the broadcast network.  It is built upon the premise that the “next big thing” is really lots and lots of small things, and that to survive and thrive, even the biggest marketers must think and act small (make that “micro”), too. 

Congratulations Greg....welcome to the author's club. I'll pass on the secret handshake, codewords and underground meeting schedule when I see you next.  

Kudo's to Boone Oakley

Finally, an agency gets it right.

Now whilst I'm still not a fan of any company (Skittles, Modernista) completely ceding their digital presence to a surrogate/substitute e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia or Twitter, I think Boone Oakley did a terrific job with this expression of their passion for producing 30-second spots :)

I say that tongue-in-cheek of course, because they've chosen video (much like I've done with JJTV) to demonstrate that they understand how to best use new media to tell an old story so to speak.

Specifically, they're showing their understanding of non-linear storytelling brought to life through YouTube annotations and hyperlinks. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, give Boone Oakley a call...they deserve the shot to teach an old dog (you), new tricks.

It remains to be seen whether this agency actually is a cut above its competitors, BUT they've certainly been able to get their proverbial feet in the door, make their pitch (independence over conglomerendence) and I'll bet that you spent more than 30-seconds being entertained by (gasp) a sales pitch.

Quite lovely. Well done, lads and ladesses.

The Launch of the Living in High Definition Podcast

This is a little backwards, because I still want to spend some time over the next couple of weeks outlining the single most signficant project we've worked on at crayon, namely Panasonic's "Living in High Definition" community and commitment.

We've had the pleasure and privilege to work with Panasonic North America on a truly landmark effort - actively demonstrating that Living in High Definition changes everything.

And what better way to bring this to life than through a High Definition video show, presented by one of the real stars of the program, Laura Pollack, a mom and a community member.

The LiHD Podcast is a bi-monthly snapshot of the best of what the community has to offer. It's a showcase which operates on three levels:

• Internal i.e. within the community - motivation for members; a showcase of recognition
• External i.e. outside the community - a portal or window into the community; a source of promotion and membership acqusition
• Both - a source or resource filled with tips, tools, tricks, how-to's and inspiration

Making this podcast happen are the fine folks over at For Your Imagination (FYI)

So take a look, subscribe to the show and while you're at it, join the LiHD Community.

Living in HD Podcast, Episode 1 from Living In HD on Vimeo.

World's longest ad?

Absolutely brilliant. Hat tip to Durham

(I took out the embedded code b/c the @#$#@#!@ creative was playing automatically. Stoopid stoopid agency)

Terry Tate makes a late charge for President (at Reebok's expense)

Remember Terry Tate, Office Linebacker? In a series of some of the earliest and best examples of "long form content" / digital webisodes, Terry burst onto the scene on behalf of Reebok. It was a really great example of how 4 minute "ads" could compete for attention on a level playing field.

Fast forward to a brief moment in time (we're probably talking 4 years ago) where Terry decided to run for President. I don't recall if Reebok was still in on the sponsorship act.

And now we have this:

With pearls such as "How's that for Drill Baby Drill! You just subscribed to Terry's Journal of Pain!! And the first issue is free, baby! Whoo!! ... Hey Katie!" the Tate charm is still in tact, but this time he may have overstayed his welcome.

Whether you find this funny (no Governors were hurt in the filming of this...) or offensive, I wonder how much damage this does for Reebok. Marc Fireman, any comment on this?

What do you think? Patently funny or blatantly offensive? And if the latter, how different is this to the SNL parodies.

Either way - in my opinion - "comedy" in some way, shame or form (including of course Stewart and Colbert) will, without question have a major influence and say on the outcome of this election.

Visiting the brand E.R. - the difference between onslaught and onslaught(er)

Andrea Vascellari sends me this Greenpeace video response to Dove's Onslaught (their follow-up to Evolution...and not to be confused with Slob Evolution)

In his post, Andrea notes this as a perfect example of how public reputation can be smashed down in less than 2 minutes (1m27 to be exact)

The video is in response to this piece:

It's a far cry from Slob Evolution, which was a playful and irreverent spoof of the ground-breaking Evolution video, which seemingly ushered in a new era of thoughtful and purpose-based brands that put authenticity, transparency and social responsibility before corporate greed, profits and acquisition.

Until now...

On one hand, this sends out the clearest of messages to faker brands looking to "get in on the conversation" by sending out a stern warning: you gotta walk your talk if you want to join the conversation. Think like an advertiser and attempt to cut corners and you will be found out and duly punished.

Put differently, if you want to commit to community, dialogue and partnership, you need to have your entire house in order first.

Now that said....I would be remiss by dumping on Unilever if I didn't point out this timely update from Greenpeace itself:

UPDATE: Thanks to the staggering public support for our international Dove campaign in April 2008, Unilever has now agreed to play their part in saving the Paradise Forests of South East Asia. As the biggest single buyer of palm oil in the world, Unilever has a special responsibility to help clean up the industry that's behind so much forest destruction.

They have agreed to support the call by Greenpeace for an immediate moratorium on deforestation for palm oil plantations. They have also agreed to urgently contact other major companies calling on them to support the moratorium.

This is the first success in a broader campaign to secure real change on the ground in South East Asia -- to stop the palm oil industry from destroying the Paradise Forests. Greenpeace campaigners will work with Unilever for th next six months (starting May 2008) to bring together a major coalition of companies to make the moratorium a reality. We will see at the end of this period how things are progressing and if we need to change our campaign approach.

The update is both in the information box on the YouTube video post, as well as in the comment thread. It certainly alludes to the fact that Unilever is listening and although being taken to task, is prepared to change or at least take steps in the right direction.

That said, I wonder how many people will notice this "fyi" and in the process, how much brand reputation damage will occur?

Doo Yoo ooVoo?

I'm proud to announce that ooVoo is crayon's newest client and together we'll be collaborating to make sure that the word, Google, is displaced by ooVoo in the popular consciousness and social vernacular. (it has 2 extra oo's for starters)

Here's the social media version of the press release.

Put simply, ooVoo is a breakthrough video chat platform, that allows free, real-time video conversations. For me personally, the a-ha moment is the ability to engage up to 6 people at the same time on the same screen.

crayon will be focusing on influencer outreach, blogger activation, seeding and conversational marketing.

To put it to the test and live the brand, I'm going to be using ooVoo on Sunday to Bumrush the Amazon.com charts for my new book, "Join the Conversation." So if you're in front of your computers on Sunday (and have a web camera), download and install the ooVoo software and ooVoo me (my handle is: jointheconversation). I'll be more or less in front of the computer from 10am - 5pm EST.

Here's more from the horse's mouth so to speak :)

Dove is at it again....from evolution to onslaught

Take a gander, nod your head and say, AMEN. This is the follow-up to the incredible Evolution. Is the sequel as good as the first movie? Not sure that's the question. However, perhaps it's the answer to what Dove did next en route to their goal of reaching 5 millions girls by 2010 as part of the Self-Esteem Fund.

What interests me is how the rest of the "beauty" industry must feel about these very authentic ideas, which hit home on the travesty of misrepresentation, misdirection and borderline indoctrination and propaganda that is the "30-second spot"

The future of Bud.TV

According to Ad Age, Bud.TV drew 152,000 unique visitors last month (March), 40% fewer than February's 253,000 visitors, according to numbers released today by ComScore Media Metrix. A-B executives have said that they hope to draw between 2 million and 3 million visitors per month by early next year to the online network, which is costing the brewer somewhere between $30 million and $40 million.

The new "Direct to Consumer" venture from Anheuser Busch has come under a lot of scrutiny and criticism of late, but I want to take this opportunity to throw my weight (90%) behind Bud.TV...or at the very minimum the idea behind Bud.TV

Personally, I believe that special interest groups (read: media companies) are responsible for a good chunk of the pushback from the various State Attorney Generals. There is so much hypocrisy involved that it makes me want to puke. We can run alcohol advertising on the Super Bowl, but online is somehow different...

But I digress.

I think it's early days for Bud.TV and I really hope A-B stays the course. On one hand, they're not in the content game and getting involved in this kind of effort is a committment, as opposed to a one-off campaign-like investment. On the other hand, the quality of content on the networks isn't exactly worth writing home about either...

Personally, I'd love to work on Bud.TV - take that anyway you want to. I'm just saying...

Here are some tips I'd give the executives over at A-B (you may be doing this already, but as a blogger that has not been engaged I wouldn't know):

1. You don't need to be running 24x7x365. Start with an anchor tenant like The Sopranos became for HBO and work from there
2. Liberate your content - the more platforms you make Bud.TV available, the more likely it will be to be consumed and embraced
3. Consider bite-sized programming chunks like Current.TV
4. Deploy extensive conversational programs, including blogger/podcaster/influencer outreach.
5. Build community around the content and encourage active participation and co-creation
6. Explore ways to link purchase of product to Bud.TV - reward your customers and turn them into the stars
7. Use traditional media to advertise (yes, advertise) Bud.TV.
8. Use your packaging to promote Bud.TV
9. Use every single one of your Super Bowl commercials in next year's game (XLII) and then pull out of the Super Bowl never to return. The chaos will make even Bob Garfield smile
10. Above all...experiment experiment experiment and be prepared to make mistakes. Your reported $30-40 million investment will be well worth it if you learn from your mistakes and innovate intensely.

There's a lot riding on this and I think there are a lot of people who want you to succeed. There are also a lot of people who want you to fail...don't be distracted by them. Cheers!

Devil's Advocate: Fake Blogs - Evil, Pathetic or Harmless?

Just read on Adrants about a new double dose of fake blogs, this time for McDonalds. As one reader points out, Edelman should be fired for this (even though they had nothing to do with this particular "campaign"....or did they?)

Even though there was a press release, it appears that there was still insufficient disclosure on the blog, 4Railroads.

To be sure, 4Railroads is quite harmless. It's not like it is being faked by a 10 year old 200-pound girl who insists that her childhood obesity is completely genetic and not influenced by the Big Macs she gorges down every day.

In fact, from a narrative standpoint it is actually quite cute...the "online journal/diary" of a possessed consumer, intent on winning McDonalds Monopoly Game. I get it.

So what's the problem?

The problem is less the lack of transparency (I am torn between jumping on a holier-than-though puritanical binge, which more often than not leads straight to the gates of hypocrisy...can you say Edelman?...and demanding equal low or high standards for all media on the disclosure stakes before I go nutso on a nascent one e.g. product placement on television) and more plain pathos.

It's just kind of harmless really. And by harmless I mean sad and pathetic.

There are no comments. No life. No nothing.

I guess the real questions from my perspective are two-fold:

1) Surely McDonalds could be investing better in blogs and really reaping the full power of conversation, dialogue, consumer generated content and networking? Is the best they can do...and if so, perhaps they should be handing over the reigns to people that know what they're doing?

2) Going back to the first-person narrative account, surely long form content in some kind of episodic form would have been a better execution of this idea (for example)

This is one of those cases where "social media" and "new marketing" are not necessarily one and the same. The former is dominated by PR people and the latter by more advertising/marketing-oriented folk. I find myself somewhere inbetween, longing for the days of good old fashioned storytelling, with a sprinkle of authenticity and a drizzle of ROI to boot.

How about you?