Crowdsourcing and the Music Video

Approximately 40,000 people helped director Chris Milk create The Johnny Cash Project's "Aint No Grave" music video -- and score a Grammy nomination. The following interview with Milk, who was present at CaT London, goes through his experiences and inspirations in creating some of the most innovative music projects to date. In an era where crowdsourcing and interaction are king, Milk is at the forefront in combining the two for the ultimate user experience.

Chris Milk at CaT London 2010

The Johnny Cash Project

~ alicia

Insight Chasers

on a long drive today, I started to think about what if...I started my own agency. Thinking about filling a niche that traditional agencies try so hard to reach while setting myself up for long-term planner wisdom and connections planning 101, I arrived at the name (and purpose) of Insight Chasers.

now, if I can only harness the power of the creative collective online via social media, maybe this 'agency' could be virtual, of the future, and accessible to anyone.

read The New Socialism by Wired and you'll get a better sense of the collectivist community I'm referring to.

Merry Holidays

I'm sure most of you are of the generation that saw MTV at its best and then...at its most confusing brand state; so you've found other music channels to follow: pitchfork, lastfm (my latest fav), maybe Fuse. I found the following "artists wish you a merry christmas" video on Fuse today, it's nothing super special, but it reminds me that artists are brands too. Why don't ad agencies or huge holding companies produce something similar for their clients? I think it might be neat and wholesome (?) to see a video of advertisers (brands) wishing consumers Merry Christmas. Just an idea. Enjoy.

go to www.thisad.com

In the age of information, it seems we always want to communicate as much as we can. The client wants to get their message, contact information, website, and any other support points ALL in one ad ALL the time. I think it's silly to clutter a space with all of this information at once and believe it doesn't make any sense message-wise. If a consumer sees a billboard (or a bus ad), think about where they are: in their car. They're NOT going to be able to check out your website and most likely won't remember it when they do get to a computer, even if they repeat it 3x in their head (I've tried it, it doesn't work). Instead, a website might work better in a text message or in a TV commercial; a lot of people are combining laptop time with TV watching these days: This makes more sense.

Anyway, I don't have the answer yet. My podmate said it's a problem of media saturation which I'd agree with to an extent. It's also a problem of one-sided communication. We think that just because we give people information they'll use it or know what to do with it. WRONG! We need to do a bit more work these days and come up with ways in which we can help/remind people to use this information.

I hear a new Google app in the making...only if they read this post. :p

more to come...

Be brave

Scott had the privilege to judge planning entries for the Jay Chiat awards a few weeks back. He had this to say:

Good planning needed to help create and inform the development of ideas beyond the basic creative idea, identifying details that create and guide executional possibilities.

But, he said that few if any entries really achieved this planning objective.

The core of an original idea either failed to develop beyond the strategy or ended up in a conventional execution.

I love this. It inspires me to be more courageous in meetings where brand management argues against an idea because it's unconventional and "not what the client asked for."

I think his definition of good planning is what the new generation of planners seeks to achieve but we're running into a system that doesn't like to be shaken. I'd like to think that my courageousness could inspire a client to risk and be different, to standout, but...the ideas we can come up with beyond basic creativity, I find, need to be shelved for a later day or another client.

Can brave wait?

Making ideas come to life

"Brands as shared objects," by Mark, gave me a thought > if we give users the tools they need to customize and make the product their own (not consumer-generated but actually building on a base product provided by a brand) then, not only are we letting them become "part of the process" but we are facilitating the manifestation of a unique idea.

A good example would be blogger.com (Google-owned). We have a platform to work from but if we have an idea to change the appearance or add something, we have the tools to make it happen. We have creative control. Part of what makes the new idea of co-creation so awesome is the aspect of ownership. Google has given us the tools to make our own ideas come to life.

And in the business of advertising, we all know how hard it is sometimes to get an idea realized. Smart brands have not only figured out how to do it for themselves but for their customers. Pretty cool.

PSFK Conference 2008

Conversation topics will be:

Finding Inspiration
Michelin star chef Eric Ripert explains how his three annual trips inspire his menu, service and brand.
Good Business
Is good the new green? Does being good mean making good profits? Marc Alt leads a panel with Graham Hill , Johnny Vulkan, Jeff Staple and Jeffrey Hollender to investigate one of the key trends driving business.
Social Media
In a 'new guns' versus 'marketing gurus' debate, Josh Spear & Noah Brier join Marc Schiller & Steve Rubel to debate how social media will change in 2008 and how companies can leverage this digital phenomenon in the most rewarding way. Moderated by Noelle Weaver .
Does New York Matter?
Local observers discuss whether the culture created in New York has a role on a global stage.
Collaborative Co-Working
Etsy and NASA explain how they engage their customers, staff, partners and the community with co-working spaces (real and virtual).
Tomorrow's TV
How has digital changed the delivery, content, sponsorship and future of television? Mike Hudack and Adam Stotsky join a panel to discuss the opportunities and challenges.
Pattern Recognition
Grant McCracken explains the importance of inspiration, providing a framework for which to gather, monitor and react to trends and ideas in culture and business.

Tickets are discounted for Likeminders, pretty awesome of Piers.

a trend room

I'm currently handling duties to construct a Trend Lab that functions as a think tank, findings holding ground, and all-around cool place for the agency to do some brainstorming.

To start, I collected all the trends from Iconoculture and Trendwatching.
I separated them by year and plotted them on a continuum. I started to look for patterns, but then I stopped.

What IS a trend? I wanted to figure this out first and foremost. If this was to be an ongoing project, it needs to be founded on a belief system with agreed upon values.

A trend is of significance when it concerns a mass amount of people (i.e. it's not just a blip on the radar, it's multiple blips that = a movement). A fad is not a movement; a fad is a blip. Ok, so a trend is a movement. A movement of what? Or why? I birthed a hypothesis that a trend is a reflection of consumers' needs gaining momentum. Trends with names like "Transparency Tyranny" or "InfoLust" both signify that marketing has asked a question, and the cultural cosmos has answered with a stance - a need - a reflection - an insight. Then because the trend is called out and contained within a definition, marketers can, in turn, react to this "need." Iconoculture and Trendwatching both identify brands and companies that excel in these trend times (probably because they have fulfilled a need).

Maybe this has already been out there in the ad world for a while, but I feel like I just stumbled on it for the first time. A "trend" before now has seemed like just a cool thing; a fad in itself; a subject to write newsletters on and start websites about. Trends are identified with words like what's hot, cool finds, things to watch. etc.

Trendwatching.com says a trend is:

• A manifestation of something that has 'unlocked' or newly serviced an existing consumer need, desire, want, value.

See. They knew it all along. :p Well, at least they knew it in 2002, and Iconoculture knew it in 2003. And now I know it, and I value its application and implications.

So with a room, my teams and I will be collecting "cries" for help: Consumers who need - validation, acceptance, an answer, a response, community - a trend. A movement...to rally around a need.

In a brand world of relationships with consumers, brands have to be nimble enough to respond to these needs accordingly. If there's a movement and your brand doesn't respond, that's one notch on the "honey, you didn't listen to me" contention-belt. And points of contention in a market full of choices will weed yours out pretty quick. May the best brands win. Plan on.

the definition of new

I was at the gym this morning, lifting some weights thinking about my form and such. I thought about all the variations of simple exercises that trainers and other likeminds have come up with purely for the sake of "something new." This is a thread from my thoughts below, spurred by Scott's comment in semi-support of "the box." In my gym metaphor, the box is traditional, simple exercises.

There is a difference between coming up with something new and using differently what's already available. Miami Ad School taught us each to find our own stride; what makes us unique as a planner; how will we position ourselves as we try to break in to a popular category. And there's much to be said for new ideas and innovation (a planner should have this skill as well) but what's under-rated but just as important is looking at the existing elements and re-arranging them: saying "what about this?"

It is our job to bring something new to the table, but now I'm starting to shift my idea of what new means. It's somewhat easier to dismiss new ideas, those that create something that's never been created before because they're too unique. Ideas that refresh elements that already exist; however, might be easier to digest.

I'm not sure if I have articulated this well enough, so stay tuned for an update. Basically, when you say "new" what do you mean? New way to think? Or is it new, never been created before?

add stuff to your portfolio time...

Wandering around the internet this weekend, I found two ways to get your mind thinking AND possibly add work to your planning portfolio:

1. Planning for Good, a relatively new Facebook group has posted a brief for an Idea Village in New Orleans. Take a stab at it here, brief provided.
2. Account Planning School of the Web, originally created by planning celeb Russell Davies, is now being handled by Gareth at Brand New. The current assignment is for Mr. Clean, brief provided with project due date here.

It's Idea Time: Go! Have fun!

my world: overhead in New York

(preface: this is my version as opposed to the actual online community if you didn't know about it already.)

"What's wi-fi?" - employee in Carroll Gardens cafe

"He asked me to be his Myspace friend..." - 25+ something girl on cellphone in Brooklyn

"This is like a pop-culture museum." - 20-something guy about Simpson's 7-11 in Midtown

"I'm a super-freak, super-freak, I'm super-freaky" - three street-men , dancing at 8a in the West Village, it was awesome and should be picked up for a music video asap!

"Art doesn't kill." - 75+ teacher at the School for Visiaul Arts, having a conversation about art & politics at a bar in SoHo

"Shoes, that was the 80s. Today, it's iPods." - NYPD talking to me about safety and theft

creative possibilties and ideas

are endless at a Museum! Go to one NOW! This post comes after going to Target FREE Friday at the MoMA with my friend Kent (copywriter in training).

First of all, if you're not into crowds do not, repeat DO NOT go on Free Fridays. The place is swarming with people. There is no sidewalk to follow, no path you should take. It's chaos! It's like Pamplona and the running of the bulls only they have cameras and children. There's no set pace; everyone's moving in their own directions at their own speed. I wondered if there's ever been any studies done on crowd movement within museums. What I found:

• something called adaptive movement behaviors
  
• the Crowd Farm by two MIT students hoping to harness energy from human movement

and not much else. Hmmm...seems that "movement science" as defined for human physical and mechanical movements should/could be applied to crowd flow. It could help us determine factors that contribute to movement, blah blah blah. Architects and structural engineers probably have to consider this sort of thing: where should we put the stairs? how do we position the escalators? I think there's a difference between walking on a sidewalk and moving around a museum. I see an opportunity here for research or maybe I just haven't found it.

Weird fact: You can take pictures (no flash) of the permanent art collections in the MoMA but not the temporary exhibits. Yeah, you can take pictures but you can't point at the art (bringing your finger inches from the canvas). Miss Pointy here got reprimanded several times with "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Nothing. I'm pointing. Those people are taking pictures in a museum.

Next thing that occurred to me was the potential for copywriters to exercise their skills with "Untitled" works of art. When I moved from Ringaround Arosie to Sleeping Gypsy to Untitled I became irked by the lack of name. Like, come on, if there are blank boards titled The Twin and The Tree, surely you can name a sculpture of three pillars and some mysteriously hanging balls (Magic, Storm, and Horizon come to mind). Anyway, I see this as a campaign opportunity for copywriters. Maybe they could pair up with artists who don't want to spend the time titling their work. But then we have to ask: What's in a name? Google returns 261 million websites for the question: ranging from "What's your Viking Name?" to "What's your Spammer name?" Sounds like quiz time to me.

Lastly, when Kent and I came to the Sleeping Gypsy (above), he interpreted it as pre-feast for the lion: "That lion's ready to tear her apart." I interpreted it as lion curiosity: "The lion is just checking things out, saying hello to another being in the desert way of life." He was shocked that I would have such a contrast in perception. But I think our interpretations say more about who we are rather than what we're looking at.

These ideas & observations are open to YOUR interpretation. Feel free to comment. Have a great Sunday.

Americana

is the cowboy still considered the antithesis of our modern, go go go, slightly materialistic society? In an NPR (great station) story that covered breakaway advertising, the Marlboro Man was described as "his own man in a world he owned, a man whose environment was simplistic and relatively pressure-free."

my latest and greatest campaign for cigarettes goes something like this: Got the hiccups? Smoke a cigarette. came up with that one this weekend at a party. hiccups are a damn party ruiner...there's no pill, no exercise, no solution. Couldn't we change the image of cigarettes to a more solution-based positioning statement? i'm kidding.

the title of this blog is Americana. to my roomie, Americana means all things relating to our culture in very white-bread american terms: homecoming, BBQ, drinking beer, watching a game, etc. She brought this up after i told her about an endearing window onto human life i'd had: Picture a garage filled to the brim with tractor parts, a small tv screen in the back playing the latest, interesting sports-replay, and three men sitting with their beers/coffee mugs in hand. there's a girl, about 9, tap dancing, practicing her routine, showing off a little but concentrating like there's no tomorrow. the men share time watching her and watching the game. it's silent. it's genuine.

it was a moment i enjoyed for what it was. thank you.

new media, baby boomers and design

Ok, no lies, but one year ago I wrote down some trends I thought were interesting and cool:

• non-traditional media
• a focus on baby boomers in advertising/messaging
• more emphasis on the experience of design
• more brands taken through to the consumer level via customer-service

And what do we see happening NOW?

• New media: postcard flyers, cellphone texts, craigslist, etc.
• Cadillac's new campaign targeting the second wind the BB generation experiences
• Agencies like Anomaly, understanding a brand experience holistically through design.
• customer-service is the tortoise....looking forward to upcoming enhancements HERE.

and one more trend that is developing: latino marketing. I love this quote from the Director of MarComm at the Hartman Group: "Anyone can sell product - people are looking for an authentic shopping experience." (think design again, yeah!!!)

book advice

Junior planner/entry-level ~ things to think about when creating your portfolio:

• entertain and inform: don't make it a chore to read
• focus in on what's really important to planning
• bring the tools you use to life
• focus on one insight that really led the creative
• the creative should not overpower: choose one piece that represents work best
• don't explain everything, it should be a conversation piece
• have a trackable thinking process
• don't talk too much

Fred Fannon

• show new inventive ways to do things: Be innovative
• study as much as you can: Learn
• there is a huge emotional part of this business: Tap into them
• always acknowledge other people's opinions: share ideas