I thought for a hot second about writing the "here's my thoughts from SXSW upon returning from SXSW" blog - instead, I'm going for the tried and true list of the things I loved (and hated). It's so much more convenient. Besides, haven't you read enough blogs on the many marketing merits of Social Media, the tenets of context in content, the game layer and the 9 million apps vying for the title of "The Foursquare of 2011"? I know I did. On to the list!

NUMBER 6

LOVE this. http://ogilvynotes.com/ Not only a great concept - they brought it to life via some talented illustrators that would turn a given panel into an illustration, bringing the broad concepts of the panel discussion to life visually. Brilliant. Tumblr wins again. Nice work.

HATED the panels, for the most part. It was actually a common theme in discussions throughout interactive. Whether outside a panel, in a bar, at lunch, in a bar or at one of the many co-branded parties, lounges and kiosks - the feeling was that the panels were more than ever talking at the audience without really engaging them and not delivering much beyond common knowledge. I took very little away from those I attended. It was a bummer. I actually sat in a panel about marketing to influencers (apparently a new concept to the 500 or so in attendance) at which the moderator kicked off by asking, "raise your hand if you work in social media"…the entire room did apparently. I left after the first panelist reminded everyone not to forget about those consumers in between the coasts that buy stuff. Yikes.

NUMBER 5

LOVE the people. Last year, I left Austin feeling inspired, energized and entertained, especially by panels like Web Video Thunderdome (were those guys here in 2011?). This year, I left feeling the same but as I mentioned above, not because of the panels, because of the people. It really is the best thing going at SXSW. I can't think of another venue where so many people from so many divergent backgrounds just want to meet, and talk, and drink Shiner (or pitch an app?!). You can't help but meet people in the elevator, out to lunch, in a cab…it was great. My liver hurts but it was well worth it. The people are the conference.

HATED all the apps. The quest to be the Foursquare of 2011 was in full effect. There were apps everywhere, literally. Group Me, Mogwee, Livetap…can the world possibly need, or hope to sustain, this many apps? I would argue no. But, if you say yes, I have an app I'd like to pitch you! There's no better example than Hashable. At dinner someone showed it off as a must have. I don't get it. Why do I need this hash tag aggregator? However, this turned into a great little poll I conducted all week. Can you pitch me Hashable? No one could. Not one person.
TRUE STORY: I shared a cab one day with a fellow on his way to ironically…wait for it, The Hashable Party. Nice guy. We had a great chat that of course ended with my question: can you pitch me Hashable? His response? "Well, yeah (beat) I should be able to because I invested in it. But no. No, I can't". BOOM! Winning. I think I'll passable.

NUMBER 4

LOVE what R/GA did with the many, many platforms being used @ SXSW. They created Social Media Hell. Pretty genius. The seven deadly sins on blast in Austin make a perfect competition for Dante's lovely, lovely inferno. Check it out…who wouldn't want to become the Mayor of Hell?

HATED the new venue format that dispersed the panels all over town, but did so by genre or subject…sort of. It was a little vague and confusing actually and a total bummer that really interesting talks were happening all the way out at the ATT convention center. You really missed the opportunity to see a cross-section of the best of the best within walking distance due to this. I hope SXSW looks into how successful this move to segment was - people seemed pretty put off by it.

NUMBER 3

LOVED the band THE BLACK ANGELS. Caught them at the ETSY party and stayed for the entire show. It's rare to see good music before the music conference gets going - and even then - it's just so rare to stumble upon something like this. Bottom line, I woke up the next morning an bought the LP. Yes, I paid for their music. You should too.

HATED the hours. Man am I old. This is one epic run and it's a marathon, not a sprint. Everyday my disco nap was thwarted by a text or a tweet or that damn Group Me. Hey, Group YOU, buddy!

NUMBER 2

LOVED the Mapquest road trip to Salt Lick. I still feel like I need the non-marketing event Salt Lick BBQ experience, but gosh-dangit…they can cook up some meat! Still perplexed as to why not a single attempt by Mapquest to speak to a captive audience and explain why we should all like their shiny new rebrand and dump Google maps? But, I digress.

NUMBER 1

I <3 The Social Media Clubhouse. Of all the great panels not chosen for SXSW 2011, they picked mine! The panel, 99 Questions and Viral Ain't One of Them, was a great opportunity to discuss the work we did on The Coca-Cola Happiness Machine - and we were live on twitter to boot! I thank SMC for the hospitality. Even though it was off the beaten path in Austin, it was worth the trip. It's really a genius idea that I hope they do bigger and better next year. I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you dig it, share it. Thanks SMCH6!

I’m sure Tyler Durden would say it better, but I’m also fairly sure he could easily see that cracking the viral code means you have to first acknowledge there is no viral code. So look at your creative, now look at Old Spice, now back to your creative…back to Old Spice. This is currently the creative everyone wants to smell like.



The problem is few marketers have the (cough) moxie, never mind the market penetration, to attempt creative like this. It’s hilarious and it’s risky, but that’s why it’s genius. For the creative lot it falls into the “I wish I made that” category and for the consumer and pop-culture junkie alike it falls into the “OMG, have you seen this spot?!” category. Which means it’s very spreadable content. People want to be the first to share and there’s a ton of equity in that for Old Spice.

Not only that. It’s a proof of concept for everything to follow. Which made the campaign almost easy to scale. Again, I’m assuming there were some savvy folks pushing that agenda and the client was picking up what they were putting down, all of which seems to be
the case.

Is there an element of luck involved? Sure. But do you have any idea how hard it is to accomplish what they did in the first “I’m on a horse” spot, in camera? Most reading this probably don’t. It’s not easy, and it’s not cheap. I think it was something like 3 days on location to nail it. How about the casting? Can you imagine anyone else but Isaiah Mustafa playing this role? Think he was everyone’s first choice? Maybe? We’ll probably never know.

Sure the assignment may have been “viral” or included a “viral video” but these guys came up with an over the top idea and got it produced. It’s really well done and they have The Emmy to prove it! Did it turn into a wildly popular spreadable campaign Old Spice continues to capitalize on? Yes.

My point is there is a LOT that goes into creating any successful campaign, viral or otherwise, especially one as ambitious as this. These W+K creative’s have no doubt written their ticket to whatever they want in the agency world. How’d they do it? A big idea. A really strong idea, well executed and then scaled based on the success.

The moral of the story: Think big. Don’t think small because the aspect ration is. If this is the creative you want your brand to smell like, get ready to take some serious risks. They did.

I’m on a horse.

Who doesn't love a good Top Ten list? The answer is nobody! Why else would Letterman still be doing it after all these years? I decided it was due time I compiled my own. So, here is my Top Ten List of Top Ten Lists:

#10 - Letterman’s Top 10 - the mother of all top 10 lists

#9 - Top 10 Cat Videos - woo hoo (ironically, I'm allergic... but not to video)
 
#8 - Top 10 Best Tracking Shots Ever - a personal favorite

#7 - Top 10 Inventions That Changed the World - did the bread slicer make the list?
    
#6 - Top 10 Sports Cliches -

#5 - Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs - yeah, thanks for narrowing it down guys. It does have a Top 10 though.

#4 - Top 10 Burgers in the U.S. - according to Playboy (the obvious source)

#3 - Top 10-est Rap Albums of All Time - according to Steady Bloggin'

#2 - Top 10 Video Share Websites - from Top Ten Reviews

And... drum roll please... my #1 pick for best Top 10 lists is...

#1 - Wayne's World - the duo revised the famous bit a couple of years ago.

My point is not the Top Ten lists, but rather, that these lists (and in some cases the corresponding content) have been around for as long as we can remember.  Essentially it’s like a radio DJ of old, someone making choices for you and putting the selected material into neat little buckets to presumably be more easily consumed.

For brands the time has come that we start talking about making a clear distinction when it comes to web video (and content), and all brand messaging online for that matter - the distinction between content vs. intent.

Cats doing wacky stuff is merely content for content sake, there’s no intent to make it spread or sell anything. It’s just…cats? However, what if you do in fact to want to speak to the cat people. What then? How do you ‘meow’ to the feline masses? You want to connect with, collect and ultimately sell to the cat people.

Now we have intent.

This is crucial as the era of services like Peter Gabriel’s TheFilter.com reach the marketplace and begin to filter content for us. Forget search. Imagine all the portals claiming to be the source for the most effective filtering, aggregating only the content that’s right for you.

The media landscape is already fragmented to such a degree it’s difficult for anyone, even the most literate and tech savvy, to follow. Which means now it’s even more important that brands are intentional when creating content to reach their preferred consumer.

Can you just throw a banner ad on some zany video of Al Bundy dancing to the latest Major Lazer jam? Sure, that still works…Google’s banking on it. But you’re not speaking directly to anyone.

Instead, go find people. Your people. Seek them out where they are, and speak to them in their language so you connect in a way that’s engaging, authentic, and real. Intent.

Now take that idea and run with it. That’s what the Internet is for.


(Image Credit: Number 10 by yoppy)

A fact about YouTube: 10,512,000 hours of video have been uploaded in the last year. So what’s the future of online video you ask? Look no further than YouTube for the answer.

I was recently part of a panel discussing online video in all it’s forms: pre-roll, branded, UGC, rich media, spreadable (or viral)…the list goes on an on. One question that I’ve been pondering was the last of the evening at the DFWIMA event. What does the future of online video hold? It was tough to answer, mainly, because I think we’re already there. Wait, what?

Look no further than this guy, doing 32 songs in 8 minutes. A guy with a great little idea and LOTS of talent doing what he does best. Next thing you know, 4 million views and tons of imitators. Personally, I think his next video should up the ante; 64 songs in 4 minutes! But back to the future.

This kid and his guitar captivated myself and 3 other specialists in our respective media fields for 8 whole minutes! Then I passed it on and it became the backbone of this blog. How would a kid and his guitar ever made that happen in the time before YouTube? He wouldn’t.

Need more evidence the future is here? Well, that brings us back to Time Magazine’s list of YouTube’s top 50 videos of all time. You can see work both branded and unbranded that’s spread like wild fire amongst users that have viewed, shared, commented on, rated, blogged, tweeted and eventually actively participated with – which in some cases means imitation, others parody. But they all mean engagement.

Here are the top 10 things I noticed about the top 50 list:

1. Kittens still rule spreadable video

2. Second only to kittens are cute kids...especially when said kids are coming down from heavy sedation

3. Small animals that aren’t kittens still get big laughs, and views.

4. Laughter is the international language, most of these just make us laugh or smile – which undoubtedly makes us want to share.

5. Music is also the international language, (when not speaking laughter) – from the Rick Roll to Evolution of Dance to the Hey Jude Kid (which is a two ‘fer – cute kid and music) music is a common theme.

6. People love subtitles. It’s a simple way for the Average Joe, not video editor Joe, to get in on the fun, assuming he’s got a great idea like Literal Music Videos or the epically popular Hitler series (which if you haven’t seen is not what you think)…both are hilarious.

7. Babies. Man people love babies!

8. Classics stand the test of time. Why? Original ideas are timeless. Lazy Sunday – it put the SNL digital shorts on the map. Chocolate Rain, like a chocolate 20 car pile up – you just can’t overt your eyes, or something that just plain tugs the heartstrings like Randy Pausch. If you’ve never seen it, stop what your doing and grab some Kleenex.

9.  From the department of redundancy department - let me say it again - great ideas are timeless. The stuff that people share is probably smart, funny or outrageous in someway, but most importantly elicits an emotional reaction. Whether narrative or not, it's short, to the point and not a huge investment of time for me to enjoy and then share.

10. Finally, who doesn't love these lists! Give me more! I hope some other outlets take the ball and run with it. I'd love to see what VICE (VBS.TV) or The World's Best Ever (theworldsbestever.com) rank the Top 50 You Tube Videos. What does the Mommy Blogger think for that matter - is she a kitten lady? Who knows....we'll have to wait and see. (I'm looking at you Mommy Blogger)

 

I’m sure we can all agree nostalgia is a powerful thing. It’s what has so many thirty something hip-hop fans pining for the glory days of the 90s, yearning for the past in its idealized form. You know, a time when creativity, if not the genre as a whole, was at its pinnacle. A time before T-Pain and all his blasted auto-tune became the norm (notwithstanding his work with the Blizzard Man of course).

Candy Corn is actually an idea that Ricky Van Veen, co-founder of College Humor, coined…and now in true interweb fashion I’m stealing it and making it mine! (insert evil voice: Muwahahahaaa, ha…cough). Moving on, The Blizzard man video is a perfect example. Andy Samberg, aside from being part of a genius collective of funny men (Lonely Island), is a master of the Candy Corn tactic.

Look at Blizzy B: he’s one part Vanilla Ice, one part Color Me Badd, but 100% hilarious. It’s like a hidden treasure for those of us that share those memories. Trust me, people share content when there’s an emotional connection to it.

What I loved about The Happiness Machine prop, and why we pushed so hard for an older vending machine with no bells and whistles, was to tap into that sense of nostalgia. No touch screen or infrared sensors, no mechanized, robotic arm delivery behind the glass. Oh, and we priced the Coke at $1…hello, nostalgia!

The HEAD video starring Novak Djokovic we shot last year was heavy on the Candy Corn, and the sexual innuendo, thanks to collaboration with the Germans behind the creative. For the record, I’ll take credit for upping the nostalgia with the Flashdance reference and Naked Gun approach to the narrative (the nipple tassels and baby oil was all them).

Aside from a well-executed idea with a good hook, Candy Corn isn’t just the last thing left in your plastic jack-o-lantern anymore. It’s another weapon in your web video arsenal to be generously sprinkled on your creative. If done well it’s another element that inherently makes folks spread your video.

For me as a director, this is a narrative path I choose time and again because I grew up in the glory days of Super Friends, cassette tapes and MTV, when they played music videos and it was arguably the coolest art form on the planet.

Now I get paid to weave as much of that idealized past into my work as possible. It’s what makes me who I am as a creative and a consumer. So remember, next time you think it’s gotta be all shiny-new-futuristic cutting-edge or the kids won’t buy in, remember the candy corn.

Now if this were a documentary and not a blog I’d start out this way:

FADE IN:
Simple white text over black.

viral |ˈvīrəl|
adjective
1 of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses.

2 of or involving the rapid spread of information about a product or service by viral marketing techniques : a viral video ad. 
Creating original and entertaining viral advertising is a unique challenge every time it’s attempted; no matter the agency, the client or the brand. The audience at large has become more and more fickle when it comes to what entertains them, especially online.

Creating something the viewer feels compelled to pass along to a friend? Even more difficult. That’s why I try to make it clear every time I embark on a job dubbed “viral”. It’s not a noun. You are attempting to catch lightning in a bottle...naming it as such doesn’t make it so.
 
So what is the secret formula to this viral video stuff? The secret is there is no secret. Who can explain why one day the Coca Cola “Happiness Machine” is wildly popular and the next the “Death Metal Rooster” or the latest kitten video is all the rage? There are too many mitigating factors to count, let alone to try and prepare for. You can’t make a video spread virally. All the planning and analysis in the world will never trump a great idea. There it is. I knew I had a point!
 
What we do know is people are consuming video online like never before. 141 million people viewed Web video in February. Even more astounding, YouTube announced that users are uploading 20 hrs of video every minute of every day on their site. Man, that’s a lot of kittens!

Gone are the days that just because it’s there people will watch it, never mind share it. But that’s the goal. Sharing. Buzzfeed actually uses a metric on their site to chart viral performance - the formula is based on how actively the content is being shared and spread to chart success. Not just views.
 
As the guys from undercurrent.com so brilliantly said in their SXSW presentation, “internet fame is a social phenomenon, not a magic trick”. So what does that mean for brands entering the space? What can they do to help achieve some internet fame?
 
Firstly, for me as a creative, and certainly as a director, there’s one sure-fire trick to be followed and that starts with a great idea. Look at the most successful viral advertising and web video. I bet it’s a fairly simple idea done really well, usually in the “I wish I thought of that” category.

Is the idea and, in turn, the content quality? Is it original, smart, funny, heartfelt, genuine, or is it simply content for content sake? Will it entertain? Will it engage? Will it encourage advocacy - meaning, do I feel compelled to share? As a brand, the Death Metal Rooster is probably not something to aspire to…unless you’re Purdue maybe...which is just plain weird.  My point is that brands can’t chase “Chocolate Rain” or “Star Wars Kid”…I mean, come on, that kid would totally destroy you!
 
Two, duration. If you want to harness the power of the people sharing a great idea, keep it short and get to the hook early (around 2 minutes is our sweet spot) but if you insist on going longer, for the love of all that’s holy, raise the stakes and the funny*, escalate things to keep them engaged. *(oh, the funny, like "more cowbell", always helps).
 
People are being entertained across an ever-growing number of mediums and everyday consumers become more media literate. I will always passionately argue that just creating content is simply not enough. Content is king, sure, but now quality is job one.

Not to say that only means production value. That’s part of it of course. I’m the first to push back on folks that say things like “internet budget” or “it’s only being produced for a tiny screen, it should be really cheap right?”, or my favorite, “it’s only for the Web”, argh…don’t get me started!
 
Now, spoiler alert; time for a little self-tooting…wait for it. "The Happiness Machine" was a great idea. The fact that it has such a broad appeal is not a fluke. It’s a simple concept that delivered the desired effect; to put a smile on people’s faces. It’s on brief, on brand and elicits a genuine emotional response. Lucky for us, Coke saw that early on and they deserve a LOT of credit for preserving the core idea. The final product as it exists is very, very close to the initial creative. That is rare.
 
So, back to that trite open of mine. If you do your job right, the derivative of viral becomes an adverb, “virally”, because it has performed that way. People shared it and hopefully, became active participants with your brand.

Now, I don’t have all the answers. I’m just a guy that spent two days inside a vending machine so what do I know? What I do know is viral, much like any other successful advertising, is still about the big idea. Don’t think small because the aspect ratio is. On the contrary, think bigger because your audience is growing every day.

I love the idea that the only difference between a community and an audience is the way the chairs are facing. You can produce a million dollar spot and seed it or spend your million seeding a low budget video featuring nothing but a farting sock puppet, if the concept sucks there goes your million and your audience. (note to self: write million dollar sock puppet treatment, post haste!).
 
It’s no longer just about views or clicks, it’s about becoming part of the cultural zeitgeist. People share, discuss, rate, comment on, discuss, tweet, blog and even spoof or parody your creation. That’s viral. Your idea spreads rapidly beyond your control through every channel.

For brands, it means the consumer becomes your biggest advocate and as we have come accustomed to saying, BOOM goes the dynamite! You’re viral. Just stop calling it that. Cool? Thanks.

SXSW Interactive 2010 Highlights

The friendly competition that is checking in on Foursquare...

MacGruber! (sung to MacGruber theme) wearing a wig/ taking a picture on a green screen in which we are killing it, MACGRUBER!...

#thunderdome, web video thunderdome was my favorite panel bar none, even though they gave Happiness Machine no love. http://webvideothunderdome.com/

p.s. stop saying "viral": http://whatconsumesme.com/2009/posts-ive-written/will-i-share-your-branded-content/


#bcdd, Big Campaigns on Digital Dollars...

The death of business cards, I loved exchanging emails on the fly when making real connections. At least for me "give me your email" replaced, "do you have a card?".

Seeing narrative shorts @ originalalamo while eating one of the best breakfast burritos on the planet! Such a cool theater...best short with the worst name award goes to: "Equestrian Sexual Response."

SXSW Interactive 2010 Lowlights

TRAFFIC!...

Checking in on Foursquare at the "30 Minute Line for the Bathroom at the Mohawk" ... (there was only ONE!?)...

Big studio and TV people talking to themselves about digital incubators for content and web video...

These panels were a stark contrast to all the smart thinking going on all around them...it was everywhere! Dudes, you were surrounded by the people you claim to be so desperately seeking! The problem, just like most brands still struggling with the digital game, they are waiting for these people to come to them, rather than seeking them out on their own turf.

These execs made it clear you have to understand; that side of the business takes real dedication to get things done. Code for: once we find you we bring you and your work into our archaic world so those fresh ideas can be slowly drained of there life essence...like the Skeksis in the Dark Crystal. It was tragic and ironic at the same time. I call it, tragonic. I digress...(no Labyrinth references I promise).

My favorite part of SXSW was the people, and they are smarter than that scenario I just described. The place was FULL of great people with groundbreaking ideas and a new creative perspectives.  It was great to get the opportunity to listen to, meet and discuss the smart kids and their ideas and know that even if they're smarter than you, we're all on the same page. Go us!

Can we all agree our business has changed?  We are amidst change of historical proportion in every way and the socio-economic landscape will continue to evolve over the months and years to come.  Agreed? Great, moving on...

Not to be the bitter and jaded one here (but it comes really easily to me)...and I don't know about you, but I would much rather hear more about all the people that have evolved along with the business, not the proverbial sticks in the mud pining for the days of old - and in turn - a business model of old.  Ahem...

I'm not saying I don't agree with parts of this open letter, especially what's at the core - talent.  I believe it's crucial that you have the best talent at every turn.  This undoubtedly makes the work better.  However, the idea that working with the best creative team possible AND doing so in a way that is more cost effective is mutually exclusive is naive.  There is a way to have both.  Not only that, many clients are embracing the change and, yes, still doing great work.  So do I go in-house, do I work independent, what do we do - tell me...what do we DO?!

What is this revolutionary fix-all miracle tonic you ask?  It's turnkey production.  I know, not the sexiest of names but it's proved to be the wave of the present.  It was the wave of the future 3 years ago when businesses like ours saw an opportunity to do more with the core talent and client roster we already had, in turn growing our business in new, exciting ways. Delivering work from script to screen across the 3 that matter in the digital age: TV, internet, mobile.

I actually agree that the in-house "agency edit" as they refer to it via Brand Week isn't the best idea if for no other reason than clients get very little new perspective on the work, and the post talent may be questionable.  But that's not to say this is not a viable approach to creative problem solving and more importantly, like the angry parents that warned us, hip-hop was just a fad, it's merely a trend...wait a few years and you crazy kids will forget all about the silly rap musics.”   This is not going away.  Whether it's working in-house or via a soup to nuts production model, we all have to do more with less.  If you can't or won't adapt, you will not survive.

The irony is that we’ve made steps in this direction 2 plus years ago and met with lots of furrowed brows and shrugged shoulders.  Where today, I not only find a warm reception to our business model, we've also seen it emulated in many different iterations over the past year and have clients actively seeking ways for this model to do more.  More?  Yes please we'd love some more, thanks!

In summary, I would extend the scope of this letter beyond the lens of editorial to ask the question, "Are your brand’s messages being crafted by the best TALENT available to ensure maximum effectiveness?"

You may just find that talent, and their businesses, are thriving.  They are living and working together, all in one place.  It's the future.  In case you haven't figured it out already...it's here.