Las Vegas, Jockey brief underwear sightings, Tweetups and no sleep means that the Ragan Social Media conference has just ended and, well, forgive me if this post is somewhat longwinded, but I am in Las Vegas this week as Definition 6 sponsored the Twitter lounge at this conference, and still not fully recovered. And more about the underwear sightings later.

I've just absorbed so much great insight it still has my head spinning.

Which actually brings me to the one of the key takeaways from the conference, as Chris Brogan put it best in his closing keynote, "we are in consumption overload." Part of the problem is that we have many tools and channels to communicate that it becomes increasingly difficult to cut through the clutter when you try to convey a message, create a connection, and ultimately drive more sales for your brand.  So how can you avoid this?

1- Create good content.  It all begins here. From almost every presenter I've listened to over the past day and a half, they all basically said the same thing.  From Southwest Airlines whose "Nuts about Southwest" blog showcases customers, to Zappos focuses on the mission to "Deliver Happiness" (not just sell products) with video content, it all results in positive social media conversations, high brand affinity and ultimately- more sales.

2- Use Twitter for Customer Service - this is where many companies can exceed expectations or have a PR nightmare.  It's all in the response.  Many presenters talked about this, as Zappos mentioned in their closing keynote, their Twitter account is managed / works closely with the Customer Service teams in the organization.  

3- Tools are not "neato" - stop focusing on the new shiny app, site, platform and create content that resonates. 

4- For lead generation, use Twitter Search vs. "Like-gating" and measuring the value of RTs: Use social media to listen, search for relevant connections and provide value.  By understanding what people are searching for, you can then respond to them and drive sales. 

5- Video Video Video - Video has the power to connect sight, sound and motion, telling your story like no other medium.  Whether you use it as a response to a PR crisis situation, or to highlight the culture of a brand, or even empowering your fan base to create user generated videos that a brand promotes/shares, video has the power to reach us all on an emotional level. 

6 - Google+ is a must. This is the first time I've heard practical advice on why Google+ is so game-changing.  Search Plus Your World combines search, leveraging the data in your circles, connections, and bring you relevant results with meaning.  Every brand should make sure Google+ is on their social media list and do it fast. 

Ragan Conferences are chock-full of great communicators, eager Tweeters and a hunger for knowledge. 

Not only did Definition 6 host a Twitter lounge, but we also had a raffle going on for the best tweet.  The winner was RBelcher3, Ryan Belcher at Jockey, who kept leaving these mini Jockey brief keychains in places around the conference like the Twitter lounge, men's bathroom (so I've heard), conference chairs, the welcome sign and more.  By creating these shareable moments and good content sparked many Ragan attendees to "LOL" and RT the images, and we applaud you for doing so.  With a conference focused on creating content, it couldn't have been a better fit (insert underwear pun here).
 

Ok, so the big game was on Sunday, and I could write a blog on how the some commercials were funny, nostalgic, creative and well, how some were just plain boring!  And I can link to all the other blogs or articles with the typical "Day After Superbowl" recap of the winners, losers, and most creative spots. 

But the most important question for marketers surrounding the Superbowl still remains - what worked?  How does a brand measure success?  Is it the most viewed ads?  The most talked about spots? The ones deemed "winners" by trade publications? 

And the biggest question of all...how did the internet and social media impact the biggest advertising spend day of the year?  What did the second screen do to the ratings and the advertising results? Were spots released online more well received?  Or were those spots not as memorable since the "shock factor" was gone? 

Last year, VW released their Superbowl ad "The Force" online and it was a huge success (and to date it has over 50 million views!)  Did the strategy work again?  Let's take a look.

For this year's ad, they released an online teaser, the full spot online, and then the on-air version aired during the game.  Hit or miss?  It didn't make the top 10 Superbowl commercials list in social TV that AdAge and Bluefin Labs released.  But it did receive over 12 million views for the teaser on and over 5 million views for the full spot on YouTube as of Monday at 4:00pm.

And according to TiVo, it was #5 on top 10 most watched commercials list.  And if you checked Hulu's list of "most liked" ads, VW took the top first and third spot. 

I'd have to say that this was a win.  What works for one brand may not be the best strategy for another, but in this case, VW was clearly trying to reach a social savvy, tech-driven audience and I'd say it worked.  Will it make me go out and buy a VW? I don't know.  But do I think that the brand has come a long way since "punch buggies?" - absolutely. 

Pre-releasing ads does have some sort of a buzz kill for the live viewing, taking the excitement away from seeing the ad for the first time, but it does have merit.  Just look at the top three most viewed ads (according to the TiVo report) which did not pre-release online (namely: 1. Doritos: “Man’s Best Friend”, 2. M&Ms: “Ms. Brown”, 3. Doritos: “Sling Baby”).

It certainly raises the bar for the other ads that don't pre-release - they better deliver!!  And with the second screen viewing, they may die on the vine before their :30 seconds are up (especially with Twitter putting out 10,000 tweets per second!)

For those who haven't seen any of the ads, you can watch them all on AdAge.com.

Last night, Definition 6 hosted the PromaxBDA Emerging Media Workshop to talk about trends for 2012.  Presenters ConnectTV, Crimson Hexagon and Google+ talked about what the broadcast community needs to know as they plan for 2012, including how social TV will become more integral into programming, how data (especially social media data) will evolve and the importance for communication planning - right message, to the right audience, at the right time. 
What truly came out of the event (besides great networking and an excuse to eat pizza while drinking beer and wine) was that unified marketing is critical to the success of any brand.  Whether it's on-air content, social media or other owned media online properties, by leveraging the data we can now gather, unifiying your marketing message into the proper channels will exponentially amplify your message and increase awareness around your show, promotion, event or any other marketing objectives.

Google+ showed examples of this by using a simple story about a guy who had just visited Boston, and was asked "how was the trip?"  By Google's explanation, the answer is dependent on the person asking the question. If it was the guy's mother, his response would probably be drastically different than the answer he gives to his buddies, or even his co-workers.  This idea of the right message to the right audience and the right time, is exactly how we look at marketing and branding at Definition 6.  Our unified marketing approach is just that - leverages data to communicate brand messages appropriately to its core customers, in the proper environments and at the right time. 



Thanks again to PromaxBDA for hosting their event here at our offices!

Definition 6’s Expert-in-Residence Frank Radice and Account Director Michael Sater attended the International Consumer Electronics show (CES) last week, and they are here to tell you about the insights and highlights from the event.

“So, this is Frank Radice down at CES 2012, where I worked on a panel with a bunch of great people from Bravo and Discovery and Yahoo! and Ovation, and we were talking about Social TV, and does Social TV have a legitimate place right now? Can it be intrusive? Is it a good thing?  I think the most important thing that came out of all of CES, for me, wasn’t a lesson that I hadn’t already learned, it was just something that I was reminded of, that you can’t make television for the other people that are in these rooms that are here at these conventions, you have to make it for the viewer, or the user, or the person that actually consumes the content.”

Frank: “So Michael, what have you seen here at CES that you liked?”

Michael: “Well, in CES 2012, Frank, what I found really interesting, was the immense number of mobile devices, tablets, phones, and I think it’s going to be very impactful for the social consumer.  Whether you are in front of a TV, or you want to grab content off of your television or off of the web, you can now have it traveling with you, which is very powerful.  So the consumer can feel more in command of that experience, so if they are watching something in their home, now all of a sudden they can draw up that content on their tablet.  In fact, TiVo is having a device where they can push the content from one TV to the next, and also to initial devices like their iPad. Companies such as Samsung are trying to bring that digital experience into everything, where now your washing machine will notify you when you are in another room in the house that your laundry is done.  For their primary customer, it’s extremely powerful, that they can now not be a slave to that machine, and they can feel informed at all points in time, with the information that’s relevant to them, when they want it, the way they want it, as they are walking around."

You can follow Definition 6 on Twitter @Definition6 or like us on Facebook at facebook.com/definition6.

It's pretty cool when you get to work on a project that you know is a hit, a project that you know the client will love, and a project you know will get their fans talking.  And sharing.  But then you look at your glass and think, "Wow, this Kool-Aid is really great!" and sometimes you forget about what the people out there really think about your work.

And then your project gets listed on AdAge's Top 10 Social Media Campaigns from 2011, and you remember - yea that really WAS awesome.  And if your project was anything like our Facebook application "Immortalize Yourself" created to launch season four of HBO's hit show True Blood, then your conversations had something to do with any or all of the following: "vampires, witches, werewolves, Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard, Ryan Kwanten, Kristin Bauer, Deborah Ann Woll, HBO, Social Media, Facebook, complex Flash layering, detailed motion design, great creative, great script, personalization in full motion video, high availability, cloud farms, CDN's, open source, high performance where every millisecond in processing counts, and integration with multiple SaaS providers and their API's" (quoted from our CTO Paul Hernacki).



Thanks to all those folks at HBO and Definition 6 who worked on this project. And a special thanks goes to the fans - who shared this and have Immortalized Themselves and friends in countless videos over the course of this campaign.  In the end, it's all about creating content that is shareable, likeable and "tweetable." We are glad this one did.

Since season four of True Blood is over, we have moved the application from HBO's page to the Definition 6 Facebook page.  If you have not already IMMORTALIZED YOURSELF, go there today and make your video.  Share with friends.  And live on into eternity. 

Check out this video that shows some of the Definition 6 team integrated into the "IMMORTALIZE YOURSELF" Facebook Application.

Since the day I interviewed here at Definition 6, I've heard about the annual Halloween party.  It was legendary.  By the time January 2011 rolled around there were still decorations on the walls, in people's offices and it was all they were still talking about.  So you can imagine the build up leading into this year's event. 

With a Vampire theme in mind, our fearless creative team created the "House of Blood," and transformed our NYC Office into a Vampire museum of sorts, equipped with three bars, smoking cauldrons with specialty punch, amazing sponsors like Yahoo!, StumbleUpon, Avid and Bootlegger Vodka, and some pretty awesome costumes! 

All the photos are available on our Facebook page.  We have multiple albums to view the pictures, including the photo booth shots.  Here are some quick links to help you navigate through the albums:

Album one - mostly step and repeat photos
Album two - party shots and some great costumes
Album three - more party shots...things are starting to get messy
Album four - dancing, dancing, Oscar the Grouch, and more dancing
Album five - happy party people and lots of smiles
Album six - part one of the photo booth pics (there are many!)
Album seven - more photo booth pics
Album eight - even more photo booth pictures
Album nine - the last of the photo booth pictures!
Album ten - the Atlanta version!!

The graphics department became the Fang Club Lounge offering an escape from the dance floor in a relaxing room with the Feeding Bar serving Fangtasy Elixir punch. 



Yahoo!'s Blood Lab bar offered a Purple Plasma Punch, and Blackout Shooters, with purple light up ice cubes in Yahoo! barware.  My favorite giveways were the Yahoo! insta-yodles with five settings on which to play the iconic Yahoo! Yodle.  




StumbleUpon's Vampire Slayer bar offered more swag items like sunglasses and koozies, and the photobooth provided fun for all (especially those D6-ers who showed up to work on the day after the party and got to see the photostream on our lobby monitors!).



The weather was challenging to say the least, with terrible rain and wind, and even with a tent and a tarp we had to move the party indoors this year for safety reasons.  But that didn't stop our clients, friends and other guests from showing up and dancing the night away. 




And to those who have not yet attended, there is always next year!!

Jon Accarrino, Michael Pinckney, Donna Drake and Frank Radice on the red carpet.

WILLiFEST 2011 took place this past weekend in Brooklyn, NY with over 100 films premiering in four different venues over the course of four days. Despite the rainy weather, there was a great turnout Friday night for the hip hop horror film premiere of "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You," - a film directed by Michael Pinckney and executive produced by Spike Lee.  Donna Drake from the TV Show "Live it UP!" was on the red carpet collecting interviews with the cast and crew.

Locomotive Distribution hosted a private screening at the Knitting Factory where the film's stars showed up to dazzle the red carpet, do interviews and watch as this long-awaited film project launched.  One of the film's top actors, Nashawn Kearse, plays Manchild, a rap star who is the potential next victim of a serial killer on the loose aimed at hip hop stars.  Other stars in attendance included Assiatou Lea, and Jacinto Taras Riddick.

The Hitchcockian film had the right mix of a thriller and hip hop movie with special appearances by rap icons Doug E Fresh, Big Daddy Kane and Ed Lover. 


Nashawn Kearse on the red carpet.

Jacinto Taras Riddick being interviewed at the premiere.

After the film screening, Locomotive Distribution hosted an after party at Trash Bar, a local joint in Brooklyn, where the director and many of the film's stars partied the night away. 

On Saturday, WILLiFEST continued with a block party and some amazing panels which showcased the importance of sound in film, as well as distribution for independent film makers.

Frank Radice moderated a panel entitled "The Sound and the Fury: Music for TV & Film from Some of the Industry’s Best – From Sonic Branding to Creating the Mood." Panelists included Michael "Boogie" Pinckney, director of the movie and founder of Black Noise Media, Mark Constanzo, a well-known foley artist, and Chad "Kotchy" Curlow, a sound editor at Definition 6 who worked on the music in this film.  Mark Constanzo was recently interviewed on the Today Show describing what he does on a daily basis.

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This panel showcased one scene from the "YNTSKY" film where we showed the clip "naked" (with dialogue only), then with foley added to it, then with music tracks mixed in, and then finally with it all together, highlighting the mood changes and importance of how sound can change a scene.

The second panel was hosted by Locomotive Distribution's Gabriel Gornell and Colleen Seldin, talking about the importance of packaging when it comes to making your film/TV show marketable for distribution.  Gabriel pointed out some key things to consider while making your film, like where does it fit in the landscape of the market you are interested in distrubution?  Colleen also pointed out that while you are probably putting all of your money into the film to make it spectacular, you should always consider leaving a portion of it aside for marketing, allowing you to create a potential pitch-tape in order to get your production out to potential buyers.


Gabriel Gornell and Colleen Seldin of Locomotive Distribution

All in all, this was one weekend jam packed with excitement and creativity.  If you missed out on WILLiFEST this year, keep an eye out for next year's schedule!  And if you would like more information about the "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You" movie, please contact Locomotion Distribution at info@locomotivegroup.com.

Last night WILLiFEST - the Williamsburg International Film Festival - opened at the Music Hall of Williamsburg with some amazing talent!  We have been working with the team at WILLiFEST for some time as they followed the story of an up and coming local band from the Bronx, Graveshift, composed of a team of brothers and sisters who were offered the chance to write the theme song for a nationally syndicated TV show "Live it UP! with Donna Drake."

Frank Radice, our Expert-in-Residence, consulted with the band over the past few months, and agreed to help co-write and produce the song, as he has successfully launched many hits including the Today Show theme song "America's First Family" which ran on the network for eight years. 

After walking the red carpet, being interviewed by Alyssa DiLello from Live it UP!, and taking some pics with the band, we took our seats as the show began.  Producers Robin Adams and Michael Helman of WILLiFEST introduced local politicians, and then Frank came on stage to talk about his work with the band.  And then we were all entertained by this refreshing band's performance of their original song entitled, "The Essence of Life."

Frank Radice with Graveshift


Frank on stage introducing the band.

Graveshift being interviewed by Alyssa DiLello from Live it UP!

The band performing on stage at WILLiFEST!

We are looking forward to more WILLiFEST fun tonight as Locomotive Distribution launches the hip hop horror film "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You," written by Michael "Boogie" Pinckney and executive produced by Spike Lee at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.

Most marketers are now beginning 2012 strategy and planning sessions, as well as budget reviews.

However, given the economic situation these days, it may also be prudent to take a look at your current media mix and spend some time to adjust your plan that will actually affect business for 2011.

Our CEO, Michael Kogon, wrote a great blog post on 6 Marketing Steps You Should Take Before October 1st, with insights into tactics that will be beneficial to your company's revenue.

Are you adjusting your marketing strategy this year?

Definition 6's very own Mark Emery spoke at the IAB Mobile Marketplace on July 18th, 2011, discussing "Who's Buying...Who's Not...and Why? The Buyer's Side of the Story." IAB's Willow Duttge caught up with Mark after the panel to ask him a few questions.


Mark touched on some very interesting points, including his opinion of when he believes mobile should be considered as part of a client's strategy, how sometimes it is the first screen, and how mobile users relationship is very personal with their devices.  He goes on to say that is "the first thing they reach for when they wake up in the morning and the last thing they put down at night."  He also is seeing more mobile growth beyond just "I need an iPad app."

How are you planning for mobile?  Leave your comments below on what you'd like to see more of in the mobile space. 

One week later and we are still hearing great things about our after party held here last Wednesday night during the PromaxBDA conference in NYC.  Mainly, we are being asked, where are the pics?? Well, the wait is over my friends...the photos are posted!  Thanks to Kelly Samardak, our amazing photographer, we have almost 500 pics posted to our Facebook page. 

We had 20 people receive free tattoos from Daredevil Tattoo, thanks to our sponsor PointRoll, and many others having fun with some temporary D6 tattoos, as well as Henna body art (although Jeff - I'm not sure this actually counts if you just get your dog in Henna!)
 

Our other sponsor, Avid, held a raffle and gave away a FREE license for its media composer software! 


Guests also enjoyed hanging out in the Bob English Pub where we were serving Pimm's lemonade drinks and varieties of British beers like Boddington's and Newcastle.



Some may even remember seeing Gilbert Gottfried, who made an early appearance and enjoyed some great photo ops! 



And the party wouldn't be complete with a surprise appearance from the Toxic Avenger, who seemed to get his groove on the dance floor quite a bit!




It was amazing to host this party as a way to say thanks to our clients and to celebrate the amazing work we are able to produce together. We look forward to hearing your feedback - we hope you enjoy the pics!  Can't wait to see you all at our next shindig!

Paul McClay, Definition 6's director of strategy and media, recently spoke to Mark Ragan on the topic of content curation through video.  He emphasizes the greater ease we are seeing in recent years in producing and distributing video, and how brands have found success reaching their audiences by bringing new and interesting content to them, at a lower cost than traditional TV advertising.  Having more distribution channels in social media, like YouTube, is one way that his process became easier.  To learn more about this topic, watch the full interview here.

Another great Ragan event took place last week in San Jose, CA at the Cisco headquarters, and while we didn’t see the same antics that went on at the last event in Las Vegas, we still managed to have an incredible week. As a resident New Yorker, and not a car owner/driver, I was a bit apprehensive at first about driving in San Jose, by myself, as I'm not the best with directions.  My fears were proven true on the first attempt to attend the pre-conference workshops, where I got lost and ended up in a landfill.  When I asked for directions, the attendant told me he "only knew how to get from his house to this place" and I found myself surrounded by trucks, and in a bit of a pickle.  Eventually, I was saved by my Android phone and Google maps.  I missed the pre-conf sessions but oh well, at least the weather was nice.

When I finally made it to the conference the next day, the energy was incredible.  We were tweeting so fast that the Twitterfall couldn’t keep up, which resulted in #RaganCisco trending in San Jose, and in various other global locations!



Held at the Cisco headquarters in Silicon Valley, there were presenters you’d expect to see from this area including Cisco, Adobe, SAS, Facebook, Yahoo! and PayPal.



The conference kicked off with Cisco’s SVP, Corporate Marketing, Marilyn Mersereau, sharing an anecdote of a recent Cisco social media “crisis,” where a customer was not satisfied with his wireless router. After becoming frustrated with customer service, he did what we now see as a natural response – create a YouTube video called “Cisco Sucks.”



Luckily, it did not go viral, but it did get about 1,500 views. In this new reality where social media gives power back to the people, brands are held to a higher standard. Customers now have a very public medium to complain about things when they unhappy.

In response to this video, Ms. Mersereau told us that she bought the customer (whom she thought was very cute, and happened to be a fellow Canadian like Ms. Mersereau) a new router from Amazon.  Her philosophy here was that the router was a small price to pay to appease this customer, and she had hopes that he may go back to his viewers to tell them the problem was rectified. No word yet if this has happened. Although this seemed to rectify that particular instance, it does raise the question – how sustainable is that model? Thus, we dove into the Ragan Social Media Best Practices for Communicators event.

The conference was jam-packed full of great speakers, with Carlos Dominquez, SVP, Cisco, wishing everyone a happy @Cisco de Mayo (as it was Cinco de Mayo) in his opening keynote, and well, we were already ready for some margaritas! He then went on to define the role of a “Tech-Nowist” – “someone who embraces change, understands what technology is available, experiments with it, learns from the experiments, and leverages it for a competitive advantage.”



Other hot topics included internal adoption of social media tools for higher efficiency at large corporations like Adobe and SAS, social media CRM (a huge leap forward where social media will become scalable with the use of data: recent example of SalesForce acquiring Radian6) as presented by Altimeter Group, Shel Holtz on creating compelling content (content vs. context brought up yet again!), and of course, how to measure the effectiveness of social media, specifically when presenting to senior leaders in your organization to create more internal adoption.

The conference ended with an inspirational talk from Brian Solis at Altimeter Group, empowering us to not to social media CHAMPIONS, but instead, be LEADERS. Entitled “Engage or Die,” his twitter-friendly presentation focused on collaborating internally at companies, before promoting messages in social media channels, stating that the consumers only see one brand – we can’t be comfortable in silos anymore, sounding a lot like our unified marketing approach at Definition 6! We all know the world is changing rapidly.

We need to be comfortable with that change, and lead the way on how to act/react appropriately. One thing I’ll leave you with is something that Brian mentioned which epitomizes the current social media disconnect between some brands and consumers. He did a bit of role-playing where he described the point of view of why brands want to be involved in social media (using Facebook as an example) and what consumers are looking for when they “like” brands. Brand: "My customer will want to 'like' us on Facebook because they are really looking for more information on our products/services. Customers want to get more information. They want to engage with us to create a community." Customer: "I’m going to 'like' this brand on Facebook because I want coupons, specials, discounts or win free stuff. I want the ability to purchase items within my social networks."



By just having people follow your brand on Twitter or Facebook is not enough. If you don’t provide value to the consumer, they will essentially break-up with you on those social networks. How much harder will you need to work to gain them back? In fact, You need to have a strategy that provides value over time. Without that, you may as well not bother. Oh and you will want to plan for an F-commerce model, which sounds like it should be a bad word, when in fact, this is the future. For more recaps, check out Cisco’s blog for day one and day two or search on Twitter for #RaganCisco to read the top tweets.

As always, you can hear more of my thoughts by following me on Twitter @RachelConforti.

Last night at the SUXORZ awards, we celebrated schadenfreude at its best, taking a look back at poorly executed social media initiatives.  From non-responsive companies on Twitter to those companies that sought out revenge for bad tweets, we’ve seen it all.

Some of the nominations included Groupon’s Super bowl ad, Duncan Hines “Hip Hop” Cupcakes video, and a five minute video talking about the benefits of email newsletters, but well, it was so boring we couldn’t even finish watching it!

The event took place at the Gershwin hotel, with host Henry Copeland, featuring panelists Brian Morrissey, Jessica Amason, BL Ochman and Brian Clark, and social DJ Jon Accarrino.

There were five rounds in this contest, where panelists would nominate their campaigns, we’d watch a video or see their twitter page, and then vote as a group on the worst.  This proved to be an evening of laughs, missteps and ultimate hilarity.

There is a great write-up of all the categories, winners and losers posted on SmartBlog today, including links to most of the campaigns.

But some of my personal favorites are the PriceChopper tweet in the “Mean People Suck” category, where the company sought out revenge on the person who posted a bad tweet, the Duncan Hines Hip Hop Cupcakes video (you just have to watch it to find out how many things are wrong with this) and the CVS Cares twitter account that is locked.

All in all – SUXORZ was a very enjoyable evening.  Or maybe that is just the hater in me that likes to laugh at others' failures.  Either way, this was an event that was in fact, social, and actually encouraged us to “join the conversation” with the winners selected from the audience's votes.  Well done, SUXORZ. 

Social Media Week is here, and well, we’ve been keeping busy being social.  I recently got the chance to conduct a “6 with D6” Interview with Henry Copeland, founder of BlogAds.com and of the SUXORZ awards, an event that showcases the worst social media campaigns from the previous year.  

When Henry is not selling BlogAds, he says he’s “generally running or playing ping-pong with his kids, cooking with his wife, playing with his dogs, or reading.”   Some of the blogs that he frequently reads within the BlogAds network include ObscureStore.com, Wonkette.com, PerezHilton.com, ReadWriteWeb.com, DailyKos.com, and Drudge.com, although he claims this is more for “taking the cultural temperature than really consuming news.”  

We encourage you to sign up for SUXORZ, which takes place on Thursday, February 10^th in NYC (where Definition 6’er Jon Accarrino will play “Social DJ”), or read more about how Henry got involved in social media.

6 with D6: Henry Copeland

1 - What changes do you anticipate taking place within the blogosphere in the next 3-5 years?

Since we got started in 2002, there's obviously been a giant proliferation of the number of blogs.  And there's also been a lot of professionalization.  But, as folks like Huffington Post disappear into the belly of the corporate beast, I think you'll see a resurgence of small and medium-size blogging, folks who are doing it because they love it, not because they want to cash out for $315 million. There are still lots of folks out there just finding their voice and lots of “unserved” publics.  In some cases, these will be people just doing it to scratch their own itch.  In some cases, these will be 'house blogs' by companies that are passionate about one topic or another.  And in some cases, these will be self-supporting bloggers.

2 -     Both BlogAds.com and you personally have been huge pioneers in the social media landscape.  With all the proliferation of devices like iPad and connected TVs, how much is social media device-driven?  Or is the behavior of sharing and consuming media evolving the device market?

I'm tempted to say I'm not young enough to answer that question.  But I'll take a shot: I think blogs were perfect for PCs...everyone who works in an office or goes to school has one AND has 30 spare minutes a day to create or read content that is 50-500 words long. Now, mobile devices seem to inspire the production and consumption of more micro-content, tweets, check-ins, pokes, etc. 

3 -     If you could go back in time and edit your 2002 Pressflex essay that floated the idea of BlogAds, what would you change?


Ha, I would have been a little less cocky. :) I thought BlogAds was going to change the world OVERNIGHT. I didn't realize it would be two years before we'd sell more than $200 in ads in a single month.  But overall, I'm happy with the way those predictions about how “people-power-media” would explode and completely upend the media and advertising markets.  When you think of all the stuff that's come since then -- whether it's YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or Quora or Facebook -- we're still just beginning to guess all the fun things people can do for, or with, each other when you let them connect in real-time online.

4 - How can marketing agencies like Definition 6 use BlogAds to help our clients?

Two things.  First, we can let you really deliver your client's story across a wide spectrum of blogs.  Second, there's a lot of emphasis at agencies on using the commoditized ad units -- the IAB units you can buy on every site on earth. We think it is very important to use the right unit to tell the client's story. Flashy 300x250s and 728x90s have their time and place, but there are times you want to channel what the community is saying about your brand in Twitter or let the community re-tweet your ad.  So when it comes to ad units, the medium can be the message -- a conventional ad unit that was born in broadcast, often an IAB unit, most likely tells a conventional story that's rooted in the "we talk, you listen" mode of advertising. 

5 - What do you see as a game changer?

Yikes. I think we're still scratching the surface of organizing all the data and relationships that social media is encouraging us to generate. In a sense, we're in an arms race with ourselves, steadily producing more information, then scrambling to create containers/structures to help us keep track of that information, and then having to create structures that contain THOSE new structures.  We've got so many signals, we're creating news.  So at some point, I think we're going to hit a point where the majority of people say, "OK, I'm done, this is good enough for me. I don't need any more filing cabinets for my filing cabinets."  That could be two “Facebooks” from now, or it could be we're just about there right now. 

6 - Tell us more about the SUXORZ awards which are coming up this week. What has changed over the last few years?  What has improved? 

This will be the fourth year of the SUXORZ.  How time flies when you've got terrible social media advertising to laugh at, right?  Since the first couple of years, it appears companies have gotten better about not trying to pay consumers to shill for them.  Or companies have just figured out how to do it more covertly and not get caught.  Last year, the sins were more of omission rather than commission.  Companies implemented half a social media campaign -- Tweets on a billboard! -- but forgot to watch what people were tweeting and ended up with a lot of profanity beside their logos.  We're still sifting through nominations to figure out what the trends will be this year.  You can make nominations on our Facebook page.

Being that we’re a unified marketing agency, it only seems right that we give our take on the Super Bowl ads that aired last night, so here’s our collective montage of the Definition 6 opinions.

Our special thanks to Def6 participants: Asa Sherrill, Creative Director; Ashley Reed, Social Media Manager; Chris Wojda, Senior Brand Planner; Frank Radice, Expert In Residence; Jeff Katz, President & COO; Michael Johnson, Account Executive; Paul Hernacki, Chief Technology Officer; Ryan Kantor, Marketing Intern; Chris Thornton, CMO; and Charlie Eisenhardt, Senior Editor.

Get ready for our list of touchdowns, incomplete plays, penalty flags and halftime show reviews (we had to throw in SOME football references!)

Enjoy and please comment with your own thoughts. Oh, and you may want to check out AdAge.com's list of Superbowl ads so you can follow along.

Some of our Favorites…because they were humorous, well-produced and made a lasting impact on us:

“The best overall spots were the Fox promos...especially for 'House, MD,' 'X-Factor,' and 'Glee' (the Chevy product placement was fantastic!)”

“Good showing by Verizon, Motorola, BestBuy.”

“I liked the Kia ad. Where I was, everyone was guessing what brand it was promoting as it was running and BMW was blurted out. I thought it was a sharp looking car, and I’ll keep it in mind when I need a new car.”

“Helmets off to the NFL commercial during the Super Bowl!  Of course, it had star power and humor from The Brady Bunch to Modern Family but 'Best Fans Ever' was exactly what Roger Goodell and the NFL needed.” 

“I loved the Careerbuilder.com ad and the Coca-Cola ‘Siege’ one.”

“Favorite lines of the night from BestBuy's ad with Ozzy Osborne: ‘How many G’s are there?’ and ‘What’s a Beiber?’  Nicely done.”

"VW 'The Force' was awesome.  Glad they released the :60 earlier though.  Liked it better than the :30."

Missed tackles…for not enough brand identity, not funny, or just plain blah:

On Doritos, “The Best Part” (aka the finger-licker) – “Strange and disturbing. Funny concept, but poorly executed.”

“The Snickers ‘new’ Betty White - Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr – were funny yet the concept was the same as last year.  They missed the mark.”

“Also disappointing were the Bud ads ‘Wild West’ and ‘Product Placement’.” 

Def6’s Superbowl MVP ad:

You guessed it - the 2 minute Chrysler “Imported from Detroit” ad featuring Eminem.  It does pose the question though – does longer viewing time contribute to the success of this spot?  There was a lot of controversy last week leading up to this, but we feel that it was well-produced, and evoked emotional connections with the viewers.   I guess the real question becomes – was it worth $8 million?

“This broke the car commercial mold and presented the heart and soul of Detroit! Normally I think using celebrities in commercials is gratuitous and unnecessary, but (the brand of) Eminem represents this feeling of Detroit. Chrysler & Fallon, great work making me care about American cars again.”

“Chrysler ad was truly awesome. I’m from Detroit. Had me misty eyed and wanting to buy a 200, feeling dirty for owning an Altima.”

“The best part of the whole night was the Chrysler tagline (the ad was very good, the tagline was great) ’Imported From Detroit.’  The insight into how removed most of the country has become from the Motor City is extremely powerful.  I just hope the products can deliver. That said, BMW's designed and made in America messaging was equally great.”

Gross-out Factor Winner - VW “Beetle”:

“I personally HATED the VW Beetle – had to close my eyes. I’m a huge bug-aphobe.”

On the sidelines, but still worth talking about:

"The Teleflora ad with Faith Hill totally caught me off guard.  It was one of those 'wow, did they really just say that' moments."

"The worst part of the whole night (in regards to brands) is Christina Aguilera's personal brand.  Talk about a negative brand experience that she will forever be remembered for. Ouch!"

Half-Time Review

The Black Eyed Peas performance – exciting, hip and trendy or simply played out? 

I really don’t want to get too down on this performance since it seemed that the NFL and FOX wanted to bring currently trendy music bands back into this widely viewed performance as opposed to the safer rock bands we’ve seen over the last few years (thanks Janet). 

The most interesting thing we’ve found is that it definitely evoked an emotion – you either loved it or hated it.    

“I thought it was awesome to see such a show – I was even dancing and fist-pumping along in my living room!”

“Terrible performance – not sure what you’re doing on that stage if you can’t hit your notes, but the lite-brite suits and choreography were killer!”

"My son just asked me if this was 'Tron: The Musical'."

“I heard they could have gotten the Foo Fighters, but chose the Black Eyed Peas instead. What a terrible call! The Black Eyed Peas are a generally over-edited band so it's no surprise they can’t hit notes live. I enjoyed watching all the middle aged people at the Super Bowl party stare in disgust though. Slash from Guns ‘n Roses was the highlight for me. Not sure why Usher showed up, just to lip sync.”

“I thought the half time show was lame. While The Black Eyed Peas are a great group, the production value of the broadcast seemed too tame, even dull, and therefore the energy and excitement of their live performance was hard to embrace. Watching the half time show I thought back about prior performances – the explosive energy of The Who which no medium can contain, and of course the shocking publicity stunt by Janet Jackson.  I wondered, do live half time performances also need a 'gimmick' to break through the clutter of viewers’ expectations of what constitutes Super Bowl entertainment? Much like the Super Bowl TV commercials, live half time shows may need more than Slash and his amazing guitar playing to break through the history of torn bras, mad rockers and fireworks that viewers have come to expect.”

“Yeah, on Facebook the consensus about the Half Time show was collective yawn. Comments I read made fun of the fact that the BEP's phoned it in as they usually do and the bells & whistles were predictable and tame.”

So there you have it…the D6 SuperBowl winners and losers.  While this year’s #brandbowl was not an overwhelming great set of advertisements, one thing is clear.  You should go buy a car.  We can’t remember which one, but the auto industry will surely need to recoup the money they just invested.