MC Hammer and his 4 rules of social media

I didn’t go to the Sydney Social Media Club function last night where MC Hammer was talking about social media. I can’t say whether it was insightful enough so I recruited Di Chua, an amazing up and coming Social Media Strategist at DDB Radar to write a guest post for me. Helps she’s also a huuuuge Hammertime Fan. Take it away Di….

Di Chua and Clare Anderson with MC Hammer at Sydney Social Media Club

It was a packed house at UTS for the Social Media Club lecture where MC Hammer spoke about his social media experiences. He’s the 14^th most influential Twitterer (according to WeFollow) with more than 1.5 million followers. I love MC Hammer and know all his dance steps… So while there were “intellectuals” in the room, I was just dying to scream “I LOVE YOUUuuu!”

Amazingly, he’s more than just a rap star, he actually knows his sh*t.  I have much respect for this guy because he’s in the fireline. I’m in the trenches myself (listening, planning conversational campaigns and managing communities) and it’s really not as easy as it seems. So BOO to all you Hammer haters out there… Do it first, and then judge!

 MC Hammer’s 4 rules for Brands in Social Media:

1)      “Never let someone else tell your story”

- Ties in with authenticity and transparency

- connecting with people humanises your brand

2)      “Be at the center of the flow of information”

- be a “super geek”- you have to touch it, feel it, experience it. He has loads of  smart phones and screens

 - listen and monitor conversations (he even has a screen in his bathroom!)

3) “Perception is more valuable than reality”

- So make sure you manage it

- stay ahead of the story through Rule #2

 4) “If you’re not connected, what are you hiding from as a brand? “

- Don’t run, Engage!

- again transparency is key, people will be suspicious if you’re not open

And finally, he said one must establish a culture in your community. So if someone is being negative and not adding value to your experience then block them. “If you negative, I block you!

The question of the night-

Warlach: Dear MC Hammer, can you give me any advice as to what I can and can’t touch?

Mc Hammer:  “What you can’t you touch? The concept of Hammertime!”

Some interesting learnings here from MC Hammer, although they have to be couched by the fact that often with celebrities they have ‘follow factor’ built in to their handles by virtue of who they are. So applying the same principals to a brand trying to leverage social media needs to be taken with a grain of salt somewhat in my view.

Challenge culture for CONVERSUASION

It’s a little bit of a buzz word, but when I heard about  Colin Drummond from CP+B talking about CONVERSUASION at Ad Lounge in Toronto, my ears pricked up.  Lets be real, conversuasion may sound a little like adwank, but stripped back I believe it’s about how you turn conversations you create in culture into meaninful brand engagement and action. When asked what his point of view was on ‘conversuasion’, his point of view was very much around ‘creating culture’ to spark conversations amongst social networks that then lead to persuasion or action. In quite a few of my Red Bull posts I talk alot about brands needing to create culture and engage with ongoing conversations around interesting cultural objects. His logic was based on Crispin’s strategic way of working and this way of working is behind all their most successful ideas ‘Whopper Sacrifice’, ‘Whopper Freakout’ etc. So it goes like this:

- Culture are the millions of rules that we all live by, those rules must be challenged to open up a CONVERSUASION with people.

- Challenging existing rules leads to tensions and when you make people tense it moves them to decision outside their normal experience..and gets them talking

- If you want to change rules, you have to challenge culture by finding and exploiting cultural tensions that exist.

- To get people talking, your brand has to pick a side and stand by it

In my view, this thinking is the reason why Crispin comes up with some culturally relevant and subversive ideas as they constantly challenge defined cultural rules, whereas most brands just challenge category rules which don’t get people talking. It’s reflected in their creative brief which I wrote about earlier this year here.

My point of view on CONVERSUASION is that great brands resolve cultural tensions, sparking conversations, but it’s all about creating tribal ideas, ideas that people are inspired to rapidly mobilise around. Another dimension is collaborative creativiety, in that brands need to be far more open source in their ideas, and let the community help shape the outcomes of those ideas in real time. Conversuasion is not about beginning and ends of campaigns, they are either about digital platforms that deliver amazing utility eg: Nike + Football or they are about the community shaping the outcome of the ideas in ongoing narratives. It’s also thinking about how you continually experiment with popular culture.

Creating culture is what more brands need to do and was great to hear Colin share his viewpoints and it’s clear why CP+B are leading the way with culturally subversive idea that typically always start conversations.

The future belongs to those who create

Ajaz Ahmed, Chairman of digital agency AKQA recently presented his agencys core beliefs. I’ve pulled some key thoughts from a post from Nicolas Moerman who attended the conference in London. The above Nike + idea is their latest work which is awesome.  His belief is that  ”The future belongs to people who create” which is spot on in the era where ‘doing’ is far more relevant than ’saying’. He spoke about some key trends that are shaping the technology and media landscape – no major new learnings here, but relevant nonetheless:

- On-demand reality is here

- Media fragmentation and ad-clutter everywhere

- Consumers customize and create

- The profound rise of “Channel Me”

- Marketing and product have converged

- Entering the age of perfect information

- Virtual is reality

What I really found interesting was that based on these trends, these are the internal principals guiding the agencies creation of ideas/platforms etc:

- Think the impossible

- It’s good to be first, it’s better to be good, it’s best to be both

- To create the future live fully in the present

- The best advertising, isn’t advertising

- If it doesn’t capture imagination it’s a no go

- Consumers must be able to answer ‘what’s in it for me’

I especially like the idea of ‘living fully in the present’ to create the future. All too often, people are looking to micro consumer trends to generate insights for their ideas , rather than creating the future themselves by bouncing their brands off pop culture and exploiting tensions in culture.

Mini WASH ME – An art project

 

Mini Switzerland are creating culture in a cool way. Mini has always been a bit of an object of art, so they’ve taken that concept to a literal level. They’ve commissioned 10 artists to deface (design) a Mini each. It’s called Mini WASH ME and has culminated in a book, bearing the same name. Artist like Seak, Dieter Meier, Euro and Smash137 were given free reign to create.  Mini has always been about customisation and urban cred, so this idea is a nice way to give Mini even more cred in the market as the car you can personalise and put your own personality on, literally.

"Muscle Car" by Marisa Pichler & Gigi Burn

Ken Block – world’s fastest snowcat experiment

Just when you thought Ken Block’s DC Shoes ‘Gymkhana’ videos might be losing velocity, they release this great little piece of content – the world’s fastest snowcat. It’s not as cool as the ‘Gymkhana’ stuff but it’s decent enough for 680,000 views in 3 days. The thing I love about all this stuff is that it’s about EXPERIMENTATION…they’re playing with culture by trying new things that obviously tap into Kens amazing driving ability but also new ways in which their brand (and Subaru’s) can be seen as innovating in action sports culture. Very cool.

Aussie kids say GFC is a major issue

Sat through quite an interesting presentation by Cartoon Network yesterday. They do an annual ‘New Generations’ study of kids aged 7-14, sample size 2000. There was nothing amazingly breakthrough but some interesting statistics which I thought I’d share:

KIDS ARE MORE CONNECTED THAN EVER

97% of 7-14yr olds have access to a laptop/desktop in the home, 87% have access to a digital camera and 70% to a handheld console. 50% of these kids also have a TV in their room and a whopping 58% have a a gaming console in their room.

TV STILL ON TOP

Kids are spending on average 17.1hrs a week watching TV, next comes the web with 16.4hrs (defined as fun activities like social networking, chat, gaming) and 11 hours for playing video games. 45% of kids said they wish they played outside more…a worrying trend for the ‘cotton wool’ culture that exists in Australia.

GEEK IS IN

When asked what they’d change about themselves, 45% of kids said they’d like to be smarter, 42% said they want to be better at sport and 26% said they’d change the way they look.

MONEY AWARENESS

It’s clear that media and parental commentary has a massive influence on Aussie kids, no surprise right!! In terms of the most important world issue, 20% of kids said the financial crisis, 17% said environmental issues.

PARENTS GETTING TIGHTER

The GFC has brought with it a decline in kids pocket money, down 5% to 67% of kids getting pocket money. On average, 7-14yr olds get $10.52 a week, this is on an increasing scale with age. 7-8yr olds get $6.51, 9-10yr olds get $8.52, 13-14yr olds get $10.46 and 13-14yr olds get $15.61. For 13-14yr olds this equates to $1353 purchasing power a year which isn’t bad ‘play’ money.

ONLINE GAMING THE WAY INTO THE WEB

Online gaming is by far the most popular digital activity for kids aged 7-14, it’s actually higher between ages 7-11 than it is as ages 12-14 as kids start discovering youtube and socila networking.

MOBILE ME

50% of kids aged 11 have a mobile, 76% of 12yr olds have one and a whopping 94% of 13-14yr olds have one. Texting (46%) is still by far the most popular use, with girls sending 10 texts a day and boys 6 texts a day. They start young.

FAVOURITE CELEBS

No massive suprises here, it’s Miley, Zac Effron, Rob Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe and the Jona Brothers.

FAVOURITE BANDS/MUSIC

Pink tops the list, not surprising as she’s just done 60 shows in Australia, Michael Jackson comes in at No.2 (on the back of his tragic passing), Taylor Swift is adored by young girls and Eminem is back in the kids good books off his latest album.

FAVOURITE SPORTING HEROES

WWF star John Cena tops the list for the boys with Darren Lockyer (Brisbane Broncos rugby league star) and David Beckham coming in third.

WHO WILL EB FAMOUS NEXT?

20% of kids say ‘ME’, which is nice to see that the ‘make me famous’ trends is still alive and well. Paris Jackson and Taylor Swift are seen as the next big things.

So that’s it, just some toplines on what’s happening with kids aged 7-14yrs in Australia in 2009. Thanks Cartoon Network for the insight.

Somebody stop the crowdsourcing..Snickers just don’t get it

I said a few weeks back if I saw another youth brand going down the crowdsourcing route and getting young people to make ads for them, I was going to lose it. Well, I just saw on Twitter that Snickers in the USA are doing exactly that, trying to get youth to make ads for them. This is so lame.  As part of the Tell The Snickers Story campaign through Poptent, they are asking people to make either a 30 second TVC or a 30 second viral for the chance to win $5k. This is just ridiculous on many levels. Firstly, why differentiate between a 30″ TVC and viral content.  Viral is what happens to an idea when people want to share it, it’s not an end in itself. Secondly, Snickers are probably the 50th brand to do it this year. Ben & Jerrys, Doritos are a few brands that have done it, there are countless more. Unfortunately what it tells me about Snickers is that they have no clue how to use ‘collaborative creatity’ to engage young people. The reality is, a couple of hundred young film makers will put together some random content, 2-3 of them may be remotely interesting, but most likely none of them will gain any traction at all. Just like the Doritos ‘Make us an ad’ idea. No traction whatsoever wiht youth.  I’m just getting really annoyed with brands who think that by getting young people to ‘make their’ ads’ they think they’re involving youth in the brand. I’ve said before brands need to think of youth as ‘partners in production’ – the thing with this view is that you have to have an idea first that youth can play with, remix, create their own story. Leaving them to do all the work for you, is just down right lazy. Epic Fail Snickers.

Has social media influenced creativity in brand communications?

 I’d say the answer to this question is a resounding YES. We all know great creativity when we see it, it’s easier to define what it isn’t than often what it is. For me, it’s when I get that little rush of blood and I think WOW, if only I came up with that idea. For me, creativity has and always will be the ability to simplify and turn the ordinary into something extraordinary. I read an interesting post by Edward Boches recently about ‘Creativity in the age of  Social media’ and I’ve pulled some key thoughts from that post as well as some of my own thoughts and quotes from people I respect in the marketing communications industry.

In todays social media context, brands have to embrace being far more free form in their approach to creativity.  Being agile, adaptive and continually culturally relevant is far more important than being structured and ‘right’. Creativing ideas is about being fluid.  Trends are moving at hyper speed so creativity in the era of social media is about constant experimentation with popular culture, bouncing your brand off different aspects of culture to find fresh tensions and conflicts to exploit. As one blogger put it ‘people becomes fans of culture, not advertising…so cultural relevance is always the key for creativity”

As marketers we may give birth to an idea, but it’s the collective community who sculpt it into something interesting that makes it go viral. Today in the era of social media, ideas live and die quickly, it’s not about the size of the idea, it’s the VELOCITY the idea has through social networks that it’s success should be measured by.

Some thoughts on what creativity in the era of social media is all about from some industry leaders:

ABILITY FOR OUR BRAND STORIES TO BE TOLD FOR US

“It’s not the stories we tell, it’s the stories we get others to tell for us” Edward Boches

THE DEMOCRATISATION OF CREATIVITY

“In the age of social media, creativity has both an acid test and genuine advocate in one place. Good work is embraced and gathers momentum and the bad stuff dies on the vine very quickly. The important thing to understand is that the brand, creative director or client’s voice is just one of many now and all have an equal share in the destiny of great work! “ Sudeep Gohil. Partner, DROGA 5

ERA OF SPARKING AND PARTICIPATING IN INTERESTING CONVERSATIONS

“Creativity in the age of social media is about sparking and participating in conversations. Success is making something go viral. Ideas must not only be great stories that want to be shared but are also shareable. In this new age, creativity has been UNSHACKLED. No longer does the elite own it; it is now a commodity. It’s what you do with it that counts “ John Winsor, Partner, Victors & Spoils  Author  of ‘Baked In’

LETTING PEOPLE ‘PLAY’ WITH YOUR IDEAS, BEING OPEN SOURCE AND ALWAYS IN BETA MODE

“In the past creativity was solid and stagnant, you created it and people reacted to it. Now you create it and it can evolve, continue, be built upon, torn down, remixed. The creative process in social media isn’t something that ever ends”  CC Chapman, Creative Director, Campfire NYC

THINK ABOUT HOW YOU CAN SPARK A CULTURAL MOVEMENT AROUND YOUR TRIBE

THINK VERY CLOSELY ABOUT WHAT YOUR BRANDS ‘FOLLOW FACTOR’ IS…WHAT WILL KEEP THEM ENGAGED AND ENSURE YOUR IDEA ISN’T DISPOSABLE

EMPOWERING TRIBES TO CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER OVER COMMON GOOD, CREATIVITY TODAY IS MORE ABOUT COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE SOLVING WORLD PROBLEMS

Just some thoughts, certainly there are other viewpoints, just putting some stuff out there I found interesting.

First look at Project X – Shaun White’s secret halfpipe

 

Hot off the press, here’s the second video released by Red Bull showing Shaun White’s private halfpipe – part of Project X.  Don’t need to say much about it, apart from the fact that it’s such a killer idea and everyone I know who’s heard about it is WOW’ed by it. Red Bull are drip feeding the content over the coming months in the lead up to the Winter Olympics, keeping his competitors and fans salivating for what new tricks he will release onto the world.

Share a little ‘Love’, ‘Hope’ and ‘Courage’ on McHappy Day

Be a part of McHappy Day this year

I typically don’t promote my own work, cos that’s just not cool, but this is for a great cause. This is my first piece of work on McDonald’s and I’m proud to say it’s hopefully going to help lots of sick little kids in Australia stay close to their families during treatment for things like cancer. It’s for McHappy Day 2009. Our thought that was that by participating in McHappy Day, you’re doing more than just sending money for a new house or hospital facilities, you’re actually sending a little ‘hope’ ‘love’ and courage’ to these little heroes, which is what they really need in these tough times.  When we were getting to know what McHappy Day was all about a few months back, we met Chelsea, who was staying at RMHC in Randwick, Sydney, she inspired us with a dance performance, just after she’d come out of radiation treatment. She got a bit of ‘love’ back at Beyonce’s Sydney concert a few weeks back. You’re a hero Chelsea.

 To support amazing little heroes like Chelsea,  donate online or visit a Macca’s on Nov 14th and buy a Big Mac where proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Charities.   I’ve had some positive feedback on the music track for this spot, we composed the music here in Sydney and had it mastered at the famous Abbey Road Studios in  London . The full-length track is available for download here. If you have a few spare $$$, please donate what you can online before McHappy Day as we’re doing all we can to raise a record $2.5million this year. Thanks for supporting