You are currently browsing the blog archives for September 2009.
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 29 at 1:42 PM
Speeding motorcycle; always changing me Speeding motorcycle, don't you drive recklessly Speeding motorcycle of my heart Pretty girls have taken you for a ride Hurt you deep inside but you never slowed down Speeding motorcycle in my heart Speeding motorcycle, let's speed smart 'Cause we don't want to wreck but We can do a lot of tricks We don't have to break our necks To get our kicks Speeding motorcycle, the road is ours
Here is why Daniel Johnston's iPhone App is one of the best out of 85,500 apps on the App store.
In this instantly, create, consume, comment, critique, deconstruct, mock, and mis-match with something else to make cool moment in history..... well things can get get confusing.
I guess that is why I have always loved Daniel Johnston, not so much for his music, but just for who/how he is, (although I do love his music).
In an article published on popmatters.com yesterday Adam Clair wrote about this very confusion and called for a end to it. Here is my mashed-up take on what he was saying:
Enough of the different-for-the-sake-of-it fetishizing of your everyday hipster, deconstructing not in a Dadaist attempt to make sense of things, but simply because it’s cheap.We all feel like we’re being held down, and perhaps more importantly, we want to feel like we’re being held down, because it offers an excuse for our insufficiencies, our anxieties and our insecurities.But we’re not being held down, really. And in realizing that these fetters are mostly imaginary, we can rise above the criticism levied by every other pseudo-imprisoned sucker with a laptop and actually create something new, as opposed to merely destroying the old. With how rapidly our culture is evolving, censure is a waste, since by the time your complaint is levied, it’s already an anachronism. Defining ourselves solely by what we’re against—be it inauthenticity or authenticity or something else entirely—is no definition at all.
If anyone could wear the above coonskin cap it would be Daniel Johnston. If he liked it.
I love Johnston not so much for his music but for the one thing that he can do, that I have never seen another artist bring out in people, he is breaks down all walls and you just let your hair down, no matter what kind of hair you have.
How?
Just that he is so purely himself. So honest with his lyrics and art.There is no irony, no coolness, just this sweet man making stuff that he likes. And you just can't find fault.
It's not a Wesley Willis (god rest his soul) kind of thing where you laugh and say its cool that some crazy dude is singing about Rock n Roll McDonalds or how he Whupped Batman's Ass. Instead it is a whole other thing together. An honest mashup of the world around us and the sweetness of a man, his passions, his insecurities, his love for comics, or the Beatles.
Having worked with Daniel Johnston in studio, made him coffee, helped him find his way to the comic book store, enjoyed his music and art, I have to say that his iPhone app Hi, How Are You? is far ahead of the game.
It is a perfect mix of the man and his passions, letting you be a part of his world and helping you to enjoy it with the same sort of childlike innocence that he exzudes.
had to say about Daniel Johnston's app when we rapped today:
width="250" height="50" autostart="false" src="http://bit.ly/McAAW"/> (the rest of this interview with Mitch Joel will be found here tomorrow at http://xddmd.blogspot.com)
Fantastic Daniel Johnston, you did it again, in your purity and drive to create good stuff that you like, you have given us all yet another wonderful thing and once again set an expamle of how to be, by being yourself.
Like a child farting in a quite church we just can't help ourselves from joining in the laughter and community of it, whether it is cool or not.
Now, we have a new paradigm for film makers to actually create for this new platform. Brilliant! Instead of retro-fitting film to the phone, art house director Sally Potter has filmed for the phone. The right size, length, and even screen composition.
This will be the future of film and a new wave of directors and content in general. Not because it is a new idea, there are new ideas every second. But because this is truly embracing a device that so many own and keep by their side at all times, and thinking what you can do for the device and the people who use it, as opposed to the stagnant business model of what can the device do for us.
Topics: Internet, leadership, media, Mobile_Marketing, web_design0 CommentsRead Full Post
It was the television that landed JFK the Presidency, well it was a great man who was able to be seen in the light of this, at the time, new tool. His ability to choose blue shirts which seemed whiter than white shirts on the screen. His ability to use this tool to communicate to those people across the nation who would become his voters that he could do the job. And they believed him.
Did they ever have any doubt that the same man they saw on television was any other than the man that ran our nation. Or that the voice of FDR's fireside chats was any other than FDR himself?
More than 50 physical years later, and light years ahead in regards to technology, we still bat around this question about keeping our online life persona different than our "real life" persona separate. That we can be one person online and another in the tangible world.
This is impossible, because they are one in the same. If I pick of the phone and cancel my bank account, it's closed. If I do it in person, it's closed. If I close it on line it's closed. The internet is an amazing tool to help live and enrich our lives, it is not an alternate world where we can do as we please.
It is no more an alternate world than a Dungeon & Dragons game. You may believe that everyone sees you as some powerful taciturn dwarf with battle axe, but you are still the same person you were before you turned on your imagination.
As a writer, musician and a associate producer at a web/social media agency, I fully support the power of imagination, it is due to imagination (and brilliance and hard work) that we are able to use the internet to even discuss this. However, the internet is a tool of the real world as much as TV or a hammer.
Tools are one of the things that show our "superiority" as a race. That is a complex and different topic altogether, but lets just make a point that we don't see birds making buses to head south for the winter, or bears making tanks and taking over the capitol.
Tools give us an advantage, power and with that power comes responsibility. Or rather responsibility SHOULD come with that power.
These teens knew the power of their tool of choice and the influence/problems it would create. The lack of responsibility however is their own fault. Had they tried to promote the same venom over the school PA they would been expelled after 3 words, however they have done much more and we scratch our heads about the legality and responsibility of it.
I am no judge, I have not gone to Law School, but one thing I am qualified to say, the internet is a tool of the real world and if you think of it as some sort of alternate world where you can do what you want without recourse, then perhaps you would also enjoy Dungeon & Dragons.
As an interesting post script, I wanted to step back to the aforementioned presidents and include Johnson, who understood the power of the tool of his time. President Johnson said, if he lost Cronkite ( the major tv news reporter of the time) he lost the American people.
Know your influences and the power they have and hope they know/understand the power they have, and hope they wield it for good.
Topics: 0 CommentsRead Full Post
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 24 at 10:34 AM
Today a Blog caught my eye that I had to check out: The Dangers Of Google Sidewiki: Complete Brand Invasion at Legends of Aerocles PR, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, TV, Music, Movies, Randomness, Poetry, Philosophy.
It's the sort of headline that would make most people jump over to see if there might be a problem with this new technology that would land their laptop at the Genius Bar. It wasn't.
Although it was a nice way to start a conversation, which I am always in support of conversations, I was surprised how many (all except me) where against it, afraid of it, saw it as a way for others to destroy their content, brands to be promoted.
Let me clarify my intent immediately:
I understand those fears and want to simply say..... don't be afraid.
Sidewiki will become your friend if you are producing good content.
Ok, that being said and understood, let's look at how even without sidewiki people are going to react to your content with or without Sidewiki, especially if it is of poor quality, false, contrived, or out of touch.
May I present to you ladies and gentlemen of the court, exhibit A: Microsoft Windows Parties
See our previous blog entry for the full scoop, but the skinny is....Microsoft made a bad, overly long, out of touch video, for a desperate idea.
The Target Audience wasn't addressed and the Target Audience, responded: displeased.
Microsoft blocked their responses.
The Target Audience responded with other more powerful tools:
The 7 min video Microsoft made about hosting a “windows party” was taken, cut down into a 2 mins (right amount of time for such a video) and with the simple addition of “bleep” sounds over the dialogue. It is made to seem as if they are talking about hosting an orgy.
Now with the mixed age group and every sex race present, that microsoft so blatantly chose, this new context is even funnier than the originally BAD video that MS had made.
Result: one of these videos is being passed around the internet, guess which one?
Point: you can’t block content or response.
Microsoft, one should have made good content from the get go (they have the $), and two, they should have owned up to the bad content by allowing the comments to be seen. That would have been honest and supporting their brand in the long run.
Now Microsoft is going to have to respond, at least they should respond.
But how? More on that in a minute, let's get back to Sidewiki.
With Sidewiki, people don't have to go to other channels to respond. They don't have to be moderated.
Sure you might be afraid of what people might say or do in regard to your blog, or brand, or much labored over website. BUT, The good thing is that with Sidewiki, your content will not be obfusticated, opaqued, or hidden way down the SEO chain by the more popular spoof of your content, or rant of a popular disgruntled user.
Instead, Sidewiki is your friend!
Imagine subway poster adverts and all the mustaches and snide snarky comments written on them. There is no way to police them. Design, Distribute, Deface.
Now imagine how great it would be if those mustaches and snarky comments could be seen on the side instead of defacing the actual poster. Cool huh?
That's Sidewiki!
I was record shopping with my big sister of a best friend Sheryl "skip" Saunders, who was at the time the art director for Clarins in London, and she asked how I felt when I saw my own records in the used bin?
Like a real rockstar! I said.
But don't you feel sad? Doesn't that mean somebody didn't like it? she asked.
Well it could be that they didn't like it, could be they ripped it and traded it for more music, could be they listened to it during a break up, who knows. What I do know is this, it went home with someone, and it came back to this store and will go home with someone else. (little tramp of a record!)
The important thing:
IT HAS IT'S OWN LIFE!
Now I feel like I have actually made something, my content has it's own life. See my point? I never felt like I had made a record, let alone 5, until I saw one in the used bin!
Two weeks later she called me:
I AM A DESIGNER!!!!!! she excited squealed! I saw one of my ads in the subway today and somebody had stuck their gum on the model's nose! I've made it! It has it's own life!
Your content, unless you want to keep it locked in your diary under your pillow, is public and should be good enough and true enough to have a life of it's own. Even through the gum stuck on it, it must be beautiful and convey your message or brand or whatever it is you are making.
Sidewiki gives your content a nice laminated no-stick surface so that your content can be seen even through the gum and mustaches, for what it is good or ..... bad!
Don't be afraid, just make good content and you'll find that Sidewiki will be your friend!
Now back to Microsoft, they only wish this had been sidewiki-ed, because nobody is seeing their original content and no one is seeing their response, if they do/can mobilize a clever response.
If I worked for Microsoft there would already be many responses to this, not just one.
Like any good speaker, you have to take a heckler, or a difficult question, and respond in a way that brings the focus back to how great you are or how awesome your product is. A bad speaker would make a joke back that put the heckler down. That kind of Alpha behavior is sad and out of date.
The right thing is to make a new joke that brings everybody in and is inclusive. Something that brings us together and rises above. Our president is great at this. The key is humility and not taking yourself so seriously that you think you can't be wrong. Be wrong, make something better and move on!
Microsoft needs to respond by directly engaging the topic. Of course it is going to be rough waters for them since the topic is about an interracial polyamorous party for all ages. They are going to be stretched a bit, but they have the funds to come up with something smart and funny to hat tip this idea and steer it back to their "safe" waters.
Then they need to rethink this party idea, and make videos/ads for their real target audience
and give them what they want..... no not Megan Fox,
but you know she'd be a great person to use to turn around the previous video.
The important thing is to give the people what they want.
If you want them to host a party for your operating system (which for most people is synonymous with pain) you better make it pretty cool, and interactive. Especially the advertisement for it! How am I going to be interested in going out of my way to make a party for you, if your advertising doesn't even attract me or anyone for that matter!
They have their work cut out for them, and they need to move
fast before Apple picks up on it and makes a new "Hey PC"
commercial about having a lame party.
Trust me Apple will, because the edited version is heading up the charts, and the original is dead in the water. And then Microsoft will really wish that these guys would have just used the Sidewiki........
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on September 23 at 6:32 PM
In Six Pixels of Separation, author Mitch Joel holds the banner high for getting your company out into the social media space. Jesse and I over here completely agree. You have to put your brand out there, communicate with your customers.
But Mr. Joel ALSO says you can't put something out there, and then stifle or silence conversation. Take, for instance, Microsoft, who has begun a campaign for "Launch Parties" where their customers are expected to throw parties to celebrate an operating system (as a party promoter, I can tell you off the bat this is a pretty lame party.)
All the ingredients are there to make this video unintentionally hilarious: actors of every race and age, phony delivery, fake kitchen set. It screams "paid programming on Comedy Central at 4:30 in the morning."
And I'm sure that Microsoft got it hard and constantly by the viewers of this video. So what did they do? They stifled the detractors. They turned off the comments feature on the video post. Clearly that stopped any negative criticism, right?
Wrong.
If you try to keep the web out, you force your most vocal detractors to become even more creative to air their grievances, as happened in this parody video, which cuts the original source into 1/3 its length, adds in a few censor "bleeps" and turns the message into something much more disturbing, and a lot more entertaining.
I could write a long blog talking about how this can really do something for the internet pushing the valuable content up and really allowing users to interact with each other and brands, but I really think the video Google has made addresses all of that pretty well.
This morning I got a video in my email that I immediately put on my Facebook, passed it around my office and mailed it to my brother who is a bartender in Indiana.
We have all heard about the weird success of videos on youtube. With 20 hours of video uploaded to youtube a minute, what makes one video go viral and another not, well most of them not.
Is it the inclusion of famous people, it is being noted and spoken about by social influencers, is it being tech-savy, or perhaps having of the moment popculture relevance?
Let’s look at an opposing video unsuccessful video vs. today’s success.
Recognize this guy? Don’t worry if you don’t. Here’s the 10 sec. break down:
WASP college kid, “remixes” Lady Gaga to complain about how Obama is stealing his money, or maybe he means his parents money. He’s young, he’s “cool”, he even made it on a Macbook! But not even being blogged about by Meghan McCain or being featured by Perez Hilton made this go viral.
Watch it, tell me why you didn’t immediately put it on your Facebook page or send it to your family and friends? Perhaps because Seattle has some of the best social services in the nation, or that University of Washington, which is prominently featured in the back ground, is a great school that costs less than most Community Colleges thanks to taxes.
Perhaps it’s just that no one can connect to it for any number of reasons. Not even with an auto-tuner is it in-tune with what most people really feel (regardless what some news stations purport).
Result: since April 08, 2009 it has gotten 147,854 views one of which was mine.
Now how about this one: 648,298 views in the last 15 hours.
It’s smart, honest, funny, and most of all it connects to people in a way they want to share. If you attribute it to star power, then I guess the obvious question would be what about other viral videos without stars?
I am juxtaposing these two because of the content, they serve as perfect bookends.
Meghan McCain in describing why this "Lady Gaga" video was so great a sure to go viral said,
“Unlike the young conservative rappers, this video is self-aware—it is campy satire, and isn’t attempting to be taken as seriously as the Brooks Brothers-wearing rappers......It is just as important for us to battle with ideas as it is pop culture. And instead of letting the writers at SNL and The Daily Show have all the fun—more often than not making fun of Republicans—we should be fighting back with the power of our own viral videos.”
And here is a very serious, yet serously funny and attention grabbing video made by people who care about the subject for real, and care about the people it will effect.
I guess it comes down to the sincerity of what you do, not how you do it.
Maybe it is all the battle talk, we don’t want to do battle. We want to pass on videos to each other which mean something to us, that make us laugh, or feel good. Something to bring us together.
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on September 22 at 10:13 AM
One of the greatest tools out there today has to be Google Maps. Steadily updated over the years, it has become my go-to resource for getting around New York City, which, despite living here for 4 years now, I still get easily lost when I stumble off the grid and into places like the West Village or SoHo.
Since its creation, Google Maps now has subway information, the flow of traffic (so I can write down "take the D to this stop, then walk against traffic...) For someone with no internal compass, this is all very, very useful.
And then there is street view, which is the icing on the real world navigation cake. I can actually see the front of my location so I know exactly where I'm going. Far be it from Google to stop there, though. Now there are pop ups of other businesses nearby, allowing me to virtually walk down the block and, say, find a restaurant near the theater I will be frequenting.
But you've also probably read the stories of people up in arms over their privacy. What with these Google cars trolling through our streets and cul de sacs. You read articles about burglars using the information.
How do you combat this dissatisfaction?
Well, Google Japan has embarked on an education campaign, where they show how Google Street View gets made.
It's cute and, I feel, effective. It's not pandering, it's just wearing its heart on its sleeve, and being adorable in the process. What does this tell us? Basically, I think, the key is when the little camera robot paints over license plates. How it ever-so-quickly blurs out other photos based on calls it receives.
The message is simple: we're doing our best to honor your privacy. If it's not good enough, just let us know and we'll fix it.
Sure Google could have had a somber video with technical jargon, numbers, and a narrator that explains how the Google cars patrol the streets and take photos, scan them, upload them, etc. But that's expected. Boring. Useless. This, on the other hand, is fun, and it has already accrued a good number of views.
If people want the real info, they can easily get it. This is for the rest of us who just want a basic understanding.
I find it a great way to clear my head from all the reading I do both personally and for work, but yet not turn off my brain completely. I find it increases my reading speed which is a nice after effect. And hey I like learning obscure facts while being drug behind an out-of-control roller coaster engineered plot. It’s a nice break from the zero ending plots of a literary degree, and definitely not my beloved google reader.
So yesterday night, I cracked the spine of The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown’s new book (along with half of America whether they admit it or not) and I have to say somebody over there at Doubleday is doing their job.
The first page starts: FACT (mysterious information given)....... and then goes on to tell us that “All rituals, science, artwork, and monuments in this novel are real”.
Ok this sort of thing gets your hair tingling and of course they follow it up with a hooking prologue that sucks you straight into the vortex of the plot.
Ok nothing new there, that’s why I continue to buy these books, they ALL do that.
Here’s where I raised my head and I smiled westward across the East River to some smart marketer at Doubleday.
On page 14 and 15 we are given the full number of Peter Solomon 202-329-5746, who is the token rich confidant found in all these sorts of plots. This person always serves as a means for the purchasing of technology you’ve never heard about and all those plane trips, fancy guns, hotel rooms, and damaged rental cars. They also serve as never-ending role-reversing plot twists as that we never really truly trust the magnanimity of the powerful and wealthy.
So here is the phone number to Peter Solomon one of America’s most renowned and wealthy individuals, part of a secret society and obviously intrinsically tied to the plot since he also has a hot sister who is unmarried, oh so necessary for the plot.
So if you haven’t already.... call it! 202-329-5746
Pretty cool. This is where we should be today, and beyond. This is what people want, interaction. The fact that they set that up for me (and the million plus others who bought the book already it’s first week out) makes me a believer in the book and in the Brand.
I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that Doubleday would do this, they are owned by Bertelsmann AG, who also owns Pantheon which released Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves(fantastic read!) which had all kinds of links to websites as research that were actually active even if the research was fiction, way back in 2000.
When people ask me what can I do to make my ( fill in the Blank ) successful, there is one given.
Remember that it’s people you are trying to reach, give them what they want, make it real, suspend their own reality and make them believe, give them the real phone number and set up an answering service for that number. Sure it will cost you an extra dime, but you’ve sold your next book, because you have created:
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on September 21 at 12:28 PM
Over the weekend, Rowland Hobbs, CEO of DMD Network sent around an intriguing article to both Jesse and I.
Recent research by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Vassilis Kostakos pokes a big hole in the prevailing wisdom that the "wisdom of crowds" is a trustworthy force on today's web. His research focused on studying the voting patterns across several sites featuring user-generated reviews including Amazon, IMDb, and BookCrossing. The findings showed that a small group of users accounted for a large number of ratings.
With this article I respond with a prevailing: Duh. Not to insult the writer or researcher, of course. It is good to have these numbers and facts available to us. But, from one Web guy to his fellow .commies, how many of us have not realized that Gladwell's Tipping Point sure seems to function pretty much exactly as he said it?
We're not looking to move mountains here. I learned this not only online, but also through my night job as a gay nightlife promoter. Sure I can blast out an email to 5,000 guys. But the chance that they will all show up is slim to none. However, what DOES work is gaining the trust of a few key movers.
An example. Two weeks ago I received a text message from my friend Jesse. He was throwing a birthday party and he knew that, because of reading my status messages on Facebook, that I was a promoter for Splash Bar. He decided that he wanted to have his party at Facebook. He knew me and trusted me as a source to get things done in nightlife, and I put the wheels in motion. On the night of his party he walked in the door with 70 other people.
What does this mean? It means stay away from the Carpet Bomb. We're not looking to vaguely blanket the world in our messaging. It will do us much better to spend MORE time finding that vocal minority - the Jesses of the world. Directly engaging them and getting to know them. Sure I may have spent a few hours working with Jesse - something to which my nightlife partners asked was I sure I was best spending my time? Those hours could be spent forwarding promos to thousands of people. I told them yes, it was worth it, and I ended up being right.
Back out of nightlife, let us look at two recent examples of successful crowdsourcing. One is this recent article in the New York Times tech blog about a $1 million dollar prize given by Netflix to a team of researchers for creating a more accurate and statistically successful version of their movie recommendation engine. (Netflix Awards $1 Million Prize and Starts a New Contest).
Netflix, the movie rental company, has decided its million-dollar-prize competition was such a good investment that it is planning another one.
The company’s challenge, begun in October 2006, was both geeky and formidable: come up with a recommendation software that could more accurately predict the movies customers would like than Netflix’s in-house software, Cinematch. To qualify for the prize, contestants had to be at least 10 percent better than Cinematch.
The winner, formally announced Monday morning, is a seven-person team of statisticians, machine-learning experts and computer engineers from the United States, Austria, Canada and Israel.
So what did Netflix do? Something genius. Instead of hiring a team to do this, and spending untold millions to get it done, they put a $1 million dollar offer out on the line and let a team create itself to get that amount. What they did is very similar to a book I read recently called Emergence by Steven Johnson(which I recommend you all read). They created a competition and told those interested to make their own groups and figure it out themselves. They gave the rules: must be more that 10% better. And the prize: $1 million.
And that's it. How successful was it? Well, they're going ahead and doing another one.
Another example is the RedesignGoogle crowdsource challenge coming by way of WebMynd.
RedesignGoogle lets you completely customize the look of Google Search by installing user-submitted designs from an online gallery. A stripped-down version of the WebMynd add-on applies your installed stylesheet whenever you’re on a Google search results page. (You can enable WebMynd’s other features if you like, but they’re turned off by default.) Currently, RedesignGoogle is available for Firefox, and we’ll be releasing versions of the add-on for other browsers soon.
If you’re a designer, this is your chance to revamp the most widely used service on the web. Anything that can be manipulating using CSS can be changed with RedesignGoogle; here are a couple of examples of what’s possible. We offer a web-based CSS editor for creating and previewing your designs, but you’re free to use your preferred tools — just paste your stylesheet into the editor when you’re ready to apply it to your own searches and publish it to the Gallery.
Another astounding idea. In times like these, with unemployment rampant, there are plenty of out of work designers who are sitting around with nothing to do. Give them a competition, and a chance for some exposure, and see what happens.
So what does it take? Two things, really:
1. Clearly set up rules and rewards. If you're new to this idea, don't think you can just put it out there without a prize. IT NEEDS A REWARD. Why was Whopper Sacrifice successful? Because you got a Free Whopper. Why did statisticians spend 2 years building a recommendation engine for NetFlix? Because they could win a million dollars.
2. Find the top dogs you're going after - that vocal minority speaking on behalf of the silent, lurking majority - and entice them with your challenge and prize.
If the prize is in line with the effort required (1 million bucks for 2 years of work), and it gets to the right people (your target) you'll no doubt see a crowdsourcing success.
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on September 18 at 4:36 PM
Let me start by saying I love Google. Their innovations are amazing. I am cheering for them in the Apple v. Google war. I am a loud and proud evangelist of almost everything they do (except knol, I mean, come on... give it up).
But I have one huge problem that I simply must air out.
I have multiple Google accounts. My professional, and my semi-professional. As a power user of all things technology, I will often have my personal gmail open while blogging here for DMDxd while updating my personal YouTube page while browsing through my Google Reader.
Problem is, when I sign into one, I get kicked out of the other. This is very not cool. Especially now that Google is buying everything in its slow plan to take over the world.
Come on, Google! Take a break from making Mario-inspired Gmail themes and find a way to let me juggle multiple accounts without suddenly being kicked unceremoniously out of a conversation with colleagues and friends.
And yes, I heartell that there are workarounds for this. Buttons to push and secret handshakes to pull off. But I shouldn't HAVE to find a workaround. Google should make it easy for me. It is astounding that a company that ushered in the simple empty search page could create such a bugger for my efficient working nature.
And what is the learning here? That even the best companies that are lauded for their successes and usability can overlook something so simple. And even if there's a security reason (I don't know what it would be) it still is inexcusable. It's a distraction and a hindrance. In today's Internet economy, every second is worth a million dollars. Especially to people like me who roller skate and brush their teeth while sharing blog posts with notes and updating the tags on their latest blog post.
Google, I still love you, but this is getting to be too much. Please fix this.
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 18 at 4:07 PM
Last night we were guests at the Guggenheim opening of the Kandinsky. It was a wonderful evening of full Kandinsky immersion.
Being that the Guggenheim in many ways was created to house the work of Kandinsky, I couldn’t imagine a better place and time to see the prophet, artistic and spiritual theoretician’s work. In 1939, Rebay and Guggenheim asked Frank Lloyd Wright to design a permanent structure for the collection of early modernists which at the time was called "The Museum of Non-Objective Painting", on East Fifty-Fourth Street in New York. The collection at that time consisted of a large number of Kandinsky’s work as well as works by Bauer, Rebay, and Mondrian. It was beautiful to see the newly restored Guggenheim completely filled with Kandinsky’s art, much as Wright had originally envisioned it.
Make sure you check out his works on paper, which were by far the highlight of the show for me.
Exhibition: KANDINSKY
Venue: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York
Dates: September 18, 2009 – January 13, 2010
Topics: 1 CommentRead Full Post
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on September 17 at 12:56 PM
Oftentimes people long for one-liners of genius to help them excel on the web. They want rules, laws, catchy haikus that tell them exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. I often tell these people that no such rules exist, that it's more complicated than that. Well, that changes today. There is one rule I can establish here and now that, if you follow it, you will indeed succeed online:
Use the music industry as an example of what NOT to do.
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 16 at 3:47 PM
Today OkCupid, the online dating network, published the findings of their recent number crunch of 500,000 first contacts made on their site. Looking at keywords and phrases and how they affected reply rates.
The result was set of rules of what you should and shouldn't say when introducing yourself online for the first time.
In their search for the optimal online dating message, they have come up with what we think are some nice insights for any sort of online interaction whether it be B2B, B2C, etc.
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 15 at 1:45 PM
For the last year I have read the Wall Street Journal on my iPhone. It has gone everywhere with me, I engage with it on the elevator, in the subway, in bed, everywhere I go the WSJ has gone.
I even blog and tweet about the stories I find in the WSJ.
And now its over. Murdoch needs my $2, so our affair is over.
The New York Times, went everywhere with me and still does, and it led me to a self-choosen Paid subscription to the weekend edition which I love and plan to renew.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 14 at 11:22 AM
Whether your still a fan of Kanye West or not I think he went to the gallows for those of us who might still be in the dark about what "we" want, and what is fair play in this age of instant cultural response and PDQ nostalgia.
Today zeitgeist is supercharged and instantly confirmed, measured and commented on. You become a part of the long-tail as soon as you hit send. There is no waiting for the check to clear anymore, we live in the moment and we ALL comment on it. That moment and those comments are never forgotten, Google will keep it there for us long after we might have forgotten. The days of "any press is good press" are over. Topics: 1 CommentRead Full Post
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 11 at 11:06 AM
Last night I took my visiting family to the Brooklyn Promenade just a few blocks from my apartment. I didn’t tell them why, just that I wanted to show them something special on the Promenade. When we arrived there was nothing except the misty beauty of the Manhattan skyline like every other evening stroll regardless of the day. Last night the clouds were so heavy they covered the massive pillars of light which have for years commemorated the fallen towers.
Even though my excursion was “ruined”, I found a moment of peace and reflection in this act of nature. It made me think, you know, maybe its time to move on. Not to forget, but to well, move on.
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I have long been a proponent of the idea that technology moves faster than social etiquette and common sense responsibility. Recent laws against texting while driving and the like, confirm this. And while we had a nice laugh at McCain’s “it’s a Google”, or Bush’s “The Google” or “internetS”, etc. I can sympathize with them as the internet has been a whirlwind technology that for certain age groups might be overwhelming.
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All it took was two words, and twenty minutes. Suddenly a man who was in no sort of spotlight whatsoever during a pivotal political speech was the man of the hour, and not in a way that anyone would like to be.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 9 at 10:56 AM
If you’re a Star Wars geek (not that I am, but I did see the first 1977 run of it at the drive in, and then many times after), you might have participated in tweaking scenes from the Star Wars saga, when George Lucas put them on-line. A winning strategy which helped insure that previous fans would become acolytes in his re-tuning of the holy trilogy.
Audience participation is not kenneled to sci-fi fans or people who love to cross-dress and sing show tunes with Frankenfurter snarls. Participation grafts a brand to a participant’s life. Even the word audience becomes tricky because their participation makes them a part of the brand itself.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 8 at 11:30 AM
I have to admit that I wasn’t very interested when Allen Leung, developer of Hottest Girls App for iPhone, tried to insert porn into the app store, seems like a logical techno-step and obviously if he had been successful, he would have been very rich. If not for that app in particular, but for the wave of like products to follow.
I wasn’t even that surprised or interested when Apple rejected it. They are, for the most part, a VERY conservative company, even down to their philanthropy. So not selling porn at the App Store was no surprise, I’m sure to everyone, including Allen Leung.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 4 at 4:49 PM
If you want to know how to do mobile/social/modern marketing and PR ask a musician. They should know, they have been doing it since they got their first instrument. Word of mouth, social buzz, fliers, street teams, swooning brand zealots, t-shirts, they have been in the trenches since day one fighting on both sides.
This week two of the most brilliant examples of Marketing and PR were brought to you by T-Pain and Beck.
Since 1997 studios have secretly used the Antares Audio Technologies to save good tracks with little flaws. A warbled note from a great performance, and its gone with the auto tuner. Of course it has been used to make talentless pretty faces into national pop icons as well. But it has always been a behind the scenes crutch. Then comes T-Pain. T-Pain has made a name for himself by the over-use of the auto-tuner. Not trying to hide the fact that he’s using the auto tuner, but celebrating it. In a sort of Vilém Flusser manner of speaking, he has become the auto tuner. T-Pain IS auto tuning.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 4 at 10:35 AM
I sleep with my phone. I admit it and I’m not alone according to Interbrand Corp. survey Dec. 2008. Mobile phones are one of the household budget items consumers are least willing to cut back on. Respondents said they’d sooner skimp on housing, clothing, groceries and tobacco products. The only items they’re more reluctant to cut spending on than mobile service are prescription and over-the- counter medicines.
It’s no wonder. They’re the first last thing we touch before falling asleep, and the first thing we look to when we wake up (if not just for the alarm). Mobile phones have an all access pass to every room in our homes, and always ride shotgun. So how is it that an object of such intimacy and connection can be taken so lightly by marketers?
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Posted by Rowland Hobbs on September 3 at 5:46 PM
Wow. Day one of the DMDxd web presence project really was an astounding success, I'd have to say. Below is a quick punchlist of what we accomplished, all while servicing our existing clients, writing copy for our sisters at DMD Insight, blogging here, staying on top of our overflowing Google readers, and spinning plates on our nose (it's harder than you think.)
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 3 at 1:02 PM
Oxford English Dictionary: bing |bi ng | 16th Century A heap or pile: formerly of stones, earth, trees, dead bodies.
The last few weeks I have spent hours namestorming everything from new architectural products to financial groups. Besides creativity, critical thinking and an acute sense of the times, there seems to be nothing more important to the process of naming/branding than research. In my search for the right name I have found myself researching medieval battle accouterments, chemical catalysts, egyptian divination, and norwegian black metal bass players.
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Now I'm in charge, and I'm taking it in a wholly different direction. And in a very risky way.
So, I figured - chances of failure are possible. Why not document the adventure?
Hi. I'm Justin R. Buchbinder, the Creative Director of the new DMDxd. I also have an Associate Producer, Jesse Poe. You'll be meeting him soon enough.
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