"Ideas are usually rejected out of turn for being too 'something' — too fast, too unproven, too far beyond the corporate image. 'Too something' is a reactionary description used to take the edge off ideas that are strong, bold, and a little scary at first sight. Your challenge is to help people discover a means, harmonious with the culture, to accept your concept."
If you can read Japanese then you can read my book. Order it from amazon.co.jp.
At the GOT SOCIAL MEDIA conference in Houston last week, Kelsey Ruger, from Pop Labs, infused his presentation with elements from The Matrix. Brilliant.
As the above image depicts, companies today can take the Blue Pill and pretend that nothing has changed in the marketplace. Or, companies can take the Red Pill and begin to experience a deeper connection with customers through using Social Media. I hope Kelsey sees how deep the rabbit-hole goes with THE Social Media MATRIX. He is onto something potentially big in helping more people understand why it is important for companies to swallow the Red Pill of Social Media.
For those who missed the GOT SOCIAL MEDIA conference, you can riffle through some of the presentations on SlideShare. (Video of the presentations will also be uploaded somewhere online soon.)
The one-day event was co-organized by Erica O’ Grady, a social media dynamo. She is doing big things and will do bigger things with all this social media stuff. Get to know Erica on her blog and follow her on Twitter.
The line-up of presenters hand-picked for the event were outstanding.
Besides Kelsey, Giovanni Gallucci (aka Digg the Link Hunter) shared his take on how to maximize links and views. Steve Latham outlined a few methods to measure the ROI of social media marketing campaigns. Stephen Anderson delivered a thought-provoking presentation on how design matters in social media. Ed Schipul entertained and informed us about how tapping into the 3 Motivations of People can help non-profits (and for-profits) make a difference. And, Laura Mayes sprinkled smart tid-bits throughout the day. (Unfortunately, I missed Chris Bernard and his presentation.)
“Remixing is about taking something that already exists and redefining it in your own personal creative space, reinterpreting someone else’s work your way. [It’s about] taking an idea and making it suitable for a whole new audience.” — Matt Mason, THE PIRATE’S DILEMMA
Consider the following post a remix of Matt Mason’s THE PIRATE’S DILEMMA. The twist I’m adding is whittling down the gist of Matt’s message into a WHAT — SO WHAT — WHAT NOW structure. The WHAT is the core of Matt’s idea. The SO WHAT explains why the WHAT matters. And the WHAT NOW is advice on how to action upon the WHAT.
NOTE: All direct samples lifted from Mason’s original work, THE PIRATE’S DILEMMA, are quoted in italics.
WHAT:
“Entrepreneurs look for gaps in the market. Pirates look for gaps outside of the market. By thinking like pirates, people grow niche audiences to a critical mass and change the mainstream from the bottom-up.”
Tomoaki Nagao is a Pirate entrepreneur impacting the sneaker trade. Nagao remixed Nike’s Air Force One basketball shoe in garish colors and high-gloss patent leather. The result of this remixed shoe is the sought-after and super-expensive BapeSta shoe line (known as Bapes). Thanks to the success of Bapes, Nike has reintroduced the Air Force One shoe in similar garish colors. Not a surprising move for Nike given that its co-founder and leader, Phil Knight, is an O.P. (Original Pirate) having rocked the sneaker trade in the early 70s.
“Finding a space to get your idea across is as important as having the idea itself. If the idea is good, growing an audience won’t be difficult. It’s the audience that gives pirates their power.” Shawn Fanning’s Pirate prowess was boosted when his idea went viral. At one point, 70-million people were freely sharing MP3s using Fanning’s ultimate pirate creation—Napster.
The entire music industry business model has been rocked by Napster and other peer-to-peer music sharing programs. However, “as quickly as society figures out new ways to share ideas that advance the common good, private interests move in to stop this from happening, to maintain the old systems that benefit only the elite.” The music industry levied a litany of legal charges against Napster, forcing this Pirate business to reform its rock-the-boat ways and go from a free service to a paid service.
The music industry is still waging legal battles against free download sites. But the irrevocable damage has been down. Pirates have forever changed how people view the accessibility, portability, and usability of music. The music industry is facing the “PIRATE’S DILEMMA” of how to respond when an outside force finds new ways to “share information, intellectual property, and public space” that bypasses the capitalistic models of the old guard.
In Matt Mason’s words, do you “fight these pirates, or accept that there is some value in what they are doing, and compete with them?” That’s the dilemma facing businesses in all types of industries.
Mason believes “resistance if futile” and if you choose to ignore the Pirate-created market or choose not to adapt to the changing marketplace … you will lose. The solution to THE PIRATE’S DILEMMA, according to Mason, is to act like a Pirate by “recognizing the pirate within” and to view disrupted markets not as problems, but as opportunities.
A few weeks ago, I wrote an online essay for Brandweek magazine where I referenced SENDaBALL as having an unconventional business service that requires its customers to think before they purchase. (Sending a ball through the mail, with no box ... just the ball. Huh? Really?) My reference included an embedded link to SENDaBALL.com. The other day a surprise landed in my mailbox — a SENDaBALL.
Michele, from SENDaBALL, followed up with an email thanking me after she noticed a bump in traffic to their website from my online essay. Mucho kudos to SENDaBALL. They monitor the blogosphere and acknowledge mentions in only a way SENDaBALL can.
What happens next? I blog about it and I also purchase two SENDaBALLs ... one for my niece and one for my nephew.
This morning a gathering of Tech Plan employees, friends, and family participated in the Dallas-area MDA Stride & Ride charity walk. Sporting their “Glenna’s Warriors” baseball jerseys, this group walked to raise money for MDA & ALS research and to celebrate the memory of my mother, Glenna Moore.
My heartfelt appreciation goes out to Linda Chrissey who not only organized this year’s gather of Tech Plan folks but also last year’s group. Thank you Linda for taking the time to make this happen and for spearheading the $20,000-plus in donations that Tech Plan has raised to support the fight against the ALS disease.
My heartfelt appreciation also goes out to entire Glenna’s Warriors army who joined my Dad this morning to lend emotional, physical, and financial support for a cause dear to everyone who knew (and loved) Glenna Moore. THANK YOU!!!
Check out Chris’ tasty riff in the comments section of my Starbucks One-Dollar Cup o’ Joe post. This reference had me laughing …
“If Howard, like John Cusack holding the tape player outside the window in "Say Anything," is using this a tactic to make me pay attention so that he can look deep in my eyes and tell me he's sorry--I might listen if the words and actions seem sincere and real change follows.” [source]
And that reference inspired “Bobby Breve” to send me this visual. Beautiful. (Thanks Bobby.)
Mega-selling recording artist Natalie Merchant doesn’t have a recording contract with a major label these days. The digital download era has rendered many top-selling artists, like Ms. Merchant, unattractive and irrelevant as it relates major labels releasing newly recorded CDs.
Writing in the New York Times, John Pareles tells us, “Ms. Merchant is back to the age-old economic model of the troubadour. People who want to hear her latest songs will have to see her perform them.”
The free market has decided it likes its recorded music more or less free and not from buying a music CD. But the free market has also decided it will pay to see a musician perform live, like Natalie Merchant. Her week-long residency at Hiro’s sold-out within hours of being announced and a sixth show was added to meet demand.
Yes, the game has changed, but has it changed as much as Natalie Merchant suggests? Only those few artists in the thick end of the long tail ever made significant money from CD sales. But those musicians in the long tail have made their money from touring and not from CD sales.
Generally speaking, a recording artist on a major label can expect to make $1.00 per CD sold. When an artist (or band) signs with a music label they are given an advance to produce a CD. Out of that advance, the artist must pay for studio time, pay the band, pay a producer, pay most marketing and promotion expenses (which includes the making of any music video), and pay for a slew of miscellaneous expenses. Most musicians exhaust their entire advance to release a major-label CD.
In order to make substantial money from a major label-issued CD, the artist needs to sell A LOT of copies. Those artists in the thick end of the long tail make money from CD sales, while those in the long tail don’t. Artists working in the long tail must tour from city-to-city and earn money from ticket sales, percentage take from drinks sales at the venue, merchandise sales, etc. Essentially, CDs (or MP3s) for long tail artists are marketing collateral pieces to get someone to buy a ticket to see them perform live. This way, the artist makes money.
Knowing all this, what's a troubadour to do?
My advice for Natalie Merchant is to not deprive her adoring fans of hearing new, recorded music. At the least, she should record live shows and sell them to her devoted fans on her website and at her live shows. She should also consider giving away her recorded music for free.
Why give away her recorded music for free? As mentioned, a CD or an MP3 file is essentially a direct mail piece to get someone to buy a concert ticket. If indeed a musician can make more money from selling tickets to a live show, shouldn’t they market themselves to sell tickets and not CDs?
Hmm … maybe that’s what a troubadour should do.
Continuing my “Would you Miss” series ...
What say you?
Post inspiration | Mavericks at Work
Paul Williams (from Idea Sandbox) has resurrected a version of the Business Blog Book Tour (BBBT) which Todd Sattersten began years ago. Paul’s version is called Post2Post and will work much like the BBBT did where an author goes on a blog junket discussing ideas from their book.
Seth Godin is first-up and Brand Autopsy is hosting day one of the Post2Post tour talking about Seth’s newest book, MEATBALL SUNDAE.
I’ve worked up three posts sharing tid-bits and such from MEATBALL SUNDAE. Have a look-see and a read-through:
from the Post2Post tour highlighting Seth Godin’s MEATBALL SUNDAE…
Remember the classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial where two different tastes combine? It went something like this …
Seth says the flavor of Old Marketing is about “… interrupting masses of people with ads about average products.” New Marketing, according to Seth, has a flavor that “… treats every interaction, product, service, and side effect as a form of media.” Promoting products and services using a marketing mix of television commercials, print ads, and billboards is Old Marketing. While, promoting products and services using non-traditional marketing methods that invite influential customers to spread the word is New Marketing.
The problem is, as Seth sees it, Old Marketing-based companies are so anxious to embrace New Marketing ways that they end up with a MEATBALL SUNDAE—two great tastes that DO NOT taste great together.
Wal-Mart created a MEATBALL SUNDAE when they decided to combine their Old Marketing strategy of promoting low prices to the masses through traditional advertising with the New Marketing ways of social media consumer generated media. The result of this combination was THE HUB, a myspace wannabe that failed miserably.
Anheuser-Busch created a MEATBALL SUNDAE with its Bud TV marketing initiative. Eager to capitalize on viral online marketing goings-on to reach twentysomething beer drinkers, Anheuser-Busch has routed over $40-million from their television advertising marketing budget to create an online entertainment network called Bud.TV. Launched in the fall of 2006 with aspirations of becoming the next YouTube, Bud.TV has failed to catch-on and is in danger of being axed.
Wal-Mart and Anheuser-Busch are mainstays of Old Marketing. They are accustomed to accosting consumers with a blitzkrieg of mass media advertising to influence their buying behavior. Given that, are we surprised their New Marketing follies failed? The go-to-business ethos at Wal-Mart and Anheuser-Busch isn’t built for New Marketing.
Seth isn’t advocating all companies eschew Old Marketing for New Marketing. Instead, he’s saying, “Don’t use the tactics of one paradigm and the strategies of another and hope you’ll get the best of both worlds. You won’t.”
What Seth is advocating is twofold, “First, the structure of organizations needs to radically adapt to this new model. Second, products need to be designed that don’t depend on old-school advertising but instead spread on their own.”
Throughout MEATBALL SUNDAE, Seth outlines 14 New Marketing trends and showcases how enduring and emerging companies are successfully using those trends to create marketing magic and not a meatball sundae.
from the Post2Post tour highlighting Seth Godin’s MEATBALL SUNDAE…
from the Post2Post tour highlighting Seth Godin’s MEATBALL SUNDAE…
What’s your favorite pizza topping?
SETH: I don't eat cheese. I like arugula, really good anchovies and yes, Union Square cherry tomatoes. If yuppies didn't exist, I'd have to invent them.
Have you ever had a crush on a celebrity? If so, tell all!
Well, I had a crush on Tom Peters for a while...
If you were abducted by aliens, what CD, book, and movie would you bring along for the ride?
This is usually a trick question, because you need something that's either really long and violates the spirit of the question or is repeatable. So, in that spirit, I'm going to go with Wikipedia on CD.
What’s in heavy rotation on your iPod?
I have an EP from Georgie James, then there's audio from Pema Chodron and piano from Keith Jarrett. And the Monkees, of course. I had a long long Fatboy Slim period as well.
Do you have any pets? If so, tell us about them.
Woodie the wonder dog. The usual. Oh yes, and Fisheye, who's a tarantula. Megan has a parrot named Doctor Jones.
What’s your favorite vegan dish?
All my favorite dishes are vegan. I particularly like really good brown rice with tofu and tahini and dulse and boy do I sound like a crackpot or what?
Who’s better Soulja Boy or T-Pain?
Soulja Boy has a dance for god sake! Do you have a dance? I don't.
What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
85% and up dark chocolate, plain, a square a day whether I need it or not. Scharffenberger is my home skillet.
What do you do when you chill?
Chill?
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
Don't be stupid. Nobody takes a picture of cheese.
The Simpsons movie tie-in with 7-11 got lots of digital ink last summer. Marketers, like Jake McKee, raved about it and shared photos galore. Evangelists created a blog about it. Even Advertising Age critic Bob Garfield cooed about it.
No doubt ... 3 out of 4 marketers would agree this movie promotion was a creative success. What about a sales success? After all, sales is the true measure of a marketing campaign.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the promotion was a sales success.
"The 7-Eleven chain ... saw major sales lifts at the 11 U.S. stores that were converted for the month of the promotion. The company says total merchandise sales doubled; fresh bakery sales increased sevenfold and customer count went up almost 50%.Moreover, 7-Eleven says the promotion garnered about $7 million in free publicity. The 7-Eleven Web site on July 11 received 10,420,730 hits. The site typically gets an average of about 400,000 hits a day."
BACKSTORY | In the book, MAVERICKS AT WORK, the authors included a very provocative question every business must ask itself: "If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would really miss you and why?” That inspired me to run a series of posts in 2007 asking if you would miss a certain business if it went out business.
I'm restarting the “Would You Miss” series with a question about The Cheesecake Factory.
What say you?
As a marketingologist with the Brand Autopsy Marketing Practice, I give companies “Second Opinions” about the business and marketing activities they are currently doing or considering doing.
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