Storytelling Inspiration

As we prepare our final presentations, I thought I would share an interesting resource for inspiration.  The Center for Digital Storytelling is a Berkeley-based  non-profit that assists people in telling meaningful stories.  A couple interesting stories can be found at the link below, and the site is full of tips and resources that can help novice storytellers like us craft our own personal stories…

http://www.storycenter.org/stories/

Vote on Gigaom: Will $80M Ad campaign give Microsoft brand a boost?

Vote here (scroll down).

- Shal

Hammer Time

You Can’t Touch This

“You talk about the Hammer when you’re talking ‘bout a show 
That’s hyped and tight 
Singers are sweatin’ so pass them a wipe 
Or a tape to learn 
What it’s gonna take in the 90’s to burn 
The charts legit 
Either work hard or you might as well quit“

I was impressed with Hammer’s Talk. I didn’t realize how calculated he was in his marketing initiatives. Few insights that really stuck with me (and are illustrated in the You Can’t Touch This lyrics above):

• It’s all about creating buzz. Initially, word of mouth was his greatest form of marketing.  MC Hammer created momentum by forcing the clubs to play his songs and showing everyone how to dance to his music;
• “Put on the Hammer” He mentioned his name in every song;
• Establish the brand and then sow the seeds.  T.I. started by saying he is the king of the south, and now he is known as the king of the south.
• The earlier the better.  MC Hammer started talking about his product and brand before it was established, allowing him to get all the negative publicity out before it is detrimental.

Twitter is just the beginning for Hammer. Here’s a link to his blog page with links to his twitter, favorite videos, hammertime radio, and much more. http://mchammer.blogspot.com/

After Thoughts:  Iwould like to learn exactly how social media (especially Twitter) has helped him with his career.  Also, did he discuss his bankruptcy at all, and how bankruptcy impacted his personal brand?

Reference Video Links

I’ve been poking around online for some videos that might be useful references for the class as we make our final videos/presentations. Below are a few I came up with:

Axe commercial (great storytelling about a brand, simple concept well-executed; racy):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ensckApupW0

Super Bowl ad with a good twist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVP70U9LDg

 

AUTHENTICITY!!

I was fascinated by Dana Cho’s discussion of American consumers’ search for authentic experiences, and companies’ quest to provide them. At a gut level, I get what she’s talking about just based on my personal experience as an American consumer; I mean I think I look for “authentic” experiences. But I’m not sure I can articulate what that means.

When I google “authenticity,” these are the first three things that come up:

1: Wikipedia (no surprise): “Authenticity refers to the truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions.”

2: Miriam Webster (I selected the more relevant definitions): “authenticity: worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact, conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features, made or done the same way as an original; not false or imitation; true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.

3: authenticy.net: this is the website of an ADVERTISING AGENCY. (I am not making this up.)

I mean, maybe someone created #3 as a like really meta comment on society. But it seems to be real. In fact, items #4 and #5 on the google search also relate to advertising. Which is pretty amazing, if you think about it. Clearly “authenticity” is suddenly a big deal in the advertising world. In fact, the evening before Dana Cho spoke in class, I went to a fascinating lecture by Alex Wipperfurth, author of Brand Hijacking: Marketing Without Marketing, which was also essentially about authenticity in marketing.

Brand & Community – Thoughts from Dana Cho, IDEO

Dana led a great discussion this morning of how brands connect and shape communities.  Some nuggets to ponder when thinking of your brand:

• A great brand helps consumers connect … an extraordinary brand creates a new, interdependent world that blurs boundaries between consumers, company & citizens.
• Even with the struggling economy, people feel they best connect with their outside world through consumption – what are ways we can fulfill this crave for engagement despite scaled back spending? – this could be venting, sharing, lusting not necessarily purchases
• How do we support authentic connections & communities without falling victim to the latest fad and loosing our authenticity in the eyes of  our consumers?
• Unlike some of our other speakers, Dana believes brands are out of our control and urges managers to think of their comfort levels and how the brand can grow and excite when put in the hands of consumers.  This also means one has to take into consideration how to design for constant change and plan for this “human factor”.

What are the implications of the above in approaching brands?

Put on my record because my beat is booming and you will be rewarded

Class today began with a recap of a talk by one of the most charismatic GSB speakers ever – MC Hammer.  We discussed how social networks can help humanize a brand, but also how they can make you seem inauthentic (Meg Whittman had someone else tweet for her).

——

After our discussion of Hammer, Dana Cho from Ideo gave a presentation about Brand Experience.  She gave 3 key insights and impacts:

Insight 1: Consumers are craving engagement

Rem Koolhaas said “shopping is arguably the last remaining public activity”.  The idea is that as we become more and more interconnected through technology, we are losing the personal touch that consumers crave.  However, as the economy worsens and money becomes tighter engagement is becoming more difficult.  So

Impact 1: Enable them to engage

Dana gave two examples, one controlled by the company (Nike sponsored marathons where users can interact) and one controlled by the consumers (Ikeafans.com)

She also mentioned a viral video made by a Trader Joe’s consumer and the value of consumers generating brand.  Video can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk

Insight 2: Fabricated authenticity is everywhere