A Perfect Storm The Social Web, Storytelling And Brands 08 07

A perfect storm: the social web, storytellers and brands

Pixel Lab Workshop4-10.07.10

Mel ExonFounding Partner, BBH Labs@melex / @bbhlabshttp://bbh-labs.com

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What this isn’t

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Nor this

Talladega Nights, Prayer to Baby Jesushttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A0-u85aAYg&feature=player_embedded

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What this is

A grappling with a changing creative landscape (who isn’t?)

A few things we’ve learned about cross-platform ideas.

A point of view on what brands can offer and what they want in return.

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Challenging, exciting times

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Powered by three forces

In Entertainment In MarketingA cross-platform

explosion

In Society

A move to hypersociability

Proprietary, paid-forVsOpensource, free

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It begins with this

In Entertainment In MarketingA cross-platform

explosion

In Society

A move to hypersociability

Proprietary, paid-forVsOpensource, free

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Hypersociability: 5 Facts Social media overtook porn as the #1 activity on the Web in 2008Facebook has >400 million active users. Twitter >100 million24 hours’ worth of content uploaded to YouTube every minuteWikipedia has >13 million articles, more accurate than Encyclop. BritFoursquare just hit 1 million check-ins a day

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynetter/sets/72057594139269787/show/with/3672748556/

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"Sharing information is something we're biased to do and to like doing."

Clay Shirky

Image source: http://ciclodedebates.fundacion.telefonica.com/clay-shirky/

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What we share may vary..

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..But our connectivity is here to stay“The dynamic of our society, and our new economy, will increasingly obey the logic of networks..We are connecting everything to everything.”

Kevin Kelly, New Rules for the New Economy

Image source: http://www.ibiblio.org/hhalpin/homepage/presentations/de2007/

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The impact on marketing: a fight for attention

In Entertainment In MarketingA cross-platform

explosion

In Society

A move to hyper-sociability

Proprietary, paid-forVsOpensource, free

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“Technology.. is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.”

C.P. Snow, New York Times, March 15, 1971

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A crisis in marketing, Part 1

“In 1965 80% of 18-49 year olds in the US could be reached with 3 x 60 second spots. In 2002, it required 117 prime-time commercials to do the same”

Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer, P&G

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A crisis in marketing, Part 1I

“In 1997, the average click through rate on online ads was 2.1%. In 2001 it was 0.5%. In 2008 it was 0.1%”

IABStats, @IAB

“In 1965 80% of 18-49 year olds in the US could be reached with 3 x 60 second spots. In 2002, it required 117 prime-time commercials to do the same”

Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer, P&G

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“Old, linear forms of storytelling are like going on a date and not letting the other person talk.”

Nicke Bergstrom (Mother), #CRCAT

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How brands are “telling stories”

Integrated Interactive Transmedia (excl. Entertainment brands)X

✔✔

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Converse: Domaination (Anomaly NYC)

http://vimeo.com/8254341

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Volkswagen: Fun Theory (DDB Stockholm)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

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AMREF Status of Africa

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Burberry: Art of the Trench / Burberry Live

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+ +

... live + social + 3D

How do you beat live and social?

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Burberry: 3d show

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Barclays: 56 Sage Street

How do you teach 13-19 year olds money skills?Make it a game.

In which you get mugged. Then given £4 and a ‘phone..

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Barclays: 56 Sage Street

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Be useful or entertaining.(Or be ignored).

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Utility wins (for now).

Image source: Denver Egotist

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What we’ve learned along the way

Always on, not bursts of activity

Fuelling conversation, not launch and leave

Iterative and two-way, not linear and one way

Online and offline are blurred, not virtual vs real

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More fundamentally

It’s not about tools, it’s about behaviours

It’s not about technology, it’s about networks

It’s not about social media, it’s about being social

It’s not about now, it’s about the trajectory

It’s not about having all the answers, leave some room

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In summary:A growing list of challenges & opportunities facing brands, some new, some old... all now centre stage.

Challenges Facing Brands

Find and create new ways to engage audiences

Create and sustain conversations with audiences

Get better at telling stories coherently across platforms

Increase ROI and reduce cost (creativity, production, media)

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The impact on entertainment: a fight to monetise

In MarketingIn EntertainmentA cross-platform

explosion

Proprietary, paid-forVsOpensource, free

In Society

A move to hyper-sociability

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vs

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The open-sourcing of entertainment

Messier, crowd-up modelsDemocratized, decentralised and fragmented

People spending more time with content made by people like themselves.

And that content is getting better..

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And entertainment brands are still showing marketers how immersive world-building is done.

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Iron Man 2 (Dan Light / PPC / Total Immersion)

http://vimeo.com/11158156

http://vimeo.com/11205386

Playstation Home / Audi

iamironman2.com/home

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Iron Man 2 - Fujikawa Expo film

http://vimeo.com/11158156

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Where does this leave us?

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“The need and function of storytelling is totally universal, because that need to hear stories and to tell each other stories is as fundamental a human structuring essential need as eating, breathing, drinking and making love.”

Michel Reilhac, Cinema, Crossmedia and Public Television: Firm Steps into Uncertainty.

http://michel-reilhac.blogs.arte.tv/2010/07/04/into-the-future-2/

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How can we leverage this fundamental truth, in ways that reflect the new reality?

Free | Participative | Awesome

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One route: The 3-party market

Source: Chris Anderson / Free / 3 Party Market

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Let’s adapt it..

Source (adapted): Chris Anderson / Free / 3 Party Market43

The idea!

THE WORLD’S FIRST CROWD SOURCED, BRAND-FUNDED, !

TRANSMEDIA CONTENT CREATION ENGINE!

crowd-powered!creativity!

technologies!that facilitate!collaboration!

expert filtering!& curation!

+! x! =! a radical new content !creation engine!

Case study: a 2008/9 partnership between Josh Klein (hacker/writer), Giraldi Media & BBH Labs

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How the pilot will work - globally renowned judges!

Ed Pressman!FILM!

Robert Kirkman!COMIC!

Jesse Alexander!TV!

Jade Raymond!GAMING!

DJ Spooky!OTHER!

(for example: mobile, live!events, music, or transmedia)!

Producer / Director, “American Psycho”, “Bad Lieutenant”, Das Boot”,!“The Crow”, “Badlands”, “Conan the Barbarian’, “Wall Street”!

One of the hottest writers in the comic book industry, best known!for his work on the Image Comics’ series “Invincible” & !“The Walking Dead”; now a partner at Image Comics!

Emmy-winning Executive Producer on “Heroes” & “Lost”!

Award-winning Producer at EA, with credits that include “The Sims !Online” and “Assassin’s Creek”!

Electronic & experimental Producer, DJ, remixer & artist!

Idea - the pilot phase!

The focus for the pilot: stay on neutral territory, prove the concept!

“Roo’d”, a future sci-fi novel!

Written & !

Creative Commons-published!

by Josh Klein!

Josh Klein, author & hacker!

How the pilot will work - the five stages!

Submissions are !posted on the site.!

Anyone, globally, can!

submit up to a 10-page!Creative Commons-!

licensed script derived!

from Roo’d.!

Format for submission!is bespoke by category.!

SUBMISSION OF!TREATMENTS!

The competition is !launched & entries!

across five categories!are requested.!

The prizes & judges!are announced.!

The crowdcreates!

site becomes the!hub around which!the competition!

is staged & engagement!& interaction occurs.!

CALL FOR!ENTRIES!

In the final!stage of the !

competition the !category judges decide!

on the top three!in each category.!

They are also allowed!to select one !

‘wildcard’ not ranked!in the top 10 by the !

crowd, if they choose.!

SHORTLIST!JUDGED BY!

EXPERTS!

Anyone (participants!& visitors to the site)!

both rate the!submissions and offer!

commentary,!suggestions, & !further ideas.!

Commentary, !

suggestions & feedback!are also provided by!

judges, & Guest editors.!

An algorithm helps!

rank submissions!within categories.!

CROWD!RATING!

Category winners!are awarded prizes.!

Winners are open to!

direct contract by!anyone who wants to!

produce a full treatment!

based on their entry!

First refusal goes!to the category judges.!

No legal haggling or !delays; just the !

marriage of talent, !investment & ideas!

PRODUCTION!

! " # $ %

How the pilot will work - the crowd rating system!

•! A weight-balanced baysian filtering system !

•! A cutting-edge semantic metanalysis of the contestants' communication corpus!

•! Result: a balanced & truly representative vote of both the most popular AND the highest quality entries!

The plan

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What did we learn?

1. Have a highly customisable format OR proof of concept

2. Consider the life cycle (inception to disposal)

3. Who will curate? Single, creative vision

4. Amplify the experience beyond a niche community

5. Brands have their own DNA. Identify, then approach

6. Demonstrate short term ROI

7. “Reality is bureaucratic” Joanne Jacobs

8. Don’t underestimate the sheer force of will required to

move lots of early interest to closing a deal

(8.5. And yes, the economy didn’t help).46

Notwithstanding this.. the potential value is there:

Challenges Facing Brands

Find and create new ways to engage audiences

Create and sustain conversations with audiences

Get better at telling stories coherently across platforms

Increase ROI and reduce cost (creativity, production, media)

What “3-Party” Offers

Engage audiences with messages they not only seek out, but they

help to create and spread

Storytelling that only improves and becomes more interactive as

involvement increases

Tap creative power of crowd, shifting media £ into content

creation. “Earned” media vs paid

Deliberate trialling of an approach to cross-platform creativity that

starts in a different place

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Finally: 5 thoughts on riding the storm (with a brand by your side)

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1. Brands need to engage audiences. Plan from the start for participation. (Think:crowd funding/sourcing/creating/judging)

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2. Brands want to be themselves. Deconstruct their commercial and brand strategy before you decide there’s a good fit.

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3. Luck has an awful lot to do with it. Try lots of things, fail fast.

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4. Stay grounded:

New Tools & Opportunities vs Behaviour & Culture vs Human motivation

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5. Stay curious:keep refreshing your sources... (what can we mash up?)

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“In the interactive space good ideas come from immersion in the space. And that is f****** hard. Because there is something new every day.” Renny Gleeson, Wieden & Kennedy

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Thank you

Pixel Lab Workshop4-10.07.10

Mel ExonFounding Partner, BBH Labs@melex / @bbhlabshttp://bbh-labs.com

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