I’ve always been fascinated with how some ads try to present their products as part of a bigger lifestyle choice. Sure I’ve spent a good part of my adult life helping craft those very messages on behalf of clients. But even when I’m nesting in my den, playing the part of the American everyman watching Sunday football, with my marketing work a distant note on my Monday to-do list, I still find myself mulling over commercials in my mind while anticipating the next kick-off.

I write this because recently I’ve noticed a couple car ads lately that position themselves as alternatives to the perennial time suck that the internet and its partner in crime, social media can occasionally be. The Dodge Journey touts itself as a search engine for the real world. While just about any car could stake a claim to such a title, I find it interesting that Dodge decided to devote their campaign to making the case for their car.

Similarly, the Toyota Venza juxtaposes the leisure pursuits of “lame” social media newb parents who use their roomy crossover to ferry themselves through a day of activities like mountain biking and antiquing, against the activities of their soc med savvy adult kids who clearly spend too much of their waking hours transfixed on screens, regularly posting commoditized Facebook banality.

As a former advertising planner, I can tell you that ads like these don’t just get made based on the passing whims of a creative director or a slick huckster sell to a client. Typically they come from the chatter agencies and their marketing clients hear when speaking to people about the choices they make around how they spend their time and and the role of their car in those choices. Advertising themes are often born out of the insights gleaned from this sort of research. And here we have two separate cases offering the same POV — people feel forced to choose between actively going out and about and “living” life (while driving to some aspirational destination) vs being catatonically chained to the inter-webs.

Hmm…. does that mean we are seeing a significant part of society reject the idea of spending so much time cycber-shopping, Facebooking and tweeting? Are people beginning to rebel against how far social media has encroached into our leisure time and are beginning to push back? Is this a real issue issue? Or just a convenient conversation opener around cookie cutter vehicles that offer no other unique way to present themselves to the American public?

A meme is an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. While genes transmit biological information, memes are said to transmit ideas and belief information. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena (via Wikipedia).

Memes are the backbone of marketing communications. That said, there is little discussion of them in most typical client/agency workflows In marketing textbooks. In media kits. Even in our brainstorming sessions. We speak much about targeting, awareness, image building etc. Yet til recently, the notion of tapping into, harnessing and creating memes is rarely discussed amongst marketers or creative folks.

Social media platforms and smart phones are making the notion of memes much more relevant to creativity and communication strategy. Main reason is that these tools and platforms allow us to track the development, evolution and spread of memes as they act as conduits of communications. In addition, these tools allow memes to spread and develop at a pace never before experienced in human history, with little regard for geographic borders or socio-economic divides.

Memes can be trite and amusing- think Planking, or historically ground breaking- like the Arab Spring demonstrations for democracy. Memes can mutate and assume new purposes and identities- the conservative movement in this country is comprised of several evolving memes, from the Anti-abortion to the Anti-tax/spend, Neo-Cons etc. Whether serious or amusing, the important thing is for us to be cognizant of their specific roles in our communication plans and tactics.

At Budding Culture, we’re fond of the social model-

Tribes + Passion + Memes = Culture Movement

Because when communities are fired up to share ideas, culture evolves.

Along that line of reasoning, the challenge for us as marketers is to creatively and effectively leverage memes as part of our brands’ communication strategy. A challenge we’ll be writing more about in this space.

How do you leverage memes in marketing communications?

Pizzicato 5 were one of my favorite bands back in the 90s. Like a lot of my favorite bands they managed to evoke retro-cool (and I love the mod 60s) while feeling very much of the moment. Twiggy was just a silly song that sounded great loud with a tacky cocktail in a room filled with orange naugahyde.
/enjoy

Brands are often an unwelcome presence on social media platforms. They tend to interrupt conversations with blatant sales pitches. They then often ask for information we don’t deem them entitled to receive. Our email addresses. Answers to incessantly dry, pedantic surveys. Urgent commands to pimp their promotions to our friends. You get the idea. When it comes to social media, many brands and the companies that run them could use an etiquette primer.

But where to start? Recently at the BC mother-ship, we started talking about an unlikely but intriguing point of reference for brands in social media- personalities that are charming, get their point across and know how to disarm and ultimately win over a hostile crowd. I’m talking about none other than the brothers of Delta Tau Chi. Those slacking losers that ultimately win our hearts in the movie Animal House.

What can brands learn from a bunch of frat boys? Well think about this. On the surface, the Delta Brothers were seen as pariahs. Slobs. Flunkies. Rude. Outsiders on the campus of Faber College. Kind of like brands trying to fit in on Facebook. But each of the Deltas had certain personality traits that won us over, and if we are to believe the film’s prologue, allowed them to ultimately achieve success in life.

Still not buying? Well let’s look at a few of the characters and see what implications exist for brands-

Let’s start with Larry ‘Pinto’ Kroger. On the surface, a timid, socially awkward freshman. But as the film progresses, his timidness is what makes him appealing and in fact works in his favor to him over fans. Can being a little shy and reserved be a positive trait for a brand? Maybe. It just might encourage your fans to speak up and drive the discussion. And that’s never a bad thing.

Kent Dorfman or Flounder, has a geeky enthusiasm that on the one hand is naive, yet on the other hand, charms people and ultimately make us want to root for him. What is your brand doing in social media that will encourage people to root for you?

Eric “Otter” Stratton had the gumption to say and do big things. Whether it was telling off the Dean, or lusting after the girl no one thought he could get, Otter intended to do things that no one thought he could achieve. Big, out of this world ambitions- a great blueprint for brands to win over fans in social media too!

Robert Hoover was the affable, clean-cut fraternity president who always struggled to maintain a facade of normalcy. But he ultimately understood and went along with the Delta lifestyle and the desires of his frat brothers. In many ways, Hoover was the ultimate brand that stays accountable to the desires of their key community while looking out for their community’s best interests. A true leader.

Finally there was John Blutarsky or Bluto. In his seventh year of college, Bluto lived most of his days as a drunken degenerate. But he also had a passionate irreverence that motivated him to do big things, from legendary toga parties to ambushing the homecoming parade. Bluto’s cheeky antics motivated his peers and won over fans. How can injecting some passionate irreverence into your social media activities help your brand motivate people?

The brothers of Delta House may not be appearing in marketing textbooks anytime soon. But we at BC believe they have a lot to teach us when it comes to brands successfully using social media.

A little musical Social Instigation — Love some of the mash-ups being created from individual musician’s YouTube videos.

The individual parts are cool, but the sum JAMS!

Thx to @brianwaka for sharing.

As Facebook and Twitter have ascended to the top of the marketing lexicon, it is utterly amazing to me that brands still don’t understand the (well documented) fundamentals of social media.  So many marketers are treating social media as an extension of their direct response efforts, or just another media outlet for press releases. Not to say that social platforms do not play a role in the transaction or dissimulating company news to a broad audience, but these tactics acting in a vacuum are sure fire momentum killers and roads to social media irrelevancy. That’s because they are based on top down, one way communication that do not encourage dialog or add real value. At its core, social media is a conversation between like minded peers, and brands are often viewed skeptically as outsiders and party crashers (even on their own fan pages!). Brands that are constantly telling you how great they are or how you can help them are likely to be shunned and ignored.

It’s not about you, it’s about them.

Much better to use a true people centered approach to social media communications that encourages engagement on deeper levels. This means knowing your communities by listening and taking the time to find out who they are, what they care about and what gets them fired up. Then find common ground and share your brand’s point of view in a way that adds value to the relationship. Bring something to the party:  A great story. Something surprising.  Something  fun. Something unexpected. Some knowledge or insight that will inspire or help.  This will lead to something infinitely more sharable and will grow your fans and followers in a much healthier and richer social media environment,  building customer loyalty, brand advocates and awareness.

We just spent a few days at the Natural Product Expo West trade show in Anaheim. I’ve always been a fan of this show. It’s a chance to meet tons of people who do what they love- create products that are good for you, good for the environment and are often unique. Many of these products go on to grow into major brands-  Amy’s Kitchen or Kashi are two that come to mind.

This trade show also presents the chance to meet and chat with the proprietors of some fresh, up-and-coming brands. We really enjoyed chatting with the good people from Nellie’s All Natural and Two Moms in the Raw. Whether Nellie’s back to-the-future take on safe cleaning products, or Two Moms’ belief in the benefits of raw food snacks that taste awesome, the passion the proprietors put into their offerings really does comes across through their brand presentation, packaging and of course the quality of the product. It leads us to believe that a brand is only as good as the people behind it.

And there were many good people at Natural Products Expo West this year.

We’ve heard much over the last few years about the wisdom, power, intelligence of crowds. The ability to harness collective creativity, brainpower, willpower and vision in order to accomplish great things.  The growth of social media inspired much of this discourse.  And even if you have been a skeptic till now, recent events in the Middle East should convince you that crowds empowered by social media platforms are indeed a force of world-changing influence.

We’ve come to define motivating crowds as ‘Social Instigation’ — the act of firing-up a crowd face-to-face, virtually or a mixture of both.  We also believe that Social Instigation needs to be considered as a critical tactic for helping companies make the most of their marketing efforts- especially through social media.

So what is social instigation?  Social Instigation lives beyond traditional marketing. It thrives as an organic and open minded communications method.  It doesn’t live alone  in a print ad or on a Superbowl spot. Nor does is exist solely on a Facebook Page or smart phone app. Social Instigation welcomes good neighbors and rewards generosity. It demands a coherent plot and a compelling narrative. It lives in dialog- by listening more and telling better stories.

Whether it be through digital experiences, promotions, events, social media PR, sponsorships or advertising, we believe in the power of Social Instigation to create conversations between stirred souls and mutual passions. It  gets companies and their customers fired up and working together. From there, we believe anything can happen.

I’ve been thinking about how dated traditional marketing worldviews have become — particularly the notions of brand building.

Twentieth century economic growth provided a hothouse for the dogma of brand building.  The increasing presence of one-way broadcast mediums, coupled with the industrial revolution and later on the spread of consumption-led economies provided the perfect storm for brand-think.  Whether in the guise of ad-agency, consultant or marketing manager, brand shamans shouted their b-invectives to willing minions — brand imagery, brand awareness, brand positioning, brand building, brand equity — brand, brand brand.

Fast forward to 2011.  The rise of community-led dialogues, a wary cynicism associated with big businesses, a re-mix-culture and desire for collaborative creativity are providing yet another perfect storm.   And this perfect storm is less about the power of brands to win people over through imagery and incessant one-way messaging.   This perfect storm is about the power of people — with brands as potentially helpful tools and props.

I don’t mean to be disparaging when calling brands tools and props.  Tools provide a useful function.  Props provide support.  Both terms imply doing things for people.  In other words, welcome to the era when brands and the products they represent should market themselves by doing more for people (and in the process losing the brand-message monologue).  That could be the foundation for a great relationship.

Our most personal beliefs and habits are influenced by peers and social networks (check out Herd to learn more on this).  Consumption habits are no exception.  Social media tools and platforms have accentuated this, but it has always been a fundamental part of human behavior.

While marketing has traditionally looked at persuasion as something that happens as a brand-led dialogue with an individual, the reality is that peer-to-peer communications have a greater influence on attitudes and behavior.  As such, the onus is on brands to understand how we interact as like-minded groups.

What does it mean for companies or brands to engage peer groups?  Well for one, it means understanding who are the ideal peer groups or tribes to engage with.  This is fundamentally different from identifying an individual target consumer, because it puts the idea of community at the strategic center of marketing plan development rather than as a tactical footnote.  It also means that how people share ideas and information becomes a critical part of communication strategy development.

Questions we need to ask ourselves as we try to identify key opportunities for peer-to-peer communications include:

What are our customers tribal affiliations?

What like-minded groups can we connected with?

What tribal or community affiliations will make our brand most valuable to our customers?

What role can we play in our customers’ communities?