Consumer participation and community move from social media to the theatre
The Donkey Show, where the audience is part of performance
It’s starting to look like no one wants to sit and watch anymore. Not even at the theatre. At two recent American Repertory Theatre productions, going on now in Cambridge, and Brookline, MA, patrons are part of the performance. In A Donkey Show, a musical riff on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, the audience mingles with performers and even shimmies with bare breasted actors.
In another production, Sleep No More, an actively involved audience meanders through the sinister settings of a four-story theatrical installation, taking in the story of Macbeth in a completely novel way. Wandering through forests and bedrooms, preferably in comfortable shoes, an audience member can choose how and when to proceed. Not unlike a video game narrative.
As you might expect, this approach to theatrical production is attracting a new audience. One that’s younger and more interested in the experience that takes place throughout the entire venue, not just what’s happening on the stage. While there is no shortage of critics – “intellectually barren” is one Donkey Show review that appears on ART’s website – the shows are sold out and being extended. Even more interesting is that numerous people go to the performances more than once; some have even been attending weekly.
In the case of A Donkey Show, a production that’s successfully brayed through London and New York, you could argue that it’s nothing more than disco masquerading as theatre. But if you listen to director Diane Paulus, there’s both story and a context. The latter informed by those blurry days of Studio 54, which was, arguably, a theatrical experience in and of itself.
Since I can’t help but look at everything in pop culture from the perspective of a marketer, this story interests me less because it’s a different kind of production and more because it’s further evidence that the trends regarding the actively involved audience that we’re seeing in other media – video games, social media, websites, augmented reality, interactive TV – are beginning to appear everywhere.
Even iPhone apps have moved beyond the grip of one’s hands, instead calling for greater and greater physical interaction. Case in point is Untravel Media’s Murder on Beacon Hill. Using geocoded videos to take you back to Boston in 1849, the app turns you into an active sleuth attempting to solve the murder of the prominent Brahmin Dr. George Parkman.
Walking Cinema: Murder on Beacon Hill: Introduction from Untravel Media on Vimeo.
My last post argued that consumers are ready to become creators if we simply invite them to. These examples suggest they’re also ready to become part of the story in other ways: as cast members in a live performance, not necessarily seeking the glory and visibility of American Idol, but willing and anxious to play the role of extras.
What does any of this mean for brands and marketers? Do we invent new ways to tap into this willingness and enthusiasm? Do we encourage it? Are there advantages in terms of awareness and loyalty if we do?
I think maybe yes. What do you think?
Is crowdfunding the new way for companies to make donations?
By now we should all know that crowdsourcing is a nifty way to raise money.
In 2004, the technique helped make Howard Dean a viable candidate for president, at least for a little while.
A year later, 21-year old student Alex Tew reminded us of how effective crowdfunding could be when he sold pixels on his home page for $1.00 a piece and raised over $1 million.
In 2007, in a first of its kind experiment, fans pooled $35.00 a piece and bought Ebbsfleet United, a football (soccer) team, albeit a struggling one, in southeast England for just under $1 million.
And more recently, encouraged by the willingness and desire of the community to donate small amounts of money, Kachingle has given us a new concept that hopes to support both online content creators and readers. Its simple model collects $5.00 a month from willing participants, then distributes that money across the web in support of the content most valued by the “crowd” of voluntary contributors.
But crowdfunding actually offers us a chance to do more than raise money. It can transform the way we make charitable donations, give us yet another way to involve and inspire our community, and perhaps most importantly increase awareness and garner attention for the causes we support.
Today, if your company is like most, you probably make at least some charitable donations every year. And, I’m willing to bet, you do it the old fashioned way. You write a check and maybe a press release. Perhaps you get your name listed in the back of a program under donors, or even on a plaque in the lobby.
Instead why not invite your community, customers and employees to join you? Preferably in public, over the web, via Twitter, or from your site. I’m not suggesting you do it to ease your financial sacrifice. In fact, you don’t even have to ask your community to contribute money themselves. Just give them an opportunity to participate, influence, vote or simply feel included.
Here are two examples. This year Grain Food Foundation (full disclosure, Mullen client) planned on donating money to Feeding America, a worthy cause if there was one. But rather than simply do it the tried and true way (write check; write press release) GFF gave customers a chance to join in the process. For every person who visited GFF’s online gallery and created her own original “bread art,” GFF made a contribution. Consumers felt as if they were supporting a cause, even without having to write a check themselves. They helped spread the word by posting their art to Facebook and Twitter. GFF got credit and attention for its effort. And Feeding America benefitted from the buzz.
For the last few weeks, Lands End has used crowdfunding to collect coats for the homeless. They’ve done it in a way that makes them look good and their customers feel good. Donate your old coat and Lands End will give you 20 percent off the price of a new coat. Chances are they were going to offer 20 percent off anyway. I mean what retailer is charging full price these days? But by getting you to take action, they generate awareness, gather a community and accomplish something meaningful.
Why not take a look at all of your planned actions — planned or otherwise — and ask how you might help the crowd help you?
These are just a couple of ways in which companies can enlist the community to help raise money or at least feel part of a company’s efforts. Got any others? Please share.
The sweetness of lemons
Or a blank sheet?
Thousands of people get laid off. One of the victims decides to help by writing a blog, offering advice, posting freelance job listings. Through his site and Twitter he meets dozens of peers who are out of work. He finds inspiration in their initial struggle and eventual transformation. He has an idea for a film. An entire creative community emerges from the shadows to help. All for free. Motivated by the desire to create something together that might be amazing. Seven months later Lemonade the Movie premieres to a packed house in Cambridge’s historic Brattle theatre. The film, about 16 people who got “whacked,” comes to an end. The audience, filled with people who themselves had been downsized, erupts in applause.
Amazing it was.
I’ve attended more advertising events than I care to admit or remember. But I’m not sure I’ve ever been to one that was more uplifting. Ironic that the joy and celebration and camaraderie that permeated the crowd all emanated from the fact that a whole lot of people lost their jobs.
Our business is hard, stressful, unforgiving and filled with rejection. But every now and then we get to make something wonderful or cheer on those around us who do. We experience the thrill of starting with a blank sheet of paper, our imaginations, and a vision. More often than not the obstacles we encounter – time, money, too many differing opinions – dent the product if not our spirits and what comes out the back end is a compromised version of a project we put months of our lives into.
From left: Marc Colucci, director; Kevin Kearns, featured in film; Erik Proulx, creator and executive producer; Peter Nelson, director of photography; Carrie Jacobson and Jen McKenzie, producers
But once in a while we create something magical. We don’t have to make excuses, blame someone else, explain that it “tested better.” We get to follow our instincts, avoid the naysayers, and answer to only one critic. The harshest critic any good creative person will ever have. Himself.
There was a lot to celebrate last night. The support of the community. The amazing accomplishments of all those featured in the movie who’ve changed their lives and found new places to focus their creative energy. And the movie itself, beautifully shot, tightly edited, genuinely emotional.
All three reminded me why I love this miserable business. It’s not because of the advertising. It’s because of the people. All of them filled with ideas, creativity, passion and, and in the case of Erik Proulx, compassion, too.
If you get the chance, see this movie.
Where do you want to be touched?
You could answer that question in words. But it might be far more interesting to see your answer in a picture. Even more interesting to see a picture that aggregated thousands of people’s answers. And even more interesting than that to see if where you want to be touched is the same place that someone wants to touch you. (Note, women want to touch and be touched on the back of the neck; men don’t really focus on that particular body part.) All of which you can experience on fleshmap.com, a site that represents just some of the work being done by data visualization master Martin Wattenberg.
I had the privilege of sitting through one of Martin’s captivating presentations on data visualization at last week’s Future Forward gathering of marketers, CEOs and venture capitalists. Martin demonstrated how the visual portrayal of everything — from congressional testimonies to music lyrics – enhances understanding, simplifies communication, and reveals insights that ordinary words just can’t capture.
For example, he loaded the lyrics of 10,000 songs, identified the 83 body parts mentioned – head, eyes, lips, hands, knees, etc. – and then created graphs and charts to show the prominence of each body part in a particular genre of music. But here’s the catch: bar charts and graphs were boring. However, place an image of each body part in one of 83 circles, then let the popularity of that body part in a genre’s lyrics determine the relative size of the circular images, and you have one amazing visualization. I don’t have to tell you what body part grew to dominate the screen for hip hop, but you might be surprised to know that knees were huge when it came to the blues.
So what’s the point of all this in a blog about marketing and social media? Simple. Data visualization shouldn’t simply be a means of communicating facts, trends, or research results, which is how it’s primarily used today, augmenting magazine articles or business reports. It’s greater potential is as an interactive social media tool. Everyone’s a data junkie these days. We want to measure ourselves, whether it’s our calorie intake, our running performance or more recently our sleep patterns.
With Martin's Many Eyes, you can visualization almost anything
With the real time web, data visualization can entice us to participate, enter data, compare ourselves to others, and share those results across our social networks. That’s presuming we get the rush of seeing instant results in a format that is fun and interesting. Thanks to creators like Martin we can. Check him out if you haven’t. You can create a picture of your name, your blog posts, and virtually anything else you can imagine.
And if you’re like me, constantly looking for new ways to engage your community, create genuine utility, and allow for participation, you might discover numerous untapped opportunities in this art form. I’ve got ideas already. What about you?
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Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce: are you inspired?
If you watched Mad Men’s finale the other night, and have even an ounce of entrepreneurial blood running through your veins, your heart had to start pumping a little faster with thoughts of being in that hotel room at the Pierre, ready to start something new. Nothing is more exciting than the launch of a new venture.
Of course in those days, it took money; the Madison Ave boys (and girls) estimated they needed $30 million in billings to start the new Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce. Fear and the risk of failure come cheap. But office space, Xerox machines, furniture, and phone lines all called for a hefty balance in the checkbook.
Granted even then it was possible to start a new company with less. Anyone who has ever worked in Boston has undoubtedly heard the story of Jack Connors, the legendary founder of Hill, Holliday, who launched his agency with a “roll of dimes and a phone booth on Newbury St.”
But today it really is a lot easier. Your only mandatory equipment is a laptop, an Internet connection, and cell phone. Free platforms, free applications, free tools and free advice are the norm.
If you’re making a new ice cream machine or a product that has to be manufactured and distributed, sure you need investors and capital. But if you want to start an ad agency, a social media consultancy, a company that designs blogs and websites, or a new online publication, you don’t need that much: just a crazy commitment to working hard, an abundance of imagination, and the ability to dream.
In the last few months, I’ve watched my friend John Winsor announce Victors and Spoils. I’ve cheered on Erik Proulx as he’s started plans to grow his Please Feed the Animals blog and service. I’ve met the folks at Dart Boston, who are encouraging under 25-year old entrepreneurs. I’ve envied the likes of Laura Fitton who’s introduced us to oneforty, the new Twitter app “store.” I’ve gotten to know Gary Vaynerchuk as he’s brought yet another new venture online. All these folks work their asses off. Some of them did have to raise money. But from what I can tell, they’re pretty happy. None of them are sitting around complaining about the economy or what’s happening to them, they’re too busy making things happen for themselves.
Recently I’ve been working to satisfy my own urge to start something with The Next Great Generation. It’s energizing. I highly recommend it.
Maybe you’re out of work. Maybe you’re tired of working for someone else. Maybe you just need a change. If so, now’s a good time to start something. What’ll it be?
Photo by: Carin Baer
