Your story doesn’t belong to you anymore
Jules Zermati, the Story Teller
Advertising is all about telling stories. When they’re great stories, told well, we remember them. That is no easy task. It takes talent in the form of writing, art direction, and imagination. It calls for eloquence and salesmanship just to survive the approval process. And it demands a relentless dedication to prevent the best stories from unraveling along the way.
Social media is different. It’s less about telling stories than it is about getting others to tell them for us. That’s no easy task either. It takes talent in the form of inspiring participation. It calls for educating ourselves and our clients in new techniques. And it demands courage to give up some of the control we’re so used to retaining.
Next week I’m giving a presentation (webinar) for the 4As on Creativity in the Age of Social Media. So I’ve been thinking a lot about this. How do we inspire our community to tell stories for us? How do we get them to join us in co-creating them? What kinds of tools do we give them? What new technologies do we need to master?
There is no shortage of examples to inspire us, from HP’s You on You — a platform built by Reality Digital and embedded in YouTube — that invited consumers to create their own TV commercials, to the Live Strong Chalkbot, which let the cancer community voice their feelings for all the world to see. There are the many memes — from Elf Yourself to the green avatar – that jump-started viral movements. And there are perfectly orchestrated marketing campaigns – like Campfire’s and The Advance Guard’s launch of HBO’s True Blood – that inspired dozens of content creators to become characters in new stories as they unfolded in real time.
While these ideas may have benefited from the thinking and creativity of writers and art directors, it wasn’t writing and art direction that made them great. Instead it was something else: a familiarity with APIs; an acknowledgment that you need a developer in the room; and a willingness to let go.
It seems to me that creativity is changing. We may still want to tell some of the stories ourselves. But maybe not all of them. What do you think? Who should write the next chapter?
Comments
An instructor of mine said, u00e2u0080u009cIf humans can conceive it, nature has perfected it.u00e2u0080u009d And so when I need inspiration or look to solve a problem I seem to find my answers by observing nature. The wolf has the most social structure of all animals. As a volunteer at a wolf rescue in the North Country I have seen first hand their social communication skills in action. Could nature help us as we move towards this new social medium?
I often wonder how much technology is a barrier to our search for a solution as much as it has become the driver for this new medium of communication. I feel we get so caught up in the sexy new tools of the digital age and forget we need a communication strategy that meets the needs of the client. Then pick the best way to deliver it. Technology is often only a facilitator never the answer. Sometimes it takes the pack and all its social rankings to move the team forward.
Just some thoughts to an already interesting conversation.
Edward, I think the bottom line is to be genuinely interesting to those you want to pay attention. Be consistently interesting for a long time and your story will be told over and over and over.
If your brand story is boring turn your weakness into a strength and make it interesting.
Everyone wants to stand next to the interesting Dude. We all know the talker of all things bland - don't be that guy.
But be aware, there are social skills - find the balance. Easier said than done for sure.
.-= Bruce DeBoeru00c2u00b4s last blog ..Bruce DeBoer u00e2u0080u0093 Professional Photographer =-.
Good point. No matter who is telling the story, it needs to be a good one, memorable enough to recall, interesting enough to pass on.
Hey, Edward, great topic, and you're making some great points here. And thanks for the kudos for us on True Blood. As one of my partners, Mike Monello, says, telling stories in the New Marketing environment is about giving the audience stories they can make their own. Exactly the point you make somewhere up above.
Meanwhile one of the biggest issues for the New Marketing company is being able to explain to companies that connecting stories to their brand deserves a place in their current budget. And, indeed, that you don't always put their brand at the center of the story to be effective on their behalf.
Campfire has a significant social media practice, in part because of the social media company we recently acquired, The Advance Guard -- and the expertise of the two principals who are now at Campfire as important creative executives.
And there is definitely a business here, which may be related to PR, although I'll have to think about that one. For us it's another more important part of what our agency does as part of effective marketing for clients.
True on the challenge. Run into it all the time. Everything from lack of understanding to fear of losing control (which they don't have anyway) to questions about how to measure value to lack of familiarity with a process that is dynamic rather than more formulaic. What will happen? When? How long will it take? What if....? Nevertheless, every research report in the world tells us that consumers are getting more and more information from each other: bloggers, video, comments, etc. So eventually everyone will come around to the idea that stimulating our communities to tell, to share, to co-create is as important a part of the marketing process as the stories we bake in or conceive ourselves.
Thanks. It's evolving, rapidly to say the least. But I think the first folks who really put a stake in the ground and hang out the "Open" sign for a pure entity will do well. Fortis fortuna adiuvat.
Edward: Posted here last week (forgive the Anon). Question: what's the reality of the business model for a true Social Media agency? How can overhead be met? I'm not a fan of the old way, but it seems the new way will not generate as much income. True? Or do I, literally, not know what I'm talking about?
Anon:
Here's the deal. There are a few ways to do this. Clients want to experiment and explore, and figure out new ways to connect and engage with target. As an agency, you have a few angles. 1. Community management: help them set up or even oversee their social presence (Twitter, FB, Linked In, Youtube, etc.) Help them determine content, how to build followers, how to engage (the right way, don't hard sell), etc. 2. Reaching influencers. If social is about getting others to tell stories, you need a real way to reach bloggers, Twitterati, videographers, etc with useful content. That's a PR kind of function (which I think is the smartest angle to offer up social.) 3. From the creative and content angle. Brands need content. Great content. Creative content. So you can develop video content, blog content, or experiential program ideas like True Blood, thought maybe not that robust. 4. Training. Brands and clients need a lot of training, for execs and employees. 5.Strategy. 6. Technology: apps, FB apps, etc. Don't think an SM agency will be an agency of record, but on the other hand, it can enter through many doors. You need to figure out what you are good at, what you love to do, what you can offer, and then find the best door in. As for making money, it's closer to PR than the old ad model. There's no commission, so you either get paid an hourly rate or a project rate. We are doing pretty well by offering social media through PR. In fact our PR group is basically turning into Social Influence. Then, as needed, we source and or access creative, tech, etc. and charge accordingly. Think alliances.
Reality TV excused writers and replaced them with producers. Similar thing is happening more in advertising. Agencies need to create sand boxes for amateurs to play in. The cooler the idea and the bigger the prize, the more participation you get. The more participation the higher the odds that something compelling will rise to the top. The agency and it's staff remain valuable as a hybrid creative director/muse for the masses.
I'm not even sure it's about finding the thing that rises to the top. It's about letting your consumer into the brand. It's about getting them to generate content that builds more digital presence and attracts even more followers. It's about enabling them to become an unpaid distribution channel for you. Look at Paranormal Activity. The producers simply identified and activated a base of fans and they did all the work. All of it.
Agree it's about letting the consumer in. Regarding Paranormal, looks like they ran a TV spot and produced trailers that were widely distributed online also. The content in the trailer and the spots is smart - seeing a theater full of teenagers crap their pants is dead on. I not sure I believe the film cost 10/15k to produce - smells like part of the strategy. Seems designed to feel homemade and grass roots: "the first ever film release decided by you" is a clever part of that. Consumers are surely participating in this but a load of work is being done to whip them into a frenzy (PR included). I don't see how any of this is simple. It's hard earned and well planned by a good team.
.-= Martyu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Livestrong Day, Everyday. =-.
Jim:
I admit I'm not doing enough of this stuff yet. Have a lot of things in the works, and in the midst of changing how to think about content, crowdsourcing and campaign development. Some clients are anxious to experiment, others still reluctant. But there are so many opportunities, and when you look at the best stuff getting done there's no doubt it's time. Consumers want, even demand, participation. They are creating content more and more themselves. Crazy not to tap into it.
I've been giving this a lot of thought lately too. I still believe that brains drive everything, however. And like I've been harping for a while now - creativity itself is a misnomer anyway. The real skill is the development of an innovative mind. And that's exactly what you're talking about here. Not new and exciting ideas, but new ways to think about things. Innovation. It's a conundrum. But yes, innovation requires a lot of different kinds of thinkers - not just art and copy anymore.
.-= Jim Mitchemu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Getting it Straight =-.
In light of the recent trend towards co-creation, companies have begun using the fact they listen to consumers in their ads. To the point of overclaim.
The latest case of customer feedback 'washing': Crispin Porter Bogusky's fuzzy math (1 billion=7) in the latest effort to bail out the sinking ship that is Microsoft.
http://tiny.cc/k7ufU
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