The Cult of “ME” - Narcissism and Social Media

Freud and others believed a reasonable amount of healthy narcissism allowed an individual's perception of his needs to be balanced in relation to others.  Marked by the rise of celebrity culture, the destruction of tradition, the devaluation of ordinary skills and families in our modern society - advertisers today know that consumers (i.e. “YOU”) obsessively focus on “the realization of the self".  

This cult of “me” is ironically fueled by "personalization." Web 2.0 personalizes culture so that it reflects ourselves rather than the world around us. Blogs personalize media content so that all we read are our own thoughts. Online stores personalize our preferences, thus feeding back to us our own taste.  Google personalizes searches so that all we see are advertisements for products and services we already use.  Whether Yahoo’s "It's y!ou", to “mySAP” to the “iPad” to T-Mobile’s “myTouch’s - 100% you," --it seems like you’re getting "you-ed" everywhere today. 

The shear irony therefore in multiple advertisers attempting to target millions of people with messages about their individuality, makes you realize just how uninspired we all must be.   Society itself seems to have used up its store of constructive ideas.  Moreover, we seem to have lost both the capacity and the will to
confront the difficulties that threaten to overwhelm us.  Today we are commentators and pedestrians in a state of somnambulism – seemingly oblivious to the fact that we have become both politically and intellectually bankrupt.

Isn’t it time we rediscovered our sense of civic obligation?  

AUDI's "GREEN POLICE" YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Audi has created a series of social media programs to buttress its third Super Bowl ad. Both the ad and the social media elements will introduce the Green Police, an enforcement team created to “protect and conserve the environment.”  Video's are partial spoof, partial social awareness. 

Fans can also take part in a Green Police Quiz, apparently conceived to help the public understand how to become better global citizens. 

These videos are now live on a dedicated Green Police YouTube channel. 

ADVERTISING 2009: THE DEATH OF THE BIG IDEA

Beware The Bottom-Feeders: When Procurement Turns Thinkers Into Executors 

Article by Alan Schulman, Friday, January 8, 2010

It doesn't take many ‘creatives’ (in “Ad” speak) to argue the short sightedness of allowing clients to drive down, or discount, the value of developing bigger (and longer-term) brand-building ideas.  After all, what are ideas, if not the cultural currency that differentiates one brand from another?   Ultimately, we agency folk are not only "agents" - but we are all fundamentally in the IDEA business.

What's astounding is the value (or lack thereof) that clients seemingly place on the power and cultural currency of BIG Ideas.  Witness 2009.  Having already rolled over the media services operations and account service functions being provided by their agency partners -- asking for everything from money back, to blended hourly rates that can barely afford a $50K FTE -- the question is, do they really think they've won?  What did they win?  Another half of an FTE?   Or a mid-level media supervisor holding down the responsibilities of an account director?  It makes this creative wonder if they know the difference between thinkers and executors?

But if it's simply executors Clients want, it's executors they shall have (witness any Top Five Global Ad Agency).  A few smart CMO’s have finally realized that the strategic and creative business is no place for Six Sigma.  Rather, it's where ideas are born, nurtured, shepherded and communicated until the customer starts talking -- and buying. Sadly however, as long as short-term, top-line revenue growth continues to drive stock prices up, public agencies will be forced to negotiate the value of their people and their ideas down to ensure the tonnage of dollars continues to flow.

As an industry, who among us will be brave enough to stand up and clarify that we are ultimately in the IDEA business -- not just the billings tonnage and stock price business?  In this climate of procurement driving poetry in motion, it looks bleak for ultimate value of great ideas. 

Perhaps we put ourselves here.  Buy/sell technology platforms have crossed the chasm from Silicon Valley, purportedly making media planning and buying more efficient, agencies and digital media networks have become seduced by scale rather than by skill.  The embracing of these platforms of scale under the guise of efficiency ultimately leads to only one place -- the commoditization of media inventory and the devaluation of strategic thinking and ideas.  Happy 2010. 

Article by Alan Schulman, Friday, January 8, 2010

Alan Schulman is Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of U. DIG > The Digital Innovations Group. He is a member of the Creative Versioning Professionals and his creative agency develops new ad units for new and emerging media platforms. 

Contact him here.

MAZDA’S INNOVATIVE USE OF FACEBOOK

Mazda tried their hand at engaging with younger generations through the use of Facebook in a recent concept car design contest.  The Mazda Design Challenge asked Facebook users to help design the 2018 Mazda3, the manufacturer’s best international selling vehicle.

To wrap up the challenge, Franz von Holzhausen, director of Mazda Design and his team, along with contest winner, will create a clay concept car live at the upcoming LA Auto Show.  To enter, contestants submitted a 150-word description of their vision of the 2018 MAZDA3 and an optional sketch drawing. The Mazda Design team then judged each entry, choosing 10 semi-finalists.

Five finalists were chosen by the Facebook community, and each of the five finalists were paired with a Mazda designer to hone their concept, which was then judged and voted on in a second round by fellow Facebook members.

"The Mazda Design Challenge brought in a flood of cool, unique design ideas. The winning design concept is a fresh new way to look at the design of a vehicle," said von Holzhausen. "This competition was a tremendous success, and this entire process was really beneficial to my team and me to understand what design means to our target buyers. Now the hard part comes -- to see if we can actually build a full concept car on the show stand in 10 days and in full view of show goers."

Read original article

COCA-COLA’S DIY PORTABLE APPLICATION “COKETAGS” LETS YOU PROMOTE ANYTHING YOU WANT

Coca-Cola has launched CokeTag, a Facebook application that allows anyone to promote themselves and their interests via a convenient DIY portable application.  Coca-Cola describes CokeTag as a “personal, customizable widget for individuals, bands, bloggers, artists, and companies to share links to content they want to promote and drive traffic to anywhere on the Web.”

You can bundle links to on- and off-Facebook content in a convenient package, which is associated with and accessible from your Profile or Fan Pages and shared via Facebook private messages or Wall posts. Sharing viral or interesting links becomes easy via highly targeted personal networks for friends and fans.

You can bundle links to on- and off-Facebook content in a convenient package, which is associated with and accessible from your Profile or Fan Pages and shared via Facebook private messages or Wall posts. Sharing viral or interesting links becomes easy via highly targeted personal networks for friends and fans.

The CokeTag application features a self-service editor that allows you to control both the content and skin. Several levels of expandable menus enable easy navigation to specific content, while a built-in click tracker lets the creator know every time someone looks at their CokeTag and which links they visit.

Current Facebook distribution options includes: 1) Create and post your CokeTag on your personal profile page, 2) Create and post a CokeTag to any Facebook Fan Page you administer, 3) Grab and post any CokeTag that you discover on to your own personal profile, 4) Send a CokeTag as Facebook e-mail attachment, 5) Post a CokeTag as a Facebook Wall post.

Currently in beta form, CokeTag is the result of a partnership between The Coca-Cola Company and Linkstorm, an advertising technology company pioneering a new approach to social networking, online marketing and publishing. Initially built for Facebook, CokeTag will later be available across OpenSocial sites (MySpace, Bebo, etc.) and eventually to all Blogging platforms and everywhere on the Internet.

Read original article.

THE GOODBUZZ FACEBOOK BUNDLE

Toronto-based Social media agency Goodbuzz is launching a new bundle package for its strategy and campaign services, which focuses on building a branded online presence specifically on Facebook.  

The Goodbuzz Facebook bundle includes a Facebook application, Facebook Connect integration with their client’s site, and a branded Facebook Fan Page for engagement purposes with Facebook users.

  We'll also link to Twitter, You Tube, and any number of others dependent on client objectives.  The bundled package is customized to each individual client, with provisions for design, campaign management and tracking. Other features include quality assurance testing, consulting, campaign launch support and other key analytics for measuring purposes.


What can we do for your brand? Contact Goodbuzz today.