What exactly is cultural latency, you ask? Latency refers to the lag time between cause and effect, typically in reference to gaming. The lower the latency, the faster the response time. With advances in technology, we [...]]]> Ever since Faris Yakob wrote this piece for Fast Company on cultural latency, I have been fascinated by the idea.

What exactly is cultural latency, you ask? Latency refers to the lag time between cause and effect, typically in reference to gaming. The lower the latency, the faster the response time. With advances in technology, we continue to see diminishing cultural latency across a wide range of day-to-day activities – from communication (think snail mail vs. email or IM) to advertising.

Which leads us to the ridiculously awesome Old Spice videos that W+K pulled off.

In case you’re not sure what I’m talking about, first check out the original Old Spice ad here and the newly released sequel here. The concept is great, the copywriting is excellent. But here’s where it get’s good: For two days, Isaiah Mustafa, “the Old Spice guy,” was responding to the digital world in almost real time. What happened to the script approvals, post production work and lengthy edits? Gone – out the window.

[Side note: One of the things about advertising that has always annoyed me is the amount of time that it takes to get things done. From signing contracts to script approvals to shooting to post production, by the time it's all said and done, it's hard to keep track of where things started in the first place. This is probably one of the reasons I love social media - everything has to be quick, and so it is!]

After posting updates to various social networks inviting users to ask questions to Isaiah Mustafa (the star of the videos), they received responses from Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, Digg founder Kevin Rose and even the guys from Twitter (who asked if Mustafa had any experience training whales.) In a single day, over 80 videos were created in response to tweets, Facebook comments and even 4chan postings.

The videos were genuinely hilarious, but they also felt extremely personal. But I suppose you could argue that’s nothing new – There are lots of creative people in our industry.

What was so crucial for this to work was the response time. Tweets fly by… Responding to a tweet months later, even days later, just wouldn’t have been the same.

But like all good things, the videos, too, come to an end. So what now?

Brands will be challenged with trusting the agencies that are producing their content even more and agencies will be challenged with creating content (that matters) on the fly. How are you stepping up to the challenge?

Tim talked about process, quality and culture at AOL and how it contributed to both their successes and failures. Whereas Google does a great job of marrying art and science, AOL has missed the boat a bit [...]]]> This morning I was invited to an “Innovation Breakfast” with Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, hosted by Wolff Olins.

Tim talked about process, quality and culture at AOL and how it contributed to both their successes and failures. Whereas Google does a great job of marrying art and science, AOL has missed the boat a bit and is now playing a game of catch-up.

Having come from Google, Tim had a lot to say about internal culture. The most important point, I think, was about competitive culture. Tim pointed out that everyone at Google had a competitive drive and wanted to do their very best – But beyond that, Google had also set the bar of quality pretty high.

Tim argued that to help employees succeed, they assume that employees are smart. By trusting them to manage their own time and workloads, you are giving them the freedom to create their own success. Think of micromanagement and then think of the opposite.

Beyond management styles, Tim touched on meeting culture at AOL. “We don’t do PowerPoints about PowerPoint,” he said, pointing out that this is just a waste of everyone’s time. The company is conscious of not wasting their employees time and has even implemented a 5 minute meeting rule – If you are 5 minutes (or more) late to a meeting, you’re locked out. This holds true for employees across the board: Tim cited an example earlier this month where there was a new business meeting with a large client and the Director of Business Development was late. Instead of pushing back the meeting, they locked the doors.

So can AOL redefine itself and truly succeed? I think so. And so does Tim.

Tim said he accepted the position at AOL because he is a “huge believer that the Internet is going to be much, much bigger than it is today.” Beyond AOL as an Internet Server Provider (ISP), Tim pointed out that there were a lot of other assets and features that AOL has such as MapQuest (the #2 online mapping site) and AdTech. He skipped over Beebo, but when an audience member brought it up, he pointed out that at the time of acquisition, it was a pretty solid social network – especially overseas.

What else is going on behind closed doors at AOL? Tim is challenging his employees to “beat the internet.” Looking at what’s available online today – from flavors.me to Twitter to Wikipedia – there are some amazing tools and platforms available. Tim and his team are taking close looks at what is out there and how they can create something better.

The biggest challenge I think they face is the stigma associated with AOL. While the new logos are cool, lots of people (myself included) still remember AOL as an ISP promoting their service on little CDs of free hours. When I think of AOL, I think ‘old school.’

AOL has a long way to go, but I, for one, am pretty excited about what the future may hold : )

Clay Shirky’s SXSW session (Monkeys with Internet [...]]]> If I asked you to borrow money, you would likely be uncomfortable on some level – even if you fall within my closest social circles. But if I asked you to send me some stats that you shared on your blog last week, you might feel less uncomfortable. Why?

Clay Shirky’s SXSW session (Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature and Digital Data) covered social sharing and why we do it (or why we don’t.) Sharing something physical takes effort. Sharing goods means you’re likely going to have to give something up to share it with someone else. Sharing services doesn’t necessarily mean you physically have to give something up, but it still takes some effort. However, when it comes to information sharing, it’s so easy to do that you may feel bad/guilty if you don’t do it.

We know how to handle scarcity, he said, but “when things become abundant, the price goes away – things become available to everyone. It changes the world people operate in.” Things we previously thought of as scarce are now essentially new products and we don’t know how to value them.

Think about where the music industry is today and where it was 15 years ago. The product they had created was little plastic discs – music itself wasn’t the product. Once Napster hit peoples’ desktops, music became shareable information. Instead of sharing a good or service, you were able to share music files with no real cost to you. Shirky thinks that Napster became such a big hit so quickly because we are biased to feel good when we share information with one another, and sharing these informational files of music was no different.

In this digital age, it’s easier and easier each day to share information with each other – we do this via blogging, via Twitter, via texts, etc. Many of these tools that we use to share information today weren’t available 10 years ago. But where does the future lie? On some level, there are still qualms about sharing information… How does intellectual property play into it? I’m betting we’ll see a lot more of Creative Commons in the future.

What are your thoughts? Will social sharing take over and become more widespread?

Every SXSW badge was equipped with a QR code and at the SXSW Foursquare party the other night, Toby Daniels (founder of Social Media Week) was walking [...]]]> At SXSWi, I saw endless QR codes. While I’m interested in principle and consider myself a technologist of sorts, I scanned a total of zero (yep, zero) QR codes.

Every SXSW badge was equipped with a QR code and at the SXSW Foursquare party the other night, Toby Daniels (founder of Social Media Week) was walking around with a QR code stamp. I even know someone who won $5k from a Microsoft contest that involved scanning QR codes.

But here’s the thing – in my opinion, there are just too many steps for me and the process is unintuitive. I see the squares of black dots and patterns and I want to turn and run the other way.

Having said that, barcodes feel a bit more intuitive. I see them getting scanned on a regular basis and have even scanned a few myself (thank you, college job at Starbucks!), which is one of the reasons why Sticky Bits are particularly interesting to me.

Sticky Bits are sticky barcodes that you can use to attach data to. Unlike QR codes that typically redirect to URLs, Sticky Bits can be used to share almost any form of multimedia.

They’re well designed (even cute on some occasions) and feel more useful than QR codes, which sometimes feel a bit gimmicky. They’re also made to measure. You can attach locations to them and set up notifications so that when someone scans your barcode, you’re able to track that data.

While the physical stickers are a bit expensive (~$0.50/sticker), Sticky Bits offers unique codes available for download for free so that you can tattoo, glue or stamp them anywhere you like.

Would you use Sticky Bits? What would you attach to your barcode?

If you’re not at SXSWi, watch this space for our golden nuggets of learning. [...]]]> This week, both Michelle and myself will be at SXSWi. We’re planning on checking out the panels, learning tidbits to share with you, meeting cool people, earning some new badges on Foursquare and attending a few parties here and there

If you’re not at SXSWi, watch this space for our golden nuggets of learning. You can also live vicariously by checking out (ba-da-boom cha!) Vicarious.ly, which aggregates all the geo-location “check-ins” in Austin in real time. While Foursquare is the geo-location app that has coined the “check-in,” Vicarious.ly also aggregates BlockChalk, Bump, Flickr, Gowalla, Fwix and Twitter.

While it’s a great tool to see clustering of people and overarching trends, it feels a bit overwhelming. At first glance, it also provides some topline insight on the Gowalla-Foursquare battle. While New Yorkers are used to using Foursquare, the steady stream of Gowalla check-ins in Austin shows that they’re becoming a major player in the geo-location gaming world.

Check in, check it out and of course, if you’re at SXSW, please do come and say hi!

You can find us on Twitter here: @rosiesiman & @miishi

After logging into your Facebook account from the kiosk, you are asked to pick pictures from those that you’ve uploaded. At this point, it doesn’t appear that you can print pictures where you’re tagged if [...]]]> Kodak recently announced that beginning this summer Facebook users would be able to print their pictures directly from Kodak printing kiosks.

After logging into your Facebook account from the kiosk, you are asked to pick pictures from those that you’ve uploaded. At this point, it doesn’t appear that you can print pictures where you’re tagged if they were uploaded by other people.

Worried about the size? Kodak will show an icon if your pictures aren’t high enough resolution to limit disappointment.

For a walk-through of how it works, check out the video posted on Kodak’s “Plugged In” blog here.

The only bad thing I have to say? The contact info they give on their press releases is TinyURL.com/emailkodak. [Why would anyone use any URL shortener other than bit.ly?!]

With Kodak taking this step, I think we’ll start to see other printers doing the same. We may even see sites like Facebook and Flickr add an element of digital printing/ordering to the site itself. What do you think?

You can also view the full article on Gorkana here, but be forewarned you’ll be prompted to log-in prior to viewing.

When [...]]]> Mike Mathieson, Cake’s CEO, was recently profiled by Celina Maguire from Gorkana. Get the scoop on Cake’s thoughts on harnessing social media and being authentic marketing “twats.” [See what we mean below ; ) ]

You can also view the full article on Gorkana here, but be forewarned you’ll be prompted to log-in prior to viewing.

When I meet Mike Mathieson, CEO of brand entertainment agency Cake, he is still buzzing from a major set-piece stunt his team has implemented that morning for Confused.com to promote car insurance renewals.

After finding the most accident-prone street in the UK, Cake set about enveloping the entire contents of the street in bubble wrap. The whole event was filmed by a crew equipped with a time lapse camera and the sell in spanned traditional media alongside a full social media campaign.

While many agencies are still getting their social media strategy in order, Cake (named after an episode of spoof news comedy Brass Eye) has been doing it in one form or another since the agency was founded 10 years ago. Originally known for its big stunts, the agency now prides itself on both the strategy and creative running through all its work. It boasts clients including Ben & Jerry’s, Sainsbury’s, Unilever, Motorola, Sky and Ikea.

A self-confessed technophile, Mike has always embraced technology and understood the importance of influencer marketing.  And he was using a very early form of social media long before the advent of the internet, YouTube or Facebook.

Social media pioneers

Mike’s background as a music PR, along with his co-founder Mark Whelan, who worked in advertising, and another early Cake-er Jez Jowett, who ran nightclubs, meant that between them they had three contact books bulging with details of influential media and celebrity types. Pooling together their considerable and influential contacts they created the Early Adopter Top (EAT) 500, a network of movers and shakers they contacted by post and fax.

“We’d send them stuff, products like Rizla papers and tea bags, that sort of thing along with a tongue-in-cheek questionnaire and ask them to fax it back. It was partly to get products into consumers hands and partly to guage their reaction. When the internet came around we thought it was great because we could then push the content online.”

But it was when they won Budweiser as a client in 2002 that they really got stuck into an early type of social media. Budweiser had just made the classic Whassup?! advertisements.

“That’s when we started experimenting with virals and seeding. We had this great piece of collateral and we could push it out to video sharing sites and really got our heads around understanding it.

“Then record companies started approaching us because they had these enormous databases of fans but wanted help with conversations online. We thought we’d have a crack at it and the first thing we worked on was for the band Travis who had recorded a live DVD in Boston.

“I remember it very well because we discussed how we were going to target the various communities and fan sites and we just thought we’d dive in so we did. And we were saying things like ‘hi I love Travis aren’t they great and I’ve heard they’re bringing out a DVD’. And the response we got was ‘Fuck off you marketing twat’.

“After a swift cup of coffee we changed tack and began our outreach with the line ‘marketing twat here, just thought you might like to know…’ This time the response was ‘thanks for the info’. So I guess it was an early lesson in transparency and tone of voice!”

The art of conversation

Fastforward to 2010 and Mike says there’s a social media “car crash” going on between digital agencies, marketing agencies and PR agencies over who owns the social media space.

“What we did last year was spend the whole of November and December training our staff in the art of social media so that it becomes offline PR and online PR and social media.” Jez Jowett, one of the original Cake team, conducted the extensive training regime and rejoined the agency full-time in January.

Mike explains that Cake has dissolved its digital department because it wants social media to be at the heart of the agency – “we want all our consultants to have those skills”. While there are still digital experts, every Cake PR is equipped with social media knowledge.

“What I wanted to avoid was a client coming in and saying that sounds really interesting and us having to say ‘you’ll need to speak to one of our digital guys’.”

Mike thinks the PR industry is perfectly poised to make the most of social media, and in fact has an advantage over other marketing disciplines.

“The thing I always say is that it’s great being in PR because it’s about the art of conversation and we understand that. Having a dialogue and understanding that dialogue is more important than ever. Everyone has their tanks on the lawn about social media…do I think PR is at the forefront of it all?

“Yes I do because I think it’s a bit like when I was plugging records and it’s like an inverted pyramid. The sharp end of social media is what do you say to people and how do you say it, how do engage with people and keep them entertained?”

But one of the challenges for PR agencies is having proper social media evaluation metrics in place “because clearly some clients take convincing about the relevance of social media over a piece of print coverage”.

“We’re on this cusp where some clients still want to see a piece of coverage in The Daily Telegraph but the reality is it’s much better to have something online because it’s there forever, it helps with your search ranking and helps to build conversation around your brand otherwise it’s tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapping.”

He estimates half of Cake’s clients get the importance of social media and half still prefer traditional print coverage.

“We still have clients questioning the value of thousands of followers on Twitter and what we say to them is ‘think of them as your fan base’ or a ‘giant focus group’. A good example is Motorola [Cake is the agency of record globally] who have gone from zero online conversation to being one of the top 40 most talked about brands on Twitter.”

The other big challenge for the PR industry is creating social media content – “having that delivery mechanic is crucial for PR agencies, you need to cover all those angles”.

Mike gives an example of a campaign Cake implemented late last year to promote a Pink Floyd programme going out on Sky.

“We recreated the cover of Dark Side of the Moon on Primrose Hill and filmed the making of it. That was retweeted 25,000 times to a few million people and you think ‘this is really starting to stack up’ – you can really track where those images are going and control it.”

Social media evaluation is very much on the agenda. Working with US-based Sysomos, the agency is developing its own client-facing dashboard incorporating an evaluation model from digital agency Euro RSCG 4D, part of the Havas group.

Growing up

Having a “global network of support” to call on is one of the advantages of being part of Havas, the company which bought Cake nearly two years ago. Cake’s founders, including Mike, agreed a five-year earn out deal but there are no plans to move on and do something different come 2012.

“I think we’ve proved to be a small, but very useful, partner to Havas. We’re very fortunate in that we’re owned by two bits of Havas – we’re half owned by Havas Media and half by Euro RSCG. We have the benefits of these two networks.”

But before Havas came along there were the usual growing pains of being an independent and it was when the company hadn’t grown past a certain point that Mike brought in a non-exec to help mentor him and shape the business proposition.

“I really wanted someone to come in and kick my arse because it needed doing – Cake is a brilliant secret in the wider spectrum of marketing…if you’re looking to groom your business you need to start thinking about profitability, the bottom line and overheads. It wasn’t seismic changes.”

Cake opened a New York office in May last year with a focus on social media and experiential – “we’ve purposely taken it really slowly”-  and things are looking positive for the year ahead both in London and New York.

“Last year was a disappointing year. We didn’t lose a client though and had a very good pitch rate – we pitched to 16 and won 13 but most had a lot less budget than usual. This year it has really picked up – the pipeline is very busy.”

“I’m very excited about this year and particularly excited about the role of social media in PR. We’ve talked about it for so long and now it feels like our train has finally arrived. We can finally create relationships and interact directly with consumers through engaging content and compelling dialogue.”

Mike was speaking to Celina Maguire, Gorkana Consumer Director. Follow Mike on Twitter @mikemath.

–

For more Cake Twittering, follow @CakeGroupNY and @CakeGroup or check out what Cake’s employees are saying on this Twitter list.

The first is the launch of their new Music Discovery Site. Likely inspired by Pandora’s Music Genome Project, YouTube has launched a section of their site where you can enter an artists’ name and you’ll be supplied back with their videos as well as suggestions of other artists [...]]]> We’ve seen two big announcements from YouTube this past week.

The first is the launch of their new Music Discovery Site. Likely inspired by Pandora’s Music Genome Project, YouTube has launched a section of their site where you can enter an artists’ name and you’ll be supplied back with their videos as well as suggestions of other artists you may enjoy. Why is this smart? Not just because it adds a layer to an already robust site, but because YouTube’s most watched videos are already music videos.

I tested the service out with a relatively small artist, Allison Weiss, and YouTube immediately gave me a 6 music videos by Allison as well as a handful of other artists that some of which, surprisingly, I hadn’t heard of:

While the music industry is generally known for being slow to adapt when it comes to sharing content in the digital space, labels are working with YouTube. They were working with YouTube prior to the launch of the Music Discovery section of the site, and because Vevo has promised increased ad revenue, they’re likely going to continue working with YouTube as the Music Discovery section grows.

On another note entirely, starting today YouTube will expand its offerings so that consumers will be able to rent full length movies from Sundance Film Festival through January 31st. Five films from the 2009 and 2010 festivals will be available for rent via YouTube with Google Checkout managing payment. YouTube also has put out an open call asking independent filmmakers to join the rental program.

Here’s to new music and new movies in 2010! Thanks, YouTube!

Improv Everywhere is the group behind the MP3 Experiments and Frozen In Grand Central. In their own words, [...]]]> On Sunday, I took my pants off on the subway. It wasn’t because I spilled my coffee or because I was trying to make a statement, it was because Improv Everywhere held their annual “No Pants Subway Ride.”

Improv Everywhere is the group behind the MP3 Experiments and Frozen In Grand Central. In their own words, they’re a group of people who “cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places.”

This was the 9th year that Improv Everywhere (IE) agents took their pants off on the subway and it has grown exponentially in size since its inception. While at first it started as a couple of friends, IE estimates that over 3,000 New Yorkers participated on Sunday.

A No-Pants Participant on Sunday

The past couple of years, “Pro Pants” evangelists have come to Union Square (where the pantless subway riders converge) to hand out pamphlets about the greatness of pants. I got invitations to no less than 12 after parties post the pantless riding. And yet – despite the subculture that has grown around this event – it has remained 100% unbranded.

As we move into 2010, I anticipate that more and more brands will focus on organic experiential efforts. Instead of focusing on new efforts, brands will take a deeper look into where consumers are already taking part. This is the new marketing: Connecting with consumers authentically in places they already are goes beyond Twitter and Facebook – which have now become traditional social media outlets.

A quick search shows that there were 11k+ tweets relating to the event and nearly 1,200 blog posts. My prediction? Next year there will be a brand involved in some way. So Levis – Go Forth! Gap – Get Together! What are you waiting for?

No Pants 2010 Mission Recap and Highlights here.