Digital Hive

"Your Name Here" All-Stars

I was pointed to the Converse One site by the awesomely good ad blog from the UK by Amelia Torode. I enjoyed fooling around around with the design tool and I created some deliciously ugly sneakers which you can view here. (You could also purchase them for me if your little heart desired...husband...Thomas, are you paying attention?) The design interface is a little wonky and I know the design-your-own thing isn't new - but to design my own Chuck's - the sneaker of my childhood, that's marketing I can love. That's engaging me with the brand - and not in a way that feels wrong.

Malcom Gladwell - we've moved on, at least when it comes to youth

So we all bought Gladwell hook line and sinker. But there's a hint of an evolution in this thinking. According to a YPulse post, "most recently, Duncan Watts of Columbia University is getting attention with a new, more nuanced theory. His work highlights the intricacies involved in the spreading of ideas, and leads to a conclusion more based on a large network effect of easily influenced people, rather than a small group of influential people. To me it’s a theory more applicable to youth, since it is something that very much agrees with the effects of social networks and digital media. It appeared as #1 in Harvard Business Review's list of breakthrough ideas for 2007 (a killer read in its entirety, btw)."

A comment to the YPulse post pretty much sums it up: "The reason that trends spread so quickly was because of the suggestible masses not the mavens."

Stay tuned for additional developments on this front....

In the meantime, let's examine a current case of one particular group of suggestible masses - the Millennials. This NYTimes article is about the launch of Calvin Klein's new fragrance for Millennials called CK in2u (it's apparently AKA son of CK One).

Yet another triumph for citizen marketers

Check out Ben McConnell's interesting post about MTV's upcoming online strategy. He cites an MSNBC article which explains how MTV & Comedy Central are seeking to win back "youngsters" from online sources like YouTube which have long given them the control they crave. According to the MSNBC article, "the network, which already has 150 Web sites in 162 countries, plans to build literally thousands more, hoping to draw viewers by letting them watch, contribute and even re-edit its television shows." The MSNBC article continues: "In the coming months, the company plans to open up more of its archives, allowing Internet users to take videos and post them on their own sites and also re-edit some clips."

Dove campaign controversy?

Commercial Archive has an interesting post about the Dove campaign, the campaign we continue to love. Apparently some pro-family group is now boycotting Dove in protest of their campaign's recent nudity. Oh and shrinks are saying any images of nude women are "contributing to the sexualization of women as a commercial tool, as well as exposing children to adult nudity."

I say, good for Dove for geting people talking about their campaign, and, get over it people. Actually, hopefully they'll keep blathering about it so the campaign maintains momentum.

I keep wondering when a woman will commit the ultimate sin and criticize the campaign. Rosie O'Donnell perhaps? That would make this "dialogue" actually interesting. If Elisabeth Hasselbeck says something nice about the campaign that might set off the fireworks.

BlogHer Business Conference March 22 & 23

I'm so excited! I'm headed to BlogHer Business Conference in New York City March 22 & 23. There is a cocktail meet-up on Wednesday evening March 21st and I'm planning to hook up with the fabulous Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing Blog and Marketing Profs (and a featured panel moderator) and Christina Kerley (CK!) of Marketing Profs and the CK-Blog, Lewis Green of Marketing Profs and L&G Business Solutions, Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent and maybe some additional special guests.

I am massively, totally excited about this conference.  There are a number of interesting sessions scheduled over the two conference days. I'll report in during the event. Here are some of the questions that we'll be pondering in NYC in a couple of weeks:

Dove campaign - it's a global political movement, man

Check out this interesting AdAge article about the Dove campaign, which we've blogged about periodically over the past year or so (here, here, here, here, here and here - yes we love this campaign). You can view spots embedded in the AdAge article or on YouTube.

The article cites several "lessons" about the global campaign effort (I bolded AdAge's original text  to highlight what I found interesting):

• Lesson No. 1: Say what you will about globalization, but it works for idea flows. The "Real Beauty" concept originated in Ogilvy's Dusseldorf office, then rapidly made its way to London. A London newspaper article trumpeted an underlying truth about the effort: It wasn't advertising; it was politics. This was no surprise to Dove's global brand director, Silvia Lagnado. Wanting to push the $2 billion brand further, she had commissioned the research showing that only 2% of women worldwide considered themselves beautiful. The team knew from the start its concept was politically charged, and was able to test it and refine it as they took it around the world.

Ummmm, I think we better all start using Purell right away

I always love a good demonstration of a product's benefits. At Digitas we call it marketing as a service, and here Purell is trying to make it crystal clear why you should be using their product. I think the visuals pretty much speak for themselves - they're executions inside restrooms. Click to enjoy at a larger size.

It's hard to use research "factoids" in creative in a way that doesn't seem nerdy and preachy, but here it makes sense. The small yellow box says "Caution - 92% of guys said they washed, 34% were lying."