Generation O: Millennials as Pioneer

Levi's is breaking its newest campaign from it's new agency W&K on July 4th. The insight for the campaign links the values of Generation "O," (the progressive Millennials who helped tip the youth vote for Obama) to the brand values: America's pioneering spirit and ingenuity. The black and white film imagery is epic (very Terrence Malik's Days of Heaven). Yet the element that's most interesting is the soundtrack. Someone over at W&K had the idea to use the only known recording of Walt Whitman reciting his poem, "America." How did they think of that? A google search on America values? A youtube search? An idea from a long-ago poetry class squirreled away for future use in an ad campaign? I'm curious!

From what I've seen online, there is no reference in the commercial about the poem, the author or the 1890s recording. If one just happened to see the spot in the movie theater this weekend, I wonder what people would think about the track? I found the track on Youtube, along with an animated Whitman spouting the verse (this is not from the campaign). Maybe the agency is thinking "disruption." Maybe they're thinking buzz value (I'm certainly talking about it, but I'm not the target.)

It will be interesting to hear what others have to say about the campaign. I can't think of any contemporary examples of advertising that has used classic poetry. I do suspect that poetry may be considered "cool" among twentysomethings (contemporary songwriters and rappers are considered poets). Poetry always has been cool--yet niche--among that age cohort.

Whitman certainly is an intriguing fellow--iconoclast, poet pioneer, journalist, politically-engaged, humanitarian, nurse, potentially closeted about his sexuality. Can't you just see Anthony Hopkins in the Whitman bio-pic?

A little known fact about me: I learned and recited one of Whitman's most famous poems when I was seven years old. O Captain, My Captain. I can still remember parts of it. I particularly loved reciting the dramatically ghoulish lines, "o hark, hark, hark o those bleeding drops of red, where on the deck my captain lies, fallen, cold and dead."

Scenius: Art Defined by the Social Experience

Brian Eno has been thinking in a new way about art and culture. Hired as curator of the Luminous Festival in Sydney, this month the city became a living canvas of music, light and performance. The Opera House sails were transformed with changing visual designs set to music. Eno said he has been experimenting with a new way cultural position for art, and has coined a new word, "Scenius," to describe it. Scenius is art tapping into the power of collective intelligence. Unlike the old "Genius" model of art created with via the special intelligence of one person, Eno is intrigued with the power of cumulative intelligence as a methold of creating a new idea or experience. (sound like crowdsourcing?)

Hasn't art always been about social engagement? Particularly public art? Or does art take on new powers when it can be shared collectively via social groups? Eno is known for creating the concept of "ambient music," yet I wonder if he has heard about the concept "ambient awareness?" Last September, NYTimes writer Clive Thompson wrote about social awareness as the feeling people have of engaging in a kind of omnipresent opinion... online. Thompson wrote:

"This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting."

I think Clive and Brian have some thinking in common.

A New Twist on "Giving Back"

I've been reading and talking lately about the "Giving Back" trend. In these recessionary times, consumers still feel it's still important to give back, and want companies to step up and pick up the slack from folk who have cut back due to finances.

Michael Moore's new movie will take an interesting twist on "Giving Back." There's a hillarious line Moore delivers in this teaser, "I already gave at the bail out." According to its release on YouTube, Moore will "explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore described as "the biggest robbery in the history of this country" - the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions."

The lingering anger and mistrust of "fat cats" and big payouts have to be shaping the findings of a study conducted by Boston-based L.E.K. Consulting that was released today. Despite the optimism among some economists and media folk about the economy, U.S. consumers are actually more pessimistic currently than they were in October 2008. Makes sense to me. In depth consumer interviews conducted via ZMET's approach last October revealed the mindset was "greedy people got us here." Stories of greed kept spinning throughout the winter (remember the Wall St bonus blowback?) As Warren Buffet said in a CNBC interview this past March, the economy has changed the very culture of our nation.

Whatever Michael Moore does with the topic, it will surely be provactive.

Laugh Like a Monkey. News on the Origins of Laughter

Wired writes that new research has discovered that the root of human laughter originates with primates. The research mapped the relationship of how human infants and baby primates laughed in response to tickling, finding that there is continuity in what apes do, and in what humans do. Essentially, laughter has been evolving for 16 million years. "Laughter serves as an emotional contagion,” said biologist Jared Taglialatela. “It serves as a way of getting everyone on the same page." The article goes on to talk about laughter as a way we socially interact as humans. A fun little fact: humans are 30 times more likely to laugh when in the company of other humans.

It makes sense why so many ads go for the funny bone with Superbowl, the one time when homosapiens gather and watch together. Where do we go to laugh in the social media space? YouTube obviously has lots of stuff that makes us laugh. FaceBook and Twitter not so much. Hm mm. Lately,we tend to talk about social media as one thing, lump it all in one bucket. But as I noodle this more, where we socialize online really does gives us very different emotional payoffs.

Source: www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/evolutionlaughter/

Is Happiness the Road to Fulfillment?

What makes us happy? That's the topic in this month's Atlantic. A 72-year longitudinal study of Harvard graduates suggests that fulfillment doesn't necessarily come from happiness, but from the wisdom, resilience and tolerance to stress and life adversity. Dr. George Valiant has been studying these Harvard men, circa class of 1942, over time in terms of how fulfilled they were at the ends of their lives. The study reveals the men who struggled or had something to prove in life tended to be more successful. Relationships, and the connections we make in life, are essential to fulfillment.

According to Dr. George Valiant "It is social aptitude, not intellectual brilliance or parental social class, that leads to successful aging...the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.” The article goes on to present Valiant's beliefs that positive emotions —awe, love, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, joy, hope, and trust (or faith)— are more powerful than negative emotions. Positive emotions make us healthier. However, they are more future-oriented and make us more vulnerable and open to risk of heartbreak and rejection. Negative emotions like fear and sadness, serve as psychological protections that insulate us from risk.

Some interesting anecdotes about the Grant study subjects: JFK and Ben Bradlee participated (JFK's file is sealed until 2040). How "normal" a man appeared to be early in life did not always predict a happy middle age or senior life. The lesson: always enjoy where are you now in your life.

www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/happiness

Hope & Optimism Still Live: 2007-2037

Way back in 2007, AARP held a YouTube contest asking Millennials to answer the question, "Where do you see yourself when you are 50?" This video is a striking example of the hope and optimism of the Millennial generation. We certainly saw it at work in the Obama campaign. Of course, it was pre-Recession era. However, Yankelovich has identified Hope, Optimism and Responsibility as key values at work in consumer life today, as they track consumer's growing engagement in community, charity and civic life. A coming together for the common good.

A trend that inspires!

Word-of-Mouth Planning: Don't forget the Story

The Keller Fay group serves up smart questions when thinking about WOM. Story+Influencer+Tools+Impact. When brands don't have a story, they can always invent. Like Zuji, an online travel division of Travelocity.

Any thoughts on a pithy acronym? (SITI probably doesn't stick).

1. What’s your story – why should consumers talk about your product?
2. Who will tell it – who are your influencers?
3. How can you facilitate the conversation – what tools can you create?
4. What’s the impact – does WOM lead to positive outcomes for my brand?

Addendum: AdAge 6/5/09 issue interviews CMO of Mtn Dew, who believes having relationships with the right people are the keys to all brand plans today:

"We clearly have moved from impressions as the primary determinate of whether something's successful to answering the question, 'Are we building relationships with the right group of people?'" Mr. Cooper said. "Whether it's a blogger at these events, influencers talking about it, those are more indicators of whether we're reaching the right consumer."

Word-of-Mouth Hoopla

Social Marketing. Buzzworthy, both in the ad biz and culture (Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show is spoofing Twitter). It's easy to get caught up in the hoopla but forget that conversation is as old as man. At last month's ESOMAR conference in Europe, Ed Keller (Keller Fay Group)reminded attendees about the basic dynamics of WOM, and the impact traditional media plays.

WOM is mostly face to face
76% of marketing related conversations take place in person and another 16% on the phone.

WOM is mostly positive
65% of brand references by WOM are positive

Traditional media play a big role in driving WOM
48% of brand conversations refer to marketing and media
15% led by TV
11% led by internet
10% print
20% of all WOM include a reference to advertising

Not all consumers are created equal
Influencers account for 1/3 of all WOM(10% of the US pop are influencers)
Influencers are more actively engaged. They talk more than others, having 80% more conversations than average and are more likely to have more brand conversations
Just this month, the Harvard Business Review reports that 10% of Twitterers account for 90% of the Tweets.

Customer Social Value
Targeting a certain customer may be more profitable based on their effect on others, and this remains a key challenge for the analysis in new media environments

Consumers talk about a lot of different categories with food and dining ranking number one.

Interestingly, Isabelle LeRoy, a French media exec, said something that has been bantered about lately among my colleagues:
"Those who understand the full communications process are becoming a rare beasts---there are very few media practitioners these days who have had broad media experience in a full service agency environment. We are in danger of becoming an industry of narrow specialists."

In my mind, being labelled a "narrow specialist" could be almost as bad as the term "dinosaur."

New Role for the Humble Hot Dog

In an effort to improve relations with Iran, the Obama admin has advised US embassies to invite Iranian government officials to the annual 4th of July parties held at all our embassies. This is the first time since 1979 that Iranian officials will be invited. From news reports, Secretary of State Clinton has been concerned about the growing influence of Iran in countries that are growing in anti-American sentiment, particularly those in South America. Like Venezuela. When I visited that country three years ago, I was told that it was common belief that the Iranians were mining plutonium in the rainforests, under the protection of Chavez.

Can the hot dog be influential in reshaping opinion and policy? What about a "Hot Dog Day" sponsored by the American Embassies on the Fourth? I can see it now: Lil Oscar and national hero Ozzie Guillen, coming together to hand out free hot dogs in Venezuela. Just don't forget the mustard.