Countercultural capitalism is a part of the modern day reality. From music, clothing labels, shoes and coffee shops to online communities, we’ve made an industry out of the counterculture.
Image taken from internet. Source: http://www.live4ever.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/rage.jpg
In our attempt to use technology as a means to change a collective conscience and bring about revolution, we gave birth to the Whole Earth Catalog, the Whole Earth Lectronic Link, communities like Reddit and online newspapers like the Huffington Post. They all went on to become huge successes. We got our message out.
A screenshot of a blog post on adbusters.org
“Selling out” is a paradox.
In the end, all that matters is the message.
Image from the internet: SOurce: http://www.forgetthebox.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/revolution.jpg
Done? Move on to the next. Quit your whining because this isn’t new.
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During a breakfast meeting a couple weeks ago, my buddy Sean Howard remarked on how he was drawn into the world of digital ethnography some years ago, when he first realized how much a person could tell about him by simply looking at his Facebook profile. This is probably true for most us who today spend a majority of our lives online. And unfortunately unlike Vegas, or Austin for that matter, whatever happens online doesn’t just stay online.
Yet, as marketers, we continue to look at consumer insight like it’s the holy grail. We continue to shell out surveys after surveys of boring questions simply because we’ve grown accustomed to ask and look for anything quantitative, and we refuse to look at what the internet gods gave us!
Source: The Internet
The power of observation is underestimated.
Ethnographers will swear by the insight one can gain by simply observing people, their activities, interests and social interactions. The same applies to the online world. Whether we like it or not, our activities online are governed predominantly by our need to build a certain identity for ourselves. An identity that eventually ends up determining where we live (online), what we choose to share and how and with whom we choose to interact. Unfortunately traditional forms of research cannot successfully unearth identity markers. That’s purely because we as human beings are not built to be perceptive (or honest) when it comes to our own selves. And when you ask a person why she does activity A versus B, in most cases, her answer will not represent reality.
So this is where digital ethnography fits in. It helps you unearth common cultural threads in an online audience and helps you understand identity, values, social interactions and brand attitudes. And while it does take experience and a certain skill set to be able to observe audiences in a given context, this isn’t something that organizations need to be afraid of trying.
Sean made a really good point during that breakfast conversation – that marketers have learned to accept the flaws in quantitative research but somehow when it comes to the qualitative world, they’re very wary. The tools exist and the knowledge certainly exists. It’s only a matter of time before more organizations learn the value of understanding culture and start engaging audiences with things that really matter to them.
Oh and please Detroit, not another one those “what do you think of this car?” YouTube videos!
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Our usage of social networks has evolved in the past couple years.
Aside from making use of social networks such as Facebook to keep in touch with friends and stay on top of events, users are increasingly becoming involved in “interest-driven networks” – networks who’s members are brought together due to a common interest or passion. Common examples of such networks include social platforms such as change.org and socialvibe.com and Facebook groups dedicated to certain causes.
Source: Flickr User: Dulk
The shift towards interest-driven networks has led to a gradual change in the makeup of peer groups on social networking sites such a Facebook [2]. That is, peer networks have started exhibiting common characteristics, similar to one’s friend network on Twitter – a platform where social connections are primarily built based on interest.
The gradual allocation of our “social networking time” into activities that are interest driven has brought about two very positive changes:
1. Its increased the number of “do-ers”
Since peer groups are becoming more interest-driven, users who’ve traditionally been action oriented are having a positive effect on their peer networks and as a result, are driving more users towards action. This is good news for communities looking to drive social change who’ve traditionally had problems getting people to donate, especially their time.
2. Its increased the number of “listeners”
Those who aren’t driven to action are getting influenced by peer groups to listen. In my own ethnographic research, I found a 40% increase in awareness of social and political issues primarily through information shared on Facebook.
The net result of this shift is very positive. Facebook has over 400 million active users. A community such as this has the power to change the world. The only barrier standing in the way is that of education and empowerment. This shift toward interest driven networks is helping break that barrier. In my personal opinion, we haven’t even witnessed 10% of the power of social networks, to drive social change.
References:
[1] Digital Youth Project – Living and Learning with new media.
[2] Digital Ethnographic study on 25 users between the ages of 19 and 32 between 2008 and 2010.
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Cyberpunk who?
The term ‘cyberpunk’ was born quite a while ago and came to be primarily used to describe computer geeks who were (and still are) typically characterized by a distrust in government, a libertarian attitude and a belief that the internet and information must remain open and free (amongst other things).
Cyberpunks rose to cultural prominence in the 90s with the breakout of punk, when the term took on the construct of teenage rebellion and over-night transformed the nerdy computer geek into a rock star.
While many believe that Cyberpunk culture died in 1994 thanks to excessive media exposure, I belong to the clan that believes that the Cyberpunk has evolved over the last 15 years and is still highly influential in swaying market adoption of technology products. Cyberpunks have however dissipated into a number of subcultural groups, although the overarching theme and vision remains the same.
Here’re some examples of the role Cyberpunks have played in the proliferation of products/services:
1. Illegal music downloaders – Adopted Napster and the first and second generation iPods. This played a big role in the widespread proliferation of both these products/services.
2. I.T geeks in universities trying to save the world from Y2K; Sitting in basements, staying up all night coding – Drank Red Bull. The rest is history.
3. Anarchists, situationists and burners took to Tribe.net in its early days. Tribe proliferated initially until it ran into some serious trouble due to excessive commercialization! Today, it continues to exist as a niche social networking site that caters to specific subcultures and has a very loyal user base.
So why bother about Cyberpunks?
It’s pretty simple. Cyberpunks have in the past been instrumental in the success of many products and services. As consumers, we are still influenced by Cyberpunks. Think of the last time you asked for a product recommendation from a buddy who you consider a tech-geek. Which brings me to the reason I decided to write this post.
Conclusion: From a market research standpoint, brands, specially technology brands, are not paying enough attention to the study of digital cultures. Unfortunately, Cyberpunks don’t walk around with labeled T-shirts. Finding and influencing them requires some critical skills in ethnography, intuition and common sense.
References
1. VirtualCampfire.org
2. The evolution of Cyberpunk, NY Times By NICK RAVO and ERIC NASH; Published: August 8, 1993
3. Image source: Flickr User: Extra Ketchup
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The other day I was sitting on a patio at a local coffee joint and watching people walk by (in a totally non-creepy way!). It was the first day of spring in Toronto, love seemed to be in the air (this won’t get any cheesier I promise) and I couldn’t help but wonder what made relationships tick. At that very instant, I was struck by a profile on tribe.net. This was the profile of “Love is Everything“. 
I was amazed at how many friends Frank (the dude behind the profile) had – over 14,000! As I spent some time going through his page on Tribe I realized some critical things -
a. Frank figured out what his brand stands for, but he didn’t stop at that. Most importantly, he found a way to translate his brand promise into a cause worth pursuing.
b. Frank is truly authentic! He solely focuses on advancing his message through posts that add value to the community. He does this by giving his community content that furthers the cause.
c. Frank isn’t obsessed with himself. In fact, he hardly talks about himself on his profile.
In today’s digital economy, companies absolutely need to engage and involve their custo
mer communities if they want to regain their business. Unfortunately, just having a great brand and brand promise is not sufficient.
A few days ago, John Bell blogged on the “Utility Brief”. I’d like to leave you with a quote from his article. Hopefully you’ll ponder over this post and share your thoughts.
“Today, consumers want their brands to deliver more value through utility, entertainment or information (the latter two are really just forms of utility). They want high quality products and services but expect brands to go beyond that to keep them as customers or to at least earn their advocacy.”
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Source: Flickr: Franco Folini "Graffiti on a truck: renuer"
Throughout history, the development of technology has always sparked counter-cultural movements that have looked to subvert popular culture and societal norms.
Many of these movements were inspired by the situationist movement of the 1960s. However, all these movements did have 2 common underlying motives. They all looked to improve personal empowerment and encouraged the building and growth of communities.
One such movement led to the use of print media to create the “Whole Earth Catalog“. This catalog promoted openness, user-generated content (yes!..back in the late 60s) and stood for the democratization of information and collective consciousness. Out of this catalog was born a message board called Whole Earth Lectronic Link (WELL) in 1985. This online message board looked to again subvert culture by attempting to use technological tools (initially built for societal control) to bring about Personal Empowerment and a sense of community. Of course, I don’t need to remind you that the same underlying motives form the foundation of Social Media and the web 2.0 world as we know it.
I therefore strongly feel the success of innovation in the Social Media world will be heavily dependent on whether or not newer ideas take the fulfillment of these very motives/ideals a step further. Yes, I know there are many other factors that will influence success, but I believe that these cultural motives are critical to laying a foundation that can withstand growth.
I think a good example is Foursquare (and of course other similar location based services) because it looks to improve personal empowerment by giving businesses the ability to better cater to their customers’ needs. Are there other examples of innovation in social media that adhere to these two principles? Your input will make this post and my follow-up a lot more interesting.
References: www.virtualcampfire.org
I’m not someone who’s usually a fan of brand extensions. They invariably tend to dilute the built up brand equity of the parent brand. However, having said that, I do feel that the new mens line from Dove could actually be successful. Here are 2 simple reasons why:
1. Culturally it has become acceptable for men to take care of themselves. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the guys at Dove were working with some numbers that showed quite a few men already using their products (no, I’m not one of them!)
2. In this particular case, dove seems to be very cleverly making positive use of their brand equity, telling men that they work hard and slog all their lives and hence deserve a little luxury for their skin. The ads are also pretty slick…hmm, maybe I need make a trip to the local grocery store!
Now we have to wait and see how the campaign and product actually fairs in the marketplace.
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I was recently listening to one of my favourite authors’ Matt Mason talk about Piracy as a business model on @SparkCBC. That podcast inspired me to write this post. Mason has inspired me since the day I started reading “The Pirates’ Dilemma”. I have personally used the remix to develop ideas and a business model for a startup that I am currently investigating. But enough about me. I want to use this post to highlight some interesting examples of companies that have embraced remix culture and have developed either a business model out of it or used it successfully in marketing their products/services.
1. The coolest example is of 20th Century Fox’s use of the comedic band GirlzNite’s video “Die Hard”. Fox’s marketing team realized that this song (which was funny and pretty much summarized the plots of the first three movies) could be an ideal way to get consumers excited about the movie and generate buzz before the release of version 4…and they were right! Here’s the video.
2. Similarly, the BBC embraced the remix by creating the service “Masher” – that allowed users to freely remix their videos (from the BBC motion gallery) and share it with their friends and networks.
…and of course, who can forget the stark resemblance that the first generation iPods had to a certain type of portable radio (refer to one of my older posts).
So whats my point you ask?
Well, in the world of marketing, the concept of the remix can offer us a lot of ideas and help us innovate. Here’s why:
1. The remix is in all of us, because today it’s a part of culture. We understand the remix, we constantly consume it and we repeatedly use it – in our own lives.
2. The concept of the remix is still highly debated and not considered a part of mainstream culture. This gives marketers an advantage – the ability to create tight knit and highly involved communities of consumers.
At the end of the day, the remix is all around us – in hundreds of products and services we consume on a day to day basis. It’s up to marketing and business/product development teams in organizations to look at leveraging the remix to their advantage rather than looking at remixers as thieves/ copyright violators. A huge cultural shift is in order…thoughts?
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I made my first trip to Las Vegas last week and there was tons to observe from a cultural perspective. This picture below I think encapsulates the culture of Las Vegas.
It’s striking to see how the unauthentic is so openly accepted in Vegas, while everywhere else, we are constantly struggling to prove that we’re the real authentic!
Interesting to note what effect such a culture would have on advertising in the city.
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