Brace yourself, for the tsunami of 2012 political campaign commercials is about to hit our shores and drown us all in a sea of rhetoric.  Hard to believe, but it’s been four years since the last tidal wave that forced us all to open our hearts and vote with our wallets.

This year both sides are working overtime to buddy up to their base, with super-PAC’d positive messages, scientifically-accurate facts, and billion dollar ad buys.  But this is America, so of course not everyone gets to experience the perfect storm of entertainment, patriotism, and bullshit.  That’s right, if you’re not in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or Florida, over the next few months, you might get little more than a free yard sign and a robo-call at dinner time.

So to help keep you political ad junkies from jonsing, we’re working with the Internet to help deliver your fix.  And since there are probably many of you who may still be on the fence about who to tongue punch at the polls come November, we’ve decided to persuade you with a few of our own campaign ads that may inspire you to make the right choice.  Specifically, we feel that Mitt Romney could use a little boost, so we invite you to do the American thing, and share these finely crafted messages with every voter across this great nation and help take back our country!

Ray Kurzweil has a special place in our hearts because of his progressive thoughts on the future and how technology is becoming more integrated into our lives – even at a biological level. Barry directed and produced an excellent documentary about Kurzweil entitled: Transcendent Man. Barry points out that the law of accelerating return is upon us in every part of our lives, as devices such as smart phones are getting smaller. While it took the Gutenberg press 100 years to penetrate daily life, the Internet only took about 20 years, and the iPhone and iPad just a few years.

As a result, the notion of an Ivy league education, where information was previously held privately for the few, is now at the world’s fingertips. As the world’s collective knowledge grows increasingly available on demand, the need for wrote memorization and the existing anti-inspirational education system needs a major reboot. The facts are there for the taking, and the need for teaching critical thinking and creative application of knowledge is the key.

PAULO BLIKSTEIN – Engage

One of our favorite break out sessions involved Paulo’s students from the FabLab@SchoolProject. Ten year old kids were downloading plans and custom-programming robotic, remote control cars – entirely from scratch. Paulo points out that it’s difficult to give up centuries of traditional learning because they feel so right, even though we know we are teaching obsolete concepts in obsolete ways. In his FabLab, the mission is always engagement of the young mind, creative application, and discovery—-the tools necessary to generate the results we need for the evolving challenges of the future.

Whether you subscribe to the notion that technology is a bad thing and responsible for crushing the cornerstones of education, or you believe that an iPad and pacifier should be the birth right of every kid born today, nobody can doubt that we are at an historical crossroads with our educational system.  Leading the charge into this new frontier are teachers, scientists, filmmakers and architects and the conference brought the same to Manhattan Beach for a genuinely provocative and riveting day.  All of the speakers at TedxMB were superb, but there were a few stand-outs, whose notions about the current and future trajectory of education, resonated with us.

SIR KEN ROBINSON – Engage

While it would have been amazing to see him in person, the day opened with a video of Sir Ken Robinson circa 2006 TED in Monterey California.  If you haven’t seen it, here’s the video:

In his talk, Sir Ken suggests that creativity is as important today as literacy.  We would agree with that—specially given, as Ken points out, the unpredictability of our future and the subsequent need to prepare our kids for the great unknown.  He’s certainly correct when he points out how schools and our antiquarian systems, by and large, kill creativity.  We need to encourage creativity and maintain a progressive standard of teaching if we are to adequately equip our kids for a future filled with uncertainty.  Simply put, we must prepare ourselves to be wrong from an early age, lest we be frightened into stagnation.

THOMAS SUAREZ – Discover

If you were wondering who the next Steve Jobs is going to be, we found him.  His name is Thomas Suarez and he’s in the 6th grade.  A master of ceremonies, technology, and winning the hearts of the audience, Thomas shared his story of creating and selling some very successful mobile apps on the iTunes store.  (Earth Fortune / Bustin Jieber).  After convincing his parents to purchase the app developers kit from Apple, Thomas began creating.  For the tech naysayers out there, you must see this kid.  He is a tech wiz, well-spoken, funny, and managed to mesmerize a room full of adults.  Funny, how his creative foray into tech also gave him the gift of public presence.

For more great speakers from TEDx Manhattan Beach, check out Part II

Steve Smith’s recent article in MediaPost makes some interesting observations re the power of the Yahoo platform and how content choices and presentation may be make or break for the portal’s effort.  The dilemma for the portals re original video has really never been (nor shall it be) whether to invest in content / online video.  It’s about the execution, presentation, and their approach to both creative and programming for the audience.  Yes, part of the problem is the now decade old “shoehorning of TV into the online content space.”   They are all aware of this and seemingly getting smarter.  As Smith notes, Yahoo has been doing some terrific shows that are meant for the web and crafted with the online audience in mind.

The real problem is in (1) the broader, strategic development of content, format, series drop frequency, and a more granular editorial calendar,  and (2) HOW the quality content is then presented to the audience.  While “it’s not TV”, the portals can take a lesson from TV and some time-tested strategies about presentation and programming.   We’ve consulted for the portals and always harp on the following.

The audience is indeed in control but, let’s not forget, that most viewers, regardless of platform, want some help.  They want some direction, they don’t want to wade through the chaff (including the bad visual presentation on most portals, e.g., Steve’s thumbnails example), and they want (a) ease and (b) the web to work for THEM.  They want Yahoo to act, dare I say, like the new model of Network.  Plant the flag by focusing first on just plain, terrific content offerings in each vertical.  Don’t shill or sell as your first priority and drive them away with ONLY the overtly branded stuff up front.  Don’t hide your best, most original stuff that will earn you loyalty (and their willingness to view the branded stuff).

In short, they have to act, at least a bit, like a network.  Be brave.  Think like a programmer / broadcaster and less like an info dump.   Sure, monetize your slate, but help that effort by investing in at least SOME content that you just believe in.  Get that to me on MY terms in all respects. Do so and you will earn the untapped loyalty that you can then sell to your sponsor brands.

With the sheer power of Yahoo’s numbers, we’d argue that cracking the code and taking  online video to that long anticipated new level, is only a few critical programming decisions away.  Maybe the new CEO will have an opinion on this.

I’ve seen the crystal ball gazers predict the best and the worst.  Which is right? Time will tell.  But I am betting on the fact that Steve, even as he leaves the active playing field, has already ensured the answer to the best of his genius ability.  He’s given us a  bunch of great tools.   My assumption is that he has done the same with his colleagues.

His legacy is bigger and more enduring than his hardware.  Jobs’ greatest invention was and is his process in which he kept the consumer / audience in mind at every stage.  As Bob DeSena notes in a recent MediaPost article, Jobs shipped us all of that stuff because he bothered to know what, how, when, and why we wanted it. Pretty simple stuff, like knowing your end user, can be incredibly powerful when embraced by the hands of genius.

It’s odd how many companies fail to embrace that Business 101 concept.  I’d argue that the evolution of all things digital would be exponentially further down the road if the words “serve the audience” were painted on every company wall. Hot companies come and go because they often forget who they are trying to reach soon after their initial success.  Take online content. The portals are still baffled by the slow embrace of online content when all they have to do is think audience, audience, audience to crack the code.

Jobs got this.  His audience was the impetus for each product, for each version tweak, and for the beaucoup de “shipping” that was generated by Jobs’ genius and understanding of human demand.  And THAT is why we are talking about him in the same breath as his pioneer compatriots who did the same 100 years ago.

Will it fall apart now? My guess is that the same guy who kept his eye on the prize and executed so successfully, just might have surrounded himself with like-minded folks who paid attention to the master.

panel photo by Adam Betts

After decades of the television business and major brands letting the 18-34 mantra dictate their every move, maybe, just maybe, things are about to change. We’ve said it a million times—the Boomers buy jeans, cars, gadgets, and, well everything. They have disposable income. They influence family purchase decisions. They can be make or break for a brand.

The social networks are where the modern audience consumes, shares, engages, and decides which brands to embrace and which to ignore. Now that we know the senior set is digging all things digital, it will be more than interesting to see if brands wake up, smell the Ben Gay, and reach out to this audience in a personal, authentic way. Senior-oriented social media campaigns? Senior-specific social media platform spin offs? When it comes to brand approach to the far-side-of-sixty crowd, its out with the old and in with the new.

Shocking the Interwebs audience certainly isn’t anything new to advertising (remember Diesel’s SFW birthday video in ’08?), but some brands are really jumping in with both feet and two of something else and demonstrating how important it is to really know who your audience is and what they want.  KSwiss EVP David Nichols calls this new, razor sharp Tubes campaign: “unfiltered straight talk”.  While it definitely ain’t for the “straight talk express” crowd, this video series nails it as far as bothering to understand their audience and seamlessly integrating their brand and grown up laughs.  This is one of the few times I actually enjoyed watching a branded video without  being put off by the overt presence of the brand.  I watched the piece, laughed my nads off, and found myself with an otherworldy, passionate desire to buy some mutha @#*&ing TUBES!  Kswiss isn’t alone in the cajones department.

Axe Body Spray and, more recently, the Old Spice / Twitter campaign are great entertainment.  We know it’s advertising and we’re reminded at every beat who the advertiser is and what they’re about.  The brands own it and we know it.  Because, they own it, they are being honest, I’m not offended, and I’m entertained because they know I’m not a white bread guy who wants more of the same.  I love me my Kenny MF’ing Powers and I’ll take the HONEST fun before the subtle BS any day.  I’m betting I am not alone.

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

If you look under the hood of all successful branded content, you will see an engine built of a  creative team, onscreen talent, and a brand that understands the medium and what appeals to its target audience. The success of the Old Spice / Twitter experience, was due in large part to the talent on camera and the team that was able to execute the writing and production of the personal reactions.  They knew their audience.  Bothered to deliver something new.  And reaped the rewards.

It seems like a fairly intuitive process, however we need only look to the recent Cisco Doug Webster, aka “Old Spice Copycat”, campaign to see what happens when big brands go bad and don’t do their homework…or simply try to piggyback unsuccessfully on a rock star campaign.  If we don’t know your story or characters and you don’t provide us with solid entry points into your new story, why should we care or spend our precious time watching and interacting?

Regardless of how much the audience gets involved (and UGC remains an important element of the campaign) brands must first start with high quality creative that sets the bar and the tone for this engagement.  Together, traditional and new media elements are very successful, but brand moderation and solid producing will always be a mainstay.  Once a brand sets the bar as far as the message and story, the audience can be invited into the process and all sides will be fulfilled.  Although some criticize the effort, the iPad and Modern Family combination was, by most accounts, very successful.  The integration was (1) organic to the story and character in the episode and (2) catered to the audience on every level.  This author would have been in favor of Sofia Vergara alone with her iPad in a series of web shorts, but that’s another article altogether.

Proof Is in the Sales

At this point in the game, if you’re a brand and don’t jump in with both feet when creating this type of content, you can’t expect people to stay interested, let alone give your brand any respect or a vote with their dollars.  While it’s certainly too early to gauge the sales success of the latest installment of bold brands looking to cash in on what Mashable calls “the future of Marketing”, Nielsen provided solid numbers on the  Old Spice / Twitter campaign. Total brand views on the web for the old Old Spice videos have surpassed 100 million and sales have made a 100% gain since February of 2010 according to Nielsen.

Axe, Old Spice, and KSwiss all had a clear and complete understanding of their audience.  They determined / decided that the audience that watches HBO, just might be their sweetspot.   They were able to successfully navigate the sometimes tricky real-time content space with edgy video and multi-platform elements (look for KSwiss Kenny on your Facebook page real soon).  Here’s what having balls does for us and for your brand—We don’t mind your advertising, as long as it makes sense and gives us something of value.  While its not everyone’s taste, Kenny makes me laugh….and want to buy sneakers.

We know that Kenny Powers is not for everyone (but we have no idea why).  Fear not fans of G-rated branded content!  It’s not all balls and tubes – unless you count those Swedish meatballs.  Ikea and Iliana Douglas (along with a host of other familiar faces) have been teaming up for the last couple of years to bring you Easy To Assemble.  The series has been seen over 5 million times since it launched and has managed to weave a story and breathe life into those ambiguous, Scandinavian instructions we love.

So attention brands of planet earth!  Now is the time for brands – conservative and edgy alike – to take risks in this new space.  Please make sure to hire capable, creative minds who understand your core audience.  Sorry, only the pros know how to craft content that can be edgy, and yet stay on point with relevance and message. Simply making something shocking, for the sake of standing out in the crowded digital space just doesn’t work.  If you don’t believe us, just ask Burger King.

In a recent episode, Jack tortures the hell out of a bad guy.  The scene culminates in Jack disemboweling the guy in order to retrieve a swallowed micro chip.  Now, that is dedication and pride in your work! Ewwwww, yes.  A bit much, perhaps.  But why would any of us expect anything less?

Really? This is shocking? Why would a torture storyline shock anyone when (a) it has been a front page story for years; (b) a majority of Americans polled said torture is a valid means of fighting the “war on terror”; and (c) the leader of the free world defended such use? Art imitates life….even when it is ugly.

Moreover, while I know things are all a matter of degree, is there really a difference between this and showing bodies and blood stained floors each week on the Dateline “dead body of the week” starring the appropriately ghoulish Chris Hanson (I think that is his name, though I often confuse him with the late John Carradine)? ABC’s “Happy Town” just featured a guy getting a hole hammered completely through his head. Worse yet, the access shows like “Extra” have been wall-to-wall with images of Larry King and his junior-by-83 years wife kissing.  Sheesh.

Yep. Times have changed. I can recall many arguments with S&P on my shows over things arguably less severe. Then again, the nets aren’t stupid. Their future 18-34 crowd is, as I type, eviscerating and beheading tons of increasingly photo real humans on their XBox . They know what Gen XYZ, or whatever they are called these days, has grown accustomed to.

If we vote for folks who condone horrific acts in the purported defense of liberty and condone 10 year olds at play with content that makes “Natural Born Killers”  and “Scarface” look like  quaint little period pieces, what do we expect? Oh, and by the way, it is, let’s not forget, FOX.

Video produced by Time To Get Social

How excited were you when you saw Episode 8 and learned about the different types of audience?  We know; Earth shattering.  Keep it together because this week we’re going to astound you yet again with information you haven’t already heard a million times.  All this talk of social media this and new media that is a good thing for your business, but it’s not the only way to reach, entertain, and retain the modern audience.

In Episode 9 we’ll take a look at why it’s so important to embrace all forms of media in an effort to connect with everyone.  We especially  want to reach out and touch those who may be thinking of crossing over to the new paradigm, but haven’t yet taken the plunge.  Although you really should consider this bandwagon because it’s fun here.  Besides, we know you’re always looking for new ways to dissuade cognitive dissonance.  Holla!

Episode 9 features: Beth Diamond, Timothy Golden, Jason Feinberg, and Zach Jordan

Photo by: Travis Jensen