Demographics are dead..

It's funny how the TED Talks seem to magically answer the questions that are going around in your head.

I've been thinking lately, as we work more and more on 'content' briefs, that the traditional approach of developing a proposition to connect a brand + a story with its intended audience just doesn't work here. Different people connect with stories in different ways, depending on who they are, what they're into, what they've experienced themselves + what they're looking for.

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie talks about the temptation to form an opinion on a person or a place based on just one aspect of its being. A person, a place, a situation cannot be described by just 'one story'. It is what it is because of the multiple stories that have shaped it.

By taking the time to appreciate the many stories that surround who we're talking to will help us understand how we are all different, instead of how we are similar. Afterall, everyone is unique + wants to be seen as an individual, not as part of a demographic group.

So rather than transmitting a single message designed to appeal to a large audience based on just one aspect of their being, we can instead engage all sorts of people in different ways, through the various aspects of the story we're telling. Enabling them to interpret it in their own way, take what they want from it, share their thoughts, debate, hypothesise - and ultimately demonstrate their individuality- all of which allow us to connect with them on a much deeper level.

86% of brands plan to engage with original content

Good news!

An article over at at e-marketer shares the results of a survey undertaken by King Fish Media which reports that 86% brands are planning on creating original content with which to engage their audience, with 74% believing it to be more effective at generating ROI than traditional advertising.

In addition to this, brands now believe the best ways to communicate with prospective leads + customers are their corporate website (75%), social media (73%), custom content + media (70%) + face-to-face events (69%).

And in line with this, e-marketer + almost everything else I've read today seems to talking about the importance of measuring the ROI of social media. And not just the non-financial intangiable return, or even against digital sales; but most importantly how we can measure its impact on offline sales.

Olivier Blanchard talks about this at length over here. And Coca-Cola's Carol Kruse shares a little about their aggressive digital plans for the future + how they plan to measure its affect on sales over here.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS, BIG BALLS ON FIRE!

As the results of the Golden Globes sink in, thoughts turn to our golden-globed friends, collaborators and heroes of the new media world order Big Balls Films (pictured at their xmas lunch) http://www.bigballsfilms.com who are gaining the reputation they deserve after a sensational couple of years creating everything from the mworks reel http://www.mworksww.com/ to Kate Modern www.bebo.com/katemodern Nokia's http://www.somebodyelsesphone.com/ and Oakley's www.bebo.com/conqueringdemons . They are brilliant content creators and innovators and are justifiably lauded in this months SHOTS http://www.shots.net/ good work lads & we look forward to doing more with you in 09. More on this to come....in the meantime enjoy this pic from their xmas do.

BK'S DOUBLE WHOPPER

It doesnt feel very PC today to be talking about a fast food outlet that has amused...but here we go with 2...and they're both from the purist's favourite....Burger King.
Firstly, its their brilliant facebook promotion which puts a whole new spin on their age old need to punt whoppers to us sedantry burgerphiles http://www.whoppersacrifice.com/ its simple enough just ditch ten 'friends' from your facebook (I have 122 to lose so watch out Morgan Spurlock) and you get a free whopper. Genius! taps into the new year need to get rid of unwanted friends and eat more burgers. Big tick against my resolutions.
Secondly, the burger flipping monarch has launched 'Flame' a perfume for men who want to smell like their favourite burger http://uk.truveo.com/Burger-Kings-Flame-Perfume/id/2340013654 now this is a real 'why didn't i think of that?' for years i've been content to go home smelling of lesser brands such as 'kebab, pour homme' and 'eau de saveloy'.
I look forward to the golden arched reponse, hopefully its a McNugget roomspray.

The dramatic rise of branded content

To quote a recent article at Contagious, ‘After years of BMW films being just about the only example of branded content that was ever cited, there’s now a flood of sponsored short-form online TV series coming to a site near you’.

..how exciting! Online drama is something we at MWorks have been looking at particularly closely over the past 9 months...and it’s come a long way. The early stuff had low production values + pretty poor acting, but as online drama proves to be extremely successful at engaging with audiences, brands are becoming more confident and are spending more money. As a result we’re seeing big improvements in these areas. The production values seen in Sony Ericsson + Virgin Mobile-sponsored The Secret Life of Sam King have certainly moved on from those of Kate Modern, for example.

We’re also seeing more and more use of digital innovation within the online drama to increase the digital footprint + reach broader audiences. Sam King offers widgets to amplify and reach audiences outside of Bebo, Sofia’s Diary offers mobile updates to maintain interest offline, and the 2nd series of KateModern built Google maps into the storyline to get users interacting in other online environments.

Now the guys behind LonelyGirl15 + Kate Modern have moved things on by breaking away from Bebo to create their own social network http://www.lg15.com/. The LonelyGirl sequel, LG15: The Resistance will launch here in September, driving traffic in by distributing content to the various networks + channels. Definitely one to look out for.

It feels to us like the next step must be to deliver deeper interaction through viewer involvement. Particularly among the ‘yoof’ audience, interaction + engagement will increase when viewers are given some control over the narrative. Some have had a go already – the BBC online drama ‘To be continued’ currently playing out at Switch! offers viewers the chance to write + direct the next episode..nice. It’ll be interesting to see how popular it is.

Yahoo! is doing it slightly differently by asking viewers to text to vote for what happens next in their (cringeworthy) drama, Will Harry Date Sally? It looks like this one is designed to demonstrate to a slightly older audience how easy it is to use the internet on your mobile. It’d certainly be easier to bear on a smaller screen!

But finally, we’re reaaaally excited about Sony’s new crime drama, Coma which takes things to a whole new level. The fact that it stars Michael Madsen + George Hamilton gives it instant credibility and guarantees great acting (for once!). And the dark, comic book production values blow away everything that came before it. The drama which will feature careful Sony product integration, will play out through Sony’s Crackle channel + will be amplified across YouTube + Hula.