calvin klein could enlarge its X with social media

Erica Kennedy aka Feminista got my attention today with a post alerting me to Calvin Klein spots promoting men's um, wares. Have you seen these just-this-side-of NSFW promos for their new X line of men's briefs? "Oh my!" said the woman in her 60's sitting next to me in a seminar, when I unsuspectingly clicked on "play" (using earphones of course.) I was afraid I'd offended. Au contraire. "I'm having a hot flash," the woman grinned, fanning her shirt. Oh, yea, those Calvin Kleiners are smart. They know their target--most buyers of men's underwear are women. And as Erica points out, footage is satisfying not only because it's sexy and fun and diversely delicious, but because it's welcome relief from inundation by images like this.

So, how come CK's marketing genius doesn't translate to their social media efforts? The CK spots heated up on youtube over a a month ago, yet the CK tweetstream hasn't even acknowledged them, preferring instead to share news like Ashley Olsen is wearing Calvin Klein in Korea.

It's an example of the most common corporate social media fail. When SM isn't integrated with current marketing efforts, instead of adding momentum to the advertising racehorse, it sits inert as the horn of a unicorn. Erica's already written off the unintegrated campaign as a fail, but I think there's opportunity for the brand to pull ahead if they get off their advertising high horse and turn their creative attention to social media. To know for sure, excuse me, I have to watch these commercials again.

postcards from sxsw

crowds

Almost every session I've attended at SXSW this year has been SRO, including our own, which was gratifying. Last year, 10,000 campers convened at the Convention Center in Austin. This year, the number I've heard is 14,000. You have to get to sessions early, or sit on the floor. But even finding a space on the industrial carpet isn't easy, especially near wall outlets. I was glad to snag a seat in this crowd gathered for "Extend Your Brand, There's an App for That" with Shiv Singh and Adrian Ho, moderated creatively by Brian Morrissey.



food

There's too many sessions, too little time to sit down for meals which are generally grabbed on the run from first floor cafe stands or food trucks which of course have their own twitter accounts.

making a session is as challenging as making a plane at JFK

It takes a bit of planning to navigate Austin Convention Center which is as cavernous as an international airport. Inevitably, when a session is moved, it's moved to a spot furthest geographically from where you are standing. Just like air travel.

parties

Many, many, many. As with sessions, if you don't get there early, you might not get in. Ironically, admittance to many parties the first night required hardcopy printouts of RSVP acceptances-- what? Mobile digerati were expected to have toted their printers? Party hosts have wised up since then and attempts to equalize party access to "first come, first served" have reverted to old-school VIP pass model: you don't need a printer, you need to know the right people.

Here's bird's eye view of funfest thrown last night by Barbarian with Stumbleupon, taken from the roof of the Mohawk.

And a shot from earlier in the evening: former McCann Chief Technology Strategist Faris Yakob embracing the awesome at Beer Sphere, Club Deville.

Zappos party bus/bookmobile

Zappos CEO and business book writer Tony Hsieh is one smart social media cookie.

of course, sxsw wouldn't be sxsw anywhere but austin

sign spotted by Shutterstock

Hive Awards launch at SXSW

For me the best opening party of SXSWi last night was the first annual Hive Awards show held "to honor the unsung heroes of the internet." The show was inaugurated to give props to those who innovate and create on the web but rarely get credit: coders, programmers, information architects, and others. It was the brainchild of Alan Wolk of Toadstool fame and former creative director from FCB. Ironic to me that it took a renegade from traditional advertising to come up with a way to acknowledge creators of digital.

The party was a rambunctious, live-streamed gathering of SXSW campers at Red 7, a fun bar near Convention Center. I'd thought a launch ceremony would be pretty barebones, and was pleasantly surprised by free drinks, catered eats (including local treats like chicken fried chicken which impressed my local friend who is hosting me here), a bona fide stage and comfortable seating. Alan, master of ceremonies wore a Mad Men-era tux, which contrasted dashingly with the crowd of ironic t-shirts.

Slickly produced programs were provided on chairs, but it was too dark for ad broads to read, even by the light of their iphones. So I had no idea that Ad Broad was a finalist. Honestly, hadn't seriously considered that a blogspotter who can't speak a speck of html could be thought of as a "hero of the internet." Halfway through the ceremony, my companion and housing host announced she wasn't well (maybe the chicken-fried chicken?) and I drove her home. What a thrill to receive news (via twitter of course) that Ad Broad won in the Advertising blog category.

Congrats to all winners including Deep Focus, Firstborn, RGA and others. Lucky for us and appropriate to the category that prizes are items more practical than dust-gathering engraved statuettes: flash drives.

@BettyDraper packing her hatbox for SXSW

Thanks to you who kindly voted on this proposed panel last Fall, I'm on my way to Austin where @BettyDraper will be presenting a session on Brand Fiction: what the heck is it? What can it do for your brand? How to integrate it into current marketing efforts? It's been recommended as a top SXSW panel for business and highlighted in SXSWorld and by the sharp folks at Razorfish. If you're putting your SXSW schedule together, hope you'll consider joining @Roger_Sterling (Michael Bissell) and me at 3:30 on Saturday for "Rules of Brand Fiction from Twittering Mad Men." A little fun before happy hour!

marketing synergy: Mad Men goes Barbie

Brilliant marketing move for two companies: the newest line of Barbies will include men-Mad Men. According to the New York Times today, Betty and Don and Roger and Joan dolls will launch in July to help promote the start of Season 4.

Mattel will issue 7000-10,000 copies of each doll but you won't find them in toy stores, only in specialty stores and two websites: amctv.com and barbiecollector.com.

Of course, dolls come with period accessories like fedoras, pearls and padded bras. But no cigarettes, ashtrays or cocktail shakers. Ironic that Betty can smoke and drink while she's pregnant but not while she's Barbie.

why i'm on a horse isn't where's the beef

Since the Old Spice commercial launched on the Superbowl, "I'm on a horse" has entered pop lexicon. It's been a frequent retweet on twitter where the guy on the horse, of course, has his own account. It's engendered countless blog posts and news nods and chatter on Facebook and even interviews with its creators from Wieden and Kennedy who explain how the spot was a accomplished in a single, incredible shot. (57 takes)

Ad phrases that become catch phrases are nothing new, but what is new is that the commercials that spawn them are now the beginning, not the end of consumer engagement. When media flights for "spicy meatball" and "where's the beef?" ended, so did consumer involvement with content. But now the impact of brand messaging only begins with traditional ad buys, if content is compelling enough to inspire people to share it. The Old Spice spot has already exceeded 7 million views on youtube, numbers achieved because the spot went to social networks in conjunction with (not instead of) conventional buy on TV. (When Google gamed the value of running TV, its Superbowl spot which had been on youtube for weeks, jumped from a few thousand views to 4.4 million today.)

Evidence of even more successful engagement is when consumers not only share but repurpose content, inspired to spread the brand story themselves. As in this parody where Old Spice content is appropriated to spoof Apple. Why is appropriation good, some marketers may wonder, holding tight to their proprietary decks and brand bibles? Because consumers who not just share the story but participate in it, tend to be avid enthusiasts whose WOM messaging is likely to achieve far higher conversion rates.

According to Facebook, Old Spice "has been helping guys improve their mansmells for 71 years." Interestingly, the babe-baiting strategy behind "I'm on a horse" is the very same one executed in this spot from the 80s. One can only guess how creative impact might have been extended if social, um, tools had been in place.

brand fiction wins big at Shorty Awards

The 2nd Annual Shorty Awards (for Twitter content) were held last night in Times Square and I'm thrilled to report that @BettyDraper won a Shorty in Innovation. Just as exciting for me was the fact that it was a big night for brand fiction. @FrankAdman (fictional art director from the 1960s) won for Advertising and @TrueBloodHBO (official profile of the show) won for Entertainment. Proof that a new kind of story telling for brands is getting attention.

A winner in the Brand category was @SesameStreet (tied with @WholeFoods) and one of the highlights of the evening was the chance to meet Grover and his "handler" Eric Jacobson.

For the first time, winners were chosen not only by popular Twitter vote, but by judging of a newly formed Academy whose members include Kurt Andersen and David Pogue. Congrats to the winners:

Advertising
Frank Adman, @FrankAdman
Application
TweetDeck, @TweetDeck
Art
deviantART, @deviantART
Brand (two-way tie)
Whole Foods Market, @WholeFoods
Sesame Street, @SesameStreet
Celebrity
Nathan Fillion, @NathanFillion
Cultural Institution (three-way tie)
Jonah Holland of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, @lewisginter
Reduced Shakespeare Company, @reduced
Poetry Society of America, @Poetry_Society
Customer Service
Bonnie Smalley, @ComcastBonnie
Design
Smashing Magazine, @smashingmag
Entertainment
TrueBlood HBO, @TrueBloodHBO
Finance
Suze Orman, @SuzeOrmanShow
Food 
Foodimentary, @Foodimentary
Government
Cory Booker, @CoryBooker
Health
Rachael Dunlop, @DrRachie
Humor (two-way tie)
David Thorne, @27bslash6
Mrs. Stephen Fry, @MrsStephenFry
Innovation
Helen Klein Ross's Betty Draper, @Betty Draper
Journalist (two-way tie)
William Bonner, @realwbonner
Rachel Maddow, @maddow
Literature
Arjun Basu, @arjunbasu
Music (two-way tie)
Ivete Sangalo, @ivetesangalo
Ted Leo, @tedleo
News
The Diane Rehm Show, @drshow
Nonprofit
To Write Love On Her Arms, @TWLOHA
Politics
The Nation, @thenation
Science 
Jen Scheer, @flyingjenny
Sports
Bill Simmons, @sportsguy33
Tech
Mark Watson, @soldierknowsbest
Travel
Paul Smith, @twitchhiker
Weird
The Llama, @DoWhatITellYou
Special Humanitarian Award
Carel Pedre, @carelpedre