Great Junot Diaz Interview

Good stuff on creativity, craft and experience. Great use of ten minutes!!

Do Pixels Make You Famous? Thoughts on Gamers and Relevancy

C'mon, be honest, what's the first image that comes to mind when you think of a "Gamer?"

Is it Math Camp? E=MC2? Zits and online porn sessions in between sore thumbs and bloodshot eyes? Young kids? Frat boys? It's okay, you can tell us......

These were exactly the stereotypes we wanted to explore when we engaged with a company based out of Toronto called WorldGaming. WorldGaming came to The Artful Monkey with an interesting proposition: What if "gamers" could wager on their console games, safely and securely, online?

Now, we had been very aware of the online gaming space and its potential (For example, Microsoft reported on May 14th, 2008, that its global online service Xbox Live had reached 12 million members), but with Internet gambling being outlawed here in the United States, and our suspicions that "gamers" weren't the gambling type, we reacted with a healthy skepticism toward the project.

So we did what all smart Artful Monkeys do; we engaged in a comprehensive research exploratory for WorldGaming to test their service proposition, as well as get creative direction on how to tailor this service, and the overall WorldGaming brand, into a relevant player in the online gaming space.

After hundreds of qualitative interviews (often, right in the heart of various gaming environments - think meeting rooms at the local Holiday Inn transformed into Halo tournament centers, Windy City sports bars with every screen occupied by dueling Madden players, the GameGirl team "pWn3Ng" fools at COD, etc.) and an online quantitative adjunct to the study, we determined not only that there was a hungry market for WorldGaming's services, but that "gamers" were much different than what we had previously thought.

"Gamers" were not only computer nerds, but highly astute, passionate, multimedia mavens that tended to not only be early adopters in the tech/video game space, but also the individuals in their peer groups that drove the trends in fashion, website consumption, and peer-to-peer referral of brands and services, from car maintenance to cellphone service providers. While there were a fair share of "computer geeks," for the most part, "Gamers" were a lot older, cooler and flush with more disposable income than we had previously anticipated. But how would we make WorldGaming relevant to this highly cynical audience?

Well, first we took cues from their media habits. What media were they consuming? What media were they passionate about? What brands were cited most often? What were the brand ethos of the companies that seemed to be breaking through?

We also took a high level look at what was going on in the gaming space in general. How did the category "speak?" How did it communicate visually? How did the gaming companies and the ancillary brands in this space attempt to be relevant to gamers at large?

What we found was a lot of animation. Alot of actual video game footage. Hyper cuts, fast action. Alot of pixels. We wondered out loud, "Do pixels make you famous?"

Now coming from a traditional account planning background, my impulse was that there had to be another way, a better way for a gamer to see themselves in WorldGaming's communications. What we needed was a strategy that not only built confidence and excitement for the WorldGaming brand, but one that also gave a wink and a nod that WorldGaming was an insider; that WorldGaming knew gamers because they are gamers, and everything they do, (including making skill wagering on games possible) was a direct response to the gamers they love.

This is the spot we wrote for WorldGaming. Would love to hear your thoughts.

And if anyone is interested in some of the data we collected on gamers, please feel free to email your request to: rich@theartfulmonkey.com

With no further adieu, The Artful Monkey is proud to present "Pre-Game Rituals, Volume 1:"


Pre Game Ritual Volume: 1 - worldgaming.com from World Gaming on Vimeo.

Thoughts?

LINKS:
www.worldgaming.com

Rubik's Cube (Australia) Ads

[Click on photo for larger image.]

Thoughts?


Link:
DivineCaroline.com

A Message in Listening to Your Best Consumers: Super Brand Evangelist "BryanBoy" Bends (or is it massages) the Will of Marc Jacobs

I have always been fascinated with the debate on how much attention should be paid to a brand's evangelists. By "brand evangelist," I am referring to those special individuals that not only consume your brand passionately and loyally, but those who also have a vested interest in promoting, talking about, sharing and living through your brand.

One school of thought says to live and die by the words of your evangelists. They know you the best, spend the most money with you, so if you satisfy them, you satisfy your bottom-line. The other says that you need input from those consumers that don't use your brand to ascertain where your brand should go next. The question is, "how do we get the other brands' folks over to our brand?"

While I err on the side of input from both sides, I do sincerely believe that brand evangelists are much more rare than marketers would like to believe, and if you are lucky enough to find them, listen to them intently and give them as many avenues as possible to communicate and interact with your brand.

Enter the saga of wunderkind designer Marc Jacobs and super-fan Bryanboy. While most will be familiar with Marc Jacobs, some may not know who Bryanboy is. Bryanboy has been lovingly described as "Paris Hilton reincarnated as a gay, Asian twink." Through his site, www.bryanboy.com, Bryanboy is an outspoken and respected contributor to the hi-end consumer fashion world, openly sharing his thoughts, ideas, reviews and fantasies with his rabid following through regular blog posts and video diaries.

The phenomenon that is Bryanboy would have been inspiration enough for a post on The Artful Monkey, but the stakes were raised when the folks at Gay Bloggies asked a short list of contributors for a "short video clip about any subject." Being the Marc Jacobs evangelist that Bryanboy is, he decided to create what he called a "fun, cheeky video" about Marc Jacobs and his history.

But this was no ordinary video thrown together for the sake of vanity (or fan obsessions), it was one passionate brand evangelist giving a nod to other evangelists in the know, and to the designer himself. It was homage at its finest, distributed virally exclusively for those truly passionate Marc Jacobs' souls to enjoy. To quote Bryanboy:

"See for yourself. I have a feeling the only ones who are gonna find this video hilarious are the fashion pack because of all the references I made, right down to my choice of music and spring 2008 styling. Do you really think the average, non-fashion-obsessed Joe from Lexington, KY knows Marc Jacobs used to be a different person? I don't know. Do they even know who Marc Jacobs is?"

To see his original post, click here.

Here is the video Bryanboy submitted to Gay Bloggies:



This in and of itself holds a lesson we should all take to heart, but the ante was raised when Marc Jacobs himself got wind of the video and decided to show his appreciation for Bryanboy and his efforts!

First, Marc Jacobs' partner and muse at the time, Jason Preston, left Bryanboy a personal voicemail thanking him for all the love and giving him kudos on the site. Then after Bryanboy wrote on his site that Jacobs' Ostrich Bag was the “ultimate all-time must-have dream bag for this year,” he received this pic from Jacobs himself at Fashion Week:


Then, if fan interaction wasn't already at an all-time high (and if Marc Jacobs and his camp don't get major kudos for paying attention to what is going on outside of their own self-contained universe), Bryanboy then received this email from Marc Jacobs:

—–Original Message—–
From: Marc Jacobs

Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 1:36 AM
To: Bryanboy
Subject: Hey!

Just to let you know…we are going to name the Ostrich bag the BB, in your honor! I am back home in Paris enjoying an afternoon at home with my dogs. I carry on with LV tomorrow……Kiss, Marc.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

And now the evangelist/attentive marketer circle is complete, with our first look, via Bryanboy and his "sources," of the new "BB," the Bryanboy inspired creation from Marc Jacobs. Check out more pics of the "BB" here.



So what can we takeaway from the fabulous saga we will simply call "the Bryanboy/Marc Jacobs affair?"

Well, number one, its easier than ever to be heard, especially by those that matter, be they big or small. Number two, if you're a big brand, you had better devote some resources to listening and paying attention to the tides out there. Another example is Steve Jobs and his/Apple's so-so handling of the backlash against the iPhone, to which Steve Jobs gave away iTunes vouchers and slashed the prices of the iPhone.

Today, the most passionate and committed members of your constituency have the tools to amplify there opinions 100 fold, be it through personal blogs, websites, emails (and email signatures), Amazon.com reviews, forum posts, etc. etc. The bottom-line, get in front of the information train. Go to your most passionate consumers and find out what they are doing and saying about your brand. Get their input beforehand, so that you don't end up with a PR disaster waiting to happen.

BTW, I hope Jacobs is smart enough to Express a purple "BB" to Bryanboy, ASAP!!

Links:

www.bryanboy.com
www.marcjacobs.com

Do you "N.E.R.D.?" Integrated marketing, hipster style!!

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The Artful Monkey