Brian Zafron: I Eat Web 2.0 for Breakfast

Variety, the premier source for Hollywood news and editorial, today launched the first social networking website for the entertainment business.

“The Biz” serves three primary functions: to connect colleagues already in the entertainment industry, to facilitate job searching and recruiting, and to foster a community with an open exchange of entertainment-related ideas (ie, “Yo! What do you think of this TV pilot idea: Desperate Housewives meets Golden Girls.”)

Users will be able to upload profiles, photos, resumes, portfolios and videos starting today.

Hollywood is a notoriously insular community, which is the primary reason, I imagine, its first social network is springing up so late in the game. In 2007, according to eMarketer, 70% of teens and 37% of adults in the United States used online social networking at least once a month. That equals about 13.6 million teens (ages 12-17) and 56.9 million adults (ages 18 and up).

Jeff Seely, the CEO of Jobster (which is partnering with The Biz), said today, “Variety is on the cutting edge of vertical online networking.” I don’t know, Jeff. Seems like more of a dull edge to me. Currently, only a handful of bloodsuckers and bloodsuckers of tomorrow have signed up on the site.

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Do you ever wish your favorite things in the world could be magically combined?

Ice cream sundaes and beer? California weather and New York culture? Sex and corned beef sandwiches (Seinfeld reference, anyone?)?

Well, yesterday, for a boat-load of people, such a combination occurred: Apple became a signature sponsor for “American Idol,” acquiring exclusive audio and video download rights to the hit Fox show.

Apple’s iTunes store will now feature “Idol” episodes for download, and it will sponsor online streaming of performances on the show’s website. Plus, the Apple brand is going to receive strategic (read: backdoor) integration into the show.

Don’t be surprised to find: Paula scrolling through her iphone during a performance, Ryan talking about his iphone when he thinks his microphone is off, or maybe, if Idol is feeling particularly frisky, an iphone accidentally dropping out of a contestant’s pocket.

Word is that the close relationship between Simon Fuller and Apple superman Steve Jobs was integral in green-lighting the deal. Personally, I’m surprised Steve could be friends with such a complete prick like Simon - but then again, we’re all friends with pricks, aren’t we?

Beginning this week, performances from the top 24 “Idol” semifinalists can be purchased on iTunes for $.99 a pop. Then, beginning March 11, performances from the top 12 finalists will be sold for $1.99.

Other major Idol sponsors include: Coke, AT&T and Ford.

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I was planning to write today about product placement in user-generated videos, but since it’s Monday, I’ve decided to throw down something with more entertainment value.

I went to the Laugh Factory in Hollywood on Friday night, where Dane Cook performed, sandwiched by ten or so C- and D-List celebrities. These other celebs were all semi-recognizable from specials on E! and MTV and/or the orgie of crappy Wayans Brothers’ spoofs. Anywho, Dane Cook talked for about a half hour about his obsession with youporn (www.youporn.com), a video sharing website that’s essentially youtube without clothes.

Dane claimed that he never “flogs his number” to the videos, but spends hours watching them to figure out the meaning behind their often ridiculous titles. He said some of his favorite titles included, “Oral Sex with a Peanut Butter Smack,” “Dog Fashion Disco,” and “Xmas Nut.” I’m not going to link these videos, but if you want to check them out, assuming you’re only interested in understanding their titles, you have my full blessing.

By the way, I tried to ask Dane some follow-up questions after the show about youporn. I wanted to confirm my suspicion that that they pay him a pretty penny to mention their site in his stand-up act. However, he got onto his high horse (read: automobile) and zoomed away before I had the chance. Funny how product placement creeped its way into this post after all.

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Last night, I wore slippers to a downtown club called Elevate, a sizzling melting pot of Manolo Blahniks, fake boobies in tube tops, and of course, a whole lotta “bump and grinding.”  After waiting in line for five minutes, my boy “Slug” and I were rejected at the door by a three hundred pound Steven Segal look-alike who deemed our sandals inappropriate and didn’t buy my “shoe thong” euphemism. Fortunately, I had both a pair of penny loafers and slippers in the truck of my car (long story, don’t ask), so Slug and I were experiencing the “bump and grinding” while the night was still young.

Although many would naturally be embarrassed wearing slippers in a trendy club, I chose to rock them with confidence, and the results, I shit you not, were fucking amazing: throughout the night, about ten women, aging in range from 19-45 and deliciousness from 5.2-9.7, noticed my slippers and complimented them. Basically, I stood out from the crowd and they dug it.

This brings me to tonight’s soapbox: don’t dress your company in traditional shoes, but let it wear slippers. In other words, dare to be different. The most successful companies, big and small, blaze new trails, embrace fresh perspectives, breath life into tired problems.

Some great, recent examples of companies wearing slippers include Chipotle and Apple.  Chipotle revolutionized the meaning of fast food by placing added value on the quality of ingredients and amping up prices a lil’ bit. The result: it was one of the premier success stories of 2007 with its stock up 157% for the year. As for Apple, their decision to re-brand their gadgets and technology with the pregnant letter “i” made a huge statement about shifting power to the consumer, customizing to the individual. And accordingly, 2007 was a tremendous year for the company: it launched the iPhone, experienced a huge growth in computers sales, and savored the near doubling of its stock price.

I am not telling you that taking chances equates to guaranteed success. You also need, amongst a slew of factors, strong content (what’s beneath the slippers; moldy feet or manicured?) and equally strong marketing (do you rock the slippers with confidence; do the right people notice and enjoy your slippers?).

However, if the night is young, and you’re ready to choose an outfit for your company, consider what matches your Hush Puppies before picking out your shirt and pants. In other words, build your company around your uniqueness.

End of article, end of metaphor.

(If you’re wondering whether I took home a luckily lady last night, you’ll have to keep on wondering. I’m a gentleman, folks. And gentlemen don’t kiss and tell.)

(OK, you win. Her name was Rebecca. She was ooober foxy.)

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C’mon. We’ve all experienced it. At one point or another, whether channel surfing between E! and Skinemax, or trolling through the jungle of youtube, you discover a psychedelic ipod commercial and want to start dancing alongside the sexy/Rastafarian/Paul McCartney silhouetted figure. The commercial drips with funk, freedom, and fucking awesomeness and what’s more, it’s so close you can taste it. But then, like always, the commercial ends and your brief feeling of elation makes you feel like a complete jackass: “Did I really just piss my pants (metaphorically speaking) over an ipod commercial?,” you ask yourself.

Truth be told, Apple’s success is predicated equally on their consumer-friendly products and their kick-ass, balls-to-the-wall marketing. (If you don’t agree with me then… well, I’ll fight you.) Their TV commercials, in particular, always stand out from the rest of the crowd: media critics, professional and armchair alike, cite them for their sleekness, their catchiness, their uncanny ability to translate Apple’s simple/cool products into an emotion that seeps into customers’ bloodstreams.

Certainly, we could spend the next two and a half hours deconstructing Apple’s marketing campaigns (in which time we could watch approximately 275 ipod commercials on youtube), but instead, allow me to roll up my sleeves and simply put the spotlight on their campaigns’ common thread, their reason for success:  escapism.

We hear this term “escapism” thrown around more than Ike Turner threw around Tina, but it’s usually in reference to films, novels, and TV shows. However – and this where I let the cat out of the bag – the most effective marketing campaigns, regardless of the medium, embrace escapism. In other words, when consumers “interact” with these campaigns – in magazines, on billboards, through TV sets – they are able to leave the real world for a moment and step into the world of the campaign.

This transition of worlds can be an incredibly pleasant experience, as in the case of ipod commercials, or an extremely haunting one, as in the case of “The Truth” anti-smoking spots or horror film trailers. Regardless, the transition itself is a sign of meaningful engagement, essential in building brand awareness and loyalty.

In closing, boys and girls, don’t feel bad if you wish your life were more like an ipod commercial. Just appreciate the escape… and the brilliant marketing.

By the way, a shout out to my boy Tony who asked me the titular question the other day on gtalk, the inspiration for this post.  And yes, I just said titular.  Deal with it.

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Obese people eat.

Smelly people smell.

Interactive marketers, like me, interactively market.

Tuesday’s post talked about the increasing necessity of interactive marketing. Of course, the necessity is only one piece of the puzzle. Thus, today I present you with the remaining pieces, or at least the next ten… you know what? This metaphor sucks. Let’s just cut to the chase: 10 Outrageously Helpful Tips To Succeed At Interactive Marketing

(These are tips that I’ve implemented in my businesses for as long as I can remember.  Read them, learn them, and if you really want to get interactive on this crazy, crazy St. Valentine’s Day, try to eat them. )

1. Get people excited. If you don’t pique the interests of your customer, you can chuck your product and your wonderful marketing schemes out your 100th story window. Tap into passions. Get a feel for your demographic and cater to their embedded likes and dislikes. And then, and only then, start contemplating interactive designs. To those simple-minded readers, let me throw it down like this: people don’t care shit about shit unless they’re excited.
2. Think immersive. Once you get the customer involved, you want him/her to stay involved for as long as possible. No wonder 64% of this year’s Superbowl commercials included a website. That’s right, homies: 64%. Here’s a sub-tip: Utilize microsites and extensive ad units to maximize the brand experience. Basically, the more you can immerse the consumer (without overwhelming him/her with too many options/too much complexity), the better. Check out Reebok’s awesome multimedia site when you a moment – I bet you won’t want to leave anytime soon.
3. Make it personal. People are unique, or at least we like to think so. Many interactive marketing campaigns thrive on their personalization functions, the ability to customize to the individual. People love how sites like Amazon and Netflix, for example, are able to recommend products based upon past activity. But how can you customize without becoming Big Brother?  The truph (truth with a “ph” because it’s just that raw): hard work and test runs.
4. Simplicity is key. It’s not that people are stupid. We’re just busy as balls and don’t have the time nor desire to sift through convoluted information. Interactive marketing only works when the customer is interested before overwhelmed, interacting before scratching his/her head. See Hot or Not for an example of excruciatingly simple, but highly effective (and trafficked) interactivity.
5. Don’t neglect ROI. It doesn’t matter how you measure it – CPC, CPM, CPA, etc. – but clients need to see concrete results in the form of dollars and cents. All interactive marketing efforts need to keep in mind conversions down the line, particularly how text links and search words will feed into your broader campaign. In other words, target, target, and oh yeah, target.
6. Let the customer do the work. Sometimes the best way to get the word out for a campaign is to step aside. Customers enjoy the sense of empowerment and influence that comes with editorializing a brand on the Internet. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that people are listening, particularly when you are passionate about the information you are distributing. Great examples of interactive marketing, in which the “marketers” step aside, include Swiffer’s video contest and companies like Affinitive and BzzAgent.
7. Explicitly encourage virality. Give the customer a kick in the pants, so to speak. Rather than cross your fingers and hope he/she will send an email, bookmark your site, or spread the word at next week’s cooking club meeting, simply dole out specific instructions: you’d be surprised at the rate of response. Although people like to think they’re unique, they also don’t like thinking -  so go ahead perform the “thinking” for them. Take a gander through Facebook at any time and note the directness of the advertisements along the sides of the page. “Sign up for x video contest,” “Get involved in the Ron Paul Revolution,” etc.
8. Make An Offer They Can’t Refuse. Lure them in with an offer that’s sweeter than candy. The offer has the potential to not only bring in direct traffic, but if sweet enough – and I’m talking sweeter than a tootsie roll here, but not necessarily sweeter than a chocolate soufflé -  it can also initiate flurries of referrals, or in other words, virality.
9. Any tips of your own? This tip is meant to encourage you, dear readers, to respond to this post with your own tips. Let the interactivity begin.
10. Seriously, any tips of your own? This tip is supposed to encourage even MORE interactivity. Also…. I’m hungry, and I want to go eat some lunch.

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Not all marketing pays dividends. Here’s an example that’s bound to bring a delicious smile to your face:

Despite a jam-packed three weeks of promotion for Paris Hilton’s new film The Hottie and The Nottie, the opening weekend numbers were complete cow dung. A romantic comedy starring Hilton, Joel David Moore, and Christine Lakin, it opened Friday to $9,000 on 111 screens, or $81 per screen, according to Box Office Mojo.

For those keeping track on the Paris Hilton temperature scale, that’s NOT hot. In fact, it’s colder than a Eskimo’s refrigerator. Basically, 2-3 people were watching her film, on average, each screening. The weekend gross tumbled in at $27,000. Meanwhile, according to the New York Post, she got “paid $100K to have her 25th birthday at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas.” So don’t worry about the princess going broke.

The only comparable box office disaster is Jessica Simpson’s 2007 “star vehicle” Blonde Ambition, which averaged $48 per screen on a Friday opening for a total box office of $384. The film grossed $6,422 domestically before – thank God!/ at long last!/please kill me! – it came to DVD.

Paris had premiered the film in Hollywood and Dallas, appeared in Philadelphia, at Harvard University, and the Sundance Film Festival, and even shmoozed on talk shows such as the Late Show with David Letterman. And even with all that marketing effort, she still couldn’t get people to watch her movie. What did I tell ya? Marketing ain’t easy.

So what does all this mean for the old marketing adage: does sex still sell? Probably. But sometimes content gets in the way.

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“Interactive marketing is the ability to address the consumer, remember what the consumer says and address the consumer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the consumer has told us.”- John Deighton, Harvard, 1996

With the growth of portable and on-demand technologies, marketers are forced to deal with an increasingly elusive consumer. Bombarding consumers with advertisements is unfortunately not the easy, fix-it-all solution, but rather, it makes matters worse – causing further desensitization and sometimes flat-out resentment.

The trick, evidenced by trends in marketing departments and acquisitions across the world, is including the consumer in the conversation. Here we find the most effective breed of targeted advertising – where the target is also the one taking aim. No one likes being spoken “at” or spoken “to.” Adults, children, extra-terrestrials. No one.

Take Friday’s acquisition of Hot or Not as evidence to the effectiveness of interactivity. The website’s excruciatingly simple functionality is based upon users ranking randomly selected pictures of men and women according to hotness (or notness.) The buyers are investors connected with Avid Life Media, and paid somewhere around $20 million for the site. Moreover, Hot or Not has spurred many generations of knock-offs, most recently Web Hot or Not, created by Technorati founder, David Sifry.

Interactivity is even bleeding into Superbowl commercials. (Click here to watch dem suckers). Sit tight, and let me hit you with some examples:

• The cute girl who sang “Message From Your Heart” in the Doritos spot was featured because she won an online, consumer-generated video content.
• Tide’s talking stain commercial, promoting the Tide Pen, called upon consumers to participate online by sharing their own stories.
• GoDaddy’s spot showed someone at a Super Bowl party visiting their website in order to see content that could not be shown on TV, a subtle little invitation to do likewise. The result: GoDaddy turned a 30 second TV spot into a significantly more lengthy engagement. They recorded a half-million site visitors in the first 30 minutes after the spot, with traffic up 2,434 percent compared to last year’s Super Bowl.

So what does all this mean for marketers? Well, it’s simple: engage the consumer. How? Well, that’s a bit more complicated.

Check back for tomorrow’s article: “10 Outrageously Helpful Tips To Succeed At Interactive Marketing”

www.brianzafron.com/blog/2007/02/12/Interactive-Marketing-Is-The-Tsunami-Of-The-Future:-Take-Shelter! 

If you watched last week’s Superbowl, you probably noticed something a little different about this year’s smorgasbord of commercials. For one, they weren’t exactly a smorgasbord.

Although the subject matter was obviously varied, the tonality of the commercials was decidedly homogenous. Oddball, inherently random, humor was featured in one commercial after another, with little variation, particularly amongst the “comedies.” Five years ago, this oddball humor was the exception, showcased in the handful of gems amongst the dry and non-daring bunch, but times have indeed changed.

Examples from this year’s crop, to name a few from many, include: Shaquille O’Neal riding a race horse, (Vitamin Water), a baby articulately explaining online stock trading (Etrade), and a witch doctor showing up at a car dealership (Cars.com).

So, what’s the connection between this trend in Superbowl commercials and American politics? Perhaps nothing. However, I would suggest - and feel free to visit my house and beat me with a Vitamin Water if you disagree – that these Superbowl commercials are evidence to America’s current embrace of the oddball, at large. In other words, the marketing wizards behind these Superbowl commercials understand that our country, now more than ever, with one African American and one female running for president, is fascinated by the outlier, the fish out of water.

Of course, this fascination did not spring from thin air: our two most distinguished Democratic candidates, by the grace of Capital Hill gods (and lobbyists) just happened to fall into non-traditionally presidential demographics. Does this make them any less qualified? Hell no. But, although we may laugh at Shaq Daddy riding a horse, are we  capable of putting an African American or a female into the oval office?

As a mere entrepreneur, I do not attempt to guise myself as a political pundit, much less a psychic or even a successful Ouiji player. However, I would suggest that the oddball humor in this year’s Superbowl commercials is not without cultural grounding, and as such, if effectively integrated into you and/or your company’s marketing campaigns, would very likely resonate with today’s consumers.

For more discussion on last week’s Super Bowl commercials, check back for tomorrow’s post entitled: Interactive Marketing Is The Tsunami Of The Future: Take Shelter!

http://brianzafron.com/blog/2008/02/11/An-Outlandish-Entrepreneur’s-Perspective:-what-do-last-week’s-superbowl-commercials-mean-(or-not-mean)-for -American-Politics?

The redundant title, first of all, is tongue-in-cheek. For me, it calls attention to Digg’s comical interplay between what’s officially a secret and what’s ostensibly public knowledge. This interplay is largely responsible for Digg’s broad coverage on blogs across the Internet, establishing an enigmatic status despite its monolithic size.

Personally, I’ve only used Digg on a smattering of occasions – pre-blog life, all my ventures generated traffic not through democratic voting, but hard work and the expenditure of calculated dollars and cents. Nevertheless, I’ve contacted several top diggers and conducted my own empirical research on the site. There are hundreds upon hundreds of articles written about Digg, the number growing every day, but none of them unveil the following three secrets, each absolutely critical to success on the site. I discovered them simply because I looked in the right places, asked the right questions, and as my physician Dr. Goldstein can verify, I’ve got a brain bigger than a brontosaurus.

• People Are Nice. The most effective way to learn about the community and become effectively integrated is reaching out to other diggers, particularly outside the Digg network. External communication with other diggers supports the establishment of real, meaningful relationships, vastly more valuable than hundreds of superficial ones. Even the top diggers, like mrsaleem, mrbabyman, and tomyboy501, are happy to lend you their time, and potentially, even their friendship. In your travels through Digg profile pages, take note of contact information, especially AIM names. These diggers wouldn’t list this information if they weren’t dedicated to giving back to the community. Don’t be afraid: they don’t bite. They just digg.
• Concentrate On The Tipping Point. You’re wasting your time on Digg if you’re trying to either a) submit quality content and magically reach the front page or b) create a large enough network that “artificially” pushes your content to the front page. They key is discovering the middle ground between these options, therein locating what I term the “Digg tipping point.” Essentially, this tipping point is a level of visibility for your article that will ensure, if the article is truly front page worthy, that it will indeed reach the front page. (Examples of sufficient visibility: making the hot section in any category, the first, second, or third page in general “upcoming,” or getting listed as a “favorite” by a top digger.) The obvious question, I suppose, is how does your article attain this visibility in the first place? My answer: refer to this post’s two other secrets.
• Tap into mob-mentality. Although many bloggers and purported Digg experts suggest that the content of your submitted article must be exceptional to make the front page, the truth is a little bit more complicated. Exceptional content is certainly helpful, but not nearly as effective as content that relates to Digg’s passions of the moment. In some ways, Digg is like an adolescent girl, journeying through high school, obsessing over an idea at one moment, then disregarding it the next. Successful diggers are attuned to these ebbs and flows of interest. Moreover, the average digger, who either is or wants to be integrated into the community, will digg or bury articles they perceive to be in alignment with these ebbs and flows. Thus, when submitting articles with the purpose of hitting the front page, ask yourself whether you’re using Digg’s mob-mentality to your advantage. Careful study of trends amongst popular articles is required.

This post is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to Digg, for there are many, many such guides across the blogosphere. However, these select secrets, for my money, are the most essential elements to success with reaching the front page. Of course, if you have no interest in reaching the front page, and are simply a casual digger, I apologize for wasting your time, and I hope you still love me.

I, of course, love you.

http://brianzafron.com/blog/?p=30