Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 307

Understanding The Digital Marketing Agency

There is a push for Digital Marketing agencies to become full-service agencies.

If that isn't the truth, there is another push where many full-service agencies - and the global networks that own them - are doing their very best to gobble up as many digital marketing agencies as they can. Regardless, it's becoming increasingly difficult for brands to figure out what kind of digital marketing agency they need and which services can best suit them. Unfortunately, the research will tell you that brands want agencies to be better, cheaper and faster (don't believe me, check out this news item from MediaPost: Advertisers Vent On Agencies) in a world where Chief Marketing Officers are battling to control the brands that they serve.

It's a brave new marketing world, isn't it?

Last week, one of the more fascinating pieces on the Digital Marketing agency landscape was published by the good people at Gartner (hat-tip to Jenn and Faris). The Magic Quadrant for Global Digital Marketing Agencies was released on October 16th, 2012 and this 16-page plus document (which is freely available, so grab it now while you can) offers some of the most interesting reading on the Digital Marketing agency landscape that I've seen in some time. It's less about the content and much more about the players, their market position, the clients they work and how Gartner perceives them in terms of skill-sets and talent.

From the report...

"Today, the world's largest digital marketing agencies are responding to demand from chief marketing officers (CMOs) who are eager to adopt the mobile and social opportunities that stem from a more robust data-driven environment. While many have a vision to help CMOs rethink the future of marketing, most deals that leverage social, mobile and big data often represent one-off-style engagements, illustrating that marketing executives are still learning and experimenting. The opportunity to execute the ultimate digital dream on a larger enterprise scale exists, but these deals are rare, given the intense competition around pursuits from CMOs who have the vision, propensity for risk -- and, of course, budget."

If you are in the marketing, advertising and/or digital marketing space, I highly recommend you grab it and read it over the weekend. It is, without question, illuminating: Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Agencies.

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social media marketing

The Next New Now. Makers Of The Future.

We are getting it all wrong.

When people ask, "what's next?" you will hear one of three things:

Social.

Mobile.

Local.

Those are not "next" those are "now."

When I think of what's next, nothing has been more illuminating than watching the Makers Movement take hold. If you're not up to speed on this business revolution, you can read more about it here: From Atoms To Bits To Atoms and be sure to buy the latest business book by Chris Anderson (editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and bestselling business book author of The Long Tail and Free), Makers - The New Industrial Revolution.

It seems small.

Most people look at 3D printing and it seems small and inconsequential. There is nothing here that looks like it's able to serve the masses and the technology is not affordable to the masses. We have a short attention span. We forget how expensive home computers were and we forget how limited the Internet was when it first came online. We are in the era of exponential growth when it comes to technology and marketing. The ability for individuals to have a "make" button as readily available on their desktop as a "print" button is going to cause a massive shift in business and marketing. Being able to purchase highly customized  products at a local level with competitive pricing is going to sharply redefine economies at a mass scale, and it's going to create a global re-distribution of wealth unlike anything we have ever seen to date.

The movement is afoot.

What is relegated to workshops and some semi-public spaces is starting to become more and more accessible. On October 19th, 2012, GeekWire ran a news item titled, A playground for geeks: Nike vet to open 10,000-square-foot maker space in Seattle. The article is about a new venture called, Makerhaus, which opens in Seattle on December 6th and was founded by Ellie Kemery (formerly of Nike and Hornall Anderson). From the article: "What's MakerHaus? It's kind of a geek paradise. The 10,000-square-foot renovated industrial design space will include educational programs where members can take classes on topics such as Intro to Rhino 3D CAD; Getting Funded on Kickstarter; or Laser Cutting Basics. Members also will be able to test their own skills in a metalshop and woodshop, and utilize two professional-grade 3-D laser printers."

It's much more than WorkShop 2.0.

Too many people are quick to dismiss this movement. It sounds too technical. It sounds like the next generation of trade work. It is not. We have to remember that the early days of computers and programming felt just as strange, awkward and unrelated as this may sound right now to businesses. Don't allow yourself to fall into that same trap. These individuals are currently leveraging these types of environments to create the next generation of electronics, robotics and physical goods. Making professional grade design and manufacturing skills and tools available to anybody and everybody in the same way that we can access books from a local library. This not only enables a small design shop to dream up and create the next big thing, but it democratizes the process down to you and me.

What the Internet did for information and publishing, the makers movement is doing for physical goods.

Kemery explains why MakerHaus and spaces like this are critical to our future success: "Our goal is to become a launchpad for companies and businesses, and also a breeding ground for innovation," she says in the GeekWire piece. "If all of the people who we start having as members go on to open up spaces and shops of their own that they no longer need us - that to us is success. We are really about empowering them. We know those people, they are us."

Similar words were used in describing the early days of the Internet, e-commerce and social media. Pay attention to this movement.

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The Lance Armstrong Effect

Much has been said about Lance Armstrong lately. Not much has been said by Lance Armstrong, himself.

It used to be easy to lay low, even if you were a celebrity. But, in the world of the real-time Web, mobile devices, Twitter, Facebook updates, YouTube videos and the like, what once was a brand's most powerful tool to communicate directly with consumers, suddenly becomes its worst nightmare. Last Friday night, Armstrong took the stage at Livestrong's 15th anniversary event. Many know Livestrong (Armstrong's foundation to help battle cancer) for the 2004 launch of the Livestrong bracelet. Over eighty million bands have been sold and the Livestrong foundation has raised around $500 million to battle cancer. Lance, a cancer survivor, is currently battling for his professional life amidst a damaging report issued by the U.S. Anti-Doping agency regarding Armstrong's alleged use of illegal substances in his victory of seven Tour de France's (which were stripped from him on Monday). Major sponsors like Nike, Anheuser-Busch and Oakley have already dropped Armstrong, and he has already stepped down as Chairman of Livestrong as the charity wiggles its way to separate itself from Armstrong. At the anniversary celebration, he did not directly address the claims of the USADA and simply said that it has been a "difficult couple of weeks."  

The silence online is deafening.

Due to the rise of social media, consumers have an expectation that companies will not only respond to their needs, but become active participants in the global community. Because of high profile customer service issues (think Dell Hell or United Breaks Guitars), there is tremendous pressure on brands to not only act like human beings, but to be responsive and friendly in ways that customer service has never seen before. Upon a recent trip to Montreal, Lance tweeted out an invite for people to meet him for a run. Hundreds of people showed up (along with the local news crews). Suddenly, Armstrong's Twitter feed is nothing but digital crickets and virtual tumbleweeds. He hasn't sent out a message since October 12th. Legal experts will tell us that Armstrong must be careful. There are rumors of both civil and criminal lawsuits that could be filed against him, so anything he says can - and will - be used against him in a court of law, but what about the court of public opinion? Unfortunately, social media is not a one-way street. If you participate, you're participating. You can't just do it when things are good and ignore it when things are bad... and that can be a big challenge for some. It's not a channel of convenience.

Be open. Be honest.

Armstrong's current situation could well become the social media case study to end all social media case studies. How does a brand (and, make no mistake about it, Lance Armstrong is a big and powerful brand), straddle between the challenge of traditional corporate communications as a closed entity that is cautious of every consonant of content that they publish due to regulation, public/internal policies and more, balance with the creature of social media where there is an expectation of transparency, honesty and immediate feedback? We can't expect Armstrong's side of the story via Twitter, but we can imagine how difficult it must be for him to have the power to tell his story, directly to those who care, and instead, he is choosing silence or his lawyers have him on lock down.

Transparency tells the story.

As the world waits for Lance to come forward (and rest assured, there are a team of corporate communications experts who are currently working with Armstrong and his legal counsel on how to best do this), businesses can watch and learn plenty from the sudden social media blackout that is the Lance Armstrong brand. When things are good, social media was Armstrong's best friend, but went things went south, it suddenly became the bane of his existence. It is both his silence mixed with a very vocal public (don't believe me, just do a search on Twitter or Facebook for the term, "Lance Armstrong") that is defining his brand (whether he likes it or not). This digital experience is less about his contributions to fighting cancer (which have been incredible) or his innocence/guilt on a bike (which is now being formalized). Now, it's about the digital relationships that Armstrong has been fostering. It's a lesson that every business needs to look at when it comes to how they communicate and connect with consumers in these fascinating times. Suddenly, Armstrong is ignoring the millions of people that he so readily embraced before. These people feel his silence and see it as an admission of guilt and, in return, this story acts as a reminder that as good as social media is when you have something to promote, it must be a equally powerful ally when things go south.

People want to know his story from him. They no longer want to read it as a press release. Armstrong is going to have figure this one out... fast.  

The above post is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure.

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New Business Model Thinking For Social Business And Social Media

Episode #328 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

It's great to have Jeremiah Owyang back on the podcast. He's currently Partner of Customer Strategy at Altimeter Group, a research based advisory firm started by Charlene Li (Groundswell and Open Leadership). I've been following Jeremiah (and admiring him) since his days at Forrester Research and was one of the earlier readers/fans of his blog, Web Strategy. He's back to discuss how businesses are becoming more social, and what this means to marketing and media professionals. We also tackle his latest research report: The Converged Media Imperative: How Brands Will Combine Paid, Owned and Earned Media. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #328.

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #122

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're

. "The Sarcastic Mars Rover novelty account is usually, well, sarcastic. But this time, even its otherworldly smugness couldn't cut through the story. Here's an interview with Clara, the girl who gave Curiosity its name. As a father of a young girl, I can only hope that my daughter gets some of Clara's nerdy enthusiasm. It's Ada Lovelace Day as I write this, and Clara's story reminds me that geeks make the world go round--and they come in all shapes and sizes." (Alistair for Hugh).

Ibis hotels to have robots paint art while they track your sleep: no, that's not creepy at all - Engadget . "In an interesting example of quantified self and new interfaces, the Ibis hotel is using bed sensors and robot arms to paint pictures of your sleep patterns. We're in an explosion of visualization, sensing, and data, and it's fascinating to see what designers and artists cook up." (Alistair for Mitch).

A Space Shuttle on the Streets of Los Angeles - The Atlantic . "A set of pics of the Space Shuttle Endeavour , getting towed along the streets of LA, to its final resting place. Truly the end of an era. It's hard to say whether these are inspiring or depressing. 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'" (Hugh for Alistair).

Amazon in talks to buy TI mobile chip arm: paper - Reuters . "Rumour has it that Amazon wants to buy the mobile chip maker Texas Instruments; the chips already power the Kindle Fire tablet, and speculation is that Amazon wants to move into the mobile phone space, to compete not just against the iPad but also the iPhone. This sets up the battle of the next decade: Apple, that wants great content in order to sell devices; Amazon that wants great devices in order to sell content. Google, of course, has a different kind of strategy - still around search and advertising, but with their Android OS, it's clear that mobile is where the fight is happening. Looming in the wings is Facebook - and lest we think things are done, don't forget that 5 years ago it was MySpace and Yahoo fighting for top slot in the world. Prior to this month, who even gave Samsung a second thought as a 'player'? Nokia's Windows phone has yet to make a real dent in the world, but I've heard good things; as for RIM/Blackberry, who knows where they will land, but surely it will not be near the top. Truly, we live in interesting times." (Hugh for Mitch).

The World Around Us - Eric Schmidt Zeitgeist Americas 2012 - YouTube . "I spent the earlier part of this week at Google Zeitgeist . It's gymnastics for the brain (like the TED conference ). Eric Schmidt , the Executive Chairman of Google, always gives a rundown of how he is seeing the world, and it is a sight to behold. He tackles everything from politics and the economy to what we can imagine technology will become. He is both poised and insightful. I look forward to his comments each and every year. So, here they are..." (Mitch for Alistair).

The World to Watch - Global Economics Panel - Zeitgeist Americas 2012 - YouTube . "This was one of those panels that makes you sit back and realize how little we know about the world that surrounds us. We're engrossed with the U.S. Presidential election and local politics, but what's happening at the global level and how is it affecting business? I left this panel and made a commitment to myself that I would spend a lot more of my time paying attention to how things are unfolding outside of this continent. It's an important watch." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

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alistair croll

amazon

android

apple

bitcurrent

blackberry

complete web monitoring

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eric schmidt

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hugh mcguire

human 20

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ted

texas instruments

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the book oven

yahoo

year one labs

youtube

zeitgeist americas

The Power Of Curiosity And Creativity

You must watch this.

I had the pleasure of attending a private event, Google Zeitgeist, in Phoenix this past week. There was a star-studded line-up of deep thinkers who came together under the theme, The World Around Us. For two days we were exposed to new thinking about everything from the economy and media to politics and design. Yes, my head is still spinning. The majority of the presentations are now available online here: Zeitgeist Minds. One of the highlight was Sir Ken Robinson (author The Element and Out Of Our Minds). In this twenty-minute presentation, Sir Ken tackles the power of curiosity and inspires us all to embrace our creativity.

Here comes the magic...

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The Homogeny Of Social Media

What happened to the idea that social media would be a different kind of media?

As I sat in the airport lounge at SFO, I attempted not to watch the U.S. Presidential coverage on CNN. But, like an accident that you just can't help but to  slow down and take a peek at, there it was. Two contenders. One, a first-term President with his dress shirt sleeves rolled up, posturing, pointing fingers, folding his arms, sometimes aggressive in his words and sometimes quiet and thoughtful. His opponent, with his dress shirt sleeves rolled up, posturing, pointing fingers, folding his arms, sometimes aggressive in his words and sometimes quiet and thoughtful. We look to these individuals to lead us. We look to these individuals and ask them, "what have you done for me lately?" I'm amazed and baffled by this (I'm allowed to feel like this, I'm Canadian... this is only a spectator sport for me). How can we expect any kind of radical change in these past four years at such scale... what about these next four years? Bad news for some... good news for others: neither of these men can save you. Look for salvation within. The next time you're asking yourself if any of these individuals helped you in the past four years or can help you in the next four years, start reflecting on how much skin you actually put into the game? How much better did you make your life in these past four years? How much better will your life be because of your own actions in the next four years? Don't rely on the government (you don't have to)... so, what's your plan? To frame this: the iPad didn't exist four years ago. In short, radical change can happen, but very few actually have the wherewithal to pull it off and bring everyone along with them (RIP, Steve Jobs).

Back to social media.

We we're promised change. Change we can believe in. It wasn't just a TV ad or a poster or sermon from a lectern. It became a battlecry that average people wrapped up in their arms, embraced and danced with it. Young people took off to join the circus. Older people did whatever they could to change the system that we had for a newer system. Social media was seen as the game-changer... and who doesn't hate the words "game changer"? Chris Hughes left Facebook to help leverage social media for social change. It worked, didn't it? For years following the election, the speaker circuit and business book shelves were littered with content about this social media case study master-class (check out Rahaf Harfoush's book, Yes We Did). Whether it was Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or beyond, this beacon of change was using the channels for what these channels do best: enabling a real connection between real human beings. Social media humanized the political game.

What happened?

In this election, who is making social media work best? The tweets, the online video, the online social networking pages, the websites, the blogs... they're all missing the social media story, aren't they? Do either of these gentleman do anything but use social media as another free broadcasting engine within their mass media arsenal? For my dollar, this is the big story. Why isn't the same person who used social media to create a movement that brought them to the highest elected office in the land doing that all over again? Why has social media become so homogenous?

It's not just the President, is it?

The cool veneer of social media is thinning when it comes to presidential elections and big brands. Media pundits (like me) throw out terms like "transmedia," "brand narrative," "marketing ecosystem." None of those terms work, unless the brand is willing to do the hard work of acting like a human being, of using these channels to publish how they think and feel in text, images, audio and video. Instead of extending the brand story and pushing it down deeper by connecting through honesty and humility, it seems like everyone - from the President down - is starting to take a few steps in the wrong direction. Sadly. Brands are questioning the value of marketing on Facebook. Ironically, they're not questioning what they're putting into the channel. Why is that? In a world where disruption is everywhere for the consumer, is it incumbent on the media channel to do anything but give you access to the people who are connected there? If marketing on Facebook isn't working for you, maybe you're not doing enough to make it work? How interesting is your brand?

It's a lesson I wish these two Presidential candidates would take to heart. It's a lesson I wish many brands would take to heart as well.

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A Death In The Family... Missing Michael O'Connor Clark

I wish I knew Michael O'Connor Clark better.

I joined Twist Image in 2002. The company already existed... sort of. Two of my business partners (Aubrey and Mick) were here (Mark joined us a couple of years after me). There were a couple of employees and - like every other marketing services agency - we took on whatever opportunity was thrown our way to pay the bills. It was everything from logo and business card design to websites and interactive demos. At this point, social media was nascent. It was more of a publishing platform than an engine of marketing. Still, there were enough marketing bloggers (or people dabbling in the comment section) that a strong and passionate community was evolving. As we tried to grow the business, I found myself on more and more business trips to Toronto. As a way to avoid the loneliness of sitting in a hotel room and ordering room service, I devised a "Geek Dinner." In short, they were dinners. No pressure. No stress. No agenda. I would pick a time and place and whoever wanted to come was more than welcome. Some of those early attendees are still acquaintances and friends. Michael O'Connor Clark was one of the early adopters.

What to make of Michael?

With his English accent and passion for anything related to The Cluetrain Manifesto, Michael believed that marketing and communications (and everything in between) was in the middle of flux. That things were going to change. We shared this deep desire to help the marketing and communications industry make this change. It's something I still believe in (and he did as well). On one of those Toronto trips, we wound up heading out to a tech meet-up, where I was exposed to the grit of the Toronto tech community. The true spirit of startups. Held on a university campus, individuals and groups of people would spend fifteen minutes demoing the cool stuff that they were working on. It was enlightening and educational. You could feel that you were part of a movement... something much bigger. Over those next few years, social media took hold. Bloggers became media entities and it truly was a golden age. As we sat in one of these university auditoriums, I remember turning to Michael and saying, "I wonder if this is what it felt like to be at Woodstock?" He nodded his head, looked me in the eyes and just smiled.

It was better than Woodstock... because it kept going and going.

Over the next few years, Michael and I would cross paths. Be it at PodCamp or another unconference, sharing the stage at an event, debating in the comment section of a blog or whatever. On top of that, when you follow people you like, admire and respect in the online channels (blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, whatever), you get the feeling like they are always in your life. Like you always know what's going on in their world via their updates and feeds. While it's just an avatar, you really do get the sense like you are seeing and interacting with them (even if all you're doing is creeping on their content). Michael was always in my feed. Day in and day out.

Light The Night.

It has been two years that I have been taking part in the Light The Night walk to help put an end to leukemia (you can read more about that here: Fighting Cancer... Again). Last week, we had the walk. It was a tremendous event. With your help and support, I shattered my personal goal of raising $2000 and raised close to $13,000. Our team (Leah's Helpers) shattered our collective goal of $50,000 and helped raise over $65,000. On top of that, we were told that we were the number one group in Canada... of all time. Right before the walk, I started seeing some very concerning tweets about Michael O'Connor Clark. Through his own tweets and Facebook updates, I knew he was sick with esophogal cancer for a several months. I knew it was hard battle for him. We are similar in age, we both have young families and I could hardly stomach the thought of him fighting for his life in a hospital ward, as his young family had to both lay witness to his struggle and keep a semblance of normalcy in their home life. Michael was using Twitter and Facebook during these very difficult times to communicate. He kept at it. It was probably part distraction and part therapeutic. As an acquaintance of Michael's, it was often difficult to follow. It was just too sad and a reminder of how fragile we are.

Last Saturday night.

As I prepared to walk in honor and celebration of Leah (a very brave young girl who is fortunate that her cancer is in remission), I had Michael in my thoughts. By Sunday afternoon, I started seeing the tribute tweets, Facebook status updates and blog posts celebrating the life of Michael O'Connor Clark. He was gone. He needed to rest. I could not stop thinking about his family and what his wife, children and parents are all going through. A tragic loss for the marketing and communications industry? Without a doubt. Still, nothing compared to what his family has to endure every morning and every night. Death is the one thing that we all have in common. You can be a genius, a billionaire, a famous celebrity, a teacher, a nurse, a criminal, a homeless person, we come into this world and leave the exact same way: with nothing. Sorry if I am bumming you out, but it's true. And, when I think about it, I'm bothered by the fact that I didn't make more of an effort to get to know Michael better. To know his family. To be there for him. Still (and strangely), I feel like I was right there with him... by his side, because he was sharing his story - each and every day. Don't kid yourself, social media, the Internet and all of this connectedness is an amazing gift. Sadly, too many of us take it for granted or use it for negative things.

We shouldn't. Michael O'Connor Clark would want us to use these channels to tell our stories. Just like he did.

Thanks for the reminder, Michael.

RIP.

If you want to help out Michael's family, please visit this page: Support Michael O'Connor Clark. 

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The Endless Opportunity That Comes From Limitations

Is that even possible? When you are so limited, how does that create a word of endless opportunities?

Quick: think of an idea for a TV show as quickly as possible. So, how did you do? What did you come up with? Try again. Quick: think of an idea for a TV about a plane crash as quickly as possible. So, how did you do? What did you come up with? Famed TV and movie producer, J.J. Abrams (Alias, Felicity, Revolution, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Super 8, etc...), was issued the second challenge. Guess what happened? Within ninety minutes, he had the initial outline for the hit television series, Lost. I had the pleasure of attending the Google Zeitgeist event this week in Phoenix, Arizona. Abrams was in conversation on stage with documentary film maker, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, etc...). Abrams was trying to make a point. Had the television network called him and asked for a new television series, it would have probably taken him months (maybe longer) to come up with a concept he was proud of. Because they asked, specifically, for a TV show about a plane crash, the limitations conjured up ideas and he was able to get to Lost in no time at all.

There's a big lesson here.

We often think that creativity needs to be boundless. What we often don't realize is that the vast majority of the great creative work that we all appreciate was created with boundaries (they could have been anything from deadline and budget to conceptual frameworks or working with a specific direction). Creativity has a funny way of poking through when the rails and scope of a project are more clearly defined.

Marketers forget this.

Because advertising is a function of commerce and creativity, there is often the discussion that the work suffers because of things like budget and time constraints or the stuff we can (and cannot do), according to the brand managers. How often have you heard that the advertising was bad because there was not enough budget to do something good? I fall into another category: what inspires me is the ability to be creative and deliver results in conjunction with constraints (however major or minor). We're constantly fascinated by the story of an individual who came from nothing and managed to thrive. We seem to forget that the inflection point in that story arc happens when the person does something without the traditional resources that other have had to accomplish the same. The limitation were critical to the end result.

Let's not lose that story.

There is no doubt, that it's always wonderful to have an extra day to create something. There is no doubt, that it's always wonderful to have some more budget. In a perfect world, that would be perfect. But things aren't perfect. What will truly inspire? What will truly enable the creative ranks to leave their mark is how they create majesty within the realistic world of constraints and limitations.

And, if all else fails, think about the J.J. Abrams story above and create your own limitations. Who knows, that just might create endless opportunity.

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felicity

google

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jj abrams

lost

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mission impossible

morgan spurlock

revolution

star trek

super 8

super size me

television

television network

television series

the greatest movie ever sold

The Perfect Marketing Strategy That Fell Out Of The Sky...

When someone jumps from the edge of space back to earth and it's all supported by one brand, you know you are staring at a winner.

True story: Well over seven years ago, my agency (Twist Image) had the opportunity to pitch some Red Bull business. We laid out a big and bold plan that was under the umbrella of trying to put a Red Bull into every hand. Being a full-service digital marketing agency, we were looking beyond the two core brand personalities of the time. The first one was their quirky animated commercials ("Red Bull gives you wiiiiiinnnnggggsss!"). The second brand personality was the fact that the brand was not to be touched by consumers (beyond the beverage). There were no Red Bull stickers or posters or t-shirts or hats. Red Bull held the logo sacred and only allowed the athletes that they sponsored to bear the infamous brand. We created a vision of an online channel/community (video, audio, blogs and more) that would extend the Red Bull brand into a media entity. They were already skimming in the ocean of leveraging content coupled with social media, but they had yet to deep dive into it. Our idea never took hold, but since then the brand has shifted gears and have turned their business into a true three hundred and sixty degree experience. They are not just sponsors of sporting events and athletes, but have helped to bring high adrenaline activities into the zeitgeist... on their own channel.

Putting the world record aside.

Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 120,000 feet not only broke the speed of sound and a world record to go along with it, it practically broke YouTube as millions upon millions of people watched the drop from space online. And with that event, Red Bull also captured the hearts and minds of marketers all over the world. This was more than sponsoring a human being with a unique dream, and it had a lot more muscle to it than the PR play that happened in the build up to the event (and post landing). What Red Bull truly demonstrated is the power of a fully integrated marketing plan. One that takes the consumer from the cradle to the grave. This isn't about how YouTube delivered an experience that would only be reported on by traditional television after the fact, but how the engines of all media - when done properly - can produce a perfect storm.

Most brands are not Red Bull.

It's true. The majority of brands are not an energy drink. The majority of brands may not have that cool factor. The majority of brands probably don't have the budget or know-how to even invent a stunt like that and turn it into such a powerful engine of marketing. That being said, all brands can grab the framework of what Red Bull did (and continues to do) and develop their own, fully-integrated plan of attack. Red Bull provides an amazing case study because the brand moved beyond traditional advertising, beyond content advertising and beyond social media marketing into a realm where consumers could simply touch brand (or, at the very least, hear about the brand) on their own terms.

What Red Bull does. What you can do...

Plan. Not only was Red Bull Stratos a finely tuned engine of entertainment meets marketing, it's a concept that was planned out - in detail. Choices and decisions were made (like whether to broadcast the on two things: the freefall and Red Bull.

Brand as media channel. The argument could be made (and I've gone back and forth on this), that few consumers care about a brand (any brand) so much so that they would like to be enveloped in content from them. Red Bull took that thinking and pushed the idea of creating a media channel around sporting events that involve a high level of risk and adrenaline. In coalescing that community (through programming, content and even more lifestyle-based media), they were able to wrap their Red Bull banner around it, instead of the other way around. Sadly, most businesses want their brand first and the consumers second. Red Bull continues to prove that an energy drink can all be a valuable and highly-sought after media channel.

Advertising works. By creating interest for the events and athletes that Red Bull sponsors, they have been able to leverage their advertising as an engine to both inform and persuade the public. Advertising supplements and compliments the product and the marketing. Too many brands believe that advertising should do all of the heavy lifting, and they're disappointed when their campaigns fail. Advertising works when the media is combined within the worlds of paid, owned and earned.

Diversify the portfolio. Media pundits are harping too much on Red Bull Stratos. Don't. Spend some time on the Red Bull website, look at the sporting events they are involved with, study the types of athletes they sponsor, follow those people on Twitter and you'll begin to get a bigger perspective into the world of Red Bull and the power of the brand. They win by not doing a few things right. They win by creating a strong brand portfolio that is diversified. This includes how they advertise and it also includes how they zig and zag from event sponsors to content creators to traditional advertisers. You don't have to do everything they do (or do it at their scale), but having a diversified marketing portfolio is critical.

Be a renegade.  Red Bull did not look at another beverage companies and make an attempt to mimic or improve upon what had been done before in their industry. They decided to be renegades. These are the brands that wind up doing not only the innovative work, but the work that makes a difference. Marketing is not safe. This isn't going to sit well with the c-suite, but it's true. Marketing (everything from the product, price, promotion, placement and beyond) is a risky business. The better brands (like Red Bull) mitigate risk and create a scenario for a more favorable outcome not by being reckless renegades, but by following the rules above. They plan, they create their own media, they leverage advertising to support their efforts, they diversify their portfolio and they become the renegades. Remember: they're renegades, but not reckless renegades. There is a big difference.

In a world where case studies are few and far between, dig deep into Red Bull and you'll see something else (beyond Felix Baumgartner) that is out of this world.

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

The Huffington Post - The Perfect Marketing Strategy That Fell Out of the Sky...

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