POST DIGITAL

ON: Dibs, A Conversation-Worthy Snack

"Appeal to teens and drive up household penetration." When we visited Dibs (Dreyers Ice Cream) in Oakland, CA last fall that was the goal. The snacking teens was the target. 

Teens are not the easiest group to go after.  They need inspiration - and for adult marketers that usually takes some perspiration.  How do we do that and inspire long-term brand conversation in the snacking category?  Hmmmm.  "What do teens desire most?  What will get them to do almost anything???"  (All of the sudden I had a wicked image appear in my head. Remember the scene from FAME?  "Take off our shirt Coco") 

How does Doing Dibs Instead, talk to teens?  After a Flora Dora sitting at Five Ninth and a few notes on the back of a cocktail napkin the light bulb went off.  Aha! The idea could only take flight with a partner who could help us reach teens on every imaginable medium.

I called my buddies at MTV's Generator and we jumped in to action together.   Then and only then could we make people who Do Dibs Instead Famous. Thus the birth of the Dibs Film Festival.   

The Dibs brand could facilitate teens fame by holding a "Do Dibs Instead" Film Festival.   The festival could inspire earned media with a chance at something they desire most - it had to be something more than 15 MB of fame on YouTube.  We would allow their proclamations of brand love to be the next Dibs spot on MTV.

A full month after the launch at the MTV Movie Awards, the banner ads were live, the TV spots began driving awareness and the consumer generated videos in widgets were a blazing across the internet. Teens seem to be doing exactly what we hoped the campaign would do which was inspire Do Dibs Instead videos, organic content has began popping up and kids are buying packs of Dibs to appear in their home videos. We have done exactly what we set out to do. 

We have inspired young consumers to begin a digital conversation about doing / choosing our bite sized snacks attempting to driving volume at retail. I had to buy 14 packs of dibs for my kids to complete their production!  (just do a search for Dibs Film Fest and see the content numbers grow) How many will you buy this summer to make your teen famous?  Show us how you Do Dibs Instead at http://www.dibsfilmfest.com

Behind Dibs Film Fest - The Big Idea

While the idea was simple - this was not an easy production. As many of you know I gave birth to this idea at TracyLocke then in between gigs (my move to Wunderman) I spearheaded the digital, along with the writing stylings of Snack's Jennifer Leuzzi, which serves as the conversation hub that the broadcast and out of home creative continues to feed into.

There were many production and technical partners involved.  Some of those partners were great... and others not so great.  When I look back at the the temporal design specifications what I see is a Behind The Music style list of functionality created to engage the consumer.  When I revisited it, the document tells an in depth story and shows which partners were miscast and which did not know how to follow Web 2.0 production standards. 

Judge for yourselves and visit http://www.dibsfilmfest.com

ON: Wunderman At Cannes

Start a Conversation, by Wunderman | Cannes Lions 2008

ON: Being Socialista

Is it a surprise that 85% of adults ages 18-34 use at least one Web 2.0 platform? According Universal McCann's "Media in Mind" study, more than half of adults rely on social media as a way to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. There is no longer a question of  “if” or “when”, the new question that brands are asking their agencies and me is - how?  How do I get in the game? (call me at Wunderman and we'll talk)  And my professional favorite: Is my brand socially ready?

Your brand can be “Socialista” (social ready) with a big idea that will inspire people’s brand love.  Brand passion will fuel velocity and volume every time they choose or buy your product or service.  But how does that translate into the digital world?

It is pretty much the same, with the one big exception - worldwide access.  Pretend your brand is a person.  Pretend your brand is a rising talent and your are its advertising and public relations agent, design firm and marketing department with the ability to rapidly respond (in quarters not years) to consumer conversations.

Getting started can be easier than it sounds!
First you have to sing "Who are you? who…who...who...who"
The building blocks for any brand always start with your identity.  Who are you?  Who do you aspire to be?  Who are you today and who do you want to be tomorrow?

Mom always used to say…

“You are what you eat”
“Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are” 
“birds of a feather flock together”
“if your friends jump off a bridge will you jump too?”

All of this is true for a brand.  If a brand wants to compete in this new digitally focused world you have to carefully build your social media DNA.  In order to become a Super brand you have to consider the following when upping the social ante’ by designing your way up he brand status chain.

Who are you? Your brand identity can manifest itself in many ways. This can be your archetype, brand temple or personality.   Pick your flavor.

Do we have a relationship? – If a brand never converses with you – how could we possibly have a relationship?  Imagine if your husband never spoke to you – likely you would not be married long.  A brand’s relationships to the people who consume it will define your future. 

When my brand is on the shelf, in the room, online, on a blog or in your presence, how do I look sound and make you feel? This is all about a brand’s presence.  If you do not have presence no one knows your there.

Listen Learn and Converse. When I meet your brand, what are you going to talk to me about?  Is it funny? Is it relevant?  Is the information you give me useful in my life?  Conversations are a way for your brand to listen to my needs and desires and your listening will lead to fulfilling both.

Share your brand stuff (content) with me.  Make sure the brand stuff (content) you share is interesting to me and not just about what you want to sell me.  Its about me - not you! When you figure that out – I will buy you. Share it in a way that makes it easy for me to repeat it, copy and take it with me.

Your causes, your passions and your groups all build communities of interest.

Your reputation is your street cred.  If people in groups with passions socially recognize your brand then your big idea should facilitate their conversations, knowledge, entertainment, or public eminence.

When you have built all of that then you are SOCIALISTA 

Related Articles:

• ON: CRM 2.0  - A Continued Definition
• ON: CRM 2.0
• ON: Digital + All = Idea Amplification
• ON: The Role of Television
• ON: Speaking To The Consumer

ON: A Few Words To Live By

"If you never give up, you never give in, and you keep believing that you are the best you can be, you have no idea where life will take you."

- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

ON: Music. Dance. Clock. UNIQLOCK

It was Cannes Candy.  And of late it has rocked the pages of this blog.  Yup this widget created by Tokyo Agency Projector took top honors in the titanium and integrated category at the Cannes International Advertising Festival today.

I first encountered this retailer when their pop up location appeared on the upper west side.  I fell in love as I think the evolution of the t-shirt is something that you can exploit in our creative life.

Watch out Gap, Old Navy and Target! UNIQLO is coming right at you - and they are doing it in a way that uses the media that best communicates to their core audience. (shhh... word of mouth is here to stay.  fuse the blue baby!)

ON: Uniqlo Widget

Trust me this is fun!  Try and create your own UTLoop. 

This is a retailer who just gets it. Gets the audience and knows that the widget must have an idea worth talking about. 

ON: 2008 Trends To Watch

Working on a plan to facilitate a conversation which is fueled by curiosity - I remembered great deck put together by TrendsSpotting.  Thoughr I would share it here
 

| View | Upload your own

ON: Curiosity That Fuels My Day

Curiosity spurs amazingly respectful conversations between people (who consume products and services) and brands.

Rewarding curiosity fuels creativity which is what sells products.

What are you curious about?

ON: Always

Working late with LEK on an agency pitch video. Keeping it real for Wunderman

ON: Samsung's Music Share

Everyone is doing it!  Samsung included.  Nope not just music - but facilitating their consumers need for recognition.  Samsung has positioned themselves as a brand that will give you, your next music break.

What I like about this Samsung promotion is that they are allowing the consumer to touch the campaign creative. Imagine a way to short-circuit the usual way in which soundtracks are chosen for ads which has traditionally involved agencies and record companies.  The other thing they are playing into is their ability to share the new sounds across multiple social networking platforms (facebook, myspace and others).

The promotion is however lacking a name worth repeating in consumer circles as well as a design or interface that we can get inspired with.  Visit the site at http://www.f400share.com