Walter Oliver Neal
Branding today is much like a grassroots movements. It is a conversation about ideas people can believe in. If a brand is not communicating like a person, people tune it out sooner or later. These ideas then turn into movements; people working together to affect change in some way. The effects of these actions are people buying things or services, but the smart marketers of today are not launching with bottom line motives.
Building a brand is as inevitable as karma when projecting authentic ideas and passions online. Remaining consistently true to our beliefs is essential over time because we will develop a following that will eventually interact and engage with us.
Kevin E. Taylor
Our brand is defined by our very ideas. Not the other way around. The loyalty and make-up of our following is also defined in this way. This notion turns the old “target marketing” idea on its ear. No longer should we define our audience and create a marketing strategy to attract it.
Simple truth and complete understanding of who we are as people and a strong personal belief in our own truth makes a clear center point from which to emanate out.
“Centered marketing” focused on messages based in the truth about what people believe in are the heart of social media. What follows is as unpredictable, surprising and rewarding as karma.
Kevin Taylor’s art depicts how “over time, civil responsibility has ordered a physical detachment from nature, however a deeper mental architecture remains intact.” His art makes me think about how in marketing we can become detached from the natural human way of communicating and how important it is to re-engage.
Brent Webb
A key part of communication is not communicating. The balance between articulation and silence is as essential as the ebb and flow of the sea. Silence as a response, in some cases, is better than a well researched answer. It allows air between two counter parts. The air is full of unknown; an abundance for opportunity.
The air lingers, floats, and wafts over each party, shaping potential. Exercise silence like the cognitive action of taking a shower in search of a “eureka.” Human nature dictates that communication will proceed in time, however the silence will work to move the unknown into a the known without forcing a solution.
Silence is another medium in the mixed media of communication art. Solace is the side effect. The peace comes not only because you find answers, but also because you learn more about others. People speak more when you don’t. Listen, respond with care and in time.
I found the artist Brent Webb, who went to MICA, the same school as my sister. I like his work. He’s currently showing at The George T. Dennis Visual and Performing Arts Center Gallery Southeastern Illinois College.
As I read the AdAge article about the NBC Late Show predicament, there is just one word that comes to mind; ego. These shows are suffering because no one is watching. No one is watching because the shows are not focused on what is ultimately important; the audience. Why in the world would you create another show in an earlier time slot with the same host that you just replaced in the later show. This is what we call cannibalizing your product in marketing. Seems like your letting ego drive your line up of shows, not real strategy.
Now the solution to this problem is to put Leno back in the original time slot. Ego. Why is no one talking about this angle? Oh, right, ego!
The shows are so blindly stroking everyone’s giant egos that no one is actually going to solve the problem; ratings. Did anyone stop to think about what the viewer wants? Hello, there are millions of people out here watching.
I’ve observed that our media is quite polarized with respect to listening to their audience. On the one hand, we have the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” commercial that aired during American Idol last night with videos sent in by viewers, and then you have NBC creating complete line ups of shows focused on over publicized hosts. Although, TNT did bring back Southland last night because viewers were so outraged about it being taken of the air; oh wait, it was NBC that yanked it.
But I digress, my intention was not to bash NBC, I love their Thursday night line up and have for years! My point is ego strategy and its short-sighted potential for failure. Strategies influenced by multiple perspectives have the highest potential for success and increasing happiness in the process. What would happen if NBC tried to do more than make Leno happy in this situation? I believe everybody wins; surprisingly, even Leno.
Jeff Koons - Rabbit - 1986
I devoured My Name is Charles Saatchi and I Am an Artoholic; a late Christmas gift from someone who knows me well. I’m not a reader; a reader of books that is. I’m an information fiend. I’m curious by nature about art and marketing and am like a dog with a bone when I get a whiff of anything intriguing. I’ve always critiqued commercials for their intrinsic entertainment value and efficacy. It’s a hobby of mine.
So when I received this book about an ad man with a wild passion for art I started to salivate. Lucky for me the book is in simple question and answer format. Nerd that I am, I sat perched in front of my laptop, pouncing on my search engine every time the man lay mention of an artist. Lucky for you I captured my journey with him through the book and shared the images I found in this post.
Untitled Film Still #7. 1978 - Cindy Sherman
Saatchi apparently had been unwilling for years to grant interviews, but this book was an answer to the press and a lead up to his TV show airing on BBC now; in search of the new Brit Art bunch.
My favorite quote because it sums me up too: “I liked working in advertising, but don’t believe my taste in art, such as it is, was entirely formed by TV commercials.”
I’ve written about my love of art and marketing and even touched on the “mad men” era in advertising we are so enthralled with today. Saatchi was part of an era in advertising when people looked forward to the commercials, though he gives most of the creative credit away to his peers, all of whom went on to become great film makers.
He makes it clear that none of us need be self-conscious about the art that we like because, “By and large talent is in such short supply, mediocrity
Untitled Film Still #50. 1979 - Cindy Sherman
can be taken for brilliance rather than genius can go undiscovered.” This says to me, the more we follow our own instincts and taste, the better chance we give artists to generate income. After all; WE ARE THE MEDIA now.
Saatchi is also asked about the changing aesthetics of art galleries and I liked that he pointed out “using the money to actually buy some art,” was more important than building more galleries. Just before he plugged Frank Gehry.
Artists need as many collectors as possible, we are their collectors; each of us. We don’t need Saatchi’s money and great influence to make change in an artist’s life.
Marlene Dumas - Jule-die Vrou - 1985
@140hours recently started following me on Twitter. They are self described as “The World’s 1st Twitter Art Auction & Supporter of International Charities.” This is a real live example of how our social media is changing the art industry and our influence on artists. This of course doesn’t touch the larger entity; the art world.
I’ve recently become friends with the local artist Matthew Heller, who began to give me some clues into the illusive art world. I’ll be speaking with him again soon to expand on what I’ve learned.
This whole notion of individual influence vs. mass appeal brings to mind a program on NPR I only caught the middle of while I was in my car. Something about the decentralization of the television media influence with the shift from network to
Donald Judd - Copper Box - 1972
cable viewing and the effect it has had on our culture. We all know the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld even if we didn’t see the episode because the last episode of that show was watched by 60% of Americans, juxtaposed to the last episode of a current top rated show, American Idol, only watched by 16%. I couldn’t tell you the last name of that Chris guy. More eyes watching the same thing leads to more people spreading the word about the same thing and more cultural influence.
My point. What about the masses? Now we have better media to promote art and find
Pair of Rock Chairs - Scott Burton - 1980-81
audiences who love it, but what about art’s influence on culture? It’s seems we are moving into this system of underground tunnels of culture with pass codes at the entry gate for each. We are becoming a culture of subculture; a nation of “pickle ice cream” lovers. Saatchi’s book bolstered my belief that this is important. You like what you like and who cares what others think, the artists
will be grateful in the end and that’s what matters.
Paula Rego - Olga 2003
The images in this post are a hodgepodge of artist, going against what Saatchi might have done himself I’m sure. I just wanted to share a little about each of these artists with you. Saatchi stated that in his own home he generally shows one artist at a time, Paul Rego, when he gets around to hanging pieces at all. I’m happy to say my house is filled with the works of Journey Streams.
I hope you read Artoholic, if you’re passionate about marketing and art like me, you will fall in love with this man. If you’re passionate about honesty, then it’s simply refreshing.
Time is a commodity. I consider it a luxury item when you get to do with it what you want and not what you have to do. If I could bottle it and sell it, I’d be a billionaire.
My older son is in seventh grade and I recently sat in on a seminar to help him be more organized. During the session the facilitator informed us that our children either had good time management skills or they didn’t. He called it “sequencing,” or the ability to count backwards from a deadline and plan activities to meet the deadline. This valuable skill was given (or not given) to our children by us; the parents.
Being on time is genetic?
Not to worry, he assures us. If we are big bags of constant lateness and disorganization then it is just important that we identified this behavior in our children so we can address it, and teach them these skills. I’m thinking to myself, isn’t that the blind leading the blind? How the heck are the parents supposed to suddenly master time management and help teach this to their kids?
I took this class several months ago, but I’ve recently been contemplating time as a luxury. The more efficient we are at completing the things in life we have to do the more luxury time we have. “Time masters” are more valuable commodities.
The bright light I took away from the middle school organization class is that “identifying” disorganization and time management as an issue makes it easier to discuss and improve. This skill deficit is often masked by perceived symptoms; procrastination, laziness, irresponsibility.
I don’t believe people are genetically any of these things. We just need to improve our skills set with the activities that work best with our personality.
Becoming a “time master” increases our brand value. We have more luxury time for ourselves and higher brand perception with others. Taking the time to organize pays.
I’ve learned more about social media in marketing from my 10 and 12-year-old sons than any webinar or conference. While we’re all scrambling trying to figure out how to use social media in business, the next generation is busy building businesses using this technology.
by Journey Streams
Last summer both of my sons convinced me not to send them to summer camp for the first time because they wanted to have time to explore their own interests and not be forced into daily activities decided by camp counselors. They’re both excellent students so we felt giving them some unstructured time and allowing them to relax was a good call.
My son Journey, age 10, launched his media company: supertechnonerd.com. This wasn’t a complete surprise to me as our house is filled with his art work and he already self publishes a comic book and distributes it at school. (He holds “book signings” once a trimester.)
by Journey Streams
He story boards show ideas for his YouTube channel with his friends using iChat, they call them “board meetings,” and he uses his Flip camera and tripod to capture all the fun on video. His friends and their parents love it!
When my husband set up Jouney’s hosting account on GoDaddy he asked him if he minded having ads at the top of the page. My son’s response was, “It wouldn’t be a real website without ads Dad.” He also signed himself up for Google AdSense and monitors his web stats daily. He communicates with the YouTube subscribers by giving them incentives to subscribe and encourages his peers to get involved.
My older son, Harmony, came to me early in the school year and told me he was now a part of Journey’s production team and a member of supertechnonerd company.
Harmony reads a book every two days, fantasy fiction mostly. His love for reading makes it difficult to keep him in books so he tells us about new authors and titles that he discovers through YouTube vloggers turned authors and we order them on Amazon for him. He’s getting a Kindle for Christmas because his bookshelves are full in his room.
Harmony’s also my World of War craft level master. He made it to level 72 over the summer and recently reached level 80 and started a new character over the Thanksgiving break. He’s made countless friends through the game and they communicate sort of like old-school pen pals. (No WOW during school though, Mom has to set limits.)
The skills their building with these activities are enumerable. My plan is to keep feeding their interests and taking notes!
Traditionally marketing has been an instant gratification, billion dollar business, reserved for only a select few. I’m a huge fan of the show Mad Men which perfectly depicts the beginning of an era and glorifies the hay days of the ad industry in spite of its contradictions with modern-day political correctness.
Social media is drastically changing the world of marketing in ways that other technologies, like radio and television were unable to in the past. It’s leveled the playing field for individuals, while leaving corporations in a sort of no man’s land.
In my last consulting position part of my role was consulting chief marketing officers (CMOs) of Fortune 500 companies. Of course, ad agencies were part of the plan, but the central question was always sustaining a direct connection with customers.
It seems the CMO’s have begun to solve this problem using social media.
As evidence, I went to a Twitter conference over the summer and attended a panel that featured a representative from Starbucks, his only job was to Tweet and respond to Tweets all day. Whole Food’s Twitter rep made sure all store managers set up Twitter accounts and connected with customers regularly in their area, rewarding those with the most followers. This is a good start.
Persevere.
I have a market research petri dish in my house in the form of my 10 and 12 your old sons. They tend toward individually produced content. Like Natalie on YouTube and her wacky CommunityChannel videos. She’s really sarcastic and better than any sitcom show I’ve watched.
My son’s trusted brands are people who have gained online stardom from millions of views on YouTube. This gives these YouTube people huge brands value with the youth generation.
I wonder if the “Mad Men” of today are considering this in their plans? I know I am!
Someone recently asked me what the title of my life would be to date, if it were a movie. All I could think of was “Rushed Juxtaposition.” The shades of gray shining brighter than any of the stark blacks or whites. Everything is “and” with me, nothing is either or. Marrying the summer 
before my senior year at the Stern School at NYU, leaving my finance final early due to Braxton Hicks contractions, ending up with an econ minor to manage co-parenting my baby boy with my law student husband, and walking across the stage at graduation with my 5 month old and my summa cum laude diploma; this was my last year of college.
I pumped breast milk between interview rounds at the big 5 consulting houses while my counter parts crammed for their case questions. I delayed my start date to stay home with my son until he was one. I went on maternity leave with my second son and put in for a transfer to move closer to my mother-in-law while up for promotion and won.
When laid off during the 911 crisis two years later, I started a business, to finally stay home and make more time for my kids and husband at age 25.
I was racing through life then, as I had been since birth. Running towards the kind of stability I had yearned for in my adolescence. In my determination to carry out this goal, I was constantly aware of the stark contrast of what people perceived my life might be upon first glance. I could in some contexts pass as living two lives.
So I become comfortable in the grays. Wearing masks, watering myself down, to make others feel comfortable and allowing myself to escape.
Now that my children are preteens, my time is more my own and I my focus on one person. One brand, as I like to refer to myself. No more juxtapositions and no more rushing.
In today’s world you can and should only be yourself, the exposure probability is much greater and being a liar is worse than pretty much anything. People trust honesty. Honesty trumps flaws. And trust is a valuable commodity.
The foundation has been laid and the walls are up on my stability; I’m enjoying the view.
I watched a YouTube video explaining social media using the example of selling ice cream. The market had flavors with mass appeal and pickle flavor. Many people don’t like pickle flavor, but because of social media, pickle flavor ice cream makers could still reach their audience and make a profit.
One thing I managed to retain from classes I took as an econ minor in college are the basic laws of supply and demand. But in my professional experience as a marketer, I never saw these play out in the real world. Only the businesses with the largest marketing budgets and cunning ad campaigns won the market share leaving no room for the little guys to compete, regardless of demand.
The term, “there’s somebody for everybody” always applied to couples in my mind; you know what I’m talking about. That guy that just seemed undateable finally finds that girl who “gets” him. Well, with social media, there is this possibility in business too.
It levels the playing field for all businesses to 
find their audience with the product or service they’re offering without altering who they are to fit the masses or a budget to pierce the noise.
It’s possible for every person to receive their version of pickle ice cream.
If a business can decide the goal is “to create what is closest to the hearts of the people running it” not “to make a billion dollars” then the product or service is most authentic when delivered to the people who want it.
For consumers, this means you get products you actually want from people you actually like. For businesses, this means there is no reason to “sell out,” because you agree from the beginning to sell to an audience that’s into you, not the you that has to produce to sell billions, but the real you.
Now I want some of whatever flavor ice cream that is!
The reality is, most businesses are not going to make a billion dollars. Right? So if we just focus on the goal of making what we love for the people who love it, then prosperity will ring from there.
It’s no longer some hippie concept, now that we have social media.
