carrie*connects

Tsunami Glassworks ~ Behind the Glass Video

Love this video of our client Tsunami Glassworks discussing their art and their backgrounds.

Social Media Impact Explained

This is a clever little YouTube infomercial argument for social media that is very compelling - I hesitate to agree with the producer's enthusiasm for Gen X driving the way the trend is evolving, and I think their concept is a bit reductive in terms of scope, but it does offer great food for thought - especially with the notion that brands need to drive their message directly to their customers.

And You Thought Carrie Bradshaw Was Label Crazy ...

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A recent study group took a look at tweens and their relationship to some not so familiar branding tools such as sounds, logos, smells, and how they relate to products like computers, clothing and food. As you can imagine, the kids were all more tuned in than their parents. This isn't all that surprising to me, they have more time to invest in the various aspects of a brand, and since their buying power is diminished they probably covet expensive products more.  What is a bit surprising is that the kids in this study were found to be more brand savvy than previous generations, leading me to wonder what new cues have been added from just a few years ago. 

Mark Lindstrom, author of the fab book "Buyology,The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy"  explains that the kids are now the prime target of many branding campaigns for things they traditionally wouldn't directly buy.  The reason?  Children are making buying decisions for the family.  According to Lindstrom 67% of cars (purchased for families) were chosen by the children ~ and they make these choices based on what they see on TV. 

This is Brill ... The Start A Lie Campaign

Love this idea ~ The Tappening Movement is an educational campaign to move people away from bottled water.  A clever devise they created was this "Start a Lie" website in which you choose from a number of witty, implausible lies about bottled water such as "Bottle water hates Father of the Bride" and "The US Government uses bottled waterboarding" and then spread the word on email, Facebook, Twitter or Digg (what no FriendFeed??)  It's not a non profit, but it is quite clever.

Social Media Marketing ~ How To Infuriate Your Fans & Friends on Facebook pt. 1

About a year ago if I mentioned the concept of harnessing the power of Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, ect as a realistic strategy for marketing a brand, I would generally get a very long "hmmmmmm ....." followed by a very pregnant pause from many of the people I talked to.   A massive question mark would float over their heads as, more often than not, they just couldn't grasp the concept. 

Magically within the past six months however all that's changed with virtually every person I've ever known jumping on (at least) the Facebook bandwagon.  Unfortunately, rather than adopting the evolving norms of social media into the platform, which BTW are based on (1) actual human contact (2) original and interesting ideas (3) reciprocation ~ most Facebook newbies have attached dusty old marketing ideas to their shiny "new media" programs.  

As a result Facebook in particular is being used in some very annoying ways.  I thought I'd start tracking the most insidious behaviors and note them down here (mostly as a venue for venting my angst about the situation)....if you want to annoy on Facebook, here are some ideas:

1)  Businesses who want to really tick off their Facebook fans should be sure to send incessant group emails announcing minor sales, bland product announcements, and other information that is of interest only to their internal sales staff.  As a blogger, I'm used to getting press releases from other PR firms emailed rapid fire via specific email accounts, as such I really have little patience for this type of information sent to my Facebook in-box ~ and I'll lay you odds that I'm not in the minority here.  Even the most casual Facebook user is most likely not interested in being spammed about your 5% off sale once a day - if they are they'll visit your page to see it.  Facebook by definition is a "FACEBOOK" ie: people attached to faces, and personalized messages should only be sent this way. 

2) Keep requesting your friends "fan", join a group, or attend an event 0ver and over and over - even though they've probably repeatedly chosen to ignore your previous attempts for a reason.   Once is more than enough.

3)  Repeatedly poke, send game requests, gift requests, and all manner of the embeddable widget nature to people you've never had any sort of correspondence with and to whom you're a complete stranger - they love that.

4) Post only the dullest and most narrowly defined product photos and information about your company on your Facebook page so that instead of a lively interactive forum with an array of accessible ideas and information, it resembles a yellow page ad.

5) Never correspond with your fans or friends when they post info of their own (you know - the stuff that comes through on your homepage news-feed from them) ~ we know you're the only one that matters!  And when they comment on your posts or go so far as to post items to your page or wall, be sure to ignore them.  People love being treated solely as "consumers" and not individuals - isn't that what "social" means?  Oh it doesn't??  It means engaging and talking??  Whoa ....

Oh....there will be more .... stay tuned.   Yes, the Medium is the Message, but only if you know how to use it.  Otherwise it's just another cyber-armload of junk-mail to toss in the trash unopened.

Events | Boston MFA Hosts a Giant Karaoke Party

I love this event - a giant dancing and karaoke party held on the Museum of Fine Art in Boston's front lawn to kick off what sounds like an interesting exhibit.

As described by the museum: ""Seeing Songs" presents an eclectic mix of work—mainly from the Museum's collections—that draws on music as inspiration, focusing on abstract as well as representational art and connections to musical forms as varied as classical, jazz, and pop.

From lyrical works on paper by Wassily Kandinsky and a painting by Stuart Davis that depicts music as gesture and improvisation, to recent videos by Gillian Wearing and Candice Breitz that explore the relationship between pop stars and their fans, this exhibition brings together an international group of artists in whose work we see songs."

The Vogue-ing party included a giant screen and a Madonna impersonator which celebrated one of the key pieces by artist Candice Breitz’s - a video installation entitled "Queen (A Portrait of Madonna)".

One thing to note: A stated goal of both the installation and the event was to involve younger people with the museum - they publicized it through social media like Twitter and Facebook, ect to this end.   So I thought it was kind of interesting that the main musical icons featured were Madonna, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond - all artists over 50 that I wouldn't necessarily associate with a your typical urban youth - I would see Katy Perry and Black Eyed Peas perhaps as more appropriate, however perhaps they have not achieved iconic status yet in the eyes of the museum.  Here's a video of the dancing and singing. 

Twit Notes: Kevin Spacey Tries, Fails to Explain Twitter to David Letterman

Kevin Spacey is always fresh and funny - and his appearance on David Letterman last night was no exception. Love this clip in which he tries to explain the nuances of Twitter (which apparently even Elizabeth Taylor and Larry King have mastered) to a non-tech friendly Dave.

I'd love to point out to Kev that Twitter etiquette goes that those 800,000+ following him should get a reciprocal follow from him - hmmm - to date he follows *4* people!!  ahhhh!  Celebs :-)

Paul McCartney Makes a Splash In New York

Imagine you're hanging out at the office, working - Facebooking - Twittering away and all of a sudden some guy starts playing his guitar really really loudly just outside your window.  And then it actually sounds like someone is playing drums and base!!  You rush to the window to offer the dude a few choice expletives and - wow - realize that it's Paul McCartney hanging out on the Late Show marquee playing music. 

Surreal? Yeah - a little - but not so much for the Big Apple.  A fabulous publicity stunt?  Yep!   McCartney's spontaneous concert garnered him pics on all the major news networks and on countless blogs and websites - whereas a similar planned event in Central Park or at Rockefeller Plaza would have been more or less digested into the panorama of constant activity in NYC.  Good show Paul.  Love the shots of the cell phone behind him below, and the images of people looking down on the event from the offices above taking pictures - wonder how many Facebook pages those ended up on. 

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Another Ode to Michael - the EternalMoonwalk Site is Just Fabulous

Yes, I've been on a Michael Jackson video binge the past few weeks - remembering anew, much like the rest of the world, what it was that made us pay so much attention to this guy in the first place.  I will absolutely never forget the first time I saw Thriller, and further than that, watching that Motown Anniversary Special when Michael first showed us the Moonwalk.  It stays permanently in my heart along with so many other cultural time capsule events from that era.

Funny, while gazillions of people have been backsliding across kitchen floors over the years since that first telecast, no one was ever able to work out the step quite like Mike.  But perhaps 99.9% of the fun is imagining that we can.  Now Studio Brussel has put together a brilliant, whiz bang project that involves the entire globe of MJ fans - and fancy that it came together in just the past ten days - amazing.

The site, eternalmoonwalk.com is an amalgamation of videos collected from all over the world and features people, cartoons, cats, dogs, goats .... yeah - if you can imagine it - it's there, moonwalking in 20 second clips from right to left.  The concept for the site alone is priceless, but then you add in the good natured creativity of the thousands of clips that have been collected from guys and gals just like you and me who are featured and you have some sheer brilliance - and a lot of laughs to get you through an afternoon.  Clever features include buttons you can hit to create Jacksonesque whoops and calls - all the while set to the Billie Jean beat. 

But before you click over you have to check out this very creative video from Abeja Mariposa who culled together archival footage of dancers from the 20th Century who were moonwalker pioneers - it's really quite amazing.

Fashion PR | What's Better Than a Fab Louis Vuitton Ad Starring Madonna? A *leaked* LV Madonna Ad

 
The fashion world is abuzz about this "leaked" Louis Vuitton ad starring Madonna in her bunny ears (you may recall the ones she wore to the Met Gala a few weeks back).  While readers of The Fashion Spot swear its authentic, one has to ponder the intensive amount of airbrushing the Material Girl has recieved in this shot.  Depending on your perspective it looks either very dreamy or barely recognizable.  I personally love the rich colors and to be frank it hardly matters at this point whether it's the actual photo that will show up in the September issue of Vogue or not - the picture is being posted on thousands of websites and blogs as we speak in a clever viral PR campaign.

The Man Behind Under Armour

Here is a video from The Today Show about the company Under Armour that will surely inspire small business owners everywhere.  I was particularly intrigued by the fact that founder Kevin Plank actually sewed his first orders himself in his grandmother's basement :

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Mark Zuckerberg, FaceBook Founder, On the Today Show

Check out Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook on the Today Show this morning.  Love how he just keeps repeating the same thing over and over in the second part of the interview - obviously he's been media coached within an inch of his life.  It's always interesting to me when these (lucky?) genius types can come up with such an amazing idea but then get stumped by the next step.  It's also slightly disturbing that Matt Lauer doesn't get Twitter - yes you have a lot of catching up to do!

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Heidi Klum as Super Hero, Saves Fashion Week!

Did you know that the Kluminator does more than just walk the red carpet at award shows?  Here in the first of a series of videos from Modelinia, Heidi Klum saves Fashion Week, proving once again that viral videos rule the web when it comes to marketing these days.