fans: the new consumers

21 Apr, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments

If old consumers were assumed to be passive, then new consumers are active. If old consumers were predictable and stayed where you told them, then new consumers are migratory, showing a declining loyalty to networks or media. If old consumers were isolated individuals, then new consumers are more socially connected. If the work of media consumers was once silent and invisible, then new consumers are now noisy and public

- Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.

Part of my week of posts dedicated to fans and the future of digital marketing. Tell your friends.

fans: media consumption

21 Apr, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments

Patterns of media consumption have been profoundly altered by new media technologies that enable us to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content. An increasingly more digitally enabled and media literate population has taken tools once the reserve of professional media producers and made reworking photographs, video, and music a routine practice. The “remixability” of media content, shared platforms for the distribution of grassroots media, and the social networks that have grown up around media properties are reshaping audience expectations about the entertainment experience.

- Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins, The Moral Economy of Web 2.0:
Audience Research and Convergence Culture

Part of my week of posts dedicated to fans and the future of digital marketing. Tell your friends.

fans: wack-a-mole

20 Apr, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments

Engaging and promoting fan engagement offers media companies a more positive outcome than attempting the wack-a-mole game of trying to quash grassroots appropriation wherever it arises. Doing so also brings corporations into direct contact with lead users, revealing new markets and unanticipated uses.

- Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins, The Moral Economy of Web 2.0:
Audience Research and Convergence Culture

Part of my week of posts dedicated to fans and the future of digital marketing. Tell your friends.

a week dedicated to fans and the future

19 Apr, 2009 • posts i've written • 2 comments

I don’t write TV spots. I don’t design packaging. I don’t re-organize supply chains or help your sales team close more deals. I help giant global companies speak digital. In the past, I’ve written about what I do, but this week I’m focusing on the how and why.

Speaking digital means realizing digital media isn’t mass media. It’s about courting numerous existing communities in relevant, useful, and respectful ways.

This is digital marketing vs the marketing of yore…

Today, brands must learn how to earn fans. This begins with courting existing communities to earn (not fabricate) credibility. After that, brands must provide the means to connect fans and give them something to do. After all, a dollar spent on fans is a dollar spent on R&D, retention, recruitment, loyalty and longevity.

I’ll be spending all week posting my thoughts on the future of fans and digital marketing here. I hope you stop by and join in on the conversation. Let me know if there’s something specific I can dive into.

Rush Limbaugh and Fan Culture

04 Mar, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments

Last night while watching Larry King, Larry asked his guests, “What power does Rush Limbaugh really have if he’s just preaching to the choir?”

Let’s back up. Rush Limbaugh is a syndicated conservative radio host. Limbaugh has a history of incendiary remarks. Incendiary to everyone, but his fans.

As the Republican party scrambles to overcome their worst defeat in history, there has been a clear vacuum of leadership for the party. A little history lesson, in 1993 The National Review called Limbaugh “The Leader of Conservative Principles” during the Clinton administration. Because of many factors (including The White House being happy to cast Limbaugh as their opposition), Limbaugh is once again in the spotlight as a leader of what’s left of the conservative movement. Is this because he’s a consensus builder? Hell no. Limbaugh reinforces the strong opinions of a very niche wing of his party.

So back to Larry’s question, what power does Limbaugh really have? Obviously, a good deal of power, Larry. How much? Well, after stating he “hopes Obama fails’ and a particularly rabble-rousing CPAC address, Michael Steele (the actual Republican National Committee chairman) said this of Limbaugh:

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh — his whole thing is entertainment. He has this incendiary — yes, it’s ugly.

And for these few words, Steele was forced to publicly apologize to Limbaugh a day later. So why am I recounting all of this? Because Rush Limbaugh understands how to motivate and engage his fan communities. His audience is minuscule compared to the whole of registered Republicans, yet he has built their support over time by catering only to their needs. He’s certainly benefited from a lack of competition, but his grassroots following has been growing over the years for just this kind of moment. Hate him or love him, but Limbaugh follows the three basic tenets of being fan focused:

• Point of View – Limbaugh sees a stark black and white world and paints a picture of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ (PC loving conservatives vs Mac toting communisits, for example)
• A Belief in Infinity – there’s no end to the amount of Rush Limbaugh content in the wild, his radio shows, webcam, website, newsletters, books, speeches, etc. There’s even a premium 24/7 account you can buy for yourself or a friend that unlocks even more content on his site, too.
• Open Source Relationships – yep, he even follows this one, too. Limbaugh uses culture on the show in deft ways; he plays pop songs like, “I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again” by Dionne Warwick before talking about AIDS issues. Limbaugh once played a song by Paul Shanklin, “Barack the Magic Negro,” sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon. He himself is constantly being remixed, including this little number on YouTube.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

22 Feb, 2009 • posts i've written • 3 comments

I admit, I’m a late entrant into the fan world of The Watchmen. I bought the graphic novel on Saturday and finished it this evening; and like everyone else that loved it on first pass, I’ll be re-reading it after I finish this post. I became so fascinated with the novel because of how well it’s being marketed online. Whomever is responsible, (surely fans and the studio), the full effort deserves careful study. Bits of content are continually floating out into the ether for fans to pick up, string together, and tell their own stories. And the film has relied heavily on fans to tell their friends the story behind the fragments. Eric, I owe it to you as well for pushing me to read the graphic novel and helping me to assemble the pieces. This is the perfect intersection of propagation planning and fan passion. I think it’s interesting that when first announced, many die-hard fans were against the movie, but I’m seeing more and more positive sentiment for the film these days.

I thought I’d help push you along now, dear reader, by assembling some of the pieces I’ve found. Please read the graphic novel (in all bookstores right now) and add anything you find to the comments of this post.

• Wil Wheaton reviews The Watchmen. (no spoilers)
• Dr. Manhattan Condoms
• Old School Minutemen arcade game
• Making of video journal
• Download only (new trend) two-part Watchmen game (xbox and ps3)
• Images and Audio artifacts from the Watchmen dimension
• The New Frontiersman online (looks a bit like the Drudge Report)
• An iPhone app (free)
• Watchmen toys
• Japanese trailer
• (NEW) Dr. Manhattan’s powers and the laws of physics
• (NEW) Making Dr. Manhattan glow
• (NEWER) iPhone game coming out March 6th
• (NEWEST) Watchmen as 80′s cartoon

And for my RSS readers, you should really click through to see the embedded player with loads of video content.

the fan economy

17 Feb, 2009 • posts i've written • 2 comments

I’ve been cobbling this presentation together for some time, even back when I was a Mad Man this was bouncing around this inside of my skull. Take a spin through and leave me any comments or concerns (either here or on Slideshare). If you enjoy it, please spread it. I’ll be expounding on this a bit in further posts coming to a blog near you.