David Armano writes for Edelman PR on all things social media. A goal for 2011 is to pay more attention to what he’s got to say.
This December offering requires moderate parsing, but with the blizzard inspired transportation breakdown as a metaphor, he offers a brief checklist of what corporations might pay attention to if the goal is to match up social technology’s impact on both media and business.
It is, as he says, food for thought.
In the mid-’70s a client wondered if the new design trend utilizing large format color prints could be adapted for the welcome center to a golf course subdivision on Florida’s West Coast. One of the labs I used at the time – Dallas based Meisel who then also had a lab in Atlanta – was actively promoting the concept, including some of my own stock.
It was only when the finished size required was measured against the original media used to produce the image that eyebrows raised. My plan: shoot the scene, an early morning dew drenched landscape of a green framed with Spanish moss, on 35 mil transparency. In my mind it was simple: load up a Leica factory loaner with K25 and fire away.
Today, December 30, 2010, is the last day a roll of Kodachrome will ever be processed. It is the end of an era, the end of a very large chapter in the history of photography. Read more of my story here.
In yet another example of how outclassed domestic powersports marketing is, now comes this head-turner from BMW Germany in the form of what could be tagged an alternative form of neuromarketing. The spot stars factory Superbike rider Ruben Xaus onboard an S1000RR in a black and white film noire quick cut that by itself is less than remarkable. Pretty, pouty, and predictable.
The other hand is a fascinating little tidbit of technology more amusing than motivational. Using what appears to be relatively simple rear screen technology to flash project a logo, the spot, by German uber agency serviceplan, creates an afterimage on the retinas of the audience. Yeah, it’s going to get attention.
A BMW spokeswoman said, “We literally got inside people’s heads, involving them instead of boring them and generating a more intensive connection to our target group. Our brand should be innovative, emotional and dynamic.”
Hmmm. Given how twitchy German bureaucracy is about any kind of Orwellian influencers, let alone a method requiring YOU MUST OBEY! to interpret the eyeball afterglow, this may not be a long lasting campaign. But it will be memorable, make no mistake. And as for the subliminal alarmists: uh, if you have to direct behavior to experience behavior, it’s not.
When I see efforts like this, efforts that accept the challenge of creatively differentiating the brand from the same old same old, I say hell yes, go for it! Like Leo Burnett famously said, “When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”