A Response: Social Media Trends in Superbowl Advertising

Just a response to my friend’s blog about the shift towards Super Bowl advertising. I thought my readers might be interested in both the article and the response; I feel like they compliment each other really well and gives a better understanding of the shift in advertising and broadcast mentality.

The original post by May is here.

My response is below. Please chime in!

RE: Super Bowl 2012 Advertising Trends

I did find it interesting when I saw hashtags included in those commercials. It made it more clear how big social media has become and how it isn’t “a fad.” I have always argued, even from my time as a beta-tester for Twitter in 2006 and the boom of Web 2.0, that social media would be the biggest shift in communication since the invention of the printing press. I think more and more people are starting to realize that.

Most of the social media trends weren’t a surprise to me; the psyche of human interest, pleasures and appeal will always be the same, no matter how digitally embedded we become. At least for this generation anyway…

But a big shift in advertising this year I saw was the prominence of “leaked ads” prior to the Super Bowl. Commercials by Volkswagon, Acura, Doritos, Dannon, Kia, Teleflora, Lexus and Audi were appearing on my Twitter feed, Facebook walls and Hulu Plus advertisements a week before Eli Manning or Tom Brady even stepped foot in that stadium.

One of the most notable ones that generated a lot of buzz was the Volkswagon commercial with the dog; the leaked version contained an extended ending, that was a play off of last year’s Superbowl ad with the child Darth Vader. People who saw the commercial during the airing of the game did not get to see the entertaining, extended 20-second end of the ad. (Luckily for you readers of May’s blog, I found it for you:

This shift is a sign of marketing genius; with Superbowl advertisements costing up to $3 million a spot, why not get bang for your buck? It’s a win-win situation because you are getting buzz out about your brand, you’re not spending any more money than you already did, and you have people talking about your company before the Superbowl, where parties full of friends, trays full of buffalo wings, and mugs full of beer can be a distraction toward your intended message.

Quite a time in our lives indeed! With all that said, I agree; the ads weren’t as funny… But I feel like I say that every year. My favorite was probably the E-Trade commercial with the “Speed dating” punchline. Still doesn’t beat the Doritos kid from last year though!

The Google Game

Browsing around on Twitter today I noticed a pretty unusual hashtag; #GooglethinksIam. I was curious, so I dug deeper. I wanted to know why I’m getting my 25-year-old female friend tweeting “#GooglethinksIam a middle-aged man from Wisconsin who likes dogs and anime.”

Turns out, there’s a new tab called “Ads Preferences” that collects your cookies to trace your surfing habits so they can better tailor ads to you.

I can almost see the concern as you read the words; “trace,” “collects,” “ads!”

“What an intrusion of privacy,” you exclaim! With technology the way it is today, people get paranoid about what they do online and on their phones. Regardless of it it makes something more pleasurable or convenient, these words; “trace,” “collect” and “ads” will never be received without contempt.

But is this what’s really happening? Is Big Brother finally real? Should Google go down for tracking harmless civilians and possibly selling information to advertisers?

I don’t think so. In my opinion, what Google is doing is nothing too relevant to our personal health. It is simply collecting numbers and website history; there is no personal information beyond that. That’s why Google thinks my beautiful female friend is a middle-aged man; it has no way of deciphering or analyzing this data other than to put it in an algorithm that generates specific ads.

Furthermore, Google gives you permission to completely opt-out of this if you don’t want it. Then you’d just get random ads, but nothing would be collected. Had Google made this clear, a lot of confusion and controversy could have been avoided.

Another solution would have been to make it an opt-in system, instead of automatically implementing it to every user. (Something I have coined, “Facebook Timelining.”)

The lesson here is that a PR move could have prevented a lot of the infamy that had to do with this. Simply stating to users something like:

” We only want data concerning your web usage and habits. Our data is clearly not tied to any personal information, which is the reason it can’t distinguish a 25-year-old female photographer from a 45-year-0ld male dog journalist. The only thing being tracked are the cookies, a series of random digits, and nothing more. Furthermore, if you don’t like it, you can opt-out and stop the tracking.”

Will this tarnish Google’s reputation? Not at all. Here’s why:

Google did a very good job in providing a video that comprehensively explains the Ad Preferences. Keeping transparency with their publics and keeping the information flowing with their users will result in trust for Google and this whole thing will blow over, if it becomes an issue at all.

What’s the lesson here? Proactive PR is always greater than reactive PR. Why not just make things easier on yourself?!

Just my two cents. I’d be interested to hear what you have to say! And by the way, #GooglethinksIam a 18-24-year-old hip-hop loving male fashionista who likes body building and Latin America, from New York… Not too bad, if I say so myself!

- Tatum

An Argument for Dedication; Reprise

When I was frequently blogging, a few years back, it was for my wine blog on blogspot. DeRanter was my way to convey my humble opinions to the wine world.

Although DeRanter is long in the past, I wanted to revisit the last post I wrote back in 2010 that I feel is still relevant today. A lot has changed in the time since I wrote that post and now; in the information world and in my world as well. A small example would be the fact that I didn’t own an iPad nor an iPhone on writing this article, which now gives me more insight into what I was writing about.  Another thing is the untimely passing of Steve Jobs last year.

So, if you will, I want to give this article a sort of “reprise.” I will post the original article, with my updated comments in bolded italics right after each paragraph. Although I try to tie in my argument to the wine world, I think you will see much of what I wrote still holds true today. So, please enjoy!

Instagram, BBM, uncork your Chateau Haut-Brion, and tweet your bookmarks!

DeRanter Blog: An Argument for Dedication

March 23, 2010

How many things do you rely on your phone to do? On top of making calls, sending text messages, gathering emails, we expect our phones to wake us up, remind us of tasks and remember all of our friends’ phone numbers, addresses, emails and screen names, even take care of our Facebook and Twitter accounts; that’s a lot of responsibility for one device! But this seems to be the trend; with modern technology booming, and consumers eating up every advancement, dedicated devices are thought of as underachievers. Why have a machine that does just one thing, when technology can allow it to do 12 other things as well? Is more better?

It’s funny how fast technology is booming. Since then, our phones can now book flights, deposit checks, pay for parking meters, geotrack our friend’s favorite hang-out spots, even tell me what I’m eating tonight! Even so, there are many advantages of  doing one task better instead of being a jack-of-all trades and a master-of-none. 

Steve Jobs has said that people wouldn’t be willing to pay for a dedicated device and that “general-purpose devices will win the day.” Mr. Jobs may be onto something, but with the recent surge of Kindle, Nook and GPS sales, one may start to think “Why do we want a device that only displays e-books, when we can have one that can surf the web, play music, make calls as well?” My answer is simple. No, really, I mean it. Why would I want an e-book reader? Because it’s simple. It provides me with the leisure of reading and lets me escape my world, which is already connected via phone, email, text, twitter, facebook, myspace, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…. I don’t need twitter to push my @replies while I’m on chapter 7 of Alice in Wonderland…

The late, great Steve Jobs was a visionary and heralded for his ingenuity and unrivaled vision. He truly believed the future was in multi-tasking devices and a lot of people thought electronics such as the Kindle would soon go the way of the HD DVD when tablets ruled the world. Here we are now, with more tablets of all price ranges and capabilities. But e-readers are more popular now than ever; and with services such as Kindle e-lending and libraries stocking e-books, it looks like the e-ink brethren of books are going no where soon. 

I love my iPod and my smart phone, but I still want that dedicated device. It’s nice to have a GPS in my car that I can rely on to do its one task. It’s great to have a blender that does just that. My blu-ray player works just fine without connecting to the internet. These devices are not inferior, for the most part, these dedicated devices perform their functions better than the multipurpose ones. Multitasking is great, but we don’t need it for everything. Imagine a world where your phone had a corkscrew built into the top, or if your computer mouse also stapled documents…. Nifty, but a little ridiculous.

I have a loaded iPhone, with GPS, geotracking, yelp and google capabilities beyond reach. My life has been more effective because of this addition to it. Yet, I still have a dedicated GPS that sits in my car and I use it often, mostly because on the streets of DC, it’s easy to miss a turn or find yourself at a dead-end. But my Garmin never runs out of batteries and even on the longest of car rides it’s nice to be able to listen to music on my phone or call a friend but still have my turn-by-turn navigation. 

Since this post, I’ve also gotten an iPad and, with the exception of magazines, I never read on it. It’s LCD-backlight is tiring to my eyes and it’s not streamlined… I keep getting distracted by notifications with Words-with-Friends or twitter; there have been too many times when I’m in the middle of reading something and then realized I spent the last 40 minutes on Twitter. My kindle gives me the ultimate reading experience; I can read for hours on that thing and when I’m deployed, the battery lasts a month. That’s great when you’re stuck outside for two weeks, believe me!

Much to a similar tune, I think we can get lost in our wine and expect it to do too much. Wine already provides us with such a rich myriad of textures, flavors, memories. But some winemakers want more; they manipulate the fruit, the process and the art and sometimes it comes out confusing and overly-produced, much like a musical artist who relies on effects rather than talent. Like our dedicated devices, I feel that we should care less if these wines were made with steel barrels or grown in space. We should focus more on the grapes; the fruit should really shine and dictate the wine, not its process. (I know this is a pretty far stretch, but just my two cents.) It will be hard for you winos, but try this: next time you drink, forget the tasting notes, the charts, the reviews. Turn off your cellphone, forget the tweets and the wine apps; just enjoy the moment. I’m positive, like reading a good, simple book, that your experience will be just as enjoyable.

With technology growing and more science being put into viticulture more than ever, there seemed to be a phase where every wine maker was getting on the bandwagon of “new century” wine making. But the big players are still there; doing what they’ve been doing for hundreds of years. You can have the best winemakers in the world, but if you don’t have good fruit, you’re never going to make good wine. I think wineries are realizing this truth and have since stuck to tried-and-true, “old world” techniques that bring the essence of the fruit and terrior into the mixture, instead of emphasizing post-production milestones. 

How many of you wouldn’t be able to go a day without your iPhone? Maybe you know that a more complex wine-making process results in superior wine? Let me know what you think!

It’s 2012; there are three versions of the Barnes and Noble Nook and four versions of the Amazon Kindle. Blenders are still being sold; GPS devices are more rampant than ever. Everyone speculated that the world was going to be run by smart phones and tablets. Multi-tasking is great, but in a way, it’s nice to reach back to that dependable, dedicated device. I believe that we learn that quantity is not always quality – so when it comes to electronic gadgets, why is it any different? 

So while I still occasionally tweet my bookmarks and spotify my music, there are many occasions when I reach for that hardcover or dig out that vinyl as well. Multi-tasking is not the future; it’s just the present, but analog human pleasures will always be a trend. 

Love and Cheers,

-Tatum

Your dedicated writer,

- Tatum

My Infinite Jest Project

A few weeks ago I got my copy of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and I am really looking forward to reading it. Well, it’s not really “reading” as much as it is “completing a project.” Let me explain to those of you who have never heard of all the acclaim and controversy of this book.

My next life accomplishment sits on my carpet.

Although it is heralded as one of the best works of fiction of our generation, and in it’s 16 years of existence, nothing has ever compared, many readers and writers recommend it with great caution. Infinite Jest’s 1080 pages of fiction is also accompanied with a intricately-detailed 80-pages of footnotes. Some footnotes include their own footnotes. Add a very stressful timeline of events (aided by an actual timeline),  no resemblance of “buttoned-down” fiction, an extensive glossary of archaic and unconventional words, and the ability to stress and frustrate the reader, and you might start to realize why this book is such a daunting task.

I’ve been meaning to read this book ever since I heard about David Foster Wallace when he passed in 2008. But I’m a bit of a whore when it comes to reading; I’m usually in the middle of multiple books (at one point I was reading 17 different books at the same time.) So I wanted to finish a couple of books that had been on the back burner and consolidate my reading; I wanted to give Infinite Jest the undivided attention I will need, and that David Foster Wallace deserves.

So, alas, as a believer in great fiction and stories, I find that it is my duty to challenge myself through this serious commitment. Hopefully I can update and entertain with my own frustrations, confusion and enlightenment as I go through this epic, unrivaled tale.

Most people recommend a system of three bookmarks; for the story, the timeline and the glossary (this is the reason I chose the print version instead of a digital one). This is what I will be employing, as well as taking notes and keeping a dictionary handy. So wish me luck!

“This book is like a spaceship with no recognizable components, no rivets or bolts, no entry points, no way to take it apart. It is very shiny, and it has no discernible flaws. If you could somehow smash it into smaller pieces, there would certainly be no way to put it back together again. It simply is. Page by page, line by line, it is probably the strangest, most distinctive, and most involved work of fiction by an American in the last twenty years. At no time while reading Infinite Jest are you  unaware that this is a work of complete obsession, of a stretching of the mind of a young writer to the point of, we assume, near madness.”

- Dave Eggers in his Foreword of Infinite Jest

Love, deuce and peaces,

-Tatum

At-Reply

I know this has been going on for a while since Twitter switched it’s new layout in 2009, but I still see it a lot and I just wanted to address it.

Do you really understand the @reply scheme?

Here’s how it works:

If you put “@tatumvay” in front of your tweet, whatever you write will only go to me and the people who follow me and you. (sender and receiver.)

So let’s say we have 20 mutual followers. If you write, “@tatumvay is a silly monkey in a barrel,” than only the people who follow us both will know that I’m a silly monkey, inside a barrel.

Twitter does this so that you don’t see random “@replies” that are out of context and it keeps the conversation between sender/receiver only visible through people they mutually follow.

But if you put the “@tatumvay” in the middle of a tweet, than people who follow you and don’t follow me will see that you wrote, “Everybody! @tatumvay is a silly monkey in a barrel.“

Since you want to point out to as many people that follow you as you can that I am, indeed a silly monkey in a barrel, you’d prefer this message because more than our 20 mutual followers will see it.

Of course you can toggle this in the Twitter Settings tab:

 

Most everybody uses the middle selection, but if you want to see all @replies or none of them, you can toggle them on and off as well.

I hope this helped a bit! Happy tweeting!

-Tatum

No, It’s not about a cute ass…

For me anyway. But it’s so personal; there’s a reason why people from all walks of life come to appreciate and dedicate their bodies to it. You can tailor it to get what you want out of it, whether it be peace and tranquility, inspiration and insight, or just fitness and a good sweat a few days a week.

I’m writing about yoga of course, and I’m bringing this up because of a recent ad that has come under a lot of scrutiny because of it’s approach to yoga. If you haven’t seen Equinox’s yoga video, here it is:

Purist yogi disapprove of the ad because of the image it gives; an expensive Manhattan apartment, it’s implied sexual nature, and the further Westernized commercialization of yoga. Yoga is suppose to be about mind, body and spirit.

But what’s the big deal?

Yes, yoga is about so much more than Lululemon clothing, living in the lavishly developed downtown, and practicing it for the sheer benefit of physical fitness and disregarding the spiritual aspects of it. But why does it have to be? Why is it so taboo for someone to want to dedicate themselves to a rigorous Ashtanga regimen without the “ohms?” I mean, a Christian can still practice the Hindu-inspired themes of yoga, right?

I dedicated myself to yoga because it is so personal and so different for everyone. The variable and flexible (pun intended) nature of yoga is the reason so many people seek it, from the rich to the poor, young to the old, fit and the ill; for physical recovery, for spiritual growth or for fitness maintenance. I learned to grow confident in myself and to push away negative distractions in my daily life by focusing on what I did on my own mat in the yoga studio. Forget that the guy next to me can do a perfect shirshasana, or that my pada hastasana was the weakest one in the class; by focusing on these distractions from other mats, it only made my practice on my mat worst. All I could do, to keep try to maintain my good form, was to focus on myself and no one else. Likewise, in life, if I kept focusing on what people thought of my actions or letting other, external things get in the way of my well-being, I lose focus in my life.

So it pains me to see people discouraging people from yoga because they feel they have a better sense of what yoga is “really” about. Why shun people away from something you love and practice? Why not spread the practice and let them be? I mean, even if it’s because they want a six pack, at least they are in there doing yoga right? Isn’t that what should matter?

We are all training and honing our minds and bodies to let ujjayi take over. Or we might just be doing it for a cute butt and we like how Lululemon feels on our skin. But don’t let that concern you, because in the end, no one is more of a “yogi” than anyone else. We are all disciples of a routine, no matter what reason for it is. And furthermore, we can never get “good” at yoga; that’s why it’s called a “practice,” because why would you ever want to “finish” yoga?

Respecting the Enemy

Although I don’t try to update more than once-a-month, I felt like this needed to come out a bit earlier.

Those of you who have been anywhere on the news, Facebook or Twitter have definitely heard about the viral video that depicts Marines peeing on, what looks to be, dead Taliban fighters. Having seen the video, this personally infuriates and disgusts me, not only because I’m a Marine, but also because this is what my job (public affairs) is suppose to prevent. But rest assured that this is not how professional war fighters are meant to act and this is a lot more than a public affairs nightmare; this is disgusting, distasteful and painstaking disrespectful, not only to everyone who wears an American uniform and fights in the name of the United States, but to human life and human decency itself. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said, the video is “utterly deplorable.” That doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Some people don’t see the big deal;”They’re Taliban, who cares?” Why do we care? Because they’re “evil,” right? Because they’re the enemy, and “all is fair in war,” right?

Wrong. War is a human phenomenon. What we do and what we don’t do in war is not only dictated by the Geneva Conventions, but by the need to respect human life and the lives we take and lose. When the media throws in words like “murder” or “massacre,” it confuses war with societal actions. What’s at stake here is the American image and mission in Afghanistan, not only on our side but for the foreign governments who have trusted us and work with us.

We can’t for one second underestimate our enemy. It’s easy to dismiss insurgent cells as uneducated, untrained militia hill-billies. But that is not the case. We are fighting a highly capable enemy, who understands the information and psychological war and manipulates it just as well, if not better, than we do. This is not the age of Imperialism; war is not won with firepower and by blowing up every house on the street. War will be won with trust, security and building schools for every child in the village. To leave Afghanistan will mean that we leave it with enduring partnerships, regional stability, and economic and intellectual growth; not burned-down towns.

But actions like this, from mindless, young soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines with guns and rocket launchers and a whole lot of time, hurt our cause in more ways than just being disgusting and viral. The people wearing our uniforms don’t just represent some snipers from a unit with nothing to do, freshly out of a firefight; these men represent the United States Marine Corps and the United States of America; American people and ideals. It depicts our nation as being gun-slinging, machine-cold, disrespectful killers. Enemy PR (don’t get it twisted, the enemy has great public relations, PsyOp and IO campaigns all across the board) are going to have an easier time recruiting people toward their cause. If not direct recruitment, then support; it will be a lot easier to get once people find out “the Americans have no value for human life.”  Imagine if this was a viral video of Taliban fighters urinating on dead U.S. personnel. Now how do you feel?

Moving forward, the best thing to do is to be transparent that this is not tolerated in the Marine Corps and that the men and women who represent our nation overseas are held to a higher morale standard and code than what is depicted in this video. These individuals must be sought out to pay for the consequences of their actions and formal apologies and extensive crisis resolutions should be implemented to save the face of the U.S. Marines, not to the American publics, but to all foreign publics, allied and enemy.

What do you think about this whole fiasco? Does this make you think differently of our uniformed men and women? Can we dismiss to fault just the individuals associated with the video, or does it reflect the U.S. military as a whole? How would you feel if this was someone you knew?

Just my two cents,

-Tatum

(Note: I debated about putting the video up here, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’m sure you can still find it elsewhere, but be warned, the material is very graphic. Here is a link to a related story, in case you have no clue what I’m writing about: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16534289)