A Couple Good Quotes

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Both far better than the headline...

CPJ from Exit Creative.

"here’s a tip on the social media thing: just go try it. You’ll figure it out. Why? It’s not magic, it’s a goddamn network where people talk and share things. You’ve seen this before in the real world. It’s a market. Or a cafe. Or two people talking to each other at home over a cup of coffee and a newspaper. You don’t need me or anyone else to tell you how this works. Just act like a normal human (indoor voices, don’t be an asshole) and you’ll do fine."


The newly, and intimidatingly jobbed, Faris from TIGS.

"I'm always a little skeptical of my own tendency to believe that things are changing for the awesome."


I could get all bloggy on you and tell you why these two are related, but it's late. So I'll just say they're a couple good thoughts said well, and go to bed. 

Plaid hits the Road. Will the Road hit back?

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PlaidOnce again proving that a mastering of social media and avoiding day to day work aren't mutually exclusive activities (or not activities, I guess), blogger round table cohort and super nice guy Darryl Orht, the man behind the Connecticut content and branding firm Plaid, is hitting the road once again. Taking a tip from the indie music industry, they'll be canvassing the west coast in the plaid Plaid van, complete with at least 3 van cams, a tour twitter feed, the 11:40 show on PlaidNationTV, and a number of other 2.0-y goodies. Plaid_van

Check out the goodies and follow the tour here. Get you one of these sweet, sweet new Tee's here. And become a fan on facebook here. Otherwise, come play with the guys over at PlaidNation.com starting tomorrow. Have a safe trip, guys!

Viking Smackdown

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Tim Brunelle, after a full year since the opening of his ownMinneapolis shop Hello Viking, celebrated by releasing a new iPhone game using the accelerometer in the phone to make a cartoon viking throw the axe as far as possible. Yesterday, the game was picked up by uber-blog Techcrunch. Here's a video of Arrington playing the game, also.

I don't get it, though. An agency actually doing something cool that can market for itself? That doesn't make any sense. We're supposed to be bad at heeding our own advice..

Anyway, my new iPhone will be here soon enough, and then I can join in on the fun. And by that, I mean kick all of your asses and win the trip to Minneapolis and viking gear. In your face, world.

 

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Honda SkyDive has Arrived

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After teasing us with the behind the scenes footage, Honda in the UK finally released their "Skydive" spot. Although it's not really a spot. It's 3 and a quarter minutes of live footage. Absolutely fantastic stuff, and really captures what it's like to willingly fling yourself out of an airplane.

I'm hoping they'll come forward with the back up plans as well. I've taken up the sport as somewhat of a hobby over the past year, and calling it finicky would be an understatement. It doesn't take much bad weather to turn a "jump" day into a "sitting on your ass in the middle of nowhere" day. Which begs the question, if the sprinkles of rain in the video became a downpour with high winds, what in the hell would have filled those 3 minutes?

Either way, it's a cool 3 minutes. And while I wouldn't call it as magical as Cogs or Choir, it'd be hard to argue the fact that this is a groundbreaking piece of work from W+K, London.

UPDATE: They've also released the proper spot, as well, ending with the "what's next?" line that definitely leaves me wondering the same. Again, we're treading as some pretty cool ground here, although it does feel a bit anticlimactic.

A Viral Hit Courtesy of Viral Hits

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I'll go ahead and set the over/under for this at 8 million views. I was hoping OK go might show up to the party, too, but sadly no. They checked just about everyone else off the list, though. Good stuff, Weezer. I will gladly hand you 10 bucks.

By the way, if you were smart you'd move the album release date to, like, now (instead of June 3). We're an impatient bunch, and torrents like to give me the album right now for free! Thank torrents! (via Tom)

Earned Trust vs. Assumed Trust

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With the news coming down that the Dallas paper, the Dallas Morning News, will be raising their prices to make up for slumping stock, I'm brought back to the argument over what options they, as in the newspaper industry, have. A quick look at the website makes it obvious that they need design help, and they're still not shy about assaulting the audience with pop-ups, pop-unders and interstitials. Trust me, they're good people over there, but the experience has lagged behind a need to add to the bottom line. But even the superior experience of the New York Times and its website doesn't seem to do much for their pocketbook.

Much of the answer, of course, is plainly the distribution of attention. Only so many eyeballs and the pie has been split too many ways already. But I think there's something to this idea of assumed trust versus earned trust. Newspapers are built on this idealized version of truth, the "we report the facts" mentality. They are trusted because they have trust.

Thecuretrust2 Bloggers on the other hand operate on this other level. Younger folks approach the news with a greater level of skepticism, and the generic "blogosphere" is less trusted than the more traditional news vehicles. There is no assumed trust, only the trust earned over time between a writer and a reader. Or even a reader and a reader's friend. The bottom line is that this earned trust is hard to receive, but also much more personal. And these personal bonds between a writer and a blog reader are much more difficult to break. So attention continues to move there.

The same thing's happening in the ad industry now. The traditional marketing dollar is reliant on this old model of credibility. I buy this time slot on television because it affords me not just some level of awareness, but also a level of trust. Or I get this celebrity endorser because their recognition of the company lends validity to the message. I'm just not so sure this "assumed trust" is relevant anymore. Why settle on an assumption when taking the time to earn it can mean so much more?

So no, I don't have any answers for the folks over at the Morning News. But they have to find a way to change the trajectory and connect with this next, paper-less generation. Otherwise it'll be easier than ever for someone else to swoop in and take their place.