For the video entertainment fans out there, two pieces I wrote that were published this week:

From Host to Hashtag, a look at the 2013 Oscars

First, on PSFK I wrote about the Oscars. I touch on Seth MacFarlane’s effort as host, what some brands did, social media in general, and being a real-time content creator.

Netflix is betting big on binge-viewing.

For FastCoCreate, I took a deep dive look at Netflix and their original content play with House of Cards.

I love my job. I love it because I get to think about what incidents like last night’s might mean. Maybe this one is meaningless, but my hunch is that my friend Grant McCracken would see something interesting in it. Here’s what happened:

My 14-year old son was excitedly showing off a new t-shirt he just acquired:

That’s the shirt, but that’s not my son. My 14-year old doesn’t have tats.

So, kind of an odd shirt, right? Some dude with a full beard and glasses, and the semi-cryptic, pseudo-aspirational ‘achieve.’  The image is a representation of Jack Pattillo, Editor of Achievement Hunter at Rooster Teeth Productions. Yes, I recognize that ‘Editor of Achievement Hunter at Rooster Teeth Productions’ means absolutely nothing to you. Rooster Teeth are one of those companies that didn’t, couldn’t, exist in the previous century.  Their YouTube channel boasts over 3 million subscribers and over 1 billion views!

Rooster Teeth are one of those 21st century companies that is shaping our culture in stealth mode – at least as far as the mainstream understanding of culture goes. But here’s the thing that I really found amazing in talking with my son. As I did a Google search for Jack Patillo his LinkedIn page came up so I clicked on it. As I was looking at it my son noticed the “People Also Viewed” group on the right hand side of Jack’s page. My son pointed to every single person on the list, all Rooster Teeth employee’s, and said, “I know who that is.”

Producers, web designers, VPs, show creators, you name it, my son could have told me all about them. What sort of advantages does this give Rooster Teeth? In building a relationship with their fans, in recruiting talent, in building a larger audience? I’m not sure but when I was my son’s age the only employee at a company that I would have known was Tinker Hatfield, the shoe designer from Nike. Yeah, I was that much of a Nike nut then.

From a marketing perspective I see the vast, yawning cultural chasm between the current C-Suiters and the kids that are my son’s age. Next time you are talking to a brand manager ask them about companies/people like Rooster Teeth, Valve, Tobuscus, Minecraft or Freddie W. My guess is you’ll get blank stares. In the next couple of years you’re going to see an explosion of brands and media companies (there’s a difference?) that will catch those in charge by complete surprise. It’s going to be fun to watch if you’re on the right side of things, but very messy if you’re not.

The airline industry has had a pretty rough go of it for a little more than a decade now, at least back to 9/11. Fuel costs, security, bankruptcy, consolidation, foreign competition… the list of challenges goes on. In addition to that we’ve certainly see a full assortment of self-inflicted wounds as carriers impose and administer draconian rules have seen the famous and the ordinary complain loud and long. Without even thinking hard, I can recall United Breaks Guitars, Kevin Smith, Jet Blue on the tarmac, the crew member who flipped out, you get the idea.

One bright spot, was the little bit of magic Delta airlines caught with their in-flight safety video:

Nothing amazing, just a little finger wag. Now normally, you can’t get people who are actually on the plane to watch these things, but this video has 2.7 million views. To me, this was perfect for Delta. It gave a brand that has little to no personality just a bit of humanity. Nobody thinks of Delta as having a sense of humor or an irreverent style. That territory is owned by Virgin. See, their in-flight safety video looks like this:

That’s what I would expect from Virgin. But now, Delta has decided to try and capitalize on the magic they caught by doubling down on the funny. Check out these new in-flight safety videos:

Well, that feels more like Southwest Airlines than Delta. It’s not exactly over the top, but I’m not sure I want that much humor in my safety video. At least not from Delta.

Apparently I missed the memo, but a some point Delta decided they were going to take a run at a position change and be the fun(!) airline. This got post back in the spring:

For me flying is a hassle, and yeah, even a little scary. Faux hilarity is not something I’m looking for. Extreme competency? Yes. Compassion? Yes. Choreographed dance moves? No.

Delta – please just be what you are: A stand-up brand that does what it’s supposed to do with a little heart.

Disclosure – My agency, Y&R, does work on behalf of Virgin Atlantic.

This piece originally appeared on the Advertising Week Social Club website.

I want to tell you about a brand I love. Not a product – though I do like those as well – but a brand. Betabrand. I love them because they get it. They understand their customer, they understand culture and they understand how those two things connect.

Betabrand is a clothing company, but sometimes it feels more like they are a content company that also makes clothes. But not your usual clothes. They make clothes with names like the Vagisoft Harka, the DARPA hoodie, Sons of Britches and Japants. Pretty much everything they make looks, feels, sounds or tastes like nothing you are familiar with. Tastes? Ok, so you wouldn’t want to eat their reversible disco hoodie, but if somebody is going to make clothes that taste as good as they look, it will be Betabrand.

In a world where collaboration is an increasingly critical element, and crowdsourcing is a viable option, Betabrand really walk the walk. They have something called the Think Tank, their “community idea factory.” They get ideas for all kinds of items, but as a small company that keeps production in the States, they simply can’t produce things on a whim. So ideas go into the Think Tank and if enough people like the idea, they’ll make a small batch run of it.

In another truly inspired move, they’ve created the Disco Open-Source Project. What started as a hoodie that utilized material replicating the look of a disco ball has evolved into an entire line, including pants, skirts, vests, even a tuxedo jacket. Betabrand’s audience seemingly couldn’t get enough of the disco look, so they created the Open-Source Project. The details:

Every day, Betabrand receives requests for specialty Disco apparel, everything from sombreros to luge suits. Unfortunately, our production facilities are simply too small to make all the fantastic items that fans demand.

That’s why we’re now letting would-be inventors descend into our top-secret disconium mine and haul away as much of this magically shiny substance as they can carry.

We call it the Disco Open-Source (DOS) Project. For a very limited time, you can purchase two-yard swatches of pure, shimmering disconium and transform them into something spectacular — like that Disco Dog Coat, Parachute, or Lingerie you’ve been dreaming of.

Not only will we feature your creations on our site, we might even make some of them permanent members of the DiscoLab!

Brilliant. And notice the language they use. “top-secret disconium mine.” Well, where did you think disco ball fabric comes from? This whimsical tone is evident in much of their copy. Here’s the intro copy for their Bawaiian Wedding Shirt:

Ever heard of the island of Bawaii?

No? That’s not surprising. This poor little chunk of rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is, quite possibly, the most woebegone nation on Earth. What else can you say about an island whose chief export is molten lava? An island known to other Polynesian cultures as “Isle of Infinite Sorrows” and also “Place Where the Poisonous, Bloodthirsty Monkeys Dwell.”

Their email newsletters are equally wacky. As are their user-generated content plays. The ‘Model Citizen’ promotion asks customers to snap a photo of themselves wearing Betabrand clothing. The results are often hilarious. And look how they’ve cleverly integrated their logo into the offer.

I love Betabrand because they continue to double-down on the crazy.  A giant Zeppelinthat will act as their HQ? Absolutely.

The Executive Hoodie.

Sock insurance? You bet. A mobile app that inserts Sasquatch into your pics? Why not? Sure these are tongue in cheek, but in a world where most brands take themselves so seriously, what a refreshing stance to take.  We hear the word ‘authenticity’ thrown around so much, and usually it translates to Facebook status updates from brands like this: “Hey, what’s on tap for this weekend, going to the movies?” That’s why there is a Condescending Corporate Brand Page on Facebook.

I could give you several more examples, but you get the point. Betabrand does all this without the aid of an advertising agency. It’s just a small group of people in San Francisco, having fun. They could teach a lot of us in the advertising industry a lesson or two.

A New Look For HP

Rebranding is tough. Ask Tropicana, Pepsi or The Gap. It’s usually a no-win situation in which you alienate the fans who didn’t want a change, and you rarely please anyone with the new offering.  Yet, there are times and situations where a new brand identity is called for.

Hewlett-Packard finds itself in a position where they need a new brand positioning. As Amazon, Google, Apple and others lead the conversations on the future of technology, HP is seen as an old brand. Back in 2008 they enlisted Moving Brands to do the rebranding and recently the agency revealed the behind-the-scenes work, which TechCrunch points out is unlikely to be used. It’s laid out brilliantly here on the Moving Brands site. You can find additional commentary here, on the Brand New blog.

The post provides tons of images and videos showing Moving Brand’s ideas and process. There is clearly an incredible amount of thinking, legwork, artistry and strategic vision infused in the effort. Check out this video entitled HP Magnetic North [UPDATE: The video has been removed from video, sorry.]

Of course things like this are always subjective, and you can argue the merits of the final results if you like, but that’s not the point here.  The real issue here is the thinking and how this contrasts with what happens in those $500 ‘design my logo’ crowdsourcing efforts. From Moving Brands:

We wanted to ensure that HP maximized its opportunities to connect with people, to tell great stories and inspire great stories, to listen and respond, and to adapt to its environment. A multi-sensorial Identity and Design System was created to allow the brand to spring to life in print and in pixels, on screen and across all devices.

The Identity and Design System was structured to deliver familiarity and recognition through the use of a tight set of core brand assets — logo, colour and typeface. The contextual brand assets, such as identifiers and photography, add flexibility and relevance for specific target audiences. Expression Principles guide the creation of ownable HP signature experiences across spoken and written language, static layouts, information graphics, motion, sound, interaction, form factors and materials and physical spaces.

The defining signature of the system is the 13º angle. 13° represents HP’s spirit as a company, driven forward by ingenuity and optimism about the future and a belief in human progress. It also refers to the world of computing by recalling the forward slash used in programming. 13° exists within the brand identity, in the graphic language, product design and UI.

Yes, HP has plenty of money to spend on this sort of thing, most companies don’t. I understand that, and small businesses don’t have to take it to this level. But you can hire one designer and work with that person directly. Let them understand the culture of the company, the trends in the industry and the behaviors of your customers.

One of the issues I had to deal with in taking my new job at Y&R was that of title. This was going to be a new role for the agency, so there was no precedent, no legacy to step into. As an acknowledged disciple of Grant McCracken, Chief Culture Officer was certainly appealing, but not appropriate as I’m certainly not a member of the C-Suite.  We finally settled on Creative Culturalist, though there was a moment when I balked at that title. This recent Ad Age piece by Lars Bastholm titled (no pun intended) The Trouble With Titles makes my hesitancy understandable. Here’s another interesting piece by Daniel Banks, whom I stole this image from.

But maybe the problem isn’t with the titles themselves, but with the way people are, or rather aren’t, embodying those titles. A few years back I did a little search on Twellow looking for some key words relating to popular titles or self-descriptions:

• Guru – 6,630 results
• Diva – 3,555
• Rock Star – 968

That’s a lot of awesome out there. And there was, and is, some (a lot?) of push back and ridicule for these titles. Here’s my issue: If you’re going to call yourself a Rock Star, then act like a Rock Star. So many of the people using that honorific have sensible hair cuts and wear mom jeans, or are sporting suits you might pick up at The Men’s Warehouse.

Why not fully embody the term, really own it. If you want to be a Rock Star, then dress like Lady Gaga or act like Keith Richards. Make a dramatic entrance, give wild proclamations, do theatrical presentations. Are you calling yourself a Guru? Then read the definition and devote yourself to bringing that to life (hint, tweeting a lot ain’t it). If you are a ninja, then you better be decimating your competition in full stealth mode.

I think we resent people with these titles not because they’ve gone too far, but because they haven’t gone far enough. They’ve broken the unspoken contract by not living up to our expectations of those terms. Would truly behaving like a Rock Star turn some people off? Yes, but others would appreciate your commitment. Right now people just think you’re a douchebag.

So, for me being the Creative Culturalist at Y&R has to be more than handing out a business card and having a nice conversation starter. I have to embody the title, at least in effort even if the execution may fail. That’s why I wanted to do an infographic about being a Creative Culturalist. It’s a bit different, and in a culturally relevant way. It’s now my job to continue to find creative ways for me to engage with culture not just as an output of my job, but as an integral part of the raison d’etre for the job itself.