If you’ve not seen Cindy Sherman’s photography, you’ve been missing out on one of the most creative female photographers in the late 20th century.  She is known for recreating herself as completely different women in her “self portraits”.  If you consider yourself a fan of photography, you should be ashamed of yourself for not telling your friends about her work.

On a brand and marketing note, she has – like many other world class photographers – created a strong brand identity through the consistency and uniqueness of her work.  One of the interesting elements of her photography is that one knows what to expect, but never really knows what they’re going to get.

Here are the Top 5 Things you should have learned from Cindy Sherman:

1. Don’t be afraid to do art that makes sense to you

2. Ladies, expressing yourself is bueno

3. Photography doesn’t have to be just of weddings or your crappy Halloween party

4. Pictures are truly worth 1,000 words

5. Smeared make-up is pretty awesome

There is no doubt that you’ve been influenced by any number of celebrities and musicians in your life.  Between Leif Garrett defining how you approached gardening and Debbie Gibson providing your life-long concept of fashion, you’ve learned a lot.  This installment of “The 5 List”  is dedicated to the country music icon, Eddie Rabbitt.

As you know, I’ve been writing “The 5 List” posts imploring you to dig deep and equipping you with some solid smoke break conversation.

Your boy Eddie Rabbitt was known for being able to deliver feel good country tracks that had a knack for blowing up the pop charts too.  Carving out that niche in country music back in the late 70s and early 80s was monumental.  Very few were able to cross over from country to pop.  Juice Newton was able to smoothly make that leap; as was Chrystal Gale.

Look below and learn 5 things from your boy Eddie Rabbitt.

1.  Even if you are from Brooklyn, you can still become a country music stud

2.  The more you look like a lion, the better your odds with the ladies

3.  Singing about rainy nights really gets the ladies hot and bothered

4.  Sometimes people will try to turn you every which way, but loose…But don’t let them!

5.  There are a definite number of steps you can follow to win her love

The band Beirut has created a wonderfully simple music video concept ripped straight from the bowels of creativity.  Less is more nearly all of the time, folks.  That is exactly what Beirut has done.  They’ve not only decided to create a live music video for their track called “Nantes”, but they introduced the music in such a way that will have you asking yourself, “Why hasn’t anybody thought of that before?”

They’ve managed to set themselves apart from other bands of any genre.  This is key for their brand.  Let’s face it, bands are moving, breathing brands.  Can you, off the top of your head, identify key traits associated with Guns n Roses, The New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols, etc?  Those are all strong brands…ahem…”bands”.  Branding is key in music, as it is with all products and services.

Here are the 5 things to take away from the “Nantes” video by Beirut:

1. Less is more
2. Music doesn’t have to be overly-ProTooled
3. Euphoniums in any band are awesome
4. Setting your band/brand apart is key…people will notice
5. New Order’s live “Temptation” video from the early 1980s has some legitimate competition

See the video below:

Denny’s, the popular chain restaurant, managed to misprint their Twitter address on their menu at the end of 2009 and have done nothing to correct it.  If you were to go to Twitter.com/dennys you’d find Denny Hsieh’s Taiwanese page.  Whoops!

There are a few things at play here.  Not only was it a mistake by the marketing department / ad agency, but also a failure of the PR department.  Once the misprint was noticed, Denny’s and their advertising and marketing divisions should have taken steps to address it.  Additionally, the PR team should have generated a few statements for online media addressing the misprint and how they were going to get things back on track, etc etc.

Here are 5 things you can learn from this Denny’s branding, marketing and PR fail:

1. Mistakes aren’t “the end of the world” if you address them swiftly and across the appropriate channels
2. Due diligence is a must prior to any major proclamation, print run or press release
3. Implement processes that are followed without fail with vendors and outsource partners
4. Ensure that the lines of communication between the PR, marketing and advertising departments are clear
5. Own mistakes in the Internet world.  Otherwise, online communities will ensure that nobody forgets your mistake(s)

LA based art and object creators, Electroland, have outdone themselves with their creation of the Urban Nomad Shelter.  Not only does it provide a place for homeless people to sleep, it is pleasing to the eye like a piece of modern art.

If you’ve spent any time on any skid row or highway underpass in the world, you’d know that there is a need for the Urban Nomad Shelter.  Sure, it’s pleasing for the eye of the person driving by in a car, but it’s the only logical solution for housing the homeless on their terms.  Sometimes a homeless person may find an old camping tent, but they are heavy and difficult to transport.  This shelter enables the person to blow it up and deflate each day.

Since we all know municipal governments aren’t going to do much about the homeless problem other than issue tickets, this would at least help the community in which the homeless people are sleeping.  It would be a win-win, but not a solution.  Thanks for doing your part, Electroland.

What happens when Deckstar, Dirt Nasty, Andre Legacy and B-Real get together for a Gammy party?  Pandemonium.  We were out in Hollywood at My House for the Deckstar Grammy party.  The turnout was huge and the surprise entertainment was great.

The Cosmic Kids opened the evening.  They always manage to spin great disco/soul music with their modern touch.  The tone was set.  After that B-Real from Cypress Hill spun a set for a while.  He was spinning some old G Funk anthems and the crowd loved it.  Little did all of us know that he was going to surprise us with a quick rap performance too.  He still has the chops.

Then Dirt Nasty and Andre Legacy got on stage to get the crowd crunk.  They got the job done. Dirt Nasty did his “1980″ track.  I think New York DJ phenom Jesse Marco went on after him.  I happened to run into and see a lot of people that night.

I ran into A Girl Like You and she so kindly provided the photos you see in this post.  Check out her photos on her site and get stoked..  We also saw some of the El B Si crew, Eminem’s manager, comedian David  E. Taylor, DJ Killer Cam, the founders of Gnar Caps and many other local mover and shakers.  For those of you that don’t know the depth of Deckstar’s artists check out this who’s who of world famous DJs:  Peanut Butter Wolf, Steve Aoki, Glitch Mob, the late DJ AM, Jazzy Jeff and many other big hitters.

Deckstar seems to be growing and growing.  They’ve carved a unique niche for themselves as the premier DJ management firm with street cred.  Between internationally respected DJs like Grand Master Flash and Jazzy Jeff, ties to Mikey Avalon, Dirt Nasty, Andre Legacy, Paris Hilton and driving the Hollywood party scene Deckstar is becoming a bigger force to be reckoned with.  Stay tuned.

 Sergio and the guys at Marketing Sherpa recently released findings from a social media survey they conducted.  Though there are no major revelations, it’s still great to keep one’s finger on the pulse of social media expenditures and how executives perceive this constantly evolving marketing channel.  

Here’s what they found:

1. 49% feel that social media has a future for generating ROI.  Additionally, they feel that conservative budget increases are warranted to achieve desired ROI
2. 27% feel that the value of social media is unknown; therefore, only done if time permits.
3. 17% feel that “why pay for the milk if I can get the cow for free”
4. 7% feel that social media is delivering measurable ROI and have desire to increase budgets liberally for a more refined execution [read: increased ROI and brand positioning]

They seem straight forward, but the two that truly jump out are numbers 3 and 4.  They represent the opposite sides of the spectrum. 

“Why pay for the milk if I can get the cow for free?”

There are two ways to look at this group.  On one hand, this mindset limits their ability to think creatively on ways to generate more top-of-mind-awareness and ROI.  This puts them “behind the eight ball”.  While their competitors are actively testing and generating positive results through their social media strategy, this group is too busy conducting their marketing through traditional- sometimes stale- methods.  

On the other hand, they may be like my parents were in the early 80s when the VCR was introduced to consumers.  Why pay full price for a product/service that will drop in price, solidify its best practices and be easier to leverage?  They may be lying in wait for the social media frenzy dust to settle.  This could ultimately position this group to hit the ground running without being limited by early stage social media limiting beliefs.

Early adopters writing the rules

The 7% of responders that feel that social media does nothing but add brand and bottom line value have a lot going for them.  They affect more change in the evolution that can ultimately, directly benefit how their business and/or vertical benefit from taking these new strategies seriously.  Somebody has to do it.  These early adopters are the trailblazers in marketing, corporate strategy and brand management.  

Social media early adopters take the calculated risk and reap all of the rewards.  Not only do they realize increased ROI and elevated top-of-mind-awareness, they can easily find themselves included in case studies that document the A players in specific verticals that are shaping how social media is successfully leveraged.  The Kogi Truck is a great illustration of this.

I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground on the evolution of these sorts of numbers.  In what category do you fall?

Amongst the wreckage of the music industry, Secret Stash Records is emerging with most unique content that music lovers could ever hope for.  One album release at a time, they are quietly positioning themselves as THE tastemakers and visionaries of the once bloated and now decaying music industry.

Eric Foss and Cory Wong, hockey buddies and lifelong friends, have picked up where Prince and  Rhymesayers have left off and are driving their brand’s growth purely through international word-of-mouth (WOM) and  social networking communities.

They have carved out an micro-niche for themselves.  They release lost, obscure recordings that appeal to music die hards all over the world:

Exhibit A: Reggae session players from Jamaica doing an interpretation of iconic jazz album Kind of Blue in 1981

Exhibit B:  House funk band for porno production studio in Van Nuys in the mid 1970’s

“Our aim is to contribute to the vinyl and record collector communities in a positive way; locally and internationally.  People don’t know that the Twin Cities has a rich record collector scene that is supported by iconic record shops like Tree House and Sugar record stores,” Foss explained in our interview.   “From a business perspective, it’s a smart way to do things.  If we were to just pump out $hit and not support our local scene we wouldn’t last,” he added.

When asked how Secret Stash was promoting their brand, Foss replied, “Social Networking.  We’re heavy into connecting with people via YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.”  Though most of their marketing energy is placed in communicating with fans in said communities (with the help of the Kulture agency), they do get their fair share of publicity via traditional media channels in Europe and Russia.  This, in turn, fuels their inbound business development activities.

“We’ve got people calling us from the former USSR, London and other places wanting to know if we have an interest in releasing the lost and obscure master recordings they have tucked away in a vault or safe,” Foss revealed.  Apparently the content they’ve been given access to would blow a music lover’s mind.  A few of their confidential, upcoming projects blew mine.

As if reading my mind, Foss went on to clarify that because of all the content they’ve been granted exclusive access to represents many unique genres of music they decided to create different labels to accommodate each flavor of music.  “Secret Stash, on its own, became a funk, rare groove and soul brand.  We felt it would be insane to dilute that brand by releasing rare live recordings of punk performances from the UK.  So, we created the Re-Amp Records brand to release When the Punks Go Marching In,” he explained.

As a fan of music and as a brand specialist, I hope to see their individual brands flourish.  That’s a tall order, however.  Most companies can’t effectively manage a single brand; let alone many.  Additionally, I’m curious to observe how they fully leverage the world of social media.  As we’ve seen, posting tweets and Facebook messages fall on deaf ears for the strong majority of brands.  Competition for consumer bandwidth is fierce.  Let’s see if they can outsmart other record labels and create authentic, long lasting relationships with music lovers and record collectors.

The good news is that Eric Foss and Cory Wong sound like sharp guys and their brands generate effective video content for each of their releases.  I wish them the best of success.

The word here in Los Angeles is that Netflix is “entertaining” Hollywood’s idea of delaying new releases by 30 days.  Are they taking kazi shots in the boardroom of Netflix?  I must be missing something on this deal.  Why would Netflix, a key player in the decrapification of Hollywood lameness, decide that the best decision for their brand is to piss off its customers?

Stop the insanity.

I clearly understand that Hollywood studios have a responsibility to their shareholders/stakeholders to deliver a desirable P&L statement.  What I can’t understand is why Netflix feels that it’s a better idea to save some cash in the short term, rather than consistently “giving the people what they want”.

Let’s face it.  The Neflix service is a great convenience to anybody that has the ability to play a DVD at home.  Netflix is able to deliver convenient service, low subscription costs, on demand viewing via computer and a broader selection of videos than any other video store.  These are great value-adds to a video service, but there is something else going on.

Netflix is giving consumers what they want.  It’s that simple.  We, as humans, view brands and people in much the same way.  We love them if they stay consistently pleasant and provide us with what we want/need.  We turn our backs on them if they change in a way that we feel is out of integrity of their core values.

Like MG Siegler at Tech Crunch mentioned, Netflix would be making a risky move that could easily lump them in the Dumb and Dumber category.  What’s more, he postulates that this move could increase priracy in the DVD world.  Do you agree?  Or do you think MG and I are insane?

The branding and marketing department at American Airlines is cringing right now.  They relied on their vendor to ensure that the American Airlines brand was protected.  Whoops!

You may remember my friend that had the great experience with the Cathay Pacific brand on his way to Asia from Los Angeles.  He delivered once again this week!  He was on a flight to Katmandu or Timbuktu or some other place that ends in “u” and opted to watch an episode of 30 Rock.  The opening credits for the episode listed the United Airlines logo paired with NBC.  He was on an American Airlines flight.  Gulp.

People make mistakes, but this one is the kind that stands out.  If you are a brand manager and miss the fact that your competitor’s brand is on your content then you’ve got a problem, hombre; vendor provided content not withstanding.  At the end of the day, brand management is a soft and fuzzy form of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC).

With social media and social networking instantaneously broadcasting the successes and failures for brands, individuals that manage brands have got a much more intense job than they ever have in the history of marketing.  With so many modern exposure points and amplification tools, top brand managers must create robust systems that catch mistakes like the one pictured above.  Otherwise, people like me blog about them.

The one constant that all social media platforms share is their competition for more loyal, long term and active users.  How do these communities keep their existing users engaged, while simultaneously recruiting new users?  Yelp.com has an advantage over the other platforms and communities with which they compete.  Simply put, they have found the missing link.  Not only have they found it, they are working it like James Brown.

Experiential marketing is their secret.  Experiential marketing creates an emotional attachment with the brand via an in-person interaction or a contest of some sort.  Brands like Sprite and Scion have been doing this very well in the last 5-6 years, but social media companies have not fully embraced it at organization-wide levels; That is, except for Yelp.

Like any other area in marketing (yes, including social media), there has to be 100% buy-in at the top of the organization and an unwavering follow through by the staff when it comes to integrating an experiential strategy.  Yelp does this with aplomb via their official parties.  They have managed to fully bridge the gap between the digital and real worlds through their frequent and consistent parties and events.

It’s simple.  Yelpers (what Yelp calls their community members) feel important.  Taking it a step further, Yelpers truly feel like Yelp gives a damn about them.  They make it even more memorable by granting “Elite” users early and exclusive access to said parties and events.

I’ll give you one example of many that I have experienced with Yelp.  Last week they threw a party at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, California to “celebrate” Dia de Los Muertes.  The event was replete with fire dancers, DJ, face painting, free all-night tequila tasting, gratis draft beer, complimentary food from local restaurants, an ice cream truck giving away ice cream bars and an endless supply of Jarritos.  They let the Elite members privately enjoy the party before the rest of the Yelp community was allowed to enter.  In total there were easily 450 people there.

Think about that.  A social media company was able to bring together nearly 500 people at their party on the night before Halloween (one of the biggest party nights of the year).

The interesting part of all of this, is that this Dia de Los Yelpos party was not a 1-off event for them.  They do events like this all of the time all over the USA and London.  Yelpers have come to expect it and Yelp consistently delivers.  Too see how powerful and compelling these events are, this party has a full 5-star rating and has been reviewed more than 80 times in less than a week.  Put in context, local restaurants are thrilled to have 30 4-star reviews of their establishment over the course of a year.

Other social media brands are not delivering these types of experiences and cultivating legions of brand advocates and evangelists like Yelp.  You be the judge.  What’s more compelling to you as a human?

Free homemade Mexican food, organic tequila, meeting new people, tamarind Jarritos and fire dancing?

OR

An updated homepage featuring a newly shaped button?

Crappy service from service oriented brands or businesses makes my mind melt.  It’s one of my  pet peeves.  In light of that, I’m always excited to hear about great experiences with brands.  Today, said excitement reignited after a friend (that happens to do marketing for a large global brand) told me about his flight to Asia on Cathay Pacific.    Do you hear that, other brands?  Go get your notepads.  It is as simple as our good friends at Gigom said in one of their articles:

…in branding, it turns out that what matters most in the message are simplicity and consistency.

It is that simple and something that Cathay Pacific has continuously delivered year after year.

I should preface this story by telling you that my friend is a big business and leisure  traveler.  It’s also important to note that he appreciates 5 star service more than any other person I know.  You should also know that I really enjoy guacamole.

When my friend finally got comfy in his seat, he received a birthday card signed by the entire Cathay Pacific flight crew in their native languages.  He was so excited by this nice touch, that he immediately posted it to his Facebook profile.  Since then, numerous people commented and some have definitely shared that story at their respective water coolers and watering holes.

That, my friends, is a scenario that is about as basic as it gets for any brand.  Part of the game for brand managers is just showing up.  The remaining portion is simply giving a damn about customers and engaging them in ways that THEY want.  The sad truth is that many brands know this, but seldom deliver.  The truth is that most take that same half-assed approach to their social media strategy and expect magic to happen.

There is a sentiment that my peers, associates and friends often hear me belabor in one form or another:

If your brand is not clearly defined in your daily company life and isn’t consistently reinforced [read:  brand sucks ass], what makes you think that diving into social and community media will help you find the marketing Holy Grail?

Here’s a tip.  You won’t find the magic sauce just by creating a Facebook fan page.  Rather, your attempt will most likely more closely resemble a Holy FAIL.  After all, brands are like individual people.  If one is inconsistent and “fake” then the likelihood of people actually wanting to hang out and say good things is quite slim.  The same goes for brands.  I’m so glad Cathay “gets it”.

What are some pet peaves or noteworthy scenarios you’ve experienced with brands?

Everybody has a Twitter these days: CNN, politicians and Justin’s dad.  Sadly few people are achieving their goals with their account.  Like anything else in social media, one has to deliver content that is relevant to people.  Justin is doing that at an alarming rate with the amazing statistics he’s throwing up with his shitmydadsays Twitter account.  Yesterday he saw a jump of 4,000 followers in less than one hour.  This morning, less than 24 hours later, he’s seen a 10,000 follower jump.  He’s now sitting at 165,731 followers in less than 1 month.  Look at the image at the top of the screen and notice how many people he’s following.  One.  That’s it.

Those are the kind of Twitter statistics that are downright alarming!  He’s not running a contest, selling product, giving away bags of money or giving relationship advice.  He’s simply posting the outrageous things his 73 year old father says.  That’s all.   Apparently, people love it and are sharing the account with their friends and coworkers.

What is it about this Twitter account that has people buzzing?  I’ve been giving this a lot of thought as I’ve been watching his following skyrocket.  What I’ve come up with is that he’s got relevancy.  All of his followers know somebody or have met somebody like his cantankerous old dad.  The one-liners Justin posts are so natural sounding that we can’t imagine them NOT coming from the lips of a cranky, old man that is done trying to sugar coat things.

Having said all of that, this thing could very well be a hoax.  It could be the equivalent of a viral video:  Viral Tweets.  Even if  these are viral tweets, I think it’s genius.  It’s the equivalent of writing good stand-up material; which is no easy task.  Regardless of what happens, I’ll be keeping an eye on ” shitmydadsays ” over the next few months.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you some quotes that Justin has posted on behalf of his dad.

“Your brother brought his baby over this morning. He told me it could stand. It couldn’t stand for shit. Just sat there. Big let down.”9:35 AM Aug 20th from web

“The dog is not bored, it’s a fucking dog. It’s not like he’s waiting for me to give him a fucking rubix cube. He’s a god damned dog.”10:43 AM Aug 18th from web

“The dog don’t like you planting stuff there. It’s his backyard. If you’re the only one who shits in something, you own it. Remember that.”9:33 AM Aug 26th from web

(left on answering machine) “Hello? Hello? It’s Sam. Anyone there? Nobody checks this god damned thing. HELLO?! HELLO?! Screw it.”8:46 AM Aug 12th from web