9.15.2009
9.01.2009
3.05.2009
age of innocence
we have been discussing social media around here a lot for obvious reasons...
what it is... what it's good for...etc etc...
and recently we have been discussing whether brands should pay for friends...
as there are a lot of "affiliate agencies" out there trying to introduce "bounty" models into the social space as "social marketing."
to us, this is seemingly getting some traction because in our experience, to a lot marketeers, "social" is a bit like "china"...
...meaning they hear about it all the time, read about it, know they should know about it...
however don't really understand it...
but know when their boss asks they had better be able to say what it is and what it does for the business...
that's when these bottom feeders offer them what are basically.. cpf programs (cost per friend)...
clearly by our tone, we are not a big fan of paying for friends through sweepstakes, rewards programs, free stuff, etc...
in our minds, everyone will come to your party and be your friend for "free beer"...
but who stays around when it's gone?
no one, if there is not continued mutual benefit in the relationship...
all that said, we are not posting this to point out the obvious...
it's to draw a bit of attention to a controversial way buying friends (particularly friends who blog), much to our chagrin, might actually be a good thing for marketers to do.
it seems these same agencies that are promoting the cpf social affiliate models are also starting blogging affiliate programs now...
these "brand pimps" are setting up "blogger rings" that operate on what is basically a "pay for post" model...
and these paid posts are supposedly positively effecting google rankings.
this was a big deal, but an obscure one...
until sean corcoran at forrester research issued a report called "add sponsored conversations to your toolbox" that basically "suggests" brand marketers should consider sponsored blog posts for the possitive effect on the google relevence engine...
... to top it off, he sights specific examples from brands like kmart that he claims are getting positive benefit from this practice...
...and now all hell is breaking loose...
google hates when someone figures out, or even hints at figuring out, how to game their engine...
google's matt cutts restated the search engine's policy on paid blogs.. he wants the bloggers to adhere to google's "nofollow" tag policy when posting the blog if the post links to the sponsor's site paying to have the brand mentioned in the post.
"nofollow" is an html attribute used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the ranking, or PageRank, in the search engine's index.
farm is not sure we can count of self enforced rules to insure the integrity of google's engine...
so... question:
how is a paid blog post different than a paid/commercial message (an ad)?
is it implictate that bloggers are amateurs and/or unpaid?
are blog posts implicitly unbiased and honest?
should blogs be held to some higher standard of truth and transparency?
farm likes a world where it's clear what is "promotion" and what is "peer recomendation"...
but does this world exist anymore?
can it exist anymore on the open internet?
questions like this, no matter the answer, point at one thing... there are no rules only opinions...
and opinions of consumers are their truth...
so if a brand gets caught doing this... are they easily going to be able to talk their way out of it with consumers?
like buying friends...is the risk worth the reward?
what it is... what it's good for...etc etc...
and recently we have been discussing whether brands should pay for friends...
as there are a lot of "affiliate agencies" out there trying to introduce "bounty" models into the social space as "social marketing."
to us, this is seemingly getting some traction because in our experience, to a lot marketeers, "social" is a bit like "china"...
...meaning they hear about it all the time, read about it, know they should know about it...
however don't really understand it...
but know when their boss asks they had better be able to say what it is and what it does for the business...
that's when these bottom feeders offer them what are basically.. cpf programs (cost per friend)...
clearly by our tone, we are not a big fan of paying for friends through sweepstakes, rewards programs, free stuff, etc...
in our minds, everyone will come to your party and be your friend for "free beer"...
but who stays around when it's gone?
no one, if there is not continued mutual benefit in the relationship...
all that said, we are not posting this to point out the obvious...
it's to draw a bit of attention to a controversial way buying friends (particularly friends who blog), much to our chagrin, might actually be a good thing for marketers to do.
it seems these same agencies that are promoting the cpf social affiliate models are also starting blogging affiliate programs now...
these "brand pimps" are setting up "blogger rings" that operate on what is basically a "pay for post" model...
and these paid posts are supposedly positively effecting google rankings.
this was a big deal, but an obscure one...
until sean corcoran at forrester research issued a report called "add sponsored conversations to your toolbox" that basically "suggests" brand marketers should consider sponsored blog posts for the possitive effect on the google relevence engine...
... to top it off, he sights specific examples from brands like kmart that he claims are getting positive benefit from this practice...
...and now all hell is breaking loose...
google hates when someone figures out, or even hints at figuring out, how to game their engine...
google's matt cutts restated the search engine's policy on paid blogs.. he wants the bloggers to adhere to google's "nofollow" tag policy when posting the blog if the post links to the sponsor's site paying to have the brand mentioned in the post.
"nofollow" is an html attribute used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the ranking, or PageRank, in the search engine's index.
farm is not sure we can count of self enforced rules to insure the integrity of google's engine...
so... question:
how is a paid blog post different than a paid/commercial message (an ad)?
is it implictate that bloggers are amateurs and/or unpaid?
are blog posts implicitly unbiased and honest?
should blogs be held to some higher standard of truth and transparency?
farm likes a world where it's clear what is "promotion" and what is "peer recomendation"...
but does this world exist anymore?
can it exist anymore on the open internet?
questions like this, no matter the answer, point at one thing... there are no rules only opinions...
and opinions of consumers are their truth...
so if a brand gets caught doing this... are they easily going to be able to talk their way out of it with consumers?
like buying friends...is the risk worth the reward?
3.03.2009
how hard is this?
is it appropriate to feel guilty for not posting?
prioritizing the accomplishment other activities and projects ahead of writing about them...?
we're not sure...
either way... just to be safe...
apologies all.
between snow storms, rain storms and economically driven $hit storms we have been a bit quiet at the farm club...
speaks poorly of us... but volumes about our preoccupation with twitter.
speak soon (we promise).
1.23.2009
end bush
some of us live in san francisco and most of have at one time or another...that said if you are familiar with san francisco, then you have probably driven on bush street.
in honor of the inauguration of our 44th President, some folks from performance art group survival research laboratories made some clever (and fun) changes to city's street signs on bush street...
...and we think it's great.
has anyone done this anywhere else?
1.04.2009
12.19.2008
ho ho ho... you're fired
omnicom set to cut up to 3,500 jobs
this post is not to pick on omnicom...
just a thought about the nature of the company you work for...
what is the point of giving everything you have to a company in good times... if they aren't prepared to repay it with a decent effort to protect you in uncertain times?
big agencies like omnicom and communications companies like viacom ask workers to be loyal...espouse their values... contribute time for free (weekends, no o.t.), etc...etc..
but when things get uncertain on their end... are they prepared to do the same?
stick with people... even if that means the profit on "thursday" isn't as large as it could be...
...or god forbid lose a little bit of money in the name of investing/contributing to their future relationships with employees...
right now these companies look like they are pro-actively stripping out overhead to "prepare" for what is coming next year...
we like to be proactive too...we like things to be "right sized"...
but it seems to us that we might want our employer to hold off as long as possible in making these kinds of decisions in the spirit of protecting us...
we're not talking about being irresponsible to shareholders...
but maybe shifting some priorities a bit...
...and realigning the values of these businesses to reflect a company not scared of what's going to happen on "thursday"... but confident in years ahead.
it's great working for publicly traded company in good times because the capitalization enables investment in new areas quickly to be on the cutting edge of communications...
unfortunately, these days, to us, it's looking tougher and tougher to work for a publicly traded communications company in uncertain times...
people wonder why some folks at smaller agencies like the barbarian group won't sell for millions to publicly traded holding groups like aegis or interpublic...
we think they realize that their business values are not in alignment with the current state of values inside of companies like omnicom....
and we think this is particularly highlighted in times like these...
a friend of ours at connelly partners in boston told us a couple of weeks ago how the owners just took all the employees and their families to disney world, all expenses paid, because it was important to their culture to invest in their employees and by extension their families...
we aren't really that into disney world at farm...
but on that note, most people we know who work at publicly traded agencies, who haven't had their christmas parties canceled, aren't even allowed to take their significant others to the party because of cost...
kinda makes us think... or ask...
in times like these, what is the role (responcibility?) of the large agency?
this post is not to pick on omnicom...
just a thought about the nature of the company you work for...
what is the point of giving everything you have to a company in good times... if they aren't prepared to repay it with a decent effort to protect you in uncertain times?
big agencies like omnicom and communications companies like viacom ask workers to be loyal...espouse their values... contribute time for free (weekends, no o.t.), etc...etc..
but when things get uncertain on their end... are they prepared to do the same?
stick with people... even if that means the profit on "thursday" isn't as large as it could be...
...or god forbid lose a little bit of money in the name of investing/contributing to their future relationships with employees...
right now these companies look like they are pro-actively stripping out overhead to "prepare" for what is coming next year...
we like to be proactive too...we like things to be "right sized"...
but it seems to us that we might want our employer to hold off as long as possible in making these kinds of decisions in the spirit of protecting us...
we're not talking about being irresponsible to shareholders...
but maybe shifting some priorities a bit...
...and realigning the values of these businesses to reflect a company not scared of what's going to happen on "thursday"... but confident in years ahead.
it's great working for publicly traded company in good times because the capitalization enables investment in new areas quickly to be on the cutting edge of communications...
unfortunately, these days, to us, it's looking tougher and tougher to work for a publicly traded communications company in uncertain times...
people wonder why some folks at smaller agencies like the barbarian group won't sell for millions to publicly traded holding groups like aegis or interpublic...
we think they realize that their business values are not in alignment with the current state of values inside of companies like omnicom....
and we think this is particularly highlighted in times like these...
a friend of ours at connelly partners in boston told us a couple of weeks ago how the owners just took all the employees and their families to disney world, all expenses paid, because it was important to their culture to invest in their employees and by extension their families...
we aren't really that into disney world at farm...
but on that note, most people we know who work at publicly traded agencies, who haven't had their christmas parties canceled, aren't even allowed to take their significant others to the party because of cost...
kinda makes us think... or ask...
in times like these, what is the role (responcibility?) of the large agency?
11.12.2008
How is Stockholm feeling today?
Pretty cool urban art installation in Stockholm
http://www.emotionalcities.com
With the Swedish winter in full swing, an interactive installation is shedding some light on the darkness – as well as on Stockholmers' state of mind.
City's inhabitants are invited to participate in this Emotional Cities lighting exhibition. Anybody can register their current emotional state by answering the question “How are you today?" on the website www.emotionalcities.com.
Visitors to the site report how they are feeling using a scale of seven faces, from frowning to smiley, each coloured to represent a point on the spectrum from violet (sad) to red (happy). The shade of the lights projected on the facades of the five towers at Hötorget changes according to how Stockholmers rate their mood. A median value is calculated for the city, which in turn determines the lights' colour.
http://www.emotionalcities.com
With the Swedish winter in full swing, an interactive installation is shedding some light on the darkness – as well as on Stockholmers' state of mind.
City's inhabitants are invited to participate in this Emotional Cities lighting exhibition. Anybody can register their current emotional state by answering the question “How are you today?" on the website www.emotionalcities.com.
Visitors to the site report how they are feeling using a scale of seven faces, from frowning to smiley, each coloured to represent a point on the spectrum from violet (sad) to red (happy). The shade of the lights projected on the facades of the five towers at Hötorget changes according to how Stockholmers rate their mood. A median value is calculated for the city, which in turn determines the lights' colour.
11.10.2008
Street With a View
We just submitted a similar idea to one of our clients. Imagine mapping a city with art through a mobile app, each piece contextualised to the area or street.
These guys had the same-ish idea but thought about a much simpler and more effective way to implement it.
Lovely
11.03.2008
reebok denies all involvement... but the pain train is back and getting out the vote
everyone old enough (or with an internet connection) remembers reebok's superbowl ads from a couple of years ago staring nfl linebacker terry tate....
"terry tate office linebacker" is a high flyer on youtube and by far reebok's highest viewed commercial on the global video site...
that said, although reebok denies involvement, the pain train has returned at returnofterrytate.com.
(denies involvement, but is seemingly fine with someone else using their creative assets... yeah right... nice work)
so tomorrow get out and vote... or that's all she wrote...
"terry tate office linebacker" is a high flyer on youtube and by far reebok's highest viewed commercial on the global video site...
that said, although reebok denies involvement, the pain train has returned at returnofterrytate.com.
(denies involvement, but is seemingly fine with someone else using their creative assets... yeah right... nice work)
so tomorrow get out and vote... or that's all she wrote...
10.28.2008
10.24.2008
farm @ poptech - the economics edition
clay shirky the author of here comes everybody (i read it twice... and i never do that) is talking about generosity...
basically how to design interactions that enable people to do all the little things in the world that add up to a big difference.
this is an area we look at intently at farm... how do you reward people for behavior that rewards the brand?
specifically if the brand is trying to do something great for society like... micro-finance... or open source charity...
how do you super enable the behavior needed to fuel it and spread it?
chris anderson is up there also...
also talking about non-monetary transactions (fancy word for giving)....
this pairing is interesting to me because everyone knows about the anderson's long tail but... but i think shirky has the better more encompassing view with his power law perspective...
farm is always up for a bit of a enomics rumble...
basically how to design interactions that enable people to do all the little things in the world that add up to a big difference.
this is an area we look at intently at farm... how do you reward people for behavior that rewards the brand?
specifically if the brand is trying to do something great for society like... micro-finance... or open source charity...
how do you super enable the behavior needed to fuel it and spread it?
chris anderson is up there also...
also talking about non-monetary transactions (fancy word for giving)....
this pairing is interesting to me because everyone knows about the anderson's long tail but... but i think shirky has the better more encompassing view with his power law perspective...
farm is always up for a bit of a enomics rumble...
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