LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST...

OBAMA'S uncensored acceptance speech!

Hat tick, Nick Fell

Loving this!

"A Brand Called You..."

Over a decade ago Fast Company published a seminal article, A Brand Called You. In it they talked about the importance of personal-branding: "We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."

Think about your personal-brand in the same way that a marketeer at P&G thinks about a brand, it advised, "When you look at your brand's assets, what can you add to boost your power and felt presence? Would you be better off with a simple line extension -- taking on a project that adds incrementally to your existing base of skills and accomplishments? Is it time to move overseas for a couple of years, venturing outside your comfort zone, tackling something new and completely different?"

I have often talked to juniors trying to start out in the advertising industry about really understanding their "brand" and what makes them different and interesting compared to other graduates, Fast Company say:"Start by writing your own mission statement, to guide you as CEO of Me Inc. What turns you on? Learning something new? Gaining recognition for your skills as a technical wizard? Shepherding new ideas from concept to market? What's your personal definition of success? Money? Power? Fame? Or doing what you love?" Sometimes it goes quite OTT and more than a little cheesy, but it was actually smart stuff and well ahead of its time.

It got me thinking. I have never sat down to write a marketing strategy for "Me Inc", but I am conscious that your reputation matters and I guess that my "brand" (i.e. me) is fairly active in multiple spaces and places both on and offline

So if it's all about a "brand called You," I have a question about job titles.

At the moment mine is Head of Digital Strategy but it doesn't really reflect what I do. While I do do "digital" planning, I also do "planning" planning. I'm the brand planner on London 2012, on the School Food Trust and lots of other bits of new business. 

I feel a bit like Sean Coombs, Puff Daddy, Puffy, P Diddy, Diddy and Prince, Symbol in asking this, but its an honest question:

Should I bother change my job title?

Does it even matter what people are called in this day and age?

What about, Head of (digital) Strategy?

Head of Strategy?

I wanted to ask people who I respect and whose work takes them offline as well as online but I would probably classify them as digital-experts: People like, Faris, Russell, Neil, David Armano, Gareth Kay, Stephen, Simon, David, Neville...

But to be honest, to any of you reading this I am genuinely interested in your opinion!

Hushie is dead - where next?

Shit.

This was a music download site that I was really addicted to.

Damn.

What next?

Where do I go to now?

I don't want a P2P site that "invades" my machine and screws up my computer.

So I ask the question again, where next?

Flight of the Conchords: Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

Just as one addiction ends, a new one begins.

This year started for us with an addiction to The Mighty Boosh, then Gavin and Stacey, then Entourage, then The Wire and now thank god, a new (well, new-ish) HBO televisual feast to see us through the long, cold winter nights

Flight of the Conchords

Saw this episode last night and my stomach hurt with so much laughter...

OBAMA - a montage of hope

YES WE CAN

Thanks i-Boy

This made my morning!

OBAMA, The world's first Long Tail president, albeit with a Big Head

He did it!

Thank god.

Bleary-eyed but triumphant - a new beginning.

Roll on January 20th and Inauguration Day.

I wanted to share some thoughts I had about Obama and Long Tail Politics.

When it came to the Democratic nomination battle, I thought that Hilary and Obama were the perfect political Big Head and Long Tail analogies. Think back to the start of the year when Hilary had the large Democratic fundraisers seemingly tied up and was clearly the party establishment favourite, Obama instead looked away from the Big Head and towards the Long Tail. In January 2008 through his smart use of the socialized web, Obama broke US fund-raising records. He raised $32m in a single month. (Hilary raised $13.5 million) $28m of Obama's total came directly through online contributions, another record and 90% of it was in denominations of less than $100, while 40% were donations under $25. Unheard of.

In addition to harnessing the financial might of the Long Tail, Obama was also harnessing the grassroots mobilization might of the Tail via technology. Through Central Desktop software "precinct captains" were managed online. These volunteers were responsible for getting out the vote and spreading the campaign message. Social Media enabled supporters to connect out to other supporters and take actions either individually or together. Marc Andreessen noted: "the Senator was personally interested in the rise of social networking, Facebook, Youtube, and user-generated content, and casually but persistently grilled us on what we thought the next generation of social media would be and how social networking might affect politics." 

Like Clay Shirky says: "the desire to be part of a group that shares, cooperates or acts in concert is a basic human instinct."

Obama also opened up a conversation. I remember getting an email from his campaign team entitled Feedback: "Your feedback is crucial. Whether you've been involved heavily or just a bit, been a supporter since the beginning or are new to this movement, your feedback will inform the planning for the next phase of this extraordinary campaign: Your work, your passion, and your stories have defined this movement and have been instrumental in our success -- and as we move into the next stage of this race, your input is more valuable than ever. What was successful? What wasn't? How can our campaign organization improve moving forward?" Can you imagine any UK political leader or party asking for genuine feedback in that way?

But what was so extraordinary was in the final weeks of campaigning Obama's team showed just how savvy they were with their purchasing of a  30 minute "Obama Infomercial" on US primetime. Classic Big Head rather than Long Tail behaviour. But it worked 33.5 million people watched. And look where we are today.

So what can we learn from all of this?

The Long Tail and Social Media is critical, but in order to succeed you have to balance that with classic Big Head engagements tactics too.

Old world ways as well as new world.

Its a lesson for brands as well as politicians.

It worked for Obama, the 44th President of the USA!

The Muppets sing the praises of London

Miserable day but this made me smile.

The Killers - musical crack

Somehow I just can't get this song out of my head.

I've been singing it for weeks and weeks.

I think its genius.

Kind of 80s, kind of pop, kind of rock.

The Killers - "Human"

I know that I shouldn't love it as much as I do, but I am utterly addicted.

Roll on their concerts at The O2 next year!