An amazing new concept printer from @artefactgroup. #invent
Why we should define problems first- a thought starter I created. #inspiration
Refusing to embrace radicalism means to refuse ideas.
Martin Weigel, on ideas.
via @mweigel.
The Web Video and Its Discontents
Here’s a piece I did for The Bulb, my company’s blog.
—-
The challenge.
“Hey planner, go write something interesting.”
The filter.
“Why?”
The authoritative call to action.
“Because we need a think piece for our blog. Something that makes people stroke their chins and nod.”
Ah, yes. With this, I am quite familiar.
***
The planner searches the web eagerly looking for new “ideas to shed light on.” The manifesto of the as-of-yet slightly underfed Bulb echoing around his mind, he goes to his top four: Adweek, Ad Age, PSFK, Mashable. Something about Google, Something about Google, Something About Designing an Eco-Friendly Farm, Something About Twitter.
Damn. Gonna have to exhaust more resources.
New York Times. Huffington Post. CNN.
Bingo.
“What makes a video go viral?”
The Cable News Network to the rescue! The red banner bar FTW.
***
Videos saturate this generations’ view of the world. With our iPhone 4’s we can record anything we need to, anything from Ratatat concert to conversation at 3AM about Nietzsche as we finish our nearly warm PBR that hasn’t touched our lips in half an hour because we are too involved with our diatribe about abstract neo-realism and the effect of technology on our society. Yes, even that, can be recorded and spun online.
Thus, YouTube is the autobahn of our information highway system. The speed of culture is much quicker than any Porsche will do.
The landmarks that populate the highway: the “viral” video. Named for the nature of the virus, to spread quickly and effectively. A winner is the ultimate success for many brands, information sources, and content creators en masse.
I would like to further explore the idea of viral. Of virality. Of viralness. Of made-up words.
Viral: Something that can be remedied in 36-48 hours with use of antibiotics. It is easy to get over— it keeps your fancy for nearly three minutes, a quick copy of embed code and post to your Tumblr and you’re out. Over. Gone and onto the next thing.
Sometimes (Old Spice) a viral video can linger for a week or two. But, like clockwork, it is quickly forgotten.
What does CNN say?
“Content succeeds online… because it brings people joy, it makes them smile — it’s interesting enough to be passed along to friends and family members. That’s no stunt…it’s just a matter of making something that’s genuine and interesting,” says Damian Kulash, lead singer of OKGo, a band known for its out-of-box web videos.
What does the planner say?
Branded viral content works only when it works.
Quickly read several times and try and digest myriad insights from cryptic sentence.
Any brand can’t just stand up in their ideation chamber and shout “let’s make a viral!” because, let’s face it, their brand ideas just don’t support something like that.
One San Francisco ice cream shop is known almost only for its online videos: kittens in hats eating ice cream. That’s it.
Kittens. In hats. Eating ice cream.
Viral? Oh, yes. Brand enhancing? Doubtful. Adorable-cute-OHMYGOD?! Well, of course. That’s the category.
Good brands can live almost anywhere provided they keep whom they are in mind. YouTube is one place. And all of the effort, thought, and action may lead to a high metric (oh my god, seven million hits!) and a slow spread down the Autobahn. Still, it only means a call to follow-up. It means back to the ideation chamber. It means asking your planner why sales haven’t increased since your million-hit-winner.
***
The Bulb isn’t through with me yet, the planner muses, on what is likely becoming his last invitation.
***
Restatement of premise: we all can make videos all of the time.
This is NEW!
The expansion of technology means that the holders of cooler technologies are the instant wins. Look at YouTube Play. It’s 25 videos chosen by a jury, aired at the Guggenheim, and broadcasted live. (How many watched it live? Probably none. It’s got its tens of million hits… But, that’s another Bulb post.) Almost each of these twenty five chosen videos is in some way innovative technology that the rest of us don’t have. And none of it is kittens in hats eating ice cream. Because, well…
So when brands want to make viral videos, the first question must be why. And how. And what will it actually do.
People like things that make them laugh, that wow them, that in some way enhance their lives. They want this from their YouTube videos and they want this from their brands. So figure out where the intersection lies and film away. Just don’t spend millions, because you can probably record it from an iPhone.
And without further ado:
IDEO blows my mind.
Where Products Go To Die
(The Internet.)
This packaging is unbelievable. Makes me want to drink the shit out of the beer.
Especially this one: 
It seems time and again that clever, innovative design is done for show and never implemented. There is a new class of designers that far exceeds traditional capacities. And our obsession with consistency in branding and bureaucracy is inhibiting our society to become what it is trying to be.
The Dollar Rede$ign project at Fast Company is an excellent example of not putting our money where our mouth is (bad pun intended).
This bill (and the rest of the series, seen: here) is a beautiful away from our traditionalist form. And yet, we will simply watch these pass us, as we cling to what we call our traditions.
It is time for all of this inspired design to see implementation. All of this talking is not necessarily communicating.
by jay julian cohen
