Should “sin” brands steer clear of social media?

Should some brands be unsociable?  That is, are some products and services better off being wallflowers at the social media ball?

Rob Marsh, author of the branding blog Brand Story, ran an interesting post recently about the difficulty so-called “sin” brands (i.e. distilled spirits) have keeping social conversations socially responsible and reasonably on theme.

The front-end of social marketing involves pumping out contextual content to engage fans and get them talking.  But as Marsh rightly points out, the end game of any social campaign is the online chatter it generates. For some brands (and product categories) the prospect for robust viral  publicity is offset by the possibility that fringe fans will dominate online conversations in ways that actually malign the brand. 

Transmedia takes root in children's book publishing

Speaking last week at the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association’s annual trade show, Kristen McLean, executive director of Association of Booksellers for Children, cited transmedia as one of the leading trends in children’s book publishing. She said transmedia makes it possible to develop narrative properties that can be widely marketed using multiple media platforms such as smartphone apps, web sites, video/film, and social networks. “From now on this is the way young readers will be in the world,” McLean said.

One of the most compelling transmedia models in children’s publishing is The Amanda Project, a teen mystery series by Harper Collins that includes an interactive website experience developed by Fourth Story Media. By going online Amanda fans actively participate in the evolving story - becoming a character and contributing plot ideas, artwork, theories, clues, and more. The immersive nature of The Amanda Project has proven so popular with young readers (and aspiring writers) that some middle school teachers now incorporate it into their creative writing curriculum. 

NEW Myspace …quite a place for transmedia entertainment and cross-media marketers

Myspace relaunched this week as an entertainment platform that now puts content, not people, center stage. Facebook, with its half billion registered users, may have won the race for social network dominance, but judging by this video tour of Myspace's new format, the site could reemerge as an online entertainment powerhouse.

Myspace's new multimedia platform is especially timely considering developments in transmedia entertainment, which breaks storylines into parts and artfully delivers them across multiple media channels. Viewers enjoy a rich and immersive experience when these channels converge, say on a dedicated website ... like the new Myspace. Mobile applications make it possible to view mashed up content on iPad and smartphones. 

NBC's hit TV series Heroes is a model for transmedia storytelling, the central TV story made richer with sub-story lines streamed out using video/film, animation/graphic novels, games, music, twitter and forums, etc. –  for convergence on the show’s website. MTV’s latest teen-thriller Savage County works much the same way. 

If NBC and MTV can host transmedia on their own websites, can’t Myspace serve as a destination aggregator of transmedia productions and cross-media entertainment? It's an exciting thought. 

  

Will commercial sponsors warm up to the new Myspace? Great content and a cleaner, safer social environment will surely help. So does the fact that Myspace still has 122 million registered users worldwide – plus, deep roots in Generation Y who are digitally adept and voracious consumers of entertainment and branded goods. 

Leggo my logo! GAP's flap proves logos are social

Brief makeover, now over. 

GAP’s brief  fling with a new logo is over and everyone (except the design firm, no doubt) is happy again.

So what did we learn?  For one, who knew GAP's fans cared so much?  This became abundantly clear as fans flocked to social media to voice disfavor with the company's new logo design.  What happened with GAP reveals plenty about brands and the new rules of fan engagement!

GAP's decision to nix its new logo raises an interesting question about brand identity: Should customers have any say in something as major as a corporate mark? I believe they do. Logos are social, after all.

Before Twitter and Facebook GAP would  have gone ahead with the logo change, disenfranchising some of its best customers in the process. Thanks to social media the company averted what could have been a costly mistake. GAP listened and truly engaged its customers in the logo issue, and for doing that the brand (and fan base) is all the stronger.