New consumers in a media culture vol. 1

Perspectives from the past…

Sociologists, media analytics, philosophers and other scholars argue that our culture has grown more complex within the last 50 years. It means that cultural layers between the individual in itself and the individual in the culture has become harder to decode than it was a few hundred years ago. Personally I think it is nonsense; the culture is as complex as always, we’re just experiencing a new paradigm – just as many generations before us. The interesting thing this time around is that it has become clear to the masses that something has to be decoded and that they’re able to contribute to both message and the decoding of that (media) message.

With modern eyes it all started with the Gutenberg Bible, which made it possible for everyone to read the word of the Bible – in the 14th century those words were the Truth. Thus the given cultural code was democratized. The printing of the Gutenberg led to – if not directly then indirectly – to the protestant reformation by Martin Luther. Now why is this important when talking about new consumers? It was the very starting point to when people started looking critically at the messages they received from what was supposed to be the truth.

But the Reformation was only the beginning. Another big player in the development of our culture was science. Galilei, Kepler, Kopernicus and Bruno challenged the common belief system (and some of them got killed for that), and made way for the secularisation that paved  the street with modernazition and rationalization. God and the Earth was no longer the centre of the universe and that made way for a relative perspective on life. There was no longer anything given, thus people had to create their own perception on the questions, which there were no longer answers to.

And that lead us to the next chapter in which we’ll see how these movements in our culture produced a new kind of human, and how that human became a consumer…

Free your mind and knowledge will follow

Have you checked out Wikipedia today? If not, do it! Wikipedia might not be the most reliable source of information ever, but as with everything else you have to make critical evaluations of your sources. With that in mind this encyclopedia of the digital age is the largest bibliotheca of information in the history of mankind – and that counts for something.

At this very moment the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could block the free and open Internet. Wikipedia has gone into a blackout for 24 hours to raise awareness of the importance of an open source encyclopedia. This is of course not only about Wikipedia, but also about the very right to open and free knowledge in the digital age of mankind.

Welcome to the jungle… We’ve got funny games!

Even though social media has become a well-integrated part of our lives, it still seems that a lot of people has a hard time figuring out where to be and what to use. And of course there’s no simple answer (lucky for us), but still, it’s all about making sense in the given situation – as socializing always has been about dah! The infographic only gives you a quick guide on how to manoeuvre at the moment, but the jungle is tricky, you know. It plays by it’s own rules.

I’m in. You’re out!

The infographic is pretty funny, but at the same time a screenshot from the time being. We’ve seen these platforms transform and suddenly something new is top of the food chain. Google+ has been bashed a lot since it crashed landed in the jungle of social media. Check out this joke for instance:

But the thing about Google+ is that it has an abundance of opportunities that we haven’t see rolled out yet. We’re not saying that it’s going to take over the world in 2012, but it has the potential to “become” the web in greater extent than Facebook – even though Facebook has had its eyes set on just that for years. Remember we said POTENTIAL! 800.000.000 users are hard to compete with though. But a couple of years back we saw the same thing with MySpace and Facebook, so who knows. Justin Timberlake just bought MySpace and plans to resurrect the sleeping jukebox hero. It’ll be exiting to see where he’s taking it.

The point of all the verbal diarrhoea is: social media has proven to move as fast and transforming as fashion for example – the two of them are much alike… So be prepared! We are. Scouts honor!

Had enough Social Media?

Are you on Google+?

If not, then try Not Google+ an amazing new offline Social Media. We can’t wait to not meet you there.

- Jonathan

Awesome stuff: Go the fuck to sleep.

Today we kicking off a new and reoccurring theme on our blog: Awsome stuff!
The title is pretty self explanatory, but just to clarify: it is all about stuff that’s awesome!

Awesome stuff has tendency to be the best starting point for awesome marketing. When comparing their brand to Apple, Google and Nike, a lot of people have a tendency to forget that they make some pretty fucking awesome products. So over the next couple months lets take it back to the roots and celebrate all the stuff that is actually worth talking about.

What better way to start than with a children’s book. Yup, thats rigtht. At Very we love kids, shit we love them so much we even have a couple of them ourselves. But children’s books have a tendency to be not awesome.

”Go the fuck to sleep” does not fit that category. It is a children’s book born out of the joy/frustration of getting your little sack of screams to sleep at night. And what better way to promote the book then by having the all time grand master of saying FUCK, Samuel L Jackson read it?

Naturally the Fuck/Sam Jackson combo has created tremendous viral hype and the book has sold around 25% of it’s stock in preorder. Awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW0A6L9kx4c&feature=related

And for all the members of the “real time police” out there: We are aware that this is not “fresh off Twitter” new newness – we read about it in May as well. This however does not make less awesome.

Lets put it in rhyme:

Your knowledge of everything current is great,
but please could you silence you tweets?
We value your input, but you are missing the point.
Shut down your Macbook and go the fuck to sleep!

- Jonathan

Will Google+ be a plus for companies?

In a couple of months Google+ will launch its brand pages, and now the big question is: How will Google+ affect the way companies use social media?

Here are a couple of thoughts from an article from Mashable:

• Google+ will provide better search opportunities.
• The brand pages will have more customization.
• There will be better analytics.
  
• And last but not least. Google can learn from Facebook.

We are excited and hope you are too!

Read the whole article by following this link:http://mashable.com/2011/08/07/google-plus-brand-page/

- Robin.

MTV Style + glacéau vitaminwater

In june we launched glacéau vitamimwater in Denmark with a cross media, community marketing campaign. We will update the site with a full case description in the near future. In the meantime enjoy these videos from our launch partner MTV. You might even pick up some style tips. Enjoy.

MTV Style – glacéau vitaminwater, launch party from Very on Vimeo.

More videos after the jump

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Already a minus for Google+

Google+ had a great start, but it seems that the new big social network from Google is facing difficulties.

A new report from Experian Hitwise reveals that both traffic and the time users spend on Google+ is decreasing.

Total visitors declined 3% in the U.S. for the week ending July 23 and average time on site fell 10%.

Follow this link and read more about it on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2011/07/27/google-plus-traffic-falls

- Robin.

Becks – The Green Box Project

What better way to celebrate the launch of Very Digital, than with a great example of a community anchored digital case.

Becks has just launched the Green Box Project. In Becks own words the project is:

“The world’s largest cultural commissioning programme of its kind. Launching the world’s first networked Augmented Reality Gallery and in 7 cities across the globe.”

Little green boxes are placed around the world. When they are viewed through a Becks app called “the key” you see an augmented reality artwork. The project is launched with art pieces commissioned from a wide range of internationally acclaimed artists. The aim is to get artists from all over the world to submit pieces.

The video does a great job of describing the project. If you are interested in seeing how a brand can use community ambassadors to support, build and strengthen their brand, using digital and mobile media, watch it. Alternately you can give us a call: 26824222

More videos about The Green Box project here: http://vimeo.com/greenboxproject