MyÜberLife

                                         SiSoMo:

In today’s crowded market place, where customers are bombarded with informational stimuli, a brand must constantly keep their target audience engaged. 

‘Sisomo’ is a marketing approach that uses a combination of Sight, Sound and Motion on the screen. This marketing approach allows for creatives, interactives, media thinkers, planners, and advertisement executives to work in conjunction to create deep emotions amongst their target audience.

There are many positive results of the recent technological advancements, but one negative, is that the ever-growing influx of information has caused attention-spans to shorten. The fundamental question is how does a brand keep an audience engaged long enough to care about the brands message? The answer begins with ‘Sisomo.’ ‘Sisomo’ addresses the deeper human emotions within consumers.  The higher-arching philosophy behind ‘Sisomo’ is that all human beings take in information through the five senses. The senses being sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

When a brand sends a message across a particular medium, the recipient will interact with that message using their five senses. The brand will send a message to a recipient that can be interpreted through as many of the five senses as possible. If the message resonates within the recipient, and is positively interpreted, a long lasting impression will be formed and an action-oriented intuition (sixth sense) will cause the recipient to take the next step.

The ‘impression’ is of the utmost value to a brand. This ’impression’ leads to brand evangelism through advocacy, purchasing intent and brand loyalty. When a recipient is fully engaged, a deep emotional intuition says, “this brand is worthy of my attention and I am now ready to make a purchase.” This ‘impression’ is gold and leads to the coveted next step. The coveted next step is to have customers seek out the brand who offered them that authentic experience and make a purchase. 

When a brand can create a deep emotional connection within their customer, the brand can help the customer to take the the next step by infusing the characteristics of that particular experience into their marketing and products. When infused correctly, the marketing will serve as a reminder of that initial experience. If the process of initial engagement to purchase is positive, the customer will take a third step and return again to the brand. The support of a returning customer who is willing to purchase products, tell their friends of their experience and further interact with the brand is the holy grail of brand marketing. ‘Sisomo’ is a great tool for brands looking to create deeper bonds within their targeted customer base and for the creation of brand loyalist. 

VMAN magazine #22, filmed by Pierre Debusschere, is an example of ‘Sisomo.’ The film stars model, Adriana Lima (Marilyn Agency), in ‘Adriana Lima and The Boys From Brazil,’ and co-stars two of Brazil’s top male models, Jean Carlos Santos (Ford NY) and Romulo Pires (Wilhelmina).  The models are wearing brands such as Prada, The Baroness, Tablevaux Viviant, and are styled  by Tom Van Dorpe, fashion market editor at V magazine/ Vman . The music of Frédéric Ameel of 254 Studio is perfectly placed and combined with dynamic and sightly visuals, making for a very engaging film that allows for creativity and business objectives to come to the forefront. This high impact film was made to resonate and showcase the talent and branded products involved in a positive and highly artistic light. The overall goal is to have the viewer fully engaged and to leave an emotional impact within us. Please press play, and feel the impact. 

Posted by Jey Van-Sharp of MyUberLife

Everything is a Remix is a 4 part short video series from writer / director / editor, Kirby Ferguson.  The series explores the concept of creation, and how just about everything in our society, from ideas and products, to services and experiences, are essentially a remix of something that came before it.

The video above is the first part of the series where Kirby explores the origins of the word “remix” and demonstrates that the actual concept of “remixing” dates back long before the introduction of hip hop into ‘mass’ culture.  He cites everyone from prolific rock group, Led Zeppelin, to experimental writer, William Burroughs, who, in 1961, was the first person to coin the phrase “Heavy Metal,” taken from his novel The Soft Machine.  Ironically, Burroughs’ book was also an early example of “remixing,” having been completed by implementing the ‘cut-up technique,’ which takes existing writing, chops it up, and rearranges it into a new format.

Later in the video Kirby goes on to examine the concept of ‘legal remixing,’ which, as Kirby defines, are ‘covers’ - performances of other people’s material, and ‘knock-offs’ - copies that stay within legal boundaries.  It’s important to note that ‘Covers’ and ‘knock-offs’ are not new concepts; they are complex issues that continue to plague the cultural economy, especially within the world of fashion.

In the later parts of the series Kirby explores the worlds of film, philosophy, and technology to further reinforce his supposition that “remixing” is a way of life, and without it, innovation could not exist.

To me, what’s really interesting about this video, and its successive parts, is that it demonstrates that copying and borrowing are a natural part of the creative process.  That throughout history, it is nearly impossible to find any idea, concept, innovation, product, service, or experience that did not copy or borrow elements from someone or something else already in existence.

In fact, Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, confirms this idea in his landmark book on personal success.  In the book, Hill introduces the concept of synthetic imagination and states that it is one of the primary means to creation and invention.  Hill stated that, “one may arrange old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations.  This faculty […] works with the material of experience, education, and observation with which it is fed.  It is the faculty most used by the inventor […].”

Many times, its during the act of copying or borrowing that we stumble upon our own genius, and begin on our own paths towards greatness.  Often, its our failure to fully emulate the person or thing we are attempting to copy that leads us to our own unique gifts.  Conan O’Brien, popular talk show host, and arguably a comedic genius, confirms this point in his 2011 commencement speech at Dartmouth College.  Conan stated that, “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.  It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune, and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound reinvention.”

Enjoy the part 1 of Everything is a Remix shown above.  Parts 2 and 3 are also available at http://vimeo.com/14912890.  Part 4 comes out this fall.  Happy watching! 

posted by Kwasi Gyasi and Winston Peters of MyUberLife

By now, we are accustomed to seeing luxury brands collaborate with established musicians to add a new layer of context and cache to their brand.  However, its interesting to see when a top brand departs from the “pack,” and collaborates with an emerging artist in an effort to not only connect with a growing consumer segment, but also provide a foundation for a new talent to launch their career.

The video above is a collaboration between fashion powerhouse Dolce & Gabbana and emerging electro-pop artist, Florrie, based out of the UK.  Staying in sync with the “emerging” concept, Dolce also tapped Paris-based up-and-coming fashion photographer / film maker, Jason Wu, to shoot the short video.

In the video, Florrie can be seen strolling through Paris dressed head-to-toe in Dolce & Gabbana clothing.  The video also features the artist’s latest song “I Took A Little Something,” from her latest album, Experiements.  In addition to the video, the Dolce & Gabbana brand is giving Florrie a significant marketing push via their social media platforms.  Going so far as to stage an exclusive launch of the video on Dolce & Gabbana’s branded web-magazine, Swide.com.

But what’s really smart about Dolce & Gabbana’s initiative is:

1. The collaboration incorporates the musician in a fashion video: an emmersive environment where the artist and her talents can be used to add emotional context to the brand, both on a visual and auditory level.

2. Choosing an emerging musician and film maker shows an emerging luxury consumer segment (i.e. Gen Y), that Dolce & Gabbana is cool, progressive, and keeps their proverbial “ear to the streets” to see what kind of talent is climbing through the ranks.  Dolce & Gabbana is positioning themselves as an authentic purveyor of taste beyond their design aesthetic, which is a strong long-term strategy for any luxury brand trying to maintain cache over time.

3. Supporting two emerging artists and giving them a push via Dolce & Gabbana’s massive social network could be viewed as an altruistic statement.  In essence, Dolce & Gabbana could be perceived as a brand that “supports the emerging artist.”  This, again, could strike an emotional cord, as it could be perceived as a philanthropic gesture - an attempt for a large brand to do good for those who could benefit from the brand’s power and influence.  Yet, the “ideal” philanthropic gesture is an act of giving without any expectation of something in return.  So in this case, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was philantropic in nature, but rather a good job of softening the perception of a detailed strategic marketing move.

Happy watching!

Posted by Kwasi Gyasi of MyUberLife

“She Wants” from Metronomy’s latest album The English Riviera.  Directed by French duo Jul & Mat, and produced by Solab.

First off, I’d like to say that I truly dig Metronomy and their blend of moody electro pop.  Their echoey hooks and Cure-ish bass-lines always put a slight grin on my face.  If you haven’t heard it yet I suggest you steal a listen. 

The band’s Michael Gondry-esq video is a great example of Promotion-Within-Promotion (PWP): incorporating subtle promotional devices within an already established promotional device.  I think we can all agree that a music video is already an attempt to promote a band’s album or song in an engaging way.  However, some bands, in this case Metronomy, have took this type of engagement to another level and amplified their music video’s promotional power.  

At the 2:51 mark in the video, you can see the placement of a QR-Code, also known as a 2D barcode, within one of the shots; an apparent attempt to drive traffic to their personal website.  Anyone with a smartphone capable of scanning QR-Codes can pause the video, scan the code with their phone, and be whisked off to the Metronomy website.  Once at the site, you can either watch Metronomy’s latest video, sign up for their newsletter, or peruse the rest of their site at your own leisure.

This is also a perfect demonstration of target audience alignment since Metronomy fans are likely to fall under the generation Y grouping, a consumer base known for being technologically savvy and leaders in smartphone adoption. 

Metronomy’s barcode implementation is also aligned with the new trend in consumer convergence: translating the consumer’s activities from the computer screen to the mobile phone.  Essentially, Metronomy is seamlessly taking their fans from one touchpoint to another while providing additional options in engagement. This transition creates an almost omnipresent experience for a consumer interfacing with a particular brand, or in this case, band.  

Kudos to Metronomy, or their marketing team, on the forward-thinking marketing concept.  ;-)  

posted by Kwasi Gyasi of MyUberLife