Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Oh Kanye. First you go all meme-ish the other week after the VMAs. Where, predictably, just about all of us with a computer had to go and Photoshop up some sort of spoof of your Taylor "Swift-boating" incident. Some pretty reputable-sounding rumors out there even have you and Jay-Z orchestrating the whole thing. Because everybody in y'all's camp won. His wife Beyonce looked saintly at the end of the show. You get to go on Leno with Jay and Rhianna the next night goosing the ratings for Jay and promoting self. And Jay-Z's new album--which not so coincidentally features guest artists from his latest label imprint, as well as tracks you produced--becomes his 11th album to top the Billboard 200. Thus breaking a record held by Elvis Presley. But I digress.

Mind you, I know. You're smarter than most give you credit for. You're no more a pawn in Jay-Z's master plan than you are the vision of unchecked assholery that others think you are. You think about these things. Maybe not 100% of the time. But certainly in general. And your operational philosophy basically announces to the world that you don't care how many haters you have as long as they know how to spell your name right in their tweets and blog posts. And feed a publicity machine that jumps from social media to mainstream media and back so fast and so often that the release of the above video actually spawned a "trending-topic" flood of "RIP Kanye" tweets this week.

Which makes people watch the video. That is directed in the beautiful and provocative style of one Spike Jonze. Because Spike Jonze directed it. And it's probably promoting something that we're not even aware of yet, in addition to Jonze's box-office-topping film "Where the Wild Things Are" and your song "See You in My Nightmares."

For whatever it's worth, Jonze is saying that you jumped the gun posting the video on your blog before it was finished, before mysteriously taking it down later. But okay, enough of the second person, I'll call you Kanye from now on and act like a reporter or something. From today's New York Times, Jonze had this to say about the leak.

This is the first time it's happened to me and it is a weird feeling, like, 'Wait a second -- I wasn't ready to put that out! That's mine. Uh, no, I guess it's not mine anymore.'

Nonetheless, his enthusiasm for the project was quite evident in the following statement. Jonze continued.

We rehearsed the night before we shot, and talked about trying to get to that raw place, that sad, pathetic, drunken, lost place. I told him, the more shameless it is, the more pathetic it is, the better. He just went for it.

I like Kanye and I care about him. This video is a side of him. I don't know what the reception is going to be, but I love making stuff with him. I love the guy.

A couple of thoughts. First, I'm pretty sure that the reception will partition folks into their usual camps: those who dig Kanye, those who dig his art but find him to be a bit of a douche, and those who hate his ass with passion and find him to be a total douche. But personally, I'm starting to think he's working an angle that's much more actively thought through than most people give him credit for.

This short film--about fighting inner demons--was in the works for months. And seemingly leads one down a trail that has been mapped out. With plenty of layovers on the social-media world tour. If you ask me, I'm guessing that it leads to a place where Kanyeeze will be pitching us an elaborate musical story about the personal salvation that comes after acute heartbreak. Just hazarding a guess here, but maybe all of these antics are just prep work for an even more elaborate pitch for public redemption.

Either way, we'll know about it. Because whether they love Kanye or revile him, fans, influencers, and even detractors will all be working hard to get the word out.

Daniel Turman

How long is too long for a web page layout?  In his 2007 post "The Fold is an Unnecessary Design Limitation" here on the ThreeMinds blog, Rod MacQuarrie pointed out that using the "above the fold" design principle inherited from the print world isn't always a best practice, and not always applicable to how online content is read by users.  Trying to get all content "above the fold" doesn't acknowledge how users recognize and interact with their browsers' scrollbars.

That post was one of the most viewed in the history of this blog, and generated a heated discussion among readers who argued the pros and cons of designing sites to accommodate long-form content and the predilection for users to scroll significantly if given the right cues.

While the debate continues almost two years later, at least one brand -- Japanese retailer UNIQLO -- has embraced the long-form layout with a vengeance, creatively using a "sandbox" content design to fills a 28,200 pixel long page.

In their "From Tokyo to Paris" page, UNIQLO has placed blocks of content in a flowing grid that runs the entire page length.  Scrolling down (and down) reveals a visually dynamic stream of clothing designs and story modules covering their Cannes t-shirt design contest, a recent Paris store opening and global news and comments on the brand from their team and the public. A pixel ruler on the right margin provides a navigation cue and reinforces the page height. Cleverly, only the content near the browser's page position is loaded, preventing a crushing page load. 

As one of our creatives said, he went all the way to the bottom of the page to see what was there, claiming "It's just proof what you can do. There should be no boundaries." Organic creative Matthew Tait, another UNIQLO fan, also pointed out last year's "Unlimited Web Page" by Orange UK, which continues to grow in length as long as the page is open in the browser window.

So, do the UNIQLO and Orange pages indicate a trend in hyper-long page length?  Not really -- it's more appropriate to look at it as another experimental user experience designed by a brand that most people will encounter digitally long before they ever visit a store (There's only one store in the US, in NYC).  UNIQLO's site is full of other exploration-rewarding experiments, such as their Grid and Calendar.  This type of experience is a core part of their brand.

However, Joe Leech's "The Myth of the Fold" post does provide several examples of long-form pages on more commonly-used e-commerce and content sites like the BBC, Amazon and the New York Times, emphasizing that user exploration "below the fold" is usually a result of thoughtful content and visual design.  He recommends against in-page scroll bars (as seen with a frameset) because users will usually check to see if a browser window scrollbar appears when the page loads.  

Are long-form pages becoming a trend or even the norm?  That remains to be seen, but I will offer two points for why we might be moving in that direction.

1. The most popular blog, video sharing and social networking sites now feature content and user commentary in a long "feed" that requires longer or vertically expandable pages.
On Facebook, for example, the stream of status notes from friends really pushes users to click the "Older Posts" button on the bottom of the page -- I'm sure that button is hit *a lot*, and that the average expanded page length for most user sessions is much longer than what's visible "above the fold".

2. The touch interfaces that first appeared on mobile devices are now becoming more common on laptops and desktops.
Gesture-based scrolling through long-form content is very easy and intuitive, and as touch interfaces become commonplace in the future, the gesture-based "long scroll" could become a more standard part of user experience design.

We welcome (another) good discussion on this topic, so please post here after checking out our 2007 post, Joe Leech's more recent one, and of course UNIQLO's great site and design experiments.

Jay Bain

For those of you not from the Bay Area or familiar with the hyphy subsegment of the hip-hop universe, the name Mistah FAB isn't going to ring any bells. But for the rest of us, I can't help but wonder if this seemingly unlikely digital partnership has a commercial twist. Is Twitter using FAB as a promotional vehicle to unlock an urban market? And paying him to do so? Or is FAB just using Twitter (presumably with permission) to create new levels of access for his fans and extend the reach of his personal brand? Or am I overthinking all of this and he's just name checking a social-media trend, the way rappers name check everything from cars to cognac?

Anyway, I guess there's only one way to get some answers. I'm fixin' to do what the song said  and hit him on Twitter. Any revelations will be added to this post in subsequent updates.

Daniel Turman

Update #1: MistahFAB@dturman appreciate the love an the world will find out soon the answer to your ?
dturman@MistahFAB Ha! I figured that at the very least if you givin' them breakfast for free, then you're about to make them pay for some lunch.

Toyota is showing people what their latest product has to offer in a novel, useful way. Not only is their third-generation Prius (launching 2010) a full hybrid -- meaning it can be completely powered by battery -- it is embedded with solar panels that can help cool the inside of the vehicle.

They're promoting their use of solar energy and energy conservation in urban areas across the United States while playing off their tagline "Harmony between man, nature and machine." People in New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and LA will get the benefits of free solar-powered Wi-Fi and power outlets via giant Toyata flowers. The base of the plastic flowers consist of benches with 110-volt outlets that operate daily from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The company is also demonstrating its solar ventilation in bus shelters.

I'd love to see these energy pods travel and become a permanent fixture in more cities. How often have you been out and about and needed to connect, but not wanted (or too cheap like me) fries with that Wi-Fi? Maybe it could be owned by cities whom could lease out sponsorships to brands. I bet there are a lot of cities who could use some extra dough right now. Arnold, there's an idea for you.

Thanks to Jim Napolitano for the link.

Sarah Jo Sautter

Exhibit A: BooneOakley's new website.



Did you click? Press play. But try clicking from the traditional URL too: booneoakley.com. See how you were seamlessly ported off to the YouTube video. It is the agency's site. One that has embedded links to the portfolio and all other points of relevant interest. And all presented in convenient YouTube format. Shareable, embeddable, and comment-able. And , as one commenter noted: "Boone Oakley - 1, The rest of you hacks - 0."

Exhibit B: Getyourbasketballon.com.



Blast Radius hires Charlie Murphy from The Chappelle Show to star in an elaborate and ingenious mythology around the man who beat out Michael Jordan for the last spot on his 10th grade basketball team: Leroy Smith. Deliberately lo-fi, the site's brilliant integration of YouTube and social media is matched by the talent on hand. Better still, it promotes Nike subsidiary, Brand Jordan, without a single Jumpman logo to be seen. And Charlie Murphy as a ludicrous basketball motivational specialist? It's like unaired Chappelle show sketches.

Now, for the rest of us? Time to get our YouTube on.

Daniel Turman

PS. Hat tip to Sacha Reeb for finding the BooneOakley site and providing the following commentary: "Smart site placement. Direct viral path. Endless seeding possibilities." Agreed. See Exhibit A.

PPS. Not all of the Leroy story is a myth. He really did beat out Jordan for the one spot for a sophomore on their team, largely because he was taller. And as an homage, Jordan used the name "Leroy Smith" as his alias when checking into hotels throughout his career.

image credit: Bonnaf

News sources reported earlier this week that the TV networks just might be developing a series based on Twitter.

It sounds like it would be unscripted, competitive and non-professional talent. The description is vague, but it leaves me wondering how it'd really work.

The Cast
Would just anyone be able to participate or would it be only pre-selected Twitters? I'm thinking about MTV's The Hills. Before the series, the actors were simply Hollywood wannabees. It was the success of the show that turned them into full on celebrities.

Frequency
In order for it to be interesting and meaningful, it'd have to be real-time. Otherwise it'd just seem fake. Would you be able to watch the show and them Twittering at the same time?

Content
What would a televised show give viewers that Twitter couldn't? I'm already on Twitter. Even if I decide to follow some seemingly interesting "cast" of "friends," why would I devote time in front of the tube to them?

Medium
Is TV the right medium for this? It seems more fitting for the interactive sphere. More pointedly, Twitter is engaging. Unless you're on Twitter interacting in dialogue, why would you want to read static posts?

So, I'm a cynic. What do you think of the idea? What would make you watch the show?

Sarah Jo Sautter

With the launch of their promotional site, the new beer Zoogami asks it's audience "What's contemporary for you?". Based on your answer, it pulls together a customized multimedia experience that supposedly represent how the beer might make you feel when you drink it. Forget tasty microbrews (actually please don't)... this beer is like ADD MTV and grinding club music.

What Works
The site pulls in real images, audio, and video from YouTube, Google, and other sites across the social web. It's fun and intriguing to see what sort of results come back for your word entry. I put in "contemporary flavor" and got back everything from Flavor Flav to tongue mapping charts, all set to a Latin inspired techno beat. The result was pretty entrancing, if not a little seizure inducing.

What Doesn't Work Besides the looooong load times, Zoogami really missed the "social" aspect of "social media". There is a list of recently entered phrases you can view when you get finished, but why not have people rank and comment on others creations. Why is there no way to share your results? An execution like this begs for a simple Facebook connect integration that posts your "contemporary creation" back into your news feed for further discussion.

Thanks to Jen Oskar for the link.

Marta Strickland