One to Watch: Our Video of the Week

Why is Google Causing Trouble for Glass?

Cultural strategist Douglas Holt recently asked a good question: Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? He answers in this important essay. Every marketer should read it, if you haven’t already. 

The gist is that the post-modern consumer finds resistance through consumerism appealing. It’s a way of filtering out some of the noise to let in what seems more authentic. 

Brand resistance is not only being accounted for, but incorporated into consumer culture itself. To wit, this Google Glasshole video. It’s a clever example of a stealth tactic that makes an idea brand more human.

Infographic: Tumblr by the Numbers

I picked up Dan Zarella's new book, The Science of Marketing, and I'm glad I did. As always, Dan is full of no-nonsense advice on how to deploy social media in ways that build brands.

Here's an infographic from Zarella's insightful web site that gives you a quick-hit visual on what drives traffic on Tumblr. Very helpful.

SlideShare’s Most Popular (and Best-Loved) Presentations

This week, SlideShare celebrated hitting the 10 million mark. Imagine that. It’s more proof that despite all the carping about the Internet’s vast wasteland of silly content, many of us are using it as a key learning tool. Over the years, I’ve found incredible gems on SlideShare, like this one from marketing innovator Frank Striefler. 

Have a look at the cream that floats to the top among 10 million curious, engaged people here: http://www.slideshare.net/Slideshare/10-million-uploads-our-favorites

One to Watch: Our Video of the Week

This week’s pick is brought to you by a worldwide scavenger hunt game. Geocaching, in which players find and log "cache" boxes using GPS technology, has been around since 2000. But it’s the relatively recent rise of smart phones, with their integrated GPS systems, which has caused the game to take off like a rocket. It has also meant very real capital gain for Groundspeak, which runs the largest geocaching community and sells everything from cache boxes to backpacking gear and trinkets.

Their brilliant little video, which is designed to sell Geocaching’s $9.99 iPhone app, explains a complex game in less than 2 minutes, and without dialogue. In a larger sense, it speaks to the collaboration which is at the heart of so much Millennial entertainment. The people in the video use their iPhone app to forge, rather than forego, human interaction (check out that key moment at 0:14 where the man takes out his earbuds). And most importantly, it sparks curiosity among its viewers—at least for this viewer. I immediately did a quick check on the geocaching website and learned that there are more than 50 cache boxes hiding within one mile of my house!