World is Oyster

Fiat - Missed opportunity of the decade

I still remember how excited I was when I learned that Fiat was bringing a new 500 to the US.

At the time was was a college student at a cool internship in the auto industry. Mini Cooper was still making waves with crazy sexy Out Of Home stunts - but even then they were becoming a cliche, Chevy was falling flat on their face with the launch of the HHR and Ford? Ford who?

Fiat sounded obscure, sensual, classic beyond retro. I decided to put off purchase of a car until I could have a shot at this one.

It’s been about 10 years since then - and its hard to describe how disappointed I am with the direction Fiat took the launch. With such good fodder: A sleek product, Install base of hip, loud entusiasts and a small car when people want small cars. I think Fiat fumbled this launch big time - and wasted their first impression with my and younger generations. Below, my :60 second pontification on how:

1. Jennifer Lopez: Why? Jennifer Lopez is a big, bland mainstream brand. She appears in everything from Maybaline to Singing Reality Shows. She lacks mystery, cool, uniqueness, respect and flamboyance. She would make a great face for Chevy Cruze - You guys could have done a lot better. How about Chloe Sevigny? Donald Glover? 
2. A woman: again, why? The car is already adorable. I think Mini had the right strategy when adding masculinity to the brand. Now self aware and insecure men like me can’t drive the car even if we wanted to.
3. See above - J-Lo ruined everything.

But we can still save this, my :30 second pontification of How:

1. Partnerships: Lets find some partnerships that play up a more sophisticated, younger brand. Dazed and Confused Magazine? Wallpaper? Vice? The IFC Channel? Urban OUtfitters would fit well, and offer something a little more mainstream. If you are committed to the female demo, Anthropologie could be huge.
2. Product placement: Provide free cars to every filmaker from New York to Sundance; you may appear in a bunch of duds, but one of them is the next indie favorite.
3.  Write a new Anthem spot, and play it on TV, Hulu and VOD
4. Social: Lets do some Dealer Integration here. We can use those rad Fiat “studios” the dealers paid millions to set up. Gen Y is all about experiences (as opposed to imitating J-Lo) - lets get them into the dealership and give them the tools and incentives to amplify those experiences and drive higher foot traffic. We are selling cars, after all.

Thank you for your time.

The Power of having Power

Facebook and a Fictional Religion

A recent article in Wired points to a study that shows the average 6 degrees of separation commonly accepted as the distance between any two individuals is shortened on Facebook. Naturally, that got me wondering about the fictional religion Bokononism and how that might apply to Social media strategy.

Facebook users are on average only 4 degrees separated from each other. (Facebook blog post on the subject and so much more!)

In Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, we are introduced to a fictional religion which is best described by Wikipedia: 

A foundation of Bokononism is that the religion, including its texts, is formed entirely of lies; however, one who believes and adheres to these lies will have peace of mind, and perhaps live a good life.

I highly suggest you read this book for the full background, or check out the wiki entry to appreciate the true genius of this religion.

Anyhow - what is important to us is a tenant of this fake outlawed, fake religion is the (fake) idea of a Karass - group of people who, often unknowingly, are working together to do God’s will. The group can be thought of as the fingers that support a cat’s cradle (wiki)

Think of a Karass as the human version of quantum entanglement, when two particles are connected and influencing eachother through space with no visible connection.

A Karass is a group of people whose fates - whose lives - are intertwined with each other. Social networks solidify the karass into an object - a social graph- and allow us to look at them individually, like tribes.

Of course, a Karass is a fictional idea - but it lends itself well to thinking of social graphs as massive multi-cellled organisims who may share a common end after all. As individyuals we may not be aware of our networks choices and actions, but that whole may have a distinct personality that can be harnessed or influenced. 

Hmm…

A haiku for today

Change is hard to make
Occupy something, somewhere
Or else stay the same

Math: the latest word problem

If the medium is the message and the consumer is the medium, whats the message?

You’re not immune

A while back I read a report about some dutch researchers who did an experement to see how organic tissue - in this case Ash Trees - respond to prolonged exposure to radiation equivelent to WiFi.

It didn’t go so well for the trees:

“Trees placed closest to the Wi-Fi radio developed a ‘lead-like shine’ on their leaves that was caused by the dying of the upper and lower epidermis”

At the same time, these and similar radiation spheres are all around us - and they are incredibly useful, making our always on / connected lives possible

We are made of those same things; what effect might this new radiation infrastructure have on our bodies and natural world over time? Might we face a similar come-to-jesus moment as we have had with plastics, CO2 and warp drive?

Shit I hope not.

Photo from Our Designed Life

Gen X

according to the Simpsons