Let me elaborate.

I am of the belief that today’s most purposeful marketing (that which satisfies the near-or-long term “bottom line”) is that finds unique ways/methods to embrace/reference/dance around culture. In a landscape ridden by unorganized noise where it’s always rush hour, paired with unlimited interpretations of pounds and pounds of data, it’s often difficult to navigate where to push, where to pull, and quite frankly, where the hell to rest your hat (this is especially true of national/global brands).

Fear not. (And keep reading after the jump.)

To add some perspective to my earlier comparison, I cringe whenever I hear the term “they won’t get it” when discussing campaign/project creative that is perceived to fall short with the “masses” (as if we’re talking to one, singularly-conscious general market). Not so much because it isn’t true, but because it implies that it’s a bad thing (it isn’t). In fact, the moment the argument is even entertained, I’d argue the authoritative tendency of said brand erodes, even if immediately unnoticeable.

Your product or service isn’t going anywhere (at least I hope not), and neither is its fundamental raison d’être. However, keep in mind that culture is the most ethereal variable in your quest for supremacy. No matter how much we as brand stewards think we do, we don’t “own” culture- no one does. Culture is a free-flowing, evolving/devolving phenomenon that we can, at best, permeate or predict-  never fully control.

In my opinion, not making a point is of greater consequence than one’s audience/community/tribe not “getting it”. Because if you’re truly positioned the right way and equipped with an unwavering sense of self (that whole meme of “brands having personalities”), your audience is guaranteed to eventually get “it” because you (and your narrative/creative) will shepherd them there. People know when their intelligence is put on trial. There is nothing more boring or of less impact than a prefabricated, fly-by-night attempt at attention in this era where differentiation is the holy grail. Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week, and engagement takes a leap of faith in looking passed the LCD (lowest common denominator) to achieve true suspension of disbelief.

suits suck!

as much as i try to avoid it, i stay up-to-the-millisecond on what is happening in hip-hop. other things, too, no doubt, but my select few firehoses of hip-hop news (which often isn’t really news to begin with) usually remains open in the form of Chrome tabs that are constantly refreshed.

while we’ve grown accustomed to the overexposure to daily data that the democratized content landscape provides (this IS a CTR world, remember…) a tipping point occurred at random yesterday: about 2944 7-8 mixtapes* hit the web yesterday. one … after … one … like some digital waterboarding.

at first, i cringed at the fact that i was actually being encouraged to digest most of what i absolutely knew wouldn’t be palatable to my Brooklyn-ass Brooklyn sensibility. however, i forcefully reverse-engineered my short-term thinking to unrealize these posts and tweets as forthright endorsements, but as something else in my brief time on the client-side I’ve grown accustomed to inspecting- capabilities presentations.

when you think about it, the modern landscape and capes (as we sometimes call them) have very similar mechanics: you (over)agressively promote + get the right cosign > people finally hold court > you get the floor > if you’re lightning in a bottle, you level up.

boom. the drake-onian formula. the cudian equation.

looking at it from that perspective allows for two things to snob-deep enthusiasts like myself:

-ability to listen objectively and with a clear mind to allow for context.
-empathize with those who might actually enjoy it if you particularly don’t. music is becoming more and more of a communal phenomenon, and it isn’t worth the time, energy, (or grumpy reputation) to argue with the crowd.

from an agency’s POV, capabilities are the first line of communication to a desired audience, but in order to truly break through, timing, tastefulness, and relevant differentiation are the perfect storm of “leveling up”.

hopefully, a harmony bestows itself on the digital landscape, and artists and publishers alike can perfect contextual delivery of their content.

*please be advised that I am not a proponent for the primitive use of the term ‘mixtape’. in fact, it pisses me off, often times. can we figure out a modern term?  

My favorite artist during my early adolescent years was Busta Rhymes. In spite of my parents’ consistent and stern disapproval of his lyrical content (which, in turn, prompted me to listen even more), “Woo-Hah!!” was the first cassette single that I broke through excessive listening.

You see, like many Brooklynites, I grew up in a household devoid of cable television, so for me to successfully retain content, I employed one of three tactics:

-spend way too much time in the barbershop, post-Ceasar
-Ralph McDaniels (VMB on Saturday night)
-The Box aka Channel 39 on UHF.

More often then not, I turned to The Box to not only watch videos (there were no genre filters, which made the viewing experience wack juice), but to occasionally order them. For those who don’t remember, The Box famously positioned themselves as “music television YOU control”- which in today’s context, really isn’t the control we’ve grown accustomed to (just another testament to how far things have come). In any event, this antiquated form of access spurned irrational behavior such as paying $11 to request “Woo-Hah!!” twice, its glorious mind-bending remix featuring ODB, and then waiting attentively and for the videos to play simply so I can record them on VHS.

If there are any adolescents reading this now, you’re probably wondering – what the HELL is wrong with this guy? And for good reason.

Earlier this month, Spotify officially launched in the US- a service I suspect to be a game changer for the music enthusiast. With the old adage of “consumption up, profit down”, Spotify has essentially created a perfect storm of discovery, active participation, and curation that will no doubt change the way people engage in music. I’ve been using the service for several months now and despite the persistent empty room, I’ve reconnected with songs (rare joints, indeed) that I’d normally find/listen to on YouTube without the pressure of having to qualify a purchase.

I tend to think of Spotify, Turntable.fm, and the forthcoming cloud invasion as the The Box’s desire for total viewer control coming full circle. All those minutes waiting in front of the TV and parents’ dollars wasted on one video (one video!!) are now, in essence, spent refining my tastes and discovering new ones by virtue of the people who’s opinion I value the most.

True control finally realized, and a wealth of culture for those who choose to digest it (brands and people alike).

{SUITS STILL SUCK!}

¡Feliz Navidad & Prospero Año Nuevo!

Apparently, I have this incessant slump of posts that occur towards the end of the year… and who am I to break tradition?!?

Seriously, though- recently I’ve been focusing my efforts on Generation Ñ/NGL/whatever-is-the-watchword-of-the-moment-is, a segment of consumer that I happen to fall into- particularly to a special focus my new role bears (more on the job switch at the top of ’11). When it comes to issues of culture, identity, lifestyle interests, passion points, etc., all traditional notions of “what works” must be reconsidered because a duality (TRIality, in some cases) exists.

The above clip is a wonderful spoken word piece that caught me instantly because it so honestly and accurately speaks to my point-of-view. The below clip is a Tony Touch song that I’ve always felt was super dope (and underappreciated) that celebrates the mirror image of Latinos, Afro-Latinos, Africans, and African-Americans.

Just some end-of-year food for thought to hold you down until the SUITS return at the end of the aughts…

(DISCLAIMER: This post contains the thoughts of the individual author, and in no way reflects the opinions of his employer or its affiliates.)

We believe that, at its core, culture always wants to change- especially pop culture. In fact, change it its whole job. Cultural change is imminent, waiting for random events, either large or small, that will push it over the edge.

In the end, cultural change is the product of an alchemy of events and individual influence. As the cultural conditions change, the change is expressed in particular events; influencers become early detectors of this change and communicate it to the rest of the community.

-Alex Bogusky, “Baked In”

Welcome back, smart hip-hop promotional marketing. And have a nice weekend.

Throughout the last few weeks, the Latino media has been in a whirlwind over Omega, and rightfully so. Not only is merengue urbano quickly inching towards stateside critical mass almost identically to the way reggaetón did a few years ago, but, in Omega, the genre has what could potentially be its most identifiable figurehead.

I’m not going to go too deep into his story (there are others who are more familiar with it than I am), but I will say this much: at Club Area in Queens this past Friday (yes, I’m in the hood too!), I witnessed firsthand the phenomenon that is El Fuerte. Between the love, hype, speculation, and mystique that was simultaneously felt- and he wasn’t even performing- I can honestly say that the stage, while already set for his success, might need to accomodate the unexpected surge of a secondary, non-Latino audience (as history has taught us in the past).

Yeah, it’s that serious. (For those interested: the announcement for his Northeast Tour is being made this morning in NYC at the office of the Dominican Consulate…)

Salute to the homie DJ Spin One for holding it down, as always.

Another video after the jump.

I love the part in the beginning of Ocean’s 13 where Reuben tells Bank (played by Al Pacino) that there was a code amongst “guys that shook Sinatra’s hand.” While that ritualistic sensibility might’ve originated with the “friends of mine/friends of ours” sets of old, is has somehow trickled down and made evident again through the likes of Diddy, Jigga, and most recently as part of a promotional campaign for this years VMAs, Drake.

I’m interested not by the reasoning behind the stark, overall gravitation towards Old Blue Eyes- we can all only wish that we embodied an ounce the eternal cool that he was portrayed as having- but more at the fact that hip-hop’s fetishistic transparent obsession with his persona is so recurring. Last week, I had an opportunity to view Drake’s TVC on MTV.com, and the first thing that came to mind (before I could mentally complement it, because it is a dope spot) was “wait, isn’t being Sinatra Jay’s thing?” It’s been less than a year since “Empire State of Mind” hit full swing and the critical mass and mainstream media were obsessed daily with his self-pronouncement of being the “new Sinatra”, creating a storm of rumors that “Empire” would now, or soon, replace “New York, New York” as the city’s consummate psalm.

The funny thing is upon hearing “Empire State of Mind” for the first time last year, I thought, “wait, isn’t that Diddy’s thing?” (I also thought “wait, isn’t the ‘state of mind’ thing Nas’s thing? But from that, I digress.) Out of all the pioneers in Sinatra-ization of hip-hop, Puff is definitely the groundbreaker; we all remember in 2003 when he, Ashton Kutcher, and a finally- recognized-for-his-celebrity Jamie Foxx touted themselves the “new Rat Pack”, socially portraying themselves as Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr, respectively.  Then, in 2008, he famously reprised that character, copiously, and successfully channeling Sinatra in his campaign for Ciroc:

So, with all these examples having mainstream implications, why has is been acceptable to style jack so transparently (and I mean this in the most non-critical way possible)? Remember on “Big Brother” where Kanye was rhyming about his quiet dispute with Jay-Z because he told Jay he did a song with Coldplay and the next thing he knew, Jay had a song with Coldplay? I would’ve expected that same agitation to appear somewhere in this circumstance, especially since they oft share the same stage. I guess that ultimately, Sinatra has become a caricature to our culture in some capacity; we celebrate the “idea” of Sinatra rather than his artistic achievement. More Halloween than homage.

In closing, and in my humble opinion, I’d most certainly take Puff Daddy, Jaÿ-Z, and Drake over Sinatra 1, Sinatra 2, and Sinatra 3 anyday. Admiration is cool, but let’s not sweat dude.

“How much do I want to play into the fact that my culture’s been so much of my life, and how much do I want to say f*ck it, I want to do something completely and utterly reactionary?”

I would agree to say that this sentiment is evident throughout the sensibilities of us native New Yorkers who have enjoyed years of being at the forefront of culture, but are now at the crossroads of nostalgia and progression; the recurring theme of “upholding culture” doesn’t always fit well with the implications of the “on to the next one” plight of today.

HOWEVER…

There are certain instances where they meet perfectly- basketball is definitely one of those examples. This summer, we, the once gatekeepers of the global epicenter- its MECCA-, have been engaged more than ever with the culture of basketball. Between The LeBromination, the World Basketball Festival (which hosted some of the fr-fr-freshest events I’ve attended this summer. Shouts to 94×50 & Nike for looking out..), and the myriad of tournaments that turn the playgrounds into the proverbial hollowed grounds, there are feelings of an imminent return to glory.

Rik Cordero’s attentive eye and the homie Lemon Andersen’s ultra-focused prose have essentially, in one clip, visualized this locally-focused, globally-minded “get down or lay down” sensibility in their self-described “ode to NYC” entitled “The Imperial”.

The Good Lord knows I’m as New York as they come, and this “25th Hour-esque” juxtaposed lens on our daily lives is remarkable, and is living proof that reports of our fall from grace have been greatly exaggerated.

I’m truly looking forward to their next two interpretations.