Incite Kitchen

Jordan Brand Cures Writer's Block

More and more it seems that things that are made to connect with one type of person or group of people are discovered by others and appreciated at an equal or greater rate than the intended target.  Honda's Element, designed to be the car of teens has become the car for dog owners everywhere.  Dansko and Crocs are now the de facto shoes of doctor's offices and hospitals in cities across the world.  Even vinegar has been rediscovered rather recently as the ultimate in green surface cleaning.  On a micro-level, last August my wife found Patagonia Capilene to be the perfect fabric for her wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses.  And while I'm sure the folks at W+K New York weren't aiming to inspire account planners with writer's block when they made this spot for Jordan Brand, it was exactly what I needed this morning.

Co-Creation in Action

While co-creation actually happens in many ways, I find this recent example to be very telling of not only the quality involved on the "consumer" end, but also the speed.

Step 1.  The creation of the footage.  In this case, BBC's Flying Penguins instant classic (this year's April Fools Joke). 

Step 2. The final video is produced and experienced by the rest of the world.

Step 3. Someone (often many people) decide they can add to or change the footage in a way to suit their agenda, make a statement, whatever.

Dog-gone good community building

First we were asked to identify what breed of dog we thought our presidential candidates were.  Now the fun folks at dogster have given everyone a chance to channel their inner dog-ness with a "Guess what breed you are?" personality quiz. 

I love this idea for several reasons.  As a dogster community member who isn't very active (sorry to say), it was a great way to get me back to the site.  It also reminded me of my love for all things dog.  Finally, it was a fun, easy way to share my love of dogs (and dogster) with my friends.

Appaws to the community managers at dogster for keeping the conversation going and the love flowing!

P.S.  I'm a Labrador Retriever.

Rudy Gay and You Tube

Marketers have been throwing around the terms collaboration, consumer generated, and co-creativity for a few years.  This effort caught my attention for a few reasons.

1) While it's all collaborative, most of the time with such efforts the brand simply acts as the stage for the consumer generated content... it's actually a rather rare circumstance that anything is really CO-created.
2) Co-creation is one thing.  Co-performance adds a whole new dimension to the concept.
3) The power of the moment... that ten-or-so seconds of the actual dunk will be huge for a variety of reasons.  I'm not really sure how you measure it.  But while ads may be talked about for a week or two (maybe a few years by some of us in the industry), a dunk has the opportunity to live on highlight films.  Talk about talk-value and shelf-life.

Beyond all that, the minimized corporate sponsorship included in the youtube video makes for a much more intimate experience for everyone involved.