Social Hallucinations

Gangnam Style - how to make a hit

I have stumbled upon Psy and his Gangnam Style two month ago and I was very entertained by the good beat and kitschy video. But it seems like there is more to "Gangnam Style" than just being a South Korean summer hit. Psy has taken the world by storm, got a lot of attention from the international media, got an American record deal and taught Britney Spears the moves.

Everybody loves a horse - riding dance, but there is more to Gangnam Style than just catchy tune and cheesy moves. "Gangnam Style" is a good example of how to create content that lives and breathes in digital, content that people wants to share and engage with. Psy has cracked the code of storytelling: the story is not what your tell but what others make out of it. His video not only generated over 300 mil. views but also a lot of parodies, remakes, mash-ups that bring even more attention and conversations.

Psy has planned from the very beginning not only for the distribution of his video, by choosing to remove copyright from his video, he gave people the right to redistribute his work, encourage them to create their own versions of the video...and there are plenty of those.

What is also interesting about the video and especially the horse-riding dance, Psy has asked the Korean dance community for their input when choreographing the dance. It has given him for sure a lot of credit in the community and helped to promote the video. 

He has probably also touched some cultural tension with his mocking-up of the rich and those who pursue the dream of being like the rich. Blogger of My Dear Korea told The Atlantic, the video is an ironic look at “Gangnam itself but it’s also about how people outside of Gangnam pursue their dream to be one of those Gangnam residents without even realizing what it really means.” 

Here is the original video and the funniest parodies

 

 

PSY vs LMFAO - Sexy Style (Mash-up) - fit perfectly together

 

PSY - "MIKO STYLE" (Gangnam Style) Parody By Miss Korea 2012 Contestants

 

Lifeguard Style (Gangnam Style Remake) - the remake got the lifeguards fired

 

GANGNAM STYLE PARODY (강남스타일) - The Oregon Duck

 

Branding Needs Meaning

The Havas Media Lab has conducted a research that shows most people wouldn't care if 70% of brands disappeared. Only 20% of global brands noticeably improve people’s quality of life.

People don't care about brands, people care about their lives and social ties.

It means we have to focus more on how to create a value for people, make their life easier, more meanigful. It means we need to shift away from just only focusing on what we should say as a brand. 

People don't care what we have to say. They just want their problems solved. 

Brands need to become meaningful and "enhance the well-being of individuals, communities and the environment, making people and society flourish."

Simple. Requires less bullshit and more great shit.

 

Ideas Beat Digital

I love this idea of low-tech augmented reality from Philips that came up from a simple consumer insight: Over 73% of Taiwanese men think that grooming is just about cleanness, preferring a clean-shaven look over any type of beard and stubbles.

How do you change the behavior than to create interest in grooming kits. No beard, no grooming.

Philips take on this is awesome; they have created "Low-tech Augmented Reality Mugs" to show any possible look the young guys can have when grooming. Simple. 

It proves that the great communication is not about "digital at heart" but about awesome ideas that address people needs and help them to make decision or have great experiences....and sometimes it may be that digital is perfect for this task, sometimes a simple mug is enough. 

 

 

The Key to Success in Business

"Businesses operate in a world where so much is possible.

The successful ones are those which identify what is necessary."

John Dodds

TV Role in the Digital World

People are no longer engaging with content on just a single screen. Interactivity plays larger role in the communication than ever. We live in a highly digitalized world, but it doesn't make TV dead. TV is still an important communication channel but only if we see it as the part of the whole communication experience brands create.

TV is the springboard for the greater and deeper experience. TV lets people know your brand is available by providing reach. It conveys stories and is a great conversations starter...if fed with the relevant content people can relate to. TV is where people's relationship with your brand can begin.

We live in a complex ecosystem of screens. We tend to favor one type of screens over the others, depreciting the value of TV as the one way communication channel and prizing digital. But the truth is that if the content sucks, digital is not a magic wand that will turn it into gold. 

The key challenge is to create while worthy pieces of content that work across various screens and connect them into an experience that is worth spending time on. The holy grain of media is integration of channels and experiences into a long-term journey we take on with our customers.

I've never been fond of killing the old technologies. They can be worthy if "recycled" and used in a new ways. Everything is remix today. So split, mix and mash-up the new and old technologies to create awesome. This is what you can do right here and right now.

Here more on the future of TV by the wise man Dan Wieden from Wieden+Kennedy

and remember "Half the time people who think they know what the future is, they're just making shit up"

 

The Timeline into Future

Future isn't easy to predict. Probably because we use what's known to create the future. Results can be somewhat entertaining. 

1920s,

1930s

1950s

1985

1993

2008

Enjoy!

hattip

The History of Human Thinking

“All the left brain thinking and figuring out, can’t ever replace the shear mystery of being alive”

The history of human thinking from the caveman days forward. In so doing he links more than 4 decades of data driven developmental psychology research (based upon the work of Clare W. Graves) to the dramatic narrative of human evolution.

 

 

60 Seconds - Things That Happen On Internet Every Sixty Seconds

A lot can happen within 60 sec. especially when you are online

 

Giving people opportunity to help themselves

Getting people out of poverty is not just about giving them money, it is about giving them opportunity to help themselves. Seeing the need, fulfilling it at creating the movement is what happened when Pedals for Progress and founder David Schweidenback have shipped over 20.000 used American bicycles to Rivas, Nicaragua. Amazing transformation caused by giving the people opportunity to be mobile.

 

The Bicycle City. Trailer from Greg Sucharew on Vimeo.

Rules of Life

Does life has any rules? Or is it just a subject to unpredictable events? I've been always fascinated by people setting clear rules or resolutions and wondered how far can you go to stick to them? When you decide to change and adapt? 

Today I've stumbled upon Tolstoy's 10 Rules of Life. Seems like tough rules for live...he broke them many times but it is amazing how we do strive for the clear guidance and map for our lives. Does having rules make us happier?

Could you imagine living by his rules? Do you? 

1. Get up early (five o’clock) 
2. Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
3. Eat little and avoid sweets
4. Try to do everything by yourself
5. Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for evry minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
6. Keep away from women
7. Kill desire by work
8. Be good, but try to let no one know it
9. Always live less expensively than you might
10. Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer.

TED Books

TED - the bottomless source of inspiration and feast for the curiosity extends its offer into books publishing with TED books. TED books are short (less than 20.000 words each) nonfiction publications distributed digitally with Kindle. 

Price starts at $2.99 each.

At the moment there are 4 books available:

Homo Evolutis by J. Enriquez & S. Gullans

The Happiness Manifesto by Nic Marks

Beware Dangerism by Gever Tulley

Make Love Not Porn by Cindy Gallop

Great idea to spread powerful ideas. I am already downloading.

Life is Simple...

...and short. Do best out of it. Awesome manifesto and kickass project with sustainably made products and with a social impact.

Montaigne and Neuroscientists

I've just read this very interesting article in the Guardian about Montaigne's insight into human nature that gets confirmed now by neuroscience. 

"Four hundred years ago, the great French essayist recognized that our inbuilt capacity for sympathy depends on our physical proximity to others. Recent neurological research appears to back him up." 

Very interesting that our morality is so tightly bound to the physical distance. It would indicate that despite what 'cyber utopians' believe we will not make the world better place cause we are connected more than ever. Internet doesn't get us any closer. Even though we feel we are so close, we are far away from each other and it influences our ability to feel sympathy and to fire the mirror neurons. 

HT: Mark Earls

You can't take it back. It is out there.

Excellent illustrated talked from RSA by Steven Pinker on why we don't say what mean...

I recognize lot of everyday situations when I try to maintain the fiction of relationship with others.

Love and Money

...relationship is simple...there comes money when you love what you do. 

via