This person must demonstrate an understanding of HTML and CSS with at least cursory knowledge of Javascript/jQuery. Must be familiar with HTML5 and CSS3, especially responsive web techniques. Strong desire to learn back-end technologies such as PHP-based content management systems or Ruby on Rails.
This is an intern-to-hire position consisting of a 3 month(ish) paid internship with the potential to come on board for a full-time salaried position upon completion.
If you think this is the perfect role for you, send resumes, cover letters, and portfolios -or- code samples to hi@telegraphbranding.com. Talk to you soon!
In this uber-connected and oversaturated market, companies in every industry have begun to obsess over one key, elusive ingredient: creativity. We already know that it’s an essential asset to a successful company, but unlike a P&L or sales forecast, most companies have no idea how or where to create and develop creativity. When brands come to Telegraph, they often take for granted that just because we are hired to do creative work, that it comes easily. It doesn’t. It’s also a myth that creativity is reserved for hipster, casual companies who coat their walls in chalkboard paint and have daily “brainstorms.” Sure, all that can help. Yet ultimately, building a creative culture is all about the kind of thinking you inspire in the fibers of your company.
Any organization can learn to be immensely creative. In fact, your company can be far more creative than you think. I get to see it happen every day as I lead a team whose sole mission is to inspire and implement creative solutions for brands across the nation. Below are four simple but essential techniques that I’ve learned can help launch a catalyst of creativity in your company:
Make room. No one can expect an influx of creativity without making the time, space and opportunity readily available for it to evolve. Bake it into your company. Allow your employees enough freedom to own their projects. The business models we all learn about in school trained us to only calculate success by profitability or other numerical benchmarks and to ignore everything else. But data can only reveal one side of the story. In today’s global marketplace, ideas hold more value and are traded like currency. By allowing, employing, and encouraging creative solution thinking, you are building a long-term asset that will reap cycles of rewards. Whether you are making craft beer, building performance car clutches, or selling insurance, the principles remain the same: find a better way to do it than anyone has done it before. And that takes ingenuity, guts and ideas. Lots of good ideas. When’s the last time your company came up with a truly breakthrough way to approach your industry? Open your team to the opportunity to find a new way to buy, build and sell.
Set boundaries. Yes, rules are good. Wait, you might say: “you just said to set my team free to fire their synapses and produce a plethora of ingenious solutions.” But freedom without purpose is pointless. At Telegraph, we’ve developed a process that ensure our ideas are working towards a defined end goal. For instance, we know how long it takes to craft a fresh, unique, inspired brand. It’s not a science, it is an art. Art takes time, and time is trackable (and thus, manageable). We employ software to track time, hardware to increase efficiency, and robust systems to streamline every part of the process of building a website, crafting a kickass logo, and delivering pixel-perfect design. It’s only by developing, implementing and testing these methods that you can you hope to achieve a culture of progressive, obsessive creativity. Trust me, it’s actually a lot of fun. Use your managerial capabilities, leadership skills, and vision to define what you’re trying achieve and then craft a step-by-step process for how your team will get there. If your rules hinder creative implementation, make better rules.
Know your team. Learn what makes your people tick, and leverage this knowledge like a stock broker. As a manager of a dozen hyper-creatives, I keep a notebook on all my team members. Not an obsessive checklist of their failures, but a thoughtful record of their successes, challenges, and unique abilities. Your professional experience has probably taught you that an employee’s value has little to do with the bullet points on their resume. Know what keys unlock their best work and make room to nurture those kinds of results. Only by treating your team as individuals will you truly be able to build a unit that is equal parts creative and results-driven. Consider a rudimentary machine like a clock: every piece is absolutely unique and instrumental in the whole mechanism of calculating time. If you merely look at the watch face, it appears to be a single object. But in truth it’s more like a hundred objects. Within that basic job of tracking time, a watch’s elements employ a set of principles that all work together seamlessly to produce an efficient, finite result. Have an employee for every mechanism it takes to make your company tick.
Lead by example. No company can thrive without creative leadership. If you don’t practice what you preach, the charisma will soon fade. This doesn’t mean you have to be a motivational speaker or a charismatic “artsy” guru. In fact, that’s why we’re here. Your leadership role is to facilitate creative processes. Sanction it. Demand it. Your team will look to you to define the 3 steps above and let them know it’s okay, even encouraged, to go beyond the status quo to create better work. It also means being unorthodox in how you approach your goals, what you define as success, and the milestones you push your team to achieve. If you’re like me, the people you lead are far more creative than you are. Good for you. You’re the smartest one in the room because you’ve identified the people who are going to be able to be lead by you to greatness. Your part is being intuitive enough to spot the good ideas, steer the boat, define new and more innovative challenges, and always set higher (better) goals. Do yourself a favor: make creativity a part of your job, not just theirs.
Creativity will become your greatest weapon. Learn to breed a visionary, original, and innovative way of thinking that is the root of your team’s energy. If you’re the CEO, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the return on investment. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. If you’re the middle manager or a team leader, you’ll become invaluable to your company and have a hell of a time while doing it. Developing a company culture that is fertile ground for creativity isn’t easy, but by being committed to new ideas, you will be ensuring your brand will thrive when others stagger. Remember, ideas are the ultimate currency.
Something doesn’t add up. Your brand page on Facebook has over 25,000 fans, yet the number of people who saw your last post was 300. Don’t worry, you’re not alone in your consternation. All of us at one time or another have been a victim of what I like to call the “Lost FB Post” -or- “Black Hole” phenomenon. The reason? Let me explain.
It’s not news to anyone that Facebook has been gaining the lion’s share of the tech headlines recently (sorry Google +), but what most people haven’t heard about is their latest content algorithm. I introduce EdgeRank, the reason your fans could be missing out on an opportunity to further engage with your brand. Before we entirely point our fingers at Facebook for deciding what content will be seen, they have decided to let us in on the three main factors used to determine the reach each post gets. Thanks Facebook.
The 3 Factors:
Affinity: How close of a “relationship” a brand and a fan may already have.
Weight: What post types do your fans interact the most with?
Time Decay: How long has the content been alive? (fresh = valuable)(old = not valuable)
What is this remedy against the “Lost FB Post” -or- “Black Hole” phenomenon you might ask? Get CLUED IN on the fans who build your community and shape exciting content they would be MOST interested in. Keep it fresh and prompt actions (likes, comments, shares). Measure your success at EDGERANK CHECKER.
Our friends over at Social Health Institute have designed what we think explains EdgeRank for more of us “right brained” thinkers.
Image credited to http://www.socialhealthinstitute.com/
We are stoked to announce our most recent addition to the team – Selena Harrison. Selena will fill the role of account executive here at Telegraph. She has 8 years in business development and an extensive background in digital marketing and financial analysis. Yep, you read that right. Selena is a numbers girl. You will not hear the typical marketing and sales “fluff” when you talk with her. Selena thrives on being an asset to all businesses she works with. She will tie your marketing efforts to numbers and give you the tools to assess how and when to change tactics and improve your bottom line. She prefers to spend her weekends outside, on a trail, in a park, at a lake… you get the picture. She hails from Red Stick and bleeds purple and gold. Her responsibilities will include sales, business development, and client relationship management. So, if you’re an interesting brand teetering on the brink of being cool – you can probably expect to receive a call from her shortly.
4 UBER interesting things about Selena:
She started college at LSU at the age of 16.
She likes a little coffee with her cream.
She is a mother of two boys, Porter and Gavin. The youngest, Gavin, might be a love child of Will Ferrell, Lionel Richie, or Justin Timberlake. What’s your vote?
Before you go off on the love child tangient, we should mention that she is married to (in her words) one of the best men she has ever known.
Greetings! We’ve “refreshed” our website again. Like we tell our clients, it’s an iterative process. You can imagine just how iterative it can be when said process is what you do for a living. We’ve been extremely fortunate to experience tremendous growth as a company over the past 6 months thanks to our awesome clients. Growth and the change that comes with it can be intimidating. Having a kick ass team that’s devoted to their craft and passionate about it helps ease the stress of expansion. A mere 19 months ago Telegraph Branding was no more than 2 men and a mac at a kitchen table (and the brave women that stood behind them of course). Now we provide the opportunity for 14 fine red-blooded Americans to earn a living and chase their dreams. Welcoming new team members and their talents into our culture has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Our client roster consists of more than 30 incomparable brands making a difference in their respective corners of the universe. Or just the universe. #Heady.
If you have a free minute to check out our new look and drop us a tweet or a quick email to let us know your thoughts we’d be obliged. Have a great one!
To the surprise of no one, most of the feedback on facebook’s latest announcement has been negative. Disgruntled hipsters everywhere are none too happy about a more robust ad presence in the news feed. Wall Street however “likes” Zuck’s latest move and seemingly newfound commitment to increasing revenues and monetizing his evil empire. He clearly has some sage advisers bending his ear. Count me as another one- only less sage and I get paid exactly nothing. However, as a shareholder, I do spend an unhealthy amount of time rooting for the company and thinking about it more than I should.
The question that keeps me up at night is why has said “sage” team of advisers not advised him to disrupt the eCommerce space more violently? If the superhero ninja team of engineers at fb would create a user friendly, simple, beautifully designed eCommerce platform for businesses, fb would disrupt not only Amazon, eBay, Zappos etc, but it would literally disrupt the entire web. I say that half tongue-in-cheek half #RealTalk. I would go so far as to say that many businesses would practically abandon their websites and focus on developing their facebook presence if an online store dashboard similar to the easy-to-use facebook ad interface was created. That’s really not an exaggeration either because we encounter it daily with certain Telegraph clients. Their logic is hard to argue with as well. Business results are based on 2 things: time and energy. We have a limited reserve of both. With so little time to go around, what is my rebuttal to a client who argues that they want to focus their time and energy on their facebook page (which has 25,000 fans who they interact with daily) as opposed to their website (which receives 200 daily unique visitors)?
There are several enterprise type plug-ins that exist to allow for commerce to be conducted on facebook and online stores to be maintained. However, facebook doesn’t make a dime off of them, and they must be managed outside of the site’s framework which means they are not long-term solutions. Also, once again, they are not easy to use or measure like facebook’s ad exchange- which is how I would envision this proposed product to look and function. Create a store. Drop and drag products. Set pricing and descriptions. Leverage existing “fanbase.” Make bank.
The ripple effect this new eCommerce tool would have on facebook’s profitability would be astronomical. In turn a higher demand and higher price tag for facebook ads would be instantaneous as actual transactions could now take place seamlessly on the site. It would also (in time) raise the amount of time an average visitor spends on the site.
This would not be a reincarnation of Etsy. Facebook has one billion users, and it’s a part of most of those users’ daily routines. We’re all already checking it every day. Shoppers are built-in. In fact, it’s such a perfect native advertising opportunity, most users wouldn’t even know they were shopping. Even the most dedicated online shopaholics do not surf over to amazon every day.
The ancillary revenue streams and product/service opportunities it would create are equally mind-numbing. The facebook wallet would disrupt the hell out of PayPal’s billion dollar space stranglehold. No security risks, no fraud, no 3rd parties. Just facebook. You already like your favorite brand’s page. Why are you leaving it to buy their wares? The recent acquisition of karma foreshadows to some degree that Zuck is not naive about the eCommerce potential his baby possesses. Now let’s see if he truly wants to maximize it. I actually have a pretty decent track record with predicting facebook’s next move, so if the pattern holds we’ll see Mark back at the podium in a few months with another major announcement.
Telegraph Branding is now accepting resumes from candidates for our social media internship program for Spring/Summer 2013. Our social media interns have the opportunity to be instrumental in increasing and maintaining our clients’ social media presence and overall visibility for these brands. The intern will assist our Lead Social Strategist in crafting and executing ongoing digital media campaigns and overall strategy.
Responsibilities include the following:
Create and maintain an editorial content calendar for multiple clients
Aggregate, curate and/or create dynamic social media content
Stay plugged into current social media trends and platforms (internal and external)
Schedule appropriate interviews and external opportunities for content if needed
Distribute content to various websites, blogs, social applications, and external bookmarking tools
Monitor and engage on various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google +, Instagram, Houzz, Vine, Youtube, Vimeo, Hootsuite, Tumblr)
Put together monthly KPI assessments using proprietary Social Media Analytical Tools and Google Analytics
Research and engage with appropriate social media & blogger influencers for specific client campaigns
If you think this is the perfect role for you, send resumes, cover letters, and portfolios to Alex Kistler at ak@telegraphbranding.com. Talk to you soon!
2012 was a really enlightening year for me. By working on numerous video projects I not only improved my technique, but more than anything I learned how to tell a story. This reel shows how diverse our client base is here at Telegraph, which is a testament to how powerful video is as a medium. There’s really not a business out there that could not stand to benefit from a high production value video that helps articulate their story. So call us, ok?
My extremely generous and visionary bosses here at Telegraph foot the bill for me to travel and attend Heartland Bowhunter’s Film School this summer. They (and their sister company Mammoth Media) are simply the best in the outdoor TV industry. On set, I learned about the specific qualities that go into being a great cinematographer. While some shots are coordinated and prepared ahead of time, others are caught in the moment and unpredictable. Always be ready to shoot that “perfect moment”.
What I Learned:
Lighting is everything. The first hour of daylight and the last two hours of sunlight are without a doubt the best shooting conditions.
Shoot the same scene multiple times. Try shooting it from multiple perspectives.
Audio quality dictates a great deal of a video’s worth. You can capture great video but if the audio isn’t clear then the video is not worth putting out.
Brainstorming sessions and planning are key. To successfully tell a brand’s story or overall message, planning in advance will pay dividends in the form of capturing the attention of the viewer.
The people involved make a difference. It is important for myself, as the director, to keep everyone engaged. Talent can make a good idea great.
Hardware/Software Utilized
Final Cut Pro X (FCP X)
Adobe After Effects CS6
Magic Bullet Looks – Red Giant
Magic Bullet Mojo – Red Giant
Mac Pro Tower with 27 Apple Thunderbolt Display
Nikon D5100
f 1.8 / 35 mm Lense
f 3.5 – 5.6 / 18 – 200 mm Lense
f 1.4 / 50 mm Lense
Sony Lavalier Microphone
Rode NTG – 2 Shotgun Microphone
Mackie 402 – VLZ3 Mixer
Westcott Spider Lite TD6
GoPro Hero 2
Cullman Magnesit 528 Tri-Pod with a Manfrotto 701 HDV
Anyway, without further adieu, here’s our 2012 reel.
At this point in 2013 there has already been plenty of chatter about the future rise of social integration through Facebook’s Graph Search, and Twitter’s Vine. While these applications are most excellent, there are many other useful social tools worthy of excitement this year. Let’s take a quick look at the two I think will quickly pick up steam…if they haven’t already.
1. Giant Hyrda
Have you ever had a good idea that never actually went anywhere? We have all been bitten by this unfortunate plague from time to time in which our creative juices just aren’t flowing. Welcome to Giant Hydra, a mass collaboration unit system that gives anyone access to a pool of numerous certified creative geniuses from all over the world (each with their own area of expertise). Haven’t you heard 2 heads are better than one? Giant Hydra provides just that, a community for multiple visionaries to work together as a “single head” attacking your project from every possible angle. The result is a tangible idea backed up by an internal web of original solutions.
How does it work? Once you provide Giant Hydra with a summary of your idea, a brief description is then automatically sent out to thousands of highly respective mind-blowing individuals, called “HyrdaHeads”. The interested “HydraHeads” then apply to work on your project. Once you have vetted the list of potential creatives and picked the appropriate individuals, the dream team is formed. Giant Hydra takes brainstorming to the next level by only involving people who are genuinely interested in collaborating on create projects with you.
2. Swipp
The idea behind Swipp is quite simple. Think about any topic and express how it makes you feel. Swipp is a new social web/iPhone app that allows users to literally rate any topic, event, or place on a scale and then share that rating with their friends (along with comments, pictures, and links). I know what you’re probably thinking. Doesn’t this concept already exist in the app Knotch? No. Swipp has a few similarities, but comes across as more of an open social network that shares data back with their users instead of keeping it hidden away in a dungeon of doom.
Each rating is base on a -5 to +5 scale that can contribute to that topic’s overall score. If you enjoy the epic emotion that comes from watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones then give it a rating of +5. If you don’t like the current 30-second “Harlem Shake” Youtube trend, then a negative rating will suffice. You get the picture. What makes this app unique is the ability to view an overall dashboard for each topic. This feature allows users to see the topic’s average score, trending order, and the demographics (by sex and geographical location) of those who have rated it.
Here is where I see Swipp being used the most. Say you want to buy a new camera but don’t know which brand is right for you. Where do you go to find out? Swipp – think easily accessible product reviews. With Swipp’s available integration into web pages and Facebook, this idea just makes sense. Swipp has the ability to evolve into a social review tool for product shopping sites, working as a quick source of personal ratings, feelings, and comments.
Bottom line: 2013 is going to be a big year. I can feel it. Giant Hydra and Swipp are two social/collaboration tools that have the potential to explode. What do you say?
Itʼs crazy how one idea can be the catalyst and you can go from having nothing but rejects to having a winner in moments. Welcome to the IP biz.
T’was the Christmas retail season of 2012 and the Telegraph team was nestled together all snug around the conference table. The team was knee-deep into our second brainstorm on behalf of Birmingham retail giant the Pants Store. We were finding the sledding to be tougher than anticipated. Developing an entertaining Christmas themed spot for a robust radio campaign was challenging. After all- hasn’t it all been done before? We were tossing ideas back and forth when the notion to rewrite a classic Christmas jingle as an advertisement came up. This idea was dismissed after a quick google search revealed copyright issues.
The team moved on to other ideas which I did not hear and definitely cannot recall, because I was running through Christmas songs in my head. When all of a sudden there arose such clatter (in my head) that it could only be one thing: Eureka! A holiday brainstorm. A Christmas miracle.
I sprang from my seat and flew to the chalkboard. I remembered “the one.” The song that gets stuck in my dome, on repeat, every single Christmas- “The Little Drummer Boy.” Words started falling into place immediately and by the end of the day, Sir David Hildebrand and myself had a rough version of the song recorded. The fine people at the Pants Store were jolly! The chief pants salesman himself shook with laughter like a bowlful of jelly! To Boutwell he declared! Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!
So after two brainstorming sessions and some studio recording time the team had accomplished the improbable. We found a completely addicting Christmas song and turned it into a successful radio campaign that had the Birmingham metro area listeners whistling, singing, and better yet talking and shopping the Pants Store.
And so this Christmas it wasnʼt “The Little Drummer Boy” that was stuck in my head. Well, it was… But the song was filled with the insanely hilarious and catchy words of the oh-so-sweet holiday discounts available at that Pants Store.
Please oblige us by watching the short behind the scenes video on our time in the studio and see how much truly goes into the creative process and how much we all enjoy our jobs here at Telegraph.
Overall, I think this year’s Super Bowl was weak as hell for brands. I was disappointed in many efforts (Doritos, Taco Bell, Becks to name a few) and quite surprised at the low engagement efforts. I thought brands would definitely leverage SB47 for second screen and deeper social media experiences. Maybe next year. The blackout allowed for witty creative and spot-on social media managers to shine (see Oreo and especially Buffalo Wild Wings), but there was still nothing revolutionary to come out of the in-game experience. But, I digress, and without further adieu I give you the totally mindblowing and extremely diverse takeaways of Team Telegraph from SB47. From brooding hipsters to proud papas to intellectual derelicts, our bunch breaks it down like only we can:
Kevin, President and Co-Founder: Dodge – And God Made a Farmer…
The clear winner on the night (besides Baltimore) was Dodge. The Paul Harvey v.o. and montage of powerful still images and b-roll proves once again that emotion is the true driver of a brand. You don’t have to have a multi-million dollar production budget to move people. This was a case of the perfect piece of art meeting a talented art director. The images they chose focused on the eyes and faces of red-blooded Americans. We can relate to Everyman. The family praying. The farmer. Not LeBron James. The emotions these images brought boiling to the surface were equal parts pride and humility. It was the rarest of the rare birds. That flash of genius that transforms a television ad into a 2 minute spiritual reckoning. We all want to think we put in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay and that our sons want to be us when they grow up. To the farmer in all of us. Bravo Dodge.
David, Junior Art Director: Oreo – You Can Still Dunk In The Dark (Blackout)
During the Superbowl, there was a little glitch with the lights. Within 13 minutes of the blackout, Oreo tweeted the below picture with the response: “Power out? No problem.” The reason I chose this free ad over a 3-4 Million dollar spot is this: Any company can spend months on wittiness, relevancy, and execution for their commercial. But where Oreo shined is velocity. They generated ad-quality content and published it almost immediately. The tweet caught fire, having been retweeted 15,317 times at the time of writing with 5,475 favorites. So instead of paying millions for another ad, they simply capitalized on a bad situation and instantly reaped the benefits of over 15,000 brand advocates.
So what separates Oreo from other companies? They hired the right people. Instead of handing down the social media duties to some entry-level intern, they made sure that the people behind their social voice were witty, capable, and professional. People who truly understand how social marketing works. These people were in the right place at the right time and allowed to do their jobs. The relevancy of real-time marketing can reap quite the reward. You need a brave brand to approve content that quickly, and when all the stakeholders come together so quickly, you’ve got magic.
Jamie, Web Devloper: Coca-Cola Security Cameras
It’s fitting that a common definition for advertising is “to make something known.” Apparently Coke celebrates the dissolution of personal privacy, exploiting the heartstrings of billions of consumers with its global propaganda machine. What?! There’s actually people out there who don’t like voyeuristic weirdos watching them on a computer monitor? Preposterous! Kudos to Coke, though. It isn’t surprising that with an advertising budget richer than Microsoft’s and Apple’s combined that they could sell pervasive municipal surveillance to the masses, presenting it as a net gain because we can watch cute hipster-couples make out in an elevator. What exactly is Coke selling us? A beverage? Happiness? Disinformation? A worldview? Whatever it is, it’s more than Coca-Cola Classic. And it’s working. After last night, millions more are happy to make their lives known, but unfortunately Coke isn’t one of them.
Alex, Social Strategist and Lead Project Manager: Volkswagen - Get In. Get Happy.
The workspace can be tough, but it doesn’t have to be place of gloomy doom. Volkswagen did a really good job showing how one’s happiness can spread to uptight coworkers in a way that pointed to their product. Of course a VW does not have the powers to transform anyone into a go-lucky, Jamaican accented person, but it’s nice to think about. The ad spot wasn’t showy, it made me laugh, and it didn’t make me feel like I was getting pressed to buy the next “thing”. What more could you want from 30 seconds?
Allen, Lead Web Developer: Under the Dome Trailer
I challenged my daughter to read a book with over 1000 pages within a seven day period. Her reward, if she should accomplish such a task, was a crisp $20 bill. With her determined spirit I found myself at the losing end of the bet a day early. During the game you may have seen the promo displaying a city contained within a blue dome. It was only on the screen for a few seconds. It immediately triggered that it’s the book she just finished. In excitement, I scream out “that’s the book my daughter just read.” Encouraged that the book by Steven King “Under the Dome” is not only her accomplished goal, but also I was pleased to know I don’t have to read it now!
Seth, Videographer Extrodinaire: Dodge - And God Made a Farmer
The commercial wasn’t flashy and didn’t have any famous actors but it didn’t need it. It gave you a sense of pride about being an American. We all can relate to our parents or grandparents telling us stories about what it was like growing up on a farm. With such a strong and powerful statement referring to God, Farmers, and America, Dodge put themselves out there. This video really touched home for me as my Granddad was a farmer. He drove a 1986 Dodge Ram faded red in color with 352,000 miles on it. I for one can only hope that in the days ahead we truly understand how blessed we are to live in this country. #MERICA
Cory, Illustrator: Samsung – Next Big Thing
The Samsung commercial with Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd was great. They used their well-known, witty back-and-forth routine to point out several minor aspects of the new Samsung phone. The technology itself was undersold purposefully in order to build small story around the pair as they tossed the word Samsung around like they were Joe Flacco. Heyooooo.
Isaiah, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder: One Sentence(ish) About Every Super Bowl Ad
Beck’s “Sapphire”: Who want’s to drink a beer called Sapphire, even if it does make you imagine talking fish? Sweet song though. Best Buy “Asking Amy”: ”What’s LTE, is it contagious?” #winning. Although it does leave you with the impression that Best Buy thinks its customers have stupid questions. Calvin Klein “Concept”: Steroids. Cars.com “Wolf”: Damn, I want a pet wolf! Can I get one at Cars.com? Black Crown Series: Thanks but I’ll leave this tasteless overpriced beverage to “The loud, the savvy, the famous” which apparently means smug hipsters in black velvet. Jeep “Whole Again”: Oprah. Something about Oprah. No wait- it was a US Army ad, right? Coca-Cola “Chase”: That great childhood excitement wrapped up in a grown-up version that makes you feel optimistic about an acidic beverage that’s as American as the stars and stripes. Dodge Ram “Farmer”: Thank you Dodge (or I should say, Paul Harvey) for giving me a reason to believe in advertising again. Bold and strong. Best effort of the night. Pepsi “Next”: More like Pepsi’s “Next Fail”. Samsung “Next Big Thing”: Near piss-inducing humor from two of the funniest dudes alive. Excessive product placement and witty jabs that’ll leave you asking for more. Seriously, Top 3. Tide “Miracle Stain”: Epic goodness. A story you were willing to entertain in your mind and fits perfectly with the brand. Left a (good) stain on the mind. VW “Get Happy”: The whole time I couldn’t help but hope he would get hit by a car. Preferably a Volkswagen Beetle. GoDaddy “Perfect Match”: Barf. Sketchers “Who Cares…”: Pointlessly absurd claims don’t mask a poor product.
So the dust has settled on the big announcement and there have been an infinite amount of blogs already drafted and disseminated on Facebook’s graph search. Some of us are lucky enough to already have demo’d it in beta. Indulge me a moment to say A) I flipping called this (verified by multiple co-workers), and B) here (in my humble opinion) is why this really is a big deal for FB:
1. Social has become an increasingly important part of the SEO algorithm.
2. Social search is not “abusable” or “manipulatable.” So many sites, administrators, and faux SEO gurus were skirting the rules and abusing the system with their use or inclusion of meta tags, title tags, keywords, bogus links and other “flavor-of-the-week” tactics.
3. Social proof is trusted, authentic, relevant, and simply more valuable to users. Man is a social, political body. The influence of friends, family, and peers of all types is most measurable in our media consumption and shopping habits.
4. Facebook understands that there are some things that an algorithm generated by a non-biased computation cannot identify or take into account. Graph search allows for these things to be present. It takes into account the ultimate x-factor: human emotion. And not just any human- your friends. Your family. Your crush. Your favorite celebrity. Therefore, the results are less literal and more “usable.”
