Search is so old school.  Perhaps because algorithms are so impersonal.

I think Yahoo answers was on to something with their recognition that people don’t want to search.  What they really want is answers.

Now, with social media, it’s all coming together.

Why bother with an algorithm or the advice of strangers when you can get answers to your questions from people who know you best!

This New York Times Article, “Search Takes a Social Turn” highlights some interesting ways in which search is going social in a number of different categories.

A few highlights worth noting:

While user-contributed review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor have long been popular ways to get a quick reading on a new place to eat, the sheer volume of reviews they offer can be overwhelming.

And the reliability of those reviews can be hard to gauge. Some may have been planted by management, while others are from disgruntled customers with a bone to pick.

The trust factor of friends’ suggestions can make a big difference.

Amazon.com now allows its shoppers to connect to their Facebook accounts so that Amazon can display their friends’ favorite books, films and other products.TunerFish, a start-up owned by Comcast, lets users share what television shows and movies they are watching, mapping out an up-to-the-minute TV guide of programs gaining in popularity among their friends.

And Loopt, a location-focused social network with 3.4 million registered users, recently began showing them which of their friends liked a particular restaurant.

Facebook has its own recommendation system in place. The service allows its 500 million members to click a button to indicate what news articles, companies and celebrities they “like,” and it shares data about those preferences with its Web partners. When a Facebook user visits a Web site like Yelp or TripAdvisor, they are shown reviews from friends before they get to those from strangers.

Facebook recently began introducing a feature called Facebook Questions that allows users to pose questions to friends and strangers using the site. Last month it introduced a service called Places that encourages people to “check in” at places they visit and broadcast their location to friends.

This isn’t to say that search is going away anytime soon.

The trick is to figure out which categories are most likely to be “social search” focused and to help our clients find relevant inroads into those conversations.

“Just because something tastes awesome doesn’t mean it can make it into stores…” Not everyone is as lucky as Royito’s (now exclusively at Whole Foods, and no, I’m not getting a cut.)

This idea is the premise for Emily Olson’s Foodzie, a web marketplace that connects small vendors with shoppers across the U.S. Inspired by the purpose and the success of Etsy, Olson (26) and her team began Foodzie by leveraging the digital space as a new distribution model for small food producers across the country. The site is simple, straightforward, and smart. Upon my first visit to the site, I was able to pull up a quick listing of all the great local/homemade/slow food in my area.

Right now, *Foodzie hosts nearly 400 sellers nationwide and expects to quadruple sales by the end of 2010. Just one more example of how good ideas and technology not only make things possible, but change behaviors and expectations.

*Most facts pulled from Entrepreneur: http://bit.ly/bnm1kY

The article is about young entrepreneurs that start game-changing companies on a dime…there are more examples, so check them out. Maybe the next one will be yours…

How badass is HTML5? Pretty damn badass. Is it the Flash killer so many people are predicting it to be? Who knows? I really don’t care so long as whatever ends up on top does what I want it to do. I’m selfish that way.

Anywho, Arcade Fire has made an online video that puts HTML5 through its paces and shows just how awesome it can be. The interwebs are a buzz with excitement over this piece. The creativity and technical achievement is staggering and that’s precisely what most of the narrative has been about. I, however, see something much more insidious at work here.

But, before we go on, you need to experience the Arcade Fire video in HTML5. Of course, you first have to download the Google Chrome browser to do so. Go ahead. I’ll wait. It’s worth it, trust me.

1. Download Google Chrome.
2. Using Chrome, go to this site: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

If you really don’t want to download Chrome you can watch this video of the above link as it plays out in Chrome. But seriously, you should do the link yourself.

Pretty cool, right? The kind of thing you want to watch again and again and share with all your friends right after screaming out, “Flash is dead! Long live HTML5!”

Here’s where I see shadows. What if this isn’t just a band and a director getting creative with their video making? What if this is a ploy to get you to download Google Chrome?

What would you, as an agency, do if you got the assignment to find a way to get folks to download Chrome? You could make a TV spot that shows off all the bells and whistles of Chrome. Or, you could do something that plays with the name and is all sleek and flashy and futury — that seems to be hot right now. How about some print that shows the handy user interface improvements or the apps that plug into the browser? OR, YOU COULD USE HTML5 TO MAKE SOMETHING SO FRAKING COOL PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TO DOWNLOAD THE ONLY BROWSER (CHROME) THAT IS OPTIMIZED FOR HTML5 JUST SO THEY COULD EXPERIENCE THE THING YOU MADE!

Yeah, that one. Let’s do that.

Fiendishly clever, Google. I have now downloaded Chrome, I may even use it. Well played.

Of course, I have no proof that this is anything more than a bitchin’ video and not a marketing ploy. But, God I hope it’s a marketing ploy because it would be a brilliant one. I’ve searched Google’s agencies (BBH and Glue) and can’t find a hint that they were involved. Too bad because this would be a wonderful coup for digital marketing. I guess it is whether done on purpose or by accident.

Since it’s launch, Chrome has steadily been gaining browser market share. As of August 2010 it has a 7.52% share. Just for comparison, Internet Explorer and Firefox are on top at 60.40% and 22.93% respectively. I’m going to keep an eye on the propagation of Chrome over the next month or so and see if there’s any discernable bump that can be unscientifically attributed to this Arcade Fire video.

Stay tuned.

Remember when people worried about having their idea stolen? Gasp! Was there anything worse? Perhaps the only thing that could have been worse was looking like you stole someone else’s idea. Oh, the horror! How would your career or your ego ever recover?

Historically, in the ad industry, it’s been about having the best idea. The idea that no one has ever thought of before. The idea that makes your competitors, whether brands or agencies, look like chumps. The idea that you alone own…the idea you get ALL the credit for.

Those days are gone. Like 30 is the new 20 and navy is the new black- collaboration is the new competition. Maybe it started with mash-ups…perhaps technology drove this new behavior as technology tends to do, but regardless of where it started, we’re beginning to see it everywhere.

Take Boulder Digital Works- a program I’ve talked about a lot in the last six months since I attended the executive workshop. The program is focused on creating the industry’s brightest, boundary-pushing digital talent…and the way they do that is by exposing their students to industry-leading minds from the most innovative agencies and companies around the world. This means that people from Modernista!, Mullen, Crispin, and many more have to work together. And share. Their ideas. Openly. They do this because they believe that without collaboration- this industry is going to be in a world of trouble.

Take J.Crew who recently ran a 2 page spread in New York Times Sunday Styles Magazine that promotes its products and website along with websites of several boutique retailers that don’t seem to have any relationship to J.Crew. When asked why they did this, Millard Drexler, CEO, said this: ‘We like to edit and find things that are not big and famous. So we put together a list of our favorite Web sites that did other things and that we thought were creative. They’re small companies and they’re not out there as much as they deserve to be…. We wanted to share with our customers the things we love.’

These are just two (of many) examples of the new level of sharing, transparency and collaboration that we’re seeing in the industry. Because nobody has the corner on smarts. Two heads are better than one. And it’s better to have contributed 50% to an amazing idea than 100% to an okay idea.

I would love to see more examples- feel free to post.

Okay, so I’m watchin’ Alien, right? Classic movie.

And I’m at that part where John Hurt keels over sick, right? And they lay him on the table. And then…and then…just when I’m ready for the alien to pop up out of his chest, some stinkin’ ad pops up instead, down on the bottom of the screen advertising a bad TV show. So now, instead seeing of a toothy alien spattered with gore, I’m taking in this horrifying image of the New Jersey Housewives.

Being in the advertising business, you’d think I’d be more forgiving about these ads; that I’d understand how ads-pay-for-the-content-I’m-enjoying-bah-blah. No, this is different. When the ads invade the content, when they appear on top of my movie? Dude, that’s way different than cutting to a commercial. That’s like a fat guy in the theater seat in front of me standing up and shoutin’, “HEY, CATCH UP WITH THOSE GOSSIPY, EYE-SCRATCHING SKANKS IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF ‘NEW JERSEY HOUSEWIVES!’”

Hey, TV-programmer-guys? C’mere.

Listen, uh, can we draw the line at invading content? Seriously. Otherwise, what’s next? I’ll be reading Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. In fact, it’s Miller Time!”

No. Okay?

Just, … no.

I could be wrong about this, but while we’re on the subject I feel the same way about cinema ads. Here I’ve just paid $9 for a ticket and a little over $400 for popcorn, and I wanna see content, okay? Trailers, movies, either one, but not ads. If I’m way off base here, lemme know.

I could see maybe one exception.

If there could be a really good creative director in charge of which commercials were allowed to play in theaters, maybe I’d think about it. You’d couldn’t just buy the media. You had to apply for it. And only entertaining, viral-worthy spots ended up on the big screen. I’m sure this would be totally impossible, but I wish someone would tell me it could be done. I mean, it would be cool because … [--ADVERTISEMENT: Tired of the boring blogs? Want to read a good one? Try Mashable today! END ADVERTISEMENT--]…never mind.

I am a high-spending world traveler who vacations in Turks and Caicos using my American Express Black Card. I am a caring mother and I want my children’s clothes to be soft and comfortable and thus I use the Downy Ball. I’m 18, I have a vague idea of what I want to do with my life but no real idea of how to do it. Maybe the Air Force is the answer. I am depressed. I haven’t been out of my house in months. The dishes piled in the sink are rank. My phone rings and I don’t care. Could Zoloft help?

I am water. I am a chameleon. I shed my true skin, beliefs, identity, and form to become someone else. I leave my shoes behind and put on the loafers of the rich, the sandals of the mom, the sneakers of the teen and the pain of the depressed. I am Bruce Lee, adjusting my style as needed — my craft taking new forms to land with more impact and power. I practice Bruce Lee Advertising.

Are you, writer and art director, Bruce Lee? Do you adjust your vision of “cool” as mandated by that of the target? Do you pick music that not only makes your spot better but makes it more poignant for the viewer? Do you design the website your customer needs for their life or the one you need for your book?

Are you, account person, Bruce Lee? Do you temper what you “know” from past category experience with what the current state of the category landscape is? Do you recommend ideas that should be bought because they’re right for the target over what can be sold considering client sensibilities?

Are you, media planner and buyer, Bruce Lee? Do you plan guided solely by CPM and the media demographics you need to hit or by CPM and where your target actually consumes media? Do you think about the targets life, struggles, and victories and how those impact when and where they’ll be most receptive to the message you deliver?

Are you, client, Bruce Lee? Do you truly view your brand the way the market does or do you see it the way your coworkers think the market sees your brand? Do you stick with the tried and true because “that’s the way it’s always been done” or do you flow with the consumer and change your approach as they change their lives?

When you walk through the office doors, drop your baggage and pick up someone else’s. Empty your cup and fill it anew. Be water my friend. Be Bruce Lee.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=145502Of course, it’s important to remember that fans on Facebook is NOT the same thing as unique visits to your brand’s webpage. There are lots of “fans” out there that don’t do a whole lot once they become fans.

Still, this continues to show how social media is pulling more people and brands into its turf and how some brands have done an exceptional job of leveraging their Facebook pages as part of an overall integrated marketing mix.

The most interesting case studies to learn from and/or look deeper into: Starbucks, Oreos, Pampers, and Walgreens.

Every year over the Labor Day weekend I cross paths with a large variety of friends, neighbors and family members that happen to cover a very wide socio-economic spectrum. We do the typical things, have the typical chats (especially among those visits that come once a year) and generally have a grand experience. This time though, there was a little something different thrown in: from BBQ’s to skype chats, from book stores to museums and from taco stands to thai food, I kept running across the same story, albeit from different mouths.

They all started the same way ….“Because we didn’t want to spend the money”…or something along those lines.

And, they all ended the same way… “it’s something we look forward to doing (again) after the recession”.

I really shouldn’t have been surprised as the long-tail of the “Great Recession” is hitting us hard. According to the July, 2010 Economic Security Index, 20% of Americans households are facing “utter economic devastation” . This means that there are approximately 62 million Americans “completely out of money, with jobs, savings and retirement funds gone and nowhere to turn for the next dollar”. And, looking at the ESI research as well as new Pew research this group, which includes some of the 23% of Americans who took a significant pay cut in the past two years, will take anywhere between 6 and 8 years to recover to the pre-recession levels of financial security.

And as studies have shown, the long term effects of a recession are ridiculously numerous—from the lifetime barriers the newly emerging work force will face to crumbling family dynamics to the trickle down ‘negenomics’ and a changed consumerism. But it’s always easier to understand the effects of anything when you put a human face on it all. And that’s where we come in on these stories—the personal changes and choices of consumerism by people, whether it is not spending, of not choosing one brand over the other, choosing no brand at all or of finding new ways to spend. More interesting though than the fiscal shifts, is how each group saw themselves, saw the changing event and saw the value in the changes they’d made. And even more interesting? If, or how, these changes and the value seen in the changes will evolve as we either head back towards pre-recession financial security or find ourselves in the midst of a double-dip.

First, the Shopping Trip Redux: In the past, this close group of friends, around 10 ladies, go to New York over Labor Day weekend to go shopping for the upcoming Winter season.  Their husbands are at home boating, golfing, etc. and for the women, this is part foodie girls trip, part serious shopping trip. They’ve been known to bring large empty trunks with them to ship their new clothes home. This year though only the three best shoppers are going (all are paying for the trip) and those three are taking much shorter, but seriously complicated lists with them for the other 7. Seriously, these lists look like a con-joint study: If the Manolos are less than X, then get the Aimee and Marie (Aussie designer?) black dress in a size 6, but only if the Cor or Asso soaps are not available. Secondly, this group has started a combined savings program at Smarty Pig for those items they can get later, they buy in bulk, they can get online, or they can’t afford right now. Finally, the three that are going have to take pictures and detailed notes on anything they think the ones left at home will like in place of something on their list, and this information is sent home daily so that they can rework the lists vicariously and get back to the shoppers before the shopping continues. The ones at home are on sites like Rue La La, looking for the good deals for all of them—and then adding them to the SmartyPig list. Finally, they’ll have a big viewing party during Fashion Week so they can all be together looking at fashion and talking about it like they always do…it’ll just be from a couch as opposed to an aisle at Bergdorfs. As one said in the midst of all this craziness, “…we used to have fun being there in NY taking our fashion seriously, but this time, we’ll each get a few pieces and the rest we’ll just look at and sigh…”.

Next, A Very Different Las Vegas. Three couples go there almost every year for a birthday. This year, driving instead of the flying, the Sahara over the Bellagio, Merlin over the Beatles. Which seems on trend, generally. Visitation is supposed to be up 2.8% this weekend over last year, and has been up about 2% since June. But once there, spending is radically different, in fact, gaming revenues fell to $4.5 billion in the year ended June 30, down 7.9% from the previous year and nearly 23% over three years.v And the three couples stayed on trend…typically a group that combines black jack and roulette, this year, like many others, they went a little different and struck the penny slots hard. “We worked those machines like no one’s business…it was fun. We’d play, go watch the black jack and roulette tables, then go back and hit the penny slots some more. We stayed together, played longer and laughed harder”. Other’s seem to be doing the same: gamblers who played penny slot machines produced about one-fourth of all slot machine revenue in Nevada last year, and more in other states. In Missouri, one of few states where gambling revenue rose in 2008, more than half of all casino revenue came from penny slots. For many casinos, penny slots are producing the only kind of revenue that’s rising. One couple summed it up nicely with the husband stating, “I surprised myself. I always had fun playing black jack, but it was different this time sitting at the tables, I couldn’t get comfortable with the amount of money on the table and that I was part of it. I had more fun with my wife at the penny slots.” The wife kicked in at that point, “…watching other people play with big money was just as fun for me this time…I don’t know if I’ll go back to playing myself it seems silly in light of it all.”

Lastly, The Big Trade Off. This is a family of six—four teen girls and two parents. He’s had his hours cut, so he added another job. She’s kept her hours, but took a pay cut and her benefits for the family are more expensive this year. After a really difficult family meeting before school started this year, the girls voted on what they’d like to spend their back to school budget on. Surprising their parents, the girls chose technology over clothes, specifically updated phones and even more specifically, the new iphone. According to Michael Mandel, former chief economist at Business Week and current editor of Visible Economy, this is not surprising. He wrote on August 9^th or so about US consumer spending trends in a post on his website titled “Where Americans Are Spending More,” where he showed that Americans do have a bit of ‘thing’ for mobile devices, where spending has soared almost 17% since the recession started whereas spending on clothing and other items continues to trend down. When their mother told them not to come back to them with requests for clothes, the girls took matters into their own hands: first having a hand-me down party amongst themselves, and then amongst larger group of friends and family members. Then to boost their “new” clothes, the girls took advantage of a community clothing swap at the local elementary school where they found both items to add to their closets and manned sewing machines ready to take up, take in or let out or let down. As a family there was sense of accomplishment, a feeling that they got together, made decisions well and tried new things. For the girls they were surprised at how well this worked for them—and their parents. Anna (named changed) who is 16, said it best, “We got the best of both worlds…people can see that we have the same phone that everyone else has and then we had a chance to get new clothes that we were able to play with to make ‘mine’…I didn’t look like everyone else on the first day of school…they all did, they looked exactly the same with the same clothes on and for the first time I saw how that looked and I was excited to look different. And a lot of people liked what I had done with the clothes. It was cool and we did the right thing.” Some may say that value is the new black, but that’s too easy in some ways. I think the real, ‘new black’ is the higher awareness we have of the choices we each face, the trade-offs and the sacrifices made when it comes to our finances now and as we face what comes in comparison to how we acted before and how those around us are acting.

Well, it’s that time of year again: agencies and clients are buying time on the Super Bowl XLV. Two thoughts on this.

First off, um, Super-Bowl Owner Guys? Can we lose the Roman numerals? This has to be at least the XLV-th time I’ve told you guys how confusing those numerals are.

And the other thing is this.

I think it’s interesting the way agencies and clients go on record talkin’ about how hard they’re working on their Super Bowl spots. It’s usually a statement somethin’ like “With an audience this large, we’ve got to put on the best show we can.”

I’m glad everyone tries so hard on Super Sunday. (Though some try maybe too hard?) Overall, I enjoy the Super Bowl spots because everybody seems to be puttin’ on their Sunday best. My question here is why should a spot on the Super Bowl be any different than what we’d air on a Sienfeld re-run? Why do Super Bowl commercials seem so much more important than the ones that air during the rest of the year?

Agreed, only a fraction as many are watchin’ Jerry and Elaine, but isn’t their money just as good as the folks watching the big game? For the sake of argument let’s say it’s just 100,000 people watchin’ Sienfeld. Let’s make it ten thousand. Why would we decide to do anything less for these Sienfeld viewers because there are fewer of them?

It’s sorta like this.

I’m giving a speech next month in San Francisco. It’s not gonna be a very big crowd at all — maybe 200 — so you know what? Instead of trying to make my speech interesting and memorable, I’m gonna throw out everything I know about oratory, about passion, and about connecting with an audience. I’m gonna save all that “interesting crap” for a bigger audience. For the 200 schmucks who show up at my measly little speech? I’m just gonna jam it all into a Powerpoint.

Dude, there’s just gonna be 200 people, okay? Why do any of the “interesting” crap I had planned? Why open with something that grabs their attention when I can get right to the point? Why establish any connection with them?

My speech was gonna be about how important it is to have one simple clean message. But now that I see it’s for a smaller audience, I can cram in everything I want — stuff about making the message relevant, stuff about the importance of production values, pretty much anything I want will fit in now.

In fact, from now on all my speeches for crowds under 2,000 aren’t gonna be memorable or interesting. They’ll be what I’ll call “hard working” speeches; “second-tier speeches.” To anyone who says they suck, I’ll say “My regional speeches have different objectives.” People may not go away thinking I’m much of a speaker. They may not want to hear from me again, but dammit, they’ll have heard all the facts I can cram in the allotted time.

On the other hand, say I get a gig speaking at the big Retail Advertising and Marketing Association? With two or three thousand? Damn, I’ll put on a really good show for those guys. No, seriously I will, because they’ll be more of them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Maybe I’ve made my point here, maybe not. Just seems to me that a TV spot is a TV spot. TV, radio, any media buy is a public appearance and we ought to put on our Sunday best, no matter how large our congregation is.

I’d posted the following to my personal posterous and wordpress a couple weeks back, and shame on me for not auto-posting it over here.  In catching up on this past week’s news of Time Warner Cable and Disney’s deal, I thought I’d bring it over to share here w/ y’all more broadly as the song seems to remain the same and may not be changing for a bit…

“In addition, the growth of the Internet has brought countless new video options into consumers’ homes through services like Hulu, NetFlix, Amazon, and the programmers’ own websites. Right now, the broadcast TV networks generally offer that programming free over the Internet — and free over the air to any household with an antenna — but believe that customers who receive the exact same programming from their cable, satellite, or telephone company should pay a fee for it. That’s like putting a tax on the customers who get it from cable, in order to subsidize the viewers who get it for free online or over the air. We just don’t think that’s fair.” (TWC’s emphasis)

Kinda makes all the talk of “if the content is good, people will come” irrelevant, really. If the content is good and people come and no one makes sufficient money to produce more good content it really doesn’t matter.”