Link Lust: Link In The Nick Of Time

Our Industry is Broken is a manifesto disguised as game from Fletcher Martin in Atlanta. (hat tip Brandon)

Brandweek reports TV ad clutter was no worse for 2006.

Four ways to use Twitter in marketing. And if you have yet to check out the hypnotic Twittervision, you might want to.

PageFlakes is an umbrella site for marketing/advertising blogs which launched yesterday. Basically another way to get your rss feeds. If you're looking for Adland, we're under the advertising tab.

Sprig is a new site about green design and ways to make your design and office greener.

And speaking of design, Istanbul Design Week will be taking place between the 4th and 10th of September. Istanbul Design Week is held on the historic Galata Bridge in Balat, which is one of the most interesting areas of the city. The event will include several other projects, workshops, exhibits and joint events. Marti Guixe, Matali Crasset, Alberto Meda and Shin Azumi are some of the returning guests from last year's Istanbul Design Week. See the website for more information.

The Art and Science of Creepy takes a look at how advertising has turned the buzz factor into the bizarre factor. (hat tip Clay)

Cavemen get insulted by Geico's insurance ads. The Burger King "King" sacks, taunts, and serves NFL players. Viktor "rocks the house big time" for Citi rewards. The Starburst wet suit buddies survive whale vomit. And a computer generated Orville Redenbacher grooves on his iPod years after his death.
When did advertising get so creepy?

The current state of bizarre ad pitchmen has spawned a "top 10 creepy mascot" list from Adweek, an entire blog on creepy ads at advertisingisgoodforyou.com, and a trendy ad strategy. And just when some pundits thought Orville's resurrection on the Golden Globes might be the nadir, the Super Bowl introduced the "bearded comb-over" guy for Sierra Mist, and Sheryl Crow's pretentious "colorist" for Revlon. YouTubers are viewing and forwarding these ads by the tens of thousands. Bloggers in equal numbers are moved to post messages like "the Starburst guys make me sick." Some of the current "creepy" rage comes from the creative obsession with using peculiar ads to engage consumers. But the planning and execution of weird characters is generating its own currency.

It's called social currency. Burger King CMO Russ Klein has used the term frequently in describing the success his brand has had in creating the King, as well as the "Subservient Chicken" character created to hawk its chicken sandwich. The term was actually coined by "cyberpunk" philosopher and novelist Douglas Rushkoff. The way he put it in 2001: "Social currency is like a good joke. When a bunch of friends sit around and tell jokes, what are they really doing? Entertaining one another? Sure, for a start. But they are also using content -- mostly unoriginal content that they've heard elsewhere -- in order to lubricate a social occasion. And what are most of us doing when we listen to a joke? Trying to memorize it so that we can bring it somewhere else. The joke itself is social currency. 'Invite Harry. He tells good jokes. He's the life of the party.'"

It's good to be the king
For Burger King and Russ Klein, the King is Harry. But BK has taken this concept to a new level, and one that just might define best practices for social currency. Klein in fact has defined the King as a "good friend at a party that's willing to be the butt of the joke." But by posting its 12th straight quarter of growth, and selling 2.4 million Whoppers a day, the King is laughing all the way to the boardroom. The King was featured in Xbox video games sold exclusively through Burger King in December to the tune of 3.2 million copies sold. He was on Jay Leno 17 times in December. Love him or hate him, Burger King and its customers have created content that is traded about the brand, and therefore, in Klein's view, that's money.

"It's putting the customer in charge in a social, connected way," Klein says. "Some could describe the King in a negative or unflattering way, but what we're doing with social currency is wresting control from brand management control freaks."

Burger King's strategy has been to let go of that control just enough to create a socially topical character, then give it interactive capabilities. Viral sites like YouTube are important, blogs are important, customized character Web sites are important. The King has all of those. But it also spends a lot of money attaching merchandise to the King, such as the Xbox games. Not only does the $40 mask of the King generate real money, it created a lot of social currency last Halloween.

None of the other characters hawking ads have picked up the viral, interactive elements of the King. They seem to lean mostly on the emotional provocations that can create social currency. What Klein seems to like most about the King is the depth and unpredictability it gives to the Burger King brand. "I don't ever want customers to think they know everything about us," he says.

One attendee at a recent CMO Council seminar asked Klein: "But what if I think it's creepy?"

Klein's reply: "I'll take it."

Speck and Gordon from Furlined directed the Geico "caveman at Airport" spot. Music by Röyksopp.