that’s right, here’s what I’ve been listening to this year:

KANYE WEST – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – This Is Happening

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The last few days have seen a series of articles written about Brooklyn and I for one am surprised it took so long for the press to figure things out.  It all started with this Crain’s article and then the New York Times took it to another level with “Brooklyn: The Brand”. The Village Voice also jumped in on the action. All good reads!

As someone who grew up in Brooklyn and still visits it on a weekly basis I feel both amused and proud that Brooklyn is suddenly getting all this attention, especially from corporate America.  My memories of the largest and most populous borough of New York are significantly less ‘Disney’ and less accessible to mainstream America.  It was rough growing up in Brooklyn back in the day.  There’s a reason why Spike Lee dubbed it ‘Crooklyn’ and trust me when I say that I’ve lived that part of Brooklyn first hand.

But gone are the days of tough guys, hard knocks, and shadiness – at least on the surface.  Where Manhattanites referred to us all at B&T trash and no one cared to cross the East River to visit us, now suddenly it’s a badge of honor to say that one lives in Brooklyn.  A decade ago the arts and music communities began to transplant their scenes into Williamsburg and Red Hook and now name brands and corporate giants are following suit.  To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to think of it.  It’s not the Brooklyn that I remember but it’s also not too bad, is it?

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Jason Fried at TEDxMidwest discusses why the workplace is the WORST place to get work done in. I can’t say I disagree, especially when he says that ‘People — especially creative people — need long stretches of uninterrupted time to get things done. Fifteen minutes isn’t enough. Thirty minutes isn’t enough. Even an hour isn’t enough.’ That’s why, he claims, we look forward to getting work done on airplanes, on trains during daily commutes, or even over the weekends.

In Europe “festival culture” is indeed festival CULTURE, with hundreds of music festivals filling in the days of summer like a huge, loud and euphoric 100 piece puzzle.  Festivals on the other side of the pond often dwarf our own festivals in size (Glastonbury attracts close to 150,000 people) and star power (Reading and Leeds Festivals have hosted almost every major touring artist around today), but what is most amazing about European festivals is that they have become such an ingrained part of youth culture over there. It truly is a right of passage for today’s Europeans and one that is repeated on an annual basis for most.

That said, it’s no surprise that brands have figured out that they need to be part of the overall experience otherwise risk losing a perfect opportunity to connect with the coveted Gen Y and Gen X demos.  Just in 2010 alone brands such as Playstation, Orange (one of the UK’s largest mobile service providers), Coca Cola, Nokia, Jagermeister, Converse, Pringles, Ubisoft, Vodafone, and Nissan had activations at multiple European festivals this summer. So our friends at FRUKT decided to put together the ‘definitive guide to brand activations at music festivals’ and we have the goods for you.

But first, here’s a little taste of what they had to say:

It’s not hard to see why music festivals are such a potentially lucrative market for brands. There are very few consumer touch point opportunities that offer themselves up on plate in the way a music festival does. Where else can you find a predominantly young, captive, emotionally charged audience engaged in a
shared, tangible social experience? This is a brand’s big moment to shine in a strong passion-led context. However, just what is the most effective route to market for a brand that wants to connect with music’s most dedicated fan base?

Download a sample version here. For the full report, visit www.fruktcomms.com.

A solid short documentary about New York’s early influencer culture. Check it:

I’ve been advocating for the legitimacy of “influencers” for quite a while as a critical target audience for brands and causes, alike.  Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point got the ball rolling almost a decade ago and only recently have brands begun to pay the much needed attention to this small niche yet overwhelmingly critical demographics.

Today, as the relevance of social networks is undeniable, the Power of One is the Power of Many.

More info on the documentary can be found at influencersfilm.com and facebook.com/​influencersfilm

I’m not quite sure why but this whole event rubs me the wrong way.  Actually, I am sure of why…it’s because of the hefty price tag put against producing something as large and over the top as this:

I really shouldn’t be surprised considering the hefty budgets brands have set aside for mere :30 second commercials broadcast during the Super Bowl and other major TV event. But the financial gluttony of an event like this for a video console release strikes me as a clear case of corporate overkill.

How many total impressions did this event actually receive?  A quick Google News search for “Kinect” “Times Square” didn’t blow me away, especially considering that many of those articles focused primarily on the console release at the Times Square Toys R Us store rather the actual event.  But nonetheless Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, thought a high six figure-to-low seven figure budget – not to mention 600 synchronized dancers and live performances by Ne-Yo and Lady Sovereign – was all well worth it.

Oh by the way, Mother New York produced this for XBox. Nice job, Mike.

A quick joke…

“How many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

“How many?”

“What, you don’t know?”

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I’ve had my occasional run-ins with Pitchfork Media mainly because I think that their higher-than-though approach to today’s music, and specifically in the context of their music reviewing, is lazy.  Too often their default when critiquing music, or pop culture for that matter, is to take on the music snob persona and pan something merely because they have the ability to do so.  I take their music reviews with a small mountain of salt.

But I will give them credit when credit is due and recently they’ve taken some steps to win back my respect.  On such step is their new Pitchfork POV Concert Series, which is noteworthy because of the high quality of the production and especially because of the ability to view the performances from one of six different user-controlled camera angles. The concept itself is not wholly original – we at SMG have been discussing this internally for quite a while for our live webcasts.  It’s definitely been tried before but Pitchfork just got it right. Hats off to you gentlemen (and ladies).

On a related topic, Pitchfork produced a “rival” festival last week to the annual CMJ Music Festival.  The #Offline Fest was programmed as an alternative to CMJ – one that was supposedly ‘hipper’ and definitely cheaper. A success, I suppose.  But the best part of #Offline, for me at least, was that many of the shows were filmed and will be included as future performances available as part of the Pitchfork POV Concert Series. Whether the shows will also provide for multiple camera angles is still TBD. I hope so.

Really, this technology is absolutely incredible and I can see a million different ways that this can be useful for any brand (or band) to take an event (or concert) to an entirely new level.  Not sure the costs of producing something as mild-blowing as this – and I surely will investigate it further – but if it is remotely affordable then the possibilities are limitless.

Now this is what I call some innovative forward-thinking:

“A shoe company giving away studio time might seem peculiar. But with its new project, Converse — whose sneakers have been worn by generations of bands, from the Ramones to the Strokes — wants to become a patron of the rock arts. The company is not alone: lifestyle brands are becoming the new record labels.”

So Converse is opening up a new 5,200 sq. ft. recording studio in hipster mecca Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Pretty interesting, but there’s a great twist to this story. Converse will let bands record for free. Bands will be able to apply for the right to use the state of the art studio for nothing, nada, zilch. All this thanks to a corporate brand, which in this particular case just happens to be a hip brand that already has an existing level of authenticity with its consumers. Nevertheless, this is a brilliant example of brand-band partnerships…with partnership being the operative word.

Recently I’ve been hearing musicians and brand managers alike speak about building partnerships rather than sponsorships.  Again, this is not a novel idea but it does speak to the current trend of developing branded entertainment and fusing brands with music in a more authentic and genuine way.  Simply branding a tour with a logo and a title sponsorship isn’t enough anymore.  It’s about rewarding the band and its fans with an experience that is worthwhile…that feels organic in its execution.

And for the brand, it’s all about coolness by association.

Mr. [Geoff] Cottrill [Converse's Chief Marketing officer] suggested that the long-term success of Rubber Tracks would depend less on whether the bands that record there go on to fame and fortune than on the extent to which they keep Converse in their heart.

“Let’s say over the next five years we put 1,000 artists through here, and one becomes the next Radiohead,” he said. “They’re going to have all the big brands chasing them to sponsor their tour. But the 999 artists who don’t make it, the ones who tend to get forgotten about, they’ll never forget us.”

For more info about the studio, check out Converse Rubber Tracks.