Marketing mashups: Consumers 'configure culture'


According to Marissa Gluck, Founder of Radar Research, it was. At the recent Ad-Tech conference in NYC, Gluck made a case for marketing by consumer remixes and mashups.
Gluck cited “configurable culture” phenomena occurring in television, music, movies…
TELEVISION: American Idol integration of audience feedback into story architecture and promotion of SMS.
MUSIC: Janet Jackson’s “Design Me” contest soliciting fan participation in album cover design for 20 Years Old.
MOVIES: Snakes on a Plane viral Internet buzz during production impacting development of the film’s storyline.
Glick characterizes configurable culture as:
Instantaneous,
Editable,
Global,
Networked,
Multi-Sensory,
Interoperable,
Archival,
Customizable and
Hackable!
Marketing by remix leaves an impression on U.S. consumers, according to Radar Research -Intellisurvey polling of about 1800 people last October. When asked “When did you last watch a remix of a TV commercial online?,” more than half responded “within the past month.”
In “Superbowl 2007: Social media kick-off” I discuss the debut of what I call brand-focused “user-involved” content at February’s game.
What is brand-focused “user-involved” content? Promotional fare “created” by “users” at the behest and direction of corporate brands and designed to support the marketing and communications missions of the sponsoring corporations.
This year’s Super Bowl of TV commercials is slated to include the new genre of marketing mashups vying for the hearts, minds and wallets of the world.
Web 2.0 users are not “in control,” but they can be involved if they are promoting corporate brands according to corporate specifications.