remixing

Matt Sadler, author of the excellent blog infomagination recently made a point about the utilisation of content in relation to Pogos mash up/remix/notquitesurewhattocallit of the Pixars 'Up'. It's one of those pieces of content that simultaneously reminds you of the cleverness and emotiveness of the film whilst taking the 'up' brand in a new direction and potentially to a wider sub audience.

I completely agree with Matt that it's a neglected area within the wider sphere of brand communication and deserves more interrogation from the brand in question - whether they're an animation house, crisp brand or rather outdated male cologne. With regards to the latter, surely this ad is ripe for the you tube video response treatment? (Within my own little world, I have see three separate friends share this in the past 24 hours- all via different methods)



So why aren't more brands using these kind of strategies to trigger the emotional touchpoints previously reached with past work? well I think there are a couple of key points.

The new work assumption

A misguided assumption that new work must equal um...new work. Just look at Google did during the superbowl. They ran with a piece of emotive storytelling that had already been in the ether since November 19th 2009 (on another note, a very interesting way of using You Tube to gauge the reaction to a piece of content before using paid for media).

Does the brand have permission?

Just like with music or publishing, some brands don't have the permission from the public to do the greatest hits / look back thing (think about Rooney bring out an autobiography at 21 or a one hit wonder band doing a greatest hits) - to a certain sector of the crowd it may seem wrong - does this matter? I'm not sure...with regards to those two industries I've always thought an artist / person has to have enough of a story to tell before they can launch into this kind of thing.

Progress, not an abrupt halt

Any recap needs to avoid any insinuation from it's fans that the brand has run out of ideas and has instead decided to give itself a self congratulatory pat on the back (a kind of self regulated bonus - something we know doesn't go down too well). A recap therefore needs to be a slowing down rather than an abrupt halt, the important bit is that the brand is still adding value to the relationship with the viewer and displaying progression towards something better in terms of what they offer.

Loads more to think about on this but there are my thoughts so far, I'll leave you with my favourite recap / set of highlights which for my money has spawned an unlikely star and potential mini series. Introducing King Curtis...



and here are a few more interesting thoughts courtesy of Helge Tenno's tumblr...