MisEntropy

A Collaborative Book on Marketing in the Social Media Era

'Connect! Marketing in the Social Media Era' is an upcoming collaborative book in the tradition of 'Age Of Conversation.' In the book, 100 marketers have responded to the challenge of inspiring and enlightening readers with 400 words each on the topic.

I have contributed a chapter to the book - narrating a tale from the ancient Indian epic 'Mahabharatha' to illustrate the place of social media in marketing.

All the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated towards research into breast cancer.

Jeff Caswell, who spearheaded The Project 100, has been hard at work over the past couple of months putting it all together. And now he brings good tidings that the book will finally be out on April 6th 2009.

Meanwhile, here's a teaser:

The Project 100...Countdown to Connect!

View more presentations from Nojacketreq. (tags: connect social)

Brand-building lessons from Batman

Frank Miller is the man responsible for the Batman we know today - dark, morally ambiguous, ultra-violent and not too much more saner than the villains he's fighting. His 1986 comic 'The Dark Knight Returns' is credited with single-handedly reinventing the caped crusader and rescuing him from a campy oblivion.

In the latest issue of GQ, Frank Miller has this to say about his time working on the Batman franchise:

"I was once asked by somebody if writing Batman was like holding a Ming Vase or something. And I said 'No, it's like holding a big-ass diamond that you can't break. You can throw him against the ceiling, against the floor, anywhere, and you just can't break Batman.' There are ten ways to do him and they all work."

While it's now common to sneer at the prelapsarian (and pre-Miller) Batman and laugh at his comic capers, what Frank here is saying that he inherited a character that was in effect unbreakable. He could do anything with Batman - turn him into a blood-thirsty monster for eg. (which is exactly what Miller did) - and the public would still relate to their favourite masked hero. 'The Dark Knight Returns' ensured much more than that - the comic is still in print 20 years after it was first published, making Frank Miller a larger than life hero in the bargain.

Likewise, it's not inoften that one hears talk of treating a brand like it's a Ming vase - so fragile that, one slight bump and it will certainly become scarred and second-rate forever. Of treating it with utmost care, padding its every single action with expert attention and holding its little finger every step of the way.

But shouldn't brands be built to be like the Batman Frank Miller inherited? Virtually breakable and totally impervious to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to the machinations of its well-wishers. String together every wrong move one can think of and set the detonator off - and what should step out when the smoke clears is a brand with tattered tights and a slightly bruised body but with a never-say-die soul.

After all, a brand that cannot risk - or survive - a few collisions with adversity isn't too much of a brand. Isn't it?

[Image : Classic DC Batman Cover from Nov.1983 by Gene Colan]