Alec

McNayr

AMC enacted their copyright and had Twitter suspend the accounts associated with their Mad Men characters.

There are a lot of bloggers up-in-arms about this, as bloggers can be (read: “The DMCA sucks!” “Burn copyrights!” “Anarchy!”). Bloggers, who tend to be writers, creatives, artists, and marketing self-promoters are probably especially fond of Mad Men, and were, probably, like me, excited about further interacting with the characters. Twitter seemed to be a spot-on communications tool for the show.

I 100% agree that AMC (which pays for and owns the show) has the right to do this.

I just hope the cable network takes note of the moment and makes these Twitter accounts official.  They should continue the good work of their anonymous (and probably now pissed-off) fans. I can only hope that staff writers or assistants are tasked with maintaining these accounts, and they don’t have to run things through legal before each post.

Links of note:

• I am @Paul_Kinsey
• Mad Men on Twitter
• DMCA takedown notice forces Twitter to blacklist Mad Men characters (Venture Beat)

One of my favorite shows on TV, AMC’s Mad Men is getting bigger audiences in season 2, and treating them to an expanded look into the lives of the [fictional] ad world of 1962. The tone is pitch-perfect, the characters are deep and flawed, and the set pieces, costumes, and era kitsch are all intriguing.

I just stumbled across something totally separate from the show: someone has created Twitter accounts for a couple of the main characters, and they’re interacting, as if from 1962, with fans from 2008 (and with each other). Brilliant.

Twittering from the Past!

So far, I’ve been able to find a couple of character Twitter accounts. Don seems to be the most active, with over 800 followers and 170 status updates. Sure, Twitter is mostly for early-adopter technophiles, much like being on Digg, but it’s a probably a smart tactic for engaging the fans most likely to blog and use online media to spread your messages…

• Don Draper: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Peggy Olson: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Pete Campbell: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Joan Holloway: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Updated: Sal Romano: Twitter
• Updated: Bud Melmen: Twitter (and LinkedIn)
• Updated: Bobbie Barrett: Twitter
• Updated: Paul Kinsey: Twitter

The most interesting part of these accounts is that the characters are responding back to questions, rants, references to post-1962 pop culture (e.g., Peggy has never heard of “A Clockwork Orange”), and furthering the fan interaction into the show. Most of their updates are replies. Official or no, this is cool.

And, probably pretty easy. All it would take is someone with a deep knowledge about the show and a program like Twitterific or twhirl, where you can have multiple Tweet windows open.

And it doesn’t stop with Mad Men. After a little more research, I found Twitter accounts for:

• Liz Lemon (Tina Fey on 30 Rock)
• Michael Scott (Steve Carell on The Office)
• Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson on The Office)
• Darth Vader
• Borat (with over 5,000 followers!)
• Norman Dale (Gene Hackman from the movie Hoosiers – seems abandoned, but you get the point)

That’s a lot of fake Twitterers! Perhaps a real fake Twitter account might bring in the right audience to kick-start your communication strategy.

Church Relevance posted a list of its “Top 90 Church Web Sites.”  (90?  Really?)

It’s an interesting case to examine 90 locally-focused organizations, each with similar structure, mission, and goals, and how they organize their content, craft their brand, and reach out to both potential visitors and existing members.

From the list: Northstar Church (Frisco, TX)

I hope you don’t mind the levity (or the self-promotion) on an otherwise marketing-related site, but I wanted to share a video with you that I wrote, directed, acted in, and edited. I’m a quadruple threat!

It’s one of a series of funny videos meant to introduce a “relationship teaching series” happening at my church. Enjoy.

disHarmony.com: Three Little Words (1:32)

(Did you catch the continuity error?)

Ask my wife: my biggest pet peeve is seeing “Got _________?” stickers around Los Angeles.

You know.  Blatant rip-offs of the Got Milk? ad campaign? (Side note: did you know that the Aaron Burr Got Milk? commercial was directed by Michael Bay?)

On trucks, billboards, sidewalks, and signs.  I see another one and think, “Got Creativity?”

Nope.  They don’t.

Here are a couple of my faves.  If I see more, I’ll make it into a series.  If you see any, send me a link or the photo itself.

Got Fish?

(more…)

Sam Lawrence said it best via twitter: “This blows my mind.”

The Boston Globe’s Boston.com has a three-month old blog column called “The Big Picture” and yes, it does blow your mind.

It’s a collection of amazing photography presented in a large format.  Very little commentary and captioning.  Not to get nerdy, but all the photos are all 990 pixels wide and around 600 pixels tall.  Much larger than your average web site photos.

Artistry comes both from the quality and presentation of your work, and as I think about engaging people, I can’t help but think that most web content creators are missing the boat by limiting viewership of their most important digital assets.

Example 1: Photos
Looking at two examples from my own university, the Pepperdine school of law posted tiny photos from an alumni event.  No context; just hundreds lined up in a row.  Conversely, Pepperdine’s president just went on a highly-publicized tour of Route 66, and, along the way, his team posted photos to flickr, where people can view full-sized images, as well as download and comment.

Example 2: Video
I wrote a column for TubeFilter about TNT’s new interstitial series, Lucky Chance, and not only is the series lame, but they only allow you to embed a super-small window (260 px wide) in which to post the video on your site.  Not an engaging viewing experience, even if you’re watching your favorite show.

Apply this to your own site.  Your own blog.  Your own experience.  Are you trying to “wow” clients?  Trying to make web surfers “feel” your brand?  Big presentations and crisp photography can do that.