More Social Media Baloney

Last month, in a post called "Zealots, Maniacs, And Hustlers," I said,

..."we've developed a reputation for being anti-digital media and pro-traditional media.

We are neither.

We have no personal interest in, or allegiance to, any medium.

Our only purpose is to fight bullshit, hyperbole and words without meaning. We are against zealots, maniacs and hustlers of any stripe."

There is, perhaps, no area of marketing more full of hype and bullshit than social media.

Last week, a video popular with social media maniacs exploded in their faces. The video called "Social Media Revolution" was produced by someone or something called Socialnomics. net, and was apparently a thinly-disguised promotional device for a book he/they have written.

Regular readers of TAC may have seen the video because one of our commenters posted a link to it in our comments section. If you haven't seen it, here it is.



The video is apparently so full of piracy, errors, and misleading statements that even a self-described "social media evangelist" by the name of Robert Cole, who thankfully has some integrity, has taken it apart.

If you really want to puke, read the smarmy replies from the creator of the video to commenters on his blog who point out his errors -- and from the knuckleheads who think this guy's sloppy work is just fine.

Thanks to Malachy Walsh for the heads-up on this.

Steroids Are Fine. Salt is Dangerous.

Every now and then, TAC reserves the right to blog about whatever the hell he feels like. Today is one of those days.

I had a chance to visit new Yankee Stadium a few weeks ago and here are some thoughts about it.

1. It's impressive but not beautiful. Nice wide corridors, grand main plaza, comfortable seats (at least where I was.) But it does not have the beauty of some of the newer parks.

2. In spite of its grand scope, it has a great "close to the action" feel to it.

3. Love the fact that you can still see the elevated subway tracks from the stands. Gives it an authentic Bronx feel.

4. Compared to a West Coast ballpark: More guys with yarmulkas, fewer guys with tattoos.

5. Too much tacky self-promotion on the jumbotron. The Yankees have a remarkable history and don't need to keep hitting you over the head with it.

6. They spent a billion and a half on the ballpark. They couldn't spend a few thousand to clean up the subway station?

7. Without being too provincial here, I can't see how this ballpark cost four times as much as AT&T park in San Francisco.

8. The menu boards lists the caloric content of everything they sell. I'm sure it's some idiotic city regulation. Do I really need to be reminded that an order of Nathan's french fries has 1200 calories when I'm trying to enjoy a ballgame? Can't we have any fun anymore without government busybodies sticking their pious noses in our business?

9. Someone please explain this to me: there is no salt to be found anywhere in the ballpark. WTF?

And Now For Something Completely Different...
George Tannenbaum over at Ad Aged said something very scary, but very true yesterday. "There's no room for ambition in advertising today. Against the machine-like hegemony of massive holding companies and massive client "marketing" structures."

It's amazing that anything good gets done anymore.

Blogging About Blogging

Back in the Middle Ages, when I was a creative director, I had a few strict rules:

• No talking animals
• No guys dressed as girls
• No celebrity's mothers
• No ads about advertising

Today I'm going to break the spirit of one of those rules and blog about blogging.

Here are a few random thoughts on the subject.

1. Unpleasantness in advertising is not something new. As long as I've been in the business I've seen and heard lots of viciousness. What's different now is the internet. It provides an outlet for angry, cowardly people to hurl vitriol immediately, anonymously, and publically, particularly on blogs.

2. One of the problems for ad bloggers is that the most popular topics for blogging are industry gossip and industry news. Ad gossip and news invariably require bloggers to talk about people. Once you start talking about people, you're going to provoke highly emotional reactions. In other words, if you're going to hurl mud, you better have a good pair of windshield wipers.

3. Here at The Ad Contrarian, I don't give a damn about advertising gossip or news. I try to deal in ideas. That's why I'll never make a nickel doing this.