Gee, Officer Krupke,
We're down on our knees,
'Cause no one wants a fellow with a social disease.
Smartly penned a half-century ago by lyricist Stephen Sondheim for the classic West Side Story, these words still hold true, but the question at hand is whether anybody knows—or cares—that they’re afflicted.
The Facts:
- Every concern and party from the Johnson’s Family Vacation to the latest and greatest from ConEdison, Oprah and Those Who Are Mad at Proctor & Gamble has a presence on FaceBook, Twitter, Digg and the like. Dependent on the entity, they have either garnered staggering amounts of fan-followers (i.e., Twilight, with 4.5 million) or barely a blip in the webisphere (i.e., Zales, with 1,514 members).
- In unprecedented fashion, 2008’s presidential election made handy use of electronic chatter, with President Obama logging a cool 7 million FB fans and 3 million Twitter followers.
- Innovations like the CNN/YouTube debates bolstered electoral participation a real way, giving rise to a sense of ownership of the process on the part of many younger, more tech-savvy Americans.
- Though they are called social networking sites, the most mundane (ConEd, 244 members) things have sought position there too.
- Information going viral has morphed the court of public opinion into a gargantuan entity difficult to track or predict.
All of the above and more begs the question: Are these sites an evolution from the social of old, at which people exchanged pleasantries, made sure they saw and were seen and generally remained connected? What of the notion of friends? Are the alliances forged with a click in the same realm as those begun in preschool, third grade or college, even? Perhaps a new lexicon is in order—a reframing of sorts. Twitter’s follower concept is a bit less personal, but forget not the fate of the lemming.
Diagnosis:
- Acute information overload embedded with an extremely addictive and wave-borne contagion.
- Much ado about nothing
Suppose social networks have diminished boundaries and all a company need do is place a nouveau social butterfly at the helm of their e-marketing. FaceBook claims a potential audience of 350 million active users, and Twitter clearly has millions of its own so why not? Perhaps at this juncture the more important question is why. Does ConEdison really need a place on our social landscape?
So what does it all mean? A blurring of lines between service, retail, politics, consumer, antiestablishmentarian, etc.? Are we all a part of one humungous clique? Are barriers a thing of the past? If so, marketing speak will indeed have to become brand new and able to speak to all of the people all of the time. Or perhaps, some of the people all of the time,
Prognosis:
- Prolonged bouts of engagement, most likely with little decline. Ever. Activity will be markedly more pronounced dependent on social and political events. Communication will continue to fragment and be increasingly parsed.
   
Jungle Faves_____________________
Novel and nifty innovations that make good sense
‘Tis no small truth that those who speak first, fastest and well get the job done. Last year saw continued re-applications of the word communication by way of smart phone, social network, podcast, webinar and the like. We also marveled at the incredibly viral nature of it all, just as the Fabergé Organics Shampoo commercial of old said: “and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on…” While tech brokers like T-Mobile wow the masses, catch it on screen and send it to the world, young guns all across the globe with a thesis and a camera gain celebrity despite Tinsel Town (i.e., Fred). We salute forward thinkers who are upwardly (electronically and technologically) mobile and the tools they use:
Mobile marketing—any and all of it, including Chase Bank, Associated Press, Netflix, the Amazon Kindle, Pandora, and dictionary.com
Social networking—Facebook countdowns, text blasts and banners, all of which we saw add a significant push first hand to our own Prayer in the Square campaign last fall
Taking Root_____________________
Smart things we love
Knowledge Generation Bureau (KGB)
Who needs Snapple facts anymore when KGB has all of life’s answers? The smartly titled information service is an amalgamation of world trivia without the hassle of electronic rabbit trails. Text your question to 542542 and KGB special agents will have a response to you within seconds. Really; try it for yourself. Of course, not even the most mundane information is free, so before you get hooked, beware the $.99 charge per response. Founded in 1992 as INFONXX (which most have probably never heard of), this outfit knows a thing or two about branding. Its 2008 makeover and January ’09 launch as KGB, servicing the U.S. and U.K., included a pithy TV campaign that attracted people of all strata. After all, who doesn’t want a quick answer these days? KGB gets props for its fresh and intelligent twist on the information age accented with a good old fashioned dose of rebranding magic.
Straighten up & Fly Right_______
Sounds of Renaissance
One of the nation’s largest retailers comes around
Last summer JC Penney made bold and fresh moves, ostensibly to attract the back to school shopper, but also to give the over-a-century-old retailer a needed facelift. Like most other wise hawkers of goods, JCP is hedging its bets on the young and the restless, who look good if nothing else. The colorful spots were spunky, even evoking runway glamour (with backpacks and moving atop lunch tables) and definitely a departure from the days of polyester and big blue bouffants. It seems the last summer's hit was worth it; JCP reports comparable store sales in November at a much smaller decline (5.9%) than last November (11.9%). Not coincidentally, women’s apparel and shoes are the categories registering the most improvement. In need of a makeover or not, JCP still knows how to move a crowd, and that is the mark of experience.
The Early Burd Really Wants the Worm: Walmart and Target battle for coveted ground
The day after Halloween, top dog Walmart came out swinging with practical, pithy appeals to Middle America—and everyone else its net could reel in for Operation Major Sales 2009. “Christmas costs less at Walmart” unabashedly leapt right over Thanksgiving—which people will celebrate no matter what—to insist that there is a way to do Christmas, even if the budget is significantly smaller. A smart and extremely relevant message for today, as discussions around basic healthcare rage on Capitol Hill and far too many Americans are struggling to put food on the table, much less plan their discretionary spending. In the other corner (at a slightly later arrival time) we have Target, with a significant swing in its own right. The promise? Fashion, electronics, décor at incredibly low prices. Of its Christmas spots, one of the best has to be “Confession,” in which a tween begins to blab of all her sins because she’s been naughty, not nice. Second runner up is “There Yet,” where a surprisingly fab gift prompts a gal to tell her dinner date she thought their relationship hadn’t reached that level yet…awkward, but we get it.
On the Vine______________________
 God Goes Underground
Times Square Church with the help Jungle recently launched their new ad campaign to reach New York City's commuters underground. Manhattanites are sure to see who God is in over 1,000 SUBWAY CARS.
 Re-Branding
After over 20 years of servicing athletes and chiropractic patients throughout New York, Jonas Chiropractic has sought Jungle out to re-brand and launch their new practice to stand out from the competition.
 The Movement
Look who's gone outdoor, underground and over the river, and entered the web with a bang?! Staten Island Association of Evangelicals has rallied up their troops to start their very first major campaign declaring that millions of New Yorkers are Really, Really Good With God. With the help of Jungle you wont be able to miss any of their Message in Staten Island.
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