Mo's notebook

I'm Moïra. Student in Communications. This is about a perpetual amazement and communications.

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ExSmokers advertise good

I do not smoke but I have an interest in anti-smoking campaign. I have done some research around the effects of smoking last spring (see Anthony Hamelle's post about smoking and cancer) and I found it very interesting. Usually, these campaigns are moralistic and do not engage the consumers in quitting.

However, today, in many European countries, was launched ExSmokers campaign. See Unstoppable United's Facebook page

A clever campaign

First, it is clever to buy the front page of the free newspaper Metro, for it has a version on many countries in Europe.

Then, the second point that must be highlighted, is that the reader/consumer/smoker can identify with the smoker/ex-smoker on the front page. It seems that in each country, Unstoppable United has chosen the person that embodies the ex-smoker among a bunch of people who had submitted their application via the local Facebook page.

Finally, and now I leave this mere analysis of the print to become more online, the European Commission launched iCoach to help people quit smoking.

What is iCoach ?

iCoach is an online digital health coaching platform that helps individuals stop smoking. Digital coaching, or the process of behavioural change in an online environment, is based on pioneering research, practical clinical experience, and the expertise of psychologists and communication experts.

Community and engagement

This tool is build like a social network, where you can share your experience via the forum. The aim of this campaign is to create an emulation among the smokers and ex-smokers in other to change behaviours. The notion of involvement is quite important because these smokers won't be alone in their effort and it will show that quitting cigarette is possible. Moreover, the user is backed by advice, techniques and tailored feedback.

This campaign underlines four major points: 1) the impact of print in online campaigns (drive to web) 2) the role of the community in behaviour change 3) the importance of bespoke services for users 4) the use of a muse to increase identification (individualism plays a big part here)

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"Listening is just a beginning"

It is good that I am back at school because I discover some new concept such as buzz monitoring. Actually, it was not a real discovery. I actually did buzz monitoring, without knowing it was so.

Let's define "buzz monitoring", shall we?

Buzz monitoring is the first step in a strategy of branding 2.0. It is not a mere cartography that will show where do people talk about a brand. A qualitative study is necessary, therefore, buzz monitoring is collecting data in every space where opinion is given. The second step is the defining of the message and its analysis.

Don't forget about the people

But sociology cannot be forgotten, buzz monitoring is about people: who they are, which community they belong to and how much people they can "influence". Maybe one can find trends or typologies among these people. The individual is the basis of buzz monitoring, quantitative results are studied at a smaller scale.

Qualitative results are studied to understand why people talk about the brand and they help spotting threats and opportunities. When you know what is said about your brand, you know what to do, what to say and to who.

Want to know more about free tools? Visit Vanksen's blog (in French)

Source: Marketing 2.0

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While you wait

I hope you missed me and that you were disappointed to see there was no new blog post last Tuesday.

I was offline for a whole month, I am preparing a post about 9-11, but as for now, and in order to be coherent, I'd like to introduce to you Code Academy.

If you want to become a real geek jedi, here is a way to program websites, alert users, include If Statements and other stuff I do not understand now.

I think I am going to take a peek and who knows, maybe this tumblr will be reprogrammed!

Via @eogez

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Summer break

See you in September, guys.

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Only a geek would waste their time on the internet, defining geek on urbandictionary.com

This is a post suggested by my co-worker mate Jeanne. We had just started using G+ when we were amazed by the Circles animation... You know, when you delete a Circle, there is this nice animation, the Circle rolls to the left and then, vanishes. After several exclamtions ("wow, this is crazy! You can't see that on Facebook"), my friend Jeanne told me: "Hum, we are so geeky."

I was not really a digital native.

Actually, when I was a bit younger, I was not that into social networks, digital experiences, etc., I confess. But I admit that I was addicted to MSN. I resisted to Facebook until July 2009 and from noob, I quickly became a sort of upgraded social network padawan with a Twitter account and a Tumblr.

Could Don Draper code?

I now notice that many of us are in a digital craze. Maybe it is just that I am surrounded by people totally addicted to iPads and other iStuff, that I make this generalization. Or it may be because I am currently working in advertising and strange people there have it all: Twitter accounts, iPhones, iPads, HTCs... and they code both in HTML5 and CSS.

Stats prove me right, I love them.

Therefore, has the population changed? Should we declare that youngsters are digital natives and that we are heading towards a more connected and more digital addict society? I think what I mean by addition should be explained. Sometimes people just forget what was life before check-ins, smartphones and "free" access to all sort of data. It seems so natural to them that you have registered in all the social networks that exist (including the ones you never visit), it seems normal to tell your community where you are, what you do, who you are with... Now QR codes have no more secrets to us, we are fed with lolcats and everyone knows what is a nyan cat (I have a thing for cats). This is what I call addiction.

So are all internet users crazy for all sorts of social networks and tech devices? No. For example, in the USA, social networks penetration is of 59% among internet users (52% in EU27). Moreover, still in the USA, computers represent 93,3% of the traffic generated on news websites. Of course people are better educated to internet use but we see that if the use of smartphones apps are booming, only 31,1% of mobile subscribers in Europe have a smartphone (42% in the USA). And do not ask my mum what is augmented reality, she'll talk you about alternative reality games.

Geeky definitions and linguistics

And if I want to go further, I'll ask you, what is a geek? According to the Urban dictionnary (ultimate reference):

"The term [geek] now enjoys a special status within the technical community, particularly among particularly knowledgable computer programmers. To identify oneself as a "geek" indicates a recognition that most people still consider programming computers to be a bizarre act, along with a certain fierce satisfaction in being very good at their inglorious profession."

I do not code (I know basics of HTML), but I have some satisfaction in working with computers, social networks and weird communities. My profession is inglorious (I work in an ad agency... You know, ad is devil. Mouhahah). However, it is not the case for everybody.  Let's dig further.

The Urban dictionnary gives another definition:

"Geek: An outwardly normal person who has taken the time to learn technical skills. Geeks have as normal a social life as anyone, and usually the only way to tell if someone is a geek is if they inform you of their skills.

There you go, a geek is above all social. Even if we talk a lot about social fractures and the lack of humanity in our contacts with people in everyday life, for many, social networks are a way to strengthen their links with their friends (esp. for young people). A geek is social and tries to maintain his social network at every second of his life, by posting random stuff, anywhere he is.

And I think I will end this post like this, with all my apologies for my happy mix of linguistics (or sort of) and pseudo social analysis.

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Lie to me

I keep wondering about how do the statisticians work. I have this fascination for their work because I am so lame in mathematics, I should be ashamed (in fact, I am). But I realised that statistics are not an exact science.

Distortions

It is just like medicine. You wish it were exact, but it is not. Statisticians, even though they take into account distorsions and biases etc., cannot deliver their figures and say: "this is reality". I think about statistics on Twitter or Facebook users. How can you be so sure about their number? You cannot. Because there are fake profiles, dead people profiles, pet profiles... Even if Facebook knows how many profiles were created, this number does not reflect how many poeple are using the SNS at this precise instant.

I am therefore more amazed by statistics. And about their use. Everyday, we are fed with the statistics of the day: unemployement rate, politicians' rating and the list goes on. Even if the sample of population should be representative, how can there be a discrepancy between voting intentions and actual results? Because people lie.

Lies, damn lies...

People lie about their voting intentions, about who they are online using avatars and fake profiles, about their age... People hide behind their screen and give misleading information. Facebook wanted to break all this scheme, preaching transparency, however, by being "forced" to expose yourself, you try to expose your best profile. Consequently, you hide things, you rearrange truth by de-tagging yourself from embarrasing pictures... You lie.

Erwin Goffman is always right

I think these lies are healthy ones. They are preserve your public face (I should consider writing my next school dissertation about Erwin Goffman's theory). Of course people know that you are hiding things, and that you put them on separate lists so that they cannot see their private face. But people had done this forever, and Facebook pretending they want to build an open space where people won't hide who they are, is another lie.

Bonus: have a glance at this blog post about ChangeWave's survey "Consumer Smart Phones – Apple vs. Google Android"... "What people say and what they eventually do often differ. [...] I tend to look at what people do (Nielsen's findings) versus what they say they will (ChangeWave's).

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I have no G+ profile.

People got a bit frantic about Google +. First, the game was to have an invitation. All day long, there it went on my Twitter TL:

"I have some invitations for Google +."

"OMG, I want an invitation for Google + so bad, please give me one!"

"Google launches its own social network to compete with Facebook: Google +. Read my super duper blog post about this (yes I have my own profile on G+, I am an influent blogger)."

Everyone is an expert... and provides analyses

And analyses started to invade every single space available in the Internet. Even this blog... But I will not write an analysis. First, because I have no invitation, therefore, I have not tested this revolutionary network. Secondly, I think people need some time using Google +, to think about it.

Take some time

Twitter has taught us to rush into every innovation that was launched. The Internet has perverted our connection with time. When you were not playing like a fool with your smartphone, you had to wait to be into your office to read your emails. Blessed time it was... We want everything, and we want it now. Too bad. I think that delivering an analysis takes time. Moreover, the fact that Google + is just being tested does not gives the whole experience. It is like writing the criticism of a song that has not being sampled yet.

Therefore, I will not make any pseudo analysis before the final version is launched. Statement.

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Brands on the Internet, games and advice

A brand on SNS has to help me, or entertain me. Otherwise, do not waste your time, your activity will always be insignificant.

Livia Hood

That's it.

I've been working on few ad accounts for clients who want to use social networks (have I mentioned that I am an intern as a social & online strategy manager?). I have benchmarked dozens of websites and analysed some apps. What is striking is that the apps are often designed to provide the user a piece of advice or a service that will help him in his buying of a product or in his everyday life. The number of consumer-centered campaigns is increasing. And if the consumer is not the one you are caring after, you'd better help charities.

Yes, I'll drop names and give you examples. In France, GDF Suez has just launched a campaign named Être utile aux hommes (Being useful to Humans). The title speaks for itself. The aim is use their human task force to promote their other activities. They developed a website to narrate their commitment in several other activities.

Ma Benz*

Mercedes Tweet race is pleasant and original. The consumers were the target audience, however, to reach them, the campaign used intermediaries who were 4 teams of 2 drivers. They asked people to tweet in order that they win fuel. What is interesting is the purpose of the race: winning 25m$ and giving them to the charity that the team had designated.

Entertain them

But you also can entertain the audience. Did I ever mention Got Milk's milky games? Not only do they inform but they are a pleasant way to waste time. Fun pedagogy that is. You can change people's behaviour by amusing them.

Volkswagen developed a whole website about it. The company organised a competition, the best project won The Fun Theory Award and 2500€. The projects had to change people's behaviour or environment, in a fun way.

In a nutshell, helping your consumer or entertaining them is a way to highlight your side activities. You show that you can go beyond your core competences, and that your legitimacy comes from the services you are disposed to offer to ease people's life.

*"Ma Benz" is a french rap song by NTM and Lord Kossity about a man who wants to hop in the Mercedes-Benz of an attractive business woman to seduce her. Brigitte, a French duo has recently launched a cover of the original song.

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Creativity at its best

Being French is a privilege. I know I sound very redundant, but you have to admit that frogs is not what you expect to eat for diner (except if you are stuck in the middle of the jungle), and being different is the new cool. Moreover, we have the most elegant First Lady. And finally, our Riviera gather a film festival AND a festival of creativity.

Even if I really appreciate the campaign Jay-Z Decoded, which was rewarded at Cannes Lions, I think it would be funnier to present and discuss the Autarky Project.

What is the Autarky Project?

A project led by a Mormon agency that advocates protectionism for its clients? No. A project created to isolate the agency responsible for the lamest campaign? No. A project developed to help 7 dwarfs to spend good time out of work? Yes.

Watch the video presenting the project.

The whole thing is brilliant. It took them more than 3 months to gather the products from their clients, set up the trip and promote it. I think that the entire staff at DDB Paris has worked upon this (would YOU sacrifice your time and energy to help some crazy colleagues to enjoy sun, swimming pools and parties in south of France?).

Why is it so brilliant anyway?

Because it brings to light the agency and the clients. Win-win. Plus it emphasizes the values of the agency (creativity, team work, boldness). Finally, it reaches all the publics of an ad agency. The Facebook fan page attracts mainstream consumers to follow the story. It was particularly intelligent to build the narration like a tv series because page members expect the publication of the video recounting the day, or the pictures uploaded by the team. Moreover, this page serves as a recruitment tool for newbiz and for job applicants. I bet that some graduates will consider applying for an agency that looks that awesome.

The Autarky Project reaches the clients, the consumers of the products and the prospects ("Whatever the problem DDB Paris find a solution").

Michel Huppert, CFO of DDB Paris is not the only one to say : "It's simply the best idea I have ever seen in my entire career." I am saying it too. But my career is shorter than Mr. Huppert's. Shoot, I say it anyway: it's simply the best idea I have ever seen in my entire career.

Note that I was kidding about frogs. We prefer having snails for diner.

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Bread and butter

For I am so very French, I like baguette. I like bread. For breakfast. Toasted, with butter and marmelade. However, I do not like all kinds of bread. The last bread that caught my eye was described by David Teicher.

Bre.ad is a social recommendations platform that allows you to attach a 5-second personalized billboard to any link you create using the Bre.ad URL shortener. 

Two-step flow

Crazy, I know. If the service is toastally free (worst pun ever), David Teicher already sees it like a new way to advertise. However, it seems that a celebrity is needed: "Think about the millions of Twitter and Facebook users who click on every link their favorite celebrity posts." And this is what makes the whole experience very social; it is not the usual top-down approach, but uses the two step flow actually (and I like nothing more than influence strategies).

TV series vs. Product placement

I did not expected this at all. All I could read these past days was about sponsored tweets by companies. Nothing really innovative. However, I am a bit perplex about the ROI. Ted Hong gives this example:

For example, you can imagine CBS asking Ashton Kutcher to use Bre.ad to promote tune in for 'Two and a Half Men' in front of his Twitter posts. [It's a] unique opportunity for celebrities to show advocacy for a cause or project via social media

Does the promotion of a series equals the promotion of a product? TV economics are really touchy... But I think it must be very thoughtful to use Bre.ad for product placement (if it is authorized by law). Imagine that Lady Gaga tweets about her last video clip, she could easily "toast" the products that feature in the video, promoting both a crazy pair of sunglasses and her new song.

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Competition

As I am working on website benchmarkings, I have considerations such as:

"Why, oh why, do they think that displaying goodies such as screensavers and wallpapers would increase the number of visitors?"

Or:

"Well, you website is so 2004, you really should turn it off, guys."

But my main concern is about competitors.

Same market, same idea?

I had a glance at this interactive campaign by Perrier. The more you watch the videos, the hotter it gets. Yeah, Perrier is well known for its suggestive campaigns (remember dita Von Teese's mansion?). All this in order to sell sparkling mineral water, ain't this too much? I am drifting here... So, competitiveness. A colleague of mine said that Perrier's idea was not that crazy. And actually, he is kind of right. If the photography is nice and so is the girl, just think about the elements you have here: youth, music and dance. Does it ring a bell? You said so, gigolo: Evian's Baby inside.

Be original

Therefore, the very question is: do ad agencies spy on each other to create the campaigns? Is orginality still possible in spite of those damn strategic planners? Is benchmarking a tool to differenciate from your competitors or is it a way to keep what's best from each of them?

So many unanswered questions... I'd rather go dancing.

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The chicken or the egg ?

During a random chat with a friend, he talked about his brand new iPad2. I still do not see the point of having this tablet. It's a hocus-pocus for me. Anywho, he was complaining about the magazine apps he uses, saying that they were trashy.

In the beginning was...

And this made me think about the usefulness of an object that does not have yet the content to go with it. It's like you were given a fork but you do not have hands (alright, weird comparison...). However, the opposite is not great neither. Imagine you have apps but nothing to use them. So which one has to come first ? The chicken or the egg ?

I won't say a word on the supposed Apple's selling strategy, because I am not sure it is Apple's duty to create those apps. They provide the medium, go create the content.

Various social networks, various content ?

Therefore, there is a demand for apps, but also for designing the most efficient and useful apps. I think it is about the same thing with social networks. You're a company, you have a fan page on Facebook. What is the point of having this if you do not have content to show ? I've been across Twitter accounts that were replicas of Facebook fan pages' updates. Is it really worth it ? Nope. These two SNS are different, consequently, you have to use them differently. Plus it is super sad to be redundant. Moreover, you do not aim at the same audience. For example, I do not say the same things on Facebook and Twitter. I see Twitter as a professional tool, whereas Facebook is more friendly. Am I saying that brands should be more friendly on Facebook than on Twitter ? Well, from my point of view, why not ?

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I did it myself.

Please, excuse those loud guitars.

The post-industrial era is also the era of massive individualism. It started years ago with young guys trying to be as unique as possible (yes, this is my definition of individualism). There were mods, then skinheads and finally, the most beautiful exemple of individualism : punks.

Uniqueness in community

I have some notions about punk style (my year-end 50-page paper on Dr. Martens is on its way). However, as loud as they claimed to be unique, their uniqueness served their need for community. And even if the punk wave has faded out in the eighties, the spirit is still here.

Think about revolutions, about conversing with 148 people*, about personal branding; all of this remind us of punks. "It was about empowerment, individuality and freedom."

Your own bedroom

Trying to stand out from the crowd has never been so easy. You can create profiles to show what you look like, personal spaces to show what you like, what you see. A blog is like a teen's bedroom, it is customised (and so were the Dr. Martens boots). However, to be credible, you have to belong to a community that will give you the nod you need. Sometimes, the community accepts you because you wear the right shoes, listen to the right music and dance like Sid Vicious. And sometimes, it welcomes you because you use a Macbook, update your blog with cool pics or show interest in expensive shoes (shoes are sociologically super interesting, just look at the shoes of people you see in the street. You'll grab a bit of their personality).

The pride now resides in what you create, what you actually do. Hence the cyclical success of DIY. Hence the success of bloggers launching their own "bussiness".

*Winking at Anthony Hamelle

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Covering it live

I think that the Royal Wedding was fascinating. Yes, I loved the dress. But that is not what I'll talk to you about. What about live covering?

ATAWAT I have to say that I was very influenced by the reading of a report on arab spring. The report introduced live covering, presenting it as a revolution. It's a revolution for journalism and for citizens all over the world. People can broadcast what is happening anywhere they are. The journalists can use these information to construct the whole story about an event. The network journalism is born. Cover it live and other tools (as illustrated in this article by Owni) indicate the change in the consumption of news. ATAWAT summarizes the whole trend. You can use and consume information wherever you are and whenever (provided you have a tool to do so), journalists have to adapt the way they inform, as if it was a series. I am talking about the frame, and the content. Information can be both serious and mind blowing.

Cover it live There are some counter examples, such as Dipity. A French regional newspaper (that also has an online version) has used Dipity to retrace the story of their tramway and the issues it raised. The whole thing is a timeline, easy to understand, but somewhat ugly (have a look at this one about Bin Laden's war). Then, you have Cover it live. The design is quite simple, a bit messy but it looks like a never ending breaking news kit. I should correct because it is a never ending source of descriptions you don't need to refresh that may or may not be relevant. I just do not understand what is the point on giving so much details about an event. You do not read an event, you live it. Tweeting is being sharp and concise, covering an event live sometimes resembles the live tweeting of the TV series Monk. Boring (truth is, it happened that I found this series funny).

Practical As you may see it on the screenshot below, the websites braodcasting the wedding are pretty and ergonomic. Whereas live tweeting is not. But as it was not a public holiday in France (it means that we were working when Will and Kate said "I will"), and the arrival of the guest + ceremony lasted about three hours, live tweeting was a good option to see what is interesting : Victoria Beckham's dress, the three gorgeous Spencer sisters, the bride's dress and the arrival of the royal family in Westminster.

Tools frame content To make it short, 140 characters cannot replace tv broadcast. However journalists and information providers cannot ignore it. Then, has it changed the way we inform? Yes. Has it shortened the articles? Yes. I wonder if the analysis are less accurate and precise because of length constraints. The quicker, the worst? Or as we see it on Twitter, is hypertext the answer? I also wonder if the tool imposes new formats. Screens are not made to read long articles. To fit the screens (and to be kind to the users eyes), articles tend to be shorter. I admit that I skip the end of some too long articles. Let's say it is because I am busy.

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Endorsement is so French

Last week-end, working on my dissertation, I ended up researching endorsement. I mean celebrity endorsement. Leyla Jaoued, lecturer at the university of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, wrote an article about "the conditions of effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in advertisement" (the abstract is in english, but the body of the article is in French).

So let's consider the conditions of a nice celebrity endorsement and try to illustrate it with concrete examples.

Strategy comes first

First of all, the advertiser has to use a celebrity for good reasons. The strategy has to be settled before one decides to employ a celebrity. Let's put it simply: strategy comes first (breaking news...). The use of a celebrity has to serve the strategy, and not the opposite.

Then, the choice of the celebrity has to fit several criteria. Is the celebrity credible ? Is a cheating husband the best choice for celebrity endorsement ? Is high-as-a-kite party-girl the good person to promote classic lady bags ? The celebrity has to fit the values of the brand, and the audience has to see the superposition of both entities in the ad. The choice of this or that celebrity is also influenced by his or her current affairs. An advertiser choses a celebrity because of his or her fame, if he or she has not been on the limelight for a while, is he or she worthy of being selected ?

A guarantee

I skip other points on the availability of the celebrity (depending on other contracts and salary), and come to the reasons why do advertisers call a celebrity to promote their products. The celebrity can act as a guarantee. This brand that sells sports clothes uses a basketball player (see "Adidas is all in"), that car company calls for the support of a driver (in France, see Sébastien Loeb and Citroën). The celebrity can add his or her expertise in the commercial. Some other times, and especially for luxury brand, the celebrity adds glamour and a certain distance between the product and the consumer. I explain: the muses are the faces of luxury items that are affordable. When she features in an ad, the inaccessible celebrity promotes the accessible product, which makes it more appealing.

Case study

I am not really into case studies, and I do not pretend I have full knowledge on these cases, but let's see how luxury brands do celebrity endorsement.

You have probably seen the comercial Miss Dior Chérie featuring Natalie Portman.

Why does it work ? Natalie Portman is, inspite of her traumatic role in Black Swan, the cutest girl next door ever. As she resemble it, she is the icon of the product. She embodies this fickleness that is the heart of the perfume. But she is also dramatic (who takes baths with such sunglasses without being dramatic ?). And she clearly can afford Dior dresses. She matches the target consumer who wants, like her, a bit of Dior in her life (and the boyfriend that goes with it). We may discuss the fact that she is American and that Dior is a French firm, but the company chose an international celebrity. That argument is really more questionable when it comes to a product named Parisienne.

Kate Moss is the most famous Brit girl (just after the Queen), therefore, she might be a Londoner but not a Parisian. However, I think that she was chosen because she symbolizes "an incredibly free woman. And that is why Paris adopted her". Still, these two ads and two firms bet that their "frenchness" (using this word makes me feel like Roland Barthes) can live even through foreign muses. I guess that finding a French girl known worldwide is a big challenge, because that many of them are under another contract.

Then, this is an overview of the issues raised by celebrity endorsement. I may have omitted really interesting points, I am ready to discuss it !

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Open Data Frenzy

As an intern, I'm trying to become Queen of Google Requests and Ruler of Open Data.

My job is to find data. But I noticed that it was way much easier to find data on British websites, than on French websites. However, France is doing great efforts and is launching websites to promote open data.

Data are precious

First example is opendata.paris.fr. Tags, Excel documents, commentaries in option, crowdsourcing (Paris wants to launch a challenge to encourage citizens to develop applications. That's savvy)... The approach is presented in a video: open data is a major issue for local authorities, citizens, researchers, journalists and entrepreneurs. Jean-Louis Missika, Paris municipal council representative, stresses the value of these data. And they are becoming precious for companies who know how to develop them. Jean-Louis Missika also promotes the role of data journalism and highlights the fact that it comes from anglo-saxon countries.

This may explain why France is late in open data. But these past few months, projects have sprang up both in the UK and in France. Still, when you give a glance at the websites, you notice that the British website is prettier, more ergonomic and incorporates more data. The French website is in its first versions.

Transparency

Now, I wonder, is democracy more transparent in the UK than in France? Has UK a culture of transparency, that may explain that open data is more developed than in France? I will not try to examine anglicanism in order to find an obscure explanation, but it is worth considering it.

Content and form

I have to quote Owni, and its publisher 22 Mars, as the leaders for data journalism. They also are specialists in creating data visualizations. In fact, data are not relevant if they are not easily and quickly understandable. Therefore, it is not only about content, it is about form. What would be the point of having long lists of data if you cannot figure out which are the relevant indicators. Consequently, data visualizations are a good help. But careful, sometimes, visualizations are just Flash animations. Pretty, but useless.

For more data visualizations: Flowing data, Information is beautiful, Datavisualization, Infographics showcase, Cool infographics, Visualcomplexity

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Hipster is dead

\hip-stur\n. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck.") The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat. -The Hipster Handbook, Robert Lanham

It's been a while since I wanted to add a hint of sociology to this blog. And to start with something pleasant and not boring, I'll write about the hipster.

Subculture

I discovered the word during last december in a report about Hipsters in "Courrier International".Then I started to investigate to know what is a hipster. I found some definitons on the Urban dictionnary (which is so hipster, just take a look at the ads there !). Hispterism is a subculture that values independance in music and thinking, creativity and counter-culture. The greatest concentration of hipsters lives in Williamsburg. Hipsters reject mainstream and wear thrifted clothes mixed with modern garments (esp. American Apparel). Androgyny is part of the look, as well as huge glasses and approximative hair cuts (pictures by Matthieu Raffard). The hipster is a mix of white trash, soft porn, cultural elitism and casual racism (I didn't know that racism could be casual...).

Knowledge is deck

The fascinating side of the hipster is his snobbery and his use of knowledge as a means of social dominance. The hipster is "in the know" and by knowing what's "deck", he is snobbish. Moreover, hipsterism is a permanent conflict between knowledge and naïveté. The hipster is convinced "that buying the right mass products individualizes him as transgressive". The hipster is not trangressive to any authority, but represents a superior community where knowing in advance makes him superior. Finally, hipsterism build communities of early adopters (fixie-bikes, moustaches, ugly tatoos, freeganism...)

In what concerns brands, I quoted American Apparel as a hipster company, but I can also mention Urban Outfitters, Vice Magazine, the concept store Colette, the French magazine Brain... But the more active hipsters would create their own brand to sell customized products (and the more passive would just buy them).

Mockery

However, hipsterism is becoming mainstream and people are violently criticising it. And this is the newest thing about hipsterism. Just have a glance at this video.

And take a Look at this fucking hipster.

Swansong

Therefore, it is said that hipsterism lives its last hours. You see that this trend is focused on consumption (like most of trends). It was about buying and wearing the right clothes, smoking the right cigarettes and drinking the right beer. Communities use objects as signs of recognition (see Jean Baudrillard, The Consumer Society and The System of Objects). Actually, marketing has to identify the communities in order to propose products to buy and communications have to strengthen the feeling of community around the product, be it mainstream or not.

Famous hipsters ? Terry Richardson or Dov Charney. In my opinion, you can also add the Geldof sisters and Alice Delall.

Sources: Slate, New York Magazine, The Guardian