Stemato.com - Stephen Tompkins’ Blog

Dynamic logic recently released a study that says graphic ads integrated into the content of a campaign drive better brand awareness than so-called framing ads that are on the edge of pages. Interestingly, these ads to seem to stick in my mind more but not because they are driving brand awareness but because they are interrupting my experience. An interruption that ultimately undermine’s my confidence in the brand.

It sometimes feels as if we just took everything that did not work in television advertising and applied it to the web. Saying that it was ultimately better because we could slap fancy analytics on the backend and show ROI. The web is not TV. It has infinitely more opportunities for engaging users and requires a different mindset.  One recent advertisement that I particularly like is the one my company Microsoft did with Federated media called Exec Tweets. Basically,  they aggregated biz exec tweets into a Microsoft branded background. Useful, not interrupting and excellently done upholding the brand’s integrity.

I wonder why more companies are not exploring these type of branded experiences with their media. Perhaps its fear of challenging the status quo or maybe its just ignorance to these models. When will we learn by raising your hand the highest you are not always getting the teacher’s attention in a good way?

In the days of BI (Before Internet), poets would scrawl in their notebooks chosen words that would carefully compose a masterpiece of creativity. It was an age-old tradition, and these notebooks are sacred testaments to the accomplishments of man. Their notebooks would wither, rip and turn into relics of a past time; the knowledge passed down to the next generation to inspire in a creative cycle.

Those days are long gone and a new trend is emerging in its place. What is this trend? I am tentatively calling it the Digital Walt Whitman Theory. Its analysis based on my observations as both a creative person and researcher of sorts.

The main gist of the theory is: the creative arts adopt new technologies at a much faster rate than the general public due to above average overlap between technology and art. For example, artists are problem solvers, which leads to experimenting with new technologies as forms of expression. This insistence on experimenting for solutions to creative problems is common in artist and creative folks from all fields.

Furthermore, as society becomes more connected and digital adoption rates amongst artists’ trends higher than the general publics rate of adoption, will we see more artistic folks take leadership roles as inventors? Consumers are savvier then ever and no touch point is safe yet the fine arts remain a beacon of experimentation into these new technologies. While consumers slowly grasp at the new world, artists are experimenting with Twitter, YouTube and other social networks and learning what works and what fails.

Is Damien Hurst the next Bill Gates?

A quick post to shout out about Pete Blackshaw’s latest post for ClickZ. In it, he discusses Twitter segments and different classes of individuals on the site. As the micro-blog evolves it will be interesting to see all the different types that join up and further the analysis.

One interesting footnote, Pete actually used Twitter to gather his data by proposing this tweet to this followers, “ok i think im going to write my mkt column about twitter “types” (user segments) send thoughts 03:55 PM May 08, 2008 from web.” The tweet stoked some thoughts in my head. As I have been thinking about that very thing for quite sometime and was happy to help. I added a few segments including: TweetSquatters and Tweetniks.

I wanted to talk about the Tweetniks, or someone who uses Twitter to write 21st Century prose. Listed below are a few examples of these modern day Whitmans.

• http://twitter.com/TwitterBard
• http://twitter.com/TwitterPoetry
• http://twitter.com/TweetPoet
• http://twitter.com/onelinepoetry

Society’s becoming more connected and much more digital. Artist are sometimes the first to adopt new technology for purposes of expression. Social platforms provide a natural fit for artist to express themselves and explore new mediums. How will digital change creative endeavors? Tweetniks might be blazing a trail of digital creativity that is a game changer but only time will tell.

What do you think?

FYI - Here is Pete’s website dedicated to the topic. Please visit and leave him some feedback on users you have encountered. Additionally, if you would like to add me to your twitter list feel free to do so @stemato.