If The Internet is So Incredible, Why Are There Guys Still Dancing Around with Sandwich Boards?
Click play on the video below so you can read this with a soundtrack.
I know a guy who won a very prestigious online competition to host an online TV show for an enormous music magazine (And no I can’t tell you which one. Sworn to secrecy: pinkie swear and all.) And he did it by buying people pizza. He garnered the most votes in a national competition by throwing pizza parties in his apartment where people just had to bring their laptops and vote for him if they wanted to get their pepperoni on. I know you’re saying the same thing I did, “Holy Product Placement Potential! That’s a lot of pizza!” But it wasn’t. He only threw 3 pizza parties. To win a national competition and gain real global exposure? That’s nothin’. So why did he win? Because he realized what the other contestants didn’t. That the internet is a whole bunch of maybe’s posturing behind a wall of sorta kinda emoticons. But physical handshakes and pizza bribes in the chompers? That’s where the low tech win comes in. Low Tech Win. I expect to see that as your Facebook status tomorrow.
Speaking of Facebook (Go back to segue writing school, I know), here is part two of this semi-rant. I was the host of a very grueling battle of the bands kind of a deal that lasted two months with 9 events total. The event started online with 80 bands and from there the top 20 bands with the most online votes made it to the live competition and blah blah blah from there until the winner was declared. It started online but in order to win you had to get the fans in attendance at the live shows to vote for you. The fans, the people in attendance, voted for their favorites or their cousins and uncles but had to be there physically to do so. There were 2 bands in the competition that brought nobody to the shows they played. None. Do you know how hard it is for a band to have not one living being show up to a competition gig? Even if the band for some reason told everyone to stay away because the venue was filled with mutant Ebola spores Murphy’s Law would kick in and Larry from accounting would show up, “Hey, heard you guys were in a battle of the bands.” I’m sure you already know what the bands said: “Well we posted it on Facebook.” A one-two combo of “We’re-in-a-band-itis” and zero Low Tech Win awareness. Guess what the band who won it all did? Engaged every level of marketing possible from human connections to high tech blasting and were as creative as they could be with it all which got them the most votes at the shows. Being very skilled musicians always helps as well. Done deal.
So here’s my left field positive spin on all this. Last night I interviewed a man by the name of Klayton who is the electronic rock band Celldweller. I didn’t know much about him before the interview; I listened to some of his tunes and immediately became a fan and then checked out his website and was holy cow’d by his level of accomplishments. Movie, TV, and video game sound track credits a yard long. He has a fanbase loyalty that equals the biggest bands rolling and he achieves this by not only writing great music but also engaging his people on every level. His fans are definitely his friends and he has a whole heck a lot of them. It’s pretty cool. I know that after hundreds of interviews it inspired me to work a lot harder. Now I just need to get into shape so I can shake my sandwich board better. I just kind of waddle it now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKdsTKE6Izs&NR=1
http://www.celldweller.com/2011/