thinkitcreative

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Budweiser’s Super Bowl ad—slated to run only on the Canadian broadcast of the main event–has gone viral in a big way online.

Here’s the setup.

Two amateur Canadian hockey teams think they’ve been invited to be part of a documentary. Instead they’re treated to a mega flash-mob and get to live out what every kid who plays hockey (or any sport, really) dreams of.

It closes with “Good times are waiting. Why not grab some buds.”

A lot of people have liked it on Facebook, tweeted it and +1’d it on Google+.

You don’t have to enjoy beer or hockey to connect with the message behind the ad.

Okay, not everyone liked it…

The National Post’s Andrew Coyne, for one, was unmoved.

“What exactly is the ad’s point?” he tweeted.

That led to this polite exchange…

Dialogue on the point to the Bud ad. Andrew Coyne is a great guy who isn

I’m not the kind of guy who is going to square off on Twitter with one of Canada’s best-read journalists (I’m a fan, too, Andrew). I’m not that dumb. Plus if you follow Coyne on Twitter, you know that debating the guy on social media can be brutal. Ask Tony Clement about that.

But Coyne raises some interesting points. There are things we all can learn from the obvious success of a beer company’s pre-emptive ad spot.

Advertising is in the selling business.

First, ads are made to sell things. This is obvious.

Many like to pretend that they are immune to selling or that selling is a dirty word. Or that we see through the gimmick.

Here’s what I know as a copywriter and as someone who has been in business for over 10 years.

There are just two kinds of selling.

The kind that works and the kind that doesn’t.

All selling that works shares a common mastery: the ability to be persuasive.

Being persuasive isn’t about being pushy.

Persuasion comes from the Latin word persuas, which means “convinced by reason.”

The curious thing about it is we’ve come to learn through psychology and neuromarketing that persuasion has as much to do with connecting emotionally as it does with reason.

So the meaning has changed from its Latin roots. English is funny that way.

Noted psychologist and author Robert Cialdini says there are six principles of persuasion.

Reciprocity
Commitment
Authority
Scarcity
Social proof and
Liking

Those last two are an important part of what makes the Bud spot so effective.

They’re not pushing beer in the ad. They don’t even show the product (other than the logo).

The ad is about an idea that connects with people on an emotional level.

When people like how they feel about something, they tell others.

You don’t need to advertise.

I know what you’re thinking right now: “What? Are you insane? You’re a copywriter…you can’t say that!”

Of course I can.

Advertising isn’t for everybody.

It’s very powerful if you can afford it and if you find smart people to help you who know the difference between being clever and being effective.

But it’s not for everyone.

That’s why it costs what it does.

Even Budweiser has figured this out.

Their spot isn’t going to run on US channels during the Super Bowl. It doesn’t have to.

By being pre-emptive and by using social media, their message—highly emotional, likeable and memorable, powered by an enormous amount of social proof—is already out there.

It’s why Scott Stratten wisely concluded today that Budweiser just won the Super Bowl and the internet. I agree.

More than products, people are open to ideas.

When you have good ones—ones that you share through the dual channels of reason and emotion—they often stick.

Not always.

But when they do, you know.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

This post started out as a quick Q&A piece designed to answer the question: what is micropublishing and why should I care about it?

The trouble began when I tried to define it much the way that I might have about seven years ago.

If this were 2005, I’d have said the following…

In many ways, micropublishing works just like conventional publishing business, except it’s a much smaller company doing the printing, done in reduced volume, for a much smaller market.

I can’t entirely stand by that definition anymore. There are a few reasons for that.

To understand micropublishing today, you still have to describe it relative to publishing. So let’s start there.

What does publishing mean anymore, anyway?

Our conventional understanding of what constitutes “publishing” has changed. It had to.

Every industry offers a product or service that solves a problem.

Publishing as an industry no longer solves the problems that it used to.

It used to be the only game in town for choosing a select bunch of good ideas from many bad ones and getting those ideas (usually the good ones) in the hands of many people. Printing was the large-scale industrial process it used to achieve that.

There was a marketing component, too. But the jury’s still out on how effective they’ve been in that department for the past decade or so.

Two big disrupters

None of this is meant to denigrate the work of industry publishers today. There are some very smart people in that business who do (and will continue to do) great work. They just happen to be on the receiving end of not one but two of the biggest disruptive ideas in the history of human communication.

First, the rise of online media. Publishing is a moveable idea now. It’s not just about books and newspapers anymore. In fact, on the scale of who is engaged in the act of publishing today, it has very little to do with books and newspapers anymore.

We are all publishers now. Not just in the sense that we each can publish our ideas on the web though blogs and social media. Publishing now is an act: not an industry.

I like how Seth Godin looks at this interesting problem. Publishing, he says, has “everything to do with creating a platform that enables ideas to spread.”

Ebooks are the second disrupter. And it’s astonishing how quickly they’re hollowing out a centuries-old industry. Granted, they’re not a substitute for the feel of a paper book in your hands. But they solve a very important problem.

Because of the rise of ebook self-publishing as a platform, the time it takes to create and ship a product to market is now measured in days—not months or years under the old way of doing things.

Ebooks also have some unique advantages in terms of pricing. I’ll come back to that in an upcoming post.

Back to my problem with micropublishing

So where does that leave micropublishing? Good question. I still don’t really know how to define it anymore.

It’s still mostly a printing enterprise. It’s still all about being able to print in limited volumes if you want.

The trouble starts when you look at who is doing the printing and the size of the market for the work that’s done there.

When you can write a book or an annual report, design it, upload it to Amazon, distribute it electronically to readers worldwide, plus order and ship a select number of print versions of your book—however many or however few you want—it suggests that micropublishing is an idea that’s suddenly a lot more fluid than it used to be.

There’s not much that’s micro about it. If anything, it’s starting to look a lot more like just-in-time printing.

Publishing has become an idea that has outgrown the industry that created it. Micropublishing—whatever that’s supposed to mean anymore—has helped that along and has also been reshaped in the process.

What’s left and what’s ahead

Distribution is the last freestanding wall controlled by traditional publishing. It’s going to get really interesting when it falls soon.

It’s what’s holding back many entrepreneurs, professional speakers, authors, poets from leaving the traditional publishing model, because they’re looking to sell hard-copy books in high volumes and up until now, publishers still corner that market.

Even prolific fiction writers—people like Dean Wesley Smith, for example—who’ve embraced the new way of doing things make a point of noting that this is still new…even for them. “Traditional publishing,” says Smith, “was still the only real choice just two short years ago.”

Change is coming.

You don’t have to look too hard at the industry to see that it’s only a matter of time. Writer and technology thinker Clay Shirky predicts it might only be a matter of a few years before major booksellers start saying “We can’t afford not to stock this particular book or series from an independent publisher.”

So what does all this mean for anyone with an idea in search of an audience? (That includes you).

It means that it’s time to go beyond what publishing used to be and start planning based on what it is now and where it’s going to be.

“It’s time to go beyond what publishing used to be and start planning based on what it is now and where it’s going to be.”
Click to tweet this.

The blockbuster sellers in hard copy aren’t going to go away. But we’re going to be seeing a lot more long-tail projects get into the hands of a lot more people…and in far less time than before. Much of that is going to hinge on micropublishing and self-published ebooks.

It’s time to get serious about embracing Amazon’s publishing model and ebooks as a viable platform for mass audiences.

You’re a publisher now. You can do this.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

You are a broadcaster (photo by cogdog on flickr)

I’m in the middle of doing some in-depth research for an important project, and I find myself thinking a lot these days about the nearly lost legacy of Charles Herrold.

It’s okay if you have no idea who he was. I hadn’t a clue either until I started reading up on the early history of radio.

Charles Herrold was a radio pioneer.

He coined the terms broadcasting and narrowcasting—possibly as early as 1909, and well before the eventual rise of radio’s golden age in the 1930s and 40s, by which time these were household names.

Like so many great words, broadcasting and narrowcasting were borrowed ideas: terms that were used to describe the farming method of sowing seeds from a container that spun outwards in all directions rather than in neat rows.

In choosing these words to describe the scattering approach of this new medium, Herrold showed that he understood the enormous potential of radio as an all-new way of reaching a lot more people than ever before, all at once.

Not just the select literate few of society, as was the case in the 18th and 19th centuries with book publishing and newspapers. All people. Not just with one program, but many.

Through radio and the way that Herrold (among others) saw its application, message became content.

Content became programming. And eventually, programming found a mass audience.

So why then is Herrold such a lesser-known in broadcasting history?

Most mentions of him indicate that he never made a profit from the industry that he helped pioneer.

Professor Mike Adams of San Jose State University summed up the problem this way: “He was in the right place at the right time…but he had the wrong technology.”

Herrold’s broadcasting was based on what engineers call the arc method, while others opted for a method involving vacuum tubes. I’ll spare you the technical details here.

What’s important to know about the arc method of broadcasting was that it sounded awful.

His audience couldn’t hear him as well as they could have. So they went elsewhere.

According to several public records, Herrold died in relative obscurity. Meanwhile, his radio counterpart, Frank Conrad went on to be celebrated in the New York Times as the “father of radio broadcasting.”

There are valuable lessons in this story that you can apply to your business and marketing efforts today.

First, it’s not enough to have good ideas or even to see the potential of something ahead of others.

Execution is everything.

Second, if you’re in the people business (and odds are very good that you are), you are a broadcaster. You can’t build an audience if people can’t hear you properly.

Let me repeat that…

“If you’re in the people business, you are a broadcaster. You can’t build an audience if people can’t hear you properly.”
Click to tweet this.

Make sure you have the right tools that cut through the noise. And remember: you have less time than you think to capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Third, create great content just as you would build any other exceptional product in your business. Get it into the hands of your audience in a way that is most convenient for them.

These matter ahead of all things when you’re in the people business.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

Where do you get your ideas from?

Writers get asked this often and more often than not, the answer can be distilled to this: I don’t really know. They just come to me.

Ideas are like luck. You can believe they just happen and that you’re just fortunate to be there when they materialze. But that’s a pretty fanciful notion, isn’t it?

Here’s what I know as someone who has been in the idea business for more than 10 years on my own, and more than 20 in the writing trade: luck and ideas come from practice.

You have to make a habit of being there—of showing up and doing the thing that needs to get done to get the things you really want. There is no shortcut.

I like what Neil Gaiman says about this: “You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.”

Part of the habit of ideas is to feed your appetite for more of them. I’ve talked before about 21 places for creative inspiration.

I want to share with you 10 more. The list is varied, but what they all have in common is an unyielding devotion to showing up regularly with great writing and solid ideas.

Who’s on your favourite list for creative inspiration? Let me know.

James Altucher
His positions on a lot of things might raise your eyebrows. He and I disagree, for instance, on the importance of voting (I see it as a civic duty in Canada, but I can see why he feels the way he does, living where he lives). But there’s a strange genius to what James does. I admire that, not to mention his deep sincerity. He also happens to be a prolific storyteller who understands the intimate bond between reader and writer. More than just teaching the value of not holding back at all in your writing, he also writes killer headlines. How can you help but click on a story called How I Screwed Yasser Arafat out of $2mm? I never miss a thing this guy writes.

Dan Zarella
I value a handful of field-tested research more than a truckload of opinions, and that’s why I read social media scientist Dan Zarella’s blog regularly (as well as his latest book). The takeway is more than just for social media. There’s insight here you can apply to all aspects of marketing and selling. As a direct result of Dan’s work—and his generosity in sharing his findings online—there’s a lot more certainty to writing for the web than ever before. Be sceptical of the opinionated. Act on verifiable data.

rob mclennan
Poetry is what reminds me that there are no easy answers to creative problems. As I say so often: simple is hard. I turn to many poets often for advice through their words. One in particular is rob mclennan, whom I’ve know since the days of Bard poetry readings in the basement of a downtown bar here in Ottawa. His blog isn’t just a platform for his own elegant prose, but for others, too.

Leo Babauta
As much as I’m a stickler for evidence-based research, one place where that can’t help much is in learning the mastery of living the good life in the fine sense that Aristotle once spoke of. The path to happiness is not through data, but through wisdom earned through practice. It’s that easy. And that hard. This is why I keep coming back to ZenHabits for more.

Colleen Francis
Wait, I know what you’re going to say. “Hey you’re plugging her because she’s a client!” Well, that’s partly true (I’ve been writing for Colleen for many, many years). But there’s an even more important reason. Colleen is one of the industry’s best speakers and coaches, teaching business owners and sales people to increase sales the smart way. I learn something new on every job I work on for her. If you want to be a better speaker, a better business owner and even just be smarter about working with people, Colleen has the world by the tail. So I’m happy to share her wisdom with you, dear reader.

Jane Friedman
Jane Friedman of the University of Cincinatti shares my passion for the future of publishing and has some very thoughtful things to say about that. She does a great job of helping to teach writers to think more like entrepreneurs. There are also valuable takeaways for everyone—not just writers–in search of advice and encouragement on keeping their creativity muscles well-exercised.

Jeff Goins
This is a recent find for me. Jeff’s a writer for writers. His blog is pitched at those who care about “writing, creativity, and changing the world.” And he does a great job of delivering on that. His stuff glows with an infectious positive energy and that’s why I subscribe to his updates. Bonus points for being a fellow guitar enthusiast.

Lisa Larter
She practices what she preaches about how businesses can do a better job of using social media in their marketing activities. Her post on why business owners need a “stop-doing” list helped give me a push in the right direction in 2011 and I’ve been reading her ever since. Lisa gets bonus marks for being a fellow resident of Ottawa–where a one-time non-existent entrepreneurial culture is growing today, thanks to the people who put in the time to make it happen.

Roger Ebert
Yes, the man’s a giant in film review. But at his core, Roger’s a writer who just happens to talk about film. His ideas often touch on things that transcend cinema. He built a rather fine career on his considerable writing talents, and yet in the last several years, his skills have grown even more. It’s partly in defiance of illness and loss, but there’s something else that drives this guy’s incredible passion for words. He’s not afraid to colour outside the lines. He reminds that there is endless satisfaction in digging deeper into your thinking and to not just settle for what comes quickly.

Artie Isaac
I was first drawn to Artie because of his speaking style, which I admire greatly (and that includes his trademark bowtie). He’s a powerful advocate for anyone who is in the ideas business. What I’ve found has really been keeping me coming back, however, is his emphasis on ethics. He’s also a fan of Thich Nhat Hanh. So again, bonus points.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

As a business professional, a published book can be one of the most powerful tools in your personal marketing arsenal. Not only does it deliver value to your readers by sharing what you know on a subject, you directly benefit, too.

It can elevate your profile as an authority on the topic you write about. It can reveal your passion. And if your book is really well-written, it also gives people a sense of what you’re like as a person, both on a personal and professional level.

But there are choices to make. Click to continue

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

Let me share with you an infographic from those smart guys over at Frugaldad.

The problem in a nutshell: patents are a 19th century solution to 21st century problems. Click to continue

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

This just in, courtesy of Seth Godin:

The number of ebooks published in 2012 is going to exceed a million, easily. That’s more than 8 times as many books as were published to the public a year ago.

I’ve been talking about this trend for quite some time now. If you’re in the audience business (and you are), the self-publishing gold rush is on.

Ebooks are now one of the most powerful, disruptive forces in publishing and marketing today.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.

Your brand establishes expectations that form the reasons why people choose to buy from you versus someone else. Those expectations aren’t just things you promise and deliver on. Nor is it limited to what your brand looks like, or how it’s packaged.

Your brand defines how people feel about you.

A good brand reminds people why they choose you again and again. Emotional connection is a hard thing to measure or to pinpoint why it does what it does. Just as important, a strong brand creates a powerful bond. There’s a risk in there for anyone hoping to engage in disruption tactics involving their brand.

It can easly backfire.

Coke found that out when they switched the colours on their iconic product to silver and white as part of a well-meaning campaign. Consumers got angry and the company abruptly ended their limited run months ahead of schedule.

Much of the blame was that it created confusion between their regular and diet products, but there’s more to it than that. The brand’s colour–Coca-Cola red–is more than just a fundamental part of the product’s design.

It turns out that it’s deeply rooted in how people feel when they buy that product. Take that away from your consumer and they’re missing part of what makes your brand what it is.

About the author: Patrick Gant is a writer & speaker. He owns thinkit creative, a company that specializes in writing and editing digital content for the web. Follow him on twitter here.

CreativeBoost gives you valuable updates about unlocking the power of writing that sells. It's free. Join today.