El Gaffney

The Fast and The Fleeting?

As Sean recently pointed out, I’ve been becoming more attracted to fast. Specifically, I’m interested in how people (and organizations made up of motivated and empowered people) are using speed to shape culture, build brands, and grow businesses. It started quite a while ago but thanks to a recent string of personal/professional experiences such as ESPN’s Olympics ad and Obama Baton, it’s right in the middle of my radar.

So you won’t be surprised that after last week’s historic election, I found two examples of crazy quick turnarounds particularly sweet.

First, after returning from hologram world (CNN’s set), will.i.am released this video the day after the election:

Second, the guys and gals over at South Park were completely topical with this episode, which aired less than a week after the election. From the article:

…their production team redefined the concept of timely scripted television entertainment. Talk about a turnaround! Even if Parker and Stone produced much of it in advance, the episode didn’t just acknowledge President-elect Barack Obama’s momentous win – it included specific references to Election Night, among them Obama’s destined to be historic acceptance speech.

Now the questions are around the effectiveness of producing and launching these fast-to-market (-media) content. For example, many are wondering: How fast will it be forgotten?

Tags: obama, southpark, will.i.am

Blog Action Day: Running Homeless

Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event (in its second year) where bloggers post about the same issue on the same day to “raise awareness and trigger global discussion.” Exactly a year ago, bloggers united to bring the environment to the web’s attention. I wrote about greenmail, my friend Kim’s green-tip-filled e-mails (which she’s still doing). This year the topic is Poverty.

We are allowed to interpret the theme as we see fit, which could have been a bit of a daunting task. However, I was excited that a thought immediately popped into mind about what I should write. Last night while watching CNN election coverage (which is pretty standard these evenings), I noticed a promotion to Vote for the CNN Hero of 2008. It gave a quick look at a few of the nominees, one of whom caught my full attention.

It was Anne Malhum, the founder of Back on My Feet–”a non-profit organization that promotes self-sufficiency of Philadelphia’s homeless population by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.” (I’m sure great care was taken in crafting that mission statement, so wanted to use her words.) Anne would pass a homeless shelter every morning on her daily run, and one day an idea stopped her in her tracks. What started as one small running club has become so much more (at 5 shelters in just 15 months) without losing its core principles of discipline (that running can show you what your capable of) and community (that life’s a lot easier when you don’t go at it alone). She doesn’t provide food or shelter, rather shoes, structure and support to the homeless. And she provides inspiration for all of us.

What a great coincidence that I saw this last night. Read more about her great story here.

Tags: action, blogactionday, blogging, nonprofit, poverty

Obama Baton: We’re Just Faster

It’s hard for big companies (and agencies) to compete with the speed of inspired individuals.

While the examples are certainly focused on politically-motivated people, I think the same is pretty much true for most organizations. It’s hard to be nimble. It’s scary to launch and learn. It takes a lot of constant monitoring and hands on responding.

This week has been a solid one for Obama Baton. Just over two weeks since the original idea was had, we’re building momentum and an audience of supporters, many of whom are following on Twitter and joined our Facebook groups for New York and Chicago. We’ve also received some really nice shout-outs.

Yet, when it comes to the spreading of an idea, we can’t even compare to “That One”. Within a day of the second Presidential debate—when McCain referred to Senator Obama using the term in quotes—this site was live and selling “That One” gear. They recognized the meme immediately when they heard it, and now their Facebook page already has over 21,000 fans.

My final example (not to be confused with the final countdown - via @lilmissjen) of a person compelled to create by Barack has got to be Mike Cuffe with The Obama Experiment - via @darrylohrt. And though it may have taken longer than the above creations from idea to execution, he has promoted his work with a video of art speed painting.

Lastly, I want to wish good luck to Kevin, who will be running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday with Obama Baton. Thanks everyone for your support. Please continue to pass it on.

Tags: friends, marathon, obama, obamabaton, running, viral

Obama Baton Dot Com

Big news in the life of our idea: The Obama Baton site is live.

Clay + Kevin + the rest of the Hustlewood team have been working their butts off, Giorgio (can’t resist the Zoolander reference) and have managed to get a site up and running (can’t resist the pun) in less than ten days. We’re still revising it and will likely continue to do so over the next week (if not more) as we learn what’s working and discover opportunities to enhance the experience. What that means is making the idea and call to action more clear and compelling, the blog portion more interesting and useful, and the pieces (Twitter, Flickr, Facebook NYC & CHI, etc.) work more seamlessly and effectively together.

As I said in my last post, we’re trying to be as transparent and inclusive in building this idea (and we hope, movement) as possible. We’re using our blogs and now the blog on obamabaton.com to do so. (Please comment over there with any Obama Baton-specific thoughts you have.) And we’re learning quite a bit along the way. But we’ve still got a long way to go—a couple of marathons at least—before Barack wins on November 4th. So please visit the site, show your support, and Pass It On.

Tags: obama, obamabaton, running, web2.0

Getting Young Latinos to Vote

An example of how an organization targeted the Hispanic Youth market online.

I’ve been meaning to post this video (below) for a couple of weeks now since Gonzalo Perez of Motivo Insights showed it at an ESPN off-site. It’s been online since May, so I’m already late to this party. But isn’t that the Latino way! (Don’t worry that’s not whitey speaking out of turn; he and another speaker confirmed this was not just a stereotype that day.) Anyway, Voto Latino teamed up with Declare Yourself to get young (18-29) Latinos involved in the voting process (first and foremost, by getting them to register to vote). This, one in a series of videos, is the result:

“La Pasion De La Decision” definitely seems to resonate with the members of this audience, who embrace their hybrid Hispanic-American lives. They no doubt feel a connection to Telenovelas (whether they grew up with them or through their parents/grandparents) but likely think they are just as over the top as their non-Hispanic counterparts/friends. The message doesn’t get lost in the spoof, IMO, and benefits greatly from the story being played by Wilmer Valderrama (of whom, I’m an unashamed supporter) and Rosario Dawson (of whom, I’m certainly not ashamed fan). Also check out episode 3, for a cameo by Craigslists’ Craig Newmark.

Te sigo amando.

Tags: celebs, genY, latinos, videos