We often hear about brands communicating with each other across social media networks. Take for example Marvel and Star Wars having an all out battle on Twitter or Oreo and AMC Theaters chatting about sneaking cookies in to the movie theater. Whatever it is, there is an art and a certain quickness that has to be there in order not to miss the opportunity.
Kahena vs. Glide in Epic Rap Off
The other day, we had a chance to join in the fun and prove our quick thinking when we started a conversation with Glide, the video messaging app. I had been “bothering” my friend Yosef for months to get me a Glide T-shirt. After I sent him probably one too many Glides telling him I wanted one, he brought Sara Glide into the picture, and she challenged the Kahena team to a rap-off.
I imagine that a part of her just wanted us to go away (jk), but she doesn’t know Kahena. With a quick team brainstorm and lots of excitement, we produced the Kahena Glide to claim our treasure in a very short window of time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8k3NFToM7E&rel=0&rel=0]
And true to her word, she sent us the following message back in which she is apparently an awesome beat boxer too.
While this is all good, fun, and we got some great swag out of it (which is still in transit), there are a few valuable lessons that all brands can learn from this exchange which we wanted to share:
- Don’t take yourself so seriously: Take for example JC Penny at the Superbowl and all their poorly spelled tweets. Obviously this was part of a bigger “plan” but many brands would never allow anything like that to happen. But what that little stunt did was start a ton of buzz and it created a lot of chatter with other brands.
- Analysis paralysis kills all good ideas: This video we made could have been done way better. I mean that. We did one practice run, 2 false starts, but that was it. It was spontaneous and sloppy for sure. But the truth is, if we waited any longer, it also wouldn’t have been done at all. Heck, even during the time it took us to write the script, interest was fading. We did this because it was exciting. Yes we were getting swag out of it, and yes we realized that this video would reach their nearly 300,000 fans on Facebook which would undoubtedly give us exposure to that audience, but even those reasons aren’t good enough to keep a good idea afloat long enough to execute while there is excitement.
- Use the resources you have available: If you wait till you have the perfect set, the right props, heck even the perfect camera, the opportunity could be lost. The clock that David was holding literally came off of a shelf. I love how Casey Neistat talks about how when filming his HBO show The Neistat Brothers, they filmed it with whatever resources they had at their disposal because that’s how to get things done – when ideas are hot (by the way, our Glide video was filmed on my Nexus 5 – I am a #fandroid).
Make Sure You Have Fun
Any most importantly, and the underlying point behind each of the lessons above, is to have fun. This is not to imply that planning isn’t important too – we did have a script, and some planning is crucial. But when you take yourself too seriously, over-think ideas, and try to coordinate every single detail, the fun is stripped out of it. And frankly, it’s impossible to be creative when you aren’t having fun.