P Diddy speaks out about artists need to develop and control their personal brands on and offline – inc social media.
“Before, it was just at live shows, now you have to be able to do a great live show, you have to be able to do a great online interview, you need to have a great Facebook page, you have to have a great television performance.”
Dig in – check humanbrands.me. And get one!
A recent survey by CoolBrands revealed that Apple’s iPhone is now more desirable than an Aston Martin! A closer look at the list tells the bigger story about Apple’s brand, they took 3 spots out of the top 5! Apples dominance is unsurprising – consumers are way too happy to queue for the latest gadget. What is surprising however is another survey by SuperBrands (same company as CoolBrands) which reveals that Microsoft are the top super brand, whilst Apple are down in 9th. But with cloud computing and applications on-line maybe we’ll see MacBooks on the list next year further boosting Apple’s position.
Whichever way you look at it Apple’s brand is their most prized asset, which proves that getting your brand right has to be a leading priority.
blur Group’s crowd of artists at b-uncut keeps breaking new ground. Today it surpassed 10,000 artworks loaded. b-uncut.net, where the artists hang, attracts over 5,500 unique visitors per month and over 40,000 page views making it by far the most ‘active’ artist site on the Web.
In the mean time b-uncut.com, aimed at art buyers and art lovers is growing fast. And buyers are starting to buy both from our recently opened Gallery and Store. We have 31 artists at the b-uncut Store – and growing.
b-uncut is the place on the Web where the coolest art breaks and where the artists’ artists hang. Join us.
While blur Group’s busy preparing for the public launch of its Human Brands programme next week -- we celebrate the ultimate ‘Human Brand’ -- Michael Jackson.
To inspire our crowd members.
And promote the individual. Because in the 21st Century individuals, not corporations will drive change.
Is Twitter the Web’s greatest Ponzi scheme and Evan Williams the Madoff of the information age? Will this ‘pulse of the Web’ communications house of cards finally collapse when the vast majority of Twitter users figure out that the vast, vast majority of their ‘followers’ are nothing like followers and probably never will be.
Is Twitter anything more than the Internet’s dog chasing its tail in search of Tweet fame and glory. User following user in an endless comms round Robin – and when the dust settles recognizing its inherent flippancy.
Or can Evan almighty and his brigade convert early momentum into a truly valuable real-time communications media for individuals and organisations alike – en masse. With an endless, real time stream of case studies proving true Twitter value creation and critical applications time after time. Finally creating a business that is near close to its $1 billion price tag.
Till then, the game’s still wide open for Twitter, Facebook, Google or any number of ambitious startups to be the ‘pulse of the Web’. Not its next Ponzi deal.
blur Group uses crowdsourcing to re-architect the creative industries, cutting out both the middle man and middle managers. Collapsing the supply and distribution chain from original content creator to buyer, fan or audience.
Constructing next generation creative industry talent and intellectual property marketplaces.
Why?
Because the middle men and middle managers take too much. The creator feels cut out and always under-rewarded. Here’s the maths to support our view. So the little guy – the original content creator – deserves a better deal and with our approach to Web based crowdsourcing they can get it.
That’s why we call it FAIRTRADE. Fairtrade for artists, marketers, designers, writers and yes, even entrepreneurs.
Photo by Deemonita via Flickr
We were avidly re-reading this article from March about the future of PR by Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research.
We felt a bit of an issue with the use of the word ‘agency’. We feel that the future (or the present of blur Marketing) is actually communities representing communities.
The assumption that a traditional (or even connected) agency may represent the diversity of a community is not relevant anymore. We feel that the open source movement and focused crowdsourcing enable a bulletproof distributed agency approach. The best way to represent a community.
Our community of freelancers really gets it because it’s a community itself. As simple as that.
Focused Crowdsourcing. We’ve been studying it, we’ve been applying it, we’ve been talking about it.
Photo by foxypar4 via Flickr
An interesting study from ReadWriteWeb, looks into patterns of behaviour within large crowds such as Yelp or Digg and finds that there’s always a bunch of power users driving the game.
We believe that focused crowdsourcing can be the future of business. Focused crowds mean power users and power users drive new business models.
blur Designs traveled over to the trendy Shoreditch House last night to see their latest Human Brand project, Rabia. Here she is singing ‘Fronting’.
It was a great gig and the crowd loved her. blur Designs is onto the next stage of Rabia’s Human Brand, watch this space!
blur Group is a leader in focused crowdsourcing. Their crowds are tightly managed, highly focused and extremely productive. They manage crowds as virtual organizations. Un-corporations. And as a result their crowds of artists, entrepreneurs, digital marketers, designers and writers act as ‘collectives’ of independents that come together under the blur umbrella to take on their respective industries. Scalably and profitably.
After all, just 90 days from now b-uncut will house over 800 artists and be one of the largest artist studio networks in the world. As a crowd they could challenge any gallery, auction house or art Website. 90 days from now Innovatrs will have over 250 Web savvy entrepreneurs in its fast growing crowd – each benefitting from the worlds most innovative start-up system and learning community of practicing entrepreneurs.
blur Designs will have nearly 500 leading graphic and Web designers – making it one of the worlds largest design agencies. And blur Marketing will organize over 150 digital marketers, able to compete for pitches with any digital marketing agency in Europe. Even the nascent blur Media will have 30 odd writers ready to stand behind this new, on demand publishing and media label and network.
No wonder the head of Innovation at Ogilvy & Mather recently wrote that blur Marketing could be the agency model of the future. Is it surprising that IDEO is looking hard at blur Designs. No shock that one of the worlds greatest living painters just threw his lot in with b-uncut. Is it strange that angel investor groups and VC’s are increasingly approaching Innovatrs to partner with them and their entrepreneurs.
Or weird that one of the world’s leading social networks just chose blur Marketing for a critical new marketing campaign they’re launching in the run up to Christmas and that blur Marketing now receives 2-3 new client briefs per week. Is it credible that blur Designs is launching their first Human Brand – an emerging singer named Rabia and that prize-winning designers are joining the crowd. Can it be possible that b-uncut has launched a leading Web gallery and art merchandise store in the last 90 days that will sell hundreds and potentially thousands of items in the run up to Christmas. Could blur Media have designed, produced, published and launched their first crowdsourced book, ‘The Artists Diary’ in less than 90 days.
In 2010 can blur Marketing take on WPP, or blur Designs tackle Elance. Should b-uncut unsettle Saatchi Online and ruffle Whitecube. Could Innovatrs inform business schools. Will blur Group be talked about as a future Virgin Group. We believe so. But don’t just take our word for it – join the movement. Spread the word, sign up to a crowd and become a part of the crowdsourcing revolution.
The b-uncut store is open for business. Buy art t-shirts, shirts, gadgets, cards, posters and more. This is a critical milestone for b-uncut – the worlds leading artists network. Because money made from selling b-uncut Store products goes direct to the artists and b-uncut’s emerging art programs including grants, shows and sponsorships.
b-uncut is redefining the emerging art market for the benefit of both artist and buyer – and this is an innovative way to fund its initiatives, through the sale of artworks on everyday products – over the Web. The most democratic mechanism we can think of for the public to directly support the arts in general and artists in particular.
So spread the word and visit b-uncut.com today, click on ‘Store’ and get shopping; ’support our artists’. There is something in the b-uncut Store for everyone and products start at just a few pounds, dollars or euros.
Rabia has come into see us about her Human Brand™, she loves it, do you?
Let us know what you think?
What does it say to you?
If you’re new to Rabia check out this video.
Please feel free to comment below, thanks and we’ll keep you updated on how Rabia’s human brand turns out.
The Portobello film festival kicks off tonight at our Westbourne Studios! Big piece on Street art, got talking to sickboy a leading street artist from Bristol.
Turns out he was one of the first street artists to use a logo instead of a tag, known as the ‘Temple’ which can be seen on walls and wheelie bins worldwide. Human Brands has worked for sick boy, he is tipped as one of the street art movement’s most investable artists.
‘In this century human brands will become as powerful as any corporate brand’.
Artists, actors, singers, entrepreneurs, chefs and bloggers brands can become as valuable as any Walt Disney, Nike, News Corporation, Kellogg’s, Google, Microsoft or Amazon.
The power is shifting from distributor to creator. Middleman to artist.
David Beckham is better known than Manchester United, Ronaldo than Real, Federer than Wimbledon. Tom Cruise is bigger than any single film studio. JK Rowling larger than Penguin.
But what’s their Human Brand?
Whether you’re an emerging human brand or established celebrity the digital revolution allows you to spread your wings and monetize your identity more than ever before. blur Designs works with individuals to create a winning Human Brand™ designed for the digital universe (including logo), then rolls it out across a next gen, hub-and-spoke, Web and social media platform.
blur Marketing turns human brand into human fame. Going way beyond 15 minutes.
Mashable’s Brandon Mendelson posted an interesting collection of tips on how to grow your crowd. At blur Marketing growing crowds is not only critical to what we do, but also central to how we engage with our clients.
Photo by ppdigital via Flickr
We enjoy reading this and participated in the discussion. How are you going about building your crowd?
Ricardo Cinalli, arguably the worlds greatest living painter has joined b-uncut.
Leading art critics, including Brian Sewell, have called him the 21st Century Matisse. He’s a little shy – so we just recognize him as another cool artist that has joined the b-uncut movement.
One of the reasons Ricardo joined b-uncut is to support the artist – shift the balance – promote the creator. So join our cause – FAIRTRADE for artists.
Your art, our store – a preview. The b-uncut Store opens its doors next week. Shhhh…
After a productive Friday morning, we decided to make a short film showing the route to our studios from Westbourne Tube Station. Which will also freshen up and make our contact page more interesting.
Spot anyone you know?
