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POP

Transculturation: the merging and converging of cultures; first defined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940. It is more then a transition from one country, or culture to another; its not simply acquiring another culture (acculturation). Global migration and social media, have increased the hyper pace. Transculturation is guided by extreme pressures at macrosocial levels, however, is finally resolved at the personal level, in their [ecosystems]; this greatly effects branding, social media and sales. ~william

POP

Transculture

If there was any doubt that China is setting itself for global leadership in popculture consider Iron Man 3: 

“The Chinese version of the film will also feature a special appearance of China’s top actress, Fan Bingbing, and will offer specially prepared bonus footage made exclusively for the Chinese audience. Marvel Studios’ experience working on this film with Fan Bingbing and Wang Xueqi and in shooting in China has been very positive and has created a springboard for future collaboration with China’s talented stars and its growing film and television industry.” via Time.com

Read more: http://entertainment.time.com/2013/04/01/iron-man-3-chinese-fans-will-see-different-cut-of-the-movie/#ixzz2PFLfnsnv

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“The Nike Graphic Studio held its third charity art show, titled “Outside the Box,” in Portland, Oregon, showcasing a new collection of work from some of Nike’s most talented artists.

Sole Collector recently sat down with event organizers Chris “Digs” DeGaetano and Eugene Serebrennikov, as well as Managing Director and VP of the Nike Foundation Howard Taylor to learn more about the event and its charity, The Girl Effect.”

What is The girl effect? ” a movement. It’s about leveraging the unique potential of adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves, their families, their communities, their countries and the world. It’s about making girls visible and changing their social and economic dynamics by providing them with specific, powerful and relevant resources.”

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Making of A Pop Brand

As mentioned, this blog isn’t new..

I had to lock it away at the suggestion of a friend who felt I was sharing too much, too early. That the market wasn’t ready for the depth of Transculture insight that was presented. Interestingly, she works for one of the largest global adv agencies.

Additionally, she felt that big agencies could [borrow] our data. It is true, several big agencies followed me on every twitter account I attempted to make personal, and then looking at the staff of planners, I would see our method re-purposed. They built big fancy culture branding units…today most have been shuttered because of poor insight and lack of direct culture interactivity. 

What they missed, to be uber specific — was the total methodology that includes a planning filter. Culture Branding isn’t just a fuzzy scheme of placing people of color in advertising. Every element is quantifiable in a matrix. It uses the merging of what has become bigdata & culture decoding. It is a very specific study and application.

BRANDED MULTICULTURALISM took me nearly five years to construct. And, while I was engaged in that, Jack was spending equal time forming the foundations of sustainable branding with his peers, at Medinge Group, the international think tank on branding, located in Sweden. By the way, Jack is a co-founding director at Medinge. Along the way.. they created many books. Of course I knew of the brilliant work they inspired for humanity and business, well before I reached out to Jack for guidance.

Moving forward, a lot has changed since I first opened a Tumblr account, I was on the first wave of members, and Multicultural Brand Consultancy was the 1st culture brand firm on Twitter, in 2008.

I’ve learned not to share key insight, but — we live in a new era, and there are still huge shifts in global society that directly affect and effects branding, social media, and entertainment. If it is not tangible to the audience, it will not have a long shelf-life, and will become a temporal trend. 

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Below you will find some older notes from 2009.. enjoy

MAKING OF A POP BRAND

2009: Yesterday I had a long series of exchanges with my friend who also happens to be a documentary director.  Actually, it was her influence in my life several years ago that helped me to rethink the notion of culture, at a deep visceral level.  At that time, it was my goal - If I had my choice and the chance - I would want to start over, fresh. 

However, the focus of this post isn’t about documentaries. 

The making of a pop brand requires the 4 Cs:

1) Context.

2) Content.

3) Connection.

4) Commitment to both subject and viewer of all media.

Several key words and themes were bantered about in my chat with my friend who happens to be from Poland, and earned her MFA here in America: stereotypical, Absolutely nothing new, Endlessly predictable, contained in a white Euro-centric world view.

Branded engagement is similar to a personal relationship. A corporation can’t start fresh until it fully understands who it is speaking with. Branding is not a one way speech, regardless of its goals, consumer needs or wants. People have a way of hiding, and deflect from all known buy messages when they feel like they are boxed in. And thus, there must be a mechanism that is trust worthy, it is then injected into the discourse, and relationship re-building equation.

Jack Yan is co-founding partner of MBC: three years ago he roughly said “best practice branding must be respectful, it is inclusive, and it removes the need to racially label groups in order to move away from marginalizing minorities”

Jack continued ”Branding is the means through which an organization differentiates, symbolizes and communicates itself to all of its audiences. However, branding must have a responsibility if we wish our organizations to have a responsibility. It is the interface between that organization and its audiences. It can equally be an interface between a corporation and its consumers, or at least a way of thinking that can unify vision, strategy, exposition and image, with measurable end results”

If the goal is to indeed start fresh and offer consumers the gift of recovery, it must create a framework and re-build relationships with critical mass. 

                                                 ###

2013 UPDATE: as it turned out.. seems Alina and I where on the right track regarding audience worldview; our last film won awards including | Humanitarian Award, Glasgow Scotland | Research Award, Sibiu Romania | Best Feature Doc, Athens and was invited to over 50 international film fest. We currently have several projects in motion.

tbc [to be continued]

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here is a link via_ PEW its a relational study. “The highly engaged, diverse set of respondents to an online, opt-in survey included 895 technology stakeholders and critics. The study was fielded by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center” Some 85% agreed with the statement: “In 2020, when I look at the big picture and consider my personal friendships, marriage and other relationships, I see that the internet has mostly been a positive force on my social world. And this will only grow more true in the future.”

here is a link via_ PEW its a relational study.

“The highly engaged, diverse set of respondents to an online, opt-in survey included 895 technology stakeholders and critics. The study was fielded by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center”

Some 85% agreed with the statement:

  • “In 2020, when I look at the big picture and consider my personal friendships, marriage and other relationships, I see that the internet has mostly been a positive force on my social world. And this will only grow more true in the future.”

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Reblogged from
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I’ve been working on a project off and on for the past 7 years, it is adapted from a true story, a children’s saga at that; it is in the classic Japanese Anime style, and so.. every detail of the script must be correct. Every now and then..  I’ve been stealing away, and in study again reviewing the Master:

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿 Miyazaki Hayao„ born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly five decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-foundered Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company. The success of Miyazaki’s films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney. VIA_WIKI

Grave of Fireflies: was written and directed in 1988 by Isao Takahata, a principal collaborator of with anime master Hayao Miyazaki / well, anywayGrave of Fireflies is one of the most powerful films i’ve ever viewed, it is also a children’s story of sorts..

One day, I hope to begin to present my project in public; one day, I will be able to do more then read a few pages at poetic functions, one day..Yoshie’ will walk the maze toward the party in her honor, light to darkness; then forever light..

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A few years ago Jack sent me this link, there was a story behind it; not just the sharing of a simple link to a concert, nor that he was even a fan of the movie Shaft which was Directed by Gordon Parks. It was Jack’s way of showing an understanding for American culture, slightly humorous, yet — deeply centered in engagement.

I recall our chats on the old Vox blog platform.. it was a time of real “socialmedia” where people in our networks would write post.. and others would respond, add images and thoughts that related from all over the world. 

A lot has changed in the landscape of social.. its link driven, few heartfelt responses and the while the digital sphere of online continues to grow it seems people have forgotten the social aspects. Everyone screams more content, more engagement.. and to the contrary sending a link that you don’t even read to simply keep up with the flow is simply crazy. 

Talkin” bout SHAFT, can you dig it: Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s rendition of that classic Isaac Hayes movie theme from ‘Shaft’ played live at Cambridge Folk Festival..

My friend Jack is a different sort of man, and over the past few years he and I have had many chats about branding, culture, Pop, and the merging of different global values.. yet, this video seems to capture the feeling we both share, far beyond the shores of America or New Zealand.

 

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