AdHack: 

Monday, August 28, 2006

AdHack speaking notes from BarCamp Vancouver

I called the talk I gave at BarCamp Vancouver Introducting AdHack, a do-it-yourself (DIY) advertising community.

Here are my speaking notes. Check them out. Feedback / criticism / encouragement all invited. I didn’t stick to them too much during my talk, because it worked much better as a discussion with the folks attending.

Overview

Introduce AdHack and then have a conversation about it. Assume that everyone here is interested in the idea. Tell you a little more about it.

A little about AdHack and what it means to you.

My good friend Steve Kellas is a copywriter. He:

• is smart guy
• works hard
• has great ideas
• has his crappy work promoted
• sees that for every idea produced, 100 are passed over
• is seeking a creative outlet
• knows better ideas exist but don’t get a chance

Questions

• Why do ads suck so much?
• Why do small companies think they can’t afford ads?
• Why do ads mean so little to me?

Changes of Advertising

At the same time all kinds of ideas were swirling around:

• the tipping point
• www
• Google AdWords / AdSense
• peer production
• rise of prosumers
• value migrating outside the firm
• connected consumption
• the people formerly known as audience
• flattening idea currencies (memes)

Came with up something different, advertising hacked. AdHack.

So what would that look like?

1. Anyone can create an ad.
2. Anyone can commission as ad.
3. Anyone can buy an ad.
4. An ad can be anything you want it to be: words, photos, audio, video. Mix it up. Shake it. See what happens.
5. Ads aren’t just rosy fantasies. They’re opinions, testimonials, reviews. They’re what you think and feel about something. We want legit.

How is AdHack different?

1. Advertising is about companies speaking to people. AdHack is about people speaking to people.
2. Advertising tells people what to buy (hint: always more!). AdHack helps people tell each other what to buy and what not to buy.
3. Advertising insults people’s intelligence. AdHack assumes people are smart and capable.
4. Advertising is for professionals only. AdHack is Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.): We can all make an AdHack.
5. Advertising is about selling you something with manufactured stories. AdHack is about people sharing personal stories.

AdHack is that conversation you had in the coffee shop the other day where you asked someone you trusted which cell phone they had and why, because you’re looking for a new one and your contract is up for renewal. And they told you all about their experience in about 2 minutes, and that 2 minutes meant way more to you in your decision than all the ads you’d seen or heard or read in the past 2 years selling you cell phones.

• Arianna Huffington: “Imagine a relationship where you were the only one doing the talking. How long would it last?”

Examples of ideas flirting with AdHack:

• Chevy Tahoe
• Menthos and Diet Coke
• Kayak.com
• Dancing Matt
• Mommy.tv
• Sutori

What does AdHack do?

1. Hack the means of production of advertising, by doing it yourself (DIY), and;
2. Hack the modus operendi (MO) of advertising, by talking straight to others.
3. Create a do-it-yourself advertising community to share, remix, show off and (maybe) make some money off your work – AdHack.

How will AdHack make money?

1. Selling the ads from the AdHack community to the companies.
2. Selling reports to companies targeted in the AdHack community.
3. Charging companies for commissioning ads to the AdHack community.
4. T-shirts and merchandise. Seriously, I love t-shirts.
5. Not advertisements.

• Peter Sheahan, ‘Generation Y’: “Stop trying to figure out how to bullshit your way into a market that has a BS-detector on their head. Stop trying to trick an over-stimulated, heavily marketed-to generation and start being genuine and authentic in the first place. If you deliver an original, quality product, that will get people talking and it will end up marketing itself.