At times while following my personal legend I get side tracked. These off roads always seem to provide insights that can help me with my greater journey. Below is a sample of some of the social experiments that have shaped –and continue to shape– my experience.

@ (Twitter) Stickers

Purpose: To quantify how offline media, in this case, Guerrilla marketing can influence online reputation via Twitter.

Outcome: @KenjiSummers* Twitter followers increased by over 35% during the duration of the experiment. In addition the monthly follower increase was <200% higher than the account’s monthly average.

Dates: July – September 2009

Location: NYC

Source: Twittercounter.com  *Twitter updates were protected for full length of experiment

Tastemaker Project

Purpose: Three points: 1] Establish if the definition of ‘tastemaker’ had moved beyond solely fashion and art. 2] Uncover the common attributes that make up a tastemaker. 3] Determine if a brand could unite consumers around the term. Last but not least, the primary goal is to have major and minor dictionaries change the definition of ‘tastemaker’, according to the results of this experiment.

Outcome: The responses to the question, ‘what is a tastemaker?’ have taken me further on a journey into the deeper meanings of pop culture terms and their origins and incubation in underground/fringe sub-cultures. The term, ‘tastemaker’ has mutated over a year of brief interviews, with the likes of Marc & Sara from Wooster Collective; a Managing Partner at Anomaly; a Mexican-American diplomat; Tahir of TahirHemphill.com; and a media agency community activator all sharing their thoughts and opinions. The most interesting comment I’ve overheard thus far is, “once you attempt to define a thing it becomes ethereal and evaporates”. This has moved me to specifically search for interviewees that have coined or helped spread popular terms and phrases. While many interviews await release–and even more are yet to be done, the next few months hold a lot of uncertainty for the widely misunderstood term. A petition to change the dictionary meaning of ‘tastemaker’ will immediately follow the conclusion of the experiment.

Dates: May 2009 – May 2010 (ongoing)

Location: NYC

#RealG: The Underground G Series

Purpose: To gain understanding from influencers about what is G in society and in their respective lives. If our society is truly a herd then it is entirely plausible that this (potentially) viral social experiment could improve the slightly damaged brand equity of Gatorade. Below is an excerpt from a recent advertising & marketing trade publication article:

…sales and market share both fell in the first half of last year, when the “What Is G?” marketing campaign was most prominent in the marketplace. In the first nine months of last year, overall Gatorade volume continued to slide, dropping 14%, according to Beverage Digest, while volume share dipped 2.8 points to 75%. G2 boosted the overall brand, with a 25% surge in volume. During the same time period, competitor Powerade gained 2.6 points to raise its volume share to 24%.

According to Kantar Media, Gatorade spent $162 million on measured media in 2008 and $108 million in the first three quarters of 2009.

Outcome: TBD

Dates: January 2010 – present

Location: The Internet (s)