October 27, 2007
“social objects”: blue monster wine update
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For reasons unknown to me, suddenly in the last week the orders for Stormhoek Blue Monster Reserve have started flooding in, especially from Microsoftees in the USA. Rock on.
I’m getting on the case this week… if you’ve already contacted me about this, expect to be hearing from either me or my colleague, Tessa Soole in the next week or two. Thanks.
Some random thoughts:
1. I came up with the Blue Monster wine idea, as a exercise in creating a “Social Object”. What the heck, Theory is all very well, but actual real-life commercial execution is a lot more fun and interesting. I’m just lucky to have the groovy cats at Stormhoek who let me try out these crazy ideas.
[My friend, Alison with a Blue Monster lithograph in her office.]
2. Earlier this year I created another Blue Monster social object, namely, the limited edition lithographs. I only made a thousand of them, and they went fast. As I didn’t want to print more of them [that would’ve cheapened the first edition], I had to come up with something else, something that could scale beyond one thousand people. Since I’m in the wine business, and since I had already been making cartoon labels for Stormhoek wine, it wasn’t too much of a stretch.
3. The Blue Monster wine is also part of the “Smarter Wine” conversation. The main thesis is that it’s not the wine per se that is interesting, it’s the conversations that happen around the wine that is interesting. And that is true for all social objects. People matter. Objects don’t.
4. If the Blue Monster wine idea is interesting, it’s because of a most unlikely mash-up between a small, obscure winery in South Africa, and the world’s largest software company. But it’s this very unlikelihood, this very unlikely swapping of Cultural DNA between two very different companies, that gives it its mojo.
5. Importing different Cultural DNA into an organization is a real balancing act. Too much of it makes it impossible for the company to focus. Too little and the company withers on the vine.
6. BL Ochman has a really good summation of the BM wine story here.
What’s important is that a lone blogger with a good idea was able to get a huge company to listen to him and to adopt one of his fairly radical ideas. It shows that social media is a viable force for change, for marketing, and for the new media than a lot of big companies may now finally begin to take seriously.
7. When thinking about applying social media to companies, “What social media tools should we use” should not be the first question. “How do we wish to talk to people differently” should be the first question. If you don’t have an answer to this, quit your job and go find something else.
8. None of this stuff is rocket science. Most of it is glaringly obvious. And sadly for folks working in the social software industry, “The people who get it, don’t need us. And the people who need us, don’t get it.” Which is why being a “blog consultant” or whatever is a lot less lucrative and rewarding than people often think.
9. I recently received the following e-mail:
Hugh,
As much as I like the Blue Monster, does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? I mean, we both know that no matter how big the Blue Monster gets, Microsoft is still going to continue being “evil”, and its software is still going to continue to suck. And no blogging cartoonist is ever going to change that.
Any thoughts?
Dave
Well, Dave, your low opinion of Microsoft notwithstanding, I’m not looking at this from the executive level. I’m coming at this from the perspective of a small-time cartoonist with a blog and an internet connection. And from where I’m standing, it seems to me that in a big company like Microsoft, even a small thing like the Blue Monster can create a lot of value for a lot of people. Not getting too carried away in the Expectation Department is what will keep things interesting.
10. No, I have no idea of where all this is going. All I care about these days is drawing cartoons, doing interesting things with interesting people, paying my bills, and keeping my sorry ass out of the hospital, the mental asylum, the morgue etc.
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Tags: Microsoft, Smarter Wine, social Objects, Stormhoek, Stormhoek Blue Moster Reserve
Really getting your social objects thing now Hugh since speaking to you at The Facebook Debate.
Demonstrating the object “concept” in a bottle of wine is a great way for others to understand it.
Paul
thanks for linking to my post Hugh.
What I found really interesting about that post is that it got not one comment on my blog, and not one comment when I cross-posted it on MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog. I continue to think the story is freaking amazing.
The idea, like so many, is still what good old Al Gore calls “pre-dawn.“
But then, you and I have been there before and we’ll be there again.
rock on my friend.
On number 9 … (“does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? .… Microsoft is still … And no blogging cartoonist is ever going to change that. .. Any thoughts?”)
Wow. What a surprising turd. The surprise is not in what Dave had to say, but in his assumption that no one would recognize the “cant match your success so Ill try to tear it down” mentality.
Yes, yes, Dave really could be sincere and Dave may not know the story of the little boy and the starfish, one is never 100% sure from a blog comment.
But it really really looks like the usual attempt to reestablish the usual pecking order, and I deplore those kinds of things.
(Starfish story (http://www.starlearners.com.sg/story.html) Of course! None of our efforts change ‘the grand scheme of things’, usually, but what good we do, what changes we do, we do! Someone who has changed a little bit of the world has ‘changed the world’.)
To my favorite blogging cartoonist that is changing the world … Keep it up, Hugh! God bless…
Hugh — reason for the upsurge in orders from the US is the Blue Monster story hit the front page of Microsoft’s global Intranet home (MSW) last week. I got a lot of email from folks asking where to buy
I swear if I had a few cases by my desk I could open an Oddbins internally!
I like the way the story keep reappearing as the message spreads to different parts of the globe and as Microsoft folks and others take it to different places.
Tom Tac,
“What a surprising turd.” Huh? What are you talking about? Is that related in some way to Dave’s comment, or are you just making notes about your bodily functions?
”…‘cant match your success so Ill try to tear it down’ mentality.“
Whose success are you referring to, Microsoft’s or Hugh’s?
One of the entries here on Hugh’s blog says, “My other main interest at the moment has been working with Microsoft on The Blue Monster Project, which has all to do with finding new ways to get the company to tell its story better.“
And as I recall, the topic at the time when Dave made his comment was whether the Blue Monster’s problems relating to customers are problems of style or substance. In particular, Hugh had quoted comments from various Blue Minions that Microsoft’s products are okay and the only problem is one of public relations.
Don’t you think Dave was making a meaningful contribution to that discussion? Of course, Hugh’s comments to the effect that he doesn’t run Microsoft were also “pertinent”.
Hugh,
I don’t think the Blue Monster is the personification of evil (even though he has a face only a mother could love).
Anyway, one of my company’s computers recently met an untimely demise. After much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, we replaced it with a Vista powered machine. So far, it is functioning normally and has not made any attempts to seize control of the company. I’ll let you know how it works out so you can pass the news on to your close personal friends, Bill G and Steve B.
Completely off topic but I’m now totally in love with Allison. Send her to me. Please?
Hey,
’Really NOT getting your social objects thing.‘
I do understand that you help out folks. So. Thats cool.
Dick
John, I am not in a position to say you’re wrong.
While I might *think* I have a good suspicion of Dave’s intentions, it was unnecessary for me to throw in a vulgar name. If this was a wiki, I’d have edited it out by now. Maybe Hugh will do that.
And, if “Dave” ever sees that post, I apologize to him for the word. It doesn’t measure up to my own standards.
Re his comment: Hugh had already addressed the issue by pointing out that “not getting too carried away in the Expectation Department” was what was needed.
No, there was no way I could know that the email from Dave had surfaced during a “style and substance” discussion of MS PR. I have been thinking that the Blue Monster Project is an attempt to help MS tell its story, and the bit about trying to “make the world a better place” is part of the legend, so I think the “change the world or go home” line is a positive thing. It doesn’t relate to the actual software that is in place out there.
But while I think his point of view on the subject differs from mine, the sentence you zeroed in on was not warranted. Thanks, John, for helping me revisit it.
Back to turds… I’m not sure it’s a good idea to shorten ‘Blue Monster’ to ‘BM’ when referring to something you want people to consume.
Tom Tac,
Your comments of contrition appear to be heart felt and sincere. No further action will be taken at this time. But remember, we of the blog police are always watching. Always.
have you talked through the Kula example on the blog Hugh?