Right off the Vine

I write this post knowing full well that by disparaging today's social media I come across as a grumpy, don't-let-your-dog-shit-on-my-lawn, old man.

The fact is, every post on Round Seventeen affirms that image.

Why should I start worrying about that now?

So let's talk about Vine.
Or as I like to call it, 180 frames of half-baked, unprocessed story components.

The kids are into Vine. Of course, the kids are also into huffing household cleansing products. So that doesn't mean it's good. It only means it's trendy. But that seems to be good enough for today's brash, young, insanely-smart CMO's looking to stay on the edge.

Suddenly, Fortune 500 companies are ditching more traditional media like TV, radio, and even banners (which are so 2011) for this new unproven flavor of the month.

Maybe because 6 seconds of storytelling is a lot easier to judge than 30. It's also considerably less expensive, which I think accounts for its growing popularity.

But perhaps I'm being a little hasty.

If this is the direction advertising is heading, and I have every reason to believe it is, Vining, that is the act of slapping together a Vine, could make my life so much easier.

Now, I will no longer have to spend weeks...ok, days...ok, hours, carefully crafting brand narratives that reposition a product and tell a compelling story worthy of consumer consideration and/or purchase.

If a client demands a Vine I simply have to grab my video camera, or even my iPhone, and simply hit the Record button.

The toughest part of my job will be figuring out how to upload this 6 second masterpiece to my computer.

Woo-Hoo!