The Tipping Point in action

One of the most fascinating videos I have ever seen has hideous camera work and a God-awful soundtrack.

You’ll be tempted to turn if off after 2 or 3 seconds, but this one rewards you for sticking with it for the full 3 minutes and 6 seconds, because it shows something we mostly only ever read about.

A tipping point.

For those who haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, the tipping point is the moment where a product, service or an idea suddenly becomes  popular. It’s described as ‘the level where the momentum for change becomes unstoppable’. It’s the brand that was unknown yesterday and is now on everyone’s lips.

Like Twitter.

It tipped after being featured at the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive Conference. Before the conference, the number of tweets a day was 20,000. During the conference, it jumped to 60,000, and now it’s up around 3 million tweets a day.

Or the ‘Twilight’ series, which was first published in 2005 to the delight of teenage girls, but now seems to be on everyone’s bookshelf and, with the movie release, has entered popular culture and spawned terms such as ‘Twilight Moms‘.

But back to the video (below), taken at the Sasquatch Music Festival in 2009.

While everyone sits and chats on picnic blankets, a lone man (very possibly under the influence of something illegal) starts a crazy little dance and is quickly joined by his mate. At that point their idea – ‘let’s dance’ – is not something anyone else wants buy into. Most ignore them, some look a little embarrassed for them. But these two are having a grand old time while the crowd just sits and stares.

Now it’s gotta take guts – or hard drugs – to swim against the current like these guys are.

In front of hundreds of people they’re flying in the face of the status quo. They’ve just launched a new idea and nobody is quite sure what to make of it. And we humans tend to prefer the safety of numbers. Socially, it’s much safer to do what the majority of the crowd is doing.

But look at what happens at the 1:20 mark.

Another 8 people join the group.

This idea just tipped.

Now in that group of 8, there was very likely one brave (and popular) soul who not only decided to get up and dance, but convinced 7 of his closest friends to do so too. No longer are we watching a couple of weirdos dancing in a field, we’re at a small dance party. And that clearly makes all the difference.

At 1:30,  people are running – literally running – to join in.

At 1:50, the dancers have taken over from the picnic blanketers. Get up and dance, little fellas, or you’re gonna get trod on.

At the end of the video, at least 100 people are on their feet, waving their arms in the air. We’ve gone from a few picnickers on blankets to a swarming, dancing crowd.

New ideas work this way too. They don’t necessarily take off immediately.

We have a quote on the wall here, readying: “Don’t worry about people stealing your idea. If it’s truly original you’ll have to ram it down their throats”.

But if you get the right few people behind it, it’ll take off faster than you can believe.

xk

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It’s the standard smart-arse response when you ask for a ballpark quote or a budget or a rough idea of head hours or any question where the details haven’t yet been nutted out.

How long’s a piece of string?

It’s a cop out.

Because you’re not being asked for a precise figure. You’re being asked to guesstimate and you probably have enough information to do that. If not, ask a few questions. Figure out your parameters.

All you really need to know is what the string is for:

For tying up my tomatoes? Anywhere between 10cm and 20cm per tomato plant.

For wrapping a toy? Probably somewhere between 30cm and 3m.

For stringing up Christmas decorations in the agency. Hmmmm, around 30m should do the trick

Rough, ballpark figures to give someone a better idea of what they’re dealing with.

That’s all we ask.

You’d be mad to give a creative team a brief without a budget – it’s like throwing down a challenge to any creative worth their salt. You’re telling them the sky’s the limit. And you’ll never be able to afford what they come up with.

My rough guess is that most people have a half-decent idea of their budget. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: What’s the budget?

Them: Client didn’t give us one

Me: Just a rough, ballpark cost. Doesn’t have to be exact.

Them: Sorry, I really couldn’t say.

Me: OK. So a hundred dollars a pack sound OK?

Them: God no, more like 2 bucks.

So next time your request is met with ‘how long’s a piece of string?’, ask ‘what’s the string for?’.

Or just answer ‘twice as long as half the length’.

That ought to shut ‘em up.

xk

Like this piece? Think Kate’s full of it? Let us know by adding a comment or emailing her here

We’re rolling out the welcome mat and breaking out the cupcakes to welcome Stefanie Digianvincenzo aboard as CUBED’s full-time copywriter.

Stef is an award-winning writer who’s been honoured with several ADMAs, including a craft award for copywriting within her first two years in the industry. (It’s a bit like scoring a best actress Oscar on your first acting gig.)

Our Creative Directors, Dave and Kate, worked with Stef previously and are thrilled to team up with her again at CUBED.

So welcome aboard, Stef! It’s great to have you here.

Not Compact Discs, but Creative Directors. Two of them.

Dave Scott and Kate Lightfoot joined us this August as part of our ongoing strategy to become a bigger, stronger agency.