for digital marketers in
2014

In early February 2013, this catchy 30-second dance becomes a YouTube copycat phenomenon garnering over a billion views as people perform and upload their own
Harlem Shakes to the beat of DJ artist Baauer.
so what?
Because we said so capech
When US video marketing agency Maker
Studios noticed a YouTube video of five teens dancing to Baauer’s track, they decided it had viral potential. Producing their own professional version, and with the help of Baauer’s record label, they heavily promoted the videos on viral video sites and in social media. A copycat video fad ensued and Baauer’s track shot to #1 on iTunes.
The lesson for digital marketers? Digital marketing needs to be agile and opportunistic to reap rewards.
kBus rem qui ut quatio tectionsecum abore comnit, cus et in pro blabo. Henist eum aut quodis eossecuptat.Udiore sequuntur?

20Things is a single, beautiful illustration that pulls together 20 significant events that happened in or around the internet in the previous 12 months. It’s our annual homage to the best and weirdest of the web - and provides an intriguing game for the digital community. Can you spot all 20?
But 20Things is more than that: it’s also a record of the trends and game- changing innovations that both disrupt - and provide new opportunities - for marketeers.
So before you develop your new digital strategy, see what 20Things can teach you.
want to know more?
We’d love to help take the lessons from
20Things and apply them to your brand.
Mark Ellis m.ellis@syzygy.co.uk
+44 (0) 20 3206 4109
Felix Schröder f.schroeder@syzygy.de
+ 49 (0) 69 710414-110
This year’s illustration created by Brosmind.
Contact at www.brosmind.com

1
In early February 2013, this catchy 30-second dance becomes a YouTube copycat phenomenon garnering over a billion views as people perform and upload their own
Harlem Shakes to the beat of DJ artist Baauer.
so what?
Agile marketing
When US video marketing agency Maker
Studios noticed a YouTube video of five teens dancing to Baauer’s track, they decided it had viral potential. Producing their own professional version, and with the help of Baauer’s record label, they heavily promoted the videos on viral video sites and in social media. A copycat video fad ensued and Baauer’s track shot to #1 on iTunes.
The lesson for digital marketers? Digital marketing needs to be agile and opportunistic to reap rewards.

Released on May 23, 2013 and sung from the
US module of the International Space Station,
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield releases a zero-gravity YouTube cover of David
Bowie’s classic ‘sitting-in-a-tin-can’ track.
so what?
Be first or not at all
In the marketing classic ‘Purple Cow’, Seth
Godin argues that in order to cut through digital marketing clutter, you need ‘standout’ marketing. And that means delivering a marketing ‘first’, something new, different and remarkable - like a purple cow appearing in a field of back and white cows. Better than a world first, NASA’s Space Oddity PR stunt was a interstellar first. The bar for digital marketing just got higher; often you need to be first or not at all.
2
Image credit: Youtube

Who needs a 3D-printed plastic gun when you can 3D print the real metal deal? In
November 2013, rapid-prototyping firm
Solid Concepts publishes a YouTube video demonstrating the production and testing of the world’s first functional 3D-printed metal gun using 3D DMLS printing technology
(direct metal laser sintering).
so what?
Don’t be the story, be part of the (bigger) story
Working primarily for the medical and automotive sectors, Solid Concepts has no involvement with the firearms industry. But the Texan firm’s smart YouTube PR stunt to generate awareness piggybacked on an existing popular and controversial news story about 3D printed firearms. If the digital world is too big for your brand to be the story, try instead to be part of a bigger story.
3

4
26 year-old Internet Hall of Famer, Aaron
Hillel Swartz is found dead in January 2013.
Swartz, a much admired programmer and political activist, had been involved in the development of content sharing technology
(RSS), online copyright reform (Creative
Commons) and Reddit.
so what?
Digital Revolutions
Swartz’ legacy is that the true value of digital lies not in preserving the status quo, but in revolutionising it. He believed that technology was a revolutionary and disruptive force for change - personal change, cultural change and political change - and applied technology to those ends.
Image credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aaron_
Swartz_4_at_Boston_Wikipedia_Meetup,_2009-08-18.jpg

On October 23, 2013, and allegedly following online surveillance leaks from US NSA contractor Edward Snowden, German magazine Der Spiegel reports that the
National Security Agency has been tapping the personal mobile phone of German
Chancellor Angela Merkel.
so what?
One size privacy does not fit all
Privacy - whether illusory or not - matters to the media, politicians and consumers. And as attested by differing reactions to the NSA allegations around the world, the importance of privacy varies market to market. People may be willing to trade their privacy for security or benefits, but one size privacy, or lack of it, does not fit all.
5

‘This Adorably Sad Image Is Now The Official
Photo Of The U.S. Government Shutdown’ claims viral news site BuzzFeed in October
2013 describing the evocative and widely shared image of a child at the closed barrier of the Washington National zoo.
so what?
Picture power visual medium, and to succeed your brand will need an image-first digital strategy that communicates in pictures not words.
With the rise of online video in 2013, it’s easy to forget that pictures still speak-aare immediate. Digital is a fast-moving thousand-words, and unlike video, pictures 6
Image credit: http://i.imgur.com/KKJIspL.jpg

P R
Forget Skynet, this is Balloon-net.
On June 16,
2013, Google balloon-lifts 30 Internet Access
Points 27 km up into the stratosphere from
New Zealand’s South Island. The goal? To test a new idea for bringing online connectivity
- and Google ads - to signal-saturated and remote areas.
J E
L
N
O
O so what?
Connecting people
In our hyper-connected world, connectivity is our life blood. We want it, crave it, need it.
Through Project Loon, Google is connecting people to the Web, and more importantly 7 to each other. Could you take a leaf out of
Google’s book and build your digital strategy around helping people not only connect with your brand, but also with each other?

On September 26, 2013 popular note-taking software company Evernote announces that it has teamed up with 3M to add digital functionality to 3M’s classic Post-it Notes by making them scannable, importable, readable and sortable within Evernote.
so what?
Digital as value delivery channel
The Post-it Note/Evernote tie-up is indicative of the emergence of a new breed of crossover brands delivering value both online and offline. In a world where the value of your brand lies in the margin you can extract through the value you add, can you afford not to add crossover value on and offline?
8

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos purchases leading
US daily newspaper The Washington Post for
$250bn cash, completing the transaction on
October 1, 2013.
so what?
Digital for innovation
The Amazon chief has revealed his desire to television, digital is becoming a channel to use the Washington Post to ‘experiment’ with digital innovation. In a similar vein to Apple’s
‘experiment’ with Apple TV to reinvent explore, trial and test new business models.
Does the true value of digital for your brand lie in innovation rather than communication?
9

On July 1, 2013 and at a ripe old age of seven years and eight months, Google shuts down its market-leading RSS Google Reader service as part of spring clean and a refocusing of resources and talent on core products and services. The announcement caused uproar amongst a vocal community of avid users.
so what?
The digital spring clean
Does your brand need a digital spring clean?
Just because you are, or could be, on every screen, social network or appstore, should you? Take a leaf from the book of Google and jettison non-core digital marketing and services. Do less digitally, but do it better.
10

11
Following a wave of hype around Apple’s new mobile software update, iOS7, a hoax ad surfaces on the popular 4chan image forum claiming that the new software will make
Apple devices waterproof. It was reported that credulous users had been duped and were ruining their Apple devices in water.
so what?
Digital Subvertsing
Apple didn’t produce the phoney ads, but could you get a bigger bang for your campaign if your ad was subverted online?
To cut through digital clutter, your campaign volume needs to be dialled up to 11, so why not try ‘subvertising’; culture-jamming your own ads with subversive humour to give them digital wings?

On October 2, 2013 the FBI shuts down underground online marketplace Silk Road and seizes crypto-currency Bitcoin balances from user accounts. By the end of December
2013 a replacement Silk Road 2.0 was already up and trading.
12
so what?
Inspiration from the edge
Digital innovation typically happens at the edges rather than in the fat middle. Think hover-over video previews on adult sites, personalised screens on gaming pages, and
Silk Road’s risk-busting payment-on-receipt escrow service. What could your brand learn from the edgy edges of digital experience?

In September 2013, this music video promoting a Norwegian chat show goes global and viral on YouTube. Generating over
300 million views, the satirical video for ‘I kveld med Ylvis‘ asks the profound question of what sound foxes make (they yap, they can’t bark).
so what?
‘As seen on Youtube’
As a result of YouTube fame, the music track from the promotional video made the top
10 in download charts around the world, a book deal was sealed and an international tour organised. So is “Based on the YouTube
Sensation” a new model for seeding and launching new artists, businesses - and perhaps even brands?
13

On November 7, 2013 Twitter goes live with its
Initial Public Offering of 70 million shares to raise $1.8bn on the New York Stock Exchange.
The opening bell is rung by X-men/Star Trek star Patrick Stewart and 9-year old child entrepreneur Vivienne Harr . The shares debut at $26.00 and close up 73% on the day at
$44.90.
so what?
Twitter becomes a news network
The success of Twitter’s IPO was due in part to its increasingly dominant role as a global news network for our global networked economy. Offering direct, realtime and rich media news content, Twitter is no longer an option, it is a must-have news network for broadcasting your brand news.
14

A series of six-second doctored Ryan Gosling movie clips are posted to Twitter’s Vine video sharing app and find viral fame in April 2013.
The clips, posted by Scottish film director
Ryan McHenry, feature superimposed spoons of cereal looming in on the Canadian actor.
15 so what?
Shrinking the 30-second spot
In a digital world suffering from perpetual
Attention Deficit Disorder, the traditional
30-second TV ad format feels increasingly maladapted and overindulgent. So is the ultra-short video format of Vine, a glimpse of advertising’s future? If so, brands will need to work on their elevator pitch and become experts in the art of fast sub-10-second storytelling.
Image credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/5/52/RyanGosling10-19.JPG

Self-declared ‘emblem of an old era’
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes a tearful farewell speech to employees on September
26, 2013, backed by Dirty Dancing track
‘I’ve had the time of my life’.
so what?
The post-pc era.
Microsoft had been a poster child for a past tech-centric PC era dominated by the office desktop and laptop PC. For consumer brands our new multiscreen Post-PC era is not about device formats and screen sizes, it’s about 16 rising expectations for intuitive and seamless digital experiences that are either invisible or immersive. The non-intuitive PC era of turning off a device by pressing ‘Start’ is over.

17
Viral lightening does strike twice; Unilever brand Dove achieves another viral hit in
April 2013 for its ‘Real Beauty’ campaign and garners 163 million views on YouTube. The feel-good ad features an FBI sketch artist in an experiment that demonstrates to women that they are more beautiful than they think.
so what?
Extending the 30-second spot
At three minutes long, Real Beauty Sketches is part of a new generation of long-form video ads that uses YouTube and social media to break out of the 30-second TV spot mould.
Could long-form branded video content offer consumers a more rewarding and less formulaic narrative, and become part of the future of digital advertising?
Image credit: http://realbeautysketches.dove.com

An ageing but buff Muscles from Brussels,
Jean-Claude Van Damme, goes viral on
YouTube in a November 2013 Volvo Trucks ad . Aiming to demonstrate the stability and precision of Volvo steering, the ad features
JC performing a full side splits between two reversing Volvo trucks.
18
so what?
The art of WOW
With digital technology providing more people with ever-more ways to skip, avoid or ignore ads, the biggest challenge facing the future of advertising is a creative challenge. How do we create ads that people actually want - and choose - to watch? Volvo responded to this creative challenge by bundling together some of the most popular ingredients of YouTube hits - celebrity, stunts, comedy and music. And it worked.

In November 2013 the influential Oxford
English Dictionary names ‘Selfie’ the new international word of the year . To crown the iconic status of self-portrait mobile snaps,
US president Obama stars in the 2013 Selfie of the Year by snapping himself at Nelson
Mandela’s funeral. Owners of the Selfies-at-
Funerals site are delighted.
so what?
Are we talking about me yet?
The rise of the selfie is indicative of how digital media has evolved into deeply personal media. Mobile devices have become extensions of ourselves, offering us a sixth sense, a second brain, and a powerful tool for 19 managing our self identity and public image.
Brands can continue using digital to talk about themselves, but smart brands will use digital to help people be, and talk about, themselves.
Digital media; this time it’s personal.
THE fie

A YouTube hoax goes viral in September
2013 featuring stunt actor Daphne Avalon who appears to catch fire whilst ‘twerking’ at home. Revealed as a hoax on US TV talkshow
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a YouTube clip of the
‘Big Reveal’ garners more views than the original 9 million views for the hoax.
so what?
Beyond channel silos
Piggybacking on media buzz surrounding
Miley Cyrus’ suggestive twerking antics at the MTV awards, the Worst Twerk Fail PR stunt is an example of a new generation of TV/
YouTube integration. The only place you’ll find a line between digital and traditional media now is in the obsolescent minds of marketing dinosaurs.
20

1. Harlem Shake:
Agile marketing
2. Space Oddity:
Be first or not at all
3. First 3D Printed Gun:
Don’t be the story, be part of the (bigger) story
4. Aaron Swartz Dies:
Digital revolutions
5. NSA Phone Tapping:
One size privacy does not fit all
6. This Zoo is Closed:
Picture power
7. Project Loon:
Connecting people
8. Post-it Note/Evernote Partnership:
Digital as Value Delivery Channel
9. Jeff Bezos Buys The Washington Post:
Digital for innovation
10. Google Retires Reader:
The digital spring clean
Mark Ellis m.ellis@syzygy.co.uk
+44 (0) 20 3206 4109
11. iOS7 Waterproof Ad:
Digital subvertising
12. Silk Road Closed:
Inspiration from the edge
13. What Does the Fox Say?:
As seen on YouTube
14. Twitter IPO:
Twitter becomes a news network
15. Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal:
Shrinking the 30-second spot
16. Steve Ballmer Farewell Speech:
The Post-PC era
17. Dove Real Beauty Sketches:
Extending the 30-second spot
18. The Epic Split Feat. Van Damme:
The art of WOW.
19. Selfie:
Are we talking about me yet?
20. Worst Twerk Fail Ever:
Beyond channel silos
Felix Schröder f.schroeder@syzygy.de
+ 49 (0) 69 710414-110
1. Harlem Shake: http://qz.com/67991/ you-didnt-make-the- harlem-shake-goviral-corporations-did/
12. Silk Road Closed: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Silk_Road_
(marketplace)#Seizure_and_arrest
2. Space Oddity: http://www.
economist.com/blogs/economist- explains/2013/05/economist-explains-12
13. What Does the Fox Say?: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_(What_
Does_the_Fox_Say %3F) http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE
3. First 3D Printed Metal Gun: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=u7ZYKMBDm4M
4. Aaron Swartz Dies: http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/ Aaron_Swartz
14. Twitter IPO: http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Twitter#Initial_public_ offering_.28IPO.29 http:// abcnews.
go.com/Technology/ringing-nyse-belltwitters-ipo/story?id=20816119
5. NSA Phone Tapping: http://www.spiegel.
de/international/ world/merkel-callsobama-over-suspicions-us-tapped-her- mobile-phone-a-929642.html
15. Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal:
Shrinking the 30-second spot http:// www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/ryangosling-wont-eat-his-cereal-is-basicallythe-best-thing
6. This Zoo is Temporarily Closed: http://www.reddit.com/ user/ superbonnie http://www.buzzfeed.com/ bennyjohnson/ the-official-photo-ofthe-us-government-shutdown
16. Steve Ballmer Farewell Speech: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=K9jXy7OZXsI http:// blogs.wsj.
com/digits/2013/11/15/ballmer-maybeim-an-emblem-of-an-old-era/
7. Project Loon: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Project_Loon
8. Post-it Note/Evernote Partnership: http:// blog.evernote.com/ blog/2013/09/26/evernote-and-postitr- notes-partner-to-give-your-favoritepaper-product-a- digital-life/
9. Jeff Bezos Buys The Washington
Post: http:// www.huffingtonpost.
com/2013/09/03/jeff-bezos- washingtonpost-interview_n_3858343.html
17. Dove Real Beauty Sketches: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Real_
Beauty_Sketches http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk
18. The Epic Split Feat. J.C. Van Damme: http://www.visiblemeasures.
com/2013/12/24/volvo- trucks-epicsplit-is-the-most-viral-auto-campaignever/ http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=M7FIvfx5J10
10. Google Retires Reader: http://ericungs.
com/death-to- google-reader-and-thefuture-of-rss/
11. iOS7 Waterproof Ad: https://i.
chzbgr.com/maxW500/7817784576/ h000A7995/ https:// i.chzbgr.com/ maxW500/7817785088/h6236061E/ http://www.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/ gadgets-and-tech/news/fakewaterproof-iphone-ad-tricks-users-intodestroying-their- smartphones-8835952.
html www.20thin.gs
www.syzygy.net
19. Selfie: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.
com/press-releases/oxforddictionaries-word-of-the- year-2013/ http://selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com/ post/69596028648/obama-has-taken-a- funeral-selfie-so-our-work-here-is
20. Worst Twerk Fail Ever: http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=CddMD3QqTFs http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=HSJMoH7tnvw