Re-Mediation

It's been crazy lately.

First, the Grammy's makes use of social media integration like they've never done before- using YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWdbMaOzYTE), Twitter (@thegrammys), and a whole new website (Grammy.com) to keep up in real time with the flow of sharing going on online during the course of the show.

Next, Google airs a TV ad during the Super Bowl. Now, I know this doesn't seem incredibly huge, but the fact that Google has never done a television ad before, and the fact that this ad, according to an AdAge article, ranked as the No. 2 most liked out of all Super Bowl ads on social media sites such as Twitter, says a lot not only about the fact that it was aired at all, but also about Google's reputation. The ad itself, "Parisian Love," plays upon Google's very simplicity, and by doing so shows us how important it really has become in the lives of everyday people.

And finally, the Oscars is launching a social media campaign. Venturing into lands they've always been too conservative to enter (they said it themselves), they're making use of more ad agencies than ever, and learning from the mistakes made during the Grammies, are fine-tuning their live streaming and social media capabilities to allow a totally integrative experience before, during, and after the show. The new website will be a huge draw for consumers wanting to see what goes on backstage, as well as the Facebook app that will allow users to share videos and stack their opinions of winners against others'. It will provide an opportunity for the Oscars to increase their television share- an important move, since viewership reportedly dropped 13% last year, which was the third lowest in Oscar history.

All I have to say in light of these new developments is: finally.

I'm extremely excited to see what Oscar comes up with, and how they make use of that integration during the show. Though they're not planning on using Twitter, I'm sure the Twittersphere will more than make up for that with the huge amout of material available on both Facebook and Oscar.com. And even though what the Grammy's did was fantastic, the opportunity for the Oscars to learn from their mistakes (both the Black Eyed Peas' attempt to integrate user fan videos into their performance and the lack of marketing that left many consumers bereft of 3D glasses during the Michael Jackson tribute) presents a whole new dynamic for experience.

In my TV & Electronics Culture class, we've been learning about a concept called re-mediation- that is, the capability of one form of media to both copy and improve upon another one. For example, a piece of paper in real life is more real, but less limited, than a "piece of paper" in Microsoft Word. They both have their limitations, but in a way, the Word program improves upon our traditional perceptions of paper by allowing us unlimited fonts, ink, and paper itself.

In a way, I feel like this is what these three entities are doing- taking their traditional form of marketing through TV, radio, and word-of-mouth, and improving upon them by copying other forms of media. Social media has its drawbacks, as does television advertising in the case of Google; however, combined with traditional platforms, they offer them unlimited exposure and engagement among their user base- and the opportunity to make themselves a lot more relevant to their target audiences.

I guess its time for us to get with the program....literally.