Gaga tweeted “she is the future.” And Maria Aragon’s career was born, while Lady Gaga’s brand was further humanized, introducing a remarkable story that we can’t stop sharing.

(In case you missed it, here’s the video that sent Maria jetting to multiple talk shows and has earned her phone calls from agents and producers. As of this post, up to 17MM+ views in two weeks.)

There was no user-generated contest, no copy written, no casting. Just a community member who loved a song and let her passion show. The Mother Monster found it, tweeted the link, handed the keys to the community, and launched a rocket.

She could have just said ‘Thanks!’ As many brands are wont to do in social media. Instead, she rewarded her creative fan with a tweet that compelled millions to click — “Can’t stop crying… This is why I make music. She is the future.”

Last night was the culmination of chapter 1 in this story, as Maria Aragon performed live in Toronto with Lady Gaga, thanks a quick hook-up on Toronto’s Virgin Radio.

This is Lady Gaga’s best video. Better than Bad Romance, better than Telephone.

A single tweet earned Lady Gaga a ridiculous amount of positive press, a new level of respect from her existing fan base, and consideration from a broader market who would normally dismiss the cigarette-sunglass-wearing oviparous pop star.

What could you do to hand the keys to a community member? Sometimes, you have to do more than just say thanks. Trust me, you’ll thank me for it.

Cannes!

I really don’t care about Cannes. I don’t even know how to pronounce it properly.

(I do, however, care about pronounciation, so… Wikipedia says it’s pronounced “kan,” like “plan.”)

If you’re in to all of that, great. If winning a Lion for your ad is what gets you excited in the morning, fantastic. In fact, if that dangled carrot fills you with passion and drive that pushes you to excel on a project I happen to be working on, I’m even happier.

But it’s not what drives me.

To be fair, if we won one, I’d celebrate it and congratulate all those involved. I’d be proud of it. But I’m not clamoring for it.

I measure my personal and our collective success differently. I want to know:

• Did we strike a chord with our target?
• Did we create an idea that people will talk about?
• Did we build loyalty; build a community or tap into any others?
• Did we sell the product or the brand, not the product type?
• Did we increase sales?

I believe the best way to manage a creative team and create great work is to understand what drives each individual, and figure out how that plays into the project. We’re not all there to stand up on stage with a golden cat.

Now, let’s go out and make some magic. The awards will come.

“What are we actually DOing?” I often puzzle fellow marketers and advertisers with this question.

The brief is written to focus on the most important message for a campaign, and many times we jump to the presentation of that message. How the slogan will appear in print; what stock photo will best represent our target persona (but don’t forget the element of diversity); which voiceover artist best conveys the gravitas of the campaign? In social media, many jump to the hope that our friends and followers will parrot the message. But this is a flawed, presumptuous distortion of word-of-mouth (WOM). Even the most repeatable slogans seem pretty ridiculous when tweeted. (I pick on Nike here because I used to work for, and still love the brand…)

Instead of starting with “how do we make them talk about us,” why not start with “how do we make them absolutely love us?” People love to talk about brands they love. Brands that actually DO something, instead of just talking about it.

Brands that take action.

This question strikes at the heart of humanized brands — after all, the judgement of our peers is based on their actions, not just their words.

How you and your brand can take action — Some examples:

Level 1: KLM

KLM recently “experimented” with social media by listening to public posts and giving gifts to people who checked-in at their terminals.

Level 2: Tide

Tide has extended the Loads of Hope campaign they began during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and is now cleaning clothes in Haiti.

Level 3: Pepsi Refresh Project

The no-super-bowl-for-us Pepsi movement continues to build a following.

Level 4: Open Forum by AMEX

AMEX has created a unique and thriving online community for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

To help you move your next project away from sloganeering, here are some calls-to-action:

Give

Help

Educate

Connect

Empower

So, what are you DOing?

Ford’s astonishing and inspiring thought leadership in the online space continues, as they fully embrace WOMMA’s Code of Ethics with their rules, including:

“We want both positive and negative reviews of our vehicles.”

“In social media, it must be your authentic opinion or it doesn’t count.”

“Apologize quickly for any mistakes we make.”

Factsheet – Ford’s Rules of Online Engagement

I’m not going to lie, I think this could be big.

“… Now maybe it’s coming true, because of Internet.”

Organic’s ThreeMinds blog has a couple of great posts that I think you’ll enjoy:

1. How Big Brands Can Benefit from Public APIs by Dan Neumann examines the New York Times as a Northern star, while we keep the dream alive for futurist marketers looking to help brands by changing the way they use their data and content.
2. Nasa Rocks The Boat by Alex Churchill points us to a lil’ ol’ YouTube video to which many corporate workers can relate. And also;
3. TourTracker – Tour Of California by Marta Strickland analyzes the dashboard online viewer for the Amgen bike race.

Exceptional work from Mark Rozeluk, Dave Sylvestre and Nicholas Barnett. Happy Holidays!

I try to be nice and polite to all of my friends still in the print industry. But, when reading simple arguments against the medium like this one from Jeff Jarvis, it’s hard to make the argument for spending time or money using print as a medium for engagement.

“Yes, print is a burden. It’s expensive to produce for it. It’s expensive to manufacture. It’s expensive to deliver. It limits your space. It limits your timing. It’s stale when it’s fresh. It is one-size-fits-all and can’t be adapted to the needs of each user. It comes with no ability to click for more. It has no search. It can’t be forwarded. It has no archive. It kills trees. It uses energy. It usually brings unions. And you really should recycle it. Wow, when you think about it, print sucks.”

And at this point, there really are very few markets and demographics that can’t be best targetted online.

For the rest of Jeff Jarvis’ insight, check out the Buzz Machine blog.

Hmm… this is the third (?) blog I’ve launched. After attending a blog seminar a few weeks ago starring Mitch Joel of Twist Image, I decided to have another go of it.

I hope to add value to the ’sphere, in fact, that’s been my problem all along with blogging, and with any creative projects — If it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough, and it’s never good enough.