Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Hats off to Bertucci’s (of all places) for shooting this really compelling pre-roll ad. Think about this. The ad runs for about 2 minutes as pre-roll. Now, because YouTube is smart, they let me click off after about 5 seconds, but Bertucci’s started with something funny and out-take-like at the VERY BEGINNING that set a tone (which, by the way of my only complaint, never really stayed in that vein of funny). I watched the whole commercial, which ended up being tips on how to handle herbs at home.

What did I take away? I found myself thinking, “Huh, so Bertucci’s wants me to realize that they have real chefs and that these people are food professionals, and I got all that. But what I really love is that they made me the hero, by teaching me how to deal with herbs at my own house.”

That’s what I thought.

See the whole commercial here:

Can’t see the video? CLICK HERE

To me, there’s a lot of value in picking apart what Bertucci’s is doing here. But also interesting, note that YouTube lets me +1 a pre-roll advertisement now (which I did). That’s interesting. I bet that will really get some play, should YouTube actually send people those metrics in reports. Don’t you agree?

What do you think? Am I giving them too much credit? I think they’re onto something here.

Hallingdal 65 is one of those upholstery fabrics you’ve probably used dozens of times without knowing you were parking your rump on a design classic. Developed in 1965 by Danish furniture designer Nanna Ditzel (one of few women to penetrate the boys’ club of mid-century design), it has a unique wool-and-viscose composition and a rich, tweedy texture that’s been rolled out everywhere, from airports and hospitals to museums and private homes. The manufacturer, Denmark-based Kvadrat, has reportedly sold more than 13 million feet of the stuff. Today, you’ll find Hallingdal 65 between the hallowed walls of MoMA and in the tasteful showrooms of Fritz Hansen and Moroso.

But nearly 50 years have passed since Kvadrat first released the textile, its first ever. Amid an ever-expanding roster of sleek, technologically sophisticated upholstery, Hallingdal lacks the novelty of its competitors. So to mark the fabric’s relaunch this year in almost two dozen freshly issued shades, Kvadrat tapped seven curators–including design powerhouses Tord Boontje and Ilse Crawford–and dozens of young designers to “reinterpret the classic textile… in a modern context.” The updates were featured in an exhibit during the Salone del Mobile, a furniture fair in Milan, last week.

Our slideshow above shows off some of the best reuses. Brooklyn-based Todd Bracher created eye-popping string art by lacing the fabric around a hoop chair. Spain’s Mermeladaestudio designed a turquoise tepee, and Singapore’s Ministry of Design sewed together bolts in assorted candy colors to create Moroccan-style poufs, which look like oversized lifesavers. For sheer cleverness, BLESS, a German studio, takes the cake: They used Hallingdal 65 to fabricate a big, soft chair in the shape of a car: a car seat. Ya’ get it?

The point was to show other designers–the fair’s primary audience–how much new life they can breathe into a classic design. And while I don’t suspect anyone will feel inspired to build a car out of wool, surely Kvadrat has achieved something no less extraordinary: It made us write an entire post about 47-year-old fabric.

Images courtesy of Kvadrat; h/t Wallpaper

I recently had the privilege of presenting at the GDOL Digital Talkfest in Istanbul. The focus of the event was very much in line with my current work. GDOL tracks the new generation of consumers who do everything online and the impact they now have on popular culture, society and ultimately business. I refer to this generation as Generation-C.

Prior to my trip, I met with Capital Magazine for an in-depth interview. They asked some very important questions, questions that you may be pondering now. Not only did I answer them, I over answered them. I did so to help provide clarity and guidance for those seeking substance and not fluff, or as my colleague at Altimeter Group Charlene Li likes to say, “meaningless platitudes.”

Here’s the full interview, unabridged…Sit back. Buckle in. Let’s go for a ride.

1-What is the formula of success in social media?

There is a great myth that a winning formula exists for success in social media. If we can introduce the right viral content we can get more views or friends. If we can maintain a rhythmic editorial calendar we can spark conversations that create a social effect. If we can develop the most amazing app, we can rise to the top of our customer’s attention span! And, my personal favorite, if we get our company in social networks, we can build better relationships with our customers.

Perhaps businesses should ask another question…what do successful customer relationships and experiences look like in social media?

The formula for success in social media begins with first defining what success is and how it will be measured. This is one of the most important steps in any social media strategy, yet it is the first step that many businesses miss. The truth is that there is no formula for success. It requires something special for each strategy and it’s dependent on the people you’re trying to reach, their expectations, your business objectives and how this engagement ties specifically to your organization (sales, marketing, service, products, etc.)

To help, there are 5 Ways to develop a strategic social media presence

1. Listen, Search, Walk a “Daily in the Life” of…
2. Define Your Online Brand: What do you want people to see and appreciate?
3. Develop a Social Media Strategy: Make your presence matter and tie it back to key business objectives
4. Build and Invest in Your Community: Participate and earn affinity to become a trusted resource
5. Learn: Repeat steps 1-5 over time to stay relevant as technology and behavior evolves

2- Which companies are successful in social media in your opinion? And why?

I pay attention to any company that pays attention to their customers and stakeholders to inform social media and social business strategies. Social media is more than marketing, but it’s hard to tell when the industry celebrates campaigns, not business transformation. Real success is about developing new business models around a different type of customer and this is the point that makes finding a series of success stories difficult.

I can share an long list of companies that run amazingly clever and creative campaigns in social networks such as Nike, Red Bull or Old Spice. I can point to businesses that understand the importance of rapid customer service in social networks such as Comcast and AT&T. I can applaud advanced customer loyalty programs that employ gamification, social graph data, and connected experiences across Facebook, web sites and mobile phones such as American Express. But for the purposes of this article, I want to celebrate the companies that are looking at how social media requires a complete transformation of the business from the inside out. It is companies such as ARAMARK, Dell, and Tyco that realize that the culture of the organization, the vision of the company, the brand itself, must adapt to earn relevance among a new generation of connected customers and employees.

The headline literally translates to “Follow Generation C!”

3-Where do you think companies are mistaken in their social media applications? What should be taken into consideration to not make mistakes in social media?

I believe that most businesses are actually anti-social in their social media approaches today. Anti-social is defined as anything that goes against the norms of a society and certainly Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and every social network out there created more than just engaging platforms, each host a unique culture thus becoming a unique digital society.

Many businesses are still broadcasting. Even though they’re active in some of the biggest networks and building notable communities within each, they really are taking old school marketing techniques and dressing them up in new “social” disguises. Customers are only intrigued now because all of this is so new. But, we’re already starting to see the beginning of great unlike and unfollow movements where customers are opting out of brand engagement because there is no value in keeping the connection. In fact, not only is there no value, customers can’t run away fast enough. Remember, they joined social networks to get away from the spam that plagued their inboxes or traditional mailboxes. And, they’re starting to realize this…

A majority of social media efforts are already siloed in the marketing department. As such, businesses are placing an inordinate investment in campaigns and not necessarily in orchestrated efforts to improve customer service, experiences or sentiment across multiple fronts. The new consumer journey is not relegated to a traditional funnel. The customer journey is now dynamic and it introduces new touchpoints that social and mobile media can now reach—and it’s constant. It’s what we put into these channels, it’s how we listen, how we learn, and how we adapt to meet or exceed customer needs and expectations that defines how customers make decisions for or against us. It also defines the role customers play in shaping and steering the decisions of other customers.

The Dynamic Customer Journey

4- Before, there was neither Facebook nor Twitter in our lives. What could be the most important social media channels in the future?

I think we need to take a step back and figure out the need to ask and answer this question. I receive questions now about what social strategy should look like for Pinterest, Highlight, and every other new network that generates buzz. The reality is that you only need to be in the networks where you can earn a notable return based on the concentration of your customers, prospects and stakeholders.

Now that’s not to say that new networks aren’t important. Your social media strategy will of course evolve. Networks or their value will shift. It’s critical that you embrace innovation as part of the culture of your organization. The goal is to have a process and a supporting system for recognizing opportunities and piloting them as they arise. The trick is to understand the difference between emerging and disruptive technology to only focus on those that will deliver and not distract.

5-Many companies publish social media guidelines for their employees. And among them there are companies, even media companies, that ban the individual use of social media. Why do some prefer to ban it?

Most companies have a history of undervaluing new technology as it relates to employee productivity. For example, over the years, the telephone, PC, email, the Web, cell phones, were all at one point either banned or significantly restricted. Social media is just the new kid on the block. As in every technology that’s come before it, studies show that providing access actually increases productivity rather than hinders it.

Social media guidelines and policies serve as a good start. People can benefit from a formal set of guardrails and do’s and don’ts to frame engagement, what to say and what not to say, and also how to use these tools to do their job better. The key is for leadership to define how to use these tools to improve customer and employee experiences and relationships. That takes a vision for doing so and thus sets the stage for a new era of engaged and connected businesses…but it starts with a new vision.

6-How can social media activity increase the revenues and profitability of a company? 

I’m a firm believer that everything begins with the end in mind. This means that if increasing revenues and profitability is important to your social media strategy, then it should be designed into the program. However, attempts to sell directly in social media is not without its risks. It requires a delicate balance of value, exclusivity, and relevance. No one wants to be sold. But, people are willing to engage with businesses in transactional relationships if there are benefits in doing so.

To activate social commerce requires that you define an experience around the transaction where the outcome is of course the sale, but the journey is in its own way engaging and fulfilling. Here you must define a click path from a social network to a destination that facilitates a transaction but is also in alignment with the expectations of a social consumer. Too often, businesses take the customer experience for granted, without intention, because it’s easier to group all digital consumers together. However, with a social consumer, they’ve made it clear that they do not prefer to go to websites. Yet, studying many social media initiatives, businesses tend to not provide a “click to action” where consumers are provided with an experiential click path toward a desirable outcome. And when they do provide a click path, it leads to a static or undesirable landing page that’s not optimized for social or mobile. It’s time to think of the connected customer as a different breed of customer. And nothing in your arsenal today, not even social networks, will have an impact with them unless you can design a complete end-to-end experience that captivates and guides them to a mutually beneficial result.

7- What is the future of social media? Do you think it will pull ahead of classical media?

Social media has given birth to a different type of customer, the connected customer or otherwise what I refer to as Generation-C where “C” represents “connected.” Gen-C is not bound by age. They’re not defined by income or education. They live the digital lifestyle and traverse across all demographics. These consumers do not surf the web like other customers. They don’t learn nor make decisions like that of their traditional counterparts. They live and breathe in social networks and rely on smartphones or tablets as their windows to the world. And, when you compare the size of the market for traditional consumers vs. Generation C, only one of the two segments is growing while the other is shrinking over time.

If you had to invest in the future of your business to earn attention and ultimately relevance, the greatest ROI is tied to the connected customer. So, you ask, what is the future of social media. Right now it’s about a balance between reaching the traditional and the connected consumer. And, that balance right now is different for every company. Traditional customers still find value in classical media. However, social or connected customers want a more engaged, enriching, and efficient relationship. You must design for both and monitor the performance of each for optimization and also insights. Eventually, new media will become the new classical media with something new arising that will eventually disrupt it.

8- What kind of a social media strategy should be designed in different social channels? Why does a certain strategy work in Twitter’ but doesn’t work in Facebook?

I like to think of Facebook as the web site for the social web and Twitter as the pulse of the business. Facebook serves the role of a dedicated presence with a hosted community that offers a digital archive of the company’s activity in one central repository. The timeline within a brand page is there for those who appreciate going back in time or to provide customers with greater context. Facebook allows for richer, more interactive experiences hosted within the confines of a branded and captive environment. The more interaction you can spur, Likes, Shares, comments, app installations, etc., the more your business can benefit from the social effect.

Twitter is a bit more fleeting in design, but no less valuable as it serves as a your window to real-time relevance. It’s just different as it boasts a unique culture and also requires a divergent set of rules of engagement. Its brilliance lies in the ability to listen to conversations involving your business or your industry in general to translate that activity into intelligence and ultimately actionable insights.

This is why I often say that social media is about social science and not technology. We must first study customer behavior in each network to get an idea of what they’re saying, what they expect, how they communicate and connect, and why. At a minimum however, we can assume three basic roles for connected customers in Twitter, Facebook and perhaps even Google+. The roles typically span 1) Marketing, 2) Sales, and 3) Service. How you execute these strategies within each network is different though.

What’s common across the board is that your business requires an infrastructure that can support each initiative within the respective network. Meaning, that you must design inputs, outputs and supporting systems and processes that connect people within the organization to customers on the outside to efficiently deliver solutions, experiences, and mutually beneficial outcomes. To do this however, takes more than technology, workflow and guidelines. It starts with reexamining the view of the customer and a vision of what the ideal customer experience and relationship looks like in these new networks.

Finally, only a culture of true customer-centricity will allow the business to connect with customers in a meaningful way and in turn, earn support and loyalty as a result.

For the second installment of our weeklong investigation into the business of jerky, we talk to Brian Levin of Perky Jerky. Though its mascot’s presidential campaign is floundering, Perky Jerky posted its first profits last month.

Brian Levin is the founder and “Chairman of the Herd” of Perky Jerky, a brand of caffeinated jerky. Before he got into the performance-enhancing meat snacks space (yes, it’s a space), Levin was a tech entrepreneur, selling one company for a reported $15 million and another for an undisclosed sum. But Perky Jerky is his biggest venture yet, as he tells Fast Company in the second installment of Jerky Week.

FAST COMPANY: Thank you for being the second participant in Fast Company’s Jerky Week. Do you think more business publications should have a Jerky Week?

BRIAN LEVIN: I’m surprised the Wall Street Journal hasn’t already done my charcoal pencil sketch.

You’ve said that your story begins with two jerks in a ski lodge.

About seven or eight years ago, a few of my college buddies and I went out on a ski trip in Utah. We had our gear laid out for the next day, and our supplies–energy drinks and jerky. Amongst the craziness, we spilled some Red Bull in the jerky bag. The next morning, the inspiration set in: how come nobody had ever combined the two?

I thought the hard lesson we learned from Four Loko is that when you cross two awesome things, you get a third thing that is so dangerously awesome it may be illegal.

Well, we’re in a heavily regulated industry. We sprinkle a little guarana on it for flavoring effect. The caffeine equivalent is of a Diet Coke. But what we’ve done is go with an all-natural product that’s more healthy than most of the jerkies with unpronounceable additives and preservatives. Our product is much more hand-processed than the stuff you get from Big Jerky.

You sell in funny places. Home Depot? Best Buy?

We call that alternative distribution. Home Depot is a great place, if you think about it. You have a clientele of professional contractors who go in there every morning, so we’ve developed a loyal following. Also, it’s an impulse buy, getting it at the front, which is why we created packaging that stands out. Our marketing strategy is what we call “bovine oral insertion.”

That sounds wrong.

It’s the art of getting meat in mouths. Once people taste it, they get hooked. That’s why we invented the Jerk Man.

You’ve anticipated my next question.

The Jerk Man is the ultimate international man of meat. For us, it’s all about getting meat in mouths, so we came up with exciting and unique ways to sample our product. We came out with a patent-pending Velcro suit of jerky, and we attach sample bags of the product to the suit. The amount of surprise, shock, awe, and delight when you hear the sound of someone ripping the package of meaty goodness off the Jerk Man… it’s really something.

How is the Jerk Man’s campaign for the U.S. presidency going?

I think it’s kind of gone the way of Rick Santorum. The Jerk Man is taking more of a grassroots campaign, trying to drum up more support at the local level to get written onto every state ballot.

As I begin to develop expertise on the jerky beat, I begin to wonder whether jerky brands are really just another form of humor brand.

I can say that with a product like Perky Jerky, you can’t take yourself too seriously, and yet I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.

You started the text-message voting system used on American Idol, selling it for $15 million in 2004.

Yeah, this is my third startup, and the first two were tech. It’s a stark difference. You write software once, you can sell it a million times. With this, you have to actually make a product and sell it.

Are you profitable?

We are.

When did you post your first profits?

Last month. There was a big party here.

When can we expect an IPO?

I don’t think being public is in the cards for us. The Jerk Man doesn’t want to answer to anybody.

Forbes recently called you the 93rd most promising company in America.

I guess that means we got 92 to go. Lots of work ahead!

But why?

We’re in 21,000 stores right now, and hopefully will be in 100,000 by the end of the year. I guess they actually believe it when I tell them we’re gonna be the next Red Bull, the next premium consumer lifestyle brand.

You’re probably doing alright following the sales of your last two companies. But if something makes you absurdly rich, will it be this?

I’m all in. If this were a poker game, all the chips would be in the middle of the table. Honestly, the potential is so big, and jerky is such a huge market, and nobody has really tackled what we’ve done.

A lot of people read Fast Company because they want to have the next big tech startup. But it sounds like maybe they should get into the performance-enhancing meat snacks space instead?

It’s all about versatility. Anybody can be a tech mogul. First I was in tech, then I got into consumer packaged goods. It’s like being a true, versatile athlete. Why can’t I be the Bo Jackson of startups?

This interview has been condensed and edited.