ml haynes design

The new integrated campaign for Dickies launched via online video “tough tests” last week. This initial offering — the first round of work from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners — shows 874 Work Pants taking a beating, literally, as they’re ripped apart by squealing choppers, torn and shredded by massive wrecking balls, and rolled down a meticulously groomed hillside.

Each black-and-white clip is a combination of the old “don’t try this at home” instructional film and “don’t try this with stuff you’ve paid decent money for” product demonstration. Taking what has been a staple of skaters, surfers, hirsute tradesmen, and wannabe rockers, the GSP team brings this brand to the hard core. You know those guys and gals: the ones with the biker chain clipped to their belt loop, the steel-toe boots, and the compostable lunch bag in their recycled rubber messenger bag.

Watching the series, I couldn’t help but think brand loyalists aren’t the type to be sold with old-school show-and-tell demos like these. They’ve been trained over a lifetime to be skeptical of these well-choreographed tests and product performances. Folks new to the brand are probably in the same place in regard to what influences their purchasing decisions. The rough characters who star in these films aren’t buying it either, and they certainly are not watching videos online. Hell, they’re still rocking classic rock radio in their pickup trucks for a good time.

What’s going on here? Choppers pulling a pair of pants apart. Levi’s denim tags sport a mule team doing the same and have been for decades. Product is attached to a swinging steel ball and aimed at a thick concrete wall. Check out classic commercials of the ’60s and ’70s, and you’ll see this has been a staple for more than half a century. It didn’t get more tough than a Timex watch attached to an arrowhead, shot through a pane of glass by a gentleman wearing a plaid flannel shirt.

What was that last “test” again?

That’s right. Those tough twill pants are worn by a gravity-loving, bearded hipster who simply cannot resist the urge to rock, roll, and bounce down a beautiful hillside obviously landscaped by a professional film crew and production team. Parkour, I think not. This guy likes a good tumble it would appear, and, well, it just isn’t that easy to get yourself a chopper at the last minute, let alone a wrecking ball without calling ahead. What better way to show the world that you — and your new pants — have earned the badass Dickies label?

It’s funny how things come to you at the oddest times and in the strangest situations. I’m getting used to it, but ideas and solutions can still strike me when I least expect it. I had one of those experiences recently, as I worked to find the Holy Grail of “selling social” to clients — and even colleagues — that aren’t there yet in understanding the how and the why of it.

If you pitch pixels you know what I’m talking about. You’ve got a Marketing Director, an exec out of the C-suite, maybe even someone out of biz dev that hasn’t yet seen the shining light of their first badge or felt the rush of a retweet. You can throw all the stats you’ve got like so many Ninja Stars, but they just don’t get it. One too many of these meetings and I realized I needed to pull it in and rethink my approach.

Then it hit me. It was really quite simple. I broke it down into four simple steps. Take a look. Try it out. See what you think and let me know if you don’t agree that sometimes (and this is one of those times) it’s best to go low-tech and keep on truckin’!

Step 1: Get In
Social Media should be experienced. If you want to know what’s going on, join in. Reading, researching is no substitute for total immersion. Sure there’s the obvious — and the ubiquitous — but maybe you walk in slowly at the shallow end. Just get off that chaise lounge and get in!

Step 2: Sit Down
Get comfortable too. You’re going to be here for a while. If you’re going to make this a worthwhile venture — and meeting business objectives is certainly worthwhile, to say the least — you’ll need to take the long-view on this. And you’re going to need to be present, actively present, when you’re here too.

Step 3: Hold On
The ride can get bumpy, so reach up and grab that handrail when you feel the need. Remember, this is why you’re here — to take in everything. The good. The bad. The ugly. The “hell-I-had-no-idea-they-felt-like-that.” Social Media is like a focus group on some really good stuff. And once you get your bearings, you’ll be glad you rode it out.

Step 4: Shut Up
This is sometimes the hardest part: the listening part. There’s a reason why we call these intentional communities “listening platforms.” And this is where the gold is. That tripped out focus group I mentioned earlier — they come up with some great stuff. And if we take the time to let it soak in, inform our thinking and insights, change and improve our perspective, then it’s a ride that’ll take us to some very interesting — and fruitful — places.

This post also appears on Talent Zoo’s new media blog this morning. Check it out; there’s some great content there. More great pix (like the one above) can be found at NotStock Photography.