What’s interesting is the next morning, you’ll probably just recall “some crazy guy doing something crazy.” You won’t know his name or anything about him. Everyone remembers Belushi doing crazy things in Animal House, but who remembers his name was Bluto, or anything about him?

In contrast, how many parties have you been to when everyone leaves having met the soft spoken, brilliant artist, businessman, or college student. Maybe this person made a clever point over dinner, or just circulated in an easy fashion listening and chatting intelligently about the ideas and events.  Perhaps, he or she was a guest speaker who was invited to say a few words between cocktails and dinner?

The next morning, you turn to you wife or husband and recall this Memorable Person by name. You maybe even Facebook message the Memorable Person with ideas social or business. The Pants Taker Offer  - he’s just a crazy story you tell. You don’t need to take your pants off to make an impact. And in fact, if you’re remembered for doing so, no one knows who you are, and no one would think of reaching out to you.

Large interstitial ads, push downs, and skins are the crazy guy at the party.  You kind of know something happened that was jarring but not much else.  This is why typical display advertising only has a brand lift (increase in favorability or purchase intent as a result of seeing a banner) of say 30% at best.

In contrast, Social Advertising, can see lifts that are multiples higher:

We’ve seen similar results in our work with GE and Virgin, among others.

What’s amazing is how soft-spoken this social messaging can be.  A small icon saying, “Post by Brand X,” or a Twitter feed or even just a Facebook post.  If the content is produced by the brand and exemplifies what the brand aspires to, no one misses who the message it from.

(Jump to 3:35 to see ad great Lee Clow explaining this phenomenon)

It makes people love and respect the soft-spoken thoughtful brand – there is no reason to wear a toga.

And so when I’m asked, “is there enough branding?” I point to the data.

The data shows, you don’t need to wear a lampshade online to be noticed and remembered. And in fact, if you do don the toga, the results are pretty clear – when was the last time the guy who twirled his pants was remembered by name, respected, or asked to lunch.  You’re jarred by the crazy behavior, but that’s about it.

The way to behave at a party for the long term is pretty clear, and on the social web, it’s just the same.

Virgin is also our first brand partner to show their viral stats on their content, just like BuzzFeed does on its own content:

AdWeek asked me some fun questions about digital creativity and social advertising…have a look.

Imagine you are sitting at a street cafe in Paris. You have a copy of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, a copy of Le Monde, the newspaper, and next to you, as is often the case in Paris, is a cute dog.
You read philosophy, you read the news, you pet the dog.
You don’t become stupid when you are petting the dog,
You are just being human!
And when you read the philosophy you are still worldly.
And when you read the paper you are still intellectual.
You talk to your friends at the cafe: sometimes about the dog, sometimes about philosophy, sometimes about the news, and, yes, sometimes about what you are eating for breakfast.
Humans are complex and have emotional needs, intellectual needs, social needs…
- Jonah Peretti, May 4, 2012

We are multi-faceted and the social newsfeed embraces that rather than shuns it.  The cafe Jonah describes is every day on the social web.  That intermingling is an essential element of social publishing and social advertising. It’s why the BuzzFeed front page has a a mix of stories like 33 Animals Who are Disappointed in You (the cute dog), a thought piece from John Herrman on Internets service TOS’s (the Sartre),  and a hard hitting investigative piece by Michael Hastings on Obama’s campaign team (Le Monde).  The sharing and commenting on Twitter and Facebook- that’s the conversation at the cafe.

@Buzzfeed breaks major news and the @whitehouse takes notice wapo.st/JNmPgu@peretti@jonsteinberg @lererventures

— Eric Hippeau (@erichippeau) May 2, 2012

It’s why BuzzFeed can tangle with the White House, on the same day as having the great memey post 23 Reasons Why May Is Going To Be The Best Month Ever.  We think people want a mix of all different types of social content, and we think an intermingling, organized by social, is what makes the most sense in today’s world.  And the Facebook newsfeed and the Twitter feed, prove that in the social era you consume content like you sit at the Paris Cafe.

We no longer Google for news in the morning, head to a portal, or even pick up a newspaper in front of a door. We head to Facebook and Twitter to connect with our family, friends, and co-workers, just like we check our email. Social is the new starting point, and a place we’ve arrived at after Portals and Search.  Because of social, we consume what is shared with us, and it’s organized by people and emotion, and there are no rigid content category lines. It’s in many ways a freer and more natural way.  It’s why we social publish: Animals, Politics, Internet culture, Women’s Lifestyle, Technology, and memes all in one Paris cafe.

The newsfeed changes everything – it’s multifaceted, social, and fast – and that’s why social publishing is so different from traditional publishing.  In fact, it resembles the Paris cafe more than it does the newspapers we grew up with.

Update: I talk about the “Paris Cafe” at an IAB Innovation Day