George Miller: The Battle of Joji and Frank

George Miller

Filthy Frank

George Miller

The Battle of Joji and Frank

Who is George Miller?

The musician Joji aka George Miller is an R&B artist who has been active since 2014 but just recently has come into the limelight as a serious musician, but George has been an enigma of other sorts for much longer.

Youtube Career

George Miller was the creative mind behind the YouTube channels DizastaMusic, TVFilthyFrank, and TooDamnFilthy. During his extensive YouTube career, which started way back in 2008 with his first post on DizastaMusic, George became known as the "anti-vlogger" and created the character Filthy Frank as well as a whole cast of supporting characters in his multiverse story that he had created. The world that George had created and explored through became quite expansive with a greater narrative beyond the main focus of individual videos, and fans of Filthy Frank loved it. Unfortunately, the offensive and unapologetic nature of the character Filthy Frank was offensive to many (shocker!) and George abandoned his original channel DizastaMusic for fear of the whole thing being taken down if videos continued to be posted there. His content migrated to TVFilthyFrank and TooDamnFilthy (for the content that was just too damn filthy for the main channel).

A basic taste of Filthy Frank content

Music Career

While all this was going on, George had been experimenting with music under the name Pink Guy. Pink Guy appeared alongside Filthy Frank and George's other characters, most of which were played by George himself. The music that Pink Guy made was just as offensive as Filthy Frank, if not more so, often rap-based with an air of sarcastic offensive humor. Pink Guy was George's musical outlet for a while and a perfect brand extension for the Filthy Frank brand, but the fans had come to expect offensive content filled with jokes and cancerous humor. As he got older, George needed a place to be more serious. In 2014 George announced a Joji album but canceled the project until later in 2015 two singles were released titled "Thom" and "you suck charlie" under an alias, but fans quickly linked the music to George. Soon after, George announced on his public Instagram his first full-length album as Joji which was to be titled "Chloe Burbank: Vol. 1" and also linked his SoundCloud. Many fans of Filthy Frank were confused, as Joji and Pink Guy are about as different in content as it can get, but other's like myself were completely on board and the projects were separate so fans of Filthy Frank did not ever have to listen to Joji and vice-versa.

Pink Guy (WARNING: Offensive)	Joji (WARNING: Emotional)

The Death of Frank

For several years George was able to support himself monetarily using YouTube and Filthy Frank, while simultaneously networking and growing his passion project Joji. Unfortunately, even an entity as powerful as Francis of the Filth could not keep up with the workload. This was beginning to have an effect on George's quality of work on both YouTube and Joji. George had to make a decision between chasing his musical vision or staying on YouTube as a well-established prince of memes. I would wager that the impact that being Filthy Frank was having on George's health was a big factor in him bidding his channel TVFilthyFrank goodbye with a final post titled "FRANCIS OF THE FILTH (OUT NOW)" in which he announced the release of a book tying up loose ends in the Omniverse story that Filthy Frank had created. So, even though after years of building his audience, his brand, and his story, George Miller knew it was time to say goodbye to that part of his life and let go of the content that supported him until Joji could stand on its own.

TVFilthyFrank's final video (as of 10/21/2018)

The Takeaway

Why did you show me all this?

Because I miss Dade, and also because I feel like there are a few examples of good marketing in how George grew his channel and killed his channel when he had truly built his new brand.

Transparency

When George's fans on YouTube first discovered that George was making serious music on the side most were confused, intrigued, and surprised. They didn't know why they didn't know about this, and George didn't try and cover it up, he let the cat stay out of the bag and claimed: "yes, that is my cat, and I've got more where that came from."

Brand Extensions

Pink Guy

George wanted to express himself musically and still wanted to maintain a successful channel. To do so, he had to integrate his musical content into his channel. Pink Guy was a perfect avenue to do so and the fans loved it.

Joji

Unfortunately, Pink Guy's style was not completely fulfilling for George. So, instead of going off message, George very clearly kept his creative projects, as well as their personas, quite separate by creating Joji. 

Cutting Dead Projects

The way that George handled giving up Filthy Frank to focus on Joji upset a lot of his fans but it just wasn't where George's heart was. I think that George realized that if he didn't chase his passion then he wouldn't be able to maintain the brand proposition that the fans of Filthy Frank had come to expect when he was being pulled in a more serious direction. I also think that George could have been more active in the final months of his YouTube channel, but leaving his loyal fans with his sacred manuscripts detailing the Omniverse that George's stories had created was an excellent way to leave on good terms. Joji has thrived in the months since TVFilthyFrank's last post and I would attribute much of that to George now having the time to dedicate his resources to Joji one hundred percent.

What do you think?

Was George going with his artistic integrity, or just bored and tired of Filthy Frank?

Should George have tried to merge his two creative projects Filthy Frank and Joji instead of getting rid of one for the sake of the other?

Why were fans so confused to hear the same voice behind the anti-serious Pink Guy singing songs about relationships and heartbreak?

Papa John's Demise?

Like a Pizza from the Ashes

Papa John's has been under some heat recently. After a long downward trend in pizza sales and stock price, their problems came to a head when founder and CEO John Schnatter (Papa John himself) was outed for using racial slurs in a conference call. Public outrage ensued and all in all, it was not a good look for the company. John Schnatter has since been removed from the company and is currently suing Papa John's for control of the company. The Papa John's company has been trying to distance themselves from John Schnatter as best they can. The first big step they took was this video tweet in response to the whole situation.

https://twitter.com/papajohns/status/1033062371928035328?lang=en

The response to this tweet was hesitant at best, with most people viewing it as a transparent public relations stunt. However, it does seem that the company actually wants to move past this and get back to their real value proposition, "Better pizza, better ingredients, Papa John's" but they've got a lot of cleaning up ahead of them.

In the interest of moving forward, Papa John's recently released a new commercial showcasing diversity in their team of managers and franchise owners.

Unfortunately, after sifting through complaints about service (people still do buy their pies), the public consensus on social media is still dubious at best. Most people commenting that this commercial does not feel genuine, while others say it's just too little too late. Their social media managers are doing their best damage control, and I believe that Papa John's is handling the backlash fairly well considering the difficult situation they find themselves in.


If I were leading the charge on this re-branding and damage control I would have a tough time making a decision on what's next. I might try some community outreach and maybe hold a public panel to let people vent their outrage, but most of all I would just keep moving forward because the more steps you take forward, the more distance is created from this marketing nightmare of a situation.

I think that the biggest lesson to take away from Papa John's story is that in a leadership position of that magnitude you have to understand that people listen to what you say ALL. THE. TIME. If you say something that the public takes exception to, then that will put your company in a very tough spot. Things do heal over time, but some companies might not be able to survive the healing process. I personally hate the things that John Schnatter has done and said, and am in a sick way glad to see that he is losing his company, but just like the pizza they make, Papa John's will likely come out of this perhaps crispy, and maybe a bit burnt, but just fine overall.

Chicago Museum's Extraordinary Offer

Just one Night at the Museum? Let's make it a month.

In 2010 the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) underwent a large renovation and rebranding. They wanted a way to get the word out so that people could come to see the renovations and get the most out of their investment. The solution they decided upon was to hold a contest, the winner of which would get to spend 30 days (Oct 20th-Nov 18th 2010) living, eating, blogging, and documenting their stay in the enormous museum, as well as a healthy $10,000 paycheck at the end of their stay. This contest was a bit more successful than anticipated. Museum staff expected to receive a couple hundred applications but were blown away by over 1,500 applicants.

And the winner is...

Kate waves to a visitor from her glass-walled office

Unfortunately, being as there was only one position, that means that at least 1,499 applicants were denied, the one exception being Kate McGroarty. At the time of her stay at MSI Kate was twenty-four, and when asked how a month in a museum could change a person's life she responded, "I've always loved this museum, and I've always really loved adventure. And I'm hugely passionate about education, and I saw this as really interesting social experiment and an interesting education-through-social-media kind of experiment." During her time at the museum, Kate maintained a blog and social media account about her journey. She was given private quarters, as well as a public office (emphasis on the public) with glass walls. Kate was also encouraged to mingle with the guests of MSI, many of which came specifically to meet her. The Facebook page that she maintained is linked below and includes many of her photos and vlogs.


https://www.facebook.com/msikate/

So, what's the payoff?

The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry boasts huge success from the "Month at the Museum" experience. The museum claim that 59 percent of visitors had heard of the contest, and that many of them cited it as their primary reason for visiting. Their social media interaction grew as well, and several news outlets covered the story. It was so successful that they brought it back for an encore performance. All in all, quite a slam-dunk move on MSI's part.

Now, what does this mean to marketing?

I think that above all, the "Month at the Museum" contest proves that the more you can get your audience to interact with your product. This contest took the idea of social media interaction to the next level by essentially hiring a live-in social media director for 30 days. MSI simultaneously involved the public directly in their marketing, allowed them to create their own promotion through blogs and social media (meaning MSI could spend less of their own resources), and created big positive ripples in the news increasing public awareness of their brand. I really think this was a genius move on the museum's part, the only thing that I would suggest is to take it even further. Perhaps a recurring contest or more campaigns that directly involve the public. People love to be involved and make a difference on whatever scale they can. Going forward MSI would do well to remember how eager 1,500+ people were to put their hat in the running for this contest.

Original article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/25/illinois.museum.month/index.html

All About Me & I: My First Blog Post

My partner Myrh and I

All About Me & I: My First Blog Post

Hello, my name is Seth Blanc. I'm a Visual Communications major and also a Student Art Gallery Coordinator here at Linn-Benton Community College. To be honest, I'm taking Principles of Marketing this year because it's required for my degree, but I do plan on taking a lot away from this course. I plan on being a Graphic Designer for my career after graduation, so the skills I learn in this class will become invaluable to me whether I am marketing myself for freelance work, or coming up with a design for a clients new campaign. Besides school and design something that I am passionate about is art in all forms. I feel deeply that exposure to art, agreeable or disagreeable, will promote more thoughtful discussion of issues, or maybe just give someone a good laugh. I also care about preserving the environment and reducing waste, but I won't get on my soap box about that. I'm excited to learn all about the ins and outs of getting into peoples head and selling them a product.