Interested in hearing me wax poetic? Of course you are!

I will be speaking at an upcoming Audible Tech Talk. Come down and say hello.

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The system represented in this image frames social media in the greater context of the media, marketing, and advertising industries. Years ago, this chart may not have incorporated user experience design and content curation. These two disciplines have always been significant, but the maturation of the social web has led to an unmanageably large output of content. This flood of dialogue and expression has made it extremely challenging to navigate the social waters of the web. It has also made it increasingly difficult for brands to create meaningful social engagements equipped with the ability to cut through the clutter. In 2006, the mere presence of a brand in a social environment could have been meaningful. Today, given the crowded nature of networks like Facebook, effective social brand communication is much more challenging.

The difficulties associated with social media marketing lead some brand marketers to overlook the most basic communications principles in lieu of “the big idea.” The industry has spent years exploring social media as a marketing vehicle. Still, many initiatives continue to be deployed in a manner akin to a 30-second TV commercial — a channel where user experience design is of minimal importance, and engagement levels are very low (if not nonexistent). Insufficient forethought and attention to user experience design as strategic planning often strangles respectable ideas, keeping them from becoming great social marketing successes. “Thirty-second vision” and linear thinking can also turn exceptional ideas into detrimental ones. Let’s examine three themes that exemplify how many brands are still missing the mark when it comes to social brand design:

• The “which social platform can we ruin next” edict
• The “‘like’ me today, gone tomorrow” model
• The “let’s get everyone to smoke our hashtag” directive

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Here at Something Massive, we have recently adopted the moniker, The Agency For The Post-PC Era. As expected, this device was meet with both intrigue and cynicism; exactly what we wanted. We did not expect everyone to know what we were talking about and that is fine—our goal was to start a dialog about the present and future of the space that lives at the cross section of technology, creativity and brand communications. We also wanted to let people know that when you work with us, you should expect us to start in a different place than other agencies that refer to themselves as “digital”. We cannot refer to ourselves as a digital agency. While much of the work we do leverages digital technologies, our goal is not to produce something digital—our goal is always to produce Something Massive.

Let’s start by defining what post-PC isn’t:

• *A declaration of the end of the personal computer
• *A belief that the personal computer is of minimal importance
• *A plug for Apple
• *A statement that is purely focused on technology

Post-PC is just as much an anthropological, cultural and societal condition as it is a technological transformation. When referring to post-PC, the Something Massive team is referring to both advancements in mobile and ambient computing, as well as the ways in which these technological entities are changing the we way live, consume, socialize and organize.

In order to better understand how we think about the post-PC era, it is helpful to look at definitions and opinions regarding the post industrial society. Much like the fact the post-PC era is not a denial of the importance of the PC, post industrial is not a denial of the importance of industry. Here are some of the key themes of a post industrial society, themes we feel are relevant to our operational understanding of post-PC:

• *A transition from the production of goods to the provision of services
• *Knowledge becomes a valued form of capital
• *Producing ideas is the main growth mechanism
• *Behavioral and information sciences and technologies are developed and implemented
• *Creativity is embedded in all valuable functions and processes

The PC is not dead—nor will it ever be. That said, personal computing has been commoditized allowing the business and creative classes to take full advantage of the power of basic computing. Additionally, personal computing is now done on various devices of all shapes and sizes—this is our starting point—these are simply table stakes. With out feet firmly rooted in this ideology, we can more easily focus on what matters most for our clients; namely, results.

Perhaps this post has clarified what we mean by post-PC or maybe it has left you more confused. Whichever state you are in, rest assured that this is merely the beginning of a long dialog that we intend to have with our clients and the industry at large. We invite you to join the conversation.

At Something Massive we love to play games. Hey guess what, we also love to make them. We are big, huge, massive fans of Richard Bartle, MUDs, MMOs etc. We decided to put some of Bartle’s thoughts into a nice infographic. Go ahead and use it–we made it for everyone!

New York, 2012—New York City-based boutique, tech-creative firm Circ.us has been acquired by Los Angeles-based, Something Massive. Details of the deal were not disclosed. Circ.us co-founders Adam Broitman and John Swords will remain on board and will take key roles at Something Massive.

Hatched in 2008 by the management team from DNA Studio (which was sold to Whitman Hart interactive in 2006) Something Massive was an instant success whose client roster includes Yahoo!, Sony Pictures,  Regal Cinemas, Ford and others.

“Having launched hundreds of digital marketing campaigns in our previous incarnation, we were itching to bring a unique and new perspective to the social media marketing, content curation and influencer marketing space,” said Something Massive partner and co-founder, Rebecca Coleman. “With the addition of Circ.us, we are not only expanding our footprint, but we are also greatly enhancing our offerings, enabling our clients to extend their presence to all devices and form factors in more meaningful and impactful ways”.

In addition to creating the groundbreaking “Augmented Racing” initiative for Red Bull, Circ.us also created the first branded marker-less augmented reality app for Ben and Jerry’s and launched social TV platform, TV Dinner. Circ.us has done work for numerous brands, building everything from augmented reality initiatives and mobile applications to social gaming platforms and sock puppet campaigns.

“The acquisition was not simply one of scale and client roster—we see the Circ.us team playing a critical role in helping us realize our vision of assisting clients with the integration of their message into the entire post-PC ecosystem” said Coleman.

Something Massive has positioned itself as, “The Agency for The Post-PC Era.” The term “post-PC” is a hat tip to the prophetic notion put forth by the late Steve Jobs in reference to the role technology will play in our lives over the next few decades. “Post-PC is not just about technology, it is about the cross section of humanity and technology” said Coleman.

A strong proponent of post-PC creativity and marketing, advertising agency veteran Adam Broitman will take on the post of Chief Creative Strategist at Something Massive. Having spent his career playing a variety of roles at Digitas, Morpheus Media and crayon, Broitman made the following statement,

“With many larger, more traditional agencies taking digital in-house, our goal is to provide highly competitive services, while maintaining our independent spirit and unique approach to advertising. The combined resources of Something Massive and Circ.us will allow us to provide overarching strategic and creative services across social media, mobile, tablets and all emerging technologies such as augmented reality, NFC and other sensor technologies. This is the most exciting move of my career—finally I am at a shop that has both the strategic prowess and production capabilities to fulfill the most exciting 360 degree initiatives in the industry”

“With only 9% of sites deemed mobile ready and less than one third of leading Internet retailers possessing tablet ready experiences, the industry needs an agency that is not only focused on cross platform production—marketers need an agency they can rely on to consider their entire marketing strategy as it relates to all things connected to the internet” said Broitman.

With a headcount of just over 30, the two companies have already begun their integration—work from the new entity will launch late spring.