My Interview With Alex Bogusky @ His Twitter Experience

Alex Bogusky may be the last last name in the advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, but he's certainly very well-known within [and increasingly beyond] the advertising world.  

For those who don't know, CP+B is the celebrated [and occasionally maligned, and more often than not, polarizing] agency behind the Whopper Freakout, the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld's Microsoft Ads [which I happen to love] and so many more creative [and at times, controversial] efforts.  Read Creativity's 2008 Agency of the Year article for a good overview.

So it's no surprise that the Twitter universe [I just can't bring myself to using words like "Twitterverse"] was abuzz when Bogusky, aka @Bogusky, first appeared in mid-December and quickly amassed a large and active following. 

It was perhaps with the same amount of buzz that he abruptly announced a few days ago:

Why would he walk away from Twitter?  Was he just being provocative? 

Rather than speculate I asked Bogusky [we've never met, but did exchange a few tweets] if he would answer five email questions about his Twitter experience.  He graciously obliged. 

In the true spirit of online community, I quasi-crowdsourced two of the five questions [as noted below] from folks I respect in the social media space.  Here we go ...

Question 1:  When you first joined Twitter there was an amusing amount of chatter questioning the identity of @Bogusky.  In fact, there is a @BogusBogusky.  Why would someone want to pretend to be you, and more importantly what does the community's initial suspicion about your identity say about the state of things in social media?

Alex Bogusky: Yeah, I’m pretty sure @BogusBogusky works here too. I don’t know who it is but you can tell they’re on the inside. The suspicion comes from the fact that there is no requirement to be who you are online. I think this is something that might change going forward. There will be communities that are more diligent about ID and it will be a good thing. People are much more positive and responsible when they have to represent themselves and are unable to hide behind anonymity.

There’s a place for both kinds of community but I look forward to people representing themselves. Twitter actually has more of this than many communities. And I liked that. I had decided I would only follow people who had posted a picture or even an illustration of themselves. You don’t really know if it’s them I guess but it seemed a good indicator of sincerity.

Question 2: What's the significance, if any, that you are doing this interview with me - rather than say, AdWeek?  Does it say anything about the future of journalism and the role of "traditional" media?  If so, what?

AB: The significance is you asked me. And you didn’t seem to be looking to stir up controversy. I saw a headline somewhere that I had “…broken up with Twitter.” I don’t think that’s an accurate way to put it. Breakup is a very emotionally charged word and it’s a lot more exciting than the truth. I was getting to know it. Enjoyed the hell out of it. Brought some clients into it and was learning a ton. But in the end it wasn’t something I was going to weave into my everyday so rather than just not posting I thought my last posts should instruct anybody that came to the page that I wasn’t there. I don’t want people replying and sending questions or thoughts into a black hole. The web and social media is like ice cream. It’s all so fucking good. But we all find our favorite flavors. So it’s not that I don’t love butter pecan, it’s that I love mint chocolate chip even more so when it comes time to get ice cream I get that.

Question 3:  My guess is that CP+B has plenty of social-media savvy folks amongst the ranks who have been advising clients on how to explore communities like Twitter.  But as CP+B's head honcho, what is it about your own Twitter experience that you will you bring back to your teams, and your clients?

AB: That’s exactly right. The goal is to use and understand a lot of what is out there. I hope what I bring back is ideas. The ideas come from the medium meeting the marketing problem. So we’re just beginning to put those together.

Question 4: Len Kendall (@LenKendall) of Critical Mass wants to know: Did Twitter not inspire any creative thinking for you? Thoughts layered on other intelligent thoughts?  If Twitter did inspire creative thinking, can you give an example?

AB: I couldn’t say it inspired creative thinking for me. In general it was difficult not to get overloaded with links and articles. I’ve always been more of a blank page, white walls sort of person. For me twitter would probably hamper my creativity. I prefer the learning that comes from doing. It’s more dynamic and usually pushes you beyond the discussion.

Question 5: Ian Schafer (@ischafer), CEO of Deep Focus asks: Was there a singular moment that caused you to say 'this isn't for me'?

AB: No. And I will drop in from time to time. I of course reserve the right to reverse course. Wishy washy is how I like to roll.  I do think there needs to be some way to lock a retweet. I would see my tweets retweeted but changed slightly. I think that should be fixed. If it has RT in it, it should lock somehow.

Bonus Question:  @TheMime would like you to comment on the following:  . . .
AB:  : 0

That's all for now.  If you have additional questions, leave them as a comment.  Maybe Alex [or a fake version of him] will answer them.

Comments

[Jim Mitchem]

Good for you Ian. I was actually thinking about asking him to do a '140 char' interview (too) before word came down that he stepped away from Twitter. I know one thing, I have some clients following me and sometimes it's a bit awkward. Not because I'd badmouth them (I'm a pro, I'd only badmouth in person), but because it causes you to pull back on the reins on some things you might 'want' to say. And for someone like Alex, that 'tempering' is 100-fold. I'm sure he was inundated constantly by people who just want to say 'thanks' to him for helping those of us in this business keep pushing our ideas out there. Maybe he'll come back in some capacity. I am just grateful for the medium (Twitter) to have even had any dialogue with him - even if I did jokingly call him Artis Gilmore (for the fro avatar). Again Ian - thanks for this. Jim (@smashadv)

[Ian]

Per a note from Jim giving me permission to do so, I changed the name on his comment from 'Craig' to 'Ian' - he got a little mixed-up based on a Twitter RT.

[Ryan Buchanan]

Not sure if Alex gave it enough time as the first couple months, Twitter (@ryanbuch) feels like an obligation. Then, over time, you find a rhythm that works for you. For me, I binge tweet for 15 minutes every other day. Occasionally, a little more. Great post Ian!

[Nate Pagel]

Kind of like why Seth Godin doesn't Tweet. They don't 'get' it. I didn't get it for 6 months either. Most people didn't get email or the web for YEARS. Do you get Facebook?

A tool has to become a part of your life or solve an immediate problem for it to be a tool for you in the first place. With some tools, you either adopt it early or let it hit you over the head later.

[Ian]

@Nate: Here's my question ... does someone like Seth or Alex have less time to let these kinds of tools simmer? In other words, is the demand on their time so great that they can't afford to ease into it?

Or, is it simply provocative to shun what's popular? I like some of Seth's stuff, but I don't follow his cult as many do because some of it feels like he's trying to pull our collective string.

You know?

[Alan Wolk]

I suspect that lack of time factors into both Godin and Bogusky's decisions. As does the celebrity factor or their variety of it.

No one really expects Shaq or Ashton Kutscher to respond to them. But both Bogusky and Godin probably get tweets from people who do have the expectation that they'll respond to them, even if there's no prior history. That's tough to live up to and must color their experience, making it very different than the average user's.

[Steven Verbruggen]

I had some email conversation with Bogusky as well. In short: if he gets to like 3000 followers, he'll invent something to keep in touch!
Read about it here: http://bit.ly/boguskyC

Cheers,
Steven

[Mike]

So, what is his "mint chocolate chip"?

[Nate Pagel]

What do you think about an admin handling Twitter responses? 1) gets out o the time constraint 2) allows them to post to their followers - i.e., broadcast.

But is this naughty twitter usage??

[Ian]

@Nate: I don't like the idea - feels very far from the spirit of social media.

Are you a proponent of this, or just agitating?

P.S. Agitating is my new favorite word, and I rather like my use above.

[piyao]

i like it when the washer gets to agitatin'. that's good work.

[stop snoring]

I bookmarked this already dude great work

[Computer Services Baltimore]

Now this is highly recommeded post for me. I will surely email this to my friend.

Regards

Todd

[Raleigh Auto Repair]

Wonder full writing skills you got mate.

Andrew

[Wholesale TV Services]

Wonder full writing skills you got mate.

Regards

Russell

[North Carolina Furniture]

I digged this for more news from you.

Regards and respect

Mandy

[Sonja]

nice to see

[DSR Computer Repair]

Goodbye Alex. Life is more important that 140 characters.

[ClubPenguinCheats]

The Whopper reverted to the original formulation a few years later.

[lacoste polos]

Maybe he'll come back in some capacity. I am just grateful for the medium to have even had any dialogue with him

[saga gold]

Per a note from Jim giving me permission to do so, I changed the name on his comment from 'Craig' to 'Ian' - he got a little mixed-up based on a Twitter RT.