Re-purposing of content is a very popular activity in the digital social circles, and much of what ends up being shared the most are new spins or “remixes” of existing content. Adding one’s personality and vision digitally to bits of media to create something entirely new is a new style of art, that most everyone can participate in (and be seen), and is meant to be shared. Bringing more individual opinions to our media not only makes it more personal (and often more clever), but it creates a much more communal (and participatory) experience than traditional media ever could deliver. Not every remix will create the next meme, and that’s rarely the motivation behind the best content. Sometimes it’s a way to be heard on an issue that’s important (crowd-sourced propaganda), but for me it’s most often simply an expression of creativity. I thought of something that was: vivid, catching, funny, sarcastic, witty, or sometimes just weird, and I create a sharable digital image that shares my vision with anyone interested. Digital manipulation of content and creativity software have unlocked the inner-artist in many a geek, it certainly has for me!

An Example, my buddy Jason Drews

We are old college friends who worked together, and are in near daily contact still thanks to Facebook. We often talk about amazingly awesome stuff like ideas for movies, random comedy, and other things. This time around we were discussing a business idea, and being the Social Media zealot that I am, I was thinking of ways to promote the business. I started with an idea of what I wanted and rolled it into my vision. This was to be for a breakfast-heavy bakery for a particular crowd

As a child of the 80′s I associate welcoming breakfasts with Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth’s, and the Quaker Oats guy. Unfortunately I also associate the Quaker oats guy with dry, healthy foods who always took the background to the previous breakfast divas. So here’s my logic: these brands did an awesome job forming these connections with me, how can I leverage their hard work?

Bingo! No wonder she left a great impression with me: big welcoming smile, soft friendly features, bright morning colors, and practically beckoning me to come eat that spare breakfast feast she has. Much like a Golden retriever, I fell for the friendly lady with food.

Now I can’t just use that image, it’s easily recognizable as the Aunt Jemima brand for most Americans, and while vintage has an appeal, some would find this racially insensitive in today’s eggshell world.

So Jemima had to go, and who could I put in that will replace the first drawing features I noted in the brainwashing vintage advertisement? I set off to find a picture of Drews himself, where he had a proper face angle, a big welcoming smile, and soft friendly features. The great thing about Facebook is it gives me an unlimited amount of stock photos to work with, do not worry Facebook friends, I only use these powers for good. Here’s the diamond in the rough I spotted, can you see why I knew this picture would work?

After viewing this image my vision was set, and it was a matter of minutes for me to create my vision. It has all the features that made the original so striking and nostalgic for me, yet the image is clearly a re-purposed mash-up.

What unorthodox angles, skills, and methods do you use to get your message across? Do you find if your content better expresses your personality it makes it more “valuable”?

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