One of my favorite functions of user-generated content and one of the things that confounds traditional media is the often internet-based cultural phenomena of an incredibly viral piece of content that for a time becomes a media icon. Examples are many and varied: You may remember “All your base are belong to us,” Mahir Cagri, (I kiss you!) or dancing hamsters.
It would be very valuable to certain interests if such a thing could be consistently created and leveraged for some specific purpose, such as for a product or idea or presidential candidate, but mostly when these things flare up, it strikes a nerve (or more often a funnybone) with such a wide swath of the public that it would seem impossible to predict the whim of the people.
Today I was sent a quote via text message about which I am 100% certain is going to lead to such a cultural phenomenon, and may even rise to the level of Saturday Night Live skit. (If Tina Fey was still at SNL, I could practically guarantee it.)
I am referring to this quote from ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA, who upset Maria Sharapova by handily beating her at Wimbledon today:
“I don’t like her outfit,” Kudryavtseva said. “It was one of the motivations to beat her.”
Oh snap. Instead of a sportswoman-like, “She played very well, it was a great match and I am very pleased with my performance against such an able competitor,” we got the humiliating vitriol, “I don’t like her outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat her.”
Truly awesome. What makes this a cultural spark worthy of massive imitation and distribution is the sheer audacity of it all. It wasn’t enough to beat her. She had to shame her.
Read it again with a Russian accent:
“I don’t like her outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat her.”
Yes, comrade, that makes it a little funnier.
This woman is a literal caricature of unsportsman-like behavior. It is funny because someone ELSE said it. Someone ELSE crafted this beautiful example of ridiculousness that had never existed in the lexicon of professional sports, which gives me the ability to use it with impunity. And I will. Whenever I beat anyone in my life from now on, you can bet I am going to shame them by lowering my voice, assuming a very serious countenance and saying in my best Russian accent, “I did not like your outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat you.”
Yes, I am officially replacing the time-honored Mortal Kombat “Fatality” with this much longer insult. When I win at golf, “I did not like your outfit.” When I win at Quake, “I did not like your outfit.” Even when I successfully call shotgun and beat you to the front seat on the way to lunch, “I did not like your outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat you.”
It occurs to me that, while very funny coming from Alla, it will be even funnier coming from Will Ferrell. Can you imagine him in a tennis dress, being interviewed and delivering this comment with deadpan precision. Or for a more contemporary example, how about Chad Vader? Or how about the thousands of creative examples that the creative consumer base will come up with. Someone will even do a song, and it will be funny. I want to see ALL of these in one place, right now. I want to accelerate the development of the wave of creativity that is going to be unleashed and I want to see it all organized and ranked in terms of funniness and popularity.
And if I owned one of the world’s largest traditional media companies, I would also want to capitalize on the creativity that is going to be unleashed, because this is so obviously what the media company of the future is all about. It is less about producing the right content and more about being able to accelerate the distribution of the right content that perhaps you didn’t produce. I think there is a huge role to be played there, which is just a different version of the model that media companies have already figured out – give people what they want. (This is true even when the people have created it.)