cool global BIZ

Global Rapper, Entrepreneur & Tech Evangelist MC Hammer: "Music is a Global Language"

MC Hammer speaks on global and Web 2.0 branding at an ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity conference in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A., at the Arizona Biltmore (10-5-09).

 

NOTE:  This post on MC Hammer ran in October 2009.  A month later, saw the 1980s' rap-and-pop icon at the Intel CEO Summit, an annual gathering of Intel-funded startup executives, in Orange County, California.  Don't call them harem pants or parachute pants, he says. They're Hammer pants:

 

PHOENIX, ARIZONA, U.S.A. -- HammerTime is in real time, and still legit.  If you don't follow tech news, you might not know that rapper MC Hammer is a serious social-media evangelist and Twitter freak (over 1 million followers at twitter.com/mchammer) who rivals actor Ashton Kutcher for digital savvy.  Hammer hangs with legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors, including Marc Benioff,  Ron Conway and Tim Draper.  He appears at tech and biz events (Intel Capital,  TechCrunch), and speaks at Harvard and Stanford.  Last year, Hammer co-founded DanceJam.com, a social-networking dance site, with Flock entrepreneurs Geoffrey Arone and Anthony Young, and he stars in the A&E reality show "HammerTime".  Between things, he's retooling his Web site/blog, MCHammer.com, and he'll help Microsoft promote Xbox Live in November.  Busy guy.

 

No doubt Hammer's got street cred in TechLand.  He reminds me of Web evangelist and author Guy Kawasaki, a tough Hawaiian buddhahead who hasn't forgotten his roots either.  Da bruddah from Honolulu and the Oaktown brother.  I like that tag team.  Beyond the old stereotypes of rappers, Hammer is a reverend and family man with wife and kids.  And like Madonna and Bono, he's an artist with a conscience.  Hammer gives back to his community, and his next CD will carry a strong humanitarian message, looking at homelessness, drunk driving and other social ills.  Give the man credit.  He rose from Oakland's mean streets to the heights of the entertainment field.  While many would have given up, Hammer survived serious financial troubles in the 1990s and has found new acclaim today as an entrepreneur.  (Although the Internal Revenue Service still is after him; see WSJ Blogs story and Hammer's denial, both below, that he owes back taxes.)

 

Like Michael Jackson, Hammer's global brand transcends borders.  In the coming months, he's got concerts in Europe, Australia, Japan and elsewhere, and his music and Web 2.0 brand reach millions of fans abroad, including young trendsetters on the streets and in clubs.  How does he do it?   He thinks it's the continuity and positive nature of his message, and the universal appeal of music.  (Real catchy and funky riffs don't hurt, either.)  Hammer spoke recently on the branding power of Web 2.0 to corporate managers and executives at the ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference at the Arizona Biltmore.  (See full conference coverage by the ANA Advertiser online magazine here.)  Most companies are moving too slowly -- they need to do more than simply start Twitter accounts, he said.  They must create trust, two-way communication and products tailored to many consumer groups.  “To build brand awareness in social media is a lot easier than traditional marketing dollars,” Hammer said. “If it’s good enough for NASA (to use Facebook and Twitter) to say they found ice on Mars, it’s good enough for us to figure out where in our business models we can use and maximize and optimize social media.”

Photo above, "MC Hammer at Gravity Summit at Harvard" by steve garfield, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

After his speech, business people mobbed Hammer as if he was Apple's Steve Jobs.  The rapper graciously signed every autograph and posed for every photo.  No rampant ego, no fawning entourage, no cooler-than-thou vibe.  In an interview with CoolGlobalBiz, I asked Hammer how he handles his celebrityhood.  "I've been doing this for more than 20 years," he said.  "I'm an extrovert -- I feed off people's energy."  Hammer looked happy when I told him I could tell he was an avid reader from the rhythm of his talk.  "You picked up on that?" he said, grinning. "I subscribe to over 100 magazines and newspapers."

 

More than 140 characters from Hammer:

On using social media to globalize corporate brands:  "Using social media globally -- especially for a brand that's already established, whether it's McDonald's or Coca-Cola -- is the opportunity to engage your consumers from anywhere, anytime.  And it's all happening in real time.  It's a real reality show. Companies used to stagger the releases (of products).  It would come out in America, then four months later in Asia, then Europe. Now companies can roll out on a global basis, in real time, using social media as a key tool and component."

On reaching fans worldwide through tech tools:  "Using social media, you can create, plant seeds and begin to market your product and interact with consumers.  My tweets are being translated into Japanese currently.  Imagine how that shortens the distance between me and fans that I have in Japan.  I've done five or six shows in the Tokyo Dome, and all of the youth there were tweeting and texting and all of these things."

On social media for market research:  "I've played arenas in Russia, Brazil, Europe . . . Social media was how the promoters knew there was a demand for me over there.  They're following the tweets (of fans).  They're very plugged into social media there.  They said, "Hey, Hammer, can we get you over here?"  And all of a sudden there's six, seven shows in March in Europe, and I'm going down to Australia next month.  Social media is driving the conversation and creating the interest."  

On building his brand, "the culture of Hammer":  "There's a consistency in the message, in thinking of myself as a brand.  I'm consistent in what I'm trying to communicate.  Once you get the template, the blueprint, you launch the Hammer brand the same way you launch (Microsoft's) Xbox.  You go in and create awareness . . . and you use the same template on a global basis, keeping in mind you still have to finetune it.  Music is a global language.  It's a social language that connects and creates interaction.  When you add social media to a local language or culture, that's a powerful combo."

On the estimated global value of his brand:  "All things considered -- the albums, the videos, the books, the memorabilia, the Hammer signatures, the Hammer pants, the t-shirts, the name 'MC Hammer,' all the commercials that use "U Can't Touch This," the culture of Hammer and its positivity and spirituality -- the value of all that going forward is a billion dollars, and I say that conservatively.  My brand is 20 years old and has already reached over 1 billion people around the world.  If you had Google news alerts on me, it would be 24 hours, non-stop."

Photo above, "MC Hammer" by no-frills marilyn, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

• IgniteSocialMedia.com, "How Hammer Went From Caricature to Human Being" by Jim Tobin.
• VentureBeat.com, "MC Hammer Offers Entrepreneurial Advice to Intel's CEOs" by Dean Takahashi. 
• AOL BlackVoices.com,  "Catching Up with Hammer" by Bridget Bland.
• TheDeal.com,  "Intel Capital: Can't Touch This" by Olaf de Senerpont Domis.
• BusinessWeek.com, "Building a Market Platform Like a Celebrity" by Dan Schawbel.
• Wired.com, "MC Hammer Hops Onto Dance Craze with DanceJam" by Eliot Van Buskirk.
• Washington Post, "There is an Escape in Dance" by Monica Hesse.
• WSJ Blogs, "Hammer to IRS: You Can't Touch This" by Jacqueline Palank.
• BusinessWire via Reuters, "Monies Allegedly Owed by MC Hammer to IRS Are Leftover from 1996 Bankruptcy Filing," news release from MC Hammer.

 

Yes, Diversity Can be Fun: Just Ask the White Guy at DiversityInc.com

Luke Visconti, co-founder of Diversity Inc. Media: "Where are the Emerging Markets?" Courtesy of DiversityInc. Videos.

DIVERSITY STILL IS a dirty word to some, making them cringe . . . Others see the new reality and future, the evolving nature of the world . . . Those mutts, mulattoes and half-breeds that you shun on the streets are you and me: coworkers, neighbors, family and friends, classmates, cops and firefighters, emergency workers, military veterans . . . Luke Visconti, a Rutgers University trustee and former U.S. Navy officer, saw firsthand the value of diversity while recruiting young Latinos and African Americans for the military, according to the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.A.

IN 1998, VISCONTI co-founded DiversityInc. Media, which runs the DiversityInc.com Web site and magazine, plus conferences and benchmarking services for businesses . . . Barbara Frankel, senior vice president and executive editor, runs the first-rate editorial operations . . . The Visconti crew shows that diversity can be funny, tackling a heavy subject with a light touch, plus in-depth reporting when warranted . . . Visconti's column, "Ask the White Guy," takes a no-holds-barred look at diversity issues in the news . . . A how-to story teaches us "Five Things NEVER to say to Muslim Coworkers." . . . Another feature blasts Vanity Fair's magazine cover featuring all-white female film stars ( "Baloney Meter: The World According to Vanity Fair"): "Seriously, Vanity Fair? What alternate universe do you inhabit?" . . . (For recent U.S. arrivals, "Baloney!"doesn't mean sandwich lunch meat, but is old slang for "Bullshit!" My goodness, how quaint it sounds.)

DIVERSITY INC. MAY be best-known for its DiversityInc. Top 50 Companies for Diversity, led last year by Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Ernst & Young, Marriott International, and PricewaterhouseCoopers . . . A new list comes out next week at Diversity Inc.'s conference in Washington D.C. on diversity going global . . . While big companies advertise with Diversity Inc., the magazine to its credit doesn't excuse Corporate America when it stumbles . . . (See "Black Men Bowing Down: Intel's Marketing Misstep" and "How Goldman Sachs Hurt Black, Latino, Female Households") . . . Business diversity coverage is mostly ignored by the mainstream media . . . The ethnic media and deep-thinking scholars fill the void, as do a handful of mainstream journalists when they can break away from feeding the beast . . . So great work, Diversity Inc. . . .  You're a valuable resource on a topic that only will grow in import.

Global Fusion of the Workforce in Tech Land, or Can You Say Software in Hindi?

Wim Elfrink, Cisco System's chief globalization officer, on Cisco's "smart, connected communities." Courtesy of Cisco Systems, on YouTube.

WE'VE SEEN THE anecdotal signs for decades in the schools, offices, shopping malls, and neighborhoods of Silicon Valley . . . Now the latest data makes it even more official . . . The famed tech region keeps going global in a big way, says the yearly report on the state of the valley by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation . . . (See the news release,"Silicon Valley Faces Tough Climb Back From Recession," and the report, "Index of Silicon Valley 2010 ) . . . An extraordinary 60% of the valley’s scientists and engineers were born outside the United States, with nearly one-third of that workforce hailing from India . . . Talent from China and South Korea also keeps landing in tech land . . . Many, of course, are entrepreneurs firing up innovation and the economy.

EVEN MORE STRIKING: the number of patent collaborations between Silicon Valley and overseas inventors grew dramatically over the past decade, nearly tripling to 1,200 in 2008 from about 400 in 1998, according to analysis of U.S. Patent & Trade Office data by Collaborative Economics in Mountain View, California, U.S.A. . . . That's good if the cross-border fusion of technology and business helps U.S. and global startups and multinationals on a fair and level playing field . . . But bad if it helps protectionist nations, enemies and friendly allies swipe our technology . . . Good luck figuring out that one, Locke . . . You're a smart Asian brother, but where's the trade thing going? . . . The world is one big money mash-up, and our friends and foes are one and the same.

IN CONTRAST TO the very local report released today, the video clip above shows how a visionary tech giant, homegrown in Silicon Valley, is shaping the global future . . . Wim Elfrink, Cisco System's chief globalization officer, speaks from Cisco's Globalisation Centre East in Bangalore, India, on the "industrialization of the Internet," or the build-out of tech, energy, and transportion infrastructures in cities around the world . . . Tech and business watchers know all this, but not the general public . . . Cisco may well be the business world's most global corporate creature, although IBM, Nokia, Intel, General Electric and others would vie for that crown.

• San Jose Mercury News, "Now Would Be a Good Time to Panic Over Silicon Valley's Future" by Chris O'Brien.
• ZDNet blogs, "Tough Times Continue in Silicon Valley" by Tom Foremski.
• SFGate.com, "Why Silicon Valley Faces Fresh Threats" by Tom Abate.

Ernst & Young CEO James Turley on the New Global Mindset, Diversity & Innovation

Ernst & Young CEO James Turley, on the eve of the World Economic Forum's 2010l meeting in Davos, Switzerland, speaking on global diversity and innovation.  Courtesy of Ernst & Young and World Economic Forum. 

AS THE WORLD speeds into a new economic era, Ernst & Young CEO James Turley hammers home several key points that many companies still seem to ignore in the year 2010.  Accounting giant Ernst & Young and other U.S. multinationals anticipated the new global diversity arising years ago.  In a BusinessWeek opinion piece ("The New Global Mindset: Fostering Diversity . . . Is the Key"), Turley writes that global financial crisis has compelled companies to examine "talent management and development, and the connection between diversity of thought and innovation."  Turley also talks about global diversity and innovation in an Ernst & Young videotaped interview for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland:

On global demographics and capital (World Economic Forum):  "Each company in the world needs to recognize the two big shifts that are taking place: Both the demographic shift . . . and the shift in capital flows from West to East, from developing markets to emerging markets.  If a company doesn't recognize these two big shifts, they're going to be left behind."

On women entrepreneurs (World Economic Forum):  "Economic analysis by the World Bank, the United Nations and Goldman Sachs show links between gender equality and the level of development of countries.  Other studies examine the relationship between corporate financial performance and women in leadership roles.  Their conclusion is that having a critical mass of women at the top improves financial performance.  One of the most important changes we can make is to support the vast potential of women as an economic force."

On innovation and diversity (BusinessWeek):  "The knee-jerk reaction is to relegate diversity to the realm of human resources, associated with fair hiring practices and good corporate citizenship.  But any company that clings to that old-fashioned notion of diversity risks limiting its creative potential and ultimately losing its competitive edge.  In a globalized world, diversity is much more than just a question of race or gender.  It is a spectrum of attributes, including culture, generation, educational background, skills, personality, education, and life experiences.  And research shows that capitalizing on these differences is a powerful factor in encouraging innovation.  Leading companies have shown that visible benefits to the bottom line result from leveraging inclusive ways of thinking."

• Ernst & Young news release, "Diversity Drives Innovation."
• Ernst & Young survey of 520 senior executives, "The New Global Mindset."
• World Economic Forum, "Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme."

Can Innovators Save Us? Kauffman Foundation: An Entrepreneur-friendly Climate is Crucial

CNBC interview with Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, on the state of entrepreneurship in the U.S.A.

HISTORY SHOWS THAT no economic kingdom lasts forever.  And the good old U.S.A. -- the greatest of all times, as sports marketing legend Muhammad Ali might say -- will be no different.  As some business leaders and scholars have been warning for years, the U.S.A. doesn't hold a monopoly on brainpower and hard work, and our kids and grandkids will be the outsourcing workforce for the Second World if we don't act now.

HOPING TO BOOST the U.S. innovation economy, the Kauffman Foundation -- the leading think tank on entrepreneurial issues -- is urging the U.S. government to grant citizenship to foreign students graduating from U.S. universities who want to launch new firms and create jobs. Among other ideas aired in Washington D.C. this week with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the Kauffman Foundation said that classes and fellowships in entrepreneurship should be offered to high-school and college students, and to doctoral graduates in science and technology.  Tax breaks and lighter regulation for startups and small firms also would help.  Carl Schramm, CEO of the foundation, said: "Unleashing these innovators, these risk-takers, these job-creators, is the best way to assure a sustained recovery and to assure that the state of our union is strong."

"Ali Center" by Krysta76, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

EARLIER THIS MONTH, the Kauffman Foundation reminded economy watchers and policymakers that most U.S. jobs in recent years have been created by young companies, and that immigrants have launched 40% of all new U.S. technology firms.  Robert Litan, the foundation's vice president of research, said that "the jobs and innovation that new firms bring reshape and accelerate the economy," and that "hundreds of thousands of Americans are poised to become entrepreneurs at any given time."  The best thing that U.S. policymakers can do to encourage entrepreneurs is "to provide a hospitable environment that helps more startups become fast-growing, job-creating companies."

• Kauffman Foundation report, "2010 State of Entrepreneurship."
• Kauffman Foundation news release, "Entrepreneurs Expect to Limit Hiring in 2010."
• Kauffman Foundation study, "Number of New Companies Created Annually Remains Remarkably Constant Across Time."