It's Friday, go watch a mash-up

'It's entirely familiar, but it's never been heard before.'

I think that neatly sums up one main reason good branding and advertising are able to influence people. It's also how music producer DJ Earworm described the wonderfully weird mash-up listening experience at the IDEA conference hosted by Ad Age and Creativity .

Note: the video may not be available to nonsubscribers by next Friday, so get in the groove now.

Of course, in marketing as in music, you can't just paste together familiar elements and expect something inspiring to spring forth.And I'm not implying that advertising (B2B or otherwise) is 'entirely unoriginal - you have to take everything from somewhere else,' as our good DJ notes mash-ups do.

But putting the right twist (and degree of twist) on images, sounds and sayings that are already psychologically sympatico for your audience - whether through the design, the message, medium, or strategy - can be alchemically influential. I'm sure many people have said this kind of thing more eloquently than me, so feel free to comment and list them.

Now how does this fit in with our embracing of WOM and other changes in marketing? Erm. Sideways, maybe?

Go on, get into the groove...