Rob Frappier: Marketing Writer, Blogger, All-Around Nice Guy

I saw this video at Funny or Die the other day and I thought it was too funny to not repost. It’s well-written and has a great cast (I laughed when it showed “Academy Award-winner Mary Steenburgen”), but best of all it’s a pitch-perfect satire of ham-fisted music biopics.

The very first concert I ever went to was Weird Al when I was around nine. Needless to say, he holds a special place in my heart. Enjoy.

According to a 2007 article in the New York Times, the average cost of a one-hour scripted network drama is approximately $3 million. If you have a flip cam, basic editing software, and a computer with Internet access, you can produce your own web series for less than $5.

Between YouTube and the ever-decreasing cost of digital video technology, it is possible for anyone with a creative vision and a bit of entrepreneurial pluck to share their very own movie or television show with the world. Over the last couple of years, a few of my friends have been working on their own web series, and I thought it might be interesting to take some time today, in anticipation of their pending second season premiere, to talk about the show.

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Moxie Spendlove was conceived in 2007 by Jason Biggers, Jeremy Scheffee, and my sister Shelly Frappier, who also plays the title role in the show. The series revolves around the character of Moxie Spendlove, a “wide-eyed socialite who inherited the family fortune, became president of her grandfather’s gag gift franchise, and set out on a mission to find something that would make her truly happy.”

Season One of Moxie Spendlove introduced a diverse cast of characters to help (and hinder) Moxie in her efforts to find her purpose in life, including Moxie’s chief confidante (who spends most of Season One deep in the closet); her buck-toothed assistant (with a secret identity); and her two sweet but scatter-brained socialite friends (whose leaching habits would lead to their assassination). Actually, I was the person recruited for a two-scene role as the British assassin hired to kill them.

Now, I should note that I am not an actor, or at least I’m not anymore. In high school, you might have said I was, but even that would probably be a stretch. Nevertheless, I had a great time filming my scenes and I was happy to be involved in the production. Interestingly, the very fact that they asked me to lend my talents is what I think makes Moxie Spendlove successful.

Nobody involved in Moxie Spendlove is a professional actor or director, they are just regular people like you or me who had a fun idea for a story and the passion to bring it to life. They rely on friends to fill roles, they use apartments and local store fronts as sets, they design their own costumes, and they shoot and edit the show by themselves. Is it perfect? No, not exactly, but that’s not the point. Is it fun? Is it funny? Is it a great example of the kind of show you could put together if you were dedicated? Yes, yes, and yes.

I love when people pursue their creative passions, and I know from personal experience that that’s what happened on the set of Moxie Spendlove. With that in mind, I encourage you to watch this trailer for Season Two and check out the show when it premieres on May 31st.

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For the last five months or so, I’ve been working on a contract basis as the Community Manager of an Internet start-up company called ReputationDefender. In my work, I’m primarily responsible for writing customer-facing communications, including newsletters and daily blog posts about online reputation management, Internet privacy, and personal branding issues. In addition to my writing, I am also responsible for monitoring and managing the company’s presence on social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. It is in this part of my job where I get to have some of the most fun.

For instance, take a look at this exchange I had with a guy named Jay Braymer on Twitter.

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Although Jay didn’t mention ReputationDefender by name, nor did he use an @ reply to tag us, I was still able to see his message and respond to it because I was monitoring the appropriate search terms on TweetDeck. The resulting conversation was not only comical, but it helped demonstrate a value that my company offers, namely that we can help you effectively monitor and manage your online reputation.

Now, I know it probably seems like I’m patting myself on the back too much for something that seems pretty obvious, but the truth is that some companies will only engage their customers at the mention of their brand name. If I had only been looking out for mentions of @RepDef, I would have missed Jay’s message and thus missed the opportunity to have a unique and memorable exchange. Monitoring a diverse set of keywords relative to your core competencies is a great way to start interesting conversations and move beyond the realm of mere self-promotion.

Will Jay become a customer of ReputationDefender? Maybe yes, maybe no. To me, though, that’s not really the point. At the end of the day, when I look at how I used Twitter, or other social media tools, I ask myself, “Did I have any fun or interesting conversations today and did I represent my company’s brand well?” In this case, I’m happy to say yes on both counts.