Gutted about MJ. But, I love how people have been playing with the Twitter brand to show their feelings. Billie Tweet (Billie Jean set to other people’s tweets) is incredible. And I like the Fail Whale with the MJ twist:

It made me think about brands that people can play with. People like to play. It is part of human nature; experimenting with, adding to and using in new ways has helped us solve problems, invent and evolve.

Some brands embrace this innate desire to play. They have ‘playability’ - people know they can experiment with them, or add to them. It seems to me that having a brand with playability brings many advantages. People play with your brand and

• create publicity for them and you
• extend your offering
• become part of what you’re doing. The act of playing upgrades someone from an observer to a participant. They’re now part of what you’re doing and they have a higher level of affinity for your brand
• forgive your mistakes. Playing means people understand your brand and business better. So when something goes wrong they they are more likely to understand why, and be forgiving. Back to the fail whale

But you can’t force it. Like giving a toy to a child - you can’t make them play, but you can let them play.