Dear readers
We got this in the post today.
Completely blank except for a QR code. Brave, given that a large proportion of us are hardly QR code lovers. Gave it a go anyway. And er… it went to a site that wasn’t optimised for mobile. Which kind of makes the QR code totally moot. *Sigh*
Yours,
Still waiting for a decent QR experience.
Bruce Springsteen at SXSW this year. The video above is the short version for the attention deficit among us. The video below is the full version if you want to understand the full context. An incredibly powerful expression about changes , desires, technology and being creative.
You know how difficult finding presents for your mum is, right? Fortunately, my wife is signed up to a whole heap of cool baby sites that provide a lof of inspiration. On one of these sites we found Fill & Tell – a really delightful book for the grandparent to fill in for their grandchildren. It lets the grandparent tell them all about their lives in a really stylish and funky looking book. Most of the other books we had come across were a bit stuffy and formal. This looked really cool. Unsurprising considering it comes from a Scandinavian company.
So we plumped for it and decided to get it. But the online ordering form wouldn’t work. It just went to a blank page. Sometimes I do get issues with Safari on a Mac but this hasn’t happened for a while. Normally you’d move on and get it from Amazon or somewhere but they were out of stock. So we sent the customer service team an email. At 9.30pm on Wednesday night.
Within 10 minutes we had a response. And a real one, from a real person. Not just a “thanks for your message and we’ll get back to you”. But an incredibly helpful email from Katrine who informed me that no, my credit card hadn’t been billed, they’d checked the site and all should be ok and would I mind trying again. So I did. Same problem. And sent another email. Again, Katrine responded really quickly offering to mail out the item first class and invoice us. And this is all happening late (ish) at night and Sweden is an hour ahead too. The package arrived Saturday. A great product (my mum loved it) and really brilliant customer service when auto-response or no response is often the default.
Remember when everybody wanted User Generated Content because it was the current shiny object and also because it was code speak for “it’s cheap!”? Here’s a great example of user generated content for Graham Coxon (ex Blur, not the one making cheese). It works because he has a fan base who like what he does and want to be part of what he does. It works because it’s a beautifully simple idea of getting people to dance because that’s what the title track is about. 85 fans from 22 countries made up the final work. (That’s 85, not the millions that were promised when UGC was oh so cool). It works because the team behind the video have spent a great deal of time and money in post production making it work. This isn’t cheap UGC. It’s bloody great UGC.
Brands today need to deviate from the conventional Social Media marketing path if they want to keep the consumers interested. Article by our Planning Director, Nicholas Gill, in Technology Digital.
Change is the only constant factor in life and in the world of Technology; the businesses which realize this sooner, can only gain from it. Article by Planning Director, Nicholas Gill, in Technology Digital.
Article in Technology Digital by our Planning Director, Nicholas Gill, on why brands need to blend with other channels of interaction to create a bigger impact among their audiences.
I’m seeing a lot of boring and bland “engagement” from brands in social media. There’s far too much of “it’s Halloween, have a treat tonight with ” or “it’s the weekend, celebrate the end of another shit week with ” or “ so why not celebrate/make the most of/not worry about it* with ”as if our life revolves around . It doesn’t. It’s lazy and boring especially if it’s a stock “filler” in your social content plan.
The analogy of walks into a pub, shouts and walks out again without bothering to “engage” with your response holds firm. I don’t want a conversation with you about the weather – I can see what it’s like outside my window – unless you give me a reason to take advantage of it; e.g. give me a £1 off your tasty, winter beverage this cold day and then I may be interested. Otherwise, it’s just noise. Which is what social media was never meant to be.
It’s what Billy Connolly would call the attack of the beige. Be colourful. Be creative. Be interesting.
And I know this isn’t real (or is it?) but it’s colourful. Despite the product being beige.
[*delete as appropriate]
A fascinating article on privacy, advertising and the use of your data on social networks and the new alternatives such as Diaspora and Unthink to the accepted norm. Where Hugh once said if you talked to people the way advertising does, they’d punch you in the face. He was talking about traditional ATL advertising and the shouty nature of the traditional 30′ spot. This quote from the article suggests that advertising in social media could possibly be worse; rather than just blurting at you in ad breaks, it snoops on you and brazenly flashes this in your face. Good food for thought to start your day with.
Imagine you’re eating out with your lady or a loved one; the restaurant is completely free from 12pm until 2pm. Free. Trouble is, your entire conversation is being recorded and watched closely. Every time you both mention something that suggests an interest in a product or purchase or place – an ad rep/TV/radio ad/leaflet appears in front of you and pitches away. Mention you’re interested in a mini break; cue the man from the travel agency peddling his wares. Your meal is free though, don’t forget. You can always ignore the ad man. How many of us would appreciate that constant eavesdropping? Few. Remarkable then that the digital world doesn’t quite suffer the same reaction. It all feels so remote and far way.
