So by rights I should use this post to exhort you all to develop a whizz-bang mobile commerce strategy, or get funky with your social shops, crowdsource your catalogues and the rest of it.
But in the spirit of cutting against the grain, I’d like to add to the sterling work that Saatchis have been doing to revive the high street by pointing out three things that you might have missed:
1) Google has a concession in the Currys / PC World on Tottenham Court Road, so that people can start playing with their Chromebooks ‘in comfort’, says the press release.
2) PayPal has had a pop-up store in New York for the last three months, so that they can start flogging their mobile payments tech to retailers.
3) Amazon is going to open a shop in Seattle, dedicated to flogging Kindles, Fires and books… OK, I was lying about that last item.
As we all know, three incidences marks the beginning of a trend, and whilst it might be a bit glib to suggest that we can save local communities up and down the land merely by encouraging every tech brand to hire some architects and builders, I hope it reminds some brand managery types out there that everything your brand touches has to be enticing, superlative and brilliant. Especially in the real world.
Oh ok, here’s one social shopping idea you can have for free: a shop that aggregates the most popular pins on Pinterest, and allows you to buy them directly. When that happens in six months, remember where you saw it first.
I thought I’d tell you that up front, before you all started whining and going, ‘He’s a plagiarist! He’s a plagiarist!’ Talent borrows, genius steals and all that, and I have liberated the following insights from an interview that Jeff Bezos did with Wired) a few months back. It didn’t cause much of a stir, but it should have, as there was lots in it that’s relevant to you. And you:
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Happy new mince pies and all that. Let’s not dawdle, it’s going to be an insanely busy year after all, what with one massive excuse for fireworks and drinking after another. God knows how we’re going to get out of our collective economic hangover when we’ll all be nursing real hangovers for most of the year.
Well, here’s one way that I can see: brands allowing their customers and users to start making their own content, apps and other utilities.
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British Airways had a complete wrap of Metro today promoting their US fares.
I thought it was interesting that they were running a message of “because we partner with American Airlines we can fly you to the USA 50 times a day.”
It shows the challenge in articulating the consumer benefit of their relationship with AA. Not in the fact that they fly so often to so many destinations. There is clearly a convenience benefit there … perhaps. But more in the fact that they are promoting flights operated by AA as their own.
They appear to perceive that ‘the consumer’ does not care one jot about which of the two airlines’ planes they board to cross the pond. Or more to the point, which brand experience ‘the consumer’ enjoys.
I guess BA figure their service is purely about getting somewhere, rather than being an experience worth going somewhere for as their friends at Virgin Atlantic would no doubt say.
It’s a message that runs counter to the platform of ‘To Fly. To Serve’ at any rate!
Not usually one to use a blog for self-publicity (ha) but must admit I’m excited to be starting up our new agency founded today.
We’re a bunch of creative problem solvers, based in Southwark by the Tate Modern and loving our 5th floor view.
We’re listeners, inquisitors, strategists, planners, behaviourists, creatives, collaborators, orchestrators and more.
We know the traditional marketing approaches can still work, maybe just not quite like they did. And as complexity roars on, marketers need agency partners to get to the right solution for their business challenge.
That’s why our agency was conceived, to do just that.
We’re driven by behavioural impact – ideas that move people; business results – we’re unashamedly commercial; co-creation – working with you and your customers; open approach – creative solutions, not just creative work; and shared risk / reward– we seek a vested interest in your success.
We’re also committed to giving something back. And through our founded trust put aside both time and resources to support enterprises focused on social and charitable causes.
We’re hoping for a great 2012 and wish everyone the best for the New Year.
I’m going early doors with the predictions for next year. There will be epic tomfoolery around London 2012, kiboshed by a risk averse Olympics committee that thinks that po-faced mediocrity will be the way to people’s hearts. Euro 2012 will produce a rush of Slavic-themed advertising hinging on un-pronounceable names. And the transmedia bandwagon will finally start trundling from out of the stable.
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So I’d like to direct your attention to three things which you’ve probably read already (if you haven’t, consider it a catch-up service) and then three thoughts they’ve prompted. These thoughts may be connected, they may not be. That’s the way we roll here:
1. Maciej Ceglowski’s forensic deconstruction of the social graph. I will resist the temptation to quote every paragraph at you, but suffice to say you should devour the post, and especially his ponderings on the impossibility to write formulas for relationships, then ask: isn’t this the same set of problems that has bedevilled brands’ attempts at CRM for years?
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I’ve been gnawing my knuckles away in frustration at not being able to play with Apple’s new toy, Siri, which will actually make it more useful, as I won’t be able to use my hands any more.
But until the moment comes that I can actually hear her dulcet tones in action for myself, I have been reduced to reading the guff on the website. One phrase struck me in particular: ‘Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk’.
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In a week in which it appears that the laws of time are all wrong, that’s not as apocalyptic a headline as it could have been; but let me tease this one out.
No doubt you’re all rather excited about getting your hands on Timeline, Facebook’s new way of showing you your newsfeed. And on first glance it is indeed mighty sexy. Hats off to them for taking a chance on such a talent as Nicholas Felton, the guru of all things beautiful and data. This article goes under the hood as to what he’s been doing for them – and it really shows. Read More »
Seeing as we’re still just about in the season of trying to lose a bit of flab (it’s not too late be beach fit, dontchaknow), I’ve been musing on whether it’s time to slim down my social media inputs.
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