Monthly Archives: October 2008

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Wanting to win: happy birthday Google

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 how things have changed.  to mark their 10th birthday Google has opened up its oldest-available search index, and its fascinating stuff.  as the Google website observes: "The world wide web and the
world have both changed a lot since 2001. Searching Google's 2001 index
illustrates both points in what we think is a pretty entertaining way.

"If
you searched on 'Michael Phelps' in 2001 for instance, you were
probably looking for the scientist, not the swimmer. 'Ipod' didn't
refer to a music player, and 'YouTube' didn't refer to much of
anything."

it's a timely reminder that the pace of change is showing no sign of stopping soon…  the media landscape is barely recognisable from the one I first saw when I started working in this industry in 2001, the same year from which the above index comes.

media, in many ways, is an arms race…  in which the winner is determined as much by those who have the best ideas as those who want to have the best ideas.  if there is any lesson from Google it is this; success comes not just aiming, but from wanting, to win.

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experiencing, innovating, social networking, viewing

Cutting thru choice fatigue: How the Secret Cinema and Nokia dictate and curate a unique movie experience

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Thursday lunchtime Mediation received the following message from Secret Cinema: "Lords and Ladies, Dukes and Duchesses, Partisans and Plebians and the Claypool Foundation of Arts.  Secret Cinema in association with Nokia will take place this Friday 3rd of October at 8pm … Dress should be majestic and wondrous for this shall be an evening of wild, wild romance, honey song, long journeys, laughter and dance."

Last night Mediaton therefore duly popped along to Hackney for this month's secret cinema event.  their website observes that "the internet is changing the way way we watch films.  the secret cinema changes WHERE you watch film."

but the event goes far beyond screening in an interesting location.  the movie – which isn't revealed until the very last moment – is explored and teased from the moment you arrive…  key scenes, themes, characters and quotes are all on display in everything from the actors who greet you to the pre-screening entertainment.  it's brilliant.

but the best bit is when the movie starts, and you're sat watching the Marx Brothers' in A Night At The Opera – a movie you may never have otherwise seen, with a few hundred other people who similarly had no idea that was the movie they would be watching.  in a world of choice fatigue, it is a curious joy to have an evening of your time dictated and curated by others.

Nokia do well to be associated with the Secret Cinema organisation and movement.  they also do well to screen a short movie at the event which, rather than being an ad, shows established artists revealing what they would do for 96 seconds.  it's all in aid of promoting Nokia's mobile TV channel capsule 96 and it feels entirely in tune with the event.

if anything, Nokia could be doing more to create associations with the event…  rather than getting an email revealing the location, how much more interesting and intriguing would it be to get content and clues direct to your phone.  sophisticated flash-mobbing making the event even more engaging courtesy of Nokia.

thanks to Eva for the heads up on this, very appreciated.  Secret Cinema was a joy to attend.  get yourself along next month for a bit of mystery.

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partisans queuing outside Hackney Empire

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performers entertain before the movie starts

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our compere for the evening

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actors perform an iconic theme from the movie

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Nokia's trailer for Capsule 96

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performing a piece from the opera featured in the movie

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a silent movie short

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after all the teasing, the big reveal…

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selling

‘Exciting and dynamic times’: how the PPA reminds us of the key components of any media conference

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yesterday Mediation popped along to the PPA's Magazine Advertising Conference and Awards 2008, held at the IMAX.  media conferences really are a wonder to behold and the PPA's effort was no exception, with several key components of any decent conference on display (no pun intended)…

selective use of stats are out in force to make convoluted promotional statements about the channel… in 70% of product categories, for example, magazines drive more online sales than any other medium.  who knew?

awards are a must.  my best of the morning being 'The Industry's favourite Magazine Cover' (for the record it was the above Superman Returns effort by Empire).

fat words like 'relevant' and 'engaging' are compulsory in every sentence, and a host of industry heavyweights are rolled out to half inspire us and half self-promote they own pet agenda.  to be fair John Grant was on his usual excellent form, reminding us that the new media attack is centralised on distribution whilst actually supporting the creation and filtering of great content.

but the best and most compulsory part of any media conference is the plain, unabashed optimism that oozes from every syllable.  there are no challenges, only opportunities.  consumption never goes down, consumers just get more sophisticated.  but above all conditions are never bad.  this is really important.  our beloved western economy isn't teetering on the brink, it's just going thru an 'exciting and dynamic' phase.

and for all their flaws, this is what we love.  in an all-too-often cynical industry, it's quite right that a media channel can put on it's finest and sell it to the world…  it's a testament to the passion our industry has for what it does.  and besides, who wouldn't want to live in such exciting and dynamic times?

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engaging, promoting, social networking

When promotions go bad: what brands can learn from Leading Hotels of the World’s response to a PR nightmare

Leading_hotels in a post back in April Mediation commented on Hoxton Hotel's £1 room sale, observing that the success of the promotion created very much a double-edged sword; with fulfillment issues due to massive demand causing a negative CRM fallout.

Hoxton Hotel no doubt sympathises with The Leading Hotels of the World group, who this week were forced to completely abandon a promotion when massive demand for what was a very attractive offer – $500 rooms going for $19.28 (the price of a room the year of their founding 80 years ago) – became massively oversubscribed.

this is a genuine disaster for the brand, but the situation has been significantly mitigated by the group's response to the situation…

one, take ownership.

the above statement has been posted on their website and emailed to those who applied for the offer.  Ted Teng, President and CEO of the organisation commented that "Although our original back-up plan provided a viable solution for
the 150,000 people who were registered, it was met with some confusion
over submission procedures and timing … We are sincerely committed to restoring your faith in our brand and do not want to risk disappointing you again".

two, engage in the debate.

the brand quickly engaged themselves in online conversations about the promotion. in a forum on the flyertalk website.  Marshall Calder, SVP of Marketing at The Leading Hotels responded to posts by explaining the situation and what was being done to rectify it.  the response of contributors to the forum is telling…

SanDiego1k comments "I think this is a sound decision. It is very classy of you to make the hard decision, then return to advise us. Thank you" … Irish Lad adds "I think that makes a lot of sense in the circumstances. I appreciate
this must have been a difficult day for the management at LHW … good luck with the rest of the
promotion and thanks for posting today."

three, communicate that you're working towards a solution.

Calder adds, "since we do not wish to disappoint anyone again, we shall re-tool the
$19.28 promotion and communicate the details to all registrants within
the next week."

if it was consumer communications on the internet that caused the problem, then it's corporate communications on the internet that will go a very long way towards fixing it.  there's a lesson for all brands in Leading Hotel's response to the situation… brands can't remain detached from consumer conversations, especially when those conversations are generating negative WOM about a brand.  in fact quite the opposite is true: the response of Leading Hotels may generate from a potentially disastrous situation more goodwill than their promotion could have ever hoped for.

thanks to Hanson for the heads up on what's going down in the hotel world…

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