Asking for online feedback

Many sites (amazon, expedia, etc.) ask you for feedback when you buy something. ebay goes further by making it such an integral part of the process. By I received an email today from a US company called Zooscape.com that goes to a new level.

They've given me a list of reasons for why customer reviews are really helpful. I actually found the list quite interesting, and indeed helpful. I will be using it in presentations to clients - to show the value of opening out the brand to customer feedback, and also to show how a long form email can be a valuable part of CRM alongside offers.

Here's their list of reasons in full:

* Let me take a moment to explain why product reviews are so important.

We trust that your shopping experience with ZooScape.com was a positive one, and while we hope every product we sell offers a high level of satisfaction, we simply cannot be absolutely sure unless we get feedback from customers like you. We sell a lot of products, and we do our best to keep ourselves informed and provide you with as much specific information as we can. But, in the end, it is still YOUR experience that really counts and keeps us better informed about aspects of a product that would otherwise be unknown to us.

We take all the reviews we receive very seriously, good or bad. In fact, your reviews can even make or break a product at ZooScape.com! Here's how:

When people like you share their positive reviews with one another, more new visitors to our site can be confident in the satisfaction and results they will achieve. Your review may be that final little bit of information necessary to sway someone else into finding a product with life-changing results! Then, that person's positive experience is passed on and read by another person, and so on....

On the other hand, if a product is simply not 'living up to the hype', and is receiving lukewarm or even negative reviews, then inquiring shoppers have the right to know. In fact, if the growing body of public opinion is that a product is simply ineffective, we will remove the product, (not the reviews), from our site! Honestly, there are some products we no longer sell because the reviews were awful.

With the staggering number of products available online, getting the benefits of previous users' experience is vital. I am also a shopper, of course, and I also buy products online. I personally find that reviews act as a safeguard ensuring quality and efficacy of every product. Like everyone, I am much more confident buying a product online if I have seen reviews for it first.

Think how you feel when you come across a product that you think might be right for you, and some great reviews or a few success stories confirm those very thoughts, providing you with confidence and certainty. Think of how you feel when a review might make you aware of something you neglected to consider about a product or its claims, steering you in a better direction. A community of people sharing thoughts, opinions, and experiences is an extremely beneficial process in the online shopping world.

Of course, not everyone is in 100% agreement, and experience with the same products may vary. But, a longer list of reviews for any given product means a more accurate general consensus. It takes just one person with the courage and dedication to write one simple product review to 'get the ball rolling'. That's how online communities and forums are created!

We would greatly appreciate your thoughts and opinions on any ZooScape.com products that you have purchased, or even a product that you purchased elsewhere, but would like to express a few thoughts about.

We are giving you, the customer, a forum to be heard by thousands of people! If you wish, you can even state your opinions with the comfort of knowing that you are protected by total anonymity by entering your name in the review as 'anonymous'.

So, this is why I am personally asking you for your help. On behalf of all present and future ZooScape customers, just like yourself, I know that the more product reviews we have at our site, the better informed everyone is going to be.

New Year Predictions

Some predictions based on some knowledge, and a bit of wine

1. After a lot of nasty price and offer ads this xmas and new year, we'll move into a advertising and communications style that celebrates how long things will last. 'Smart investments' will be suggested in things that are built to last not built to burn. We'll see lots of extended warranties and new services that look like they 'save' you money on the surface (but will be disguised insurance policies)
   
2. Just seen '100 books' on the nintendo ds. And of course there's the amazon kindle and the sony reader out there too. They're still living in the world of neeks at the moment, but i reckon 2009 will see the growth of illegal book sharing. Have book publishers learnt from the harsh reality the music and film industries faced...?
   
3. It will be a year of consolidation and mergers in agency-land. There really are just too many agencies, meaning that each one has quite a lot of average people running around doing average work. Particularly in 'digital' where there's a LOT of average people pulling the wool over the eyes of senior agency staff who wouldn't recognise a digital opportunity if it sat there at breakfast.
   
4. Sadly, CSR, green credentials and ethics will take a back seat in communications. It will be interesting to see which organisations and brands pull support for these programmes - this will be an eye-opener for who was serious and who was green-washing.
   
5. Related to point 4, i think there's a massive opportunity for organisations to 'go local', and more importantly for some local organisations to thrive if they get it right. large companies can go local / personal by using digital to understand customers and potential customers. local organisations can't compete on the buying power and scale of multi-nationals, but they can win on trust and customer knowledge / service.
6. Also related to point 4, some of the good ideas for new forms of business organisation that were born out of sustainable thinking are equally valid for a wary economy - renting, sharing, repairing.
7. I might be biased, given where i'm now working, but i honestly think that we'll see new types of sales promotion that connect sales with genuine and relevant customer needs. Digital means that a sales promotion doesn't have to be one size fits all any more, the customer can have more control on what's interesting to them, and organisations and brands that capture this with genuine insight and genuine ideas will benefit from promiscious customers who can see past the false econony of a quick price reduction.
8. There was an interesting article in Q the other month that suggested that music tends to predict the economy. I'm hoping that more songs like Elbow's 'One day like this' show new optimism that will filter up into the economy in 2009. Sadly, i reckon we're in line for some depressing smiths-style numbers. But i'm loving the return to the 80s synth lines from Keane and the Killers latest albums.

And now to more wine...

For Emma. Xmas 2008

Click here for details...

[whilst this is on my blog, this is actually just for Emma. Others passing by, hope you're not disappointed!]

Happy holidays

Sorry, been far too quiet for a bit. It's been a blistering start to my new role at iris. Meeting lots of lovely people, getting involved with loads of new clients and some great ideas and opportunities for 2009.

So, I plan to think of a few predictions for 2009, and hope to be much more active next year.

But have a good xmas and new year!

The voices in my head

So yesterday, after 18 action-packed months, I left Proximity London.

(I'm joining iris in a group head of planning role.)

But I thought I'd do a top five personal achievements at proximity for my own records. Yes, a bit narcissistic, but that'll be blogging in general.... And there's nowhere else to put it.

1. Delivering digital strategies for RNLI and Harveys for 2009 (let's hope they're implemented), and winning a place on Shell's global digital roster

2. Seeing Harveys become a genuine challenger brand to DFS following the sponsorship of coronation street. It shows how a simple strategy, good advertising and a passionate client and agency teams can really make things happen. I think the most satisfying was seeing new work across multiple channels - TV, Print, Leaflets, Website, Email, Mobile, In store.....

3. Working with DDB and Mediacom on VW annual planning. The BTL agency wouldn't normally have had that level of involvement, so we (proximity) were very pleased. Some lovely campaigns for VW: Scirocco, Golf v6 (to come), Tiguan, Touran, Passat CC too.

4. Mentoring or helping or working with some great people who I know will do well - james hidden, james hough, jamie chadwick, kirtsy higgins, abi fletcher, mat spencer, jo dann, andy ford, emma bushnell, charlie h-s, nicole mackintosh, andrew waddell, matt tanter, scott hendry, anna booth, megan randell, emma slade, tessa clements.

5. Actually using semiotics, ethnographic research and discourse analysis sensibly and practically for some work! Simon W - the original map of possible positive charge inputs seems to be working....


Thanks to amanda phillips, mark hancock and kevin allen who took a bit of gamble letting me in the building in the first place. Thanks proximity and good luck in the future.

Stratstock

Last night I had the honour of speaking at 'Statstock: - how the other half plan'. This was an IPA Strategy Group event that brought together 9 planners to speak about what its like to plan from the perspective of their discipline.

The brief was to 'to help younger planners broaden their view of what strategy and planning can mean in very different types of agencies and consultancies'.

So I was speaking from the world of direct marketing. Which was bloody difficult as we had Max Wright from Rapier speaking about an integrated approach, Martin Bailie from Glue (digital), Sam Noble from iris (sales promotion). So as you can imagine, there was the potential for a lot of overlap... It was also made more difficult as we were speaking at the same time in a big room at the Mary Ward House with booming acoustics....

(Oh yeah, and there was no audio visual equipment either, so flip charts, pens and actual conversation were required)

The reality for me is that planning is planning is planning when you're looking for the 'grand strategy' (thanks to Stephen King's theory of planners here). It's about understanding people, motivations, moods, potential connections and how brands can be inciteful in linking these together in a useful and valuable way.

But planning is necessarily more discipline focused when you're 'advert tweaking' - i.e helping craft the execution (including the measurement / evaluation).

So for DM I tried to focus on the new and interesting things that i've been involved in that lead to more effective direct marketing: semiotics, discourse analysis and ethnography. (In retrospect, I tried to throw too much in to my 10 minutes!)

For me, the way that differerent speakers approached their chat was just as instructive on the shades of planning as their content:

• boards vs. live pen scribbling vs. just talking
• conversation vs. polemic (i didn't realise we were competing for which discipline was best...)
• facts and case studies vs. thoughts, ideas and suggestions
• looking back vs. looking forward
  

I didn't get to see all the other speakers, but overall feedback was that it was a interesting night, people felt that they had value for money and some ideas to take away. (as well as some top tips. which reminds me. this guy has scanned in all of the first pack of IPA strategy group fast strategy top tips. wow - check it out here)

The ipa girls were filming, so hopefully we'll see some good edits on the ipa website soon.

FREE music downloads

Whilst i've not been blogging, I have been spending time writing and producing new pieces of music.

Over on Clueless Chimp there's 5 new tracks to download for FREE! (right click on the link, save target as. Then click on the file from explorer to launch into itunes)

My good friend David Nicholls and I have been jamming away, and Hey Now Sister is the product of that. To be honest, it needs a remastering, but you get the idea.

I was in a band called 'Amber Waves' with David at university. Or was it 'The Amber Waves'? We argued a lot over the definitive article. In fact we argued a lot about a lot back then. We're older and wiser now, safe in the knowledge that we'll never be on the front cover of Melody Maker or Select, and we won't be performing live on Top of the Pops.

We do have some vague plans for some live events in 2009 though.

Planning to get talked about

It's see something that:

a) uses direct mail effectively - interesting stuff was sent to a number of young video bloggers

a) uses social media effectively - they were encouraged to open their mail on their vblogs.

c) has a bigger and wider social meaning - they were asked to produce content that flies in the face of the media stereotypes of young people as knife-holding hoodies and shows the youth of Britain as a more caring, involved and socially active group of people.

d) has a real world social element of people doing things together- the bloggers were invited to the RNLI head quarters in Poole to see what they do and meet young people who are contravening the youth stereotypes by volunteering as crew or as lifeguards. The bloggers blogged about this too.


so from less than 20 mail-packs to over a quarter of million views, responses, texts, emails showing that the previously silent majority of british youth are now prepared to speak out.

watch out for the next phase. 'Broken Britain' ((c) The Sun, 2008) is going to be fixed.....

Check out all the mystery package videos and responses on You Tube.

A genuinely positive action from an organisation that is trying to connect people using the most cultural relevant means available.

Been a bit lost....

Hello. Is there anybody out there?

Apologies for the radio silence.

It's been a hectic, mad, contradictory, progressive, sad, exciting, new and 'same old' for the last few months.

The next few months promise more of the same, but I hope to blog about it a bit more.

We heart loyalty

(photo thanks to hummingbird heart on flickr)

When there's a sign of an economic downturn, many brands start to think about the old adage that it's more profitable to look after and grow value from current customers rather than to try and get new ones. I suspect this is because they're worried about losing customers to competitors who slash their prices in tough times.

Of course, trying to start 'loyalty' initiatives now is just too late.

For me, genuine loyalty comes down to one simple statement:

'Staying with something for the long-term even though there may be more attractive options available right now'.

So this means sticking with something even through 'bad times'.

Is this really possible? Will people really give a s**t about brands over the long-term? Can 'loyalty marketing really work?

The trouble is that most people discount the future. They are easily and irrationally attracted to offers. Tell someone you'll give them £10 now or £100 in a year, and most will take the £10. Tell them somethings free, and they'll overlook something much better that costs them only a nominal value. (Read the brilliant book 'Predictably Irrational' by Dan Ariely for more insight into this sort of human behaviour)

The other day, my parents booked a flight to the US, just so they had enough miles to maintain their American Airlines Platinum status. So I guess it can work.

But from this is a clue. Loyalty is more likely to come from experience over and above the norm (in this case not from privilege not points).

So what does that mean for brand wanting to get somewhere close to loyalty from customers?

• Offering just a future discount based on behaviour will fail. If you're going to use discounts, do it on initial purchases to try and build a habit. (let's not pretend it's loyalty, and rename it inertia marketing??!)
  
• Do something special on the first purchase, not the 100th
  
• Look for ways to create prestige and recognition rather than discounting the brand
• Change the way the brand behaves with people who are interested. I've said it before, but for me the best 'loyalty schemes' are those that crowd-source and ask for opinions that will be acted on. P&G Tremor, Nokia, BMW, and Lego are all good examples.
• If you use points and prizes, then make sure you link it to a data and insight strategy that allows you to understand people better and test different propositions, offers and ideas with them.
• If you're online - make registering have no barriers to entry so you can immediately start to buld up a picture of what people are looking at and buying (and link into a data & insight strategy as above). This means something special on the first purchase (or even browse) not the 100th. Oh, I've said that already.
• And have a bloody good product or service. (quite important that one)
  

The Dream Machine

Probably the silliest thing to do right now is to open a record shop. A shift to downloads and even the big boys are struggling.

But John and Elaine have gone and done just that in East Dulwich (which was missing some musical-like shopping opportunities). Hurrah!

They're running the shop as an open community collective - encouraging anyone and everyone to come on, get involved, help out and generally spark off a music community. I spent a good few hours today, pricing up records and trying to put together shelves for them (badly, I must add).

Who knows if they're mad or inspired. But if enough people get involved, there's a fighting chance that the Dream Machine (sister store in Texas) can survive and thrive.

I'm going to be helping them out, trying to think of new and cool ways to spark off some word of mouth, get people involved, and hopefully enable lots of local music-loving folk get their fix.

Launch part is tomorrow at the Constitutional Hall in East Dulwich. Here's the details on the East Dulwich Forum

Juis Suis Animal and Martin Carr (of Boo Radleys fame) are playing. Come on down - it's only £6.

And here's the party in the shop last night... probably be another one tomorrow night!

Agent Orange

It seems the link wasn't working on my last post, so here we are embedded.  If you haven't read the previous post, this is a sabotaged version of the Orange 'I am' TV ad.  With changed dialogue and music....  

Creepily telling us that mobile phone operators are collecting lots of data and spying on us.  

Happy days.

I am .... disturbed

New brand campaign from Orange from Fallon.

I think there's a really good central thought here - something to do with mobiles connecting and enabling your life - past, present and future.  Certainly a brave attempt to position Orange as more important than a particular tariff or offer on a new phone.

But I find it a bit dark and a tiny bit creepy.  

It might be the music (slightly melancholy piano number, that reminds me of a cross between Four Tet and Boards of Canada).  

Or perhaps it's the way people fade in and out like a dream / nightmare.

Maybe it's the way no-one seems to smile properly.  (Even the 'encouraging' teacher, has an evil glint in her eyes).

It actually makes me feel that David Lynch might have been involved, and the narrator / viewer is actually a psychopathic serial killer living in a distopian world.

Good to see that it's spawned some rip-offs already. Check out this reworked version:  'Agent Orange'.

Suddenly the original doesn't seem quite so disturbing.

I drink, you drink, we drink

31st May. Boris stops people drinking on public transport in London. So no surprises that there's a big party - centred on the circle line. Lots of drunken behaviour, vomiting and a number of arrests in this alcohol fuelled flash mob.

For me, echoes of the Paris Commune and the student uprisings of the 1960s. People trying to lay claim on a public space and redefine what different boundaries stand for. In this case, we're seeing a protest / class struggle / dispute over both physical and social boundaries, with the resistance coming in a playful manner (reminiscent of the Situationist International).

A few years ago, we would have marvelled how this was organised through social networks and mobile phones. (But though those of us who went to raves in the 80s/90s know that you don't need digital technology to organise some unlicensed fun.)

Interestingly, (if you follow Mark Earls and his Herd theory) this circle line party wasn't some centrally-controlled and organised event. There weren't some 'key influencers' who told everyone else what to do.

It actually came about from many different groups and people debating about the change in the law and thinking it would be a good idea to commemorate the occasion in the best way we know - a massive piss up. And the circle line pub crawl has been a student favourite for generations.

So the perfect conditions for an idea to be spread / imitated through people's behaviour:

* lots of different groups all with similar beliefs
* a highly dispersed network, with many 'weak links' that allowed these different groups to hear about what others were planning
* and yes, I suppose, the technology to make it easy for these weak links to be connected and for the idea to be spread
* an incredibly visible action that is easy to imitate

Lots of people drank far too much, and I'm sure there were many sore heads the next day. But I wonder how much more people drank because they got caught up in the occasion? Many would have gone with the intention of drinking as much as possible. And there were enough of these to get a critical mass of people behaving in one way. Through imitation and subconsiously wanting to fit in, many more will have changed their behaviour away from what they rationally would have intended.

It's like a night after work. You go out with no intention of staying out too long. If there are one or two people wanting to carry on, that's not enough to make you stay. No matter how influential they are. But if there are a few more, and the night is more interesting / entertaining that you expected, you stay out. When you see someone who's not normally out having a few, it makes you feel better about staying out yourself.

So I was particularly interested to read this month's Brand Strategy, where Pamela Bower-Nye, global marketing director for attitudes to alcohol at Diageo talks about their responsible drinking strategy.

She talks about the need to move away from lecturing about responsible drinking to talking about 'choices'. Reading what she says, the focus of Diageo's campaign is on making the consequences of irresponsible drinking personal - being excluded by their social peers for being an embarrassment. (Making people think about personal consequences is also the strategy behind Leo Burnett's drink and drive ad campaign).

However, I think for these campaigns to work, its not enough to give people a message when they're sitting in their living rooms - no matter how personal / relevant / engaging the message might seem.

It requires brand action alongside brand message. This means doing something at the moment of choice - i.e. at a night out - something that actually changes people's behaviour at that moment, so that others imitate.

Is there a future in loyalty?

(photo thanks to atomicshed on flickr)

I'm working on a pitch just now where one of the questions is 'what is the future of loyalty programmes?'

When I started in this industry loyalty schemes were new and exciting and would save the world from bad advertising. Now they're increasingly commoditised and people now expect rewards on initial purchases in the form of cash-backs on sites such as ipoints or quidco. So where's all the loyalty gone?

So here's my quick and dirty predictions. Would love to hear other people's thoughts!

• Consolidation into a few large points schemes where people can see the benefit from buying products and services across multiple sectors
• Move from points into cash-back for these larger schemes (especially online aggregator schemes)
• Successful loyalty schemes will be those that are aligned to a holistic customer data strategy that enables brands to understand and connect more with people at a personal level
• Branded loyalty schemes will evolve to focus on enhanced experience of the brand’s product or service rather than discounted points converted into unrelated goods

Is ROI killing innovation?

Brent Hoberman (of lastminute.com fame) did the opening address at the Future of Digital Marketing 2008 conference today in London.

Presenting without PowerPoint, he took us on a lightening-fast and enlightening trek through his experiences, ideas and other random digital-related thoughts.

(It was a shame that the rest of the day couldn't live up to such a great opening... some of the presentations would have more appropriate at a 'past & current of digital marketing 2004' conference)

Brent knows he's been successful, but he wasn't arrogant enough to suggest he's an innovation genius. When talking about his newest innovation - mydeco.com - he was humble enough to suggest that there's still lots of learning to do. Some things that currently look like winning elements might not take off, and other simple ideas might end up being the killer app. Successful innovation comes from setting off lots of initiatives and ideas - not necessarily one 'big' idea.

So one thing Brent said really struck home - he questioned whether ROI can kill innovation. He wasn't saying that as marketers we shouldn't worry whether things are working or not - of course we should care about this. No, he was suggesting that the obsession with 'ROI' and 'certainty' will stop good and new ideas from happening.

How can you do something different and innovative if you need proof that it will work?

At worst this would mean only ever copying what you or your competitors have already done.

At best, proof can be 'found' by looking in different categories and piecing together 'evidence' from case studies that are similar to the strategy / idea that you're suggesting.

But history is written by the victorious. There are few case histories that demonstrate what hasn't worked. (Brand Failures by Matt Haig is the only real example I can think of). Looking within these 'case studies of success' from a source like the IPA Effectiveness Awards will quickly confuse you with success coming from apparently contradictory strategies for two different brands in the same category....

For me it comes down to the difference between efficiency and effectiveness.

Measurement and ROI analysis can only ever help you be more efficient. Spend your money again in places where it worked and take your marketing dollars out of stuff that doesn't. Good worthy stuff that we should all do. (Although I would argue that a red, amber, green model for 'should we do it again?' would simplify this process and prevent us having to wade through graph after graph of data analysis)

Improved effectiveness will only come from innovation. Doing something different to the category, different to the norm and providing some genuine value to the people you want to buy your product or service. Yes, measurement and ROI analysis can be one of the inputs into the innovation and ideation process, but 'proof' can never be found to justify something genuinely new.

So it worries me that whilst 2007 saw many agencies and businesses invest in innovation departments, job titles and descriptions, the current 2008 climate is seeing our friend ROI turning up to every party, with his close friends 'guaranteed' & 'proof' tagging along.

It's a party with lots of conflicting and loud voices. I just hope everyone can get along and innovation isn't ushered out the back door for being too unreliable...

Balloonacy

I loved the Orange Unlimited and never ending website that Poke created for them to help advertise their unlimited texts campaign. It was a simple but clever idea, beautifully executed, and certainly took up a number of hours of my time.

I think perhaps it was a bit of a decadent use of marketing funds, but I would imagine the 'engagement' box was well ticked with very long dwell times. (Though I'd like to see that stats on how it did in social media)

Well, I think they've surpassed themselves on the 'wish I'd done that' stakes. They've only gone and created a brand new concept:

The digital nomad.

The world's first internet balloon race. Choose a balloon animal (corresponding to one of their four 'segment' tariffs - camel, dolphin, racoon or canary, which are now being launched on pay as you go). Give it a name and a purpose and wait for the race to start. (22nd June)

So what happens?

You guide your balloon across the web - visiting different web sites and collecting points for its travels. There's some interaction as you get your mates to support you and give you a boost. And in Sonic the Hedgehog style, different websites have different power ups that earn you more points / distance. Each animal has different characteristics (temperament and speed) - though it's not clear how these will play out in the game.

A widget for your web site / favourite social networking site will give you updates and allow your friends to see how you're doing.

You can even submit your webpage / social media page for inclusion in the great web journey. So not only do you compete and interact - you get to help set the course as well.

The balloon that goes the furthest wins some big prizes. (Ibiza trip, reflecting the age group they're targeting). And there are daily prize draws for good performers. But with something as involving and potentially entertaining like this, it's not just the competing for the big prize that matters - it's the ability to get stats & feedback to compare with your mates for social kudos. (As well as look at the stats for numbers of visits to your web pages).

In fact, if I could make one suggestion to Poke, it would be to include the ability to set up mini-leagues with my mates so its easy for this group banter (perhaps using the social media widgets)

So it looks like a blast, and certainly deserves to have success in terms of likeability, WOM, and engagement. It also gives Orange a whole bunch of emails and data to play with for future nurture / prospecting and conversion.

I guess my only challenge to Poke is to keep the interest levels up in the lead up and during the actual race. They've sensibly restricted the fun to 7 days, and are now generating as much buzz as possible in the anticipation of the event. But having signed up today, I've only received a perfectly pleasant email. I want more!

Whether this will work in terms of PAYG sales, who knows. And in fact, I'm actually not a fan of Orange's overall strategy of taking their segmentation into full customer-facing marketing, but that's another post.

But great to see something brave, new and interesting.

(Thanks to Pete Petrella for pointing this out - a brilliant digital creative chap)

So was difficult worth doing?

So they did it.

3 minutes of tense times on C4, particularly as they struggled with the 'N'. And a nice moment, when we see 'hello mum' written in crude pen on the gloves of one of the sky divers. (Rather bad shot of the car though, but we'll forgive them that as it was live.)

2.2 M watched the live ad (Guardian). There was an increase from 2M to 2.2M when the ad was shown according to unofficial overnights. So a minimum of 200K actively engaged?

I managed to miss the 'live' event, but I guess that's not the point. It's about planning to be to be talked about too.

And is it working?

Well 52K hits on You Tube in 4 days. Who knows how many hits Honda have on their site.

Blog Pulse doesn't show a massive increase, but we'll see in the next few days.

Over on Creative Review, the comments are slightly flat.

Personally, I think in the world of PVRs, making appointment to view advertising is a good idea, and I admire W&K / Honda for their bravery. But it's interesting that the ad is linked to the Accord rather than just being a Honda brand piece. Yes, there's a shot of the car on the ground, but let's be honest, the product has nothing to do with the ad and vice versa. For me Cog was stronger as the product was intrinsically vital to the ad's success.

But they've got a long way to go to meet the 1M+ who watched cog on You Tube. It's going to take a lot for the live ad to go viral.

Will the ad make a long-term effective impact on people outside of the advertising community...?

Britain's Got Talent?

I might be wrong, but I reckon that CHI were inspired by Britain's Got Talent when developing their ad for drench water....

Drench Ad?



(you want to look at about 1 min in for the best bit...)

Britain's Got Talent?




Thanks to Simon Law for helping me spot that possible link...

Trade on Trust

About a year ago, at my last agency, I pitched (unsuccessfully) for Royal Mail communications planning. The big idea that we had (thanks to Simon and Graeme) was for RM to transform their SME database into an active and living online community where other people (businesses or consumers) could rate and review SMEs. Rather than a static listing with just the address and web page, SMEs would be humanised.

(...the people behind the numbers, you might say!!!).

We called it 'Trade on Trust'.

It was a big idea, and perhaps too much of a stretch for Royal Mail at the time. But given recent experience with builders, trust is so important in choosing your hired help.

We needed some builders. We went on the East Dulwich Forum. There were quite a few recommendations, but 'Tom & Jay', stood out a mile for their glowing reports. We phoned them, got them in and got a quote. They were about 30% more expensive, and of course, we had to wait 8 weeks more to get them in. The rational brain said that they couldn't possibly be that much better. But then the emotion kicked in. This is the house we want to stay in for years, we really want it to be perfect.

And of course, the emotions won, and we're now living in a tip as Tom and Jay (& Dirk) are at work. As with any building project, the costs already seem to be spiralling.... 'No, that wasn't quoted for.' ... 'actually this would look a lot better with a new wood flooring...'. Hmmm.

And yet, even though I rationally know that we might be being overpriced, the thought of getting another builder / carpenter etc. in for these additional jobs, seems like a bit too much effort. (Which I'm sure is what Tom & Jerry, sorry Jay, are expecting.) But if this was a scam, surely the East Dulwich Forum would have some luke-warm reviews?

I've always suspected that the only reviews written are those that are either really positive or those that are really negative. And who wants to say on a review that they think they might have been ripped off? Particularly when they look at their finished masterpiece and they're filled with emotional pride. (And I have to admit that T&J are doing an excellent job).

Perhaps we have artifically inflated reviews akin to the Hawthorne Effect?

So how can people like me get a 'real' sense of who to trust for projects like this?

Can businesses really 'trade on trust'?

I am sure that there is still an opportunity waiting to be grabbed by a business that has both national scale and local relevance. (Royal Mail / Post Office, Yell, Thomson, Trinity Mirror, BBC, ITV, Job Centre Plus....) But to make it a success, this online resource /portal would need to have a pretty complex recommendation algorithm. Not just an 'average'. An algorithm that measures recency, importance, semantics, context, validity & volatility.

So maybe we'll have to leave it to Google then.