whatnow

Leaving gaps in the story

There is a great talk by JJ Abrahm at TED where he talks about the unseen mystery. Faris has talked about curiosity gaps. We had a go at it ourselves with the Dolly Hill and Mindy Morgan pages on Facebook.

But tell me what is going on with this?

I assume that Mom has left. But is she dead? It seems like she is. But the kids seems very well adjusted - are they coping with the loss better than Dad? Would they be so chirpy if she'd simply walked out and left their Dad broken hearted? They'd harbour some simmering resentment that would come through, wouldn't they?

A piece of accidental genius.

Writing to be found

Charlie Brooker writes an interesting article in the Guardian today. After doing a column on the wrong-headedness of 9/11 conspiracies, he got a record number of comments. Obviously he hit on a web tinder box and so got loads of traffic.

He criticises the way journalists are encouraged to include SEO friendly terms in their copy to increase traffic and therefore revenue. I think he has missed the point a bit though - yes, we do advise clients to include SEO friendly phrases in their copy, but we spend more time making sure it is relevant. If someone is searching for Britney Spears, they don't want to read an article about shoes, they want to read an article on Britney Spears.

There is a little bit of skill needed, but I don't think it is turning writers into SEO slaves. We had one client who had some very nice copy written for their product catalogue which they used on the site. The only problem (online) was that the copy didn't mention the product name. We rejigged the copy a bit to include the name a couple of times and created a more SEO friendly version. That's not so bad, is it?

If journalists are encouraged to write to drive traffic to the site I think it probably says something about the advertising model those sites are using more than anything. And if you are paying for your ad to appear on the Guardian site, and you now know that their journalists are encouraged to deliver irrelevant traffic to their pages, doesn't it make you wonder what you are paying for?

Gambling - it's the future

It's been a while, eh? Sorry. And I'm off to Argentina on Saturday, so I won't be updating for a few weeks again.

In the meantime, I'll modestly leave you with the future of social networking.

I think one of the best applications of Web 2.0 thinking is Betfair. If you don't know it, go and join. Even if you disapprove of gambling you need to see it. It's a peer to peer betting service - you decide what odds you're prepared to give, that is entered into the market and other people decide if they'll take those odds. Unless someone has offered better odds.

They have released a game called TaiKai. This allows you to create a betting markets and gamble fake dollars on the outcomes. The genius bit is that you can then invite friends to bet on the same market. You pay to play - from £3 to £250 - and the person who bets best gets the pot.

It has some very well thought out social networking tools - the ability to make friends, a wall, message boards and tournament news.

I reckon it squarely meets Joshua's criteria of having personal or small scale value first, then expanding. I know a lot of friends who don't use Facebook much but who will be all over this when the football season gets going again...

Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated

Richard Prior apparently watched his obituary on TV while recovering from from setting himself on fire while freebasing. That's a weekend, eh?

Anyway, I seem to have a strange seesaw in my head. As soon as I form an opinion, I immediately notice everything in the world that proves it wrong. That said, I have never been entirely comfortable with the whole 30 second spot being dead argument. All I'm asking is for a URL on the TV ad and maybe 3% of your media budget. That's not too much to ask is it?

Is it?

Here's a few things I have seen recently. Make up your own mind about where we end up on the on vs. offline debate.

1. Have you seen the Drench ad? Everytime it comes on TV, everyone I'm with immediately clamours to proclaim their love for it in the loudest and most extreme way. My favourite at the moment is "I Sky+ things that I think it might be in the ad break of so I can show it to people who haven't seen it"

Haven't you heard of YouTube? Sigh.

2. I have a couple of friends who are media buyers. They tell me some interesting stuff. Apparently <a big supermarket chain> get £22 back for every £1 they spend on TV.

3. That new Berocca ad? Total rip off of OK Go! 157% sales uplift in week one.

4. Last year, the digital campaign of the year was the drumming gorilla, a TV ad no matter what way to play it.

5. This year, it will be the Nike TV ad, with the Cesc Fabregas show. Mark my words, the digital community will get together and honour a TV ad with a TV show attached. Hopefully Betfair will start a market on it.

6. Thinkbox.tv, the website for the TV industry, is soooooo much better, more useful, relevant, open, friendly chatty and all round digitally literate than the iab's website that it honestly makes me question my career choices to date.

I'll finish with that Drench ad.

Great media buying!

My father used to say, 'Let them see you and not the suit. That should be secondary.' - Cary Grant

My new favourite website.

Indochino

Why?

I like the idea. It is annoying that you know that you could get a suit made in China for a fraction of the price here.
The global outlook. Idea in the US, based in China, links with India, delivers worldwide.
The thought. The measurement system. They'll send you a free swatch. They'll alter it for free (up to $25). The just sent me an email saying that I can have a suit for $175 for my graduation, and I'll only have to pay the balance if I'm the best dressed guy at the party.
The charm. Look, I'm not sure this lad is cut out to be a fashion titan, but he's certainly giving it a fair go...
Transparency. You can see the tailors. They tell you how it is done.
It's natural. I pains me to say it, but I think these guys have naturally done what I spend hours trying to convince clients to do. We're on the wrong side of a generation gap. Well, I am. I don't know about you.
It's not perfect, the design is a bit wonky, the menus are a bit all over the place, but I really hope they do well.

I can't remember where I saw it first, sorry.

A mode of continuous existence

Scamp resurrected a thought that had been floating around in the back of mind for a while, which I'll attempt to convert into words...

Photo by Stepheye

I was watching the documentary a while ago about Stephen Hawking. (1. I love the fact that he won't change his voice. 2. I love the fact that even though he can only use his cheek muscle to communicate, he still says "Thank you" to people. I realise he probably has a short cut built in so it's maybe not that much of an effort, but still.)

The documentary finished with a description of string theory, something I have vaguely encountered before (Bill Bryson covers it, I think, and I go snowboarding with mathematicians.) without really getting it. However, it goes a little something like this.

What we see as "atoms" are in fact waves. We look at them end on, so see a single point. That single point actually stretches away from us, through 11 or so dimensions.

Anyway, Scamp's post made me think that  what are referred to as "ideas" in the traditional sense do not exist as such in digital. A website is a demonstration of what you ARE as an organisation. The "idea" at the heart of a site is a actually a continuous demonstration of your mode of existence.

I'm always telling people that clients get the website they deserve. Why is trainline so shit? Because train companies couldn't give a fuck about passengers. Why is national rail enquiries so good? Because train companies care deeply about timetables. Why won't those bell ends in Chester le street give up nationalrail.com? Because train companies are competing petty bureaucracies. Why is it impossible to contact a human being from Natwest's online banking sysytem? Because call centres cost money, and money is more important that customer service to a retail bank. Why is Howies so successful? Because they are nice people who care about stuff. Why does the innocent site feel a little contrived? Because innocent itself is a little contrived (thought up by two marketers with a gift for PR. I'm not necessarily implying an insult here, by the way. I like innocent.)

So, for me, it is a bit wrong headed to discuss digital "ideas". Particularly with the phenomenon of distributed identity. As I said before, you can't impose your brand values on youtube, twitter, facebook or whatever happens to be fashionable at the time. You need a voice, and that voice only really comes from inside.

So it doesn't really matter if you have a creative team of one, two, or three working on a short lived digital distraction. When your consumers interact with you on a deeper level, by trying to carry out some manner of interaction with your brand online, that all fades into dust.

You're so beautiful, you could be an air hostess in the 60's

Photo by Jax60

I recently flew from Berlin. I was a bit late for the flight. Lufthansa's fault, they got my check-in time wrong. As soon as I pointed that out, they reopened check-in and whisked me on asap. I bought a 60's style wall lamp in Berlin, and due to me being late, it wasn't loaded on to my flight. They apologised, and said it would be sent by courier the next day.

Guess what? It was! But it had been broken in transit. Not smashed to pieces, but there were several cracks that you would have to confess on Ebay if you were selling it. I was a bit annoyed, so fired off a letter to Lufthansa customer complaints.

Guess what? Within three days they refunded the cost of the lamp (directly into my girlfriend's account) and followed that up with a letter of apology.

So, thanks, Lufthansa. It's not often that you hear a happy story about how you were treated by an airline. I have told quite a few people that story, simply because of the novelty value of the happy ending. I would have sent you an email directly, but on your site I would have to fill in my name, address (full postal) flight number, nature of complaint and so on before I could tell you well done. I couldn't be arsed. I did it here instead. It must be horrible having to screen out the abuse so thoroughly that the nice gets blocked as well. I agree with Seth - better be open than closed.

Branded utilty

Branded Utility is a great concept. Junta 42 points out that this is what Google do, but calls it content marketing. (It seems to me that there are quite a few people creating different terms to describe the same concept - namely, giving cool/useful stuff away)

Anyway, with that in mind I wanted to mention the Dyson Airblade. I first encountered the Airblade at the Sainsbury's Store Support Centre (that's what they call their HQ in Holborn. I like that they call it that). It was a revelation. When I found it in a pub I mentioned it to my mate Tom, who went to the toilet even though he didn't need to, just to wash his hands.

You should have a look at the photos and comments on Flickr as well - "the best handdryer ever!"

This is a great piece of design and underscores Dyson's value and approach perfectly. When there are other cyclone Hoovers available, what better way to demonstrate that yours is likely to be the best than by solving another seeming non-issue through great design? Hat's off. I also love their TV ad. That said, I have a £25 Tesco hoover my girlfriends parents bought for us...

People are strange

Photo by Ste 71

Years ago, I worked on Mercedes Benz retail on a CRM project. The told me an interesting story. They were having real trouble converting people who answered "Yes" to the question "Are you considering buying a Mercedes in the near future?".

They commissioned some research and discovered that someone who said "No" to the question was in fact more likely to buy a new Merc.

It transpired that if you are think of spending a bundle on a car, you want to be left alone to make your own decision. So when requesting a brochure, a serious buyer will say "No" to the question, because they don't want to be hassled. However, those who simply wanted a shiny Mercedes brochure would answer "Yes", to give the appearance of a serious buyer.

They started following up people who said "no" and saw an immediate uplift in sales. Nice, huh?