No Snipers at Terminal 5

anything but

From a security standpoint a good thing, from a marketing point of view - bad.

Terminal 5 in London has generated press and hype for many reasons over the past year, from a marketing standpoint being lauded as the next generation of user engagement - with over 300 digital screens positioned around the airport.

With all the technology at the hands of the marketer’s, the promise of a more targeted approach to outdoor advertising seemed to be here.

Unfortunately, it is anything but.

I appreciate that while we are still some way off actually identifying ' all ' passengers while in transit on a personal level, I feel a little disappointed that very little effort has been made at the very least addressing ' the group ' or where possible engaging on a one to one level.

During my entire visit not once was I prompted to download content to my mobile phone - despite many media screens running what can only be described as ' looped ' traditional TV spots – amazingly there was not one interactive screen.

T5 makes use of escalators and transit train to take you from the main part of the airport to the aircraft departures, only three static posters for a journey which takes over 15 minutes.

It went from an intense jumble of adverts all competing for attention in the main shopping areas to desert like barrenness in large portions of the airport.

marketing Desert marketing technology advertising interactiveBrand clutter

The one oasis in all of this was from a single brand – HSBC who continues to sponsor the jetties and pontoons which connect you to the aircraft – still all in traditional static format.

All of this considered it just goes to show the technology does not give an advantage if used ineffectively.

Adding Context

Something a little different from Penguin publishing.

marketing technology

The first in a series of 6 digital books :

"21 steps by Charles Cumming" which uses Google Maps to add context to the story.

trevor attridge marketing technology
marketing technology

You need to get out more

With the ever increasing accessibility to media there is little need to venture out into the wilderness (especially with this winter weather expected over the Easter break)

News, TV programmes and music are all delivered to our homes 24x7. Time shifted programming, PVR's and music services that learn our preferences and recommend entertainment based on these means our choice is huge – the reasons to leave the sofa are becoming less and less, as Robert Putnam highlighted - the bowling alleys of America are empty.

But what if you do fancy some ‘ old skool ‘ live entertainment?

The challenge

Having as most a music library that is digitally stored and accessed (therefore running into thousands of songs) does mean most of us have a music taste which is generally more varied than our predecessors.

In the past keeping an eye out in the press for tours of bands and artists was a hit and miss affair, relying exclusively on the promotion of these artists to make connections with their fan base.

A new service called SongKick aims to change this.

Working through a plugin to iTunes or Media player SongKick scans your music library and matches your library and recently played songs to up and coming tours. In addition to this based on your tastes it makes recommendations for other artists which may whet your appetite for an evening out.

Users

We are all time precious - it makes the job far easier than relying on listing and advertising, by also adding recommendations it opens up other avenues of music.

The record company

It gives an immediacy - ‘ we are in the zone ‘the recommendations are relevant to us – with all this choice we act like butterflies dipping in and out of each media channel , capturing our attention when it is most relevant is key.

Bands

For new breaking artists it gives a chance for them to be recognised who may not have a record contract but are touring venues it opens up a new audience to their music.

SongKick recognises tapping into Word of mouth for promotion of music is also essential, ( portals such as MySpace evolved from a user base whose love of music underpinned the service ) so provides plugins which displays tour dates and links to tickets for artists it’s users are blogging about.

Maybe some things are better not spoken about, but while writing this I’ve been alerted Neil Diamond is on tour .. best get those tickets booked.

Look whose talking.....

Measurement is a good thing

As the saying goes, how can you manage something if you cannot measure it in the first place ?

Measuring the buzz around your brand can be a tough, with multiple media channels to manage it is no longer a simple case of scouring over the newspapers, performing customer surveys and watching the news to find out what people are saying about your brand.

Internet measurement has traditionally been a case of using web metrics such as page impressions to gauge a relative popularity, but this in most cases is showing you the past – you are seeing the effects rather than the cause.

Identifying , listening , understanding and engaging in these conversations is now part of the marketing mix – Blair Witch with its huge online following before the films release proves that this is a space where must all now operate and understand.

Here and Now – Are your key and emerging markets where you think they are ?

What you need is the now, the present, where and what are people talking about.

You are a chocolate sauce manufacturer and your sales are soaring without any significant change to your traditional marketing strategy – what is the cause of this ?

In the online space wisdom would point you to the cookery blogs to find out what people are saying, but are your key influencers actually there?

You may have a large pocket of ‘ chatter ‘ in one place but are these people the real brand advocates or those who have already been influenced and while valuable, may not be the right people you need to engage for further product launches.

You also find that upon investigation, this group of people are indeed fans of your product but not responsible for the increase in sales or interest on your site.

Yes directly engaging all customers in some form of market research will eventually glean this information – but how fast and nimble is this process?

Companies participation in forums and blogs is an essential part of managing this relationship – but without some help you may be missing advocates and influencers by focusing in the wrong place.

Lets also not forget this is a big task and not always top of the marketers priorities.

marketing technology

Help is at hand

Marketing technology tools are now coming to the market which in essence scour the internet for conversations about your brand and it’s competitors.

Buy using such technology companies are now able to build maps measuring and reporting these conversations looking for key phrases and associated words - for example the number of times I use your brand name and other favorable words, thus identifying me as an advocate ( or not ).

These maps can identify the flow of these conversations ( key ) along with the most active and influential by seeing the connections in and out of these people.

marketing technology

The horse has bolted.

By coupling this with my relationships or ‘ connections ‘ marketers are able to build visual relationships between users, groups and forums allowing them to engage and monitor these conversations.

Just one example of its application is the ability to be able to respond to possible PR disasters from this chatter.

Sony were able to issue a PR statement highlighting their care in response to ‘ chatter ‘ that was emerging on the net surrounding there paint adverts, moving themselves into a proactive rather than a reactive position – it allowed Sony to see the shape of the crash and respond accordingly.

The human element

Now you may be thinking that using technology solves the issue, that large data centers will now be chugging away sucking in data and spitting out hit lists of users for the marketing department to bombard; not quiet.

Fortunately for us ( the consumer ) all of this data does need interpretation to give context and meaning.

Just like any other form of market research these maps showing the flow of sentiment and conversations require the human touch to gauge it’s importance and also ensure that our brilliant ability for sarcasm does not suddenly mean efforts are wrongly targeted.

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links :

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Seer - VML

Truview - Visible technologies