The people I'd recruit to help to save the world if the end were nigh



With 2012 looming one month away, maybe now is the time to consider what would happen if the new-year were to strike an end to society as we know it.


So, if the end of the world were nigh I'd recruit the following four people to help establish a new world order:


Recruit 1: Gok Wan (The Motivator)
This man is able to motivate body conscious women into stripping down and flouncing down a catwalk in front of hundreds of strangers - and feel great about it! Gok’s motivational abilities would be invaluable when developing a new world order.

He is also known for adapting his outfits and is able to see potential in otherwise useless material, using it to  the best of its ability. This transferable skill would be advantageous if faced with limited resources post ending-event.


Recruit 2: Seth Goddin (The Marketer)
As the master of marketing, Seth Goddin would be able to promote strong relationships between members of the community, and in particular between citizens and leaders. He knows how to keep customers happy and so may be key in preventing future revolt.


Recruit 3: Professor Robert Winston (The Scientist)
Robert Winston’s scientific speciality would allow him to objectively investigate behavioural traits and offer empirical recommendations in running the world order. The insight gained from understanding people cannot be over stated.

He is also medically trained.


Recruit 4: Sir Alan sugar (The Innovator)
As a straight talking entrepreneurial innovator, Alan Sugar may have a lot to offer the world order.  He has solid financial understanding and has shown he is able to source out and invest in promising ideas and promising people.


I believe the attributes of this team would allow the dynamics of an evolving neo-community to be truly understood, and so facilitate sustainable development. The hardworking ethos of these individuals would promote a positive and collaborative environment.


Alas, we can all rest assured knowing that, if faced with New Year destruction, everything will work out fine. This leaves only the last minute Christmas shopping and food feast calorie-count to get our blood pressure rising over the festive period. 

Eurostar Lamest Excuse Campaign, Who Knew? He didn't.

I recently came across Eurostar’s ‘lamest excuse campaign’; an intriguing and engaging campaign which invited consumers, across different social media platforms, to share their most feeble of reasons for wanting to travel to Europe.

Suggestions included a necessity to replace a dilapidated wine supply; A desire to return a French bread dog to its capital city; and a solution to overcoming the chore of shaving! Across six heats, public vote determined the most popular upload and the lucky creator won a pair of tickets to their European destination of choice. There was further opportunity for one of these six to win a year’s free Eurostar travel through the documentation of their journey.

http://europe.eurostar.com/lamestexcuse/

The aim of the campaign was to educate the audience on the services’ ability to act as a connection to European destinations further afield and to challenge the view that it is a one stop train to France.

So, with this initiative ticking all the boxes of incorporating education, branding and user generated content to share across social media content, why was participation so modest? On the YouTube channel a total of 41 video up loads were made, with the most popular video being viewed only  1, 556 times!

Maybe it was because no one knew?

At a recent interview I attended I discussed this Eurostar campaign, but the guy grilling me on the other side of the table hadn’t a clue what I was going on about. This was bad news for Eurostar; Firstly because my interview was at an advertising agency giant and it’s these peoples’ job to know what communication is occurring out there; and secondly because this person was a regular user of the Eurostar service. This was contemporary news and he was a contemporary customer!

Granted, he may have not been in the primary targeted demographic (I suggest this was students as the campaign was designed to inspire travel within a group of people who were media savvy and had free time but little money)- But the message was still relevant to him even if the participation element was not.

Some important points can be taken from this;

Firstly (and obviously); although it has been found spending resources on maximising frequency is more efficient than spending it on maximising reach (big up to Seth Goddin, ‘Permission marketing, Turing Strangers into Friends and Friends into Consumer’), reach cannot be totally neglected!..

Next; Advertising is education. Like in education, the best results are seen when the information is reworked through different mediums. Not only does this allow the message to be reinforced, it plays a vital role in directing the consumer to your content.

The internet is a crazy content over loaded haystack, and you are just one needle wanting to prick the unsuspecting consumer.  An interested consumer is more likely to act upon information when their attention has been caught by relevant bait…