Could travel agents learn from Heston?

Someone sent me a link to this film at the weekend, it's all about a project Heston Blumenthal commissioned earlier this year to build the excitement of a trip to The Fat Duck for his diners.



Like A Kid In A Sweet Shop. from The Neighbourhood on Vimeo.


I thought it was an interesting way of turning the negative of a two month wait from booking to eating into something much more positive, something that can heighten the experience itself when it arrives.

There are a few other similar purchases that you could equate this to; waiting for your new car to be delivered, ordering a made to order piece of furniture, or booking a holiday.

When you consider the increasing pressure on High Street travel agents and operators as booking behaviour evolves to a DIY model, it feels like an opportunity to add much more value to the agent experience. Why stop at a brochure when - like Heston - you could be building anticipation from the moment the deposit is paid until the morning of the trip itself?

It could improve the experience for the customer, and it may even get them into the habit of conversing with the helpful agent (or operator) on a much more regular basis, which in turn makes a post trip review, recommendation and subsequent re-booking more likely to happen.

Some pro-active cruise companies and hoteliers are already taking advantage, instigating and maintaining a conversation that builds anticiptaion and improves the overall experience. The payback for them coming in the form of a stronger customer relationship, a higher chance of a positive customer review and benefical word of mouth occurring pre trip, as well as post.



Encouraging WOM post trip: Hotel reception card prompting a review on Trip Advisor

Changing behaviour towards recycling

Changing attitudes is one thing, changing behaviour is another challenge entirely. Take recycling for instance. How do we encourage more people to recycle? We can educate them through all sorts of rational arguments, ones that they will nod along in agreement with, but will it actually result in changing their behaviour? In reality, people are much more likely to recycle if it's made rewarding for them and if it's made easy for them, that is to say they don't have to do much different to usual.

A door step service may be the gold standard but is it sustainable? Recycling sites are the next best option but could they do a better job?  I saw an unfamiliar approach in Portugal recently. Their recycling containers are underground. I'm assuming the approach was taken because of the high summer temperatures, but take a look at the picture below. It looks good, user friendly, almost a fun experience to recycle.

Underground recycling in Portugal

Imagine if sites looked like this in the UK. It would mean we could fit more sites into urban areas, it would mean less NIMBY opposition to sites appearing in more places, which in turn would make it more convenient for people to drop off their own recycling at these extra sites. Not only that, if sites looked more appealing (and maybe highlighted the amount of refuse recycled each month) it would become a more rewarding experience for people.

It's worked in the past, way back in 2006 a Lewisham council scheme encouraged more recycling by making it more fun. They painted the recycling refuse bins black and white to resemble Friesian cows. So now, people weren't just recycling, they were 'feeding the cows'.

The result? It increased recycling loads by 60%. Not bad for the cost of 2 tins of paint.

Feeding the cows in Lewisham 2006

Still feeling proud to be British?

Four weeks have now passed since Danny blew us away with sheep, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Mr Bean, the NHS, Bond and countless other emblems of these shores.

It felt good to be British, even better than that, it felt okay to say that it felt good to be British, we knew half the world wouldn't get it and that made it even better, even more British. I watched it in a pub, i've never witnessed people cheering Mary Poppins before.

So what now? Well, four weeks on, if that feeling is on the wane, help is at hand through a nationwide project that anyone can take part in as a thank you to Danny and a chance to browse countless Tumblr images that bring back that friday night feeling all over again.

A good friend of mine, Mr Jim Thornton (@lordplumpton) came up with the idea and here's an excerpt from his recent article in the Huffington Post telling you about it...

... it made me more happy and proud and optimistic than anything I could ever remember. It represented all of the things which make me proud to be British, and none of the things that make me ashamed.

So just as Danny Boyle gave us a very personal gift, the memory of which will last a lifetime, I'd like to give him a personal gift in a similar vein from all of us. A book containing photographs of each person's interpretation of what makes this isle wondrous to them.
 
It's going to be called 'It's From Everyone'. We kicked it off via Instagram and Twitter three weeks ago and so far have over 1,212 photos posted on Instagram, and many more submitted via Twitter.

You can see a lot of them here at http://www.thiswondrousisle.co.uk/

But if it's to truly be from everyone, we need everyone to contribute.
It couldn't be easier: simply tag a photo that sums up what makes this isle wondrous to you with #thiswondrousisle on Instagram, on Flickr, or on Twitter and we'll do the rest.

And of course, if you like the idea, please, please tell your friends and spread the word.
It's a daunting task we've set ourselves, but we like to think that if Danny Boyle showed us anything, he showed us there's no limit to what we can achieve if we put our minds to it.

(you can read the full article here)

Here's my effort from 6:30am yesterday morning, get stuck in.

Molly the bear appreciating #thiswondrousisle

Saturday night: an Olympic sized shop window

Last Saturday night was a rather good one for me, for 80,000 people in Stratford and for a gazillion people watching on TV all over the country.

Jess and Greg were great and Mo Farah's race was the greatest bit of live sport I've ever watched. Hairs on the back of your neck don't even come close to the feeling everyone had up and down the country when he hit the front still with 400m to go.

Everyday we've seen wall to wall coverage of athletes achieving unimaginable feats of athleticism or - as they put it - letting their team and their country down under the shear weight of expectation that comes with 4 years of training for one single first round heat.

Having watched the first week's events, it turns out we're pretty handy at a lot of sports that are still effectively minority activities nationwide and in the large part ignored by school curriculums.

But it's not just the talent of our athletes that's impressive, it's the way they conduct themselves. They're humble. When was the last time that word appeared in a sentence alongside the name of a premiership footballer? Many of these athletes are supported by lottery funding, some have other jobs and all are making the ultimate sacrifice over four long years for their moment to shine.

This two weeks is the ultimate shop window for these sports. The beauty of the Olympics is that it's greater than the sum of it's parts. Minority sports will go back to being minority sports by October and only the most impressive of gold medal hauls will live on in the memory. So it feels all the more important to take advantage of this window of opportunity and encourage adults as well as kids to try something new. Yesterday's Times newspaper carried a small column on trying cycling, boxing, volleyball and hockey. Each obviously have their own organisations and 'give it a go' programs and while that's right for those that really seek it out, it doesn't feel like it's made easy enough for the majority of people.

Here's what i'd do...

1. Find our answer to 'Jamie Oliver' to become a highly vocal sporting figurehead in lobbying the government - backed by the media - over broader (and more competitive) sporting opportunities in schools. And get a debate happening this year.
2. Post games, run an Olympic led comms push around getting into these sports, utilising the current 2012 website that everyone is familiar with to maximise enquiries before disseminating to individual sporting bodies
3. Harness the spirit of volunteering and club ethos to provide opportunities for activity all over the country
4. Pressure official sponsors into investing in equipment to aid local clubs as part of the legacy
5. Focus on kids but don't exclude adults, if recent statistics are anything to go by, they're almost in greater need of exercise and making it fun is more likely to make participation happen 
6. And finally, do it quickly. It feels like we have until the end of the Paralympics before the euphoria starts to recede and our new found love of volleyball goes into hibernation for another 4 years

The mailing opportunity of a lifetime

Imagine the DM pack opportunity of a lifetime. A piece of mail that you haven’t just been expecting, you’ve actually been looking forward to. A package that rather than just binning without a second look, you pick up, tear open and pore over every last piece of literature inside.

Over a million people across the UK have received such a package in the last 4 weeks, so what’s inside? Well there’s your information guide, your free zone 1 to 9 tube pass, your sacred Olympic tickets and of course, some sponsors inserts.

Imagine that – as part of your £60m+ sponsorship fee, your brand can begin to benefit from the very first personal moments of Olympic fever becoming reality for millions of people across the country.

Inside my envelope that arrived last week, I received two pieces of communication from sponsors. An interesting looking set of key fobs from BP and a rather drab flyer from Lloyds TSB.

Lloyds TSB and BP Olympic mail inserts

My drab flyer turned out to be a Union Jack sticker or a ‘bib’ as Lloyds call it. Take a pic of myself with said bib, upload to their Facebookpage (having first ‘liked’ it), and I could be attending the Team GB closing party.

As for BP – visit their site, or scan their QR code to get there quicker (just), and use the code on the fob to offset the carbon from my journey to the Olympic Park as part of their ‘target neutral’ campaign. Not only that, once activated if I take my fob along to the park I can get a picture of myself in front of the stadium free of charge.

BP home page

Both have their merits, there was a time when uploading this, that and the other online was a sure fire way of turning everybody off – it was simply too much hassle. These days, with smartphone technology and a simple Facebook app, those barriers no longer exist. However I think this idea still falls short on two other counts. Just how willing is a consumer to ‘like’ your brand? My guess is not very, when you consider the industry Lloyds TSB operates in – a brief look at their Facebook page provided a mixed bag of ‘come on GB’ posts alongside ‘You ripped us off’/’excessive charges’ posts. But even more important than that, by offering a ‘star’ prize, most recipients are less likely to feel they have a chance of winning at all, and that just doesn’t feel very special, or very Olympic.

Lloyds competition app on Facebook

Contrast that with BP, a highly relevant environmental helping hand that everyone benefits from and can feel good about. Not only that, there’s a nice tangible benefit on your special day at the park as well – ensuring that the BP area will be awash with people rather than ignored in favour of more exciting experiences offered by the likes of Coca Cola.

The numbers who have taken part so far seem to reflect this – BP is currently just shy of 200,000 sign ups to what is a slightly clunky process though nicely personalised.

Unfortunately for BP, i'm racking up quite a bit of carbon from Guernsey

There i am, in the light green along with nearly 200,000 others

Lloyds on the other hand has amassed less than 100 uploads, spending just a few minutes on the Lloyds page you get the general feeling that so much (worthwhile) effort and attention has gone into their torch relay support, that this golden opportunity to build (or resurrect) the brand in the hands of millions of ticket holders has been somewhat overlooked in comparison to BP.

Is this the best supermarket in Britain?

It's been a while since the last post due to a bit of travelling. On those travels i came across Booths. I'd read about it before in the odd Sunday supplement but never had the good fortune to walk into one. What i experienced is how i think everyone wants a supermarket to be, quality products, value for money and old fashioned values in a comfortable, contemporary setting.

Unassuming from the outside

Clearly something was amiss the moment i walked through the door - not only was i confronted by a wheelbarrow extolling the virtues of the locally sourced veg, the veg in question, new potatoes, had mud on. Mud?! on veg? in a supermarket?

Stop Press - dirt on supermarket veg

Unnerved, i ventured down a few 'tinned' aisles - no bus stops, no 'great value' messages, just well signposted products, clearly priced. That had the inverse effect of making deals standout even more.

Clean, well lit shelving

I've never walked through the freezer section of a supermarket and thought 'what a pleasant place to shop, i must hang around here a bit longer', but that hanging around is usually inevitable given it's the hardest part of the store to navigate with everything behind glass doors or stowed away in chests. the picture below is the freezer section at Booths, though it could be easily mistaken for Carluccios, if that place had a freezer section.

A freezer area you don't mind hanging about in

This really pleasant ambiance and fresh food cues continued through the bakery and fresh food areas, with nice little touches like 'proper' scales, information on suppliers and a mushroom section that resembled something more like continental Europe than North West England.

Fresh Bakery section - ovens to the right

The Wine & Spirits area used curved shelving to create a bit of an oasis of calm (not that it were needed), again, the feel was more like a specialist wine seller than that of a supermarket, the friendly staff and 'tasting' events reinforced that further.

But it was two areas of the store in particular that resulted in me needing a double take. Everyone knows fresh orange juice from supermarkets is rarely that, fresh. So why not take a leaf out of the food market book - and squeeze it there and then, straight into the bottle. High quality, as fresh as you will ever get it and because of the theatre and transparency over what's in the bottle - the higher price point is justifiable for the shopper.

Freshness has a big impact on another product, ground coffee, so at Booths, they take a leaf out of the coffee shop book and sell the beans allowing you to grind them there and then to your desired taste before sealing and enjoying at home only hours later. Similar to the Orange Juice experience, you can tangibly see the quality of ingredients and the added value which again makes the price premium more justifiable.

I walked out through the suitably pleasant check outs wondering whether we'll see the big 4 looking more like this in a few years time. I hope so.

Make 2012 count

2012 is a big year in the UK and as the hosts of this year’s Olympics, we have a grandstand seat for the inevitable battle of brands associating themselves, officially or otherwise, with the sporting excellence, the excitement and the atmosphere of the greatest show on earth.

The usual battle between Adidas and Nike has started earlier than usual. Famed for one of the original large scale ambush marketing strategies at the 96 Atlanta games, Nike kicked off this year’s campaign in the very first week of the year and it’s already looking ominous for adidas.

‘Make it count’ is highly relevant because it builds on Nike+ themes of training and preparation rather than just focusing on the moment of truth, the victory. It uses strong GB medal candidates but focuses on their personal pledges, enabling Nike to then invite consumers to ‘make it count’ – a real strength when the ‘black out’ on competing Olympians in advertising starts in July. And crucially, it’s simple, the type of phrase that’s instantly understandable, embodies the brand ethos and could enter the national vernacular.

 

While London 2012 is being dubbed the first social media games, brands have to recognise that one crucial factor hasn’t changed – a good idea that engages an audience. The difference now of course is that engagement stretches far beyond watching an ad and talking to friends about it at work or school. Social media provides the tools for consumers to share, to comment, to interact and to contribute. A campaign can offer all of this opportunity but without one of four motivating factors, it’s unlikely to trigger engagement online…

1. Make me look good - asserting personal identity through association with the brand or idea such as charitable campaigns like Lance Armstrong’s ‘Livestrong’. In 2012 the energy company EDF and even Coke are pushing sustainability agendas, whether these will succeed remains to be seen.

2. Entertain me - be it games or exclusive content such as behind the scenes access to athletes is extremely valuable, especially in the build-up to the games. Nike, BMW and BA appear to be heading in this direction.

3. Inform me - Practical Knowledge that informs and educates will be a tough area for brands to compete in over 2012 given the might of the BBC, especially when you consider that the media centre in Stratford is the second largest building on the Olympic site.

4. Reward me - on the most basic level, consumers engage with a brand that gives them discounts and rewards. Usually the domain of FMCG sponsors, such as Coke and P&G, there is a danger that such ticket giveaways become highly transactional and don’t tend to drive deeper on-going relationship with the brand

BA young Britons press campaign

It ought to be a lot easier for a sports brand to inspire the nation around an engaging message than say a chocolate bar brand, but you only have to try and remember previous adidas campaigns to realise that it takes more than an official association to make your mark.

P&G cross brand promotion offering tickets to purchasers

Condemning adidas at this stage would be premature, as an official sponsor, they are more likely to focus their activity around the games themselves but this carries some risks. Nike has effectively got a 7 month head start to build momentum and on the strength of January, it’s not good news for adidas. If the campaign continues to evolve and amateur sportsmen and women take it on board, the notion of ‘making it count’ may cease to be an ad strapline and turn into something bigger, a mind-set, a point of view, a sound bite that becomes the property of the people rather than the brand, and unfortunately that’s something adidas won’t be able to rely on as part of their £50m sponsorship package.

Do consumers really need to participate?

It’s been flavour of the month for a few years now but we’re still seeing brands use the misguided objective of consumer participation and ‘engagement’ within their communications and as a direct result of that, they continue to ask far too much of consumers themselves.

Like any objective, ‘engagement’ needs to be measurable – what exactly do we mean by engaging somebody? And to what degree? Getting a ‘like’ on Facebook is not going to tick that box as the widely circulated example from Futurelab illustrates…

Futurelab’s analysis of the 20 most-fanned celebrities on Facebook reveals that the number of “core fans” is significantly lower than the actual fan count. To compute the core fan count, the number of times each fan has commented on the page was calculated, and then the average taken - any fan whose comment count is higher than the average was classified as a “core fan”.

As of 12 May 2011, Eminem had over 41 million fans and Lady Gaga over 39 million fans. But the  average number of posts per fan for Eminem’s fan page was 1.17 while the average number of posts per fan for Lady Gaga was 1.82.

Eminem’s core fan count (i.e. fan whose comment count is higher than the average) is a paltry 575 and Lady Gaga core fan count is just 1,231. That’s just 0.001% and 0.003% of their overall fan numbers.

The lack of engagement doesn’t stop there. Because of the way content from fan pages syndicates into Facebook users’ news feeds. Unless someone has actively interacted with your page, they won’t receive your updates.  So the content is unlikely to be amplified and spread amongst fans and their own networks.

Brands need to recognise that a great idea can achieve active participation amongst the few, the challenge is how to best amplify this idea and participation in a way that will connect with the broader audience, often through mass communications that use the idea to reflect on the business as a whole. There are parallels with sponsorship – it’s often quoted that you need to be spending twice as much on the activation of your sponsorship as the contract cost itself. I touched upon O2’s use of their ‘priority’ service last week and after reading an excellent post Martin Weigel’s blog “The Enduring Power Of Stuff That Isn’t Useful And Why ‘Utility’ Will Not Overthrow Magic”, I thought these two further examples from Best Buy and Nike were also particularly pertinent given how well known both examples are, and how they are often cited for their successful participatory nature.

By 2010, Best Buy’s Twelpforce had responded to over 29,000 questions and accumulated 26,837 followers on Twitter. But consider this, it was the largest electronic retailer in the country - it takes a lot of shoppers to generate revenues of $4.4 billion in the month of December 2010. Consider too the sheer breadth of its offering, and that there are 245,267,292 people aged 15 years and over in the United States many of whom will presumably be in the market for some kind of electrical goods. And remember that the service was promoted through TV advertising as well as in-store-messaging. Suddenly it begins to feel as if that utility was actually delivered to and experienced directly by a relatively small population.

The Twelpforce had a much wider role than helping specific users, the mere availability of this service worked to elevate the brand’s reputation as being knowledgeable and responsive amongst a much broader population, even though they never took advantage of the service.

Another example is that of Nike+

According to data from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, in 2010 no less than 46,002,000 Americans ran or jogged 50+ days a year. Set against this, Nikeplus.com has a total global membership of close to 2,000,000. So given that the vast majority of the world’s runners clearly have not adopted Nike+, again one has to ask - does the big contribution of Nike+ lie in delivering an undoubtedly brilliant piece of utility to a few millions of committed, serious runners? Or does it lie in what that innovation communicates to the broader market for running gear? And what it does to sustain and bolster Nike’s running credentials - the roots of the company?

So rather than judging participatory ideas on immediate ROI or expecting mass participation and widespread ‘engagement’, brands need to instead consider the potential wider impact that a relatively small participation base could achieve.