Can Your Brand Design this Kind of Conversation?

And make it an experience worth having - and talking about. [YouTube 4:05]

That's exactly what T-Mobile has been doing with the help of Saatchi & Saatchi UK. Last time it was the Liverpool Street Station dance. This time it was Trafalgar Square with 13,500 people and 2,000 microphones.

[hat tip Richard Huntington, who's actually worked on the project]

Now, do you actually care if some of them didn't know the lyrics? This is goosebumps stuff. Life is for sharing, that's why people use Twitter and FriendFeed and all the other social networks - for the emotional connection.

That has tremendous social value and cannot be controlled or manufactured, it has to sound and feel real. It turns out that there are some things money can buy - your ad could be buying this kind of experience where people become the actors.

I do realize that talking about emotional connection is different from designing an actual event or series of events that will continue to raise the bar on surprise, delight and putting the customers at the center of the conversation. Why not try? Why continue to fabricate the perfect model or prop instead of letting your customers express something they want to say?

There is no substitute to getting people together in one place, to helping them communicate with each other, feel the connections forming, even if for that one shared experience and memory.

Can your brand design that kind of conversation?

Comments

[Christa M. Miller]

Valeria, what if it doesn't occur to the customers to talk? How do you find which ones and where they are, and encourage them to talk?

At a conference this past week, a client discovered a customer who was VERY happy with the product, but had never provided feedback about it.

We want to reach out to ask them to work with us on case studies. Will that be enough to encourage others to speak up, or are there other methods (emails soliciting feedback, multiple contact options via website) that work better?

[Christa M. Miller]

Clarifying -- when the customer isn't even thinking about talking. They buy the product, they use it. Doesn't that present a different level of challenge to the client to get them to provide feedback, much less join a conversation?

[tom martin]

Valeria

While a very interesting and fun idea/video, where was the conversation? I like the video and glad I saw it and the 4 min of my life I spent on it was well worth it, but other than that... seems like it was an ad not a conversation. It was public karaoke and little more.

Would it have been more powerful if T-mobile had done something more like this:
http://budurl.com/tsdn

Use the product to build the message. Seems cooler and certainly more real than an expensive, staged ad while still retaining the entertainment and viral quality all brands seek. Same concept but I'd argue far better execution.

@TomMartin

[kare anderson]

And he is complimented by others imitating his format. We loved it so much we put the art-as-ad on our group blog on what makes people stick together - Ugluu

[Jason Falls]

Hey Valeria. Thanks for sharing this. I've always liked the group collaboration kind of guerrilla tricks that are buzz-worthy. This was no different because it kind of gives you a point of connection with the humanity in the world.

Thanks to T-Mobile for that.

BUT

How many phones/plans did it sell? I'd venture to say not many. (Anecdotal guess, but still.)

It's one thing to do something worth talking about. It's another to do something worth talking about that leads people to consume, use or buy. Where's the call to action here? Did all 13,000 people go buy phones? Did anyone?

For branding purposes -- to make people feel good about T-Mobile -- it probably worked. If that was their only goal, they probably are very happy. But you gotta sell phones and plans to stay in business and make spends like this worth it.

Two cents from a dumb guy.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Christa - a shared experience may help those customers who would not consider or think about talking share their opinion and comments.

@Tom - there is a whole YouTube Channel where you can see how people are using their phones to video the event and interviews after the event are showcased. It's aptly names - life's for sharing
http://www.youtube.com/user/lifesforsharing

I do like that T-Mobile did not push to include their phones specifically or too visibly in the commercial. As a marketer, I go out of my way to avoid brands that are too pushy : ) It could also be because I don't like to talk about my personal stuff that I prefer the public shared experience route.

@Jason - I encourage you to bookmark Richard's blog then, because in the post and comments he says there will be a follow up on results. As a consumer, the more calls to action you put at the end of your message, esp. if it's an experience, the harder I avoid you. Maybe that's just me? I'd refrain from adding the "dumb guy" clause :) Your comment is spot on from someone who practices marketing and may sound a bit forced.

[Scott Bourne]

You could spend lots and lots and lots of time trying to quantify and prove to your manager that this very specific promotion produced XXX sales against XXX invested or....

You could simply improve your product and your customer relationships doing more of this and take note at the end of the quarter that sales were up.

[John Daniels]

Wow, there are some so-called marketers in this thread who would be doing us a favor getting out of the business. You've become such slaves to your own vocabulary, you now confuse the terms "conversation" and "propaganda."

Valeria is right: this a conversation. But it's not about phone features or pricing -- it's about humanizing technology. Get people engaged on this level, and the specifics of phone contracts become trivial.

Get it now? Or do you need me to print a synopsis in pink crayon for you? T-Mobile pink, of course.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Kare - when I watched the video, I felt a connection, and I wasn't even there.

@Scott - always start with the product and service. Why do people buy the iPhone? Is it the call to action, or is it the cool stuff they can do with it? Over and over, I hear that it's the product and the Apple service.

@John - people can get excited about features and benefits of a phone only so far. It's when the smiles come out, when their step is a bit lighter, when they feel good about themselves for being there, that's when they will insist on being part of it. Well put - humanizing technology. Phone = connection, you do with it what you want.

[Mark Northern]

There's not much "call to action," but there is a distinct "call to feelings." In a day when most consumers are filled with mistrust of most corporate entities (cynicism all mine), a call to feelings makes shrewd sense. This viral video also made me want to get back to London soon.

Just another .02 (.045 - adjusted for inflation) worth.

[Christopher Ming Ryan]

Valeria:

I enjoyed your post and think that big brand advertisers have to think differently when they talk to consumers on TV and on the web.

I used this same spot on my post this week as well.

Take a read and let me know what you think:

Television Viewers are Renters - Web Users Are Owners:

http://christophermingryan.typepad.com/thewaywewatch/2009/05/television-viewers-are-renters-web-users-are-owners.html

[Diego]

I'd like to add one thing, it's "Hey Jude" by The Beatles in the UK, a song that connects people, it's the song not the product.

This performance was so emotionally powerful than the product is not the telephone company but the value of singing along and feeling the energy of human connection.

[CK]

As marketer, person, Beatles fan and fan of fun-and-silly events... what is not to love about this? I could understand if it was "too forced" or too salesy, but it wasn't. And that's what made it so successful and feel-good. Geez, in this hard time we need more feel-good experiences that bring us together.

The thing is, and this is a great example, a brand can plan the event... but then it has to step (way) back and let the people at it. That takes bravery (because ppl can make it soar or sink) and it takes giving them a great experience rather than a sales pitch.

BTW, while it wasn't a sing-a-long, I will never forget the tremendous (!) experience that CNN gave we NYCers on Election Night in Times Square with a big-screen, an area to watch the results, hot cocoa, popcorn and tons of strangers (who became fast friends) to let us enjoy the election results. While it was a CNN feed of election results, it was just like it was on TV and didn't force any extra sales pitches on us... it just let us congregate, socialize, cheer and be together. As a result? I now have new friends from all over Europe (yep, foreigners flew in for the election--which made it all the more special) and here in NYC. And it made me even more loyal to CNN because it gave us a space to enjoy the event, but it didn't control us. 30 of us even went out to celebrate right after until dawn and new friends were made all around. So, while CNN hosted the event, the experience was all "ours." Brilliant all around.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Mark - thank you for adjusting for inflation. We'd want to stay as factual as possible... good hearing from you.

@Christopher - I like your post and the analogy a lot. I just might go ahead and share it in my Twitter stream :) Your assessment of the psychology of sharing to build self-esteem is spot on with what I observe. People do "claim ownership of the ad/content with the act of sharing it." We want to me missed, to count, to have value.

@Diego - something I had overlooked. Yes, the choice of song makes a big difference. Hey Jude was written to cheer a very special person up, and so choosing it is sending god energy to a crowd of people that now more than ever are facing difficulties in their lives.

@CK - stepping way back is something that marketers have a very hard time doing. They don't seem to trust that people will feel and connect without their help to control the experience. Good for CNN. It was probably not such a huge deal for them to do that, probably even much less expensive than a traditional ad buy. But they put themselves squarely where their viewers were that night. They created the opportunity to share an experience, which you will not forget. Great example, thank you.

[replica rolex submariner lover]

I am now designing a cosmetic logo for a company, they prefer using fonts which are "slim" but elegant. What font is more suitable for cosmetics brand design??
Is their any suggestions?

[CK]

@Valeria: Indeed, it was not that expensive. They took advantage of a new area in Times Square, had some hot beverages and snacks and aired their regular broadcast (so the screen and stereos were the most expensive items is my guess).

But they gave us an experience we otherwise would not have had... that "gave us an experience" is the key, as you point out. And it worked well for them in branding, loyalty, as well as airing footage of us. Well done all around. Thanks for letting me share it from a participant's viewpoint... not just a marketer's.

[Ben Brown]

They actually just review this campaign at Conversational Capital. Likewise, they take a friendly stance on it-and for good reason. What an awesome communication technique!

Check it out here: http://conversationalcapital.com/category/authors_posts/