Why door to door marketing is as bad as all the others ...

So a little rant today... :-)

I am wondering whether the x% of people companies reach through door to door marketing is worth the damage their image can suffer due to pushy and frankly crap sales people, and it's obvious opportunism. Now I assume that the recent increase of this I have experienced is due to measures to reduce that other incredibly annoying tactic - cold call telesales (in 2007, 14.8 Million numbers were registered exempt from cold calls). And, I guess one of the main reasons is that a company can be sure that they are reaching their target demographic directly, which much increase the percentage of success versus the effort they have to expend. 

In the last couple of months I have been door stepped by a couple of people from N-Power and EDF, both selling me identical services that apparently "... are only available today, on this street!" (their emphasis). Services identical to my current British Gas offer too, by the way. 

What really made me think about this though, was a visit from an Aviva salesman. Who's pitch for health insurance, was based around how bad the NHS is. Now this is an interesting departure. Never mind that I have absolutely no interest in talking about paying for my health on a cold Tuesday afternoon on my own doorstep, but to start your story by disparaging a competitor (which is what the NHS is) feels like a throwback to the pre-internet era. It feels incredibaly naive when you consider how available data and stories are today–and how much it could expose Aviva (or any other insurance provider) to extra scrutiny. 

Their attack on the failings of the NHS was based on data - as along with our schools, it is now one of the most analysed institutions around. It seems an unfair fight when Aviva are not currently subject to the same scrutiny, and are not judged by the same metrics. It also of course, opens a political debate - and I'm not too sure that the barely 20 year old lad who was selling this policy would have been ready for a heated public/private debate, had he stumbled across someone up for that fight.

Anyway - I walked away with the impression of a company attempting to profit on the (necessarily public) failings of one of our public services, and asking me to disengage from my interest in the success of that service to invest in my own private wellbeing, and ultimately, make their shareholders some more money. That does not seem a good deal to me, and it's not a good reflection on them either...

harumph!

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wonderful storytelling - http://youtube.com/searchstories?x=R31ge09jaXw

if only the movies were as elegant...

R.

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Reading Spa

Here is a thought: that you can't be a good shopper if you don't know what you are looking for. But what happens when you are looking to be inspired or entertained? How do you shop for ideas?

Seems to be that this bookshop has the right idea by overlaying the therapist's couch onto the proposition of book buying - and ending up with an intimate, guided customer experience.

And isn't the best bit of reading buying the book? The expectation of a beautiful cover, the smell of new pages, the tease of blurb… all that anticipation for a thrilling story - or maybe that is just me. Maybe this is a side effect of having worked in Publishing.

At Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath (what a name!), you pay £55 and in return you have 45min chat with an expert bookseller over tea and cakes who will help diagnose your needs - likes and dislikes, info on special gems and new releases - and make recommendations. You will walk out with £40 worth of books that you have chosen during the session.

Even better, you can then sojourn to the Reading Booth to get right into the act of reading, along with a few extra treats to extend the experience into your home - a mug and hot chocolate, music, tickets to a literary event. It could be the beginning of a beautiful new relationship with paperbacks.

Seems that this level of personal attention is hard to replicate in the digital world and that despite the empowerment of being able to make our own choices in a world of proliferated content - a cup of tea and a chat is still a valid solution to finding the best content for our needs.

Why so sad...?

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Distributed Technology

So not so much an emerging trend, but a long delivered promise re-localisation is apparently underway... I heard a recent story on the radio that spoke about the growing eco-power technology industry. What caught my attention was a segment that covered the principle of rewarding community contribution. In somewhere in a small German village is a scheme that does two things. 1 - pays people when they give power back to the national grid (old news) and 2 - pays for providing the local community the heat that is a by product of the energy creation. 

This technology is now at the scale where we could all become mini-power stations - but it is also smart enough to utilise the by-products as well. An finally, the government is smart enough to incentivise people to make the effort to establish these systems. Nice.

This concept of distributed technology is also showing up in the open source hardware platform - Arduino (www.arduino.cc) - which is essentially an enabler that rewards dedication and passion to learning the platform with greater results in people's experiments. The potential of the technology+passion+community+competition equation is probably huge...

Now of course there is a counterpoint to this idea of distribution, as the Swiss government looks to centralise the country's identity - http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?fa_id=492 - recognising the power of brand, their response is homogenisation and consolidation. 

Although there is only a loose link between these ideas, they do throw up an interesting challenge. What is balance between the individual and the wider community in solving problems? How much is carrot (paying for power put back into the national grid), how much is stick (are Switzerland's going to mobilise a brand police?) and how much is enterprise and entrepreneurship (let's see what the community generates with Arduino that isn't just 'toys')?

RT

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great idea - http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/maeda/2009/08/blogging-as-management-not-mar.html

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"The ability to create a website is an indispensable skill. Learn HTML as soon as possible." - www.newmindspace.com

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Testing the mood...

There's a very interesting tension showing up in the media that people are consuming, and the messages that are taking hold in popular imagination. 

On the one hand, we are frequently and widely see the words "Keep Calm and Carry On". A reprint of one of a series of Second World War posters which has gained currency mainly due to it's level headed-ness. It inspires a great sense of shared community and spirit, which has great relevance and power during these uncertain times (although what times are ever certain...?).

On the other hand however, we see a trend of popular media becoming darker. Twilight (not O.C, or 90210 etc...) is the teen smash of the year, Let the Right One In has been widely hailed as a great piece of (dark) movie making, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is not only dark, but retells a popular classic in this new context.

The main opportunity here seems to be in the gap between the outward message of the collective, and the inward message of the individual. And understanding where your story lies in this spectrum ...

RT.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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this is a great idea...

http://www.novatelwireless.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=285:mifi-2352-intelligent-mobile-hotspot-for-hspa-networks&catid=75:mifi&Itemid=622

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The NHS

In this one display are these brands: Boots, NHS, NHS camden, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Boots midnight pharmacy, PAGB, The havens and Macmillan cancer trust. Seems that while the debate rages at a systemic level (that is where politics lives after all), it is easy to loose sight of the day to day consequences of these discussions.

I love the NHS, and I am a 'heavy user' so to speak, and so can see it's flaws clearly too... And one very human level problem was apparent to me during a visit to Boots today - brand story dilution. This photo is one example of the very blurry boundary these days between public and private, between the core offer and the other services, and between who provides which part of your health care. While this is not a new problem, and certainly one that is not easy to fix - it does mean that it is the front line staff, of both the public and private companies that are bearing the brunt of this... dealing with queries that arise from confusing communications such as this must account for a lot of their time.

It seems that in the grand scheme of things, especially as the philosophical debate rumbles on, not loosing sight of the small things is ultimately the thing that most influences the public perception of a very ambitious project.

RT.

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#NHS

In this one display are these brands: Boots, NHS, NHS camden, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Boots midnight pharmacy, PAGB, The havens and Macmillan cancer trust. Seems that while the debate rages at a systemic level (that is where politics lives after all), it is easy to loose sight of the day to day consequences of these discussions.

I love the NHS, and I am a 'heavy user' so to speak, and so can see it's flaws clearly too... And one very human level problem was apparent to me during a visit to Boots today - brand story dilution. This photo is one example of the very blurry boundary these days between public and private, between the core offer and the other services, and between who provides which part of your health care. While this is not a new problem, and certainly one that is not easy to fix - it does mean that it is the front line staff, of both the public and private companies that are bearing the brunt of this... dealing with queries that arise from confusing communications such as this must account for a lot of their time.

It seems that in the grand scheme of things, especially as the philosophical debate rumbles on, not loosing sight of the small things is ultimately the thing that most influences the public perception of a very ambitious project.

RT.

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"All our materials are recycled" - shame it needs an entire label to say that.

RT

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Lucky Facebook friends-list moment...

RT

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The NHS

In this one display are these brands: Boots, NHS, NHS camden, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Boots midnight pharmacy, PAGB, The havens and Macmillan cancer trust. Seems that while the debate rages at a systemic level (that is where politics lives after all), it is easy to loose sight of the day to day consequences of these discussions.

I love the NHS, and I am a 'heavy user' so to speak, and so can see it's flaws clearly too... And one very human level problem was apparent to me during a visit to Boots today - brand story dilution. This photo is one example of the very blurry boundary these days between public and private, between the core offer and the other services, and between who provides which part of your health care. While this is not a new problem, and certainly one that is not easy to fix - it does mean that it is the front line staff, of both the public and private companies that are bearing the brunt of this... dealing with queries that arise from confusing communications such as this must account for a lot of their time.

It seems that in the grand scheme of things, especially as the philosophical debate rumbles on, not loosing sight of the small things is ultimately the thing that most influences the public perception of a very ambitious project.

RT.

beautiful video

Saw this today -  - it's wonderfully executed, and also has some great visual ideas in there... 

R.

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my new favourite blog...

http://keggersofyore.com/

RT.

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Pac Man recreated

Wicked...

Kitty and Dude

Firstly, what a great name...

Kitty and Dude are a ceramic company enjoying pushing the boundaries of what you would expect from this world. This is a lovely example of messing with a genre expectation. And having permission to do so because your brand carries no baggage of legacy etc...

How can more established companies take the same spirit into their own product development? Without just using acquisition?

RT

Pop-Up Collaboration

Q: Is it a marketing agency? Is it an exhibition space? Is it a pop-up store?
A: It's all of them. And it's called 303 Grand.

I can't work out if this is the future of collaboration and making stuff tangible or an attempt to ward off the credit crunch by making the most of the space you've got. But either way, I'm in.

303 Grand is a store owned and operated by Street Attack in Brooklyn. From 1 day to 3 months, brands, artists or organisations have the opportunity to create an experiential pop-up store, plus they get the assistance of a marketing agency thrown in.

What a great way to collaborate with a tangible focus and outcome.

AT

Niche Luxury

Rough Luxe is a luxury concept brand with an interesting take on luxury: something like post-luxury, luxury. Status as experience, not consumption. At the Rough Luxe hotel you aren't just paying for the frou-frou of fancy sheets, you are spending the night with a work of art – where each room is listed by artwork. It seems subjective, but then perhaps that is the whole thing: luxury is in the eye of the beholder. And maybe this is a beginning of niche luxury services and experiences?

"Luxury should be an enriching personal experience and not simply the ownership or utilisation of an expensive object. It is a different definition of luxury: time for reflection, the intellectual value of objects - of art, nature, culture, our environment and the people around us, of social and cultural experiences linked to locations as well as the ‘consumable’ items; food, lifestyle objects and events."

AT

The Iconic Apple

I'm fascinated by this one: how objects become icons and how symbolism – their meaning – becomes attached to them over time.

Take the humble apple – or rather not so humble, as since the Bible it had been laden down with significance. Temptation, original sin – and the fall from grace. All that from such a humble fruit. And now it is an icon with a reinterpreted significance: by the other Apple. Their apple is reputed to be in homage to Issac Newton – who observed an apple fall to the ground and imagined gravity. Clever.

And so the apple has switched in symbolism: from religion to science in just a mere couple of centuries.

So when a brand appropriates a logo, they are becoming part of centuries of storytelling around an object or a shape. Quite a legacy to live up to.

AT

Back from Holiday

The end of a long silence: we've been on holiday in the Cotswolds.

There was a lot of sky.

There were donkeys.

AT & RT

Truism

I've always admired artist Jenny Holzer and how she can evoke a story with simple statements: she calls them 'Truisms'. And at the heart of every good story is just that: one, pure universal truth about the condition of being alive – or just being. It is an observation so startling that it can't be contested and in fact, you wonder why you hadn't been able to articulate it yourself. That is what great brands achieve and deliver: an artful, elegant, true story.

AT

PS: on account of the interweb, you can now follow Jenny Holzer on Twitter for minute by minute truisms.

Signs That Say What You Want Them To Say And Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say

Gillian Wearing exposes in her art the opposition between public and private faces. She called her work 'editing life'.

When I look at how people use brands I often think how we use them to tell the public world a story about who we are: or rather how we wish to be perceived by others. They are a way of protecting our private selves from disclosure. We carefully edit into our lives the ones which best represent our desired public persona.

And look at how brands are facilitating this in the way they present themselves to consumers: linked-in says I'm networked; facebook says I'm social; fairtrade says I'm ethically aware; Nike says I challenge myself. The list goes on.

Perhaps in the future, brands will start to facilitate a more open, revealing dialogue: a collective experience. A confessional platform for group catharsis, closing the gap between all of the fragmented versions of ourselves that exist out there digitally.

AT

Optimistic Design

Rochelle Canteen

Labour and Wait

Canteen

Design as culture

While not being explicitly 'british' - all these brands tell a story of a very classic and understated form of british design and lifestyle. They carry a sense of improvement through design, and refer back to the mid centruy period of design and industry that had such optimism and drive that it is still inspirational (for me at least) today. They express a form of design that is open, eclectic, collaborative and thoughtful, and also is aware of it's place in a wider movement of modernism which swept across northern europe through the 20th century.

And they do all this through the combination of space, product and people. Their spaces are meticulously designed expressions of what they stand for. They represent the 'content' perfectly and help tell the story of the brand in a well balanced and implicit way. Their product / content is of course the main reason to visit these places - and in each case they are outstanding examples of their genre. And the people who work there appear to live/love the brand - embodying the values through the way they interact with people - the best kind of brand advocacy.

And so, on the subject of expressing identity through design and objects, these are perfect examples of businesses and organisations who manage to tell a story of themselves, of what they believe in and what they are inspired by.


RT

Clever clever google

We all know google are the masters at making us all look good. Their platform model allows users to shape the internet in their own image. And now they are letting users tell the story of how great google are for them. Smart, cheap, elegant, emotional and very human centred - very google.

RT

New Weather

One of the poems that makes me fall in love with words all over again. It made Paul Muldoon a poetry megastar at just 21 years old: now he is poetry editor of the New Yorker. Sparse and painfully plain. Not a word is misplaced. Pure art.

AT
-------------------------

Wind and Tree

In the way that most of the wind
Happens where there are trees,

Most of the world is centred
About ourselves.

Often where the wind has gathered
The trees together and together,

One tree will take
Another in her arms and hold.

Their branches that are grinding
Madly together and together,

It is no real fire.
They are breaking each other.

Often I think I should be like
The single tree, going nowhere,

Since my own arm could not and would not
Break the other. Yet by my broken bones

I tell new weather.

by Paul Muldoon

Experiential Theatre

I want to go and do this. Dalston's Cafe Oto is hosting Etiquette, an interactive, experiential piece of theatre and wonder. You go with a partner; put on the headphones and enact the play with the objects in front of you, laid out on the table. You become the actors and the action. What a fascinating piece of experiential design: makes me think about how brands are engaging with consumers in this cultural context. Where people expect to be given the props and the stage, rather than the play. Because everytime it unfolds, it is different, unique. Each participant can carve out a moment in a crowded, public space. And passers-by might not even know what they are doing; imagine how much more you will learn about the characters having actually embodied their story.

AT

Storytlr

Just got wind of this today - what a cool/wierd idea. Storytlr is a site which allows you to aggregate all of your various blogs, flickrs, twitters and the like, and publish a story about yourself (it's another anit-vowel name too, that must count for something ...).

Seems to be fascinating next iteration of "web 2.0" and I look forward to seeing how it develops. However it develops though, what an amazing leap of lateral thinking that gives people a whole new way to express themselves and who they are.

Maybe this is the digital version of collecting objects that express your identity?
RT

Oscar Wilde & wallpaper (Objects and Identity)

A less famous story, but instructive none the less - when asked why he thought America was such a violent society, Wilde replied "because you have such ugly wallpaper". Now, the start of the following theory i have to attribute wholly to Stephen fry - but it supports my theory so there you go ... The argument runs that human beings have done our best to despoil the greatest beauty available - nature. Compounding that is the fact that so many of us choose to live in 'ugliness' created by ourselves (Wilde was an aesthete, and a pioneering interior designer), so what must that do for our sense of self worth and how we value others? And finally, living in ugliness, and devaluing ourselves and those around can only, eventually lead to violence...

I like this line of thought particularly because it makes explicit the fact that we do value our surroundings, the things we own and use, and the relationships between all these things. We spend our lives building an identity - for the outside world, and for our internal world. And we do this through the stories we tell about ourselves, and also through the objects we collect around ourselves. Through an implicit and explicit selection process we build a visual version of ourselves that we trust to help tell our stories ...

Which leads me to the fetishisation of objects. Check out Apartamento Magazine for a beautiful realisation of this process in a magazine. It's fun and thoughtful, and honest. And it allows the stories of the interviewees to come to the fore (through their stuff and their selections), and to not be overrun with stories of the designers or producers of the objects (in contrast to other publications).




So while this post is leading nowhere in particular - and there are a few incomplete and under explored ideas here - it will be a recurring theme over time.

One to return to and explore ...
RT

Quote of the Day

"The universe is made of stories, not atoms."

Muriel Rukeyser

Ideas to Live By

What an artful invention: making the art of living a physical space. The School of Life is a place to find space to think, converse, debate, articulate and all other such things. A place to explore ideas and ask questions: from philosophy to literature, psychology to arts. To stretch your mind. To find inspiration. Can you tell I love this concept? I'll stop soon, I promise. But you've got to agree that it is a genius idea to take the abstract world of thought and make it accessible by creating a place to go and find it. And this month, as well as a series of lectures and courses, you will find book shelves dedicated to: How to make the journey inside your head, How to find a job you love and How to find pleasure in everyday things. Once more: awesome.

AT

Telling your Story to the World

Enough said (and eloquently, too). Hear, hear to Strategic Design and Branding company Swink.

AT

In Troubled Times

A 3,500 sq m House of Barbie opens in Shanghai in March, where visitors will be able to visit the spa for hair and nails; a shop of make-up accessories and couture fashions, including a $15,000 Barbie wedding dress by Vera Wang. And by night, one of the restaurants becomes a hip bar, complete with karaoke, a DJ and pink martinis. And you can have your baby at the new Hello Kitty hospital in Taiwan. Cartoon stories being reinterpreted for adult consumers.

Makes me think of where we retreat to in times of complexity. In China, people are being bombarded with Western culture at a startling rate and are greedy for the opportunities and exposure this brings. By becoming Barbie and embodying her story, they can assume her easy materialism and confident persona to navigate the new world: “Barbies want to talk to Kens. You have to have a place for that.” And by Hello Kitty's side, even childbirth seems less daunting. It is a comforting regression to the stories of childhood.

AT

Wonderful Documentaries

24 Hours on Craigslist
Tea Time

Two films with superficial and deeper connections.

Firstly they are great documentaries which explore human stories, behaviours, desires and the way they enact them. They both start with a wide range of 'characters' and allow the stars to emerge as the film roll on.

But, they also both explore from the point of a central hub, and follow the connections that emanate from and cross through that hub. They are both about society, networked-ness and the importance to humanity. And most importantly, they both let the story emerge naturally - and allow the viewer to understand and feel the implications for themselves.

Enjoy
RT

Devolve Me

Devolve me is a lovely and simple app on the open university website where people can upload their own photo and have yourself turned to different ages of man. What a great way to engage people in where we come from and how we got here - an endlessly complex story. And also, a great way to start to tell the story of Darwin, a man responsible for so much of modern thought...

RT

I Want a Handbag

What whimsy. Selling gloves and handbags can be a story too when they become a series of micro stories.

AT

Well Tell Stories

We Tell Stories

Wow, look what happens when you cross a thriller with GoogleMaps; follow the story of a teenage girl live on twitter; or transport yourself to Arabia and the shoes of a president with protesters rousing outside. When two unexpected mediums collide, it is pure alchemy. Imagine all the possibilities of crossing technology with stories -- a treasure hunt story with SatNav? Hide and Seek with Google Latitude? A story with carefully curated iTunes soundtrack intervals?

AT

Haughty Seagull

originally uploaded by Sameli.

I love the pointlessness of the sign - who is it addressed to? And the utter disregard of the gull on top - sticking it to the man!

It raises questions like - where is this sign? what is the context? who decided? and what is the problem they were trying to solve? All stuff we'll never know, and all stuff we could make up for ourselves...

RT

hello

Everyone, everywhere is bandying around this term: Storytelling. But what does it really mean – turning a page; round the campfire; a gripping yarn?

For centuries people have told stories to simplify the world, understand information, remember, be remembered – and most importantly for plain entertainment.

We are living in complicated times, so these reasons seem as valid today as ever before. And we have more tools than ever before to tell them.

This Blog is about exploring the stories that inspire us everyday – and sharing them, to inspire you – hoping in return you'll share back your stories with us. When you look, you see stories everyday, everywhere...

AT & RT