Last week Facebook launched Places, their take on a location based check-in service. Although not yet working in the UK, I’ve seen the promotional video and I cant help but think that Foursquare and Gowalla, who were the forerunners in the location check-in services are doomed.
I have been using Foursquare for about a year, and although I probably don’t use it to its full potential, I have taken a real interest in the concept and how brands can maximise their social media and customer interaction through the service.
But with Facebook entering the market, the future for the likes of Foursquare looks bleak. I don’t think this is anything to do with the fact that Facebook will bring anything more technological to the party, nor will it be that brands will flock to use Places instead. Instead, I think that the shear weight and influence of Facebook will see millions adopting Places, making the service as irritating as the all to regular updates from abundance of clearly unemployed ‘friends’ I have on Facebook who seem to take great pleasure in letting me know that they have just received another fucking cow/barn/chicken/job seekers payment from Farmville.
I believe that users will become quickly disillusioned with Places, due to the all to regular updates and the appearance of at least one story in The Sun claiming the ‘Places got my house robbed’. This in turn will see users abandon Places before they have even had chance to see the service reach its full potential, and so forerunners such as Foursquare and Gowalla will only be used by a limited audience and have what could have been a massive audience achieved through organic growth turned off to their product by behemoth who has launched a product to a population of over 500 million in order to make quick buck.
I’ve have written numerous blogs and then caned them as I felt they were not constructive after they turned into a diatribe on one thing or another. But I have decided that now I’m going to, rather than can the blogs, can my better judgment and just rant. Don’t get me wrong, I will still be posting informative (touch wood) and interesting content, but I am going to allow a smattering of vitriol just to ease the pain of bottling it up.
I’ve decided to post a weekly list of things I like, offset with a list of things that have annoyed me.
In the absence of anything to post that I like, I’m just going to mention something I really don’t like.
We’re in the process of expanding our team at Hatch, and despite a slow start the CV’s came flying in. We have been fortunate enough to meet some amazing candidates and are hoping to appoint one or two more staff members in the very near future.
We didn’t set a remit for the type of candidate we were looking for, just so we could see who was out there. What surprised me the most was the amount of senior level practitioners we received enquires from. All of them had excellent CV’s and had worked on some of the world’s best-known brands. For those entering the industry working on these brands would, from the outside looking in, seem like a massive draw. But, from speaking with the senior candidates this is the thing they want to get away from the most.
We’re lucky at Hatch, we have a range of clients from big multinational brands, through to regional start ups, all of which are willing to experiment with their PR campaigns rather than go down the same old route. It’s the ‘same old route’ it would appear, that is the reason our batch of senior candidates opted to contact Hatch.
There seems to be a reticence with some well know brands to push the boundary PR-wise, opting instead to stay within the comfort zones and role out ‘safe’ campaigns. This has meant that after a few years of slogging away on a brand that is world renowned, has left some bored with not being given the opportunity to flex their creative muscle.
So, does this mean that agencies with a history of big brand action are getting a constant stream of Graduates through their doors and losing their experienced practitioners to smaller agencies able to get a little creative with their campaigns?
Love this clever little localised marketing campaign. Fantastic example of on and offline crossover. Campaign is made that little more special with some great graphics and editing. Love the follow up interviews.
I can just see the planning meeting over in the states for this one.
Creative 1: “I’ve had a great idea for a campaign for Dr Pepper”
Creative 2: “Please do share”
Creative 1: “Let’s get a flash mob to go down to the stock exchange and sing a song about Dr Pepper”
Creative 2: “Erm… didn’t T Mobile do something very similar in the UK, but at a train station”
Creative 1: “No, No they didn’t. You must be imagining things”
Creative 2: “Ok then. Let’s do it. But just to be on the safe side let’s water it down and make it really bad. Oh and slightly cringe worthy. We probably won’t get any decent media coverage, but loads of people will take a pop at how bad it is on their blogs. We can then turn round to the client and claim it was a success!”
Creative 1: “Great plan.”
So, here’s the result
If this was the plan congratulations, you intentionally made this really bad and got me talking about it on my blog. However, I’m 99% sure this wasn’t the case.
I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed as to the news that Manchester United has banned its players from using social networking. Surely a brand as big as Manchester United can see the bigger picture?
To some extent I can see what they are trying to achieve after incidents such as Darren Bent’s rant and Ryan Babel’s recent slip up. But surely in this case they must realise the power of brand advocacy.
Education in this case must be better than prevention. We tell our clients this day in day out that the powers that be can churn out comment day in day out, but there is no better internal brand advocate than an employee who is happy and understands the brand and goals.
So why should this be any different for Manchester United? The ticket buying public are guaranteed to pay more attention to the likes of Ryan Giggs or Wayne Rooney than they ever are to the things that the Glazers are telling them.
Surely it would be better to give the team lessons on good social media etiquette and educate them properly rather than a blanket ban.
Secondly, I am employed by Hatch Communications, but I am not owned by them so outside of the working day surly I can partake in as much social networking as I see fit providing it doesn’t impact directly upon my employer. Obviously it is a different case with footballers who’s job is also their life, but banning them. Really?
What is the next step for them? No mobile phones, no leaving the house, no socialising, no friends, a complete ban on all verbal communications with sign language limited to gestures that cannot be misconstrued?
In this case prevention certainly isn’t better than cure.
Yet again it’s been a while. My New Year’s resolution this year has been to post more. But before I do, a quick catch up.
Since my last post I have…. Had a lovely two week break in Portugal, worked a lot, won some awards from the CIPR with Hatch Communications, worked some more, carried out a really great campaign for visitbirmingham.com, had a skiing holiday in Austria, worked, had Christmas, drunk lots and worked some more.
So there we are back up to speed.
I will endeavour to post more in the next few days.
First off, apologies, it’s been a while. Secondly, apologies, I hope to make this blog a lot more interesting.
This will start after this post.
As many of my colleagues, past, present and probably future, will point out I am pretty shit at making tea. Not in the process of actually putting the tea bag in the mug etc, I’m not an idiot. No, my problem with making tea is with actually getting up to do it. Its not that I’m lazy, I just very rarely feel the urge for a brew, unless that is someone asks me if I want one, then I am all over it like a rash.
I am constantly being goaded and moaned at for this. What my colleagues fail to realise is that me and peer pressure sit at very different ends of the table, in fact I am more likely to do the exact opposite to what people are attempting to push me in to. Read more…
