Virtual Placemaking Experiences

A lot of snow here in Lexington this weekend. I am starting to develop quite the back muscles from the shovelling.

I was going to say as I continue to trudge through Authenticity, but' trudge' makes it sound like the book is dreary. It isn't but unlike most books it requires you to assimilate what you read with what makes sense to you, in a highly detailed fashion which can be exhausting, so I am glad I am reading the book in bits...

Placemaking refers to creating products and services for products which are experiencial to an extent that they are what they say they are(ie that you don't feel cheated in some way after the experience). The main 'product' is where you engage as many of your senses as possible in order to develop an emotional connection to the product or service. The 'virtual' here relates to the extension of this 'experience' to online, and how to do it without sacrificing the customer experience or diminishing its authenticity. A parallel to this in the event world might be the issue of providing the attendee with content outside of the event. In the case of the annual event, for a traditional events company, this is a real issue.

The authors argue that too many companies' web site offer one dimensional views of their products and services which diminish the viewer's experience and thus their connection. Even companies which use the flash intros as a portal into their site(how many times do you hit the 'skip the intro' button?) don't get it unless the presentation is an extension of the product or service aspects. The web designer ZAAZ may appropriately put it into words, "your web site's not about you, it is you".

Now here's me wondering how to turn this into a 24/7 experience for clients.....

Another white Sunday morning

After having a tired Saturday(not enough sleep, one too many Campari and Orange), I decided not to go out Saturday night with a few friends. Plus as is usual in Boston, we were scared about the the impending snow storm with more than 5 inches before midnight.

What happened? By midnight there was maybe an inch and half. I was glad not have gone out, though, because this morning it's here....maybe six inches of the beautiful(pesky) cold stuff. Now I get to shovel a little later as I am going off to a kick off marketing meeting this afternoon. After Manchester United- Chelsea......

Now for a cup of tea....

Experience Hubs

I continue to read from the book Authenticity.

In the latest installment of my reading, the authors talk about experience hubs, that is central locations for putting retail and b2b stores or offices(respectively) where people already in the area for other reasons(like they live in the area, or are visiting the area for other reasons) can experience your brand.

As it relates to shows, this explains the reason for events being so hot in places like New York, San Francisco or Las Vegas of course, perhaps for different reasons. I am not a big fan of Las Vegas, but love New York and San Francisco. As some events become regional to get closer to their audiences(and save them money), it also makes sense for events to piggyback on complementary aspects of the regions(like call center tours at an event I did a couple of years ago in Phoenix). Maybe all the above is obvious.

I for one am looking forward to eventually going to the Autostadt(the Volkswagen experience set in Wolfsburg, Germany) but not for the non-informative website.

The book next goes into 'derivative placemaking' which means having an experiential location that is a part of another location. Here's where reading multiple media feeds helps you- it mentions Proctor & Gambles Charmin NYC restrooms- which were the only public toliets available to hundreds of thousands of revellers in Times Square on New Year's- although I guess they got massive 'exposure' for Charmin, if that's the right word. The author should mention that he is biased towards Charmin for the sake of 'full disclosure' TMI probably.

The book then goes into the virtual extensions of placemeking, which I'll describe and comment on in my next post.

See you soon.