Ninety-two percent of word of mouth happens offline (so says Keller Fay Group). 92%! And that’s not going to change.
Working from that factual place, Spike’s premise is a brand has to have an offline, real world dimension to any community building efforts it undertakes.
Why is it the more I am connected online, the more alone I feel? Because I an missing the one thing that online can help facilitate, but never replace: the magic of a face-to-face encounter. Not webcam to webcam. But looking someone in the eye, shaking their hand and experiencing the presence of other people who share the same interests. And that, my friends, is the difference between yet another online social community and a successful, sustainable movement.
Shout it from the mountaintop, brother!
To me, this fundamental truth is one more reason to blast interactive out of its silo.
Interactive–where these so-called online communities are curated–needs to be everyone’s job. No, everyone needn’t run out and learn PHP, ASP and Ruby on Rails. But all agency and client personnel need to fully grasp what the web can and can’t do for a brand.
I agree David. Working as a planner in the interactive space means scouring endless rss feeds, with more tech news than ad gossip (by several multiples!)
I think a little basic programming experience is invaluable in this space; understanding the connections and abilities of a market that redefines itself every week requires a grasp of the fundamental principles that it evolves upon.
What a great idea for a ad blog: one that takes new tech, buzzwords, and new ideas from the Web 2.0 space and breaks them down into actionable, need-to-know summaries. Written for a creative/account audience of course (not your standard hacker). I should copyright the name “pragmatech.”