If you haven’t already seen it, you really ought to catch US TV show The Wire which is currently running on the BBC.
Despite being relatively unknown in the UK, its fans are passionate enough to ensure it repeatedly appears in ‘Best TV show of all time’ polls.
A complex look at crime in Baltimore, the show takes a gritty look at life on the streets from a number of different perspectives.
Watching it the other night I was struck with a sudden realisation.
When the drug dealers and other ne'er-do-wells need to communicate with the wider world, they put a gun to someone’s head and tell them to put the word out.
Even the criminal underworld understands the power and authenticity of ‘word of mouth’ when it comes to communicating with a community.
OK, so maybe their activation platform needs a little work (I’m not advocating the loaded gun method), but at least they know that believability comes from personal recommendation.
Having spent years advocating the need to activate an audience of passionate believers, it’s nice to occasionally see a proof-point from the real world that supports the concept.
Although thankfully, firepower hardly ever figures in our repertoire.
This week's tagcloud
What's on my mind
About Me
- Kevin Jackson
- The glasses are important, since I’m almost totally blind in one eye. This means I have zero depth perception. Instead of making snap judgements, I have to think around a subject and look again to try and gain a sense of perspective. And that’s what I’m doing here - taking a different view of the trends and patterns around us to see if they’re as close as they seem, or further away than we thought. There’s not a discipline within the communications mix that I haven’t spent time in – what connects them though, is my passion for igniting advocacy and word-of-mouth. I’ve also worked on multi-platform campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands, we are all on first-name terms. Ultimately, whether it’s a consumer, business or internal audience, no one is exempt from my belief in engaging experiential communications. Over the last four years ago, I’ve been busy developing relationships across the telecoms, technology, FMCG, retail and energy sectors, to name a few.
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
