Social Media takes a Bazaar turn at the Ice Bar

  

Tuesday’s Social Media summit at the Magic Circle ended at at the Ice Bar in London’s Heddon Street. 

Usually these kind of events fill me with a general feeling of unease – Will the speakers be any good? Will the sponsors use the occasion to deliver a brazen sales pitch? Will I be consumed by guilt at spending a day listening to stuff I could just read on eConsultancy when I should actually be doing things? 

But, relief, this was a good one. Firstly, a great setting. The Magic Circle is tucked away on Stephenson Way, a couple of streets away from Euston station.  I think  that most of us grew up knowing something of the secret nature of the society where that all members promise not to reveal secrets other than to magicians or bona fide students of magic. The Latin motto of The Magic Circle is ‘Indocilis Privata Loqui’ which roughly translates as ‘Not apt to disclose secrets’.  The posters adorning the walls recalled the recent novels Carter Beats the Devil and The Prestige – an age when magicians held the public attention in a way that modern rock starts do today. Fantastic.

The Event was hosted by Bazaarvoice (with associated partners) and began with CEO Brett Hurt being gently sent up by an end-of-the-pier magician who appealed to me in the same way as Les Dawson use to, mugging to camera behind an old Joanna. “Take my wife, no take my wife”. I think Brett won the day.

A couple of things struck me about the first presentation from Emma Jenkins. Firstly, pure envy that she’s lucky enough to work in a business that can fund a team to “find and qualify new advertising models in the digital space”! And secondly, although we all recognised the paradigm shift that she presented, I couldn’t help think that the new world is more worrying for Proctor & Gamble than for many others in the room.

P&G wrote the book on marketing and innovation but what impact will the “new consumer” have on their product development process? By extension of her argument, the modern consumer (savvy, wise, cynical, in control) just isn’t going to fall for another blade on a Gillette razor, no matter how well promoted in a deal with EA Sports. That same consumer is also not going to buy into Ariel being repackaged from a tablet, into a powder, into a liquid capsule returning to a powder, via a tablet. “It’s the same product” they will surely (and hopefully cry), “You can’t take us for fools anymore!”.

Surely we’re not just witnessing the end of old forms of media, but we’re also witnessing the end of traditional product development. The modern consumer? These cats got wise.

The second presentation from Ian Jindal, carried the characteristic flair of a man who seems to “get it” as part of a natural born belligerence. For me this was the presentation that we’ll all look back on in a few years time and proclaim “I met the Messiah, and he said unto me…”. The problem is, that for most of us, there’s no practical roadmap to implement this type of prophecy. Ian, meet my IT director. 

Ian’s most amusing contribution was also the one that rung true with me. Let’s consider the Trip Advisor scenario. This year, I got married, and my single input to the planning process was to book the honeymoon. I used TripAdvisor to research hotels for various locations and really felt the pressure of booking the best hotels. I was dependent on reviews.  I would read 99 great reviews for a hotel but the one negative review had me scurrying for cover and breaking out in a cold sweat – this is my honeymoon for Christ’s sake!! And then I looked deeper and a trend appeared.

The bad reviews were from a certain type of American. And the complaints were all of the same kind – room too small, bed too small, breakfasts unsatisfying. So, I got to thinking. Why can’t I set my review settings to exclude people that I have no cultural connection with? In music, I’m not going to value a review of Tom Waits from someone who expresses a preference for Girls Aloud so don’t offer me up reviews for hotels from people who can’t fit through the doors! If this is the revelation of Metadata then I’m all for it.

Alas that was it for me. I grabbed a cab back to Regent St. for a couple of meetings to generate some content for the Video production company I’m fronting and thankfully both proved fruitful. Brands that understand personalisation rather than corporate claptrap. This could be a winner and a profitable add-on to SocialNetIt.

So a really good day for your blogger, ending with a return to the Summit party at the Ice Bar in London. My companion for the night was Lucy Adams, an inspiring girl who has just set up her own business armed simply with a blog and a will to acheive. Check out Lucyadams.co.uk for an example of how social media can turn ideas matched with talent into a profitable reality. 

And what about the wine? Well the Ice Bar was fun but gimmicky cocktails don’t do it for me. I only had eyes for the red on offer and this was a 2005 Rioja Gentes de Forestia.

I’ve not come across this wine before but liked the label and enjoyed the taste. A little bit of research shows that this is one of those wines that appears on a whole bunch of restaurant wine lists but rarely at a retail point. A typical “distributors wine” then, but one made to the quality standards of the Rioja appellation. Oddly enough, this is how I like my Rioja, it’s not overoaked and has young upfront fruit. More in style with Navarra than the traditional style we associate with Rioja. I guess this would typically retail at around £6 if it was available on the high street.