Saw this piece in Advertising Age today (may require registration), "Sci-Fi Invites Bloggers to Meet Cast and Crew". Essentially, the Sci-Fi Channel invited a number of bloggers on a junket for a week in Vancouver to visit the sets and talk w/ cast & crew of 5 of their series that are being shot here. The cool thing to me is the reaction from both the VP at the SFC and the head of the agency they used:
"You expect to see cameras at these things, but to see all these people with their laptops open, blogging live from the events -- it was a completely different use of media than I've ever seen," said Dave Howe, Sci-fi Channel exec VP-general manager. ... "It's very humbling to see this kind of enthusiasm. Their faces were lit up with genuine excitement," he said. "It rubs off on us."
and
"Sci-Fi uses online intelligence and closely monitors online buzz. This is a natural extension of that -- the next step of engagement," said Pete Snyder, CEO of New Media Strategies. "We've found in this Web 2.0 world, the more information you can provide, the better your chances are. Shows, and products, get in trouble when they stay up on the mountain and avoid interaction with consumers."
I am completely charmed by Howe's statements and I want to shout Snyder's assertion from the mountaintops. Let's play it again for effect .. this time, with feeling.
Shows, and products, get in trouble when they stay up on the
mountain and avoid interaction with consumers.
Come down off the mountain, brands. Your customers want to play with you, want to interact with you, want to be heard!
Update: Todd Sieling of Ma.gnolia riffs on this post in an eloquent way and provides practical examples of what he and the team at Ma.gnolia do to avoid mountain-top syndrome. Check it out!
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