If you can’t connect, reach for the bottle of wine!

I’ve just spent four days without Internet, and with hardly any mobile connection. Yes you read right, four days. And no, it was not due to a BT strike, and no I’m not describing a scene from a horror movie, nor is it a joke.

It’s simply life in a village in Tuscany.

People working in marketing and communications know that they’re not a representation of the majority of people they look to sell products to. Most of us are very well aware of the fact that we live in a tiny bubble called ‘media and advertising…in London’. Yet I wonder sometimes if we really do know, really do understand, as on a deep level, how a big chunk of the world lives?

I have the pleasure of working with Steve Gladdis at MediaCom (a fabulous person and also happens to be the best dressed man at the agency). A few years ago Steve came up with the idea of method planning. The concept is simple, if method acting refers to a series of techniques by which actors try to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters in an effort to develop lifelike performance. Method planning does the same thing, but with the output being a great media plan (of which Steve, may I add, is responsible for many).

(The lovely Steve Gladdis)

Well, I have just had a dose of ‘method living’!

Last week I arrived in Italy for the wedding of one of my oldest friends. It was in an amazing village situated in the rolling hills of Tuscany (3 hours drive from Pisa) surrounded by vineyards.

I had been in the hotel 2 minutes when I asked about wifi (of which there was none) and 5 minutes when I realised that not only did they not have international TV channels, but the ones they had were rendered useless by static. Thank God for my iPhone…but nope…no connection!

The next day my friend and I were sent on a mission to find candles. As we walked around in search of candles I realised that a hardware store and a fruit shop was the only retail experience the village had to offer. We proceeded to ask the locals, only to be greeted with the same apologetic phrase from everyone we asked, “Ahhh no we don’t have things like large candles here” (only in Italian of course – not an English word between the inhabitants of the stone village).

Have I just arrived in marketer’s hell I asked myself? No channels to advertise on (digital does not exist, and TV is impossible to see), and no shops to sell anything to anyone in? But more importantly no people who seem to care about the fact that they are living in a marcomms free zone!

I have to be honest, I spent the first 24 hours confused wondering what do people in a place like this do? How do they manage without the bare necessities?

And then I decided to get over myself and do a bit of method living. And I can tell you ‘they manage’ very well.

I joined them in cafes and I talked, I watched them make amazing wine, I looked at some of the most stunning views, I tasted the previously mentioned wine, I watched them hang and laugh, I basically saw them living life. I also saw their Yves Saint Laurent bags, and their designer glasses so they are also clearly able to shop. They are just not connected 24/7!

As I traveled home I started thinking… How to be relevant to these people? How to engage with them? And more importantly how to connect with them? And when I say them, I don’t mean just my new Italian friends, but anyone, anywhere with other things to do (I stopped myself from saying better things to do :) ) than staring at screens of different sizes.

Just to follow on the theme of method living…I think the best thing for me is to pour myself a glass of wine from the lovely bottle I brought back, in the hope that living it some more will give me an answer to my questions!!!

P.S Catriona it was a laugh!

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2010
07/04
CATEGORY
Advertising/Media
Marketing
Thoughts
1 comment

  1. Est-ce consolant de constater la même chose en France avec l’enseignement assisté par ordinateur, notamment pour le développement de la langue française : tableaux blancs interactifs, formation ouverte et à distance, etc etc
    De fait, la part de re-action, au sens propre, n’étant pas mesurée, et peut-être difficilement mesurable, on s’achète une bonne conscience en créant un beau site riche, bien documenté, réactif même; on va jusqu’à lancer une lettre aux visiteurs du site qui nourrit les aller-retours site-lettre, actualité-pérennité, on accroche un blog : la lanterne dans la nuit, la pierre précieuse qui donne tout son éclat aux précédents, oui mais…
    Oui mais j’habite en Afrique, en Italie, dans le Caucase
    j’ai un téléphone portable que j’utilise énormément
    je travaille 14H par jour, vous croyez que je peux en plus m’amuser à regarder vos singeries et vos réclames commerciales?
    je n’ai pas de boulot alors boire ou surfer, il faut choisir…

    En un mot nous jonglons entre la nécessité d’avancer en éclaireur et le risque d’un échec dû à NOTRE isolement: l’autre n’en souffre pas forcément, il sait sortir de sa bulle puisque le sac Christian Dior (ou sa copie…) a bien pénétré dans le village.
    Mais VOTRE mode de communication n’a pas transporté votre message et le jour où il arrivera ce sera peut-être sous une autre forme que notre internet actuel, qui lui sera démodé.

    Au fait, à votre avis, votre message voulait répondre à quel besoin à satisfaire, chez votre client?

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