A meeting organised by the London Communicators & Engagement Group 27/01/01

The evolution of the internet is entering a new and much darker phase. Decision making will become centralised. Totalitarian and not so overtly totalitarian regimes (such as the French apparently) are engaged in a vicious regime of cyber attacks and counter hacks. Industrial and of course political espionage is rife. Not even our secular deity Google is immune. Established ivory towers of corporate power will be consumed by the billowing cloud; it’s a winner takes all game fought in cyberspace and brought to your door by crowd sourcing. The echoes of this battle are already reverberating across our screens; that slowing of Twitter feeds and Facebook updates you experienced yesterday was the fallout from 40,000 DOS attacks taking place across the world. The good news is, we are lucky to be alive right now, to witness the dying embers of individual freedom. Enjoy it while it lasts.

With the arrival of the new internet protocol (IPv6) we will enter an ‘Internet of Things’ where ‘Locality’ is all and every pebble and household implement will have its own IP address. Your door knob will be engaged in a dialogue with your refrigerator and, should you be foolish enough to step on the bathroom scales, a Denial of Supper attack will inevitably follow. We should be worried. You have been warned. It’s time to brush up on your Mandarin.

中国下一代互联网

Though some of us struggled to grasp the central premise of David Galipeau’s presentation, the influence of technology on management structures, we knew we were in the presence of someone who has their finger firmly on the fibre optic pulse, who advises governments and corporations on how to concisely time their communications to exploit the Earth’s rotation to avert financial meltdown. We were all so impressed none of us thought to ask, ‘So what should we do?’

Just as were about to reach for the Prozac who should appear like a knight in shining armour but John Smythe, doyenne of employee engagement. The idea that decision making is becoming centralised is complete piffle; everyone knows that the most successful companies have democratised the decision making processes. When challenged to cite his research that proved the opposite, Darth Veda could only mumble vague references to unpublished research commissioned by the very same forces of darkness that are plotting our digital enslavement. Smythe had tasted blood and challenged Galipeau to a public debate, which he somewhat grudgingly accepted. Watch this space.

http://www.galipeau.com/blog/

#rabbithole

The qualities that make a good movie are so well documented, one wonders why bad movies ever get made. And yet the majority fall down for various reasons. The trick seems to be to follow the time honoured conventions of screen writing while being highly creative in their interpretation.

So what has all this to do with marketing? If you apply the fundamentals techniques of screen writing to developing your marketing communications, you’re unlikely to go far wrong. The goals are fundamentally the same; to provide the audience with a satisfying and memorable experience. Small wonder so many successful screenwriters did time as advertising copywriters before branching out into movies. Spot the similarities:

• A good script has a strong premise
• A good script hooks its audience
• A good script has a basic premise, a controlling idea
• A good script is entertaining
• A good script ends with a satisfying resolution

Where appropriate, replace script with campaign, premise with consumer insight and resolution with call to action. Now you know why it makes sense to use a screenwriter for your marketing communications.

I have been involved in a lot of pitches and learned from some of the industry’s top producers. My discoveries are summarised in my report Pitching to Win. At the very least, it should considerably reduce your chances of losing. The report covers the following:

• Analysing the brief
• Observing the corporate culture
• Choosing the right creative approach
• Developing the theme
• Constructing the document
• Bringing the proposal to life
• Planning the presentation

I have a good track record helping companies to win pitches. Earlier this year I helped win a £100K project for a training DVD. I also like to think I help companies keep their clients by delivering a very professional service. Click here for a free (no obligation) copy of Pitching to Win.

• Medicine and the pharmaceutical industry
• Science and technology
• Programmes requiring drama and/or humour
• Compliance, financial crime and legal training
• Local Government
• Skills training for the transport sector

On the production side,  I can help with:

• Off-camera interviews in English and French
• Off-camera interviews with doctors and patients
• Translating and subtitling from French to English
• Supervising post production
• Supervising animation storyboards
• Pitches and proposals