This week we are looking at the relationship between interactivity and relational marketing, and how important it is to engage the customers (existing or potential) into wanting to know more, and to get them to spread the word.
This was seen in ‘Doctor Who and the convergence of culture’ (Perryman 2008)[1]; the cult viewers that watched the programme felt as though they were in the story. They were able to follow and create new scenarios for the characters and also suggest what the hidden and unexplained messages may mean.
Another platform, in which the BBC tried to engage their consumers, was to create “Tardisodes”; short one minute episodes downloaded onto the mobile or that can be watched online, this was a different way in which to connect with their consumers, however it wasn’t as well received as they would have liked, with only 40,000 mobile downloads over the series. I think that they were not advertised enough, as a Doctor Who watcher, I had never even heard of these “Tardisodes”.
Relationship marketing can be defined as “creating, maintaining, and enhancing long-term relationships with individual customers as well as other stakeholders for mutual benefit”[2]. (Belch and Belch 2009, p9).
T-Mobile established a relationship with their customers through the flash dance mob in Liverpool Street train station back in 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM) It generated a huge amount of media interest, as well as the people that were there in the train station being able to video the dance on their phones and send it to others, and post it on social media sites such as Facebook. Virals are internet phenomenons with the T-Mobile dance clocking up over 26 million hits on its YouTube page.
The dance was such a success that they created another advert in which members of the public could get involved; this was a sing-off in Trafalgar Square London. This again was filmed on people’s phones, and got them to interact with the company, this video again went viral. Web 2.0 has had a huge influence on the amount of interactivity a company and its consumers has.
But, this marketing plan had the potential to go wrong, but this video shows the amount of work that was put into making the dance work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFNM8f9WnI this is the making of the T-Mobile dance.
[1] Perryman, N., 2008. Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media: A Case Study in `Transmedia Storytelling' Convergence, the international Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 14-21.
[2] Belch, G., and Belch, M., 2009. Advertising and Promotion An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. 8th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
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