March 8, 2006
human beings don’t scale
Here’s an update of where we are on the “Stormhoek 100 Dinners” idea:
1. According to the wiki, so far we have close to 50 people signed up. Add to that about another 30 who we’re taking to, it looks like we’re well on our way to making this a success.
2. It’s nice when big events get Stormhoek coverage, however both me and Jason prefer taking the “Small Is Beautiful” angle.
A large, multinational alcohol brand covering an internet idustry party is nothing new. But a small, South African winery covering a small, intimate, random event in say, Phoenix, Arizona is much more interesting. Because it’s on a more human scale.
AND YOU WANT TO REACH PEOPLE ON A HUMAN SCALE. That’s what Madison Avenue keeps forgetting. That’s what Madison Avenue can’t get their head around, because their business model has no credible answer for it.
3. It’s not enough for Stormhoek to be whoring itself to bloggers indiscriminately. We want these events to be interesting in their own right. “We’re having this blogger’s mashup in the most unlikely locale you could imagine” is interesting to me. “My second cousin, Larry is having a birthday party and yeah, we’d like some free wine” is not.
4. The people signing up are pretty much who’d you expect: gapingvoid readers, bloggers, Web 2.0 people etc. I’m hoping to get more wine bloggers into the mix.
5. You see where this idea could potentially spread? First the bloggers in general, then wine bloggers specifically, then the wine trade press, then… BIG MEDIA [SFX: BOM BOM BOM trumpet noises].
Part of my agenda here is putting ad agencies out of business. Or at least, trying to.
6. Madison Avenue: “Hey, America! Here’s why you should buy our stuff.”
The Hughtrain: “We love what you’re doing and we would like to be part of it, within reason.”
The thing is, being on the Hughtrain means keeping it down to a human scale. Because human beings don’t scale.
7. To sign up, please go here if you haven’t already. Thanks.
8. Anything else?
[Update:] Salient thought from James Governor: “He who supplies the free wine underpins the community buzz, and that’s where the action is, and at some point it will drive economic activity.”
Hugh, if you are trying to get into the trenches then don’t forget about Craigslist. Try posting a personal ad for a threesome from the POV of a bottle of wine and see what happens
Taking it to the extreme, you could even position yourself as a “first date wine” or even THE first date wine.
Alex, Brilliant idea. We always think about Stomhoek as a social lubricant
Looking for wine bloggers you say? Here’s one! Sounds like a fun an interesting idea…where can I throw my hat in the ring?
I totally agree with the ground-up PR philosophy but…
You say that your end goal is to get into “Big Media” and yet you want to put ad agencies out of business — The problem is that “Big Media” depends on the Ad Revenues generated from Madison Ave.? How are we (media) supposed to maintain revenue to support production without the big ad budgets?
Please correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you want all of the benefits of big glossy two page spreads without the ads that pay for the big glossy two-page spreads.
I guess we could always start charging more at the news stand…
Kris, if ad agencies and big media go out of business, something will come along to take its place. Something cheaper and better. Maybe it’s already starting to happen, but not everybody sees it yet.
it seems to me like the internet is glossier by the hour.
The internet is getting more “everything” by the hour, not just glossy. And it has always been thus.
The comments seem closed at the other post…hopscothcing from comments there, yeah, when does the canadian version of these wine blogging dinners kick in? May mean a day trip to buffalo for the T.O. tech cluster. Wine and a bus trip…maybe not. we’ll hang in for the canadian release. You know we do drink more than beer, here.
Hey Brian, for you we’ll sort something out, drop me an email.
Jason
Get me some Stormhoek!
I don’t know whether it’s the Stormhoek wine or something else, but I want some of what Hugh drinks before he write things like this… Technorati Tags: Stormhoek, Hugh Macleod, Marketing Philosophy…