Search results matching tag 'Strictly Come Dancing'

Marketing Agencies - Scientists or Artists? By Scott Knox, Managing Director of the MCCA (part 2)

2294184 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:52:00 GMT

Why marketing departments need the artists as well as the scientists

The rigour and red tape of the client’s marketing department are suffocating creativity.

Creative teams become more and more frustrated and brands are missing the opportunity to really engage their customers. You only have to look at the rapid rise of social media to see that people are looking to be engaged in an interesting and personal way.

Brands should be looking at the unique channels of communication, whether this comes in the form of a competition to be a caretaker on a tropical island (Tourism Queensland) or releasing a record to promote your fair trade credentials (Cadbury’s).

Consumers have been subjected to months of depressing headlines and those heavily affected by the economic climate are looking to escape the doom and gloom. Coming out of the recession in the early eighties we had shows like Dynasty, brands and seized this aspirational mood and delivered grand, worldwide campaigns.

Coming out of this recession we have the ever popular reality TV phenomenon. Year after year I’m amazed at the popularity of Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor - surely brands can make more of this reality TV trend? Of course there is some great work out there, what I’m trying to say is that there isn’t enough. While the scientists with their systems and processes will always be vital for running any successful business, the artists need to come back fighting too.

Agencies need to keep pushing back on their clients and doing everything they can to get their clients to buy that work… the work that was showcased at last month’s event. Clients should seize this recession and use it as a springboard to inspire their consumers with some mould-breaking creative.

Disrespect to Simon Cowell, Strictly and X-Factor

673734 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:53:00 GMT

I've got no real problem with the nation's obsession with Strictly Come Dancing and The X-Factor. An obsession fed each and every day by the national press - so there's instantly several pages of every paper I have little interest in as I watch neither show.

But it's the tone of reverence some journalists use when discussing these shows that grates. It's as if Simon Cowell, Bruce Forsyth and Cheryl Cole were Gods on a higher plane, the way some commentators bang on. No wonder the stars of these shows behave in such an out-of-touch manner.

I really must stop listening to Radio Five Live but its morning news programme today carried a lengthy and earnest review of both shows as though they represent the greatest artistic achievements of mankind rather than the cheap and easy entertainment they really are.

So more disrespect and general piss taking towards these shows should be obligatory. This should keep Cowell's ego in check and make Strictly participants think twice before abusing their new found fame.

BBC readies social media make-over

255762 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:17:00 GMT

A couple of reports around today on the BBC's social media plans saying that as soon as this weekend it will begin adding applications to support its most popular shows.

Broadband TV News says that the likes of 'Strictly Come Dancing' will get the social media treatment first and that the BBC is working on bringing in third party partners (such as buzz tracker), which cold extend to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

It quotes Anthony Rose, BBC’s controller of Vision and Online, speaking at the Social TV Forum in London, who interestingly talks about the status of the BBC in relation to the rest of the web.

"An island in this socially connected world is very tricky, you don't just want to have BBC friends, but also Facebook friends if you have them already, so opening it up is very important."

Sounds like a change in thinking to me. Much needed. The site also says the BBC is looking at some kind of real-time search that will allow visitors to the site to "follow" content on the BBC and from outside, which would then be delivered as a feed.

MediaGuardian has more on this and it says BBC sources have told it that that the new-look social media enabled site will be on stream by March and that the corporation is researching "what the next generation in social media will be".

It also quotes Rose, he talks about innovations such as allowing users to comment on particular moments of shows while watching and see what other users said about the same moment "or simply rate moments with 'Boo!', 'Good!' or 'Gosh!'." Sounds like 'Strictly Come Dancing' territory to me.

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Carry on, Sergeant

2378546 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:59:00 GMT

From St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians to 'Strictly Come Dancing' and the bombshell that John Sergeant has walked off the show as revealed in a Sun 'exclusive' today. Last weekend, this respected political commentator-turned-national treasure sailed through another round of 'Strictly Come Dancing' and onto the front page of the tabloids.

The judges cried foul as the nation voted silky Saga poster girl Cherie Lunghi out of the competition. Craig, Arlene, Len and Bruno watched with mounting incredulity as Sergeant won the dance-off with all the finesse of a Maris Piper potato. Fresh on the heels of Ross and Brandgate, the scandal saw the media community's dirty laundry set on another furious spin cycle. More public votes have been cast for Sergeant than for candidates in the last General Election.

So what does this tell us about the audience's appetite that they were minded to respond in these numbers and with this intent? That no matter how much the judges want them to swoon at the technical brilliance of an immaculately performed dance routine, the great unwashed would much rather watch John Sergeant's Paso Doble any day - even if the handling of his professional partner resembled an overworked postman dragging a heavily-laden mail bag to the sorting office. It's called entertainment value. It's called understanding your audience.

It's what we do as Direct Marketers. And, as times get tougher, it's what everybody craves. Let direct marketers take note of the overwhelming response Sergeant's performance elicited and how the high-mindedness of the judges who mistake this for a dance contest, not a prime-time light entertainment vehicle, have deprived the nation of what they want. Entertainment. Pure and simple.

Sergeant connected with the audience because most viewers are like him - a lot of the time people are crap, unfit for purpose, a little muddled in their execution, ungainly, but nevertheless persevering through the rounds and routines of life. They identify and empathise with the blundering, self-apologetic everyman. This is the new celebrity in our culture - we hunger for authenticity, connection and entertainment. The more austere the times, the more voracious that appetite becomes. No amount of technical brilliance can substitute that. And John Sergeant's response rates prove it.