Lessons in Experience from 1000heads

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Scott Gould

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgxVsxbhYhs

If you can’t see the above video, click here, or watch it directly on YouTube.

My friend James Whatley pointed me to this exceptional peice of work that he and the team at 1000heads did for Nokia. In the video above, you see the execution of a master plan of word of mouth creation and experience planning, in which they surprise a group of Nokia fans around the world by arriving on their doorstep or flying them to London and then giving them gorgeous sports cars to drive to fulfil a challenge that involved using various Nokia products like OviMaps and their phone.

Two things to say here. First of all, I hear people slam Nokia a lot (mostly Nokia fans) for not having Apple’s marketing machine. But I don’t see Apple hiring WOM planners like 1000heads and doing incredible things like this, or this, or partnering with Like Minds, for their fans on a regular basis.

Second thing: this takes us right back to our discussions on experience and expectation management. Remember this diagram below from Managing Expectations:

Suspense Curve with Trailers and Films

If we break this video down, the trailer (the front loading of the experience) is when people get the cars in the first place. It surprises people, it delights people, it’s completely unexpected. But what it now creates is suspense.

Suspense is the experience of anticipating an experience, and when you create one great experience, people will begin expecting another.

The real beauty of this video and work by 1000heads is not the cars at the beginning, it’s the fact that they exceed the expectations and deliver a better experience after that.

To put this into a metaphor, as per the diagram above, the film was better than the trailer.

Expectation Management for Event Planners

Here’s a quick note to the hash of people creating events around the world: you need to understand suspense and how to front/back load your experience to make sure that your marketing doesn’t exceed your delivery. I’d have you start by reading about the Expectation Pyramid, and then the Basics of Expectation Management.

If I was in a fighting mood I could list event after event where it sounded and looked far better than it actually was. The days of these hacks getting away with this won’t last much longer in my opinion.

Your Leading Thoughts

If we were talking about a purely digital experience, when have you had your expectations exceeded?
What can we draw from that experience to learn more about digital suspense?

How Apple Created a New Level of ‘New’ with the iPad

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Scott Gould

We all know that Apple’s marketing and buzz machine is one of the best in the world. So when the iPad was announced, there was every expectation that there’d be the same buzz as always: some people love it, some people hate it, but for sure, everyone is talking about it.

There’s only one problem with Apple’s model, and it’s an issue of anticipation and expectation. Namely, it is this:

Apple do such a good job of hyping and showing the new thing off, that when I get my hands on the new thing, nothing is new anymore.

You know what I mean here. I remember touching the iPhone for the first time, and as cool as it was, the demonstrations on the website had done such a good job of showing the device to me, that physically holding it had little new about it. Continue reading →

People Don’t Remember What Was Said, They Remember How They Felt

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Scott Gould

This is a photo of me, Chris Brogan and Molly Flatt and the Like Minds Summit earlier this year. Looking at it reminds of one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learnt – namely that what I remember from that day isn’t the content we discussed (despite it being amazing), but it’s the feeling of friendship that I had.

Earlier this year I guest posted an article on Search Engine People discussing a simple framework to focus on feeling, because the reality is that when people reach the door, close the laptop, or put their head on the pillow, they don’t remember what was said, they remember how they felt. Continue reading →

The Basics Of Expectation Management

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Scott Gould

Yesterday we went through The Pyramid Of Expectation, and understanding how providing compelling experiences (or failing and providing awful ones) is based on your ability to meet expectations. In actual fact, we discussed that it’s no longer enough to meet customer’s expectations (this is merely customer satisfaction), you have to move into the arena of exceeding expectations (which is customer surprise.)

Today I’m going to layout how to go beyond even exceeding expectations and begin to get into the realm of managing expectations. This is ultimately your ability to control what people expect from you – and controlling those expectations means you are able to exceed them every time.

Pyramid of Expectation So first, to refresh your memory and provide a frame of reference, here’s the diagram from yesterday. When it comes to managing expectations, we can do it on all these levels, as we went through. If you under promise and over deliver, you will give customer surprise. It’s a hack job, but you’ll do it. What we need, though, is something more than this, and something which has more sustainability and long term strategy – and we find it is in customer suspense where expectation management really flourishes. Continue reading →