The internet is still quite new. Compare it to publishing, which was the last big thing to revolutionise the way we communicate. Before publishing there was no professional journalism. People would spread the news back then, not journalists.  Then came TV with a handful of broadcasters and publishers controlling what we saw and read. But it was always about delivering content and the public absorbing it.

Picture the internet in the same way, it’s still in its infancy and until very recently we were applying our existing business models to it…again it was about content. But the way we operate online has changed and has put people back in control, it’s more about community than content. Facebook or a tabloid newspapers website? Facebook wins every time.

Why am I interested? A while ago at Unmissable we knew that by using great prizes and sending customers on great experiences sparked great content for our clients. We developed ideas around this so social media could help carry this content for the clients. We worked hard at encouraging content marketing. Red Bull are the masters at using great experiences to spark content and that inspired us.

But recently we are seeing success in prize promotions that build communities as well as sparking content. Health clubs for example where the more members that participate the bigger the prize fund gets and the more exciting it gets. It enables the community side of a brand to grow and when this happens you get loyalty.

Whilst we will always be great at helping brands stand out and build market share with great prize promotions, we’re finding out we are also great at encouraging communities to interact with each other, and not just the brand.

Do brands still have control? Read more on the topic here.

Justine Clement

Because of our sponsorship of the recent APMC Awards  we’ve been doing our homework on the Irish market.   And boy is there a really high concentration of great work coming out of a small area – basically Dublin.

What I’ve also noticed is that the nomination list for this year’s awards was also mostly all Irish agencies from Dublin. Yet I’m pretty sure that the awards are open to agencies outside Ireland and the work just has to have run there. What I’ve also noticed is that the bigger agencies up for awards are represented by Ireland with Publicis, Ogilvy and Tequila all names on the nomination list with offices in Dublin. So why in a digital world, when international barriers are coming down and cross boarder campaigns are easier to run, are local offices so important and does understanding subtle cultural differences really matter when campaign planning?

After a bit more homework it seems it does matter. Starting with the obvious stereotypes as an example – Ireland are big beer drinkers, but did you know Italy are virtually teetotal when it comes to beer and surprisingly the Czechs drink the most? Tricky for a Diageo cross border campaign. The most alarming example was in 1994 when mobile phone operator Orange ran their campaign “the future is bright the future is Orange” in Northern Ireland. It didn’t go down too well with the Catholic Irish population and it was changed after some embarrassment. That wouldn’t have come through an agency office in Belfast I’m sure.

These are extreme examples and amusing, but running work through a local office obviously makes sense to avoid embarrassing gaffs, also the subtle elements of local knowledge must go a long way. HSBC have even made it their brand identity – understanding cultural differences.

So in a world where we are all connected digitally and socially it looks like the one thing that will never change is the different ways we live, work and talk. Would Wang, the American computer company that ran a UK campaign in the late 1970’s,  have been so baffled when their motto “Wang Cares” didn’t take off if that wasn’t the case?

Justine Clement

The creative mathematician

I was at an agency earlier this week talking to an account handler that looked and acted just as you would imagine a creative director would, yet he spoke like a data analyst, or even a mathematician.

He sounded like a mathematician because our conversation circled purely around analytics and metrics. They were listening to customers and streaming the information from social and other channels into some clever software. As a result they were then micro-targeting people on a fairly large scale – in their 000’s. All very clever stuff which was driving a mix of creative output.

This was an interesting proposition for Unmissable because we’re not just asked to manage those headline grabbing promotional prize ideas that fit a demographic such as a family or a teenager. We’re asked to cater for very specific needs because the level of targeting is so precise. Triggered offers are delivered to people depending not just on their demographic but their stage in the customer journey as well.

What reminded me of this conversation was yesterday’s launch of the new Barclaycard Bespoke Offers platform. It again proves that we are moving away from the scatter gun approach of “much cheapness” from companies like Groupon. The Barclaycard approach is tailored to people and it’s personal. The public will grow to further expect not only offers that are relevant to their demographic like these, but one’s that are timely as well. What may be appropriate one week may be irrelevant the next and they will want us to keep up.

It’s a huge challenge because we’re going to have to remain very fluid in our approach and move with the consumer. It’s one thing having the technology to provide insight for micro-targeting, but being able to react to it quickly enough is no mean feat and that’s the next challenge to companies like Unmissable.

Justine Clement

Unmissable has teamed up with the guys behind popular foodie TV programmes Saturday Kitchen, Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain and The Roux Legacy. Launched earlier this year, this luxury cookery school regularly holds experiences hosted by a range of culinary masters including Michel Roux Jr., Monica Galetti, Ken Hom, Clare Smyth, Jose Pizarro and Vivek Singh, and we’re giving you exclusive access to cook with some of these celebrity chefs.

Bookings are taken on an exclusive basis, giving you sole use of the cookery school.  Specific chefs can be requested so that guests can spend quality time with their food heroes. Based above the Saturday Kitchen studios in London’s Clapham,  there’s a fantastic range of spaces including a dining room and green room, as well as the TV studios.   Additional experiences such as a wine tasting, drinks reception or studio tour and filming can also be incorporated.   Optimum numbers are 12 to 18 people at a time to maintain the intimacy, allowing the participants to gain one on one coaching and tips from a well-known TV chef.   We can also accommodate larger groups for demonstrations, wine tastings and meetings.

Call Lenny for more details.

See more event ideas here.

More on Unmissable events here.

In the city where the world’s first opera was written and some of the greatest Renaissance art created, Unmissable can arrange for anyone to become an opera diva in the space of a weekend.

We’ve teamed up with respected local tutors from the Accademia Europea di Firenze to offer guests a fabulous 3-D experience that includes specialist tutoring, guided walks and tickets to the opera. Practice your vocal chords with a two hour opera masterclass before resting in your five star hotel fit for a star.

This is a unique experience. Call us for more details.

For more unique prize experiences click here.

Long gone are the days when a PR stunt would have to be briefed to the press weeks beforehand to make sure they are there to capture it. People are the press now and their mobile and social networks are the media.  Last weeks Star Trek stunt over London Bridge was a nice example. In the space of a few minutes from the Star Trek logo being displayed in the sky over London, people were sharing the experience through mobile devices and social networks.

We have been involved in some great pieces of activity recently. Some of the highlights are:

• The world’s first International Gift Unwrapping Championships in Covent Garden for TomTom
• Live webcast with UK number one artist Labrinth for Reebok and Spotify (see pic)
• Flying Heart FM presenters across the Midlands in aircraft towing banners promoting Alton Towers
• An international football tournament for M&S & The Sun to promote M&S’s sponsorship of the England team

But back to stunts, our favourite of all time still remains the Carlsberg stunt performed in a cinema in Brussels – which has now reached an astonishing 12million views on you tube.

The worst and one of the oldest PR stunts was a staged train crash in Texas in 1896 that came with some very unfortunate consequences. The less said about that the better, but it demonstrates how things can sometimes go badly wrong.

Want to read more about Unmissable Events? Click here.

(1)  Check into St Lucia’s newest food focused boutique hotel for cookery lessons, plantation tours, gourmet dining & spa treatments all focused around the might cocoa bean, set within reach of a beautiful beach. We can arrange for total immersion in this chocolate paradise, starting with cocoa Martinis or Bellinis on arrival. Enjoy a full tree to bar chocolate experience, including cocoa harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting and making your own batch of chocolate and truffles.  Indulge in a full body cocoa massage plus a cocoa sack goody bag. Heavenly.

(2)  Led by wild food expert Rachel Lambert, forage the Scilly Island of Bryher then head to Hell Bay hotel where with head chef Richard Kearsley – foragers will be shown how to transform their findings into fine dining. Wild Food Foraging can be a luxurious and heavenly experience and Hell Bay manages to acheive just that. Our break includes three half day guided wild food walks across three different islands, and each evening a 5 course taster menu incoporating the day’s wild foraged finds. Believe is, nettle soup is nicer than it sounds.

(3)  Go behind the scenes for an Italian gourmet tour you won’t find in any guidebook. The very best of Tuscan culinary culture is waiting to be discovered. Guided artisan tours offer everything from cookery day classes to specialist courses led by locals, from truffle hunting to salami making. We can arrange a completely bespoke tour depending on your preferences, whether you want to bake bread with  a local baker or make pecorino cheese with a shepherd.

(4)  Set sail for the night on a rice boat in Kerala. Watch as the sunset slips over the rice paddies & spice plantations. Barter with the help of your local guide buying freshwater prawns which the on board chef will create miracles with on his two ring camping stove as you glide around the backwaters of this lush region of India. Keen cooks can have a go themselves on the Malabar Coast. Chop & dice exotic sounding ingredients to create your own candlelit dinner under the stars.

For more food, well ok, drinking related ideas, see here for some coffee inspired ideas.

See what Greggs have done recently.

Looking to expore the idea of rewarding the whole family?  Here we look at a few ideas that stand out from the crowd.

(1)  We’ve teamed up with the guys down in Devon to offer you a bite sized cookery course aimed at families led by River Cottage chefs at Hugh’s home in West Country. Take the kids, don an apron & get stuck in. These hands on courses are run especially during the school holidays. Choose from fish or pizza themed courses, where you’ll learn either the skills to make the perfect pizza or adults can try their hands at filleting, boning & stuffing fish. Enjoy a delicious meal afterwards as a reward for all your hard work.

(2)  Turn a holiday into a fairytale with a truly magical journey. The Brothers Grimm penned their first fantastical tale 200 years ago this year, so now’s the perfect time for exploring the 370 mile Fairy Tale Road from their birthplace in Hanau to Bremen, the landscape that inspired childhood favourites such as Rapunzel & the Pied Piper.  We’ll organise the itinerary and pick out all the best bits for you.

(3)  Kids love camping & if the sun shines, there’s no better place to pitch up your tent than Cornwall. If  you think camping means hassle, then think again, with our camping concierge. We’ll arrange for everything to be delivered from your tent to your food. In addition, the trip can be tailored to suit your brand and tailored to each family, with many activities on offer. Imagine surfing with an ex pro at a secret beach, getting a board designed especially for you then eating fish & chips in a coastal cave…

(4)  Staying in treehouses may be nothing new, but these treehouses we’ve come across are so good we thought we’d share them with you. Children will love the chance to stay 30ft up a redwood fir on a chateau estate deep in the Normandy Woods, in a treehouse designed to resemble at medieval castle. This is a unique chance to sleep amongst the treetops. Dinner will be delivered in a food hamper to the bottom of your tree & attached to a rope allowing you the pleasure of pulling it up to your terrace – gives a whole new meaning to the word room service!

See how one brand got family prizes so right it blew sales throughh the roof.  Read on here.

Like to see how winning a prize can help build your brand community? See here for one winner’s experience.

We were watching a re run of Mad Men recently when the Drapers entertained Roger Sterling for dinner. You really don’t get that scenario these days and often work and home life are kept very separate. But is that the way forward when it comes to staff reward and recognition?

The career, whether it’s for mum or dad, plays a huge role in family life. The two most important factors outside health…it controls the time family can spend together and  family income. So why not integrate the two a little?

We’ve had a recent brief in from a company looking to for exciting ideas in their staff reward and recognition scheme and in addition to the experiences that a single person might prefer such as concert tickets or unique shopping trips, they are very keen to make sure the whole family of the employee gets some extra value from their hard work. There’s a very nice psychological take on this and it touches on that old fashioned approach that the whole family would be behind Don Draper and support his career.

So with sexist scenarios like Betty Draper trying to impress Roger Sterling and not notice his flirting aside. Maybe including the whole family a little more in the careers of parents is a good thing. After all it remains a family team effort to build a career, not just the person that goes to the office.

See our latest inspiring family suggestions that won’t break the budget here.

Thinking of running an incentive?  Read more on the subject here.

What kind of experience do we give winners on your behalf?  Click here to watch an account.