Nothing to do with banking … or is it? … but I’m loving a new social media experiment being staged by Intel and Toshiba this week.
They’ve hired D. J. Caruso, the Director of Disturbia, to make a social horror film … brilliant.
It caught my attention on Sunday and the film started running on Monday.
It’s called the Inside Experience, and is meant to be a crowdsourced film.
You got it. The followers of the film on Twitter and Facebook set the story.
The opening scene is that Christina Perasso, our hero, has been kidnapped and is stuck in a room with just a laptop and an internet connection.
She will only find her way out … by letting you in.
Yes you.
All of you.
All of the 10,000 plus fans on Facebook and 1,200 plus followers on Twitter.
Obviously, some are enjoying it a lot.
Here’s a couple of comments on the above video clip.
Zxykary: I showed my grandma this and she thinks that it's an actual situation, she's trying like crazy to get the authorities... She called the police like twice...
Makotosolo:
- Woman with husky voice? Check.
- Blue jeans? Check.
- White tank top? Check.
- Generic panicky situation? Check.
- We've got ourselves a thriller, ladies and gentlemen.
She’s posted a few more clips since, which you can follow if you want.
On Twitter , she’s posting clues to follow …
And on Facebook, she’s generally being discussed by and talking with her fans and followers, who are adding other dimensions to the story and helping with clues for her to follow …
For the real deal however, you should go to the Inside Experience site and join in …
The point is that you are not only immersed in a film, but fully interacting with the character and feeling like part of the story.
It has some faults such as holes in the plot, inconsistent writing and a lack of response to some interactions and ideas, but it’s a great concept of how to market online in the age of social media.
Follow the film throughout this week and see if Christina is saved … or otherwise.
Meanwhile, what this should tell us is that marketing today is no longer about a dumb page in a magazine or a flash 30 second clip on the TV.
Sure, we know that but what this films tells us is that it goes way beyond this today.
Five years into the social media revolution, marketing is now not just about user-generated content through competitions on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
It’s about total engagement, two way and true way.
Total immersion and total entertainment.
You may think that it’s not important, but in the age of 100% attention deficit disorder due to the text messaging whilst status updating whilst talking and eating, it’s pretty hard to get people to get your message.
This might just be the start of a long way towards achieving a new way of marketing that bank experiential marketers will soon be following.
And some financial institutions are already getting there ...
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
