The parable of the lonely hotel room

My girlfriend and I spent the weekend in Dorset a couple of weeks ago, relaxing with friends. It was lovely. Beaches, barbecues and beer. Bliss. On the Friday evening, we were having a drink in the garden when my friend’s phone buzzed from inside the house.

“Oh”, he said returning with the device, “I’ve got three texts and two missed calls.”

“So do I!” said his girlfriend who had fished her phone from her bag.

All the texts, (six of them) and calls (four) were from the same person. One person who, we would later learn, was sat all alone in a hotel in the Scottish borders.

via nerdcoregirl @ Flickr

At this point, my girlfriend and I were a little bemused, so the other couple explained. The mutual friend (let’s call him Bob) had, it emerged, been in contact with our friends for the past few weeks about a wedding they were all attending.

Bob had asked them where they were staying, how they were getting there (they’re all London based) and what they were doing the night before. They, of course, assumed that he was talking about the weekend of the wedding, which was a month away. Bob, they now realised, was talking about this weekend, because that’s when he thought the wedding was.

Ah.

And now, of course, Bob was calling and texting to find out where they were. He thought they were meeting for dinner. And since it was now 9pm, his tummy was rumbling.

Bob had, through various events that included the mislaying of the invitation, an ambiguous diary entry and a series of conversations that had seemed clear – but had evidently been murk – got the date seriously wrong.

So why is any of this relevant to making brands social?

Well, it demonstrates how things can so easily go wrong when a simple piece of information isn’t readily available (the invite) or communication is based on a false assumption (the texts).

In this case, it led to time, money and a lovely cummerbund being wasted; but for your product launch, news about downtime on your service, a change in terms and conditions, or a great offer you have on this weekend, it becomes a much bigger deal.

Who’s missing out because they think they know what your brand stands for?
Who’s getting annoyed because they didn’t know your service wouldn’t be available?
Who would love to purchase your product at 25% off but doesn’t know they have the option?

If that wedding invite had been on Facebook this wouldn’t have happened (so maybe stick your sale details on there?)

If our friend’s monthly planner had been shared via email this wouldn’t have happened (so maybe share updates there?)

Next time you think you’ve been clear about your brand or activities, think about that bloke, sitting alone in a dank hotel. That happens to consumers on a daily basis.

Are you sure it isn’t happening to yours?

Brought into the world on Thursday, July 28th, 2011 and filed under 1000thoughts.