Pincess Diana and the Mexican Wave

Marketing Lessons from Princess Diana and the Mexican Wave
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Copyright Henry Winter and Livewirebusiness.com
July 2007
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BANG, it went. Darned alarm clock! No, wasn't that. It was the front door.

Then clump, clump up the stairs, as my youngest got back from his early morning paper
round. "Morning Dad, time to be up", and chucked the papers on the bed.

And it was definately time to be up and about. We were all off to The Concert for Diana, a little surprise I had organised a few months earlier. My wife, two boys and me.

A great chance to celebrate an icon [faults an' all], see the new Wembley stadium, some great bands and contribute to charity too, all in one swoop. So, if you like this article please go to
http://www.concertfordiana.com/charities/ to make a donation too.

I still think the new national stadium should have been built on a large greenfieild area around Coventry/Daventry, rather than slap bang in the middle of an industrial estate in North West London, but there you go.

Having got there by a mix of car and public transport in just under two, very relaxing hours, the sun came out [and miraculously stayed out all afternoon and evening too], the stadium was fantastic and our seats were great. The stadium was virtually full, despite some of the TV angles the world saw suggesting otherwise, but seats that could the see stage were all full. It was a great atmosphere.

Elton John opened and closed it.

The Prince's read their words off their hands (what was that about!!), Duran Duran sang "Wild Boys" for William and Harry, and "Rio" for Princess Di. Bryan Ferry, Fergie, Pharrell Williams, P Diddy, The National Ballet, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli singing "Phantom of the Opera", Tom Jones, Joss Stone, Rod Stewart (he was great, surprised me, not the biggest of his fans) enjoyed kicking footballs out to the crowd in his songs, Take That and The Feeling were great too, as was Orson, James Morrison, Lily Allen was brill, Nelly Furtado (getting sexier than ever isn't she?), Natasha Bedingfield, Kanye West, Rodger Hampson (Supertramp), Status Quo and Will Young. Fantastic All.

And we had intro's from an assortment of guests, Kiefer Sutherland no less, Dennis Hopper, Natasha Kaplinski, Boris Becker, John McCenroe, Jamie Oliver and more.

But what's the Princess Di concert got to do with marketing?

Two things:

1. The first is about over delivering at a good price = i.e. value for money. There was a souvenir programme, beautifully produced with photo's galore, high quality production and for £10 great value for what it was. A "product" I was not planning to get, i.e. I had already decided before going I would not get one but..... it was too well done not to.
So, don't think you can't convert your market. If you are going to convert prospects, even sceptical ones like me, and have them buy from you, create and deliver a high quality product for a great price and even the most sceptic of buyers can be converted.

2. The second is find a way to create a "tipping point", somehting that will create action amongst a group or your target audience. During the concert, on many occasions, the left hand corner of the crowd, near the stage, tried to send Mexican waves away from the stage, up the sides, round the back, down again the other side, all the way round to their opposite numbers on the other side of the stage, over three massive tiers and 68,000 people.

How did they get on? The people tryin to start the wave were persistent pays. And persistence pays in marketing.

First time about 4 people tried it. Failed.

Second time about the same number, same result.

3rd time, @ 20 people, this time about 50 seats away, joined in but it stopped.

4th time it got about 1/2 way round a patchy 1st tier.

5th time we were rocking, 2/3 rd's the way around the first tier.

6th time, fantastic, all the way the first tier and a few from the second tier.

After that first, "all way round" success, it went again, this time with everyone in the first and even more in the second tier too. After a few more times all three tiers did it. It was great, you could feel it as it got nearer, the noise went up and clapping and more, as 68,000 people moved in timed unison, to one end goal - the wave. And as it got to the end the "posh" seats at stage level sent it all the way from the front of the stage to the back of the stadium too. Cool.

Nearly every time thereafter, if a wave started, it nearly always completed.

Sometimes the whole stadium was on its feet with the wave (in between all the dancing for every band), sometimes just a complete tier in isolation. But once the crowd was taught, the "tipping point" (read Gladwells Book) reached that crowd and it was easy to start another frenzy, to get the crowd to respond.

It became easier to "upsell" the next wave, after the one before it.

Just as you should think about providing the opportunty for a loyal customer to get something else from you immediately after their last purchase from you.

The real message. Next time your marketing get's stuck, persevere.

It starts with just a couple customers or leads, then may fail, but keep trying. Those 2 become 4, then 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120 and before you know it you can have 10,000+ customers banging at your door.

With the words of a great branding success, and the closing words Dan Kennedy chose to close his book, "Ultimate Success Secrets" - JUST DO IT.

Take action to overcome your worry and don't be willing to accept the result you are getting. Do something about it.

So, if your marketing is stuck in a rut, going nowhere fast, think: "What can you do to start your own mexican wave, or viral wave, or word of mouth, or PR to get your business back on track?"

Think about it - you will find something.

Until next time, happy concert going!

Henry Winter,
Business Creator, The Livewirebusiness.com, "Money Making Marketing for Entreprenuers"
webmaster@livewirebusiness.com

PS: do donate if you can, these are all great causes. http://www.concertfordiana.com/charities/

PPS: If you do go to the stadium, whilst there are lots of food and service outlets (688 I think) they are expensive. Make sure you have enough dosh but keep it safe.