Contrived Exclusivity over Substance

I'm not usually one for swanky bars or restaurants but yesterday, a friend and I fancied an afternoon treat, so we thought we'd give the Radio Rooftop bar a go. The bar is on the roof of the ME Hotel in London's Aldwych. That means it has amazing views of the river. It has always been billed as an exclusive place. We did consider booking a table and I enquired about it. The manager emailed back to say there was a minimum spend of £25 each + service to book a table but at that time, we could probably just walk up and find a spot to enjoy a drink and a chat. I should add that if you want to book a table for a larger group, the minimum spend is £75 per person.

I rocked up at the appointed time already knowing that my companion was running late. I figured that I could bag us both a table or spot at the bar before it got busy with the early evening, post-work crowd. I've never been before so I just wandered through the hotel behind a man who clearly looked like he knew where he was going. Since I was loaded with shopping bags, no-one stopped me. I expect they thought I was likely to be a guest in the hotel. I headed to the back of the hotel and got in the lift and went straight up to the bar. I didn't even know there was a separate entrance for the lift to the roof.

On asking for a table, I was told that there was nothing available - in fairness, the bar was busy but certainly not full - but I could sit at the bar. I sat down, pulled up another bar stool for my friend, tidied my shopping bags out of the way and waited. With my phone and the charming French bar man for company, I was quite enjoying being in a different environment and doing some people watching.

Next thing, I'm getting a flurry of WhatsApp messages from my friend saying they won't let her inside to take the lift. Apparently there's a queue and even though I've saved her a spot and we're both solo, there was no way whatsoever the bouncers were going to let her in. This is at 5pm on a Tuesday afternoon and the bar, although busy, was certainly not full. I spoke to the manager at the bar and he somewhat grumpily told me that was the policy and there was nothing he would do. My friend just had to wait her turn, frustrating though that is.

There were about 20 people in front of her. Fortunately, half of those people gave up waiting having been at the receiving end of the surly bouncers. That meant the wait wasn't too long and eventually we were reunited. My friend and I had a nice drink and chat together, and we had some lovely tapas. The crab cakes were particularly delicious and the bar staff we engaged with were utterly charming. We can't say the same of the door staff or the manager unfortunately but we had a nice enough time there.

I think I would describe this as contrived exclusivity.

Did the slightly painful wait make the experience in the bar even better for us? In this instance, I don't think so. I'm unlikely to be adding this bar to my favourite bars of London list.It seems that there are plenty of other customers who respond well to this deliberate positioning strategy. The mix of swanky surroundings, a good cocktail menu, and this contrived exclusivity seems to hit the spot. Maybe it makes people feel special for being the lucky ones who are in there. Perhaps by making it that bit harder to get into, it attracts only a certain type of clientele, and probably a rich clientele and so the visitors there find others just like them. Or maybe there's more to it than that?

I'm not saying the Radio Rooftop Bar has no substance. The food was tasty, the views are great and the waiting staff are very nice, but I can't help feeling that this contrived exclusivity makes the place feel a lot better than it actually is to a certain type of customer.

As so often happens with me, other things crop up in my timeline that are very pertinent to something I've just experienced. When I got home last night, I spotted this on Twitter.

How #glamour works and why you need to care about it. We review @Vpostrel’s #PowerofGlamour: https://t.co/kpRy1hU5Di #marketing #advertising

— The Agency Review (@TheAgencyReview) December 5, 2017

Glamour, as opposed to style, is important in marketing terms so maybe the Power of Glamour needs to be on my reading list. You can get it over on Amazon.




And then today, when I was wondering what I should write about today, I read this article from Vice about how someone made his shed the top rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. It's a fascinating read and tells us a lot about human behaviour. Exclusivity plus high ratings seems to have made 'The Shed' a big hit even though there was absolutely no substance to it at all.

So maybe there is something in this contrived exclusivity mullarkey. I'm racking my brain though as to how this could work in a digital or mobile environment. Something for me to ponder further.

Day 6/25 Blogmas

Taking stock about job prospects

It probably comes as no surprise that the end of January is prime time for quitting one's job. Such a big decision doesn't come easily and it can take several months to get to that decision and to find another job to go to. Often the Christmas break is the catalyst for change too. Taking time off over Christmas gives you chance to take stock of what you want to do for the next year or years.

From the work I did a couple of years back about the Future of Work, there is not only a skills gap in the UK, especially where technology is concerned, but technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, mobile computing, cloud computing, internet of things and robots is also impacting on the kind of work we will be doing and what jobs will look like in the near future. I touched on this a little in last month's posts, 'What do you do when your boss is an algorithm?" and 'What three things should we teach in schools?'.

And it got me thinking about what skills are required to future-proof oneself and then I was reminded about the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs report from January 2016. Even though it's two years old, it's still relevant. And rather handily, there's a graphic showing what the Top 10 skills required were in 2015 and the ones anticipated in 2020 (which isn't very far away).

Interestingly, complex problem solving is still number one. However, critical thinking and creativity have moved up the charts to 2nd and 3rd position. Critical thinking and creativity are things that Artificial Intelligence cannot do. There's no question that computers can crunch data in ways humans can't, and a computer can even create artistic works. A death metal album from DaDaBots is one of the latest offerings. You can read more about that here. However, the computer that has 'learned' about complex death metal will not wake up one day and decide to create an album of music that is completely original. In the same way a computer that can generate Picasso-like pictures, will not suddenly wake up the next day and generate the kind of artwork that Tracey Emin might come up with.

This stresses to me that in order to be future proof, we need to nurture our creative sides more. In fact, one school in Bradford, in the North of England, found that they improved scores in mathematics without teaching more maths but by spending more time on learning and practising music. It's an incredibly powerful case study and can be found over on Big Think.

So if you're thinking about what your next career move might be, or you're a student and wondering what prospects are ahead of you when it comes to work, you could do worse than consider what skills are required and gen up on the Future of Jobs free report from the World Economic Forum. The full report is here or you can check out the Executive Summary here (PDF).

Day 5/25 Blogmas

A nice sit down and a think

From 'Memorial Bench' blog

The internet can be an amazing place sometimes. The time and energy that goes into crowdsourced information is fantastic. Until recently, I had no idea that people were making maps of public benches so you can find a place to sit down and have a think when on your travels whether that's in the town or the countryside. And it's not just about the benches, it's also about who the bench is dedicated to. So many of our benches have a dedication, especially on benches where there is a particularly good view that meant something to the deceased.

There are a few online resources out there...

A Nice Sit Down is on a mission to get photographs and location of all the public benches out there. It's a bit bonkers, but each bench gets their own page and you can add a bit of blurb to your entry if you wish. There aren't that many benches on the site but you might find one local to you or you can add one that's near you.

Open Street Map (a free, editable map of the whole world that is being built by volunteers) has a list of some of the benches in the world. It's not comprehensive unfortunately. I did a check on a couple of locations I know very well, and the benches I know about weren't listed. It's also safe to say that I found Open Street Maps a bit tricky to work out how to use it. It's a long time since I've had to read a map that's not a street map so I'm rusty on the protocol and on top of that, Open Street Maps seems to be very geeky so may put off the less geeky among us.

In Memory of is a blog about memorial bench dedications and the views from those benches. The author, George, claims to have always had a morbid fascination with reading the dedications on memorial benches and after a chance conversation with a fellow fan, she started the blog. She adds photos of memorial benches and the views from them on an ad hoc basis. She also accepts submissions from others.

The newest resource on the block comes from my friends Terence and Elizabeth and it's called Open Benches. They've put this together following on from their interest in blue plaques and the wonderful Open Plaques site. Blue plaques commemorate the famous and influential figures from the past and the open plaques site document those plaques and some of the history behind the figures.

For the rest of us, there are memorial benches. Open Benches is dedicated to those benches and they're asking people to take a photo of a bench's plaque and upload it to the site and it will then automatically be added to the map.

So the next time you're on a walk and rest on a public bench, why not take a photo of it and the memorial plaque on it and share it with the world via Open Benches? Not only will you be honouring those who've gone before us, but you'll also be sharing a valuable resource for those who are less able to walk or stand and need to sit down to rest and recuperate.

Day 4/25 Blogmas

Another contender for favourite Christmas TV advert

You may have read my previous post about this year's contenders for best Christmas TV ad. We'll, there's a new contender from The Co-Op.

The firm deliberately held off from going live with their advert until December. Their feeling was that the Christmas season doesn't start until then and there's too much of a rush to get your and out in November. They wanted to avoid the rush, and I think they probably have a point. But that's not why this advert is a contender for me.

This advert, set to the Britpop classic, Tender, from Blur, has a genuine community feel about it. That's not down to casting the right actors. This is down to choosing genuine community groups rather than faking them. Not only that, but my cousin appears in it! The choir she sings for, The Silver Choir from Wigan, is featured throughout the advert, my cousin, Anne, included. 

The ad has been on rotation on the TV this weekend so it's put a smile on my face every time I catch a glimpse of my cousin and hear her, her choir, and the other local community groups, singing Blur's Tender. The track has been released to raise funds for charity and is in the race for the Christmas number 1 slot.

Here's the ad below for you to see for yourself and more about the ad campaign here.

In case you're wondering which one my cousin is, she's most easily spotted in the end scene wearing a blue dress.

Day 3/25 Blogmas

What are we going to do about the theatre and the performing arts?

That's the question posed by director, Phelim McDermott, and it will be the question asked in January's annual D&D (Devoted & Disgruntled) open space event. This year, it's being held at the New Diorama Theatre in London on 20-22 January 2018 (that's all day Saturday and Sunday and a half-day on Monday - drop in and out as you please). It's the unconventional convention for everyone who loves, makes and lives theatre and the performing arts.

Who is D&D for? It's for theatre lovers and people passionate about the performing arts. You might work in the theatre, you might not. You might be a teacher or a technician; an administrator or an audience member, all are welcome. A key principle of Open Space is whoever comes are the right people. In fact Open Space works best with a range of people and diverse points of view, so if you want to be there, you ARE the right person to attend.

The weekend event uses the open space format. If you've never done that before, I recommend you give it a go. I think it's a great way to learn, listen and participate. If you've been to a barcamp or unconference before, those are both broadly similar but there's something about open space that I think works even better and allows for all kinds of topics and expertise to emerge and it completely alleviates the need for any kind of Powerpoint slides!

I went along to one of these D&D open space sessions about 3 years ago. The question was something around what an Institute of Improvisation might deliver. It was my first experience of open space and I had no idea what to expect. I also wasn't sure what I could or couldn't contribute since my forays into improvisation were fairly minimal. I was soon won over by the energy and conversations happening all over the building we were in. I'd arrived tired and depleted at the beginning of the session and left more tired, yet energised having had a chance to exercise my brain in a completely different way.

That session then led to myself and Lloyd Davis running various open space sessions covering topics related to artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies in relation to the future of work. And very interesting it was too and is something I'd very much like to do again.

I'm thinking of heading down to this event. I've been to 89 shows or concerts this year alone, so I have a point of view of what's happening and some thoughts on what could happen and I'm interested to hear what practitioners are up to in an age of continuing austerity and an impending Brexit. It will also be interesting to stretch my brain in a different way and hang out with a different kind of crowd.

The video below will explain a little more about what's happening, and there's more information and a link to get your tickets on the Devoted & Disgruntled website. See you there?


Phelim McDermott invites you to D&D 13 from Improbable on Vimeo.
A captioned video invitation to Devoted & Disgruntled 13 from Improbable's co-Artistic Director, Phelim McDermott.

Day 2/25 Blogmas #DandD13

I'm not giving up on the daily blogging thing yet!

I got a lot out of last month's daily blogging challenge, so I'm back at it for #Blogmas. The idea is to write something daily, for 25 days straight, in the run up to Christmas and for it to have some kind of Christmas theme. A sort of advent calender for bloggers.

It's fair to say, I may have to stretch that a bit as there's only so much one can write about technology, or even life, and relate it directly to Christmas, and Christmas isn't to everyone's taste either. And it gets overdone too.

So although some of my posts may have a Yuletide theme, and I do love me a bit of Kirstie's Homemade Christmas (and there's a new series starting next week, UK viewers), they won't all have jingle bells on.

I may however share some of my crafting successes (or failures) as well as some commentary on mobile technology, AI and robots, retail, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, theatre and life in general. I do hope you'll join me for the ride.

And if you have ever written a blog, how about reviving it? And if you've ever thought about writing a blog, how about starting one? It's really very straight forward and you could join #Blogmas too to kickstart it.

Day 1/25 Blogmas