gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

human beings don't scale

Here's an update of where we are on the "Stormhoek 100 Dinners" idea:

1. According to the wiki, so far we have close to 50 people signed up. Add to that about another 30 who we're taking to, it looks like we're well on our way to making this a success.

2. It's nice when big events get Stormhoek coverage, however both me and Jason prefer taking the "Small Is Beautiful" angle.

A large, multinational alcohol brand covering an internet idustry party is nothing new. But a small, South African winery covering a small, intimate, random event in say, Phoenix, Arizona is much more interesting. Because it's on a more human scale.

AND YOU WANT TO REACH PEOPLE ON A HUMAN SCALE. That's what Madison Avenue keeps forgetting. That's what Madison Avenue can't get their head around, because their business model has no credible answer for it.

3. It's not enough for Stormhoek to be whoring itself to bloggers indiscriminately. We want these events to be interesting in their own right. "We're having this blogger's mashup in the most unlikely locale you could imagine" is interesting to me. "My second cousin, Larry is having a birthday party and yeah, we'd like some free wine" is not.

4. The people signing up are pretty much who'd you expect: gapingvoid readers, bloggers, Web 2.0 people etc. I'm hoping to get more wine bloggers into the mix.

5. You see where this idea could potentially spread? First the bloggers in general, then wine bloggers specifically, then the wine trade press, then... BIG MEDIA [SFX: BOM BOM BOM trumpet noises].

Part of my agenda here is putting ad agencies out of business. Or at least, trying to.

6. Madison Avenue: "Hey, America! Here's why you should buy our stuff."
The Hughtrain: "We love what you're doing and we would like to be part of it, within reason."

The thing is, being on the Hughtrain means keeping it down to a human scale. Because human beings don't scale.

7. To sign up, please go here if you haven't already. Thanks.

8. Anything else?

[Update:] Salient thought from James Governor: "He who supplies the free wine underpins the community buzz, and that's where the action is, and at some point it will drive economic activity."

Posted by hugh macleod at March 8, 2006 5:20 PM | TrackBack