No, it has nothing to do with Stephen Hawking, although apparently this theory generates a surprisingly positive effect in clients who are not very involved in social media, similar to what we feel when we hear about the possibility of time-travelling or things like that.
Personally, I love this theory; it explains two complex processes in an extremely simple way: Why social media in general, and social networks in particular, were generated by young people and why those who are in them react how they do when faced with advertising.
This is the story…
As adults, we experience three types of space in our everyday life: the public space, the controlled space and the private space.
The public space is one where the behavioural rules are established by general consent: the cinema, the street, the bar are public spaces.
The controlled space is one where the rules of behaviour are dictated by someone superior in the hierarchy: our jobs are a good example of this type of space.
And finally, the private space is one where the rules are set up by us: for instance, our own home.
What happens with very young people? Are they experiencing the social spaces in the same way that adults do?
In the public space, a young person –very often a minor- notes that if something happens between he and an adult, the one who dictates the correct behaviour is the adult (of course the young can choose to ignore the adult if he wish, but the rule still exists). This transforms the public space into a controlled one for him.
In college or university, he is surrounded by a very present hierarchy that rules the behaviour in this space; it is the equivalent to the job space for adults: a controlled space.
In their own home, a young person who lives with his parents must accept the rules set up by them; thus, what is private space for an adult becomes controlled space for the younger person once again. Many times he only has his own bedroom as a much reduced private space.
We can see that in their social life the young lose two essential types of space that adults enjoy: the public and the private spaces.
Profero Thumbs/UP: METROTWIN
Brand: BA
Initiative: METROTWIN
Markets: Global (UK & US centric)
Dates: Ongoing
Background
London-New York is the most frequent daily flight within British Airway’s transatlantic offering and as such it is a very important route for the company. BA have to work hard to defend market share for this route in a very competitive and aggressively price driven market.
Challenge
How can BA connect with the core audience, urban professionals who are frequent flyers between the two cities, in order to maintain brand loyalty amongst exciting customers and attract new ones.
Approach
As their target audience are the sorts of people who are always looking for new and interesting things to do, whether at home or away, on work or on business, BA developed a solution that would meet this need.
They also understood that their audience like to share this sort of information with like-minded people, and had high propensity to do so online.
They used these key insights to come up with an innovative marketing solution.
The Idea
The Outcome
The Learnings