At the time you thought nothing of it but the next time you’re in Waterstone’s (other good book stores are available) the name of the book suddenly pops back into your head. The next thing you know you are stood at the till with a copy of it in your hand. Congratulations, you’ve just succumbed to the marketer’s latest trick up their sleeve – subterfuge marketing.

That innocent conversation you witnessed on the train wasn’t as innocent as you first thought. It was for your benefit and was played out by two actors paid by a marketing agency to sit on the train and discuss the book at length for other passengers to overhear.

It’s a sneaky tactic, but one that more and more canny marketing companies are using to promote their clients’ products, be it books, clothing, music or the latest coffee brand to hit the high street.

Sony Ericsson, for example, notoriously used subterfuge marketing to launch a new camera phone by hiring teams of actors pretending to be tourists who wanted to have their photo taken.

Gone then are the days when we were told, “don’t believe everything you read”. Now it appears that we can’t believe everything we read, see and hear.

So why are brands using subterfuge marketing to sell to us? Basically, it’s because we don’t trust or like advertising anymore. According to research, the average Briton is bombarded by 3,000 marketing messages a day and fewer than 15 per cent of British adults trust adverts. As a result, brands and their agencies have had to employ new tactics to reach their target audiences.    

Today it’s all about targeting, infiltrating and influencing conversations, whether it’s on the train, via email or using one of the many social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo etc. Rather than shouting at consumers, it’s about engaging with them.

Employing actors to pose as real consumers may be the new thing but marketers having been using stealth and subversive marketing tactics for years. Take for example viral emails, product placement and celebrity endorsements. All are designed to lull the consumer into a false sense of reality.

And now, with the advent of social media, that reality has become even more blurry.

Twitter is a good example. Does John Smith really love Starbucks’ tall, extra shot, whipped cream, skinny, vanilla, soya latte that much, or is he being paid to say he does? Does Jim456 really think his new Nike trainers are like “walking on air”? Maybe, but I guess we’ll never really know.

What we do know is that consumers are becoming increasingly attuned to and sceptical of marketing messages. The challenge for brands and marketing agencies is coming up with new ways of influencing their audiences. For consumers, it’s deciding who to trust and who to believe.

So the next time you buy a book, think back to the last time you were on the train. Your decision may have been influenced by a couple of actors. 

ENDS

CBRE’s Ashley Hancox emerged from a ten hour “power nap” especially – he went to his hotel on Wednesday night for 40 winks and failed to wake up until Thursday morning. Must be the Lee Evans-look-alike’s new job, as regional head of offices, taking its toll.

Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash turned up for pre-dinner drinks, but either didn’t like the seafood on offer or had a more pressing engagement, as he didn’t stay for lunch. Still, his suit left a lasting impression. One wag quipped it was from Stevie Wonder’s new clothing range.

Peter Crowther, of Bruntwood, was a popular attendee, as he has a war chest for acquiring office space in Birmingham. He said he loved coming to the city as it is “always sunny”.  Peter hails from Manchester, where, as we know, it’s always raining. Perhaps this is the elusive new marketing campaign Birmingham has been looking for. I can see it on a banner draping provocatively from the AWM apartment next year, right opposite the Manchester balcony: “Birmingham: it’s always sunny. Ha, ha”.

Mike Whitby’s speech was, as usual, passionate and upbeat. Though there was some concerns over the number of city transport projects in the pipeline. Apparently, on the Birmingham stand in the exhibition hall this morning he announced there were nine. By lunch this had reduced to eight. Let’s hope the New Street revamp is still on track.

Word has reached me of Birmingham’s Alternative MIPIM event, held yesterday at Anderson’s Bar and Grill. More than 100 attendees by all accounts, including Dom Stokes and Jon Andrews from Stoford, who flew back specially from MIPIM to do the double. And why not? Because as we all know, while it’s 19 Degrees in Cannes, it’s always sunny in Brum.

The very polished Nick Axford, head of the firm’s EMEA research team, said there is cause for optimism, as the investment market is picking up.

Apparently, retail property is being highly sought after across Europe, with shopping centres topping the list. Girls, just imagine hubby coming home and saying: “Darling, I’ve bought you a shopping centre”. Sigh.

Nick also said that sentiment at MIPIM this year had improved. Of course, that is anecdotal, rather than based on the in depth analysis and professional insight of CBRE’s research team, but it is a view I’ve found echoed elsewhere.

On the Malcolm Hollis yacht this evening, the building consultancy’s chairman John Woodman said much the same, as did their guests from Wardell Armstrong.

Things must be good in Nottingham too, judging by the size of their yacht in the next mooring.

Birmingham has come in for a lot of stick in the past for its MIPIM expenditure. Although admittedly I’ve not been in the bunker and seen our city’s stand at first hand, I have to say our presence seems low key in comparison to others.

While Manchester – with their brazen banner and balcony cafe overlooking the entrance to the exhibition – and Nottingham have gone for the “my marketing budget’s considerably bigger than yours” approach, others, like Coventry, have adopted guerrilla tactics, with posters outside their apartment and the Carlton hotel.

It’s hard to judge which strategy is best – and anyway, they say half of any marketing spend is wasted, you just don’t know which half.  Next year, maybe Birmingham should stop beating itself up, ditch that Quaker mentality and hire a yacht. Let’s get some of that swagger that Professor Parkinson said we lacked.

Ran into Gary Taylor of Argent (running late for the Leader’s dinner!) and Nick Payne of Masshouse fame on the Croisette. Before you get excited and smell a JV in the offing, they weren’t together.

Also caught a glimpse of Clive Dutton, still looking dapper.

Thursday’s big event, at least for the Brum contingent, is lunch on the beach. Apparently they’ve ditched the baltis this year. Read all about it tomorrow.

But no, as Gary Taylor of Argent helpfully pointed out, here on BMI Baby Flight WW6529 was the great and good of Birmingham’s property community.

And, as Glenn Howells, added: “If this plane crashed it would set Birmingham’s property sector back by, er, at least three weeks.”

Leading the contingent was the leader of Birmingham City Council, and his lovely wife Gaynor.

There were plenty of lawyers on the plane: Martineau had wheeled out no one less than their newly minted senior partner, the avuncular Andrew Whitehead. Alex Jones of Mills & Reeve was here for a few days, impressively with only hand luggage. While Anne O’Meara, of Hammonds, had brought along a female colleague to up the female quotient.

A trio of Barclays bankers, who apparently have money to lend (!), took up one row.

As well as Birmingham’s own Starchitect Glenn Howells, Gary Church of NewChurch Integrated Architecture and Engineering represented the design community. Apparently he does a nice line in sheds and, if you’re in the market for a new waste facility, he’s your man.

There were even a few developers here. As well as Taylor, representatives from Miller and Stoford have made the trip.

I shared a cab from the airport (just 140 Euro, gulp) with the lovely Lara Day of Want Space Got Space, but there was no time to lounge at my hotel as I was off to the jointly sponsored Martineau and Tuffin Ferraby Taylor party at Coventy City Council’s apartment. A very pleasant reception, spoiled only by the view of a crass Manchester banner draped across the exhibition centre opposite, proclaiming the northern city to be the nation’s “cultural beating heart”.  I went there once. I’d say they have slightly more culture than a yoghurt, so it’s not much of a boast.

Dinner with Martin Field of the Urban Land Institute was entertaining. He confirmed that global property giant Hines has signed a memorandum of association with Hammerson, Henderson and the Australian Future Fund and that the powerful four are looking at “opportunities south of the Bullring”. I hope that Birmingham City Council can rope them in soon, so they don’t go too far south.

So what of today?

The grandly titled “Leader’s Dinner”, hosted by Mike Whitby, is being held this evening. Sponsors of Birmingham’s MIPIM presence are required to attend this invitation only soiree, and are briefed to bring along a guest from outside the city.

None of them, from what I can gather, has any one lined up yet.  

One, who shall remain nameless, asked me what I was doing tonight. Strictly speaking, as I was born in the Black Country, I do qualify to attend the dinner. Unfortunately, I am otherwise engaged. I suspect the sponsors will be trawling the Croisette tomorrow for contenders.

So far, the big questions for the week have remained unanswered. Is Birmingham going to announce the name of its new Strategic Development Director (the job Clive Dutton wanted, but never quite got – he’s here, representing Newham, by the way)? Word is the City had more than 50 applicants, and have short-listed, but no names yet.

Or is Birmingham Development Company going to unveil it’s new-look for the Post & Mail building? Since Alan Chatham and Mark Billingham are no-shows, I somehow doubt it.

But the burning question, the one that has keep my phone and in-box buzzing all day, is has Mike Loftus been reunited with his underpants?

I have to say, when I arrived in Cannes, there was a faint aroma of camembert. Even though I am in France, for a minute I was concerned it might be Mike Loftus and his cheesy feet.

But apparently not, “the Walrus”, as he is affectionately known in Birmingham, emailed to say: “Mon valise est trouve et arrive”. 

Now, it’s a while since I did O Level French – two decades, and the rest – but I think he was trying to say: my suitcase has been found, and has arrived.

However, as this blog is for an austere organ like the Birmingham Post, I didn’t want to take any chances, so I checked on babelfish (the translation web site). Apparently, the literal translation is: “My bag east finds and arrives”.  Let’s hope there aren’t any French property investors looking to come to Brum this week.

But in fact the BBC has been rather slow off the mark and most broadcasters and traditional press have already appointed designated social media boffins.

Sky News established a post for a Twitter correspondent last spring and ITV appointed a social media and online engagement manager in March.

For some time there has been excitement among both the PR and press communities about the evolution of social media and the possibilities it brings but many businesses have been hesitant to dip their toe in the digital waters.

This seems to be largely due to a feeling that an online presence isn’t as good as being on telly or seeing your name in print.

Will the BBC’s jump onto the bandwagon finally convince the dinosaurs out there that Twitter’s not just tittle tattle and Facebook isn’t just a fad and they really ought to StumbleUpon LinkedIn some time?

Perhaps. Social media certainly isn’t going away although it’s rapid growth does make it difficult to keep up with – just as you get to grips with one platform it goes and changes, wanes in popularity and/or is replaced by the next big social media thing.

So it’s easy to see why some are adopting a cautious approach and why others are making no approach at all.

But as social media continues to develop, a knowledge of what has gone before, what worked, what was lacking and how the latest network has improved on its predecessor will be invaluable.

Sitting back to see what happens may seem like the most prudent thing to do but it could make catching up with pack much harder in the long run.

ENDS 

Unfettered by the conventions of the established media, rumours of the star’s death began emanating across the social media spectrum within minutes of his actual passing.

Were these quick off-the-mark tweets, status updates, forum comments et al posted by omniscient informers or just unfounded (yet spookily accurate) speculation?

Celeb website TMZ has been basking in the glory of being the first official news provider to break the story, while the broadcasters and newspapers who waited almost an hour for the coroner’s confirmation (including CNN which shares the same parent company as TMZ – Time Warner) were forced to credit their online rival, who announced the news just 18 minute’s after the King of Pop died.

Once TMZ had published, social media again stepped in to play its part, with an immediate spike in tweets and drastically increased traffic on Facebook helping to spread the word across the globe with startling rapidity.

But as shown by those early tweets on Thursday 25 June, users can post whatever they like, without hesitating to check the facts, and it won’t be long before other users pass on information and misinformation alike, allowing the message to spread with viral efficiency.

Within hours of Jackson’s death a malicious web hoax reporting the demise of Jeff Goldblum and Harrison Ford in a tragic filming accident began doing the rounds. An unfortunate Australian reporter even announced the ‘story’ on a prime time news show.

So it all comes back to this old chestnut – new media versus old media, citizen journalists versus professional journalists versus man on the street tweeting whatever he likes.

Does it really matter if there is inaccurate information floating around the web? Well, yes and no. Yes, because it isn’t so much floating as hurtling thanks to the speed with which sites like Twitter enable this information to be passed on. And no, because surely the general public is able to discern for itself the difference between a respected, reliable news provider and an unknown, unregulated rumour mill?

Gossip, which was once sluggishly passed on in pubs and cafes and on the phone, can now whiz around the world in a matter of seconds but the principles are still the same. Just because it’s on a screen doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be subject to the same disbelief, doubt and suspicion as comments made by the water-cooler, overheard in the supermarket queue or announced in the playground.