The possible value of experiential marketing

I found this BBC article on Labour's PR debacle in Swindon yesterday interesting. It seems that someone forgot the basic rules of managing events and checking that everything was in place. Note to self whoever is running Brown's calvacade have a checklist, and tick off the details of each and every event.

The bulk of the article explains the consequence for Labour's handlers of this oversight, but my eye was caught by the end where a heckler met Gordon Brown for a one-to-one. The journalist, Iain Watson, observed that the previously disgruntled voter opined that Brown was a reasonable human being, and might be changing his vote as a result. This suggests that meeting the PM was a possible critical incident for this voter. Watson ended his piece with "Perhaps this experience will convince the prime minister to meet more voters and fewer supporters on his campaign visits." Watson is suggesting that the transactional approach of focusing on core voters, and communicating via the media may not be as successful as more personal commmunication. Brown was creating an emotional experience for this voter, and one that appears to have been partially successful.

As a postscript I note that the voter, a publican, and therefore presumably easy to reach claimed he was going to vote Lib Dem, but now his vote was up for grabs. I would expect the Lib Dem and Cons candidates to be around his boozer straight away. There is a vote to gain, and possible PR opportunities surrounding it.