Participant Marketing: Interview With Johnnie Moore & James Cherkoff

Johnnie and James are two leading voices championing participant, or open source, marketing. IF caught up with them in London recently and asked them to give us an intro to their thinking.

Open-Source / Collaborative Marketing - huh - what’s it all about?

James: It’s about letting people participate in the marketing process and planning to let that happen. This can range from simple things like blogs through to inviting select users into the product development cycle. Pretty straight forward really…we try and keep the mumbo-jumbo out as much as possible. It makes people feel ill.

Johnnie: I think it’s about softening the boundaries between producers and consumers, so that satisfying needs becomes a collaborative effort, and the amount of distrust and manipulation is reduced.

You work in different ways - how and why?

James: We share lots of views but I am more focused on PR & Marketing. John does a lot of work in the area of voodoo and ritual stuff. I’m not so interested in that area but I do enjoy browsing his ’sacrificial’ tag at Flickr…

Johnnie: As James shows, we really appreciate each other’s distinctive styles. He’s great at the spin while I like to work in depth. No, seriously, I guess I tend to wax a little philosophical while James is a get-things-done guy.

Won’t an open style of approach give too much away? At what point does consumer participation stop in order to retain competitivity?

James: It’s different with every project but mostly common sense - companies have a natural feel for what is on and off limits. It’s as important to realise that most people don’t want an intimate relationship with a company…they might just want to play. That changes if a company can offer an incentive to participate….which most can at some level. I don’t go for the ‘purist’ approach of complete openness.

Johnnie: I think we persuade clients that the slippery slope is not slippery. You can try little experiments with openness and see how they work. You don’t have to open the floodgates. A lot of these sort of fears are more theoretical than real.

OK, it’s easier to see a big company like Coca Cola with an established customer base do something like this - but how can a small company with limited time and resources really take participant marketing seriously?

James: The same principles apply whatever the size of the organisation.

Johnnie: Actually, I’d think smaller companies can be more flexible and willing to try new things out. And participant marketing can be miles cheaper than more conventional methods – ideal for smaller businesses running on tight budgets.

Thank you

James Cherkoff is a London based PR & Marketing consultant. When he’s not helping companies get to grips with social media and the benefits of playing in the blogopshere, he’s likely to be watching Arsenal FC enjoying a large glass of Rioja. Site / Blog

Johnnie Moore is another London based advertising and branding consultant. When not at work, he’ll probably be buying James that glass of Rioja. Site / Blog