JuicyInfo

Live entertainment

The weather has been so amazing in the UK, providing a perfect backdrop for brands to woo consumers with events.

One brand you can't fail to notice in London is E4, who has moved its digital entertainment channel from TV box to grassy knowle. Live comedy performances take place at Udderbelly, a giant purple upside down cow, that can't fail to draw your attention as you meander down London's South Bank - it's located right next to the London Eye. The event is sponsored by Grolsch who runs the bar. Perfect entertainment for British summertime.

Although branded E4, Udderbelly (the cow) is the brain child of live entertainment company Underbelly, who specialises in live comedy. Underbelly has worked their magic at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival, showcasing some of the big name performances. This year it returns to Scotland and will also be featuring at The Big Chill.

Live entertainment is big business in the UK, notably in the music industry where difficulty in driving revenue from music sales has seen significant development of the live music event industry. In March, the BBC reported that sales of live music had overtaken recorded music, generating some £900m in 2008, according to the Performing Rights Society.

Really real

The BBC's technology team recently got talking about the technological applications that are facilitating what it terms a ‘hyper-connected society'. Applications such as Twitter, Kyte TV and Jaiku are all mentioned as being drivers of this trend, to name a few. In tune with the global social media phenomenon, the BBC explains that hyper-connectivity is evidence of a growing band of consumers that are happy to share their lives in public and who are comfortable with being open and honest in front of potentially millions.

Universal McCann's Wave 3 study on social media provides a wealth of data on how the blogosphere is becoming increasingly participatory. Top of the agenda on blog content is talking about personal life and family, but one-third will also post opinions about products and brands on their blog.

So it stands to reason if consumers are being open, they expect brands to reciprocate. The trend towards 'authenticity' has been documented for a while now, but as social media has gained traction, so has the need for even more open, transparent and honest branding and communications. Trendwatching provides a great insight into this issue - called ‘Really Real', or if you want to dig deeper check out this book: Authenticity: What consumers really want, Gilmore & Pine.

And in case you missed the Universal McCann's report, here are a few key snippets from the exec summary:
• Asian markets are leading in terms of participation - China has the largest blogging community
• Video clips are the quickest growing platform on social media - 83% penetration
• Of it's 17,000 global respondents, 57% had joined a social network
• Blogs are a mainstream media and a collective rival to any traditional media - 48% include blogs as part of their weekly media diet