More sex appeal and better hair

Before I came to the Marketing Society Annual Conference I was asked to write a few words on Eric Whitacre’s presentation. In preparation (I am nothing if not lazy) – I asked the one woman I know who sings in a choir if she had heard of him. Knowing my cultural references were few she offered “Gareth Malone – with more sex appeal and better hair”.
 
We have seen an eclectic group of speakers over the years at the Marketing Society Annual Conference – and have been able to draw on the wisdom of sportsmen and generals – but I have to admit that I never realised how much we could learn about collaboration in marketing from, admittedly, a very handsome choirmaster and composer. The reason why, is that his choir is a bit special – in that they didn’t meet physically in a room. They met online.
 
In 2009, a fan of one of his pieces, Britlin Losee, sent him a video of her singing along. Eric immediately thought; could I get 50 people to work on this together?

The answer was yes – and in 2010 Virtual Choir 1 became a viral sensation, involving 185 singers from 12 countries and receiving over 4m views on YouTube. Earlier this year Virtual Choir 4 was released, by now featuring 5,905 people from 101 countries.  
 
What was impressive about Eric and his story telling was not just the increase in scale, but the very detailed focus on how you collaborate with that many people. For this to work you not only need to have everyone singing the same song (not hard, he picked one of his own) – but also need them to be singing at the same speed and in the same key.  Musical notation makes some parts of that easy, as does sharing the music online – but as Eric quickly realised – if stitching all the elements together was not going to be impossible then you need to make some tools of your own. Hence the production of a Virtual Choir Conducting track – the easy sharing of which was also made possible by the internet.  
 
I don’t doubt that it also involved a lot of technical post-production to get it sounding as good as it does – but despite all his thinking about creativity and the processes that support it, the most profound questions Eric asked were about why his choristers got involved. They provide an excellent template for anyone who is up to something – as all marketing leaders should be. People participated for three reasons:

1. To connect with others
2. For the chance to share their talents
3. For the opportunity to feel that they are part of something larger than themselves

Bolder marketing leadership – is actually about bolder leadership and what happens when you have a purpose that is bigger than yourself. It is about more than sex appeal, or even better hair – or, as Eric puts it, you can’t micromanage something that doesn’t even exist yet. Marketers need to be boldly creating things that don’t exist yet – and to leave the last words to Eric – “when you get it right it is like sitting in a cosmic Swiss watch – being part of something larger than yourself”.

Alex is COO of Brainjuicer. Read more from them in our Library.

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