Who can help being mesmerized by live digital images of eaglets being hatched and nurtured right in their own nest...?


Not to mention images that record real-time dramatic events like the largest chick killing its youngest sibling in order to get more food and protection from Mommy and Daddy eagle?
This is what I learned this morning about the "Bald eagle cam" that since January has been capturing minute-by-minute views of a Maine bald eagles' nest, and a companion weblog about their daily activities. The webcam and linked weblog has attracted bird watchers and bloggers from all over the world.
Fascinating stuff. It's the quintessential bird's eye view of real life unfolding, better than any trumped up television reality show. Of course, my readers will probably tell me that it's "nature" that makes these images and unfolding events so compelling, and, indeed, it is quite an "experience" to feel like you're in the nest with this eagle family.
It's the experience part of this story -- and the technological aspects of it -- that has set the stage for my post.
Professional service marketers are just beginning to address the possibilities of creating and repeatedly delivering a differentiated client experience. So far, at least from what I've seen, they've succeeded only as far as relatively static brand management will let them go. I think it will be some time before professional service firms can figure out how to harness the creation and delivery of unique client experiences like DisneyWorld, where visitors experience the ultimate fantasy, or Ed Debevic's restaurant in Chicago, where diners relish the comedically fake rudeness of their servers.
You know where I'm going with this line of thinking: what would happen if professional service practitioners set up live web cams in their own environments? Not for quality control, or productivity monitoring, or information-exchange video conferencing, but as a way to give clients a bird's eye view into the real workings of their service provider?
Of course, I'm not suggesting it's fine to breach the confidentiality of privileged client matters or broadcast private company information. But if hospitals, awash in HIPAA regulations about patient privacy, can figure out a way to broadcast live surgery, for goodness sake, why can't professional service firms harness the technology and unique intimacy offered by live web cams as part of their experience-based marketing programs? Wouldn't it in fact be more compelling than slickly packaged podcasts and Internet video? Wouldn't it be a powerful element of a relationship marketing campaign? Wouldn't it be a fantastic credibility builder and trust generator?
But then again people can be more ruthless than animals, and it would take a confident and visionary professional firm to go this route. Call me crazy (and many will): I think it's worth a serious look.