Room for Men to Roam
It is a fact that men on their mobile cannot keep still for more than a sentence-worth of conversation. How often do we see men pacing up and down train platforms, outside pub fronts and in the corridors outside their work - wanton, looking at their shoes as they walk, kicking stones, up and down, up and down…
Yes I do it too, but what makes us men pace like lithe panthers with zoo fever?
Concentration? Shutting out the real world? That female purported myth that ‘Men can only concentrate on one thing at a time’?
Whatever the reason, there is surely an opportunity for brands to capitalise upon this little understood genetic male flaw. The opportunities are surely endless…
Imagine the subconscious messaging of floor media – for the ‘guilty’ man outside the pub. Surely rich opportunities from Interflora to Eurostar. And while we are branding the pavements of the roaming male, why not police it. Carling did it with busking zones, so why can’t brands sponsor areas that are safe for males to roam. They’ve been talking about a pedestrian fast-lane on Oxford for years, could the future see the male phone lane – a slower lane that loops in a figure of eight. As a social experiment it would be worth tracking a select sample with GPS. An array of tiny dots, unconsciously burning calories whilst dealing with everything from work calls to excuses for being late…
The latest mobile technology will soon enable us to socially network on our mobiles linked via GPS. The consequences of this technology becoming ubiquitous could be enormous from solving crime, to exposing infidelity to not being able to pull sickies from work any more.
GPS, along with free Wi-Fi means you will be hard pressed to escape from it all. The notion of an overly connected society means inevitably it will become regulated in some form. The humble beginnings of mobile free train carriages of today could develop into a national backlash against the connected society of tomorrow. GPS, mobile and Wi-Fi free zones could be nearer than we thought for the consumer who want to remain undisturbed, un-contactable and anonymous. Even in a post Orwellian state, there would still be a need to pen and contain the male roamer, even after smoking has been totally banned. ‘No mobile phone calls inside. Please use the small roaming shelter outside. Beware of the oncoming traffic’.