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So, here’s my question. Do you spell instagramable with one m or two (instagrammable)?
Deciding between the two was my dilema, sorry dilemma, after DFS Chairman & CEO Philippe Schaus coined the phrase during his excellent address at TFWA’s China’s Century conference in Guangzhou yesterday.
His evocative choice of words neatly summed up the retailer’s mission to capture the attention of a generation of travellers bonded to their cell phones with cerebral superglue and determined to celebrate each element of their waking day on social media.
“We have to blend our retail with the tourist experience,” he said. “We strongly believe that the time of huge marble corridors with boutiques left and right from the same ubiquitous brands presented in the same way all around the world is the way of the past.
“The way of the store is now about pop-up stores; where we use local artists; where we have a rooftop terrace – in Venice, for instance; where we have, say, the Long Bar from Raffles brought to the airport in Changi; where we work with local craftsmen creating unique collections as you see in Siem Reap, for example.”
And by blending those attractions with the consumer obsession with social media, you get the “instagrammable/instagramable experience”. Voila!
So, back to my ‘one m or two x m’ dilemma. Surely that trusty fallback of spell check could help me out? Or even better, gramar, sorry grammar check? Or is it instagrammar check?
Mmmm, sorry mmm, no it couldn’t. It simply offered up a choice of ‘Instagram Mable’ or ‘Instagram Able’. Now I, in common with millions of millennials (give or take a few decades that separate me from them) am indeed Instagram able. In my view this mobile photo-sharing application is the best social media platform on the planet. And, heck, if I can use it anybody can. But Instagram able is not what Philippe meant.
As for Instagram Mabel, I googled that and it came up with Instagram Mabel (Mable@mabelmcvey), clearly a darling of social media with an impressive 30.1k followers (and now me as well). But I suspect Philippe was not referring to her either.
Last night at the excellent Gala Dinner sponsored by DFS, I told Philippe about my dilemma and asked his advice. “Whatever you write will become correct Martin,” he said with a smile, “as no doubt you will be the first to write it.”
So, on the principle that in this world you pays your money, and you takes your choice, I have opted for the double M. After all, both I and the sponsor of this Blog, M&M’s have been doing it that way for years. And we’re both too old to change now.
