If you need a how-to on real-time stunts, look at Greenpeace.

Both sides won in a real-time stunt with high stakes.

Yes, it was dangerous. Yes it will likely not stop anything but you have to hand it to the Greenpeace-rs, they get column inches and people buzzing. For those that don’t live by the Shard (like me) or pick up the Evening Standard to avoid looking at other people on the Underground, Greenpeace took six ladies and got them to climb the Shard in London in the cause of stopping large oil companies drilling in the Arctic.

What Greenpeace got right:

1. Live is the new black

The climbers were equipped with live streaming cameras so we got to see what a) it looks like at top of the huge spire (take that £26 entry fee!) but also b) the progress of the climbers. It lagged a bit which leads to the next success..

2. Feedback mechanic

The team back at base was broadcasting over the live video feed and closely monitoring everything from direction, height to online buzz. This information was then fed back to the online and viewing masses in real-time and in an entertaining way that stayed on message.

3. It was cross platform

From social networks to mobile-optimised sites, it was clear these people came to play and know how to use the tech – and more importantly – from a minimum viable product standpoint. It was slick and the right side of prepared but not overdone.

4. Measurement

The Greenpeace team measured everything. Time, temperature, height, signatures, traffic, subscribers…the list goes on. Beyond this they set themselves goals and also fed these back to the people listening, tweeting etc. This further fueled people on to help or at least passively amplify the message.

What Greenpeace got wrong:

1. Interest lulls

People were at work, it was sunny and generally there is only so much you can say about people scaling a huge building before it gets old. More content was needed to generate additional interest beyond the spectacle.

2. Gamification

If I were running this, I would have gamified it slightly — we won’t go higher until we get X or Y may have really tipped this over the edge and also driven more emphasis to the cause.

It’s all been said before (live, low resistance to view content etc) and this was always going to be of interest as it’s an impressive feat (regardless of whether permission is granted) but rarely do you see it in the wild and done in real-time and to such a professional degree. Kudos to all involved.