The Quisenblog

You’re not in the business of selling a product or service. You’re in the business of creating stories. The stories of customers who do business with you. Stories they can take with them and remember the next time your name is mentioned.

Long after the purchase is over and the reason they decided to buy your product, use your service or shop your establishment is long forgotten, one thing won’t be forgotten: the story. How did they feel when they did business with you? Was it an experience that stood out for them? Was there something there that made them feel special? That made them feel like you got them?

The thing is, stories happen whether you intend them to or not (we can all recall disappointing stories, right?). So why not think ahead and see if there’s something you can do to create a story that is not only unique, but will have the customer talking about it in her circle for days, months or years afterward.

Here’s an example of helping to create a memorable story:

It is a video of a flight attendant named David who works for Southwest Airlines. He was able to take that boiler-plate boarding announcement we all try to ignore on every flight, and turn it into an opportunity for engagement with the airline, and a story that will be remembered by passengers and passed on to others.

If you want confirmation that this created a memorable story, just check how often this video was viewed on YouTube. Or, simply just check out the burned out businessmen in the front rows joyfully participating in the rhythm section.

Southwest didn’t script David. Nor did they tell him he had to do this. But here’s what the airline’s execs did do: they understood that their real business wasn’t the airline business. It was the hospitality business. They might not be able to control departure and landing times, weather delays, FAA requirements and the surly TSA folks who make you take off your shoes and dump out your shampoo. About the only control the airline does have is what it does to engage passengers while they’re held captive in a metal tube 35,000 feet in the air. As such, they hire the most outgoing, entertaining, people-loving folks they can find, teach them a little about running an airliner, then set them loose to surprise and delight.

And create stories.

Posted by Mickey

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Mickey On Customers, Ramblings advertising, customer service, marketing, selling, Southwest, Spokane

What could be more ironic than this? A so-called digital media “expert,” who when sent to present to a Fortune 500 company on social media, gets bit on the butt by…you guessed it…social media.

It happened recently when an executive named James Andrews from Ketchum in New York posted an unflattering Twitter entry while en route to present to the worldwide communications group at FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee. Andrews tweeted:

No doubt Mr. Andrews was playing to his buddies back in New York. But this particular microblog blew up in his face. Turns out a FedEx employee found it online and forwarded it up the ladder to much of the FedEx corporate brass. The shake out was swift and sure. To say Mr. Andrews presentation was not well received would be an understatement. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this 24 word entry costs Ketchum a major piece of business. At the very least, it would make any thinking executive question the agency’s “expert status” when it comes to social media.

This is a great lesson on the power of social media and the Internet. Once you put something out there, it’s out there, for all eternity. It’s sorta like being overheard at a cocktail party, except there are 80 million people who might have heard you, and your conversation is recorded for all future guests, in case they missed it.

These days, anything you say online (or anything that is said about you online) is a simple Google search away from everyone. And we mean everyone. Your customers. Your employees. Your co-workers. Your boss. That account you just pitched. That employer you just interviewed with. Your second grade teacher. Your cousin in Wenatchee. Everyone.

So maybe you oughta think twice before putting those drunken photos from Cabo on Facebook. Or sending that vitriolic rant to the local paper in support of marijuana decriminalization. Or, in Mr. Andrews case, making disparaging remarks about the hometown of one of your key clients.

To sum it all up, you are what you post.

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Mickey New Media advertising, marketing, microblog, Social Media, Spokane, Twitter

With apologies to George Costanza, not all shrinkage, it seems, occurs in the swimming pool.

These days, it’s happening on supermarket shelves. A lot of manufacturers, being pressured to control costs in a soft economy, have decided to “down size” their offerings. Boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, for example, are 2.4 oz. lighter (down from 14.5 oz. to 12.1 oz.). A tub of Country Crock is 6% smaller than it was a year ago. Even boxes of Girl Scout cookies are leaner and meaner this year.

And in a move that is sure to cause math teachers the world over to pull their hair out, a “pint” of Haagen-Dazs is now 14 oz. (not 16 oz.).

“Micro-sizing” products is not on its own a bad idea. If anything, it’s a creative way to avoid raising prices in a market with unstable commodity prices. The problem is that by not being transparent with us and telling us what they’re up to, these companies seem like they’re trying to pull one over on us. I get the sense that once the decision is made to downsize their SKUs, they hold their breath and hope nobody notices. But trust me, someone will notice. And if it happens to stick in their craw, you can bet it’s out there in cyberspace. For proof just go to http://incredibleshrinkinggroceries.com/.

Seeing a web site that points fingers and names names should have all of us asking the question: if we’re going to micro-size our products, or make any other significant changes to our products, would we rather customers hear it from us or from some ticked-off housewife from Poughkeepsie?

By acknowledging that our customers are important stakeholders in any product or marketing decisions we make, it becomes a no-brainer.

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Mickey On Clients, On Customers marketing, micro-sizing, product package, Spokane

One of the things I love about technology is that every so often, you’ll come across something so amazing, intuitive and unique that adds real value to your life. I came across one of those things last week, in the form of a web site called Tabbloid.

If you’re like me, you probably subscribe to a number of interesting blogs and e-newsletters. Problem is, after a while, my inbox gets a little unruly, and it’s a challenge to keep organized or make sure I haven’t missed anything. Hence Tabbloid. Tabbloid is a way to manage your incoming blogs, e-newsletters and other RSS feeds. You just type in the URL, set the intervals you’d like to receive them (you can even specify the exact time of day) and Tabbloid emails you a customized PDF of the most recent editions of your favorite blogs, organized much like a newspaper. You can read it on your computer screen (with the embedded links still live) or you can print it out for on-the-go reading.

So who is responsible for Tabbloid? None other than Hewlett-Packard. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? HP, whose core competency is printing the written word, coming out with a great reason to print the written word. Is Tabbloid going to be responsible for the sales of thousands of more laser jets? It’s debatable. But what it does do is give users a very good reason to acknowledge that paper is still an imperative part of the office environment, regardless of all the talk of the “paperless office.”

An ongoing challenge in marketing is to continually find interesting, unique, surprising ways to execute your Brand Vision. Sort of like HP did with Tabbloid.

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Mickey Uncategorized advertising, marketing, print, RSS, Social Media, Spokane, Tabbloid

Hey, every business has customers they would like to churn out. Sometimes these customers cost too much to maintain. Other times, they just don’t purchase. Either way, you’d prefer it if they just went away. But what do you do about them?

Usually, you have two choices. You can do nothing, in which case the customer will keep bleeding you unless by some miracle he drops off on his own. Or, you can show her the exit, usually by adding some sort of “pain point” that makes it too expensive or too much of a hassle to continue. In either case, you’re not exactly creating a good “story” for the customer to tell later.

American Express, though, is trying something all together different. The company is actually paying some customers to cancel their credit cards. No kidding. The company announced plans to pay some cardholders $300 to leave (these are their least profitable customers). The company could have canceled the cards on its own. Or it could have raised its fees to the point where these customers would scream foul and take off. But execs at American Express figured those options didn’t really jibe with the company’s core values and its Brand Vision.

Paying customers to leave may cost the company money in the short run, but it is creating good will and upholding an image American Express has spent several decades crafting. Coldly firing customers with no thought or consolation was a story American Express didn’t want told about itself.

To me, this is an example of extending a Brand Vision into areas you wouldn’t originally think of. The most optimal use of a Brand Vision is to use it as a “filter” through which to pass not only marketing and communication issues, but operational concerns as well. This ensures you “walk the talk.” And American Express is walking it in style.

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Mickey On Customers advertising, American Express, brand vision, customer service, marketing, Spokane

Many of you may be familiar with this scene from the 1970’s flick “Five Easy Pieces” with Jack Nicholson. I post it here to serve as an example of a missed customer service opportunity.

While it definitely borders on the ridiculous, how many times in our days do we suffer the same kind of feelings of indignation when our requests aren’t heard or don’t seem to matter or what we want can’t be done because it would be against the “rules”? Or worse, how many times do we inadvertently send this message to our customers?

Rules, procedure and protocol are important in any organization. The last thing you want is for your team members to make up the rules on a case-by-case basis. But customers are more important. Without customers (I’ll go a step further and say that without Loyal Customers), there is no business, period. If every customer in that diner had as much problem as Jack getting what they wanted, that place would have emptied faster than a PBR keg at a frat party.

The message you want to send to customers in any encounter they have with you is that they are important. The best way to achieve that is to find out what is important to them in the moment, and find a way to provide it. And if by some chance you can’t “make the toast,” find a way for the customer to get it as thoughtfully and efficiently as possible.

You could save a fortune on dinnerware.

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Mickey Media, On Customers customer service, marketing, Spokane

I had one of those “ah-ha” moments a few weeks back. You know, one of those little gems that when taken out of context has an almost existential impact on you.

I was reading a story in the newspaper about some fraternity buddies who fell out of touch with one another. The article’s author wrote about how he had known of one of his fraternity brothers’ cancer for a few years, but didn’t contact him because he had no idea what to say after such a long absence and felt awkward. At that point, another frat brother chastised him with this comment: “Let the mistakes we make be mistakes of action, not mistakes of non-action.”

That got me to thinking: how many of the mistakes we make in marketing are due to inaction? How many promising ideas or initiatives did we back off from? This is a business that is supposed to be about “bold ideas,” yet often we’re far too comfortable with the status quo, or too cautious to weather a challenge, to act on them. Then, in a few months, we may read how one of our competitors just did such-and-such, and we moan, “Hey, we had that idea last year!”

Ideas without action are like a kite without wind. No matter how pretty they look, you’ll never know what their true potential is.

So this year, as a belated New Year’s resolution, I invite you to join me in taking the pledge to “be bold.” To act. To acknowledge that I am going to make mistakes, but at least they will be mistakes of action.

You know it’s the right thing to do. But (here’s the irony of it) will you act on it?

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admin Ramblings advertising, ideas, marketing, mistakes, Spokane

The biggest upset at the Super Bowl? No, it wasn’t the Arizona Cardinals beating the spread. To me, it was that the top-rated commercial during the broadcast was created not by some hotshot creative team at some gargantuan Omnicom agency. But rather by a couple of brothers from Batesville, Indiana.

Joe Herbert and his brother Dave are living the ultimate ad guy dream. The spot they submitted to Doritos for their “Crash the Super Bowl” contest not only won $25,000 for being one of five finalists picked by Doritos to air during the Super Bowl. It also scored the brothers Herbert a cool million dollars for coming out on top in USA Today’s annual Super Bowl “Ad Meter.” (USA Today’s 2009 Ad Meter: Best Super Bowl Commercials) The self-produced spot beat out 10-year incumbent Budweiser for top honors.

The spot purportedly was produced for less than $2,000 and was shot at a local YMCA.

How refreshing! It renews my faith in this business when two guys with a simple, well-produced idea can whup star creative teams from global agencies with all their focus groups, big name Hollywood directors, mega-million dollar effects budgets and PR hype machines.

Of course, Doritos scored big, too. The attention the client garnered by sponsoring the contest along with the post Super Bowl ad reviews gave the client a great return on its investment.

Thank you, Joe and Dave, for reminding us that in marketing, great ideas rule. And such things as big names, big budgets and big egos really mean very little.

Just don’t come to our office expecting free Doritos.

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admin Media Ad Meter, advertising, Doritos, marketing, Spokane, Super Bowl, TV

Back when I was just starting out in this business back in the 1980s, I started a file of interesting articles and ads I’d come across. Over the years, I’ve updated it often. The other day, I was going through it, and found a yellowed, tattered page I stuffed in there some 20 years ago. It was an ad that ran in Adweek magazine. The ad was for an agency called Kresser & Robbins and was written by one of the agency’s principals, Bud Robbins. I kept that ad because of the story it told. I find it as relevant today as it was back in the days before 500 channels, the Internet, social media and viral buzz. With appreciation to Bud Robbins, I’d like to reprise it here. It’s a little long, but I believe you’ll find it worth your time.

“Looking for the Capo d’astro bar.”

By Bud Robbins

Back in the sixties, I was hired by an ad agency to write copy on the Aeolian Piano Company account. My first assignment was for an ad to be placed in The New York Times for one of their grand pianos. The only background information I received was some previous ads and a few faded close-up shots…and of course, the due date.

The Account Executive was slightly put out by my request for additional information and his response to my suggestion that I sit down with the client was, ‘Don’t tell me you’re one of those? Can’t you just create something? We’re up against a closing date!’

I acknowledged his perception that I was one of those, which got us an immediate audience with the head of our agency.

I volunteered I couldn’t even play a piano let alone write about why anyone would spend $5,000 for this piano when they could purchase a Baldwin or Steinway for the same amount.

Both allowed the fact they would gladly resign the Aeolian business for either of the others; however, while waiting for the call, suppose we make our deadline.

I persisted and reluctantly, a tour of the Aeolian factory in Upstate New York was arranged. I was assured that ‘we don’t do this with all our clients’ and my knowledge as to the value of company time was greatly reinforced.

The tour lasted two days and although the care and construction appeared meticulous, $5,000 still seemed to be a lot of money.

Just before leaving, I was escorted into the showroom by the National Sales Manager. In an elegant setting sat their piano alongside the comparably priced Steinway and Baldwin.

‘They sure look alike,’ I commented.

‘They sure do. About the only real difference is the shipping weight—our is heavier.’

‘Heavier?’ I asked. ‘What makes ours heavier?’

‘The Capo d’astro bar.’

‘What’s a Capo d’astro bar?’

‘Here, I’ll show you. Get down on your knees.’

Once under the piano, he pointed to a metallic bar fixed across the harp and bearing down on the highest octaves. ‘It takes 50 years before the harp in the piano warps. That’s when the Cap d’astro bar goes to work. It prevents warping.’

I left the National Sales Manager under his piano and dove under the Baldwin to find a Tinkertoy Capo d’astro bar at best. Same with the Steinway.

‘You mean the Capo d’astro bar really doesn’t go to work for 50 years?’ I asked.

‘Well, there’s got to be some reason why the Met uses it,’ he casually added.

I froze. ‘Are you telling me that the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City uses this piano?’

‘Sure. And their Capo d’astro bar should be working by now.’

Upstate New York looks nothing like the front of the Metropolitan Opera House where I met the legendary Carmen, Rise Stevens. She was now in charge of moving the Metropolitan Opera House to the Lincoln Center.

Ms. Stevens told me, ‘About the only thing the Met is taking with them is their piano.’

That quote was the headline of our first ad.

The result created a six-year wait between order and delivery.

My point is this. No matter what the account, I promise you, the Capo d’astro bar is there.”

Bud’s right, every product has its Capo d’astro bar. And if it doesn’t, you must create it. Not in an ad, a jingle or a tag line. But in the value you add for your customer. It needs to be something that makes your offerings unique, meaningful and real. Something that separates you from your commodity competition. That adds customer value in a way that others have yet to think of.

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admin Media, Ramblings advertising, Bud Robbins, customer value, marketing, Spokane

The name George Kingsley Zipf is one you probably aren’t familiar with. Yet his observations more than a half-century ago proved prophetic in the world of marketing.

Zipf (1902-1950) was a philologist and professor at Harvard. He noted that the most popular word in the English language (“the”) is used ten times more than the tenth most-used word, 100 times more than the 100th most-used word, 1,000 time more than the 1,000th most-used word, etc.

So what does this have to do with marketing? Turns out the algorithm he discovered for the popularity of words is pretty much universal in all categories. What’s true with words is also true for consumer products and services. The #1 automobile model/hair gel/soft drink brand sells 10 times more than the 10th most popular, 100 times more than the 100th, etc. This phenomenon has come to be known as Zipf’s Law.

These findings, when combined with the realization that consumers really only have room in their conscious brain for 2 or 3 products per category, shows how perilous it is to settle for being number 10 in a category (or number four or even number three). Consider the category of online search. Chances are if I ask you to name a search engine, you’ll say Google. If I ask you for others, you may say Yahoo or MSN. If I ask you to name more, you’ll probably be stumped by the time you get to #5. The reason is, you have no reason to know five search engines.

With that in mind, what can you do to get in the top of the heap in your prospects’ minds? It is doubtful you’ll be able to get there by being “incrementally better” than the category leader. You have to offer a true difference. A meaningful, demonstrable difference. A game-changer. Something that is obvious, yet has somehow been overlooked by every other competitor in the category.

An example of this that comes to mind is Reef sandals (http://www.reef.com). Reef set out to make the “ultimate surfer sandal.” One of the things they did to make their sandals radically unique was to put a bottle opener right into the sole of the sandal. Brilliant! How many times have you been on the beach and had no way of opening that ice-cold bottle of Corona? Simple. Elegant. Obvious. And totally, radically unique. There is no other sandal like Reef. The company succeeded in changing the “sandal paradigm” of hard core surfers, and broke away from the pack. They gave their audience a reason to “move them up the ladder.”

I guarantee that if you spend as much time and effort thinking up ways to make your offerings “radically unique” as you now do to improve them incrementally, you’ll have way more to show for it.

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admin Ramblings advertising, George Zipf, marketing, radically unique, Reef Sandals, Spokane