This Facebook spoof encompasses a useful lesson. If you bother truly to visualise your customers' experience and do so in as exaggerated way as you dare, you may get a feel for what you could be doing wrong....
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
If You Don't Care, Why Should They?
My one prediction of 2008 is that Juno will be in your top ten list of best movies, so imagine my exasperation when the first TV spot I saw was in the middle of sports programming. What made someone think that the mindset of the audience for live horse-racing would chime with that for a sharp youth-oriented movie that's garnering awards wherever it goes?I know media buying is replete with deals, but the thinking here can only be that of relatively cheap TV exposure and that is box-ticking of the worst sort. If you can't afford more relevant spots,...
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Rigidity Of The Geeks.
Over the past few days, the blogosphere has largely reverted to its primordial incarnation as the playground of the geeks. There have been interesting debate and wonderful acts of humanity not to mention all manner of prescriptive projections of future human behaviour (predicated upon technology of course). However, my ultimate take-away has been a reminder of the rigidity of geek thinking. Perhaps it’s down to their technical detail-orientation, but it’s remarkable to see the virulent reaction of a geek to another person’s argument if it doesn’t...
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sprouts As Social Objects.
Ask people to name their most hated vegetable and it's generally agreed that the answer will be sprouts, yet annual sprout sales in the UK are worth £35m. That's allegedly 47,000,000 units of distress purchase and judging by the supermarket tonight, most of them are bought this week. It's not the season of masochism, so why the paradoxical behaviour? Because people have bought a story that convinces them that sprouts say Christmas like no other vegetable....
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Marketing Operations Function - Can we Maintain the Momentum?
I first studied the rise of the marketing operations (MO) function early in 2005; and MO professionals and teams have made significant progress since then. However, much work still remains; and the momentum of marketing operations leaders' strategic impact is at risk of being lost at many organizations. Here are some key findings/insight from my 3rd annual study of the MO function to help ensure the continued success of this important role in the marketing organization:1. Make the case for an MO function that reports to the CMO if you haven't...
Worldviews.
Where else in the world would an atheist comedian and the head of an international religion overlap in a radio show, chat without interruption from the host and be recorded on webcam? The BBC can still be remarkab...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Gorilla Update.
Campaign magazine's 2007 round-up awards campaign of the year to the Gorilla and reports 9% year on year increase in weekly sales - (in October I assume) though as I said before the June 2006 weekly sales were down 25% due to the salmonella scare.The same magazine also brings home to me how many smart people I've got to know this year and credits many of them with both great blogs and actual work too. Trebles all rou...
Monday, December 17, 2007
Something From My Comments.
Lazy blogging I know, but I wanted to share comments I contributed to two interesting debates on other blogs recently.Marketing isn't any harder than it used to be - it's just that people forgot that it centres upon product development and meeting customer needs and instead got obsessed with pretty words like branding which is all too often skin-deep rather than a reflection of the DNA of a business. No marketing isn't harder, but getting away with sub-standard behaviour very definitely is. (Collaborate Marketing)It’s a myth that most categories...
Friday, December 14, 2007
Fourth Wall Marketing.
Watching the magnificent Tinariwen the other night, I realised that here were visually spectacular and musically dynamic performers having a real problem in breaking the fourth wall between stage and audience.This was largely because they are a group of Touareg bedouins from Mali who collectively speak very little english. They had a few stock phrases and meant them sincerely but inevitably it wasn't continuous, it wasn't a real connection. The breakthrough...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Cadbury Gorillas In Our Midst.
Cadbury Schweppes raised forecasts for its confectionery business, saying that revenue at the division would increase more than 6 per cent this year. In some circles this is already being attributed to the gorilla ad. Well let's just think about some other contributory factors.Sales of Wispa have grown from zero to 20 million since October. Trident and Stride gum have gained a 35% US market share. The summer of 2007 was much cooler than 2006. The proof of the ad's effectiveness will lie in the performance of sales of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate...
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Secondary Segmentation.
In our commodified world there are huge numbers of product categories that the majority of people consume. If you're competing in those markets, it makes little sense to focus on the traditional socio-demographic divisions. That's what everybody does.You have a great number of potential customers out there so why not choose your own demographic within that mass market and speak to them about your product. Focus on what they do beyond being consumers within your product category. For example - most people drink beer, so focus on gardeners who drink....
Monday, December 10, 2007
Swimming Against The Current.
All the people at my local gym would say they go there to improve their health. But they all do so in different ways and the most intriguing group to me is the non-athletic ones who believe they are undertaking an exercise regime. In fact, they stand around in the pool declaring that swimming is the only exercise their doctor will allow them to do, before slouching off to the jacuzzi or sauna. Actual exercise undertaken - minimal. While debating...
Friday, December 7, 2007
Keep It Simple.
Riders for Health is a charity that ensures healthcare workers can reach African villages on a regular basis by supplying them with motorcycles and pick-ups and, crucially, ensuring that they work. According to the article I read, they do this by operating,a system of preventive maintenance that would shame any British rail operator. Spark plugs are changed before they stop sparking. Cylinders are re-bored before they seize up. Money permitting, vehicles are replaced before they break down unexpectedly, and no health worker climbs onto his or her...
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Juno.
Having already told you about the magnificence of Ellen Page, I make no apologies for repeating the message. Last night, I got the chance to see a screening of her latest movie Juno which, I believe, opens tomorrow in NY and LA and around the world early next year. My review is as follows - go see it. The production notes point out that the movie is ultimately about relationships between people who would not normally meet or who indeed might be isolated...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
London Calling.
Anyone considering visiting London will no doubt be fascinated to know that "45,460 litres of urine is at risk of ending up in the city's streets and alleyways through irresponsible and anti-social behaviour."Their proposed solution? "Sat-Lav" - an SMS service for which you pay a subsidised 25p to receive a text that tells you the nearest location with opening times. Yet another example of the public sector acting without thinking and presuming behaviours...
Monday, December 3, 2007
Can Advertising Save Web 2.0?
The viability of the online advertising model (i.e. non search-based) upon which so many 2.0 companies are relying on has always worried me. But I had no data to back this up. However, Danah Boyd has come to the rescue with this post that highlights this research.It confirms that my habit of never having clicked on an online ad is very much the majority behaviour and Danah makes an interesting moral point about online advertisers potentially being seen as exploitative of the less well-off. I wonder too if this will affect them in the eyes of offline...
Friday, November 30, 2007
Listening And Learning?
Three marketing tenets and three quotes from a New York Times article.1) The customer/user is the raison d'etre of any business.“Whenever we innovate and create great new experiences and new features, if they are not well understood at the outset, one thing we need to do is give people an opportunity to interact with them,” said Chamath Palihapitiya, a vice president at Facebook. “After a while, they fall in love with them.”2) The customer/user dislikes and avoids marketing interruptions.Facebook executives say the people who are complaining are...
The Web 2.0 Business Conundrum.
1) Founders have a cheap, clever idea.2) People use the idea because it meets a need, is free and uninterrupted.3) Founders focus on serving their growing audience better.4) Moneymen swarm around.5) Founders claim that business model will emerge. 6) Sales organisations flock to the idea in order to exploit it for their ends.7) Founders decide that advertising must be the business model.8) Users begin to resent changes and fail to provide revenue.9) Founders realise traditional tactics don't apply in a disrupted world.10) ??...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Whose Bag Is It Anyway?
Last weekend, Sainsbury's supermarkets gave away the reusable bags they normally charge for in the hope of encouraging customers to reduce their use of plastic bags. Today, I noticed a woman using them to carry her shopping from one of their rivals.I wondered how many other shoppers noticed and thought better of Sainsbury's as a result? I wondered if the rival's staff noticed and thought about doing something similarly positive? Coincidentally, (courtesy...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Obligatory Facebook Post.
Facebook digitised college connectivityAcquired lots of usersCollected lots and lots of dataExtended its reachBecame a media darlingOpened up its APIOverdid its applicationsKnows it's at a crossroa...
Top Ten Attributes of a World Class Tech Mktg. Org.
The archetype of the world class tech marketing organization, Top Ten characteristics:1) The senior-most marketing leader is viewed as a being a business-person by the CEO or COO or equivalent.2) The senior-most marketer is perceived by the other peer-level direct reports to have equal weight and reporting status in the politics and influence of overall management.3) If it is primarily a B2B tech vendor, the senior-most marketer has an especially productive and collaborative relationship with the senior-most Sales exec.4) The marketing organization...
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Who Judges Perfection?
Heston Blumenthal is a remarkable chef whose cooking will be sampled by some readers in the near future. Mixing physics and chemistry with a search for the absolute perfect ingredients, his is cooking that most would not bother to try at home but as one critic wrote "it's always fun to see someone do something better than anyone else in the world".Interesting distinction there - he searches for absolute perfection but the critic perceives it in relative...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Short-Cut, Not Short Circuit.
Continuing with my theme of facilitating short-cuts as a route to better usability and improved customer experience, it's crucial to ensure that the short-cut in question is actually a short-cut for your users.Tinyurl.com is a very useful facility that reduces unwieldy url's to a manageable length. That is great when you're sending them in SMS form, but it doesn't facilitate comprehension as you can see here.The predominance of emboldened tiny urls in an article about podcasts is certainly a short-cut for the techie writer in terms of printspace....
Thursday, November 22, 2007
For The Love Of Cod.
Say fish and chips and people generally think cod and chips. But cod has been scarce in the seas lately and catches have been restricted by EU quotas. So what do you do if you're a fish and chip shop and the majority of your customers automatically ask for cod and chips?Well, contrary to my previous advice, you short-circuit their psychological short-cut; take cod off the menu on "No-cod Wednesdays"; and make them focus on the alternatives. Partly...
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Try Before You Buy Marketing.
The advent of file-sharing and broadband has created an environment in which potential customers are fully exposed to media products before they make a purchase decision. The disruption this has caused to those businesses is well-documented, but outside of that arena the mindset is also now pervasive and your marketing approach must acknowledge that. If you wouldn't buy your product/service, there's really no point trying to get others to do ...
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Interruption Management.
Here's an interesting study that suggests that people who use IM and other communication tools are not less productive than others and believe that they suffer from fewer interruptions.In other words, if you keep people in the loop on a constant basis, rather than with intermittent communication, they have a fuller idea of who and what you are and life is easi...
Monday, November 19, 2007
Cosh Or Cosset: Marketing's ADHD Prescription.
The inestimable Lauren commented on the last post that Corporate Dex-Amphetamine was inevitable. In fact, it's here already. Our perceived ad attention deficit disorder is being tackled by programmes that offer free or cut-price content/services in exchange for compulsory exposure to advertising messages. But in a month when the efficacy of Ritalin has been questioned, it's worth considering whether a course of action/medication that seeks to counter...
Friday, November 16, 2007
Why Won't They Listen To You?
Last night. A gathering of PR practitioners seeking to understand how social media impacted their business. They wanted to access bloggers on behalf of their clients. Some of the bloggers present objected to being spammed. The celebrated anti-spam reactions of Tom Coates and Kevin Anderson were inevitably cited and short-hand terms like Cluetrain and conversation were bandied about.As someone who stands on both sides of the divide, I thought this...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Is Fear of Failure Holding You Back from Starting Your Own Painting Business?
Is Fear of Failure Holding You Back from Starting Your Own Painting Business?It's a known fact among house painters that over 90% of new painting businesses never make it past the first year. But did you also know that one of the main reasons so many good painters never get started is due to fear of failure? Fear of failure paralyzes painters into remaining in dead-end jobs painting for bosses who don't appreciate them and who barely pay them enough to survive. Although our industry desperately...
Satisfaction Quantified?
Satsifaction surveys exist to measure our relative pleasure or displeasure on some sort of sliding scale. So why would the options on a customer survey change from question to question and why would they place acceptable ahead of adequate in the scale of options?Perhaps because it was a survey of customer care in a state-run hospital and unwell patients might not notice that marking down actually improved the rating.Never believe research results if you haven't seen how they were collected. In the private sector, at least, you won't succeed by...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Channel Marketing Investment - How much did we spend and why?
Do you know how much of your marketing investment is dedicated to your channels? Not just co-op and market development funds(MDF), but also the investment in other marketing activities that are intended to either directly or indirectly support the channels. This may include "ground cover" as some people would put it. If your answer is no, then you're not alone. Few companies have a more holistic understanding of their investment in the channels, let alone their return on that investment. In addition, most channel-centric companies are afraid to...
How Do People Count?
My recent labelling post caused quite a debate and got me thinking about dieting and whether people focus on what's good for them or count up the bad things they can get away with eating each day.I don't know tha answer, but it suggests to me that you really need to know how the people in your marketplace are thinking. Are they focussing on what's good for them i.e. quality or do they know that their choices aren't the best but they figure they can get away with a certain consumption level without having a negative outco...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Getting Here From There.
I'm repeatedly frustrated by the lack, paucity or complexity of travel directions on business websites. There are lots of new aids (like map programs) to help with this but still people get it wrong. They assume you know the area, they assume they know where you're coming from and sometimes they assume you will so want to come that you'll work it out for yourself. It takes brains to do it this well. (via Ruby)And doesn't their effort make you think...
Monday, November 12, 2007
All The News That Fits.
Courtesy of visiting friends, I'm belatedly aware of the New York Times redesign. They've reduced the width (by 1.5 inches) to standard tabloid size while maintaining the broadsheet height. It's a very odd shape. I imagine they assumed that going tabloid would implicitly diminish their stature and reduce their differentiation from existing city rivals the Post and the News. But that's nonsense. The size of the paper is predominantly a usability issue,...
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Customer Facing Stuff.
Funny and creative in and of itself, but check out (via Iain) the imitations it's spawned and you might glean some ideas about the best way to deal with unusual customers and the impressions those strategies lea...
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Reverse Marketing Engines.
Audiences at conferences are amazed by insights that seemed obvious years ago; the digital life remains a mystery to many and buzzwords and received wisdom continues to be spouted and not questioned.So, in spite of the demographic realities, the considerable doubts about the longevity of brand loyalty and the radical changes to daily life that digital technology has wreaked, businesses still repeat the mantra of attracting youth, capturing new users...
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Facilitate Short-Cuts And Satisfaction Soars.
We've all had the experience I had today. That of repeating a reference number to a series of people on the end of the phone who apparently need that information before they can put you through to the next person who will put you through to the next person who finally inputs the reference into the system in order to look at what you might be calling about. It's crazy - the reference number is designed to be a short-cut to a solution and yet the system...
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Modern Mundanist.
At last - for those of you who weren't there and those of you who were - Dave has tied together most of his slides from Interesting 2007 with a better audio track than I've previously heard.Enjoy a masterful performan...
Monday, November 5, 2007
Exceedingly Deceptive Labelling?
Food companies are increasingly required to detail the amounts of fat, salt etc that their products contain so that we can work out which ones are, for example, low-fat (i.e. less than 5% fat). If we are quite numerate that is. At a recent client meeting, I noticed that this carton had seemingly facilitated that calculation by providing a breakdown of both the weight of the individual constituents and a percentage figure. But look closer.The percentage...
Friday, November 2, 2007
Christmas Is Coming.
So here's something to consider buying for the men in your life. Gifts that keep on giving.Marketing that simplifies a technical benefit via metaphor (and pillows).Durex Performa condoms contain benzocaine (a mild anaesthetic), which helps men last longer in bed. To highlight this product benefit we distributed limited edition pillowcases alongside performa condoms at New Zealand’s biggest annual sex expo, Erotica increasing sales by 28%. The pillowcases...
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Eyes Of The Media Literate.
We all know the ad, but a schools TV documentary entitled Advertising Uncut featured a number of voxpop reactions to it. Most notable for me was the comment from the viewers that they were surprised that real balls had been used. The assumption of this generation (late teens, early 20s) and maybe others is that effects are CGI. So maybe the spectacular is unspectacular (but still beautiful or inspiring); perceived authenticity is limited to the simplest...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
What's Your Influence Span?
"Fast trends get all the attention; slow trends have all the influence." (via Dan Pink)Especially true if attention spans are diminishing don't you thi...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Products You Didn't Know You Needed.
Many customers are buying one for both sides of the bed! (via Ze Fran...
Monday, October 29, 2007
Rarefication Is The New Decommodification.
Decommodification is an awkward word to say and simply not assertive enough to describe the underlying differentiation problem.To avoid being a commodity in a fast-moving world of shared technologies and replicable ideas, you need to be actively different, noticeably remarkable and consequently scarce and of value. After all, you're seeking to charge a significant and sustainable premium.It's not enough just to try to not be a commodity. That way lies mid-level mediocrity and trivial distinctions supported by white-washing advertising. You don't...
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Wake Up And Smell The UGC.
Four weeks ago, an 18 year old English student in his first year at Leeds University put a video on YouTube.Three weeks ago, the second person to leave a comment wrote "wow you should send that to apple. you can make so much money if they air that!!!"Tomorrow, a professionally produced version will be shown during NFL games, Desperate Housewives and the World Series.Do you still think user-generated content is a jo...
Friday, October 26, 2007
Plasticine Rabbits And Drumming Gorillas.
When I read Scamp's riposte to the claims of plagiarism in the Cadbury ad, I was inclined to agree with him. But then I saw the Kozyndan rabbits and today this shot from a 1999 Michel Gondry video leapt out at me. It certainly made me pause (which was irritating as I was on a cycling machine at the tim...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
One World Everybody Eats.
An intriguing combination of the "pay what you will" pricing of the new Radiohead album and the general desire to eliminate waste is to be found at the One World Cafe in Salt Lake City where everybody chooses how much they want to eat and pays according to how much they think the meal was worth. But it's not that simple.By encouraging people to savor the meal, Ms. Cerreta is attempting to help people see the value of food as more than a mere consumable...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Social Activities Beget Social Objects.
It may be because I'm struggling to think of anything to write today but, having just read Hugh's latest offering, I was struck how I unusually couldn't agree with one of the points he made.2. Social Networks are built around Social Objects, not vice versa. The latter act as "nodes". The nodes appear before the network does.I think there is an intermediate element and would contend that social networks are actually built around social activities. The activity exists before the network does (as I suggested when I wrote recently that you can't fake...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
So You Want to Start a Painting Business...?
So You Want to Start a Painting Business?If you've ever seen one of those “Top 10 Small Business to Start” lists then you probably know that the house painting business opportunity has been a contender for years. One of the nicest things about owning a painting business is the flexibility it can offer. The income potential is so high that it is quite possible to work just three to four days a week and still make $50-$60,000 a year. House painting is one of those rare business opportunities that is nearly recession proof and can put financial...
Thursday, October 11, 2007
2008 Essential Guidance for CMOs
Marketing investment across the IT vendor community will increase by 6.1% for 2007. This increase in marketing investment will lag behind the growth rate of global vendor revenue, which is forecasted by IDC to be 6.7% in 2007. Tech marketers should watch this trend closely, and monitor their marketing budget ratio (MBR) and marketing investment change (MIC) data versus the industry. My research within IDC on marketing ROI has consistently shown that tech marketing leaders tend to expand their budgets at a rate equal to or greater than their revenue...
Tech Sales and Marketing Execs: Avoid Negative Attention from Your CEO!
By Richard Vancil, Vice President, IDC's Executive Advisory GroupA long-standing rift exists between sales and marketing in the IT vendor community. We all recognize the tired observations: sales is more tactical and marketing is more strategic; sales is all about the short term and marketing is about the long term; sales brings in the money and marketing just spends it. And we all know that the finger-pointing from the "two sides" gets sharper from there!Just as these misalignments and strained relationships have been long-standing, so has the...
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Product, Solution and Industry Marketing. . . the Next Evolution
Product marketing needs to undergo a significant evolution in the technology industry. It must no longer be marginalized as a content creation role or simply included as part of product management. Companies have an opportunity to lead this evolution by leveraging product, solution, and industry marketers to drive innovation in the organization and better meet the needs of their customers. Here are some key insights and guidance for tech marketers:Companies should conduct a comprehensive audit of their product, solution, and industry marketing...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Field Mktg. . .The Missing Link for M&S Alignment
CMOs and their organizations continue to fall short in optimizing alignment with their sales organization, and the field marketing function offers significant opportunity to improve the linkage with sales. Based on the results of a study I completed as part of IDC's CMO Advisory Practice of the field marketing function and related processes, I'd like to offer the following key insights and guidance:Conduct a comprehensive audit of your field marketing practices, and apply a consistent definition of roles and responsibilities across the organization....
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