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NOVEMBER 25, 2008
The Japanese Sideways Effect
In 2004, vintners and wine store owners commonly referred to the “Sideways effect,” whereby the Oscar-winning film directly influenced consumer impressions and purchases of pinot noir, a once relatively obscure red wine. According to ACNielsen, sales of pinot noir reached an impressive 370,000 cases between October 24, 2004 and January 15, 2005, an increase of nearly 16% from the same period a year earlier.
It still came as a surprise last week, however, to learn that the “Sideways effect” may have actually reached Japan. Seriously. In an article in Variety magazine, I read that Fox Japan and the Fuji TV network recently announced the details of their joint Japanese remake of Alexander Payne’s 2004 hit movie. “Wait,” I thought. “Japan remaking Hollywood? Usually it’s the other way around!” This time, though, it wasn’t.
Curiously, as Cinematical’s Peter Martin reports, Japan doesn’t have a native wine culture equivalent to that of the United States, mostly due to weather and soil issues, not to mention a scarcity of land. In the past year, however, California wine imports have significantly increased in Japan. Martin writes, “And the comic Kami no Shizuku (translated as The Drops of God; pictured) has become a phenomenon over the last couple of years, read by 500,000 Japanese weekly, according to Telegraph (UK), and sending wine sales skyrocketing across Asia. The series details a young man’s quest to identify the 12 wines described in his father’s will.”
Set to release in Japan next fall, the remake, which is already shooting on location in California’s Napa Valley, will likely spark a new Asian interest in American wines. And, if I were a Napa Valley vintner or wine seller, I would already be personalizing my website and my shop for the massive wave of Japanese tourism that is sure to seek my business next winter.
NOVEMBER 24, 2008
Pizza Wars
There’s no question that the pizza industry is clamoring for our business by creating new ways for us to order and promotions to entice us to choose their pies.
TiVo in your pizza order from Domino’s
Order online from Pizza Hut and get free music
Friend Papa John’s on Facebook for a free pizza
However, getting pizza online by text message or through TiVo seems a little overboard. Call me old school, but I actually prefer looking up the the nearest pizza place and phoning in my order. I wonder if the chains are giving us what we really want, or are these just gimmicks that will soon go away? I’d choose lower prices and better quality over convenience any day.
Have you ever ordered pizza in any of these non-traditional ways?
NOVEMBER 21, 2008
How Does Your Garden Grow?
I LOVE flowers. I love all types and shades. As far as plants go, I think they’re great indoors or out, but I have a problem… I have never been able to keep one alive by myself - ever. That’s why, this weekend, I was somewhat disappointed when my mother gave me an Amaryllis bulb. How could she give me this poor innocent plant that we both knew would die in my care?!?
According to PRWeek, I’m not alone: “Americans spend nearly $44 billion on plants and plant care products each year, but more than a third of plants die within a year of purchase, according to the National Gardening Association.”
One-third of Americans are just like me and can’t keep a plant alive, but it doesn’t seem to stop them from trying! Luckily, new products such as the EasyBloom Plant Sensor by PlantSense recognize America’s not-so-green-thumb problem, and have designed a way to help. PlantSense makes soil sensors that collect data and recommend what to grow in your soil. Genuis!
The smartest companies are the ones designing products have the ability to tap into and enhance the passions of consumers. Figuring out how consumers spend their time and money - and understanding their passions - will give companies an advantage in this competitive marketplace. Now, does anyone know how to make a goldfish live longer?
NOVEMBER 18, 2008
The Argyle Cruiser
When I was in high school, I shopped at the Gap… a lot. Most of the kids in my high school did. It was actually considered a “hip” store in 1995. I’m not exactly sure when or why I stopped shopping there – maybe it was because my style changed over the years and Gap’s didn’t – but, apparently, I’m not the only one. A recent article in The New York Times discussed the troubles Gap is facing, and questions whether the clothing company, famous for its holiday commercials, has lost its edge.
I think that Gap’s troubles extend beyond losing its edge; it appears to have lost its focus too. One thing is for sure: when I was a Gap shopper, the chain was not attempting to sell $6,000 Vespas or $500 bicycles!
Last year, Gap partnered with Vespa to offer consumers the “Crazy Stripe” Vespa LX50 for $6,000. And this year, I suppose in an attempt to be “greener”, it decided to partner with Electra bikes and sell “The Gap Argyle Cruiser” – an actual bicycle with a blue argyle pattern – for $499. Wait…what?! I don’t get it. I mean, I’m all for companies branching out, reinventing themselves, and being open to change, but this just doesn’t make sense to me. A bicycle does not scream “logical extension of a clothing brand” to me.
At TMG, we believe that the most important thing a company can do is listen to consumers, in order to design and offer products and services that meet their wants and needs. I’m not so sure that Gap is listening. What do you think? “The Argyle Cruiser” - good idea or bad idea?
NOVEMBER 5, 2008
An Apology Goes A Long Way
I really like JetBlue. Not just because of the comfortable seats, in-flight DirectTV, or even because of the cool events the company sponsors (although I was lucky enough to have one hosted near me recently). I like them because of this:
Subject: Our Apologies…
Earlier this afternoon, I had received a JetBlue promotional email - a fairly regular occurrence as part of my membership in the company’s frequent flier program, TruBlue. I thought the subject line was great and suited JetBlue’s typical, laid-back style. But, when I was opened it, I was disappointed to see who it was addressed to:
Subject: It’s been awhile… we miss you.
I initially wondered if the company was making some bizarre attempt to be cute & random by addressing to me as ”Soandso”. (Some marketing can be a little out there.) But, the “Mr.” confirmed that there was no way this email was meant for me. I’m not particularly sensitive, but this lack of personalization bothered me - and evidently it bothered a few other people as well. I immediately shared the email with my co-workers, looked up the email address of a friend who works with the company, and contemplated sending him an note about it.
That is until I checked my email again and found the apology.
Maybe it’s because I’m still coming out the election day haze - a time when we all were bombarded with messages revealing alleged secrets and half-truths - but I find this prompt apology incredibly refreshing. Received just about an hour and half after the Mr. Soandso message, email #2 was simple and refreshingly straightforward: We screwed up and we’re sorry for it.
I don’t always expect companies to be perfect, but sadly, I do expect that most companies would try to cover tracks and bury mistakes. That is why acts of honesty and transparency stand out. You’re having a hard time? Tell us. You messed up? Admit it.
Because in most cases, we’ll like you even more.
OCTOBER 24, 2008
Online Research - Friend or Foe?
I am not a particularly nosy person. I like to think of myself as well-informed and proactive. Okay… who am I kidding? It’s so easy to be nosy nowadays! (And as David referenced in his post a few months ago, I’m not the only one.)
Google serves as a wonderful little sidekick that can give me juicy tidbits about people, places, and things whenever I want them. Thanks to Yelp, I can research the service at the restaurant I’m thinking of going to and read reviews from real patrons. Sites like Rate My Professor prepare me for what to expect from instructors, as well evaluate my books before I buy them for a class. Rate My Cop evaluates police officers based on personal accounts of interactions by people online. (As you might imagine, some people have not-so-nice things to say about the officer that just wrote them a ticket hours earlier.) A friend of mine even showed me how to look up county information to find out if people have traffic tickets or arrests. All you need is a name and a county to search in.
When I recently moved to a new house, Rotten Neighbors took the mystery out of the situation - it gave me the chance to screen my neighbors before even meeting them. And, I admit that after I finished checking out my own neighborhood, I had fun plugging in the addresses of my family and friends.
But, does this knowing all information, especially information about the people around us, make us safer? Happier? Probably not. In many cases, it just give us another thing to worry about. And let’s face it, for most of us, our list of worries is already pretty long as it is. Do we really need to think about that crazy write-up that someone posted online about our neighbor that may or may not be true?
When all is said and done, we should use these tools when necessary, but not go overboard. I am learning to take the information and reviews I read online with a grain of salt and focus more on the number and quantity of bad reviews more than the specific details of one person’s account. This keeps me from stewing over something that may or may not be biased, and unnecessarily ruining my perception of a restaurant, neighbor, cop, or person unfairly. Then both technology and my conscience will be on my side.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2008
Facing A New Facebook
If Facebook was a country it would be the 12th largest, with a larger population than Germany, France, and England. The site has over 100 million users (even my mom is on Facebook) and this month many of them are angry.
Facebook has been testing out a new layout this summer and it’s now phasing it in for all users, and the backlash has begun.
On its blog, Facebook says the redesign is because it “wanted to make the site clean and simple by reducing clutter; we wanted to give you more control over your profile, and we wanted to focus on the recent and relevant content on the site.”
However, users like Adam Stanborough disagree. He is one of many who started a group on Facebook to protest the new changes — and his group has reached over 1 million members.
This quote from Standborough in an Australian news story caught my eye:
“Facebook did not ask the users first regarding the changes, which in my mind would be marketing’s first job if there was to be such a mass overhaul of the website…”
Listening to the consumer is essential — and it applies to all businesses, from airlines to cable providers. There’s also the idea of ownership here; last time I checked Facebook was a private company and in reality I don’t “own” a piece of it… or do I? The main idea of Facebook and social networking is that we are all part of the whole.
Personally I didn’t like the new format at first, but the new features are growing on me and I am slowly getting used to the new format. When a change like this happens, there are always going to be some growing pains — remember when Facebook decided to open up their membership to everyone? While initially many people were also against that decision, it ultimately proved to be a good one, as Facebook’s membership continued to grow.
We’ll have to wait and see if the change in layout brings similar results.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2008
Customer Service 2.0
About a year or so ago, I had my first opportunity to try Verizon’s FIOS service. A bundle package that included phone, internet, and TV, was priced comparably to Comcast, which was my provider at the time.
It took me about five seconds to realize what a good decision I had made. My internet connection speed just about tripled. My (standard definition) TV looked remarkably crisp and clear, and the DVR was more responsive and functional than the one I had traded in from the cable company. Phone service is phone service, but we had the added convenience of a single bill for all of our telecommunications, including our cell phones, which we also obtained service for from Verizon. To top it off, customer service seemed responsive, and when we had trouble, it never took long to fix it.
Then we moved. FIOS wasn’t available at the new place. We had to go back to Comcast, and after a fiasco with their billing system that left us fighting with them over obstinately charging us for services we had long since canceled, we were none too happy about it.
Our install didn’t go well. It was done clumsily, with cable strewn across the living room. The DVR didn’t work. On top of it, we were charged an outrageous install fee, amounting to several hundred dollars.
I made a complaint about the quality of service we were getting from Comcast on a blog, and I was surprised to get a response from a Comcast executive named Frank Eliason. He wrote:
On behalf of Comcast, I would like to apologize for the service that you received. When someone is moving, the last thing they need is to “fight” with the cable company. I will be reaching out to you to see if I can assist further and learn more about your experience.
Thank you for being a Comcast Customer!
Frank Eliason
I thought it was a scam at first, so I Googled him. I found him doing the same thing on a number of other blogs. Then, I got an e-mail from him. I responded, told him what was wrong, and within 24 hours he had people from our local Comcast office hopping to get things fixed. He issued a credit that took care of our billing, and gave me a personal number to reach him in case we had more problems (which we did). Every time, he was willing to help - quickly and cheerfully. He even called me from his home phone one night and talked to me for the better part of an hour about reputation management, his reasons for helping customers complaining on blogs, and the willingness his company was beginning to demonstrate to right their customer service wrongs. He was a lone crusader, it seemed, out there fighting to improve his company’s image. And with me, at least, it was working.
You couldn’t find a better brand ambassador. Frank Eliason single handedly restored my willingness to work with a company that I had all but sworn I would never do business with again. Over time, he’s begun to earn a reputation for working to restore trust with consumers who were simply fed up with the service (or lack thereof) they were receiving. Customers aren’t stupid - they know when a company like Comcast is the only provider in their area, and it’s insulting when representatives act like that means good service is optional. Having someone with the power to fix it reach out to you instantly changes your relationship with the company - you go from powerless to powerful, and that leaves a strong, positive impression.
Now my family and I face a new dilemma. Having found an opportunity to live closer to work, school, and all that we do, we’ve moved yet again (hopefully the last one for a while). This time, Comcast isn’t an option, but FIOS (and another cable provider) are both available. The decision to choose FIOS was easy. They offer better product, better service, and better price than the competition.
But there’s a catch: The customer service end seems to have gone downhill. Our original order somehow never got processed, and our new order will take 10 days to fulfill. That’s 10 days without essential communications in a family that does a lot of business over the internet and telephone. My wife, who works from home, has had to drag the kids to the local McDonald’s parking lot every morning since we moved in just to pick up a free WiFi signal so she can check her e-mail. When I’m at home, I can’t access my work e-mail, the blogs I contribute to, or my grad school course materials. (And for heaven’s sake, we missed the season premiere of House.)
And yet, this time, I’m willing to put up with it, instead of going to the competitor. FIOS may not be the only provider I have available, but they’re the only provider who can give me what I really want in terms of product. I’m getting the feeling that they know it, and that means good service is optional. It’s not a position that I, as a customer, like to be in.
Although I never thought I’d say it, perhaps Verizon should borrow a page from Comcast’s playbook. That, or make an offer to Frank Eliason.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2008
Fake Fictional Twitterers From “Mad Men”
It must be hard owning a brand these days. Everywhere you turn, you hear about how consumers are taking over, how control has shifted away from the owners of products and brands and into the hands of the people who use those products and brands, regardless of whether they love or hate them.
From a consumer standpoint, however, these are exciting times. Last week, I read on a few blogs(subscription needed) about some Twitterers who had shown up using the names of characters on AMC’s sophomore drama “Mad Men.” For those of us who follow this addictive, intense drama, this was exciting news! Don Draper on Twitter? Never mind that for a show with an obsessive eye to detail and factual accuracy, this made no sense - Don Draper is an advertising executive in the 60s, when the delivery of a new copy machine was met with complete and utter befuddlement. It didn’t matter - the “Mad Men” characters on Twitter were simply a very cool extension of the “Mad Men” franchise into a new medium, one that would only encourage fan intensity for this show.
Well, as it turns out, Don Draper on Twitter wasn’t in fact created by AMC, or the writers of “Mad Men”, or anyone else connected with the show. And AMC’s first reaction was to have the accounts taken down. Luckily, they (thanks to their digital agency) changed their mind a few days later and allowed the accounts to be reinstated. As the Silicon Alley Insider said:
What happened? Deep Focus, the Web marketing group that works for AMC, tells us that they gently nudged their client into rescinding the DMCA takedown notice they’d sent to Twitter. See, in Web marketing parlance, the Twitterers assuming the names of Mad Men characters are actually “brand ambassadors” meant to be cultivated, not thwarted.”Better to embrace the community than negate their efforts,” says a Deep Focus spokesman. We agree!
I can understand AMC’s reticence. They’ve spent millions of dollars creating these complex characters, imagining their wardrobes, their anxieties, their ambitions. Why would they be comfortable with these unknown Twitterers hijacking these finely honed identities and tweeting all over the blogosphere?
On the other hand, though, in an age where mass media is rapidly fading and traditional advertising simply doesn’t work, what could be better than having bunch of people love your programming so much that they want to assume the identities of your characters and spread the word about them over the Internet?
Take a deep breath, AMC. It will be OK. Just roll with it. If this doesn’t get you new viewers, I’d be very surprised.
AUGUST 26, 2008
Oh, The Places You’ll Go (Virtually)!
With technology, it seems you can be everywhere you want to be. Can’t make it to a class? Take one online. Can’t drive down to check out a new neighborhood? Take a Street View tour. There’s no excuse anymore not to “attend” church when it’s streaming online! Can’t go to a funeral in Idaho, watch it online. Yep, that’s right… online funerals. The Associated Press reports that Downard Funeral Home is now posting funerals online for those who can not attend. According to the report:
“‘There’s no charge to the families,’ Lance Peck, funeral home owner, told the Idaho State Journal. ‘It’s just part of the service.’ He said the services remain online for 90 days, and that an e-mail is sent to family members who can assign a password so only those the family wants to view the ceremony have access.”
Not only does technology allow us to be everywhere we want to be, but places we weren’t previously allowed. The Sunday Times reports on a new high tech restaurant with touch screen table tops that allows you to scroll through the menu, order, get the bill, play games, and peak at what is going on in the kitchen. Now you can know what’s really cooking in the kitchen! Want to see how your art collection was made? This cool site allows you to watch live glass blowing in Tacoma.
Companies are thinking of new ways to get customers involved and consumers are expecting more and more access. It seems there will be nothing off limits to consumers in the future. If something is going on, we want to see it. I just have one question. Will anyone actually be at my funeral?
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Our culture is shifting all around us. In Undercurrents, we present our observations and insights about where our society is heading.
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