SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

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.

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JULY 22, 2008

Nike’s Just Do It turns 20 this month. 

And I bought Nikes before they had the slogan? What was I thinking? Now the slogan has become part of everyday parlance. Why does that matter?

Nike practiced something many companies forget: message simplicity and message consistency.

For twenty years, we’ve heard mostly one thing from Nike: Just Do It. You may love it or you may hate it. Like vanilla or chocolate… everyone has an opinion, but at least they have one. In the case of Nike, it’s mostly favorable.

To me, the phrase embodies a can-do attitude. It is about the art of the possible. It is about making things happen, rather than waiting for life to happen to you. I want to believe in a product, a company, that espouses those values.  And it is, in part, because of Nike’s investment in this brand image that the negative issues the company encountered along the way could be addressed – the Nike way.

An example of Just Do It’s opposite, or “message complexity,” was Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention four years before he ran for President. In reflection he said, “It wasn’t my finest hour. It wasn’t even my finest hour and a half.” His was the classic case of an intelligent person who didn’t want to say the same thing in the same way twice, much less in a succinct way. It was supposed to be Clinton’s national coming out, but the only thing people remembered was that he spoke too long. There was no message, no story.  He learned this lesson before starting his campaign for the Presidency.  During his Presidency, proof of his message consistency could be heard when the traveling press corps would groan and even recite some of his repeated stump speech lines. For Clinton, who was seeking to persuade new audiences, message consistency and simplicity was the goal. Repetition of simple messages gave Clinton a chance to have his message, his story, heard. 

Paul Begala, in making the point for message simplicity, asked Clinton “Do you know what John 3:16 says?” Begala’s logic is if the Bible can explain the reason to believe in God in less than 30 words, then their White House team should be able to explain to the American public why its economic plan made sense without giving long speeches or showing mind numbing charts. It’s hard to argue against.

Whether it’s political campaigns or athletic apparel, the landscape is always changing and the competition always trying to win - a marketplace, a consumer or a vote.  Today, Under Armour is the Chihuahua (or maybe it’s a Terrapin) sneaking into Kruger Reserve and eating next to the lions, Adidas and Nike. The latter both know they must continue to fulfill and enhance their brand images. Nike is launching a new campaign called Courage. Smartly, consumers are asked to engage. Nike understand that a conversation can enhance its brand. Adidas is investing millions in global advertising that is meant to sweep the Beijing Olympics. And the Chihuahua, Under Armour, is plotting its next moves. It’s even hired a new CEO who is familiar with the lions.

As we talk about at TMG, the message is part of the mix, but innovation and leadership are also essential. Under Armour has had a surprisingly strong start. But can it keep it up and build a global brand? Can it harness the power of message simplicity and message consistency? This Chihuahua (Terrapin) fan hopes so.

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JULY 14, 2008

It’s easy in tough economic times like these to flip on CNBC and just watch everything collapse - connecting the dots from housing crisis to credit crunch to energy prices to food and material costs and wonder exactly how our country plans to get itself out of this mess. It’s also easy to feel powerless before a torrent of awful news streaming to your computer, television, and Blackberry 24 hours a day. We talk a lot about saturation here at TMG - but what role has it played in the economic run-up and subsequent correction?

Robert Shiller, professor and author of the bestselling Irrational Exuberance, argues that the first economy-wide “bubble” - the tech stock run-up of the late 90’s - was fueled in part by real-time stock prices and 24/7 business networks. The constant availability of information, as well as the economic cheerleading encouraged by the networks themselves, made it easier for investors to focus on minutae like price fluctuations and ignore big-picture variables like actual earnings. The irrational decisions made on the basis of too much irrelevant information helped fuel the unsustainable rise in stock prices.

Now that the financial networks are blasting bad news through every conceivable media, how many investors and business leaders are irrationally spooked about the unsteady market? How many have taken a fatalistic attitude towards their business, willing to simply ride the market conditions out to their end - whatever that end may be? What’s more, how many are listening to half-cocked pundits suggesting nice-sounding but potentially disastrous courses for their sector? My guess is quite a few.

I think we, as communications professionals, have two roles to play here:

1) We must find new angles to sell stories to an increasingly-skeptical marketplace. Exuberance for new products will be in short supply for the next few years, and to serve our clients well we must be on top of trends before everyone else and help them capitalize accordingly.

2) We must act internally, and use media monitoring to help our clients cut through the noise surrounding their business. As outsiders, we should be the ones absorbing the torrent of news and passing on what’s important, while clients should be focused on creating solid products and services. Helping our clients maintain perspective on the fundamentals amid swirling economic bad news is key to keeping morale high and eyes focused on the prize.  

I’d really like to start a dialogue here on Undercurrents about how communicators can help companies weather what may be a transformational economic crisis. If you’ve got thoughts, please comment below. If you’ve got a longer thought, e-mail me and I’d be happy to post it on this blog.

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MARCH 27, 2007

Note:  This column by Dan McGinn first appeared in the March 2007 issue of the DC Communicator:

American Idol is an entertainment juggernaut. In the first season the Fox show had a weekly audience of 12.7 million and a total of 111 million votes were cast.  By season five, the audience had grown to 30.6 million a week and 578 million total votes.  Taylor Hicks, last season’s winner, got more votes (63.4 million) than George Bush did in the 2004 presidential election (just over 62 million).  American Idol has generated more than six million radio plays in the U.S. and Canada.  And last week, 12 former American Idol contestants are on the charts or close to making it on.  So why should we, as communicators, care?  Because the phenomenal success of this show can teach us important lessons of effective communication:

1.  Inclusion
On American Idol, inclusion is the heart of the show.  Anyone can audition and possibly become the new idol. Once contestants are selected, anyone with a phone can vote and play a part in determining the outcome.   From start to finish, the audience is included and needed.  I am an essential ingredient in the success of this show. 

For communicators and their clients, it is important to think of their audience, their target market, their consumers – not as a separate entity, but as part of the team.  What can you do to make them feel more included in your efforts?  You can always start by asking them just that.  But often, that’s where our efforts end.  We get feedback, ponder it, and carry on as before.  What American Idol does is let its audience know your feedback is what determines what this show becomes. 

2.  Personal Stories
American Idol is only partially about talent.  It’s also about the personal stories of the contestants.  Each singer’s individual story gives me something to think about and possibly identify with.  These contestants are on a tough journey, with tough judges, and I can relate to the ups and downs they are going through.  The personal connections I make as I watch the show also lead me to follow my favorites even after they’ve been cut.  Viewed this way, it’s easy to see why so many were thrilled when American Idol loser Jennifer Hudson became an Oscar winner this year.  American Idol is really about the heartbreaks of those cut along the way. 

As much as possible, communicators need to tell the personal stories of their clients or even their customers.  It’s not about ‘messaging’ – it’s about storytelling.  We need to make personal, emotional connections with people if we’re to succeed in communicating effectively.

3.  That’s Entertainment:  Let’s be honest - it’s fun to watch.  It’s fun to love or hate the contestants and the judges.  It’s fun to fight with your friends and family members over your favorites.  It’s never boring. 

We communicators have to remember to eliminate the boring and remember the fun.  And if we can’t do fun, maybe we should at least try for interesting.

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OCTOBER 31, 2006

First off I have to tell you that Chevy and GM are clients of The McGinn Group and I sometimes work with these clients (when I’m not writing this blog or reading or thinking or otherwise trying to get out of client work).  And I will say that I was involved  in trying to get bloggers to write about this campaign. 

Chevy’s had their problems with consumer generated media - the Tahoe campaign anyone, anyone?  Though Chevy folk shudder when you bring this up, I have to say that I think they earned respect and brownie points for keeping the negative ads up on the site.  And what I like about Chevy is that they keep trying.  (I get knocked down, but I get up again…)  They’ve got their Super Bowl commercial thing going on with college students, and this week they’re running a different sort of campus challenge centered around the Chevy Aveo. 

I love this challenge - 7 teams at 7 colleges are living in their aveo for a week (I know, shades of that guy living in his Nissan Sentra - but Chevy’s been working on this for a long time so we’ll never know who had the idea first).  They can only leave the car for classes and what Chevy politely  calls "bio-breaks" - what,  no Johnny on the Spot?

I’ll give you my reasons (not in order of importance but in order they pop into my head):

• The website is cool.  It’s modern yet retro - how do graphic designers do that?
• The students are running the campaign.  The student teams have to perform tasks and challenges and try to get as many people to vote for them as possible.  Chevy’s put the campaign in their hands. 
• It’s CGM/New Media- these students are writing blogs for the website, and there are webcams in and out of the cars to catch the action 24/7.  From Boston University’s Jamie and Allison’s blog this morning:

OH MY GOD!

Everyone GO LOOK AT THE FRONT PAGE OF THE BOSTON METRO!!  There’s a HUGE picture of us on the FRONT PAGE under the headline "GIRLS GONE WILD."  :)  The picture is from the Daily Challenge yesterday when everyone put their hands on the car.  IT’S SO FUNNY, GO LOOK!!

• It’s live, It’s real, it’s entertaining - I mean the Northwestern University students got the drumline to come over and perform - most excellent.
• It has a good cause element built in -  the students on each campus are also trying to generate publicity for their favorite causes - like HIV/AIDS Awareness - and the team from USC (if they win) plans to cash in their cars and donate the  money to the Adom Partnership, for children in Africa.
• It’s Local - Chevy is working with the Public Relations Student Society of America and their campus chapters to ensure that each team tailored their efforts to their local community.  Great idea.

Fun, funny, at times moving - it’s a great campaign. Kind of blends pr, advertising and marketing.  Look in and vote for your favorites is all I can say.  I’m personally rooting for Gerald & Evita  from Howard University, since it’s in D.C. and that’s my town.

And here’s the video that Dolce and Anna from USC made to get into the contest:

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OCTOBER 23, 2006

Richard Edelman outlines what he’s doing to make sure there are no more flogs from his PR firm:

• We are undertaking a thorough audit around the world to ensure we apply best practice guidelines to every program in every market and specialty area.
• We are requiring that all employees attend an Edelman University class on ethics in social media, hosted by members of me2revolution team as well as external experts. This will take place before the end of next week.
• We are establishing a 24/7 hotline so our me2revolution team can review, provide counsel and apply best practice guidelines on social media programs before their implementation. This ensures that programs adhere to the WOMMA guidelines or best-in-class standards around the world.
• We are creating ethics materials that will be distributed to each office and all new hires.

So, they’re trying - but they might have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had read this September post from IBM’s Irving Wladawsky-Berger:

"I think that the key difference between a blog and other kinds of web sites is their personal nature.  In your blog, you are making the implicit promise that you are personally writing the content and that you are writing about subjects you care about in your own voice and style.  Which leads to another important aspect of blogs - they should be conversational and informal enough to let your voice, style and personality come through.

In other words, the essence of blogging is authenticity. In your blog, you are essentially sharing what is in your head, your feelings and opinions, with others out there.  If you feel strongly for or against political candidates, then it makes sense to write about them in your blog.  However, if you really don’t care, or are a paid campaign worker posing as someone who cares, that is not OK.

If you like or dislike a company and its products and services, sharing your opinion with others is good.  But if you really have no opinion and are writing about the company just because you work for the company, its competitors or a marketing agency engaged by either, I would consider that bad blogging behavior."

He’s right.

(Read the roundup of the Wal-Mart/Edelman troubles here on Constantin Basturea’s PR Meets the WWW blog)

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

So last week my firm sent out a press release for the Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge. We used the Social Media Press Release template developed by Todd Defren and Shift Communications.  We looked at as many examples as we could find.  I have to say that Chevrolet was very open about doing this and a traditional press release was sent out at the same time.

I think it accomplished all Top 5 Principles of the Social Media News Release that were outlined by Todd Defren on his PR Squared blog, with an additional two added by Brian Solis:

1. Democratize "Access" - The content (words, multimedia, links) need to be available to all comers.
2. Ensure "Accuracy" - First off, given the electronic (and thus easily transfigured) nature of the Social Media News Release, we need to be thinking about some sort of "trustmark" scheme.
3. Embrace "Context"  -  Research and provide links to background information on your subject.  Don’t shy away from competitor information.
4. Build "Community" - We need to make it easy for anyone who views the Social Media News Release to: comment on its content; re-mix its multimedia elements for use in blogs, on YouTube, and in the online versions of traditional print publications; bookmark it using Social Media tools, etc.
5. Be "Findable" - Optimize your release so search engines see you and find you.
6. Write intelligently
7. Eliminate the Hyperbole - Leave the spin to the reporter.

I left Todd a comment on his blog mentioning we used his template.  And next thing I know they’re talking about it on The New Media Release Podcast  with Chris Heuer, Tom Foremski, Brian Solis, and Shel Holtz.  It was an honor.  They mentioned we need to use del.icio.us tags for the release.  I will do it next time (I just have to figure out how).  Step by step, inch by inch. 

The qualities I like best about the release are these:

1. Visual - pictures are included
2. Short "microchunks" of information for bloggers/reporters to pick and choose from.  (Although PR Web did not let me publish this way - I wrote it this way - I still have to find out why.)
3. Background information at your fingertips - one of the blogs I sent the release to did one post about the release and another based on some of the background information I sent him. 

This is the future.  Gotta learn more.

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SEPTEMBER 7, 2006

Lots of talk these days about good old-fashioned manners.

Steve Cody at Rep Man asks the question: Why is politeness becoming the exception, rather than the rule?  He goes on:

According to an AP-Ipsos poll released last October, 70 percent of Americans think their fellow Americans are ruder and less polite then they were 30 years ago. I have no doubt this is true and see it demonstrated in multiple ways every day (from the sarcastic train conductor and obnoxiously loud fellow passenger to clients who fire you by e-mail and prospects who string you along meeting after meeting).

And Guy Kawasaki over at Signum sine tinnitu says companies need to:

1. Find out what’s being said about them by customers on the Internet.
2. Respond to unhappy customers.
3. Respond to happy customers.

The key words here are listen and respond.

Some companies are doing this.  Take Service Unititled’s experience with Headsets.com:

Mike Faith, the CEO of Headsets.com discovered Service Untitled and I exchanged a few emails with him since his comment at Service Untitled spoke with him this afternoon. He is an interesting guy to talk to and I noticed a few things:

• First of all, he took the time to A) comment on Service Untitled, B) respond to my email, and C) talk to me. Very few companies will do any of those.
• He uses Google News to monitor the web for updates on Headsets.com, which is how he discovered Service Untitled. Mike said that if a customer or an article is written, they either thank them (assuming the write up was a good one) or try and resolve issues (if there was a problem).This technique isn’t new or revolutionary, but it’s not done as often as you think it would.

Listen and Respond.  Good business, good manners.

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AUGUST 30, 2006

  Jake McKee writes about The Power of One on his Community Guy blog (thanks to Church of the Customer blog for the link).  Jake attended Brickfest 2006 - where lego enthusiasts gather - here in D.C. last weekend.  And he left there impressed with Lego’s efforts towards it’s customers.

• There were 30 LEGO employees there and 400 attendees - not a bad ratio.
• LEGO announced production of a train set that is based solely on fan designs. The box will contain parts and instructions enough to create 30 different models. Each of these (plus the other 50 that weren’t chosen to be in the box) will be posted for individual purchase on LEGO Factory.
• There were open meetings between employees - some upper management - and fans. 
• One woman asked the CEO how she could help get more lego products in Singapore, and told him that she represented a whole community of LEGO fans willing to help.  She had already been turned down cold by the local LEGO office.  The CEO told her:  "I’m actually going to be in Singapore next week. Would you be able to join me when I meet with that office so we can work it out?" The audience went wild. By the end of the event, they had arranged a meeting time. The CEO, the leadership of LEGO Singapore, and a fan.

LEGO gets that their products are about their customers.  And they’ve given their customers a place at the table, and even let them in the kitchen.  This is the way companies must learn to operate today.  Surrender some control, maintain your connections, stay open - and you’ll sell your product.

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AUGUST 17, 2006

Andrea Learned at Learned on Women posts about this article she saw in a local Vermont paper - (click on the picture to see a bigger version) she thought it was a wonderful way for a person to advertise her services without advertising her services:

"…this profile offered up so many different, personal, facts/interests of this woman that you either identified with her, or not - but you had a lot of opportunity to find some connection.

If people, especially women, are looking for a realtor, they are going to love that they feel like they "know" this woman a bit, and that they have common interests.  While they wouldn’t spend more than 1/2 second glancing at a typical realtor’s classified ad, this profile will likely draw them in a lot more.  A.. reader/real estate prospect won’t necessarily walk away thinking: "I’m going to call that woman right now," but they will remember her face and an element of her story, and file it away for future reference…"

Here’s another great example of how public relations and advertising are becoming the same thing.  The way to a customer’s heart is telling your story, sharing who you are and letting them make connections back to you.  It’s not what a great realtor you are - let’s face it - there’s lots of good realtors out there - it’s who you are and making people feel comfortable working with you. 

Learned mentions that realtors have always been good at humanizing their business, but lots of other industries could take a clue from this.

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