Alex Lovell ~ A Lost Voice

McDonald’s Twitter campaign gets a social media trashing #McDStories

2012-01-25T17:15:00.000-08:00

Interesting Article by @gordonmacmillan, posted on 'The Wall - Social, Marketing, Media: Blogged' on 24 January, 2012 at 12:06 pm.

Remember the Qantas hashtag fail? Of course, you do. The Aussie airline saw the #QantasLuxury Twitter campaign spectacularly backfire late last year.

Now it is the turn of McDonald’s which has also been on the receiving end of a Twitter hashtag fail after it launched promoted tweet campaign that sought to share positive stories about farmers who grow the fast food giant’s food. Sadly for McDonald’s this quickly turned into a major piece of #McFail as it lost ccontrol of the hashtag and off it went.

The problems started when McDonald’s switched from its first hash-tag #MeetTheFarmers, for those uplifting farmer stories, to a second one #McDStories, which was quickly high jacked tales of munchies and other less favourable experiences and comments about the burger chain. Here’s the original tweet:

“When u make something w/pride, people can taste it,”

– McD potato supplier #McDStories mcd.to/zIlXXu

All of this and McDonald’s used the hashtag only twice. One tweeter claimed to have chipped a tooth while another said she had been hospitalised for food poisoning as a result of eating there. Yet another said McDonald’s use pig meat from gestation crates. While @jfsmith23 wrote:

"Watching a classmate projectile vomit his food all over

the restaurant during a 6th grade trip. #McDStories"

One of the worst was @MuzzaFuzza who tweeted this, which was then retweeted:

"You must have a LOT of diarrhea then. RT @Muzzafuzza ‎"

I haven't been to McDonalds in years, because

I'd rather eat my own diarrhea."

Social media director Rick Wion told paidcontent.org: “Within an hour, we saw that it wasn’t going as planned. It was negative enough that we set about a change of course.”

However, it was too late for that. It is pretty clear given the Qantas fail that you have to be very careful about the hashtag you employ even more so if you have just had some bad PR (Qantas) or you are a company that strongly divides opinion (McDonald’s).

Hashtags that leave you open or that can be read multiple ways can, as in both cases, spell disaster. What’s interesting is that the original #meetthefarmers hashtag continued to work picking up positive tweets. It had going for it that it was very specific.

It was only when McDonald’s went to a wider audience with #McDStories that it lost control as the wider consumer market tore it to shreds.

One thing is for sure you can not fire fight these things. When a hashtag goes, it is gone.

Blackberry Playbook vs Apple iPad2

2011-09-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

I have been a moderatly loyal Apple user for years, not the type that hates absolutely everything else, just one that appreciates the design and quality that goes into their products.

I have worked on Windows and OSX for years but definitely prefer the simplicity that Apple is renowned for.

Prior to the birth of the iPhone and the world becoming planet Apple I also had almost every touch screen device under the sun, all of which I would classify as utter crap knowing what I know today.

The biggest difference between touch screens of yesterday and the barrage of tablets available today - Apple at some point revolutionized what one can do with their fingers. No two handed movements or stylus needed. One hand, one finger and the type of simplicity that even a baby would think its an extension of their humanness. I would go as far as to suggest all tablet manufacturers owe a great deal to Apple and its prince of profits, Steve Jobs.

More recently, post iPhone madness, Apple reinvented tablets. A failing market. Have we all firgotten the bad press they received from critics and the public for being about to launch a tablet? have we all forgotten the critics and public response post launch that said its not a phone, its not a computer so who on earth would need or want one?

Well, after huge sales that even when slowing, require shipping a mere 9 millions units last quarter (wow, what were they prior?) many not only have egg on their face but almost every manufacturer under the sun has pretty much copied. Some have tried to add what they would deem to be improvements.

Tablets, tablets and more tablets but who are the real competitive threats to Apple?

Many see Apple as evil for having a closed market, but with so many devices on the market and thus so many customers it really was the smartest decision because they now not only have the hands down biggest selection of Apps, but more importantly they have quality! Show me a single bad Apple Appstore App and I'll show you 5000 very bad open source built Android apps.

Yes, I currently have an iPad, new Samsung 10.1 inch Galaxy tablet and a Blackberry Playbook (currently what I am using for this blog entry.)

The question is whats best?

As you have probably now guessed from the title of this post, Android is out. With so many Android tablets on the market I want to dispell this one quickly. No matter what power you put under the hood it simply does not compete on usability, simplicity, quality of apps or battery life.
With hardly any apps running it still has a delayed finger response, both the iPad2 and Playbook are what I call fluid. I have had major issue with Android Marketplace and its Apps. Some have quality function but lack any sort of style and in the tablet world, style is actually a large factor. How many times do you look at your homescreen and think, why does that app have such an ugly icon? As you shift it to a screen other than home.

I also installed an app on the Samsung that has access to shopping catalogues and deals. Not only did the description mislead (app did NOT contain any local content unless you classify Sydney as local to Auckland?) it also conflicted with my RWC 2011 app. Not a problem except it took me 2 hours to figure out it was these two conflicting?! Open source has cons. Sometimes offering open markets means anyone could have a crack at developing apps and to be frank, I haven't got the time nor patience to sort through rubbish and resolve conflicts. I simply want function and form, available on a tablet app store and I want it working now. Android is not an intuitive interface either compared to its competitors. Those that say it is I would suggest have not spent more than 15 minutes on an iPad.

For too many reason to list Android is out for me. Nice selection of devices/hardware but way too many issues (reminding me of symbian in the early 2000's) with software to keep me happy. Besides tablets should revolve around simplicity, zero learning curve, convenience and reliability.

So Apple iPad2 or BlackBerry Playbook, and here is where it gets interesting...

Apple launched the iPad and subsequently iPad2 with a lot of planning and preparation. They hit the ground running with selection of apps and app quality, translating to tablet functionality. The hardware itself is also very sweet. Clean lines, iPad2 has adequate front and rear cameras, surprisingly good battery life for its screen size and accessories to keep even a Hilton happy.

The only thing that has bothered ever so slightly about the iPad2 is its size. I would respect a smaller 7" version or even a larger 15" version? You see the problem is that it's too small to do serious work on (a 15 wouldn't be) and too big to be 'subtle' and non-geeky when you use it as much as I do in meetings etc, I do actually feel a bit like a nerd taking notes on something so big. A phone is too small but the iPad is too big to comfortably thumb type making it stuck in no mans land size wise. So when I flick it into a horizontal state,lay it flat and try to type, it just feels a touch 'dinky' - a 15" version would seem more commercially serious. As for the rest of whats good and bad about an iPad2, well I think we all have read, blogged and debated over a few prawns on the BBQ the subtle details that we all either love or hate. I personally think its all good apart from peoples view on Apples closed market and profits. Get a grip though, Galaxy lovers should consider that even Samsung don't allow their 3D tvs to work with any other cheapers glasses and you can ONLYget Shrek 3D movies if you own a Samsung? Is this not similarly closed?

But then we have the Playbook. It feels like Blackberry rushed to release this device to market as they have made some fatal costly flaws all of which revolve around apps... EXCEPT the hardware itself is fundamently brilliant. It is awesome. Simpler form to the iPad2 with less hard buttons, great battery life, beautiful looking screen (LCD), highly responsive, perfect size, superior cameras both front and back, more grunt under the hood, but above all the gesture control rocks!

The bad however is bad but COMPLETELY FIXABLE as its all around its apps. The big mistake which I understand is set for fixing next month is the lack of native email, contacts and calendar. An app that reads from gmail, non reliant on a browser window will make a huge difference considering this and web browsing are my primary tablet uses.

On that note, the Playbook browser is outstanding, fully integrated with Flash too. The system threading is impressive and more seemlessly integrated than the iPad's baseline threading pane that feels like you are exiting the OS from one app and selecting another to reenter. Its lighter (eBook readers will smile) and one off its biggest benefits is that it does not judge you for being either a mac or PC user, it will accept whatever your lifestyle choice may be!

The Blackberry App World is lacking if compared to the mighty (full steam ahead) Apple iTunes App Store but still contains more than I expected it too. The apps for the Blackberry Playbook are definitely targeted, more slanted towards business and productivity than entertainment and games but there is still some great iPad apps that I miss on the PB, but whose to say they are not still to come.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM with the Playbook is one finer detail of a few of the apps. One of the main reasons I (perhaps anyone) buy the PB is for its perfect size keyboard and the ability to quickly thumb type in a meeting. However many of the apps do not have the screen rotate built in. Most frustrating is Evernote, the one app I would use very frequently yet it only works in landscape mode? I may aswell use the iPad in portrait mode as that would equate to the exact same width. (But if I was to use the iPad2 I would rather use the 'dayone' journalling app that syncs with dropbox... brilliant.)

PB developers should look to ensure this basic function is always included as this is one of the biggest selling points over an iPad (or for an existing iPad owner such as I to try this product.)

But when you can use the PB in portrait mode (such as word-to-go) it is perfect. A simple app retool and its all good to go and dare I say, this alone is an edge over the iPads for me.

The biggest misconception for which critics have hammered the PB is that they claim you NEED a Blackberry smartphone to make the most of the device features. This is simply not true. I am operating a 17" mac Powerbook and the BB desktop manager (syncing software) is great. iTunes tracks can drag and drop or sync, books, videos (including swf), photos and many other formats all copy or sync with ease.

The introduction of native email, calendar and contacts next month will add further advantage. As the app world gains traction, simple inclusion of skype and other such big named apps will make this device a potential threat.
BB are also releasing an Android app reader but as I have stated above not overly enticing in my opinion considering the apps are not great. It will add vast selection though for those who like apps for everything including boiling an egg.

So what would I recommend? Hard to say.

For me, the operaring system, web browsing experience and hardware form of the PB win but the undeniable selection and quality of Apps for the iPad is hard to beat. So it depends what you want. I suppose I better add, after owning an iPad and now iPad2 I am amazed how many apps I download and never use. I seem to get slightly obsessed with the app store. I find myself distracted, looking through thousands of apps trying to find something so essential that I will probably never use.

I cant help but think the Playbook is a better tool for just getting down to business?

Tough call and down to preference, but for me the BB Playbook nips the iPad2 by a fraction... Important to note however is that I am basing this on its near future potential based on promised upcoming apps by BB. A snapshot right now would suggest the power of Apples apps trumps all.

That said I have heard a rumor the iPad3 will have a glasses free 3D retina resolution display? That may be a game changer if true and one thing I know...
you can never underestimate Apple!

If only Apple bought BB as their enterprise arm?

Best Dining in Auckland during the Rugby World Cup 2011.

2011-08-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

For some time Auckland has been a buzz in the build up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. As a local who is into quality cuisine I have been observing who is doing what and which places may be the best experiences for a quality Auckland meal. The objective here is to convey where I would consider the ‘best overall dining experience’ to be.

To establish this I have some very simple criteria:

The food.
The service.
The decor and atmosphere of the restaurant.
The location and the added value that surrounds.

To cut to the chase... my findings are:

Number 1. Kermadec

Kermadec comprised of the 5 star restaurant, the brasserie, the tasting room and the trench bar. It has a focus on fresh seafood but also offers some ‘from the land’ selections. Kermadec has exceptional service, a moderate selection of wines which is acceptable due to which fantastic wines they have on offer. They have a comfortable decor, perhaps slightly dated however it works wonderfully because the atmosphere you step into is incredibly alive. They are proactive with their positioning and the atmosphere is often sparked by one of their live piano evenings, or wine matched chef designed set courses. Surprisingly Kermadec is reasonable value however the deciding factor that makes me place Kermadec in the top position is location. Kermadec is in the heart of it. Located on the upper level of the Auckland Viaduct it offers outstanding views and a prime position to over look all the vibrancy of Aucklands core. The location makes this the perfect spot to relax late evening and watch the sunset behind the masts of Aucklands many yachts. Carry your evening right through to an outstanding dinner and you can start to understand why Auckland is one of the greats. The location means you can step out the door after dinner and enjoy the nightlife hub that is the Auckland Viaduct.

Overall 100%

Bloggers Update: NZ Herald printed this article among others. IMPORTANT: Kermadec still has availability during the Rugby World Cup. The article may imply they are fully booked by the French for the Rugby World Cup. Kermadec have informed me the French have only booked approximately 35% of their capacity - great news for all those wanting to enjoy!

2. Clooney

Exceptional on all counts, Clooney is in my humble opinion the best restaurant in Auckland. The cuisine is incredible, service is perfection and the decor and atmosphere is sophisticated and very ‘slick’. This restaurant has a very ‘cool’ interior which upon arrival seems intimately dark. The tables are beautifully spaced and the whole space is separated by designer steel mesh curtains. Each table is part of a stylish booth fixture which offers a romantic touch however the true magic is in the lighting. It is as if the menu has an subtle angelic halo around it. And when your beautifully crafted plate/artwork of cuisine arrives it is enhanced by the most flattering food lighting I have ever seen, subtle and intimately classic. Clooney also has a great wine menu and extensive cocktail list. (I can highly recommend the Baby Grand.) The slick decor extends to their bar area and private downstairs function room. A truly outstanding fit-out. The only reason Clooney is not my top pick is location. It is fringe city centre but also located in a slightly industrial neighbourhood. This suits the restaurants ‘cool-soho’ style personality but does mean you are probably a $10 - $15 taxi fair from downtown. Not a huge amount of attractions or watering holes in close vicinity, although there is Sale St contemporary pub which is known for the live music acts it draws and it's outdoor beer garden. Yep, Clooney is as classy and likable as George.

Overall 98%

3. Britomart Country Club

BCC (Britomart Country Club) is somewhere that offers a different experience and a visually interesting decor. BCC has a grass floor topped with white furnitures and is surrounded by what appears to be shipping containers. The Space is technically ‘outdoors’ however is does have an automated louvre roof. There is definitely a golf theme running throughout the premises which is highlighted by the few minigolf course holes placed throughout the bar area. This has helped the popularity of this restaurant/bar as the golf holes have been a local work water cooler talking point. Upon an evening arrival you might be mistaken for thinking this is just a bar, however it’s strength is also it’s secret... The restaurant has spectacular casual food! shhhh. Very reasonably priced the Britomart Country Club offers great food (gourmet casual such as a Venison and Cranberry pizza) friendly service with a twist. The waitresses dress casually and come across as laid back, yet ensure they cater everything your experience requires one step ahead of you needing it. Although it is causal service, they absolutely nail it, freindly yet unintrusive. Food and service are both great, it is affordable and the decor is one of the most interesting as it offers something completely different. It is also in the area of Auckland that is ‘new-cool’... Britomart. This is minutes from the central train station doors and only a 5 minute walk from the Rugby World Cup Party Central waterfront base. BCC is a great option, vibrant (slightly noisy due to the bar element) and fantastic location. A must for anyone visiting Auckland wanting a different kiwi dining experience.

I have heard a rumor that the owners of this property also own Agents and Merchants (A&M), Racket, and 1885. All of which are a 1 minute walk from BCC and are some of the best bars in Auckland.

Overall 95%

4. Snapdragon

Snapdragon is in the Auckland Viaduct on the ground floor beneath my top pick Kermadec. Snapdragon is a great destination for a few drinks but also boasts delightful cuisine. The half Crayfish at NZD$36 is reasonable value but insanely wonderful flavor! They offer short western style menu, but as any short menu has to be, each dish reads beautifully. Being ground level Snapdragon is a fun ‘people watching’ position however their viaduct outdoor area is limited. That said, the interior is stylish and mixes elegance with retro. The space is divided by square shelves housing vinyl records and the decor is laiden with lush detailing. The one design element that is very eyecatching is the restaurant singage. A ‘broadway bulb’ style sign that looks like it’s been there since the 50’s. On top of the awesome signage (yep brand guy remember), Snapdragon is only an 8 minute walk to the new Wynyard Quarter (aka North Wharf) which is where there are newly installed Trams for the Rugby World Cup. Service at Snapdragon is excellent! Very professional, friendly and knowledgable. The staff I have experienced here have extensive wine knowledge and have been well versed in the subtleties of the menu. Makes for a more interesting cuisine selection journey when they know their stuff. Snap dragon has great food, fantastic service, stylish decor with exciting atmosphere and buzzing location.

Overall 95%

5. NSP (Non-Solo Pizza)

An Italian restaurant that over delivers is always a big ask, yet Non Solo Pizza will definitely put a smile of satisfaction on your face. NSP (Non Solo Pizza) has been a long standing restaurant on the Auckland dining landscape. Located in Parnell ($20 taxi from downtown) this restaurant has stood the test of time. In recent years Parnell has gone through some big changes but has started to truly shine again in the last 2 years. NSP is still there and still as good as the day it began. Founded on italian passion (for food) this restaurant has developed a thriving following and for just cause. Although it is hard to find (down a narrow little foot alleyway off Parnell Road) from the moment you arrive it feels authentic. It feels like a restaurant that has been there a long time and is still busy doing things right. I have never seen this place quiet, but even when it is busy it seems at ease. The menu is extensive and largely italian influenced. It caters to a large array of appetites and preferences. The quality of their cuisine is nothing short of amazing and the freshness of their ingredients makes the experience all the more delightful. The decor is classic. However what has impressed me time and time again about this restaurant is the service. Knowledgable, efficient, approachable and humble. The kind of service you are really happy leaving a tip for and makes you want to tweet happy emoticons! (joking about the emoticons) Non Solo Pizza delivers on every element, great fresh authentic italian food, amazing service, beautiful decor and quaint location. It is a little bit away from party central however not too hard to get to from Eden Park as you can get their without venturing into the heart of Aucklands city centre. Definitely worth a visit when in Auckland.

Overall 95%

If there was a short list it would read:

Merediths (city fringe but VERY close to Eden Park)
Euro (Viaduct, Masterchef Judge Simon Gaults flagship restaurant)
Jervois Steak House (Ponsonby, another Gault restaurant - Best Steak in Auckland)
Dine by Peter Gordon (central, Skycity Casino)
The Grove (central)
The French Cafe (central).

In an attempt to offer a little context to those reading from outside Auckland, the city is fairly spread out. The greater Auckland would boast one of the highest calibre selections of food in the world. Many of Aucklands restaurants are independents or part of smaller (2 or 3 porperty) chains. This is quite a contrast to cities such as London or Los Angeles. This vast selection however means it is wise to have a little ‘on the ground’ guidance, hence this review.

We have 4 central key zones that are known for dining. The Viaduct (and now the close walk Wynyard Quarter aka North Wharf), Britomart, Ponsonby, and Parnell. Worth noting is that the CBD is also only a 35min ferry ride to Waiheke Island which is a goldmine of wineries and top notch cuisine also.

New Zealand (in particular Wellington and Auckland) have incredible food selection compared to most other places I have travelled (a lot of Asia, Europe, USA, Canada) the most notable difference has to be our service. And not in a good way. Many tourists find our service sub-par and I can concur this is an overall issue. Therefore in my findings (the top 5 and the shortlist) you can be rest assured they all have exceptional staff who are well trained and deliver fantastic service.

If you are lucky enough to get to one or more of the restaurants above, come back and comment, let me know your thoughts. If you are on your way here it is worth knowing this review is completely unbiased and all based on real experience by me, a real person who loves fine food and fine wine.

Justin Timberlake Helping Down Under.

2011-08-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

This year, the New Zealand based 2011 Money4Jam competition has had a generous touch from one of the worlds biggest stars. Entrants have the chance to win a Trip to Las Vegas where they will meet Justin Timberlake and attend the Justin Timberlake and Friends Concert. (Kiwibank have also generously donated US$3,000 to spend too!)

The competition is pretty simple... all you have to do is register online, create a Jam, Youtube it, share it with everyone you can, and raise money for StarJam, a New Zealand super-charity (founded by Julie Bartlett) that empowers and inspires disabled kids through performance. Entry can be from anywhere in the world, likewise so can support.

But how on earth did StarJam manage to get Justin Timberlake on board? Turns out it was as simple as sending a short online video from one very special Jammer. This coupled with Justin Timberlake’s humble generosity has made for a very exciting 2011 competition. (Lets face it, who wouldn’t want to meet Timberlake... IN VEGAS!!)

Justin Timberlake has always been involved with charities and has even donated over $100,000 to Wildlife Warriors in Australia (founded by the late Steve Irwin). In 2009 Timberlakes celebrity endorsement to the Shriners Hospitals for Children was the single most valuable endorsement in the US worth over an estimated USD$9M.

When it comes to entertainers with true brand power there are a handful of what I would class ‘superbrands’ and Justin Timberlake (or JT if you’re street) is definitely one. In an age of manufactured pop sensations Justin Timberlake is living proof that there is no substitution for pure talent. He can perform, write, produce and as it turns out, act... superbly.

As a contestant on ‘Star Search’ this converted into an opportunity with the Disney Channel where he became a resident talent on ‘The New Mickey Mouse Club’. He extended his fame in the 90‘s by becoming the lead singer of record breaking boy band ‘N Sync. However it wasn’t until he went solo in 2002 that Timberlake became a household name and favoured Google keyword. He has grown and transitioned from child talent, to teen heart throb, to sophisticated urban RnB star. What surprises me is his ability to seem ever humble and despite huge fame, somewhat normal.

With six Grammy’s and two Emmys under his belt Timberlake has been paying his dues on the acting circuit. First with bit roles and supporting characters slowly building up to a position on Hollywoods A-list. With some highly convincing performances is films such as Alpha Dog he has broken the mold as very few have managed to do to be taken seriously as an actor after a pop career. Most notable is his role as Sean Parker (founder of Napster) in the Fincher hit ‘The Social Network’. Keep an eye out for his new hit, soon to be released ‘In Time’.

There are moments where people in this world really impress me and make me think there still some great role models. Justin Timberlake is as much an inspiration as the kids at StarJam. To think he is at the top of his game, in a lifestyle and situation that must be tricky to manage and control, yet he finds time to help a charity in New Zealand from one small online video. Wow.

Does Viral Marketing Work?

2011-06-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

I found this viral Smart Water Advert with Jennifer Aniston online and thought... "What are the key things that makes a message go viral?" How do I get 9,000,000 views without the advantage of exposing Jennifer Anniston as one of our brand ambassadors? (see the subtle search engine phrasing... 'exposing' 'Jennifer Aniston' 500 hits right there!)

The power of video online today in undeniable. It is the single most powerful online tool that web sites should be harnessing and using. And with such a surge in online video uploads and views it is no wonder that Viral Marketing has seen a new boost in the newly social networked world.

Software company Avangate released an article on their blog about effective Internet marketing. It contained this excerpt...

"Rules of viral marketing strategies

Viral marketing consists of several elements, which need not be all present in such a strategy, but the more they are, the stronger the results are, too.

Here are six fundamental elements/rules for your viral strategy to be an effective one:
   ~ give away valuable products/services
   ~ ensure an effortless transfer to others
   ~ easy scale from small to large
   ~ exploit basic behaviors/motivations
   ~ make use of existing communication networks
   ~ take advantage of others’ resources."

This does hold some credibility however I can't help but think there is more to it. As humans we are now more connected than ever and more exposed to advertising then ever. We are also highly over exposed to deals and offers and 'Groupon-esque' sites and emails. The effect is that we are becoming somewhat numb. The most valid of the above for me is 'exploit basic behaviours/motivations.' With that in mind I think there are two key things that help something go viral:

1. Entertainment (especially humour) - It doesn't matter what channel the message is offered through, or what deal the message offers, if it is entertaining it will work. For people to be interested... it has to be interesting! And with the emergence of all this Social Technology and the ease of the digital revolution, production and distribution is so accessible. It starts to place value back on the idea. Perhaps Saatchi's slogan of 98' "Ideas are the currency of the future" is returning to vogue?

2. Rubberneck Effect (especially acts of novelty.) - Do something outrageous, real or fake and people cannot help but look. Highlight errors and mistakes and people love to witness others misfortunes. Don't get me wrong here, I don't necessarily agree that natural human reaction is always the right way to act but it is a reaction able to be leveraged. Give them something taboo to look at and they will look, whether it be jumping through a hoop of fire, kissing mid riot, or highlighting a six digit typo in a national newspaper advert... Rubbernecking is not just something people do for themselves, with social media solidly planted in our daily lives its something they share! (What have we become)

There are many factors and even more techniques to get things sharing their way to super stardom but for me (and this is purely personal preference) these two seem to be the most effective.

10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011

2011-06-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

In the midst of my internet research for valid and current statistics for an upcoming keynote, I found this article which demonstrates great foresight and really pinpoints some key areas of evolution for social media over this current year. And although I considered taking these points and putting my own spin on them, simplifying them, I decided that these are pretty much perfect the way they are.

And although last year I looked at 5 Social Media Trends, the following feels like hindsight before its even happened. See what you think...

The article was published by Ravit Lichtenberg, one of the key proponents behind Ustrategy.com and titled 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011

**With more than 550 million people on Facebook, 65 million tweets posted on Twitter each day, and 2 billion video views each day on YouTube, social media has become an integral part of our connected lives. But this is just the beginning.

For the past two years, I have been forecasting the evolution social media will undergo. Key trends for 2010 included social media integration across applications and devices, lowered technological barriers, mobile pervasiveness and social media ROI as a focus. It is safe to say that these trends indeed became reality and I expect these to continue and materialize in new solutions, applications and case studies in the year ahead.

2011 will also be marked by new developments that will shape the very fabric of our behavior, culture and identity. These developments will challenge us to consider important questions about the future of our experience as connected people and consumers. Here are key trends to watch in the coming year:

1. Social media will be supersized

Following the success of various social media SaaS vendors and application providers, and fueled by Apple envy, in 2011 we will see a surge of service providers bundling social networks, engagement widgets, video, mobile capabilities, cloud services and analytics, with their own unique services and proprietary capabilities. Ad agencies, for example, will offer bundles that include layers of creative strategy, campaign management and advertising deals all handled through a central dashboard; telecommunications companies will offer video tools for businesses and consumers with greater bandwidth, storage and syndication; learning management systems (LMS) integrators will add engagement, archiving, training and collaboration tools for a deeper and more engaging academic experience. By the end of the year, using todays à la cart solutions will seem as efficient as buying a pocket knife with only a bottle opener in it.

2. Companies will integrate social feedback into their decision making process

In 2011 we will see a growing number of companies finally go beyond using social channels merely for building awareness and providing support. As social thinkers, these companies will use the social engine to inform strategic decisions, and execute on the organization's objectives, marketing plans, product roadmaps and more. Its not just about technology, its about a fundamental shift into a new age of leadership with new type of executives who behave and operate in new ways, said Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com chairman and CEO. Expect to see a rise in companies who, by end of year, will be recognized for socially-informed innovation, customer focus and work environment, much like Zappos and Amazon were a few years back.

3. Mobile will become our gateway to the world

2010 marked the year in which infrastructure, technology and design finally intersected in the mobile space. For the first time, sales of smartphones outpaced sales of desktops and laptops, iPhone and iPad applications were downloaded more than 7 billion times and research shows e-mail access is now on the rise on the iPhone while declining on the computer.

With the foundation in place, in the coming year we will witness the scales tip: Mobile device users will interact with content, companies and the Web more on their phones and iPads than on their computers, and IT and service providers will create solutions that are defined by our mobile consumption and use behaviors. The highway has been there but until now we needed a special car to get us to our destination, so the average pedestrian was not going to get there. Now that technology barriers have been lowered, mobile will become an extension of who we are, said Philippe Suchet, CEO of MyShopanion, and the recipient of the Web2.0 Summit 2010 award for most innovative startup in the mobile shopping category.

From social shopping on the go, to easy paperless transactions and check-ins, to watching (and creating) videos with friends abroad, to in-class learning and collaboration, to managing our health real-time - prepare for an explosion of connected experiences across all points of interactions between people and people, people and companies, and people and information in the cloud.

4. Video will be everywhere

With plummeting video delivery costs and highly accessible and flexible video management platforms (like Brightcove, Ooyala, and the open-source platform Kaltura*), custom-use of video by enterprises online, on mobile devices, and across screens is on the rise across all sectors.

Consumer engagement with video will also continue to rise. In October alone, 5.4 billion videos were viewed - 2 billion of these on Facebook. People today can shoot and share HD videos from their phone. The user experience is getting to the same level as broadcast or professional media from an image quality standpoint. Image acquisition is entirely changing content production, said Brett Leonard, renowned writer and director and pioneer of frag technology in the movie industry.

In the coming year, gaps in our video experience will be filled with the integration of filtering, tagging, editing and locating tools into each and every video feed. Both companies and consumers will increasingly rely on video to provide information and behavioral cues that are not otherwise present in texts, tweets and status updates, making video a critical component of the value chain for its impact on shaping peoples' perception about companies and about each other.

5. The next big Online Social Network will not be a network at all

Social networks have transformed human access capabilities much like modern transportation and the telephone did over 150 years ago. But they are also changing the very structure of our relationships - flattening our naturally varying levels of intimacy in real life.

In the coming year we will see the rise of dynamic, engaging, easy-to-use community platforms and applications like Diaspora, Path and Looppa* that will better mimic and facilitate the innate way people seek to manage relationships. People today look for more personalized, authentic, private information (where we make) a social contract around a topic or context that is beyond the reach of search engine results and Facebook crowds, said Dave Blakely, director of technology strategy at IDEO.

For consumers, this means the ability to create smaller, more intimate, context-specific communities using their existing social graph and livestreams. For companies, this means the ability to facilitate a custom-branded, dynamic and engaging experience on their online properties in ways not possible on Facebook. Every company should think of itself as a media company, said Tom Foremski, journalist and thought-leader.

As they become more social, on their own turfs, companies will once again own their customer relationships and brand in a whole new way, ultimately building greater community value for both the company and its customers.

6. ROI will be redefined

When it comes to ROI, it seems that companies want to cook gourmet risotto but most are still busy washing the rice: Despite 2010 being a year filled with ROI discussions and some strong case studies, Forrester research shows that most companies still have no clue how to meaningfully measure ROI.

As brands move this year from being on social media to using the social media ecosystem, ROI metrics will finally evolve beyond counting likes and comments. Aligning with actionable business objectives and their corresponding metrics will be critical to being able to demonstrate repeatable contribution to the bottom line. Companies who hire social media strategists with proven marketing analytics background and business strategy experience will have the upper hand and will place first in the race to cracking the ROI code.

7. Psychology is shifting

Until now, human psychology has been regarded slow to change. In the coming year we will begin to see evidence that we are, in fact, witnessing a growing psychological plasticity.

We have changed the importance of time, geography, age and the assumption of how the world works. We have new levels of cognitive flexibility, which is creating a new way of thinking about the world and about ourselves, said Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center and co-founder of A Think Lab.

Once feeling powerless to fight against personal and cultural injustices, today people know they have the power to voice their grievances, the tools to bring about change and the ability to take control of their experiences.

As the constructs of relationships, privacy and our ability to influence others evolve, we will also face important questions: How do we respond to the changing definition of relationships? How does the elimination of behavioral cues, only available face-to-face, impact our ability to connect? How does our need for emotional balance get addressed in the face of constant change?

In the coming year, companies wishing to succeed should already start to set practices and create a charter to understand the intersection between technology and psychology. Focusing on behaviors is no longer sufficient.

8. Citizen activism brings back purpose and power

With the power made possible by social technologies to connect, inform and mobilize, we will see a surge in self-organized and managed citizen activism. Value will come from being able to facilitate groups as a human infrastructure, not from technology, says Andrea Saveri, a thought-leader and researcher at the intersection of foresight and strategy.

Wikipedia and Mozilla FireFox are early and ongoing examples of the value of the connected human infrastructure; many more, including Causecast, and OpenIDEO, as well as lesser known projects like It Gets Better will light up the grid. By the end of the year we may each join a group of people we have never met in order to take part in bringing about change in completely new ways.

9. Social business intelligence will heat up and so will privacy

As we become ever more connected, and rely on giants like Apple and Google to funnel our most personal information, the field of social business intelligence, and with it, our privacy, will move to the spotlight. Wikileaks' eruption on the social media waves and Do Not Track are just previews. Every company now looks to tap into the boundless user data being collected in the cloud. While personalized, targeted experience can be extremely valuable in helping companies and consumers cut through the clutter, the line between perceived use and abuse can be thin at times, as data mining and targeted ad delivery pioneer RapLeaf saw in past months.

In the year ahead we will witness (and be part of) major data virtualization initiatives designed to map our activities, preferences and choices. Mechanisms designed to triangulate our mobile, online and physical information will yield more accurate information than our Social Security numbers can. We will see fierce regulation battles and hear about companies who use our data to test boundaries and our trust. When done, Tom Cruise's shopping scene in Minority Report will seem as sophisticated as scenes from Time Tunnel in the 1970s.

10. The role of the social media strategist will be changing

The glory days when social media strategists rose to stardom overnight (and too often, with little relevant experience) are finally over. Social media roles today focus on tangible, results-driven capabilities within the organizational structure and processes. Hiring managers are more informed and better connected, making it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In 2011, social media strategists will need to contend with much more actionable, and often mundane, tasks such as selecting and piloting new tools, integrating social widgets and analytics, helping to educate the organization, and integrating social-based thinking into the organization's process and culture. Process design, stakeholder management, strategic planning, and the ability to manage large projects within complex environments will all be required.

Strategists looking to remain inspired and work at the cutting edge will have to look outside today's leading corporations. Some of the most interesting social media work will come from new media digital agencies, smaller innovative companies, international companies who are just entering the field and late-to-adopt sectors such as health, finance and insurance.

In the year ahead we will see more of the same: more users on Facebook, more videos, more social media widgets, more tools, more devices, more applications. But it will also be a year of important accomplishments and fundamental shifts in our thinking, behavior and psychology. As social media and social technologies integrate deeper into our daily lives and across vast audiences, our areas of focus will begin to transform.

Companies will begin to overhaul their internal structures and decision-making processes even if at a fairly superficial levels at first; consumers will seek to make sense of their evolving relationships, always-on connectedness, and to redefine value and meaning.

As we finally surface from social media stimulus overload, the questions we will ask in the coming year should not be about technology but about what it enables, what it jeopardizes and about how we, as the connected collective, want to shape the years to come.

Why is Apple called Apple?

2011-06-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

1976 was a good year. Rocky was the top grossing film, The Concorde began flight, Viking II landed on Mars, The Muppet Show premiered, I was born and Apple was named Apple.

Then, magically in 2011 there I was eating a Mars bar like a muppet, having a conversation with a friend about how Apple came to be named Apple? There are so many stories and all of them make sense, so I decided to carry out a little research. Like Magnum PI this would require me going into my past. And although my past is not as traumatic as a Veitnam Veteran, I have always been fighting for a cause of a different kind. The consumer driven war of productization and this was a little battle I could get to the bottom of with some hard work from my fingertips.

There are several stories from smoking apple infused wacky tobaccy, to Jobs and Wozniak working on an apple farm together, to specifically choosing the religious symbol of ‘knowledge’, to their love of the Beatles whose music label was Apple Records, right through to computers being all about bytes. The later is the line one of my tertiary lecturers took when talking about brand power in 98.

But the truth (as my friend had rightfully pointed out) was something to do with the farm. The name was not conceived while working on the farm but it was largely the inspiration. Back in 1976 Jobs was working in a farm in Oregon (a community fruit type thing) and it is his time here that inspired him to name the company Apple Computers. Steve Wozniak (Apple’s co founder) was worried about the copyright problems... cut to 35 years on and it seems fine, well considering their brand equity perhaps a lot better than fine.

This is highlighted and detailed in the book 'Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company' (No Starch Press, 2004) It looks at the way in which Apple was formed from a small club of ‘members’ into the billion dollar company it now is today.

The two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak) on March 1 in 1976 wanted to start a computer company and they needed a name. A legal necessity to register it and incorporate. According to Wozniak, both he and Steve were driving along State Highway 85 between Palo Alto and Los Altos when Steve Jobs came up with a name “Apple Computers” (oh yes, on a road trip no less.) Jobs was involved with a group of his friends in running a community fruit farm in Oregon part time while he also worked in the Bay Area of San Fran. Wozniak speculates that Jobs may have gotten this name from the farm or because of his music tastes, heavily into Apple Records.

In the book Wozniak said this about the name of the company:

Jobs said ‘I’ve got a great name: Apple Computer.’ Maybe he worked in apple trees. I didn’t even ask. Maybe it had some other meaning to him. Maybe the idea just occurred based upon Apple Records. He had been a musical person, like many technical people are. It might have sounded good partly because of that connotation. I thought instantly, ‘We’re going to have a lot of copyright problems.’

He goes on to discuss how he and Jobs tried other alternate names such as Executex and Matrix Electronics! Haha ~ aren’t we glad they didn’t go with those. They didn’t namely because they didn’t like it as much as Apple Computers. And so, the name was born.

Later in an effort to back their ‘simplicty’ brand essence, the company was changed to just Apple - and dropped the Computers part, especially as they were highly successful at diversifying into iPods and iPhones.

So, essentially the name of the Apple Company was nothing fancy or pretenious, it was named after a fruit. (Very Forest Gump)

There are many further articles posted everywhere on the web as to the religious connotations but I can’t help but think religious connotations can effectively be applied to anything, anywhere at anytime? The other interesting piece was the reference to bytes. After searching far and wide on the web and in many books, there is no solid grounds to this theory other than a nice ‘link’ that gives the meaning of the Apple symbol more depth. This I think is an assumption made in hindsight.

The other unanswered question is why the Beatles music took so long to be released in the iTunes environment. There are many articles on the web about the legal complications between Apple Computers and Apple Records including unfounded claims about a contract between the two Apples to not enter each others industry for both to be allowed to use the name.

Doesn’t make sense on a number of levels. No one on either Apple team would’ve seen the crossover back then even though today it is obvious. Therefore I am not sure why in an era of lack of competition they would've ringfenced trade agreements? There is nothing solid to support the claim and the more believable reason is as mentioned in an article on the Apple online community; that Apple has to deal with many music labels to make music available in iTunes and the label that bought Apple Records (once huge) rights to the Beatles catalogue has been difficult to deal with until recently.

So there you have it. I suppose we can be happy that it has a history and was not a typo error like in Google, or the All Blacks!

That was a fun article to look up.

Apple is the most powerful brand in the world.

2011-05-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

It was concluded by BrandZ and reported by CNN that Apple was considered the top brand worldwide overtaking many of the other global and consistently powerful brands.

This conclusion is not solely based on technology and the era in which we live, it’s more about global awareness. Brands with grand scope such as Marlboro and McDonalds this year weren’t strong enough to rank in the top spot. Only 1 year ago Apple was valued at a bit over 83 billion dollars and this year, the value has almost doubled!

The top 10 most valuable brands in 2011 shaped up as follows:

1. Apple - 153 Billion.
2. Google - 111 Billion.
3. IBM - 100 Billion.
4. McDonalds - 81 Billion.
5. Microsoft - 78 Billion.
6. Coca-Cola - 74 Billion
7. AT&T - 70 Billion
8. Marlboro - 68 Billion.
9. China Mobile - 58 Billion.
10. General Electric - 50 Billion.

As a Comparison, 2008 saw the list shape up as follows: 1. Google, 2. GE, 3. Microsoft, 4. Coke, 5. China Mobile, 6. Marlboro, 7. Wal-Mart, 8. Citi, 9. IBM, 10. Toyota.

Aside from the estimated brand value, another surprising fact is that Apple as a tangible company is worth more than Microsoft yet has a lower turnover. This means that their brand value is actually realised right now in actual dollar terms. My take on this is the amount of trust Apple has in the marketplace equates to a huge amount of ‘potential’. However this potential has a physical dollar value today without ‘time to realise potential’ being a factor. A level of trust as high as Apple has huge benefits, one in particular is that Apple can harvest innovation with it being a certainty that it will thrive. And in the fast moving, ever changing ‘technology’ industry this is more valuable than anything else power brands can quantify.

Touch phones were done and dusted until Apple launched the iPod touch and iPhone. To be fair, tablets as a market were also largely abandoned until Apple redefined this entire computing arena with the launch of the iPad. They can be as innovative as they like, breaking the rules and yet people trust it.

News In a Box reported “In contrast with last year’s top, Apple overtook both Google and IBM, placing each of them one spot lower. McDonalds jumped two places from 6 to 4 this year. Coca Cola changed place with McDonalds. AT%T wasn’t even in the Top 10 in 2010. It eliminated Vodafone and climbed to the 7th spot."

Within 1 year Apple managed to raise its value a massive 84%! This was a factor towards the dethroning of Google, which incidentally held the top spot since 2007. Market specialists and analysts attribute this value increase somewhat directly to two very 'cool' and innovative products: the iPhone and the iPad. Whenever Apple evolved and launched a product from this category, people would go absolutely crazy, forming never-ending lines into and outside the Apple locations.

Expert Milward Brown from WPP made mention of Apple gaining through its carefully thought out out and brilliant strategies combined with powerful marketing and the introduction of products that no other company sells:
“Apple continued quietly developing a cloud and loudly discovered an empty space in the computing category that it filled with a new device – the iPad” he said and added that in the last months of 2010 Apple sold more iPads than computers. In effect he outlined the need for the new and exclusive. Products founded on desire and strong enough in their purpose to gain a heavy following. There are some other companies that tried to compete with these Apple products ( like Samsung ) but didn’t quite make it.

Successful brands usually become successful from one of two main qualities. Either they are an innovator, or they are a leader. It is rare and extremely powerful if like Apple you are both.

Brands That Almost Made It To The Top 10? Among the highly popular brands that didn’t quite make it, but still, they are in the Top 20, we mention Vodafone, Verizon, Amazon, Walmart, UPS, Hewlett – Packard (HP) and Visa.

Due Diligence & Buying a Business.

2011-05-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

I was reading through an Old 2010 NZ Retail magazine and found quite an easy to understand article on due diligence and buying a business. I have included it in this blog as I have been asked many times recently about buying business the right way and what to look for. And although this process can often be complicated and and this artile is perhaps a fraction over simplified, it remains true that we shouldn't really just trust the 'pitch' and books shown to us by the seller. The article contains some easy to grasp key pointers.

The one area it doesn't focus on is branding. Many over spend upon startup. The best branding results are achieved when the process is carried out 3 years into operation. This is because at the point of startup a business owner will have vision, passion and intent, but as you run the business the operation and opportunities have to be focused on. From my experience it is usually about 3 years into a business life that you still have the passion and intent but now also have a realistic understanding of your target market and their wants and needs. At startup you definitely need an effective logo and collateral but make sure you don't get talked into spending $10,000+ on a brand and positioning package from day one. It is impossible to get the best results as much of the process will be based on projection and assumption.

The article also mentions fixtures and fittings. This is an area that is vital to get advice on and not from the builders and fitters themselves. Generally shop fitters are geared up to sell you what they can build and what is fast and efficient for them with maximum margin. This usually means that many of their shop fit-outs look similar. Ideally you need an brand experience consultant to ask the questions and steer you in the right direction. Let them ask the hard questions of the potential shop fitters and let them use their contacts to stretch you dollar further. Brand consultants such as OBD are not bound to only what they can build, they are free to find and use the fitter that best suits your needs and makes your shop the BEST destination and experience it can be,

Due Diligence.
There is no right time to establish or buy a retails business.
But there is a right way of going about the process.

Over the years, I've dealt with many people who have bought or established a retails business on the back of a hobby or something similar.. In some cases, blind passion has overruled sound judgement and their dream business has turned into a living nightmare of unexpected costs, excess stock and zero cashflow.

Why? Because they didn't do their homework and they didn't ask the right questions of the right people. But before drilling down into retail detail, ask yourself a simple question, why bother?

You need to be clear from the outset why you want to go through the involved and, at times, stressful process of starting a retail business. The question is especially important if you are embarking on the setup with another person. If you're looking at the project as a five year business proposition, but your partner considers it an all-encompassing lifestyle option, I'd suggest you reconsider the long term future of such a venture. We all have different personal and business aspirations and it's important to clarify these before proceeding.

The Retail Detail Questions:
Who is my target market?
In other words, who will buy what you plan to sell? Be specific and identify your potential customers by age, income and key lifestyle characteristics.

What is it my target market wants to buy?
You might think you know the answer to this question, but don't be influenced by your own personal preferences. Seek advice and input from other sources - such as suppliers, like-retailers in other regions and people directly identified in your target market.

Location, location, location?
In most cases, you're best to go for a location with regular foot traffic that's other competitors. You might consider a less high profile site if you have a 'destination shop' that people are drawn to because of the special product range and/or shopping experience you offer.

Suppliers
This is an interesting one that takes time to get right. You could ask retailers from other towns selling similar product lines for suppliers contacts. Also take a look at acourt which has contacts and details for a wide range of products and brands. Suppliers will expect upfront payment for the first 2-3 months. Once you feel you have proven a track record and a good working relationship, negotiate the terms of trade.

What about budgets, cash flow, turnover and all that?
Yes, you'll need a budget that itemises how much you'll spend on setting up the business and a cashflow estimating income and expenses once you're up and running. A general rule of thumb is that you'll need to achieve an annual stock turnover of 3.5%. (If you don't understand this concept give me a call.) Don't sweat the financial details on your won, get alongside a retail-focused accountant.

What about the shop fit-out and fixtures?
Shop layout, lighting, point-of-sale systems, shelving, flooring... all are specialist areas and the internet and Yellowpages will help point you in the right direction.

Who can help?
The NZRA is a good start, but you'll also need to tap into retail knowledge. (OBD Creative Studio is a great fit) You'll need a lawyer and an accountant, but don't settle for the first listed in the phone book. Ask questions of any potential candidate,checking that they have relevant retail experience. (RSM Prince is fantastic) Finding the answers will take longer than you think. I worked with one person who spent more than six months working out the viability of a new retail concept; but his homework paid off because he's still in business three years on.

The key in the retail start-up process is to keep asking questions - and listening carefully to the answers given.

Brian Finlayson is a memeber of the New Zealand Retailers Association (NZRA) advisory team.

The Cut Throat World of Contact Lens Websites.

2011-05-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

A focus on Contact Lens Websites (and other highly competitive online products...)

When buying contact lenses online, Sweeteyes comes up trumps and I am not being biased... well maybe a little but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Looking for the Best Contact Lens website? For an industry dedicated to helping people see clearer it’s amazing how unclear and clouded this online industry is. The following is not only about contact lens websites but competitive online industires in general. I will very broadly cover some of the pitfalls and hopefully you will get the gist of some hot little tricks to get you noticed.

There are many highly competitive, cut throat industries that fight it out online and the question needs to be asked “What tactics do I need to use in a highly competitive online market?” The answer to this question often spawns valuable online entities and software in itself. Take accommodation, Wotif.com is an online giant founded on the competitive nature of accommodation online. Accommodation however is very suited towards the web as much of the industry’s purchasing DNA is online due to the accessibility and search scope the internet offers. It is also an industry that can be led by price however each destination has additional factors that influence consumer behaviour: Location, quality, seasonal trade and most recently reviews and actual customer experiences. This industry has been thriving for many years online due to obvious reasons.

Oddly the largest growing sector of online sales (in NZ anyway) is retail. This is largely led by appliances and related consumables. The paradox is that people are visiting physical shops, gathering information about the product best suited to them, combining this with information found online and then buying online. My take on this is that the profile of these types of stores are not renowned for their service instore. Big ticket items clearly have more education and sales time involved (meaning staff are tied up and often unable to serve others in a timely manner) More of a decision is required from the consumer to spend more money which takes more time. However, once the decision to buy is made, the memory of the service effort is crucial, as it has been proven many consumers will go to the online store of the brand that the preferred server represents. Conclusion, these bigger retail stores need the investment in their physical stores and staff to make these online sales.

Which brings me to industries that sell the exact same thing. Surely it can’t all be about price? Industries such as Books, DVDs, music, nappies, branded foods, suppliments and of course, contact lenses. (So this is how we get there)

General online sales have been ever increasing in NZ and in some areas retailers are even shutting the doors of their physical shops completely after building up their client base and relying solely on their web presence to sell their product for them. But how do you make your site the preferred site?

Lets take Contact Lenses. There is a definite limit to the number of products in this market. Even the key players such as Bausch & Lomb, Ciba Vision, Cooper Vision and Johnson & Johnson all have pretty limited product ranges. Let’s face it, what can you really add to a contact lens. It’s not a razor whereby each year they add an extra blade for an even smoother shave! With this in mind, what goes through the mind of a contact lens website owner? Sure it’s big business for some but how does any new player take a portion of the pie? I liken it to buying a terrace house or newly built subdivision home that looks similar to all it’s neighbours, the equity you will ever gain is completely diluted by the fact everyone beside you is identical. Great if no one is selling as the supply would be far less than demand driving the price up, but conversely it’s crap if everyone is selling as there is no point of difference.
Read: Contact Lens websites are all trying to sell!

This is where sweeteyes wins outright. Most of the other sites (the ones that have the word contact or lens in their title) all with their white clinical backgrounds, and stock standard frameworks... they have no point of difference? Nothing to anchor me to. No cognition factor allowing me to recall it on demand. Sweeteyes actually has a feeling, a brand... an experience worth remembering and endorsing.

Sites like: clearlycontacts.co.nz/ quicklens.co.nz lensesonline.co.nz contacts2go.co.nz/ ezyvision.co.nz/ optik.co.nz/ contactlens.org.nz contacts4u.co.nz 4contacts.co.nz/ visiondirect.co.nz/ turtlecontacts.co.nz/ i-contacts.co.nz opsmdirect.co.nz www.acuvue.co.nz budgeteyewear.co.nz contactlensprice.co.nz/ all have a very similar look and feel, it’s almost like playing a spot the difference.

As a consumer this means I am driven to go on price alone and to find the online store (searching keyphrase ‘contact lenses’) I have to wade through all the competitors. And yes they may get sales but there is no loyalty, no brand experience. So much so I probably wont remember the site and I will probably go through the exact same ‘locating’ process to try and re-buy from you in the future but there is a high possibility I will end up on a competitor and not even know it.

With such aggressive competition comes aggressive Google campaigns. To get your site to the number 1 paid rank in Google you need to be prepared to spend a whopping NZD$8 per click! And this in a highly comparative industry. If you spend $8 getting them to your site what is the conversion rate? Most likely they will check out other sites to compare and price takes over. The worst thing about this is that in such an industry (competitive and very similar names) if they found you through Google they will probably try to get back to you the same way. At $8 per click if they visit the site via Google three times $24 of your margin has gone on top of your free shipping! Therefore search engines are not the best way to find the best contact lens site.

Contact Lens websites need to exist in search engines but chances are the number one ranked paid link is probably not the best for you. They have to be loaded to afford that rank and one way or another the user will pay. It is not an industry of large margins either, in fact I would suggest the margins are getting pretty close to the bone as everyone keeps undercutting everyone else. Price is a large factor but cannot be the only factor as it is not a sustainable model. I would look to the 5th to 10th paid link or the number one natural results. These will probably be the sites that are professsional enough to ensure shopping satisfaction but clearly have lower ‘online advertising’ overheads which you would hope reflects in their price.

On a side note, I mention sweeteyes.co.nz being the best contact lens website... Not only does sweeteyes.co.nz achieve a fantastic brand experience it was also clearly the cheapest over 10 of the 12 specific products and brands I tested in all the sites above...

The industry’s highest selling contact Lens, Johnson and Johnson’s Acuvue Moist (in a value 90 pack) had the largest variance in price. For this sweeteyes was amongst the 3 cheapest (very close) and these 3 cheapest where vastly cheaper than the rest of the pack. See links below and prices at the time of this article.

http://www.sweeteyes.co.nz/Shop/Product/20/1DAY-ACUVUE-MOIST-90-Pack from $76.50
http://www.clearlycontacts.co.nz/contact-lenses/1-day-acuvue-moist/prod91508.html?ilid=lnav from $113.97
http://www.quicklens.co.nz/goods/index/gc/J1M/ from $120.00
http://www.lensesonline.co.nz/ProductDetailsV2.aspx?ProductID=79631789-4977-47fc-8d39-178b0243d594 from $72.00
http://www.contacts2go.co.nz/product-1_day_acuvue_moist-4246 from $81.95
https://www.optik.co.nz/product-details/1-day-acuvue-for-astigmatism-90-pack- from $126.90 - This site is VERY slow loading, expensive and there is no clear entry point to their shop? I am very confused as to how they make sales?
http://www.ezyvision.co.nz/product/1_Day_Acuvue_Moist_90pk from $74.95
http://www.contacts4u.co.nz/Shop/Product/731/Acuvue-1-Day-Moist-90-Pack from $98.90

Besides, no business owner sets up a business with the idea of giving as much margin away as possible to be the cheapest. Until you have volumes you can use to leverage suppliers there is no point. Therefore there has to be something else...

How to do it right...

Brand Experience. Give consumers something they truely want to be proud of using. Over ride the price factor with a stylish, lovable brand and incredible service. Make it something consumers build an affinity with yet still convenient and easy to use. Go the extra mile to be rave worthy.

Most importantly separate yourself from the pack and run your own race. It may be a slow start but it is by far the most sustainable and valuable option. Sweeteyes.co.nz ticks all the boxes for an online shopping experience. It has a name that i can remember easily. When I have told friends about it they all think ‘that’s kind of cool’ and most importantly they remember it and know where to go. In the event they don’t searching for ‘something to do with sweet?’ will most probably lead them to the site rather than 50 competitors.

Sweeteyes has this semi-1950’s soapbox feel. I like the sense of humour it achieves with its ‘from the space project’ positioning. Everything about it lures me in and makes me want to be a part of it. They have a facebook and twitter page that offers quick little snippets of valued information (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweeteyes-Contact-Lenses-Online/159645324046458) all in all it is definitely the contact lens website leader.

Sweeteyes service is unbelievable! I ordered from several sites for research purposes. (Ironically I don’t require lenses) www.sweeteyes.co.nz order arrived SAME day along with www.lensesonline.co.nz. The others all trickled in over time. Sweeteyes had the best /safest courier package and my parcel arrived in pristine condition. It may be a small thing but I really hate it when a box arrives damaged or covered in stickers that say ‘I’m cheap and bought these from somewhere cheap.’ With contacts I can imagine you look at the box everyday in your bathroom/bedroom and is some ever so small subliminal ‘feel good’ factor about the box being in good condition.

Sweeteyes also came with a sweet surprise of edible lucky hearts. Sweets that offer a little inspirational or motivational message. Needless to say that I want to use them again and I don’t even wear contacts. As is confirmed in their customer testimonials ~ sweeteyes.co.nz is a funky website with fantastic service and great prices! They are really setting the standard for online shopping in markets where the products are identical. If only bookstores and DVD/Bluray sellers would follow suit?

The F-Words!

2011-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

As we all try to build and acquire social equity by any means possible there remains the ever increasing question... How does it fuel consumerism?... And how do I make money from all this Social Media malarkey?

Enter the F-words. Founders, Friends, Fans and Followers all engaging in Social Media. Finding and discovering Information, Forming groups, offering Feedback, Fine tuning products and Favouring and recommending products and services to peers. So much going on it is all to easy to do nothing and let it pass you by in the hope it may all just go away. Make no mistake though, Social Media is here to stay. Facebook is now a layer to most of our lives. In terms of timing best to act as soon as possible. Interestingly Facebook has over 500 million active profiles using 700 billion minutes of time over the course of a month. Even more interesting, over three quarters of people (yes upwards of 375 million!) have liked a brand. Is one of them yours?

I have previously discussed too how we live in an age of desire as opposed to necessity. Consumers have a never ending obsession to buy, own and experience the best of the best globally. Their ongoing quest for stimulating excitement, interaction and connection, belonging and defending a community that they believe in, and their attempt to reach consumer bliss fuels the finding and discovery of information and things. ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ has hit an all time high, through Social Media consumers are super interested in what their friends and contacts think, do, eat, read, listen to, drive, where they travel and most of all what they buy! After all don’t we all just want to belong? Consumer ‘types’ tend to cluster together and our friends will more than likely be similar to how we think, act and buy.

Are we all missing the consumer power of this trend? Surely it is more important to be rave-worthy now than EVER before. And it comes as no surprise that consumers are embracing these communities, mobile applications and widgets that not only allow us to express ourselves and experiences on a day to day (even minute to minute) level, but these advances also let us get to the crux of our friends essence of consumer being.

As consumers move forward with finding and discovering what they want, technology now enables us to serve up personalised offerings that we know they want. Social Media has in effect created access to highly qualified customers. We can get a glimpse of a person and now pitch and tempt them in a way that speaks accurately, personally and therefore powerfully to their consumer desires. And because it it perfectly matched to them it lands so much better, resonating and having maximum effect.

This leads us to feedback. If we as a business have lived up to and surpassed the consumers expectations offered by our personalised pitch, then they now have the chance to offer feedback... but the important fact is that the feedback is specific and chances are more positive and valuable as your offering has been customised to them. “But does this really matter?” To some it does and to others it may not (rare) but to a few, ‘feedback’ is the lifeblood and equity of their empire. Take tripAdvisor.com, this is closing in on being a billion dollar entity and primarily it’s consumer reviews of hotels, tours and travel products that massively affects sales. So are we right in breaking this down to their product being a portal for feedback of other products? Too right! and by the power of numbers, these actual user experiences are vital. It is a layer of transparency that establishes and reinforces trust. And we all know trust and authenticity are big magnets when attracting business.

This power in numbers can also be directed straight into consumer transactions as proven by the fastest growing company in the world right now, Groupon. Groupon has defined the industry of consortium buying. Consumers banding together and forming large groups that can leverage a cracking deal. Recently it was released that 83% of consumers state that they tell their friends if they get a good deal. (Source: JWT Intelligence, December 2010) The downside to this Group Buying is that consumers have no idea who is in the group, buying with them. It is purely price driven. Although users may share this deal with their social contacts the duplicated reach is still heavily price motivated. For this reason consortium buying lacks what trendwatching.com refers to as the F-Factor.

The guts of the F-Factor is in the Social Spread of consumer trends that then trigger more sales and consumer activity. It is in getting your brand experience to it’s optimum on all levels so that consumers interact positively with each other over your brand. The viral spiral can either work for you or against you, so do things right and make it work for you.

The opportunities that exist as a result of these ‘F words’ are endless. Even in creating ways and means for consumers to interact better and more easily, there is huge room for some big F-trepreneurs to make their mark. In the meantime all of you with a business, it is time to think about how you can be the most rave-worthy you can be!

The time is now. Hey why don’t you even share this article and place some feedback?

The “on your business” paradox.

2011-04-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

The old adage of ‘too many people are working in their business and not spending enough time working on their business’ may have some merit but too often I see retailers get the basics wrong. As much as I believe in ‘working smarter’ and allocating time to allow you to strategise and work out the path to realising your businesses potential, there is still a need to remain ‘in’ your business to ensure the fundamentals are in order at ground zero.

It is vital that you do not lose touch. Your customers are of the utmost value and importance as too are your supply chains. To maintain the essence and intent of your business you must maintain your connection and relevence with those that keep the wheels turning.

The big chain stores rely on processes and infrastructure, they have too. As a small business, particularly those who are owner operator, you have a unique point of difference. That is, you... and the close nit group of like minded individuals you employ. Many customers choose to shop at owner operator businesses because they know what to expect and they want you to consistently fill that expectation. Many know you and are consciously choosing to support you and your business. That in mind you need to be there.

Brian Finlayson, Regional Manager of the NZ Retailers Association Advisory Team wrote an article ‘The importance of being there’ published in the August 2010 Retail magazine.

“I had encountered a retail owner who had recently opened a second shop and was struggling to keep his finger on the pulse of either business because he was spreading himself too thin... He was everywhere, but nowhere, losing contact with his customers and suppliers - and this was reflected in his out of kilter stock levels”

We set up a business with a vision and intent but as we all know at some level we need to fulfill customer needs and wants to be transactional. Too often I see incredibly cutting edge stores that everyone loves but no one spends their dollars at. They want to but don’t. This is why it is so important for business owners to spend time on the floor, in the business. It keeps you fresh with customer wants and needs, it keeps you in touch.

For this reason I have always respected league legend and TV personality Matthew Ridge for getting out there and cleaning the cars himself with his staff at his Car-fe car detailing business in Greenlane, Auckland.

Brian Finlayson goes on in his article to identify three quick little points he had witnessed in recent retail experiences:
~ 1. The importance of consistent customer experience.
~ 2. Open doors in winter or other ways of inviting foot traffic in.
~ 3. Planning ahead. With retail looking positive keep stock on hand but be aware of bottom line and expenses.

As a multiple store enterprise that simply cannot have you everywhere all the time, it is important to know what it is about you and the way you do things that your existing customers like and what your future customers are going appreciate and grow to expect. Get to the essence of you. Your intent with the business, the way you serve and what makes your business uniquely yours. It is of vital importance as this is what you need to capture and then inject across your multiple stores as you grow.

Document your thoughts on quality and ‘the way you do things IN your business.’ Capture the essence of you and then implant in in your business. Create a culture that you know customers love and that attracts the right type of staff to your team. And although this probably sounds like common sense, this is the crux of complete branding and application.

If this seems difficult or if you have always struggled to look introspectively no matter how good you are at summarising and critiquing others, hire a professional. It is our business to work with you to devise a new Retail Recovery or Retail Development ‘strategy’ that will tailor your way of retailing to fit today’s - and tomorrow’s demands.

How to make your Samsung DVD Player Region Free or Multizone

2011-03-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

A Random Blog Post I Know... I have a Samsung DVD player (model p181 to be precise). I have been frustrated at not being able to watch zone DVD's when I accidentally buy them at Real Groovy or of Amazon. I have since hunted high and low for a 'decoding' process to make it region free (multizone.) All players are multizone by default however they are loaded with software that limits viewing capability. Sure, you can take it to a shop but here is a trick that is FREE!

To make your Samsung DVD Player Region Free...

Make sure the Player is connected to a screen as you will need to see the onscreen display.
Make sure that there is no disc in the tray and switch on the player. (TV also on)
Cold start the player, by holding down the PLAY and STOP buttons on the player. (Note. The 'stop' button doubles as the 'open/close' button on many Samsung players.)
You should see a set of language options on screen. Release the PLAY and STOP buttons.
Select your language with your remote.
Press REPEAT then enter the following codes for the required region the player is already set to. This is usually the region you bought the player in. (Note. Do not confuse this with the A-B button) The codes are as follows: Region 1 - 2, 9, 3, 3, 4 // Region 2 - 3, 8, 7, 6, 7 ("E series M105", M205 and M305 users try: 57538) // Region 3 - 5, 6, 7, 3, 2 // Region 4 - 7, 6, 8, 8, 4 // Region 5 - 5, 3, 8, 1, 4 // Region 6 - 2, 4, 4, 6, 2
A code will appear, indicating the region setting of your player.
Now Press 9 for region-free, or 1 for region 1, 2 for region 2, etc.
Press OPEN/CLOSE on the Player to open the disc tray. (Note. You may need to push the tray shut rather than use the player button, in order for the region not to be changed to 4 on model M203)
Press STANDBY (POWER) on the remote control to close the tray. Next time the player is turned on it will set to the region specified. If the player halts on the FBI Warnings, press Forward Search x2 or faster.

On some models, you will have the ability to disable Macrovision, but you will have to turn off the Quasi-PAL option and set the SCART output type to Video rather than RGB.

The 611 may not have Dolby 5.1 output after applying the hack, so you may need to change the PCM format to Dolby5.1 again. The sound mode for digital (PCM or bitstream) can be set in the Setup mode, under Sound Setup.

You can reset the region setting from 9 to a specific region by setting PCM to bitstream again and DTS to ON.

I think all consumers agree manufacturers should just sell them multizone. I know they have to protect the DVD industry and be anti piracy. At least Samsung make it easy to do yourself! Happy viewing Samsung consumers.

Brand to lead Advertising NOT Advertising leading the Brand.

2011-03-04T18:45:00.001-08:00

In a world where the tail often wags the dog a little too much, it is refreshing to know that clients are getting smarter. On the most part commercial enterprises have embraced brand positioning strategies and with the help of some consumer seduction mavericks (brand consultants) organisations are beginning to understand more about themselves than ever before... advertising agencies need to stand up and listen.

The smart agencies are employing a ‘brand’ wealth of knowledge rather than putting all their available resources into a bunch of creative hotshots that perform much like any dream team of superstars, individually. Brands are now more than ever concerned with the future perception of their image, not just sales today. A great advertising campaign may drive sales, it may even win a few awards, however without it being authentically aligned with the values and essence that have made the brand what it is today, this may all be short lived.

Clients are getting smarter. Most organisations that have clear equity in their brand have employed switched on brand managers to work in house. Some companies (breweries spring to mind) have brand managers for each brand they produce. The brand manager lives and breathes the essence of the brand they represent... and their job? - To protect it’s social capital and goodwill at all costs!

Advertisers beware - no longer is a brilliant idea enough, it is all about the big picture. The brillaint idea also needs to be perfectly and authentically aligned with the brand position for it to have maximum retention in a world overloaded with ads. Seth Godin cited a few instances in his latest blog where print is showing signs of resurgence as Google becomes more saturated and ‘noisy’. This however is not just restricted to the ever growing, infinite online resources. The real world is saturated and over crowded with seductive slogans too.

Many smaller clients we encounter don’t realise that branding is not just about checking for correct application of the visual devices. It extends into the far depths of the consumers psyche. It is in the service, the POS atmosphere, the sound, the smell, the afterglow, the endorsement to another, what people are saying about you, who is saying it, the perception before engagement, the authenticity of what you deliver right through to the intent and passion of your existence... it is everything. Often the founders and employees of an organisation struggle to see this when they are so close to it daily. A team of experts such as OBD (if you can ignore the blatant shameless self promotion) can be called in to extract information and facts and then analyse them determining with great precision your corporate DNA. This process includes seeing the brand/organisation through it’s consumers eyes, always difficult for those involved when attached and bound to it by their own lively hood.

The equity in a brand is more valuable than ever. Apple breaks many of the usual business rules that strategists would call ‘the secret to success’ yet it is somehow now the most repescted brand on the planet with the second highest in value on the globe, second only to Exxon Mobil. 2 years ago the key to building such a brand was trust and it still is however it now extends even further.

With many companies focused on the ‘what we do’ and looking for their magical point of difference and x-factor within this slice of the brand pie, it is time to pull focus and look at the underlying magic that lies in the ‘who we are’. There are many techniques and exercises that help business get out of their head for a moment and at OBD we havesome unique processes that can help you lead your brand in the right direction. Don’t be dragged along by an advertising agency because you lack the clarity of who you are, instead know who you are and use the ad agencies for the core creative brilliance. The main difference being, their great creative on an authentic foundation of who you are will deliver results that truly affect consumers, help them retain and endorse the true magic that is you.

Who Am I ?

2011-02-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Brands that have never had to take a long hard introspective look inside themselves often trade what they know, the same way they know how to trade it, often to who they know. At some level there needs to an element of marketing to enable accelerated growth outside the slow and steady word of mouth. But this is where many business don’t know what to do. After all the perfect, most effective marketing strategy is probably not in their set of core competencies.

Brands need an awareness of self. They need to know why people respond to them and often an extraction is required, not quite as delicate and involved as Leonardo DiCaprio performing and Inception of the mind, but an extraction nonetheless. Extracted information then needs to be analysed and the most concise, clear version of ‘who you are’ (as opposed to what you do) needs to standup and take the front line. It needs to be authentic to what you deliver while also serving the wants and needs of your customers.

In late 2010 Maria Slade for the NZ Herald reported:

Brand plans for small firms
The founder of a franchised network of marketing executives says the concept offers small businesses a "virtual marketing department" at a fraction of the cost of hiring their own.

Mathematician and former Saatchi and Saatchi advertising specialist Paul Wilkes set up the Volom network to target what he saw as a gap in the marketing efforts of New Zealand small to medium enterprises' (SMEs). They often had no marketing plan at all or conducted sporadic promotional initiatives, he said. "We're talking businesses that have a turnover of $20 million to $30 million a year that don't have any thinking around their marketing activity."

Any firm without its own marketing department was a potential client. So far, Volom had a network of 12 marketing specialists around the country who ran their own franchised businesses. Volom marketers formulated an initial plan and brand strategy for each client at a cost of $10-14,000, then worked on a monthly retainer of $125 an hour for a set number of hours.

The franchise had a network of suppliers to draw on and did traditional activities such as logos, advertising and website design as well as project work.

Wilkes once spent a day interviewing prospective sales directors for an interior fit-out client. For exporter Abbex International he set up a deal exporting Steinlager to Tahiti, which included dealing with brewer Lion Nathan and organising a distributor in French Polynesia. Abbex owner Greg Abbott said the Steinlager deal required know-how and time.

"Paul has the marketing expertise to be able to deal with these large corporates. He knows what they want to hear."

With a degree in applied mathematics and a post-graduate diploma in statistics, Wilkes fell into marketing. After working for Clear Communications, Telstra and Saatchi and Saatchi, he had experience in the client and agency side of the industry, he said. Advertising agencies did not have the same focus on marketing strategy. "I like to think things through logically, which is not really a strength of anyone in the creative industry."

But Sven Baker, group chief executive of design and branding consultancy Designworks, said this was exactly what it did for SME clients. "We provide a high level of competency around marketing strategy." The agency offered two or three tiers of work with some designed to be more economical for smaller companies. Rob Bree, who operates as The Marketing Guy, said the concept of an independent marketing consultant was not new. But he agreed marketing was not second nature to most Kiwi SMEs.

"It's slowly dawning on them that the way to grow your business isn't just through products and services but brands"...

***

Marketers will always be able to steer you in the right direction by way of numbers and analysis and a creative should be able to conceive an idea that gets you noticed. However ensuring this idea has the essence of ‘who you are’ will ensure brand alignment. This is crucial for longevity and building trust as this is what makes you ‘real’ and authentic. It is not just about the direction you are going but more how you travel that road and who you pickup along the way.

This I think needs further elaboration. Stay tuned...

In the meantime... A Steinlager pure Ad. Their brand position? Well, coming from New Zealand they can take the moral high ground on everything ‘pure’... unless Evian come out with Evian Pure Pilsner.

The Print Medium Dramatically Down... Even with a Royal Engagement!

2010-12-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

As Technology continues to make our lives easier and or entertainment/news more accessible and interactive, a very biting reality offers a chilling realisation... Print is definitely on the decline. Not great news if you work in the industry as I imagine it is a cold thought being involved in an industry that is only shrinking by the day.

But lets face it ~ digital is cool, easy to fit in your Prada purse and only getting cheaper. It's also more on demand. Even with the freak occurance of a real life 'Princess Diaries' making worldwide headlines, the royal engagement of Will and Kate offered no lift for a desperately depressed industry.

Prince Willie's proposal to 'KM' failed to boost even English national daily newspapers in November. All titles (with the exception of the Daily Mail and Financial Times) broke their already whopping six-month-low circulation records!

The executives and big wigs at most of the media powerhouses will be shaking in their italian boots. "If the impending nuptials of the worlds most favourite real life prince coupled with b-line stories such as a collapsing Irish economy result in such a lack-luster November, then why are the presses still running?!"

John Reynolds of UK's 'Media Week' reported yesterday 'According to November's Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCs), the biggest losers during the month were the red-tops, led by Richard Desmond’s Daily Star, which was down 4.64% on October to 756,686 copies. This could be partly explained by Desmond’s decision to stop price-promoting the title?'

So what's the guts? Is it as dire as Global Warming yet? Well, The Daily Mirror fell 3.8% to 1,177,629 copies, while The Sun nudged down just 0.21% to 2,898,113 copies. Still sounds like a lot to us downunder with our big hitters topping out at 400,000 readers but lets face it, in the UK these numbers are enough to make the large ad players start pulling plugs and syphoning their well protected profits into Social Media. Surely Zuckerberg can give me a deal now that the legal battles are fought and Justin Timberlake is out of the picture... oops, that might be the hollywood version?

Then we have the big money grubbin' Daily Mail. And like a number of it's rivals, attempted to cash in on public excitement irresistable joy around the forthcoming wedding. The marketing geniuses thought by offering its readers a free Royal Doulton plate to mark the engagement they might hit similar numbers to when Charlie and Di were printed on every cookie tin in the land. But, the Mail too was down 1.34% to 2,100,855 copies. Getting off a little lighter was mid-market rival The Daily Express which fell only 0.47% to 639,690 but hey, they didn't have that much to lose anyway. They have always been the skinnier kid on the block and as such a 'Free Plate' was the last thing from their minds.

Oddly, the Independent decided not to exploit Prince William’s proposal – instead it stuck to it's tried and true 'Bad news Sells way better' policy and highlighted Ireland’s banking crisis. Turns out it had little impact. The newspaper did register a six-month low circulation of 177,636 (down 2.62% on the month) but they probably saved a fair whack on rights to cover pics of Willies grin, and why wouldn't he grin... She's way to hot for him!

Following the trend, the Daily Telegraph recorded a circulation of 652,762 (down 0.34%), while The Guardian was down 2.11% to 270,582. The Times also fell, a big 2.67% to 466,311 to be precise ~ and has now lost circulation in every consecutive month since News International began its much-heralded move to charge for online access to the Times website.

So overall in November, every English newspaper was down for the year, with The Times falling a precipitous 17.21% from November 2009. The brave little engine that could, the Pearson-owned Financial Times countered the general run of the market – its circulation of 44,699 was its second highest since June! Go you good thing!

The concern is that this trend is not just confined to the UK, its just a really good example of having something great to converse and inform the punters of, yet the decline persists? This is a forerunning trend that will definitely affect NZ and Australia, however right now NZ is already coming out of massive readership declines so it is probably not as noticeable month to month, but more relevant year to year.

Frankly, The carbon footprint of these millions and millions of paper editions distributed the planet over is not great. The digital era is here so lets embrace it. Paying for quality content online should be a given and hopefully implemented in the very near future. The big media powerhouses should move to it sooner than later. They should not moan about giving it away for free when they don't have to? How hard can it be to have the government legislate a synchronised changeover so that it is not as case of the 'last free-content man standing' having the largest audience?

Client Aquisition - Six Times Harder than Retention!

2010-12-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." We've all heard this cliche before and for some it symbolizes 'settling' ~ take what you have rather than risking it for more! But this old school way of thinking does not inspire a pursuit of success. With risk often comes reward, and lets face it after the 09 global crisis the risk seems higher than ever while the rewards seem scarcer. The safety of 'working for someone else' has even begun to start showing cracks. So if everything has an element of risk perhaps retention is a key. Retain your employment, retain your clients, retain a solidified career path, retain your investment growth... Perhaps 'a bird in the hand' is referring to the retaining of increasing success?

For all you entrepreneurs out there, you will know that reaching business success and maintaining success (and yes, 'success' always includes an element of growth) often require a slightly tweaked set of skills. As a going concern, a business entity should always be measuring activity and analyzing the results. This does not mean using all available time and resources to constantly report and analyze to the detriment of action, but you will need to know where things are at in any given moment, and know your organisations strengths and weaknesses to be able to leverage resources in the face of opportunity.

One good measurement in maintaining success is customer retention. The reason this is important is simple. A customer retained is worth six new ones. This is separate from growth and customer acquisition as this should still be happening and the entity should still be experiencing growth. (Unless you are in the rare and uber-lucky position of operating constantly at 100% capacity.) But the simple fact is (did I say fact, I meant rule of thumb) it takes six times longer to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. An existing customer knows you. They know the way you work, they are familiar with the quality and they have first hand knowledge of your systems which means zero learning curve. It therefore makes sense to keep them happy.

Your business should keep their loyalty in focus, operating in a way that considers and works for them too, not just you. Be conscious of your actions and ethics and avoid letting them down.

Above all, Always be rave worthy. Do not underestimate the power of word of mouth. This is growth on a platter. A trusted endorsement that you can leverage. Good clients bring in good referrals.

You want your brand culture and good service to work for you. You don't want simply operating to work against you just because your frontline staff got out of the wrong side of bed or missed their morning coffee! But as you will know, sometimes the unavoidable happens. An accident or mistake can instantly create customer dissatisfaction. This requires swift yet tender care. Deal with it, ringfence the issue and prevent it spreading. Be aware of todays social technologies and how this affects the speed of viral negativity. Nothing hurts like that bird in the hand tweeting bad thoughts to all the birds in the bush! Rectify the situation. Right your wrong.

Remember, by dealing with it in a busy shop or on a crowded Facebook page you can quickly transform and win back the customers loyalty and trust. An open environment shows transparency and solid ethics. The customer chose to shop with you in the first place, so show them why they should remain loyal. Offer value and benefit. No one usually targets a business, using a weaponsied dose of 'being impossible' just to get something for free unless the business has had a reputation for the way they resolve issues?

All in all keeping an existing customer loyal and happy is easier and more valuable when compared with the task of client acquisition. Perhaps it should be 'A bird in the hand is worth six in the bush?'

Old School Cool...

2010-12-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

So we know ‘Retro’ has always been cool. For most it’s a connection to fleeting moments passed, or a trigger for an emotional sensation that reminds us from whence we came, reminds us we’re human. And as much as I like vintage tees or logos of defunct brands that once symbolised a small piece of me how do we make the ‘retro’ modern cool?

Certain things have always been cool, The Rubicks cube, skateboards, 90’s Air Jordans and even Oakley frogskins. But they were cool and only become cooler the older, more authentic and rarer they get.

Chocolate Agency, An award winning agency operating out of China have just re-invented a little piece nostalgia. Remember those slap bracelets from when you were a kid? We loved them so much we would slap them on our wrists and wear them until they got that funky sweat smell. Well, take that idea add a little ‘minority report’ futurism, a watch and an undeniable style and you get the E-paper Slap Bracelet. It is crafted out of thin aluminum and is ultra sexy... Not to mention comfortable.

It is a full “multimedia device” that simply slaps onto your wrist. The energy efficient e-paper surface is powered by kinetic energy supplied by the user as he or she walks around and does what they do. And to ensure the product is a true one size fits all kind of accessory you can adjust the length of the watch by adding extra magnetic strips. Genius.

This is cool, way cool.

5 Social Media Trends Today.

2010-11-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

With the undeniable beast that is Social Media continuously gaining strength, momentum and fond buy-in, it is clear that Social Media is a part of our everyday life - and here to stay. With fast growth comes even faster evolution and sometimes it is tricky to know where to invest those ever scarcer dollars, especially when there is any lack of clarity over ‘best practice.' This blog post nails down 5 of the biggest Social Media trends of today. Take note and act quick as opportunity is now and these can change even quicker.

However right now a few things are clearly evident. In New Zealand one of these in particular is taking off. Group buying aka consortium buying.

1. Group Buying.
We see these deal websites everywhere. On some level we don’t want to miss out on a deal but then the moment we register we open the doorway to a bombardment of daily deal emails... and we love it! The deals are just too good, aren’t they?

This group buying of coupons was made famous by Chicago based startup Groupon. It is also a variation on ‘flash sale’ sites such as internationally famous 'Woot' and 'Amazon Property' which hit their peak in early 2000’s. The founder and main driving force to create Groupon was Andrew Mason who formerly had another group-focused site called ‘The Point’ in 2007. This was heavily targeting group action around causes and for the many that participated power in numbers became power to the people. But it evolved into a daily deal platform which in 2008 he launched under the name ‘Groupon.’

Today Groupon deals are available in cities across the world largely due to Groupons recent acquisition of international clone and competitor ‘Citydeal.’ They also recently received a US$1 billion valuation which led Forbes magazine to describe it as ‘the fastest growing company ever.’ They have been very clever in integrating a very powerful partnership with twitter (@EarlyBird deals) and also in acquiring effective alternative distribution in newspapers and other well suited offline media. They also win out by personalising deals to their subscribers in selected cities through a very clever CRM.

In early September they went to market with their first US nationwide deal... 50% off at the Gap. This approximately attracted a whopping 10 Groupon purchases every 10 seconds!

And like all good worldwide trends New Zealand is by no means a hot spot they have in their corporation sights to target. With small population the numbers are substantially too small for them to warrant playing their numbers game on our turf. This has meant the market has been somewhat wide open. In a hope to be the next Sam Morgan entrepreneurs in Godzone have sported many a copycat in the race for market traction. Early player 1-day.co.nz still has a big piece of the pie however in this game (unlike auction sites) consumers like to have their fingers in multiple pies. Sites such as Grabone.co.nz, dailydo.co.nz, snatchadeal.co.nz, torpedo7.co.nz, 3deals.co.nz, thedeal.co.nz, Groupy.co.nz, and my personal favourite ilovedeals.co.nz (favourite because offers have a longer life and site looks good!!) have all grabbed a portion of our over shopped consumer market.

All statistics and research point to Group buying only getting bigger. Advertisers are finding it an incredible way of supplementing their standard trade and tend to claim that repeat trade is high. In NZ Grabone claims that a massive 84% of advertisers featured on their medium want to be featured again.

2. Social Scanning.
Internationally the number one trend seems be Social Scanning. There is a battle being fought in the smartphone sector with young princes Android, Symbian and Windows7 all trying to eliminate king iphoneOS. With so much power and technology at consumers fingertips it was only a matter of time before social scanning became something more than an 80’s Sci-fi fantasy. These devices have given rise to applications that allow for comparison shopping, QR code place checkins and ultimately deliver a social/brand experience around product barcodes.

Mashable.com reported “What this means is that at any given moment, any smartphone owner can pull out their device, fire up a barcode scanning application, scan a code and complete activities or gain access to a wealth of immediately relevant information. Really, what we’re seeing is the convergence of social media and barcode scanning to create “social scanning.”

The consumer’s scanning behavior is so significant that location-sharing checkin services such as SCVNGR are giving away QR code decals to retailers free of charge. Even Google is sending their own QR code decals out to small businesses with popular Place Pages. What makes the scan so significant? It is a tangible connection between the physical and digital world. For Google, SCVNGR, and the businesses they serve, it’s about access to measurable offline behavior.

These scans aren’t inherently social in nature, but because they can double as verifiable place checkins, they can also possess the social properties of a checkin: location-sharing with friends on the same service or via social network distribution.

Services such as Stickybits and Bakodo are taking the social scanning experience beyond the checkin and creating product-driven communities around brands and items via barcodes.

Stickybits lets users add video, text, photos and audio to the barcodes they scan in the physical world via iPhone and Andriod apps. It’s a clever way to use barcodes to help people tag, share and connect around items. It has also recently become more brand-friendly. “Official bits” are barcodes that brands can claim in order to highlight their own content. New social features allow for user response in the form of threaded conversations, and voting to ensure that the best content attached to the code rises to the top.

Bakodo’s iPhone app began as a barcode scanner primarily for comparison shopping, but it’s evolving to add social scanning functions as well. App users can scan barcodes of all varieties to review items and check out recommendations from friends. The barcode intelligence search engine combines a wealth of product-related data and socializes the process for a comprehensive product-driven experience.

As scanning becomes a more socially acceptable practice, the barcode scan will only become more social in nature. Expect future QR code marketing efforts to tap into the social opportunities, and for brands to explore ways to engage with consumers at the scan touch point.”

3. Intelligent Information Discovery.
Erik Qualman, author of bestselling Socialnomics claimed that we will no longer find information, the information will find us. And the first mainstream effects of this statement can be seen in Intelligent Information Discovery through Q&A. It is not new. Online Q&A services have been around for years. Interestingly this rather dormant web space has had a stimulating shot of caffeine as this time around the way we find information is redefined. Search is no longer a straight search but more Intelligent Information Discovery. A simple search with a billion+ results doesn’t cut the mustard anymore.

“The most buzzy of the bunch right now is Quora, an intuitive and relatively straightforward Q&A site whose co-founder, Adam D’Angelo, is most known for his past role as Facebook’s CTO. Quora was founded in June 2009, released into private beta in January 2010, and immediately became a hit Q&A site with the technorati crowd. In fact, web celebrities have been known to use the site to answer questions about themselves.

There are few Q&A services that have received the same type of attention as Quora, but the just-launched Facebook Questions project — which mirrors Quora in purpose and function — was released before Quora ever achieved mainstream recognition. Now the two products are essentially going head-to-head, competing for the same audience.

Facebook has the clear edge when it comes to its built-in user base, but we’ve repeatedly seen bigger companies fail at side projects — just look at Google Wave — simply because smaller startups can innovate faster and have the benefit of progressively scaling over time. Quora’s opportunity lies in Facebook’s somewhat bungled launch of Questions, and its smart exposure through search results.

Another notable Q&A site that contributes to the intelligent information discovery trend is Google’s Aardvark

Aardvark approaches the space with a model that helps users surface answers through friends of friends. It’s an algorithmic social system that should help Google improve its search algorithms. In fact, Google should be able to use the technology to provide socially-relevant answers in search queries.

Google does have a reputation for letting purchased startups wilt after their pre-acquisition bloom, but given how closely aligned Aardvark is with Google’s core search product, that likely won’t be the case here.

There’s also the freshly enhanced Ask.com, which is seeking to join the “people plus search results” party with its new beta Q&A offering.

Most of the key players in the space believe in the power of intelligent information discovery and define it as the intersection of people and their social circles, with scientific methodologies for surfacing the best possible answers in the shortest amount of time.

Apple-owned artificial intelligence app Siri, however, eliminates the social and instead focuses on the science of finding the right answer.

Right now the overlap between services such as Aardvark and Siri is minimal, primarily because Siri focuses on solving immediate problems of convenience — finding food, calling a taxi or making a reservation — and not on long-term, more conceptual problems. Still, Siri is unquestionably a mobile search engine keen on intelligent information discovery, which means the technologies could become more competitive in the months ahead.

Another startup to watch for in this space is Swingly. The private beta service describes itself as a “Web-scale answer engine designed to find exact answers to factual questions.” Humans are largely eliminated in Swingly’s machine-driven Q&A formula, so it too challenges the notion that social integration enhances the Q&A experience. "

4. Loyalty in the palm of your hand.
As smartphones continue to heavily increase as a percentage of mobile devices sold and the technology becomes ever more powerful it is an obvious conclusion that loyalty rewards and club cards extend into the mobile realm. With all the technology in the palm of our hands and the ever connected social state we seem to be making our recommendations through, traditional loyalty programmes almost feel out dated and of a different era ~ as I write this on my iPad. There are 2 powerful applications to look for as pace setters in this sector KeyRing and CardStar. This is the inevitable loyalty programme future.

These applications exist to unclutter the loyalty in your life. They have been designed to completely eliminate plastic loyalty card buildup in your actual wallet with a single virtual wallet of unlimited space much like a tardis. Scanning is key for these also as the apps do make the most of barcode scanning technology so users can save video store cards, gym entry swippers, grocery store cards, bookstore cards, coffee club cards and more right to their mobile device.

“This trend is just beginning to take shape as smartphones become more commonplace, scanners become more sophisticated and retailers become digitally savvy. In the future, we can expect integration with merchant loyalty programs, as well as integration with checkin services like Foursquare. The latter also demonstrates the inevitable convergence of social media with traditional loyalty programs, which we’re already seeing from Tasti-d-Lite’s innovative approach to automatic, POS-integrated social media rewards system.

Shopkick’s retailer-friendly automatic checkin service is currently being tested by Best Buy, Macy’s, Sports Authority and Simon Property Group. This early interest in Shopkick points to retailer interest in verifiable, checkin-driven rewards. There’s also private beta mobile app Pushpins, which seeks to leverage QR codes to further enmesh the in-store shopping experience with digital retailer rewards, the likes of which resemble the sophistication of SCVNGR’s recently released rewards program.”

Internationally this trend has a fair amount of traction and is growing fast while right here in New Zealand our tattered, dog eared coffee cards slowly build up smiley face stamps. For an emerging technology the global trend here is worthy of notation however this still has a little way to go before we all bin our deck of loyalty cards.

5. Entertainment Check-in.
Book marked anything to watch on TV tonight? Whether it’s re-runs of Spencer and Heidi on ‘The Hills’ or some Outrageous Fortune double crossing, there is a high probablility you are sharing these with peers and family face to face or over Social Media. The consumption of entertainment is an inherently social experience. So why would Social Media not embrace this widely practiced past time? We can check in and out of locations and many seem to be making the most of that so why not check in and out of the entertainment landscape?

“There are a few other services in the same mix that are certainly worth watching. CBS recently released their entertainment checkin service, TV.com Relay. It’s a browser-based mobile app for most smartphones that allows users to checkin to live television shows and follows the same TV guide-style format that Philo employs.

The CBS offering is nice to look at, and offers content-driven badges like the other guys. It also excels in the real-time comment department. In talking with the Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBS Interactive’s Entertainment and Lifestyle Division, Anthony Soohoo, it became clear that the vision behind TV.com Relay extends far beyond entertainment checkins. Soohoo also iterated that the application, which is just a few weeks old, already has 100,000 users thanks to TV.com’s built-in audience.

Tunerfish is another mobile and web television checkin service. It’s backed by Comcast and boasts partnerships with networks including HBO, Showtime and NBC. App users answer the question, “What are you watching?” by typing in the name of a show or movie and clicking the “I’m watching” button. The service also provides behavioral incentives in the form of awards, and has been actively working to bring network-sponsored, show-themed awards into the mix.

There’s also Clicker Social, a relatively new addition from Clicker that turns the television search engine and web TV guide into an entertainment checkin service as well.

The re-purposed entertainment version of the checkin is a smart way to link entertainment consumers with content they love, enhance the social experiences around television, and potentially inspire new audiences to tune into trending or friend-approved television shows. The enormous amount of competition in such a brand new space means that things are just starting to get interesting.

All of the services need to evolve to attach real value to the checkin. They each recognize that awards, badges and stickers are easy ways to encourage new user participation, but these existing game mechanics merely scratch the surface in terms of user engagement. In the coming months, look for constant iteration on this front. For example, we can expect Miso to introduce even more show-specific content exclusives via its show fan clubs and for GetGlue to experiment with offering discounts and coupons that users can redeem for their Glue points.”

With Apple’s iTunes store also releasing Ping one can’t help but wonder if this is in preparation for a live, scheduled entertainment service in the distant future as opposed to on demand purchasing. Ridiculous? Your thoughts.

Watch this Space.

The Sir Richard Branson Six.

2010-10-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

We’ve all read the books and know that Branson has some serious business balls. And on Virgin Blue’s 10th birthday year (38 years after openning the first Virgin music store) his outlook is still that of a Maverick. "Screw it, let's do it" is how Sir Richard Branson described his approach to business at the recent ExactTarget Connections conference.

With a passion for adventure, the entrepreneur and chairman of the Virgin group of companies is a risk taking winner to say the least.

The Virgin group of companies has eight businesses generating more than $1 billion per year. According to the Forbes' 2009 rich list, Branson is the 261st richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of U.S. $3.9 billion!

Charles Nicholls, founder and chief strategy officer for consultancy practice SeeWhy wrote for ‘Retail Customer Experience’ - “What's different about Virgin is that it isn't one company, or one idea, but a global brand with a distinct personality which spans retail, music, airlines, telecoms, media, drinks, energy and even space tourism. Branson describes the Virgin companies as a keiretsu – a family of companies that form a tight-knit alliance to work toward each other's mutual success. What unites them is Branson's vision, drive, personality and the Virgin brand values shared by all members of the group.

There's much to learn from Branson's business strategy and his willingness to break new ground in just about everything he does”

Here are a few insights that I picked up on during his keynote:

1. You don't have to be a category leader to have a successful business

"We've had a lot of fun taking on fat cat complacent business. What we've done is be the small guy yap-yapping at the big guys taking a small percentage of their market."

Small percentages add up.

"Virgin has gotten big by being small. I don't think that any Virgin business has ever been the biggest in its sector. Being small has its advantages – the Virgin Record label was able to attract the Rolling Stones because they know that they wouldn't be lost on a long list of bigger bands."

2. Thinking, breathing and acting like a customer is essential

Customers figure large in Branson's formula. In 1984, with no knowledge of the airline business other than what he learned from being a transatlantic airline passenger receiving appalling service, he set out to create Virgin Atlantic.

"We had this crazy notion that we could do for the aviation business what we'd done for the record business. Banks dropped us like a hot potato, telling us that the last thing the world needed was another airline.

"But we had an advantage of not coming from the airline business. We didn't know what we didn't know. We were all fed up with flying airlines with grouchy staff. All we knew was from the customer's perspective, and we set out to build a value for money proposition based on great service. We recruited staff that actually wanted to fly — fresh, lively and eager to have fun."

This is a brand spirit celebrated in this Virgin Atlantic ad which reflects on the airline's creation, values and culture:

Virgin Atlantic set a new benchmark in transatlantic aviation with a string of firsts: the first-ever seat-back entertainment, first on-board bar, and first on-board massage.

3. Free advertising can be a company's best promotional tool

Virgin's approach has been to build a distinctive brand largely on the back of free advertising, and often with a sense of fun. Branson recalls how one day he received a phone call telling him that the London Eye, a 440 foot Ferris wheel in the heart of London, at the time sponsored by arch rival British Airways, was late in being erected. "I thought screw it, let's do it, and within three hours we had an airship flying over central London with a banner ‘BA can't get it up.' It generated us millions of dollars in free publicity. I had a lot of fun putting Virgin Atlantic on the map."

Lots of digs at larger competitors can generate a lot of publicity. "The businesses I became closest to are the ones that, like a child, were getting bullied. Virgin Atlantic went through a lot of bullying from the bigger airlines, who went to extraordinary lengths to try to put us out of business. So it was like having a daughter at school and people being nasty to her. It's been wonderful to see that child grow into a lovely woman and see her flourish"

4. Customers define your brand for you

Branson echoed a theme of the Connections conference: That customers are defining brands through their conversations. "Today it's harder to keep on top of these conversations. Conversations about our brand are happening everywhere, and with the Internet as the great equalizer, it doesn't matter if you know the brand intimately, or if you've had just one bad experience, it will be heard."

But great customer service has always been defined by the opportunities presented when things go wrong. A Virgin America passenger, using onboard WiFi, tweeted that he wasn't happy that his meal hadn't been delivered. The ground team picked up on it, contacted the aircraft, and found him his misplaced meal.

5. Social media can absolutely drive sales

Branson describes Virgin's use of social media as, "We continue to approach social media with a healthy sense of fun."

He gave an example of a Twitter promotion for Virgin America — "$5 donated to KIPP Schools for every flight booked today" — which resulted in the fourth-highest sales day for the airline.

6. Customer engagement is key

Branson strives to set a culture of being fearless in engaging customers. "I've always enjoyed calling randomly selected newly arrived Virgin passengers in one of our limos to say ‘Hi, This is Richard Branson, I wanted to say thanks for flying with us and see how you've enjoyed the flight.' On more than a few occasions this has been met by derisive comments like ‘Yeah, right. I'm sure the real Richard Branson has nothing better to do. Who the hell are you?'"

Branson's philosophy on starting businesses is very customer centric: "Get the product right, put a great brand on it and then you'll have a great success."

The Importance of Happy Customers...

2010-10-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

The 'Financial & Business Advisor' magazine released a really good article in their September-October issue entitled ‘Happy Customers. What more do you want?’. It is well worth a read as it holds some very practical information about what upsets customers and approaches it from a ‘top ten of what to avoid’ angle. I would like to add a little more...

A Happy Customer is not someone who is satisfied at the way you have served and serviced them. This is the starting line because if you are not doing that satisfactorily why are you doing it at all? Even worse, if you are creating unhappy customers through bad service close your doors and turn your keys in!

A Happy Customer is someone who trusts you... They trust you so much that they become VERY loyal. They don’t go to competitors and they recommend you to their family, friends and peers. They do this because they know that you always look after them and won’t steer them wrong. They don’t just endorse you, they PASSIONATELY endorse you, to people they want to have that same experience... because if they do, it makes them look good. “You should go here because... (insert valued reason here.)” They wait, trusting you will again deliver an outstanding experience so that a week later the endorsee comes back with a “Thank you so much, you were right, they were amazing to deal with!” Lets face it humans love to ‘help’ and ‘be right’. This is the emotional and motivational essence behind word of mouth.

On the whole are over-shopped and underpopulated so as retailers and service providers we have to go that one step further. With the emergence of Social Media consumers also have a new found power. They can complain instantly and be heard by substantial numbers and that is a scary proposition. So scary most retailers think “If people can complain on Facebook, I don’t need to be a part of that”. The reality is however that if they are going to complain on Facebook they will whether you are part of it or not so the question really begs, do you want to have a chance to rectify such a situation in that channel before it blows out of control?

Most businesses feel that they know everything there is to know about customer service and yet duly fail have a great customer service reputation? Often they will blame the ever impossible, untamable wild beast... the customer. It is often the 'what they know' that prevents them from bettering themselves or having a consultant point out any shortcomings that they simply put don’t know they don’t know. Some fundamental questions to ask...

Are your existing customers dually a highly effective sales machine, out there marketing your business due to your exceptional service?
How much of your business comes from referrals and word of mouth... more than 50%?
How many of your customers love to deal with you, so much so they continue to deal with you because of your service and overall brand experience even when a credit crunch hits?
Would any of your customers feel bad/guilty going elsewhere because your service and customer experience is so good and they perceive that you have been good to them?
What percentage of your customers come to you from referrals, or even from referrals from someone who hasn’t used you before but knows your reputation?
What basic mistakes do you make and what are the consequences? (long term and short term) Is your brand experience memorable, retainable, sharable... extendable?

There are some very basic but very heavy questions there, but what can you do to ensure a better customer experience? Some fundamental starting points...

Create Happy Customers that spread the word.

Overall... Be raveworthy in everything you do. If you want customers to take note, be noteworthy and if you want customers to rave about you... be raveworthy!

Worth noting: Being raveworthy does not necessarily mean having extremely good service (although this is the most common), it can successfully come from being different. An example. We used to work next door to a fantastic little cafe called ‘Queenies’ in Freemans Bay. It was a startup business with a very interesting (slightly quirky) interior. It was slow to start however while one day waiting for my takeaway trim latte I noticed they were installing/hanging power extension leads above every table. Shortly after they launched a cost effective breakfast where they put a different toaster (they had quite the eclectic second hand collection) on each table and served fresh bread with side pots of fresh preserves allowing customers to freshly toast their own toast. This was quite the talking point and spread far and wide. In little more than 3 weeks later (with zero advertising) this small cafe was full every morning. In it’s first year it won several awards and is still a personal favourite of mine.

Brand Culture.

Establish and harness your brand culture. What does dealing with your business mean to your customers? Is that enough for them to rave, maybe you need to leverage and extend certain components? Brand culture is crucial. It offers the beginning of a service blueprint. Eg. If your brand represents ‘simple clarity’ this should be extended into the way you train your staff to deal with customers. If a customer expects and endorses you because you represent ‘simple clarity’ then perhaps its the difference between staff saying “Do you understand all the options available to you” and “I think this is the best option for you”. The latter is simple, clear and instantly actionable. Harnessing your brand culture will help your shop fit-out and interior design, it will help attract and retain the right staff with a healthy passion that is inline with your brand. The experience they will in turn offer to your customers... authentic, real, inline/onbrand and trusted.

Respect your Customers.

Customers are not always right but you must always respect your customers. In other words... never take them for granted. If you value your customers it should show. From body language to followup service, to just taking an interest in their lives. They are important and so many retailers we work with are surprised that when they focus on showing an interest, customers open up, they bond... they connect. By simply listening there may also be a very important area in their lives that you can offer further value to. The lengths you go to make them happy will reflect in the lengths they remain loyal and furthermore endorse you. Would your existing customers survive a price increase?

Knowledge is Power. (Ergo; Staff with a lack of knowledge are powerless.)

Make sure your staff know and understand your products. There is a very fine line that separates your customers from shopping with a competitor. With many of the retailers we have dealt with, staff knowledge (especially in the contact centre environment) is usually the number one reason for customer disappointment in service. Your brand experience is heavily driven by staff knowledge. The worst businesses simply sell a customer what they want. Sure the customer is happy, until someone else points out something they didn’t know. This inevitably results in the delayed “I can’t believe they wouldn’t tell me that?!!” The best businesses have staff that know their product inside out. A customer who wants a product will often speak to a staff member in the process of buying. A knowledgeable staff member may ask a few questions that lead the customer to think about things they may have never considered. Furthermore they may be able to recommend a product/service that is more ideal, more future proofed and sometimes cheaper, anything that has the customers best interests at heart. It doesn’t mean they should be a ‘pusher’ but knowledge can clarify and make a customer feel fantastic about the transaction. Customers buy clarity.

Trust your Staff.

Nothing fizzles a business quicker than a failure to empower your staff. This does not mean go forth with gullibility and stupidity, it means extend trust to your staff smartly and in a way that makes them feel good about their job. Give them enough clout to instantly make a decision that makes customers happy. You can put procedures around this but the best way to implement this is to explain to staff ‘why’ things are the way they are. Ask them to communicate it back to you so you know they understand and then trust and empower them with their own common sense. Never be afraid to tell staff that it is a business and it requires profit to operate. Look after your staff and make sure you treat them well. The better the business does, the more you should reward your staff. Staff are equally as valuable as customers and the better you treat your staff the better they in turn will treat your customers. Your brand culture should extend internally to your staff, developing their passion for what your business does. It's crucial to them enjoying their job. There is nothing more comforting from a customer perspective than visiting a business that the staff clearly love. It makes them want to support it.

Create Clarity.

As I mentioned before customers buy clarity. Make sure your customer experience is clear and living up to their expectation (and surpassing.) Don’t make it hard for them to do business with you. Depending on what business you are in, try to identify areas that prevent conversion and impulse transactions, eliminate them and make dealing with you simple and easy. This process can also be very profitable for your business. Making it easy for your customers usually means it is also easy for your staff to carry out the transaction. In the event you hit capacity with your sales channel or instore, this will ensure minimal drop off due to ‘waiting frustration’. Make it easy for your customers to engage you for the basics; locate the product, extend their knowledge on it, verify it’s what they want (or need), order it, pay for it, endorse the experiecnce, compliment and/or complain, return if necessary? Clarity is crucial as anything else gives the customer something to contemplate. Too often low conversion rates stem from ‘Paralysis by Analysis’ and too many options.

Be Perfectly Present.

This means be on hand but don’t be pushy. Offer information but know the line that causes confusion. Be available and accessible to customers but don’t be in their face. Be nonintrusive but helpful, respectful, knowledgeable, polite and passionate about what you are selling. Easy right?

Keep your Word.

If you tell your customers you will do something do it. The reason for this is simple. You may deal with hundreds of customers in your business per day but your customers are more than likely only dealing with one of your staff or yourself. What you say to them they remember and expect. If you then break your promise, you break their expectation and instantly cause dissatisfaction. This opens the door to them leaving with a complaint. When people have complaints they want to vent, usually to anyone that will listen as they wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone. They take it on themselves to warn others and even worse, when this happens in social media people often band together, unite over a common enemy... you definitely don’t want that to be you. If you have to break what the customer considers 'your word' due to their misunderstanding or because something happened out of your control, make sure you acknowledge what you had said and explain why it is unable to be. Then (and this is important) go the extra mile to ensure you have done everything you can to appease them. Do it respectfully. The empathy you show towards your customers will create that connection, and that will be remembered, branded as their experience.

Listen...

Lack of listening is the number one thing overall that leads to bad customer experience. If a customer feels you are not listening they will instantly disconnect with your brand/business. Listen to complaints, listen to compliments, and especially listen to suggestions. The best brands in the world listen to their customers to deliver the best products and services that the brand then knows are wanted. More importantly, the customers become forever loyal as you have evolved based on what they have said. Customers today respect agility especially when they have inspired or affected the change/evolution. Listening is the most valuable tip in customer service. People want to be heard but more importantly understood. Listen and if a customer is frustrated repeat back to them what you think they are saying so they know you understand before you continue. Good customer service can turn a complaint into a compliment more powerfully and quickly than anything else in your business. And it starts with listening.

Social Media is a great platform to listen. As I mentioned in a previous blog, put your ear to the virtual street. Through listening, your business and it’s staff will be able to offer more personal service, it will assist them in remembering your customers and actually allowing the customer to have some meaning and relevance to your staff. Customers will feel more valued, appreciated and special. Reward loyalty with preferential treatment but not so visibly that others feel lesser, reward loyalty with surprises and personal case by case incentives rather than a structured loyalty scheme - that only creates an expectation. People like being impressed!

An example. We once worked with a busy little cafe in an up-market local community in Auckland. Due to an NDA they will remain nameless. They came to us with questions around leveraging their brand as they wanted to drive customer loyalty. They presented a plan to roll out a loyalty card scheme like the big players were doing, a card for customers to gain 10 stamps (a stamp each time they purchased a coffee) towards a free coffee. The first question I asked was simple... “How many of our customers would you know by name and/or face?”

Why when a business is a successful independent it would want to do anything a chain ‘big player’ was doing? The problem with loyalty schemes is that they are common, every chain store has them. From a customer perspective I may come back and get my stamps until I get my free coffee, which by the number of stamps I have collected I know when to expect. Basically the business spends money to setup a system that then gives away value to simply fulfill an expectation? The customer is then loyal to the freebie... what happens next?

Whereas... if you have a loyal following that you (even better) know by name, don’t put in the system (don't waste your money) or at least make the system invisible to customers. The customers then come to you because you make great coffee. However once in a while to the customers you know - “Here we are Mr Jones, have this today on us!” This is then unexpected. The customer is suddenly given something they are not owed. The cafe implemented this concept and this created more word of mouth, more buzz and more goodwill than any ‘system’ ever could have because this felt real. It was an authentic reward for loyalty... The result is everyone wanted to be that special at this cafe... They knew their loyal faces and all of a sudden there were more new faces than ever before. No advertising, no systems, just good old fashioned word of mouth.

All something to think about right?

**Alex Lovell - "Consumer Seduction Maverick" ;)
For Customer Experience Consulting and Brand Strategies contact via OBD Limited.OBD Creative Studio

Getting Started: Five Immediate Functional Benefits of Social Media.

2010-08-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

The NZHerald yesterday reported that ‘most companies still have it (Social Media) placed in the too hard basket’ and fundamentally it’s time for businesses to start joining the conversations on the Social web and harnessing the limitless benefits. And I whole heartedly agree, with a twist...

The main thing that non-millennials tend to question about Social Media are it’s functional benefits. Majority of early generation Xers (and older) view Social Media as a fad. And why wouldn’t they when they have seen so many fads come and go in their lifetime. If you view Social Media as having faddish propensities it makes it hard to see the immediate benefits. It’s easy to grasp some of the wider more universal principles. These overall, big picture benefits can get us motivated and if not anything else, believing that Social Media is here to stay. But as we scramble for the place to start, businesses too often file ‘Social Media’ into the too hard basket and a matter of weeks later the motivation is lost.

So instead of looking at the long term benefits and the distant rewards, lets bring it closer. Let’s look at five key functional benefits that transpose Social Media from the ‘possible’ into the realm of the ‘probable’.

One. Product Development and Marketing.
Customers today have more choice than ever. With participatory channels such as Social Media they are aware of their choices more than ever before. How? Simple, their peers are telling them. Consumers are no longer reliant on advertising, there are conversations going on everywhere. Infact... there always have been, around the dinner table, over the office water cooler, on the phone... but the biggest difference now is that they are simply not so limited or confined. When I used to find a great new vinyl I used to call my friends to tell them all about it. I would have several one on one conversations to share my experience. Today this is made easier and faster with Social Media. I can simply tweet from my mobile or update my status and all my friends and colleagues can instantly see it. They don’t need to receive this info straight away either, when they next check in my opinion/comment/remark will find them if they wish to see it. With over 60 million of these ‘comments’ getting shared daily you can see why your customers are aware of their choices.

The scale and user traction shouldn’t scare you either, it is simply what it is. Use it to your advantage now while it still is an advantage as soon it will just be an essential layer to all business. These conversations will take place whether you participate or not. And the question of how you participate varies for almost every business depending on what their objectives are. A solid benefit however in terms of Product Development and Marketing is this wealth of information, trends, brand experiences and new product awareness all at your fingertips. You may not know what your strategy is but the first step is listening. Put your ear to the virtual street and listen directly to consumers. The beauty about listening to Social Media is that you can start immediately. There is currently a plethora of online reputation management (ORM) software that can help you monitor keywords and key phrases. Listen to your consumers and action points will follow. They will be obvious and clear. Cadbury in the UK a few years ago discontinued the ‘Wispa’ chocolate bar. They are big enough to push any message or product through advertising and traditionally this is what they have done. However with the existence of Social Media consumers can be heard and in this instance thousands bound together and formed an internet campaign to re-launch the chocolate bar. The noise and participation via Social Media was unprecedented, so much so it caught senior managements listening ear... Cadbury re-introduced the bar with huge success.

Two. Sales.
About 4 years ago computer giant Dell was starting to receive bad feedback and criticism around their product quality and customer service (being online only delivery service is a crucial component of the customers brand exeprience.) Dell was not only able to listen and respond to resolve issues it noticed a huge uptake in it’s Social Media engagements. Dell then launched one of the most successful Social Media sales intiatives with the ‘DellOutlet’ twitter account. They are a prime example of a company that leveraged their traction into a hugely successful sales initiative. DellOutlet tweets major discounts for its products and all the deals are twitter exclusive - the reward for being a loyal follower. The mechanism is simple, they tweet a deal with a link to an online coupon that they can then transact on the main website and save on products and services.

Twitter can be hugely powerful as a sales channel for a particular product or line. This is a huge benefit as it offers organisations an opportunity to protect their list price. Contact centres, agents, distributors and stores can stock different products with retail price parity, while the organisation itself can offer these Social Media only rewards to loyal followers of the brand or those intent on seeking out a bargain. This maintains brand integrity builds direct brand following in the very channel that is founded on following inspirational leaders.
Setting up a twitter account to reward your followers is easy and can be started straight away.

Three. Notifications.
During natural disaster, outbreaks of viruses, globally disruptive news or any other situations where notifications on a grand scale are near impossible, twitter may be an extremely powerful ally. But what about for smaller business? Think how efficient it would be for an ISP when their server goes down to tweet ongoing status reports. In a market of technical consumers this would be highly efficient and alleviate the contact centre inbound enquiries substantially. Consumer frustration would decline. Go smaller, imagine receiving realtime updates for your childrens sports teams on those mornings when the weather makes it a borderline call. Think of a florist or cafe with perishable products that they could liquidate at the end of the day. Twitter is a powerful notification tool especially considering it can connect directly via SMS to almost any mobile phone. Twitter has the added bonus of being easily fed to other sources. You notification tweets can be sent as basically as sending a text and update your website, social media profiles, blog and email if RSS fed to consumers. It has never been easier to keep your customers up to the play and this efficiency and operational transparency is respected. It simply builds trust. Utilising twitter and other micro-blogging services has never been easier and is only a few moments away. Start doing this immediately. This alone can build followers and have a substantial return for zero capital investment and very little effort.

Four. Problem Resolution.
My two previous blog entries go into more detail about problem resolution and bring contact centre services into the Social web. The best part about utilising Social Media for problem resolution is that it creates an immune system for your business. By deploying social networking tools, you can effectively make your customers your agents. By resolving these issues in the social realm rather than a series of 1:1 phone calls through a contact centre the cost centres are highly favourable. You will have passionate customers helping other customers and your businesses resolution agents helping groups in an open, transparent environment. You also create a platform for collaborative thinking pretty much by default. As issues have arisen and are dealt to, customers can offer direct feedback of what solutions they themselves might directly look for. This in itself drives innovation and creativity for future products and services.

Interestingly, Social Media requires the least amount of capital investment and resource to be up and running with a Social issue resolution centre. This is simply because Social Media by default is all about connecting and communicating, it’s native functionality is perfectly geared towards processes such as Issue Resolution. For companies already handling Issue Resolution in traditional channels Social Media represents a new, cost effective, highly populated and widely used channel that will ad an essential layer to existing operations.

Five. Recognition and Awareness.
Social media can assist in your brands positioning. It does this on a fairly open platform What you say through social media should be primarily geared to extend your brand experience. It should aim to add value, build trust and create a following over the ‘hard sell’ approach. Now don’t get me wrong, sales will flow on from this and we want that. But in the process Social Media can deliver some other rare and sought after qualities too. It is the perfect platform to create conversation with DHV (Demonstration of Higher Value) spikes that set us apart and differentiate our brand from our competition. You can offer your product or service as a reward/incentive to participate. Those that want your product or service will make that effort and remember their following is highly qualified as they are your more ideal target customer. Utilise Social media to leverage your brand and work towards creating brand ambassadors that will go forth and share their experience. Peer to peer recommendation and endorsement over the Social web is todays virtual word of mouth! The results from this sort of activity alone can be huge and again, this is something that you can start almost immediately.

Overall I think businesses strategise too much. They think to long and hard about what they don’t know and before you know it, that thinking was wasted energy and the initiative ends up in the too hard basket any way. With social media it is hard to go drastically wrong. I think it pays to have a strategy but if the cost and process is too much to handle, the higher cost is not to do anything at all. Many businesses fear the Viral Spiral and things getting out of control. But I know people saying bad things about your brand and business is better than no one saying anything at all. Negative social media conversations are only an opportunity to do the right thing, resolve it and create followers. So often in my experience the biggest negators can be turned into your biggest fans.

So don’t put it off. If anything, have a go. Throw some mud at the wall and see what sticks. It won’t be long before you clearly see where to focus your energies.

Extending the role of the Contact Centre into Social Media

2010-07-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

With only 18% of TV advertising campaigns returning a positive ROI we can probably take some notes on how Social Media has influenced marketing movements today.
Some of the key principles they are trading off can directly transpose to the role of the Contact centre. Now I am also not about to preach the death of advertising, there will always be large multinationals like Nike and McDonalds with 100% brand awareness that will invest in mass marketing to keep it that way. But even these corporates need to look to Social Media as an essential layer to their strategies (and many are starting to) as for many of their consumers it has already become an essential layer to life. So then why are we not all integrating our Contact Centres into the Social Web as we speak?

Well for both Marketers and Customer Service Managers the important principle to hear and work with is ‘Conversation is the Market, Participation is Marketing.’

So the big question then... How do you participate?
And this comes down to the objectives you are trying to fulfill. The first thing to note is that with all these people connecting and communicating, conversations are everywhere. With the scale at which this occurs we can be certain that Niche conversations are popping up everywhere. One of the keys to effective Social Media activity is to target the Niche. Marketers have understood the many benefits of targeting the niche for years... namely the following three:

1. Cost Effective. Why pay for the numbers target in a mass marketing campaign? By targeting the Niche you are paying for less numbers in a less competitive area so not only are their fewer of them but chances are they are cheaper per hit.

2. More Qualified Customer. You are hitting less numbers however the beauty of this is that the numbers are more meaningful. As you are targeting a niche it means the numbers you are hitting are more qualified to potentially be your customer.

3. Message Resonates. As you have targeted the niche from the consumer point of view you are more specialised which basically means your message will be more relevant and resonate with them.

Interestingly these 3 same reasons are the same benefits to a Contact Center moving into a Social Media space targeting a niche... with a slight twist...

1. Cost Effective. Targeting a niche means you are targeting a cluster. In terms of issue resolution, product information and surveying by targeting a niche you can work on a scale greater than 1:1 (that of a Contact Centre) and work 1:Many (that of Social Media). When every individual call through a call centre equates to a dollar value this scale can only be cost effective over the long term. (if not instantly)

2. More Qualified Customer. In this instance by engaging 1:many you are hitting more numbers however the beauty of this is that the numbers are equally meaningful. As you are targeting a niche it means the numbers you are hitting are more qualified to appreciate and benefit from the value you are delivering with your engagement.

3. Message Resonates. As you have targeted the niche from the consumer point of view you are more specialised which basically means once again that your message will be more relevant and resonate with them.

If participating in Niche conversations is the primary basis for your engaging customers then it leads to the question... How do I find these conversations? There are softwares such as; Technorati, Radian 6, Right Now Technologies, HiveLive, Avaya’s Social Media Gateway, the very basic TwitterSearch and a whole lot more. It appears tracking and finding the Niche is a niche industry in itself. Some of these developers have created CRM suites for the Social Web and almost all of them have developed Social Web monitoring software. This is a huge area and I might dedicate an entire Blog entry to this in the near future even though new softwares are being launched in this domain almost daily. My guess is that the platforms themselves will eventually ringfence this aspect and build this technology into their environments themselves for companies to access for a small fee... why wouldn’t they as it is another facet to monetize within the hard to monetize ‘Social Web’ gemstone.

With the ability to locate a conversation, what is the next objective in our Participation Strategy? Perhaps we need to clarify and understand the main differences between Contact Centers and Social Media? And what better way to do that than by first shining a light on the Commonalities...

Both are platforms for Customer Engagement. It is a place that consumers can make real contact with real people. This personalises corporate brands and entities into something that people can connect with and connection is important. It forms the beginnings of your brand experience and the right emotional bond can keep them loyal and connected for the long term. Both platforms are conversational, they are spaces where expression and the satisfaction of contact can be realised.

Both platforms are highly measurable. Although Contact Centers have existed longer, so it stands to reason there are more developed analytical softwares available (Check out some of the Verint Technology... amazing) the Social Media channel is already highly measurable for an emerging technology. For the channel to remain vital, the platforms themselves will either have to offer services with more detailed metrics or open the doors to developers and allow them to build systems that can interrogate the streams of data constantly being generated. Either option is good for companies to utilise and it is essential they do it to keep their channel widely used and engrained in our everyday life. Both platforms are also convenient and accessible to consumers and both have readily available information about consumer expectations within these channels... why wouldn’t they when Social Media is founded on connecting, communicating and sharing. When we say accessible we can clarify this by noting 50% of the worlds population is under 30 years of age. 96% of millennials are registered with or on a Social Media Platform. Wow.

These are some pretty exciting similarities and I bet most of us can instantly start to see aspects of Contact Centre operations that can directly extend into a Social Media solution. however to do this effectively we must also understand key differences. The biggest difference which often instills fear in Customer Service Managers at first glance is that which I covered in my previous blog. With a Contact Centre conversation you are directly represented and with that comes an element of control. However my previous blog also looked at how the right participation strategy can completely turn any thinking you have on that around.

This representation however can also affect your perceived trust as a brand. As a customer talking to a call centre (especially with consumer suspicion and distrust at an all time high) I will often start to wonder ‘this is the company directly telling me this, can I believe it?’ To add insult to injury many industries (telecommunications for one) are fraught with recurring issues. If the customer has experienced the issue before or heard of someone else experiencing a similar issue before, they are even less trustful and worse... more impatient. Now with Social Media one browser window away, they can react with effect to many people twice as fast. Their reaction is also more likely to have an audience which only fuels why they would do it.

Having this new found power, consumers will not accept bad products, services and brand experiences. So step one for companies is to fix that. hopefully we also know from my earlier entry that Social Media is a great platform to openly and transparently turn each issue into an opportunity. (Transparency builds trust) But Social Media, this newly connected marketplace, founded on connection, communication, sharing and following is a great platform to get valuable activity moving. It is the perfect platform to let it gain momentum and become a movement. Ideal to inspire following and start building your community... your tribe. The beauty of this is that it will eventually reach a sweet spot where magic happens. Followers will begin to talk to and help each other. As they endorse things and explain things to each other, peer to peer, it removes the company itself and adds authenticity through information finding them organically. Trust is created through this degree of separation. Contact Center - The company telling you directly - zero degrees of separation vs Social Media - Peer to peer engagement - trust through peer endorsement.

There are many other subtle difference but one of the biggest which I will conclude on is the flexibility and agility. As well as social Media being a reactive AND proactive channel (imagine the power of notifications in the travel industry when a Volcano decides to spew ash into the air... more on that soon) Social Media is also fast. With all the new contact center developments there are some very agile solutions however often the decision to implement a new strategy to handle an issue that has arisen somewhat instantly has to go through the food chain. It gets discussed at a high level and the outcome flows through the management structure until it is ready to be implemented. The implementation itself is then far more complicated than issuing the broadcast over the Social Web. Handling an issue through traditional channels may mean the response and action reaches your precious consumer too late. This will only be amplified when your competitors jump in and handle the issue before you through their Social Media solutions. Along with trust, consumer patience is also at low point, their expectation is for speedy response and a speedy response will ensure your competitors won’t jump in before you and lure your customer away with their efficiency and added value. Bottom line is that Social Media, is fast, agile and flexible. I will expand on some of the features that directly support this notion next.

To be continued...

Social Media and the Contact Centre.

2010-07-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Many are tipping Social Media as the channel that can’t be ignored when it comes to customers engagement but how does Social Media Impact and affect Call Centers?

We all know Social Media is big and it’s getting bigger. I think we are beyond the point of no return and it is safe to say Social Media is here to stay. Most of us are using it in some way, shape and form yet many of us are still left scratching our head wondering how is a business to effectively take advantage of some of the benefits inherent in the Social Revolution?

Over the last 6 months Facebook has increased it’s active user profiles by 42% to 375 million. Impressive, however the truly impressive component to this statisitc is that just over 50% of these active users log in daily! Pepsi this year for the first time in 23 years cancelled their Superbowl advertising in lieu of a USD$20m budget marked for a social media movement. Yep, big! but should we all be jumping on the band wagon?

Firstly it is important to understand that Social Media is about people connecting and talking to people. All these facebook profiles, twitter pages and blogs etc are not simply pages floating in cyberspace but virtual faces for real people. Social Media activity is engagement. For an enterprise with a Contact Center this engagement will seem all to familiar. Offering your customers an avenue by which to contact and communicate, then having processes and strategies in play to engage and participate in this communication is a similar purpose for existence as a Call/Contact Center.

The most important point of note in the many surveys I have looked at from Nielsen, Avaya and Frost and Sullivan is that a decent percentage of customers existing and new, WANT to use this channel. Infact the lowest I saw was 8% while the highest tipped in at 47%. Just to be clear, this is an emerging technology, it has not been nested in ‘the mainstream’ for more than 2 - 3 years and as an emerging technology these numbers are quite astounding. It is quickly gaining momentum and I have no doubt it will very soon take on traditional channels. My main reasoning for this is that for consumers the Social Media channel represents accessibility and convenience. Many of them are invested in this form of communication already.

With consumers suddenly having the ability to publish they have regained a little control and power back. Corporates can no longer shout at them what to buy and when to buy it with advertising, as they have been doing for way too long, as consumers are spending more money than ever to avoid the advertising. Devices such as Tivo, MySky, AppleTV and even web streaming make this too easy. To add to the Madmen’s heartache consumers are spending less time in front of TV or listening to the radio and instead they are spending more time interacting on Facebook and controlling the playlist on their new touchscreen ipods! Instead companies need to wise up, adding a strategy to their existing processes which will see them start participating in conversations on the Social Web. There is also a certain amount of comfort in numbers. It comes from the fact that most Social Media platforms create a sense of transparency. If an issue is resolved it is not within the privacy of a 1:1 phone call, it is on a platform in an open environment often appearing in the customers’ peers activity feed.

Like any relationship the company has to work hard to maintain their emotional connection with that customer either by explanation and helping them understand or by righting any wrong they may have done. This transparency builds trust. Handled correctly the company not only redeems themselves but could convert the customers peers into impressed, inspired loyal followers and ambassadors too. For this reason alone (much like a Call Center) Social Media can be a very powerful tool to keep your customers and it may also be ever so slightly more powerful due to it’s transparency.

Many companies will shy away from this. They will instantly look at the bad and think ‘we have lost all control’ but whether you like it or not Social Media is here to stay and that engagement control you are so precious with has been slipping through your fingertips for the last few years. As much as companies refuse to believe it, consumer skepticism is at an all time high... and here's the big news flash... its getting higher!

78% of consumers trust peer recommendation while only 14% of consumers trust advertising. So instead of worrying about control worry about who is going to recommend you and this will highlight the importance of Social Media participation...

To be continued...

Presentation summary as given on behalf of NSC and Avaya.

The Lego Lesson - How to Inspire Following

2010-06-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

Lego is one of the world’s best known toy brands, yet things have not been going well in recent year. For 70 years Lego, the leading European toymaker, has prospered, promoting learning and development through play by explaining that play is ‘nutrition for the soul’. Lego sells its colourful bricks in 130 countries, claiming that on average everyone on earth has 52 bricks.

Despite other construction toy manufacturers slamming shut their toychests and admitting defeat against the powerfully attractive e-games industry, Lego has boomed, declined, survived and managed to even start thriving again since its simple beginnings in Denmark 70 years ago. Founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen, the intent was to stimulate creativity and encourage learning in the act of play. Christiansen started making wooden toys but following the advent of plastic, branched out and eventually settled on the famous bricks – marketed at first as Automatic Binding Bricks.

The name Lego comes from the Danish for “play well” (leg godt). Fortunately, it doesn’t limit the product or date it in any way, thereby allowing Lego to continue on into the world of cybertoys. Additionally, it’s simple to pronounce, making it easily exportable, as well as attractive to small children just learning to speak. Finally, and of equal importance, it describes perfectly the intent of the little multi-colored bricks. What could be more enticing to parents faced with a barrage of menacing toys, than that positive-sounding word from their own childhood?

But how does Lego manage to attract parents and kids at the same time? It steadily reconstructs to incorporate new technologies. For instance, Lego offers Internet interactivity opportunities that directly involve the user in construction, and offer direction and feedback throughout the process. The consumer can design interactive structures, cities, vehicles, figures, and whatever else can be imagined. Throughout the process, he can log on to the Lego Club to swap ideas, boast, and post his own models.

What’s more, independent online community groups convene to discuss the endless possibilities inherent in the Lego construction. The best known among these is probably Lugnet, which describes itself as a community of Lego enthusiasts. Lugnet is completely independent from Lego and yet, through its serious endorsement and enthusiasm, it promotes the brand as well as Lego does itself. This sort of viral marketing is invaluable and can’t be purchased. It comes from making a good product that has remained relevant to millions of people around the world.

But Lego’s market is not solely kids and parents; there’s a whole community of adults who are equally mad for the product. Last year, Lego teamed up with filmmaker Steven Spielberg to create the MovieMaker Set for children. The problem with the product? Too limited for the sophisticated techniques that adults require in moviemaking. In fact, for years adults have been making “brick films” for adult audiences. An acclaimed selection of over 80 film festivals last year is a brick film titled “Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in all the World.” The eight-minute short features simulated sex scenes with the Lego characters (not the first for Lego brick films, and one hopes, not the last). Lego’s plans for a brick film festival include an adult category to accommodate this enthusiastic audience.

However, in 1998 it made its first loss and in 2004, following six years of declining sales and profits it made a huge loss of US$240 million, and rumours circulated that it would be taken over by Mattel, America’s biggest toy maker.

Lego was still owned by the family of Ole Kirk Christiansen, the Danish carpenter who founded the company in 1932. The family decided to stand by the company, injected their own money and appointed Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, a former management consultant for McKinsey, as the new CEO.

Lego had years of unbroken sales growth and for 50 years the plastic bricks faced little competition. Today children are growing up more quickly. Although Lego recognised this, some commentators felt they had lost their way in trying to address the problem. After the company posted its first losses in 1998 it negotiated lucrative tie-ins with Disney, the Harry Potter and Star Wars movies. More than one million Hogwarts Castle lego sets were sold when the first two Harry Potter films came out, helping the firm back into profits in 2001 and 2002, but the company became too dependent on these licensing agreements and sales slumped again when no blockbuster Harry Potter films were released.

Other brand extension strategies failed to deliver the desired growth, when products such as Galidor, a cartoon-related series of Lego figures, was criticised because it lacked the open-ended imaginative play that the Lego brand was known for, and Lego music builder, aimed at pre-school children, under performed.

Lego phased out the Duplo brand, established in 1969, and replaced it with Lego Explore but parents thought Lego no longer made larger sized bricks for children aged 18 months to 5 years and Lego’s revenues in the pre-school market halved. Poor forecasting in the US of what its best sellers in its popular Bionicle range would be resulted in being overstocked in some products and out of stock in some successful products, and
there were worldwide complaints that colours did not match.

With the aim of becoming a lifestyle brand, Lego had diversified into clothes, watches and video games. Lego
had also tried to attract more girls. However it had neglected its core customer segment of boys aged 5–9. Knudstorp believed that Lego had become arrogant and had stopped listening, so he went around to talk to the retailers.

They told him that Lego should not change the core brand and the company should stick to what it had always been good at. The traditional toy market was slimming down due to low-cost copies, hi-tech competitors and falling birth rates in developed countries. The turnaround plan, begun in March 2004, was painful as 3500 of the firm’s 8000 workers lost their jobs. Half the 2400 jobs in Billund, the home of Lego, were due to be phased out. Factories in Switzerland and the US were closed and production moved to Eastern Europe and Mexico.

Major stakes in the four Legoland theme parks and other assets in America, South Korea and Australia were sold off. The management structure was simplified and a more commercial culture was fostered through a performance based pay scheme and frank discussions about the financial position of the company took place between the management and employees, who had never before been used to talking about money. By 2006, having placed greater emphasis on the core business, the company had returned to profit and was increasing sales.

Although much of its diversification was stopped some parts were paying off well. Its Bionicle range, based on Polynesian mythology, was expanded and further new toys based on tie-ins with films such as Star Wars and Harry Potter were developed under licence. The Lego Star Wars video game in which Lego figures enact Star Wars was a best seller.

It seems the Lego brand has a solid foundation and not a brick’s been misplaced, nor has it left its audience waiting while an Under Construction sign diminishes sales. So where is it now and what are the plans for the future?
The original vision nailed to the wall 70 years ago is still in use: Only the best is good enough. And it’s still in the Christiansen family. In fact, the Lego brand has lasted longer than the family name, as Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, grandson of the founder, lost his C for a K in a birth certificate typo. Kjeld is a main shareholder in this privately-held firm, and actively participates as President & CEO.

As for future plans, similar to generations of kids who aimed to build the craziest structure using all their bricks, Lego has set itself quite a steep goal for the next few years. Already among the top ten favorite brands among families with children, 2005 was marked as the year that Lego became number one in this category. According to a study conducted last year by Young & Rubicam, Lego is already number one in France and Germany, but sixth and seventh in Japan and the US, respectively. Its competition? Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Disney, Levi’s, Fisher Price, Pampers, M&Ms, Sony and Nike.

No Social Media Experts Left in 5 Years...

2010-06-03T05:54:00.001-07:00

How can a co called 'Expert' get it so wrong?

“I don’t come to you saying I am an email expert, or I am a voicemail expert...”
- view the video below...

How can respected experts and Silicon Valley bloggers get it so wrong? I agree that Social Media is important to commercial enterprises as people are talking about products and services all the time. There are conversations happening everywhere and if you (as a commercial entity) don’t start participating you run the risk of not existing in 5 years. It really is that simple. But the BIG question is HOW. How do I participate? What should I say? How do I use these social media environments to effectively build my enterprise?

And this is where a social media expert comes in... Their primary role is to:
1 - Get people talking about you
2 - Evalutate the tone and develop strategies to steer it in the optimal direction. Value first, sales last.
3 - Control any negative endorsements
4 - Create and release soundbites that consumers can remember, and repeat to ‘sell’ you without you even knowing it.

An Expert is required for the exact problem he outlines... The time it takes for content and communications to flow through the 'foodchain' customers have acted and often already reacted. Social Media requires its own protocols, response rules and strategies. It is only going to get more important and an expert will only become more vital.

Social media is not Email or Voicemail? Those two items speak primarily of a ‘form’ of technology. Social Media incorporates Social Networking Platforms, Blogs, Micro Blogs, Video and so many more that are released in the hope of hitting critical mass daily. A social media expert is not someone who shows you how to register with twitter and use it, or how to setup a blog and start writing... And this is why the comparison is ‘balls’ at best. Someone who shows you these simplicities one might label ‘a friend’, or ‘my neighbours son.’

In reality it is not about the method as much as the message. A vast understanding of the method is required but the ‘Expert’ factor comes from creating strategies around ‘what to say’ guided by the method and context of Social Media. It’s the ‘what is being said’ that can change companies and affect share price overnight.

A Social Media Expert is someone who understands the context of the medium and can craft a campaign of what to say and when to say it. Someone who understands the art of the ‘seeded sell’ and can teach you how to participate in conversations and add value, enough that people will empathise with what you say, track down your profile and utilise what you offer whether it be a product, person or service without actually ever being sold to. IF any selling is going on (and being believed) it is coming from their Social Media peers.

Social Media’s closest cousin is PR and YES! there are still experts in PR. Ask anyone running for mayor how important PR is to gain following, trust and loyalty. And isn’t that what we all want for ourselves and our products? To liken a social media expert to an email expert is absurd. It would be accurate if the social media experts role was simply to look at your Facebook profile and check the preferences to see why you are not getting your notifications? Even likening a social media expert to an old fashioned ‘push minded’ email marketer is ludacris. Perhaps the so called expert in the video above thinks that a social media expert is someone who looks at numbers of groups on certain social platforms and decides where your advert should be placed?

The key to effective social media exposure really comes down to engagement and can be based on the following 3 metrics:
1. What portion of conversation to you occupy
2. What is the tone
3. What is the trend over time.

The second speaker has also missed the high value of Social Media. The engagement is NOT directly from proponents of the company engaging their clients, that would make it closer to a call centre, which UH OH! there are still experts for too.

The whole benefit to Social Media is that as Consumers (consumers of information too) we become publishers of information and there is natural sideways conversation that transpires. Two apple lovers talking to each other within the comments of an Apple blog without Apples involvement. If Apple were to directly be involved it would lose trust. This degree of separation creates authenticity and trust, as instantly there is a ‘What’s in it for them?’ question. For the company there’s a lot in it for them , so of course they are going to tell me how good they are, and that is exactly why it holds no stock and credibility.... and NO TRUST!

Even engaging to ask questions about how they can improve their product. Sure they are ‘listening’ however it’s my social network, my time/exposure and my social capital that had them find me so as a company (large or small) what are you going to do for my interaction. Directly engagement from a commercial enterprise kind of prompts me to want a direct reward. Sure I have some great feedback for this small struggling business, but as a savvy consumer I also know that my little tweek may make a big improvement and potentially make them some money. Can anyone else see the conflict here? A problem in the market is a potential opportunity. I would have to really love the company and want to see it do very well so that when I use their product/service again it is better and I get more from it? But why would I? Why would I engage and participate when chances are they are one of many in a saturated market and I can choose their competitor tomorrow? Answer... I wouldn’t.

Perhaps some might say that it shows the company is interested in feedback and CARES... cares enough to interrupt/disrupt me in my social time. If you want feedback don’t hunt it down, listen to those that are already going through the effort of complaining. No one complaining yet you know something is still negative in the minds of consumers and you think you can find out what it is via Social Media? Don’t engage, instead plant seeds, offer unrequited value and monitor the response. And back to the beginning... Monitor conversations about you between two consumers as these are the most honest and authentic. Conversations are everywhere, how are you participating? This is one small small portion of ORM - Online Reputation Management, yet another big role of a Social Media Expert... And yes as all of this online activity grows you will need an expert more than ever.

A Social Media Expert is all about hand picking the most effective influencers and aligning with them. Offering value and well crafted and retainable soundbites that these influencers choose to use. It is an extension of your Affinity Branding that you are always building. Who are you servicing, who are you aligning with, where are you placed, what are people likening you to... and the list goes on - all builds the tone of your brand.
Althought these guys have some extremely valuable information, I can’t help that this ‘prediciton’ is a little touch of Devils Advocate to create conversation. I am talking about and including their video here. The title caught my attention... Perhaps this is the cleverest one they have released yet?

Ego-ssential - Go Google Yourself...

2010-05-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

We’ve all done it. After a quick glance over the shoulder, you open your browser, visit www.google.co.nz and type in your name. Some may say it’s Ego, the youth of today wondering how famous they are? Yet googling yourself is a tip I have given so many of our clients. At OBD Creative Studio we believe it is the very first step in the ‘reputation management’ process. Postioning yourself/ your company and monitoring your personal brand/corporate brand is an important factor to consider. Whether it simply be for a job you are about to apply for, a contract your company is trying to win, Googling someone who has applied for a job with you or even googling a company you are about to engage in work with... what google has indexed against the name can say a lot about a person or brand.

Don't be shy about googling yourself, what you need to know is that people are googling you already! Don't be afraid to use your company name or your professional pseudonym to make tiny marks on the landscape of the world wide web. Social Media is an enormous area and one can leverage loads of profile building platforms. In future blogs I will go into some heavy SNS (Social Network Services) strategies to build and monitor an online profile and reputation but for now it is important to recognise that Social Media does often register on Google... What picture is your online behaviour painting about you in Google?

To help build your profile find articles and video that you like online, content that is profound and relevant and bookmark it in your Social Media Profiles, comment on it and Participate in the Covnersation All of this is valuable activity that can build the 'you' that is likely to get that job, or attract that employee. The biggest question I get asked around Social Media is to do with direct ROI (Return on Investment.) This is a complicated area for the most part as other than creating a 'Commercial Immune System' the return is often of long term value. All will be clarified in future blogs but in the interim, how does the following Google Adwords story wet your appetite...

Creative Lands Dream Job through $6 Google Campaign
LONDON - New York creative Alec Brownstein has turned the guilty pleasure of Googling one's own name into a masterclass in online marketing.
By Anne Cassidy for campaignlive.co.uk 14-May-10, 09:25

Brownstein, a copywriter who wanted to land his dream job in advertising, created an online ad campaign for only $6 that would appear every time a selection of New York creative directors searched for their own name on Google.

Every time Gerry Graf, David Droga, Tony Granger, Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone Googled themselves, their name would appear as a headline on an ad which said: "Googling yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun too."  Four of the advertising chiefs interviewed Brownstein for a job and he was subsequently offered a post by Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone of Y&R New York.  Brownstein, who is now a senior copywriter at Y&R, said he wanted to invade the "secret egotistical moment" when the creative directors were at their most vulnerable.

The minimal effort of using a Google campaign beats pounding the streets of London with a sandwich board, which helped one graduate get a job with outdoor media owner JCDecaux last October.

News Reference on the Commercial Value of "Googling Yourself"

Open Letter about Open Letters...

2010-05-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Open Letter after open letter... is this the new form of marketing? If you adhere to the philosophy that Conversations are the market and Participation is marketing then it is easy to understand why corporates are releasing letters to justify their position in the market place and attempt to win customers and followers. The only problem with open letters is that they are direct. There is no degree of separation between they who are making the point (the justification) and they who are making the revenue.

In a market where consumers are at their most skeptical, perhaps this same message of Adobe's would've had a more unbiased effect and feeling coming via a third party? Yet I am torn as I can't help but think Steve Jobs pulls off direct messaging? I think it is because to many, he IS Apple. He is the hero that not only saved the loved brand but also combated the Microsoft world we once all inhabited. I think these Adobe co-founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock  don't have the same leverage. They have until now not been as widely known or have had as much profile outside of the Tech universe as Jobs has. Jobs may even be closing in on 'household name' status.

To me this Open Letter response raises some interesting issues, but then I am usually fairly skeptical myself. Why are Adobe taking such a moral high ground over this Open Market ethical point when they outright purchased Macromedia ($3.4Bn in 2005!!) - the inventors and previous owners of Flash to gain a monopoly at the time, over creative softwares? Was this not close to a closed market itself back then? The only worthy creative software on the market yet to develop 'plugins' etc was as closed as developing for Apple devices today? It definitely is in the same realm as what Apple is doing with the only difference being Apple transcends 'software only' because they happen to be a hardware manufacturer too... but not just any, one of the biggest and the most respected.

As a creative I use Adobe in a big way and I also use Apple. Are they forcing an issue which I (as a consumer) really don't want to face? It's like my best friends who were dating and have been a couple forever have broken up and I have to decide now which circle of friends I am going to stick with... Apples, or Adobes? Guys... work it out, you are meant to be together! John and Chuck, don't try and step out into the limelight now... it seems odd and odd raises questions around trust. There is something inauthentic going on. Is it because they have stepped out not to actually address the clearly documented issues Jobs has around Flash but instead to pick a new fight over Open Markets? Now I believe Jobs has a really valid point and the problem with the Open Market debate is not only the fact that it appears to be a blatant diversion but that it is the nature and native inherent behaviour of the tech industry, always has been. This is how manufacturers have always ringfenced their revenue streams?

How did you used to develop apps for the old Nokia mobile devices - you know those really expensive early smartphones that made them billions before Apple took a few bytes out of their market (yes, yes bad pun...) How without registering with Nokia as a developer and using their developers kit? Sure Apps weren't as big business back then but is it Apples fault they have marketed it and transformed that market sector into something everyone wants? Something every manufacturer is now trying to emulate and capitalise on? Apple is smart and one of the best marketing brands in the world, a lot of which stems from Jobs impeccable timing and knowledge for what type of product to release and when. Microsoft, Nokia, Intel, Dell, HP and yes... even Adobe (just to name some of the big ones) are all guilty at some level of trying to create closed markets, just so happens Apple is the biggest, most obvious and most transparent one... perhaps that's why I trust them a little more, who knows...

Adobe declares love for Apple to take high ground on Flash
LONDON - Software company Adobe has taken out press and digital ads to hit back at Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who has refused to allow Adobe's Flash technology on iPads and iPhones.

Adobe: message to Apple

Jobs recently published an open letter on Apple's website criticising Flash for causing Apple products to crash and drain their batteries.
Adobe has struck back with full-page ads in newspapers including the Financial Times as well as on various technology sites.
The tongue-in-cheek ads read: "We [love] Apple...what we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it and what you experience on the web."

They invite people to visit the Adobe website where co-founders and chairmen Chuck Geschke and John Warnock have published their response to Jobs, entitled 'Our thoughts on open markets'. They criticise Apple's approach saying it could "undermine this next chapter of the web - the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time."

Flash is the most widespread video player technology on the web, used by millions of sites for videos and games. With this in mind the following is the open letter published on the Adobe website:

Our thoughts on Open Markets

The genius of the Internet is its almost infinite openness to innovation. New hardware. New software. New applications. New ideas. They all get their chance.

As the founders of Adobe, we believe open markets are in the best interest of developers, content owners, and consumers. Freedom of choice on the web has unleashed an explosion of content and transformed how we work, learn, communicate, and, ultimately, express ourselves.

If the web fragments into closed systems, if companies put content and applications behind walls, some indeed may thrive — but their success will come at the expense of the very creativity and innovation that has made the Internet a revolutionary force.
We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company — no matter how big or how creative — should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.

When markets are open, anyone with a great idea has a chance to drive innovation and find new customers. Adobe's business philosophy is based on a premise that, in an open market, the best products will win in the end — and the best way to compete is to create the best technology and innovate faster than your competitors.

That, certainly, was what we learned as we launched PostScript® and PDF, two early and powerful software solutions that work across platforms. We openly published the specifications for both, thus inviting both use and competition. In the early days, PostScript attracted 72 clone makers, but we held onto our market leadership by out-innovating the pack. More recently, we've done the same thing with Adobe® Flash® technology. We publish the specifications for Flash — meaning anyone can make their own Flash player. Yet, Adobe Flash technology remains the market leader because of the constant creativity and technical innovation of our employees.

We believe that Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web — the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time.

In the end, we believe the question is really this: Who controls the World Wide Web? And we believe the answer is: nobody — and everybody, but certainly not a single company.

Chuck Geschke, John Warnock 
Cofounders & Chairmen, Adobe Board of Directors

iPhones, iPads & iPods... Could this be paradise?

2010-05-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs is always criticised for not allowing Flash on the Apple portable devices. The Herald this morning took a fairly neutral view on this debate. I can't help but think ring-fencing paradise isn't such a bad thing... Your thoughts?

From the NZ Herald Today...
Flash died on the morning of 29 April, 2010. Steve Jobs killed it. And while we may not mourn its passing, we ought to be wary of its killer.

As tech industry feuds go - and Mr Jobs has been in more than his fair share - the current battle between Apple and Adobe, which owns Flash, the platform used to create online video, is a doozey. By penning what amounts to "Flash: six things I hate about you" this week, Mr Jobs has decisively won the upper hand.

Ordinarily, the technological pipes behind the websites we visit needn't be of much interest to the casual browser, but the relentless pursuit of market dominance by Mr Jobs should be.

Apple has always refused to make its iPods, iPads and iPhones compatible with Flash - something that is an irritant to users, since it renders a fair number of websites unreadable.

In the tech community, there has been a lot of support for Apple's stand. Developers have long complained about Flash's shortcomings, which are even more stark now that web browsing is often done on touchscreen mobile devices.

Many have begun experimenting with the newer H.264 standard, so Mr Jobs's blog post ought to persuade laggards to switch over.

But the feud with Adobe is enormously self-serving, and his characterisation of it somewhat disingenuous. While the Apple boss cloaks his criticisms of Flash in the language of "open-source" computing, he has developed the most tightly closed system for his company's devices that the tech industry has ever seen.

Not even Microsoft, the anti-trust evil incarnate, ever forced you to buy your software applications from it directly. The only gateway Apple allows is its official "App Store".

The company prevents users from downloading apps that have not been officially sanctioned by its censors. It has outlawed the use of third-party technology in the apps created by developers. And it skims a cut of all developers' revenues to fatten its own profits.

Mr Jobs is most likely correct to say that this results in a higher quality experience for the iPhone user, and hurrah for that. But here's the downside.

Developers must create their apps anew for each different mobile device, which will have the effect of raising costs and reducing choice. It also makes it impossible for users to switch from an Apple device to a rival without losing all the apps they have bought and the data they contain.

Yes, they are seductive, these iPhones and iPads. But beware. As Mr Jobs lures you in, he is padlocking the doors behind you.

***

For those that are interested, the following is Steve Jobs 'thoughts on Flash ' open letter...

I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe's Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven - they say we want to protect our App Store - but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.

- Openness: Flash is a proprietary product, making it a closed system. While Apple also offers proprietary products, it believes that all web standards should be open. Jobs points to Apple's support of open standards such HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, as well as its own contributions to open source projects such as WebKit.

- "The Full Web": One of Adobe's arguments is that a lack of Flash compatibility prevents Apple mobile devices from accessing "the full web" because 75% of video in that format. Jobs counters that almost all of this video is available in the more modern H.264 format and viewable on iPhone OS devices. He also points to the YouTube application and a list of other sources all offering video in iPhone-compatible formats. With respect to Flash-based games, Jobs concedes that the iPhone is unable to play them, but notes that there are over 50,000 game and entertainment titles on the App Store, many of which are free.

- Reliability, Security, and Performance: Jobs points to a Symantec study showing Flash having one of the worst security records last year and notes that Flash is the #1 reason Macs crash. While Apple has been working with Adobe to address these issues, the problems remain. Jobs also claims that Apple has yet to see Flash performing well on any mobile device, something it has repeatedly asked Adobe to demonstrate.

- Battery Life: Long battery life essentially requires hardware decoding of formats such as H.264, but most Flash website continue to use older decoders that must run in software, crippling battery life for mobile devices.

- Touch: Interactive Flash content is mouse-driven and not easily compatible with Apple's touch-driven iPhone OS. Jobs argues that developers who need to rewrite their Flash websites to support touch anyway should look to more modern technologies like those supported by Apple.

- Flash as a Third-Party Development Tool: Jobs outlines Apple's arguments against allowing developers to create iPhone applications using Flash or other third-party development tools, citing sub-standard performance and a reliance on those third parties to adopt changes and improvements. Apple wants developers building directly on iPhone OS for the best experience possible.

Our motivation is simple - we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen. We want to continually enhance the platform so developers can create even more amazing, powerful, fun and useful applications. Everyone wins - we sell more devices because we have the best apps, developers reach a wider and wider audience and customer base, and users are continually delighted by the best and broadest selection of apps on any platform.

Jobs concludes by noting that Flash was developed during the era of PCs and mice, but today's low-power, touch-based mobile devices require new standards and technologies. Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Yep... I can't help but think Flash IS closed, and yep - so is the App store... but developing of apps has never been more accessible even to non techies. The price of Apps in the app store is ridiculously cheap in comparison to other online/offline app outlets. Yes you have to develop multiple versions of Apps for different platforms but that is only so you can utliise and optimise the functionality and performance for each device... Take a leaf out the the 'Gaming Manifesto!' Geez, you don't see EA complain as much as Adobe when they develop for PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox360, Wii, DS, DSXL, PSP, SYMBIAN, and now APPLE! (Adobe I have to add also has a monopoly in some application areas)... Developing multiple versions is only if you want the revenue from them? And Apple taking a clip... THEY ARE A RETAILER! from wholesale to retail, isn't the bit in between the same type of profit the world has been witnessing for years?

I know this will get some peoples blood pumping so make a comment, come on... you know you want to...

Showing Loyalty // A big part of building trust.

2010-04-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

Some think that dogs are loyal creatures because they become very dependent on their master for everything. Although I am sure this is true, I don’t think it is the food and shelter (the tangible stuff) that is the motive for the dogs loyalty, I think it actually runs deeper. It is the same with us crazy human beings. We too are loyal to the connection, the love. Human to human, love and trust go hand in hand. From product to human and corporate entity to human we try to create that connection to build loyalty and trust.

Whether you are a Corporate or an individual again the following applies... Show loyalty by giving credit to others. Speak about others (particularly people) as if they were present. Represent others who are not there to speak for themselves. Don’t bad mouth others behind their backs. Ever heard that cliche ‘Don’t say things about others that you wouldn’t say to their face’... well its a cliche because it’s true, and it’s true because it shows a lack of loyalty and that shouldn’t be trusted. I bet it almost seems obvious in hindsight now you think about it like that. This is why brands that show loyalty have loyal customers and followers. In tight business times loyal consumers are worth incredibly high value, it’s direct and tangible.

Loyalty works in the workplace and in life like much of these trustful traits. The other big thing that demonstrates loyalty is not disclosing others private information. As an employee for a company it is highly unethical and disloyal to disclose private information and in the event that it leads to commercial gain it is also illegal being ‘insider trading.’ For people it can be the most disgraceful and harmful form of disloyalty. It is also a double edged sword as not only is the entity whose information has been leaked harmed, but so to is the individual who leaked it as no-one will trust you after that except other distrustful people.

I remember going to see Stephen R Covey, the author of the legendary ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ (also Stephen MR Covey’s father), at the Auckland Sky City convention centre when he came to NZ for a full day presentation. (Shameless self-promotion... OBD actually designed all the marketing and collateral.) He was incredibly insightful and not just about work attitudes, techniques and rules but primarily just about life. He is an amazing speaker who really understands and manages to put into words so much about the human condition that it really does expand your mind. But the most memorable quote I took away from that day was “If you want to retain the respect and trust of those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent”. Don’t ask me why that quote stuck the most... it’s not projection if that’s what you’re thinking?

Opposing showing loyalty are those who take the credit for others and really betray them. When you se that happening how do you view that person and more pertinent, do you trust them? Again Stephen MR Covey’s ‘The Speed of Trust’ refers to the counterfeit as being two faced. Appearing to give credit to someone when they are present but downplaying their contribution and taking the credit yourself when they are not. ‘Sweet talking’ someone to their face but then badmouthing them behind their back.

Showing loyalty is one of the great trust behaviours in my mind as it is really a hard one to fake. Loyalty is built up over time. This is not really one of the behaviours that you can start with a propensity for as ‘blind loyalty’ could land in you in hot water as it is very close to gullibility. You have to get to know something or someone to have an authentic loyalty, a connection, an empathy. People, products, corporates - showing loyalty is something that very quickly builds trust... and friendships... and love.

Right Wrongs - Another Trustful Trait.

2010-04-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Do you right your wrongs? Is that a tough question?

There are fundamental rights and wrongs in the business world and the more your can own your wrongs, show humilty and work towards making them right, the more you will be trusted and the more your ‘right’ actions will be embraced. To be a leader in the workplace you really need to demonstrate behaviour that others are inspired by and want to follow/emulate. The hidden benefit here is that when you make the right move and you want people to endorse and follow that move, then having been of the character that rights their wrongs in the past they will trust your actions and have faith it is true and authentic.

This trait is more easily carried out by individuals as opposed to corporates as corporates live to generate profit for stakeholders. The ‘corporation’ as a type of entity really has no conscience other than being steered by people that do. For a corporate to right a wrong is costly which is why it is rarely done. It makes good sense and is really no surprise then that individuals in the current climate really struggle to trust corporates. The only time a corporate tends to attempt to right their wrongs is if they get uncovered and their commercial actions are disclosed against their free will. The pure and simple reason they then right the wrong is because the opportunity cost of not doing it is far greater.

Righting wrongs is something that you can adopt and on every level of life and this leads to creating more trust. The trick to making things right when you are wrong stems from being quick apologise. It doesn’t tend to have the same effect if you defend actions and behaviour that are clearly wrong and then apologise late in the piece... that looks fake and forced... inauthentic. Don’t just apologise either, make restitution where possible. For a business this may mean practicing ‘service recoveries’ and for individuals this is as simple as acts of personal humility. Don’t cover things up and don’t let personal pride and ego get in the way of doing the right thing.

Understandably ‘the right thing’ can be a grey area, especially in the business world where you may need to make a decision that is very right for one set of people yet that same decision may be completely wrong for others. Doing ‘the right thing’ is often then a question of morals and ethics. There are many life principles that can justify many wrongs to be right and transform many rights into wrongs, however the one underlying principle which should empower your judgement and common sense is simple “Is this opinion, action or behaviour fundamentally good for humanity.” Business will often come down to money, but life, and your role as an individual in business should almost always come down to people.

Often you will know when something is wrong, especially if you have done it. Another key to extending your trust through righting wrongs is to proactively correct it as opposed to being reactive. If your conscience is telling you ‘that was wrong’ start fixing it straight away and if you don’t know how, show humility - apologise and get guidance on the best practice to make it right. This is instead of waiting for someone to notice and then reacting like “Sorry, yeah I knew that was wrong but wasn’t sure what to do from here” as it will look to an outsider that if it hadn’t been noticed, you wouldn’t have attempted to make it right - even if your were going to.

In Stephen MR Covey’s ‘The Speed of Trust - The one thing that changes everything’ he outlines the opposite really clearly - To deny or justify wrongs, to rationalise wrongful behaviour. Counterfeit behaviours which will destroy trust are “Covering up,” disguising, trying to hide mistakes instead of repairing them, failing to admit mistakes until forced to do so, being humbled by circumstances instead of conscience.

“To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice” Confucius.

Creating Transparency - Behaviour to Create Trust.

2010-04-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

Many ask the question, How can I build Trust?... What can I actually do that will help make me a trusted person, brand or entity? So far my previous entries around this subject have outlined two of thirteen highly effective behaviours, Talking Straight and Demonstrating Respect.

The third is Creating Transparency. It makes good sense that the more open and the more authentic you are, the more people will trust you. Err on the side of disclosure and tell the truth in a way that people can verify. Hidden agendas don’t often stay hidden for long and once they are realised your character and integrity appear hugely questionable. Don’t hide information that you know should be readily available and disclosed. There is a line of common sense here however... Creating Transparency doesn’t mean you show your employees your juicy pay slip or post copy of your market strategy to your competitor in the hope they will trust you and do the same!

Operate on the premise of “What you see is what you get” but don’t disclose absolutely everything if it is not needed. As long as you are real and genuine, trust will continue to grow. Hiding, covering up, obscuring information or happenings, or to make dark highly effective facts will not only stunt the growth of your trust but it will destroy everything you are trying to build. Hidden agendas, hidden meanings or hidden objectives are all counterfeit. Creating illusion is exactly how the recent ASB employee Stephen Versalko’s Ponzi scheme was able to steal over 17 million from ASB customers. The outcome once the unseen becomes seen impacts hugely causing massive damage to the trust of the ASB brand, many thinking is my money safe there? It’s not until the bank discloses how it works, how it happened and where their incompetence enabled the scheme, that the trust slowly starts to get rebuilt. This is easier for a corporate entity than a person.

I like the new Lady Gaga video ‘Telephone’ with Beyonce, to quote... “Broken trust is like a broken mirror, you can fix it but you will always see the cracks” I can’t believe I am quoting Lady Gaga! but you have to admit, that’s not bad.

There is a large darkness hanging over corporations that consumers no longer trust. We are more skeptical than ever and I believe its because for too long many corporations have been pretending, “seeming” rather than “being” and making things appear different than they actually are. Do car companies release cars (*cough* Prius *cough*) with known faults, withhold information and cover it up because the statistics on the cost of letting it go to market are much better for the bottom line? And when this results in that collateral damage including a life do they then suddenly disclose that they knew all along? Of course not, they have to become more counterfeit and ensure it stays hidden, never seen. Especially if the disclosure of the information could jeopardise more than the bottom line such as... their brand! This is the paradox, it always comes out in the end and the damage and distrust it has created then is far bigger.

Some business strategists believe that to be a leader they need to take risk often adopting the ‘it’s easier to ask for forgiveness after than permission prior’ and there are many instances where they would be right. Risk is uncomfortable and a true leader embraces that discomfort and takes the risk because it might challenge the status quo and result in a highly beneficial change which otherwise would never be discovered. Whether this gamble pays off or not there is a clear dividing line that can be drawn between creating transparency and disclosing an idea that may be shut down yet may change the world in hindsight. Most great ideas often require more than one person. The question is are you creating transparency with those directly involved with the idea... Is it percolating research and development that isn’t quite ripe enoough to present yet, or is it something you can’t disclose because it won’t only be shut down but it has a large element of ‘fundamentally wrong’ that may carry with it punishment? You will know the difference, trust in that.

Creating transparency is another key behaviour and although this onion has many layers I’m sure you will able to judge when something starts to stink. So there you have it, trust is back on track... keep watching this space for more

Masterchef New Zealand - Cooking up a Storm...

2010-03-19T04:53:00.000-07:00

The problem with most homegrown reality television is that it usually sucks. It seems to be some sort of unwritten golden rule. New Zealand idol was terrible, in fact our last winner Matt Suona must be the only idol winner worldwide not to get the opportunity to record an album. The Apprentice New Zealand is watchable and perhaps slightly addictive but lets be frank, it doesn't compare to the US show. Just goes to show despite the combover Trump does make a good personality for TV. And if I have to sit through a single episode of a Celebrity Treasure Island while at a friends house I just might go postal.

But then along came Masterchef New Zealand. This could quite possibly the best New Zealand Television to grace our screens. This show is entertaining, well produced and extremely addictive. I love food so I may be a little biased towards its subject matter but the show has everything. What pleasantly surprises me most with this show is the calibre of all involved. The judges are excellent. Simon Gault has in my mind been New Zealands best all round chef for the last 5+ years. If the Nourish Group open a restaurant, I will be there with bells on to try the cuisine just as soon as I can get a booking. 2 of the 3 best meals in my life have been at Euro, and one was simply a lunch with my brother visiting from overseas... Rotisserie Chicken, unbelievable! But who would've thought as well as being a highly successful restauranteur, brilliant menu creator and top chef, Gault would be an exceptional TV personality. Usually great chefs have to be tough, maybe even slight ego maniacs like Gordon Ramsay. Although Gault has streaks of tough coming through, and some brilliant quick witted, cheeky comments when contestants 'cock it up' he also portrays this feeling of honestly wanting to see these contestants succeed. All three judges are brilliant as they all have quite different ways of explaining and expressing their thoughts on food.

Ray McVinnie is dry, but has some of the best presentation of negative comments. Highly experienced and hugely published (recipes) he has a very distinguished palette which makes watching him taste food 'edge of your seat' entertaining. You simply don't know if he will love it, hate it or even better love to hate it! Ross Burden is also very accomplished and reminds me of David Walliams of Little Britain (the tall one of the two, can't help but chuckle). Burden was also a finalist on the original Masterchef UK in 1993 so has experience with the shows format. Here is the the thing, combined these judges are some of New Zealands best, they add a credibility that makes the show believable and authentic. But above all they are all good TV personalities.

To top it off, the show keeps adding fantastic cameos and guest judges... Tony Astle of Antoines, (I am dying to go there for dinner just to try his Roulade) Simon Wright and his wife Creghan of multi award winning French Cafe fame (their degestation menu is to die for) and my personal favourite Mathew Metcalfe from Icing on the Cake... simply the best cake and cupcake shop in Auckland. See my previous blog - Cupcakes Click Here News Update: Icing on the Cake... Now serves hearty old fashioned milkshakes.

As for the contestants, they are all great but the award for best 'video blog' moments has to go to Rob. He is so deadpan at times that he is by far the funniest. And his opening credit shot talking to the fish... comic genius. Steve is showing good promise and Sue has the artistry of desirable desserts down pat... well, when they are not sliding off the spoon.

Masterchef New Zealand is the first local franchise of an international show that equals it's international counterparts, in fact in many ways it surpasses them due to it's local relevance. If you are not watching this show you are missing out. Luckily, we have tvnz on demand where they are available anytime with less ads. Get into it and get addicted. Good Work Masterchef NZ.

Nicely shot pre-season trailer too, check it out...

Interesting side note: If you are interested (like me) in quite elaborate cooking at home, try the Saporoso Balsamic. It truely is the most amazing balsamic available. You can get it at Nosh stores and probably online. It is incredible on most things, from mozzarella, to venison and even desserts. Balsamic Creme with Strawberries... better than chocolate.

Back to creating trust next....

The Microsoft iPod...

2010-03-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

A while ago I saw a really clever example of brand positioning. What if Microsoft as opposed to Apple had created the iPod and packaging. Finding it again on Youtube reminded me how good it is. It illustrates a number of strong brand theories in a fun creative way. It demonstrates the fundamental differences between 'Simple Apple' and 'Computing Information Age Microsoft.' The different brand values and culture is so clearly shown, you have to chuckle.
Check it out...

Side Rant: iPad Blues...

2010-03-10T02:12:00.000-08:00

As I sit and await a release date for the iPad in NZ, I have found many online entries questioning the validity of the device. Many are asking where the iPad sits? "...it's bigger than a smartphone and smaller than a computer so who needs it?" Has the world gone crazy? The largest selling device range over the last two years has been netbooks by almost 2:1, why does no-one say the same about them? And a netbook is so dinky and awkward to use, has little or no battery life and no real power to achieve anything. The best thing about a netbook is that they look cute (go grab them girls) and the worst thing about a netbook is that it's a netbook.

The iPad on the other hand trumps it several times over. Apple with the iPhone have developed the ONLY good operating system for touch screen that does not require a stylus. From all reports the iPad has even better fingerpoint control and thanks to new LED (as opposed to LCD) technology it is healthier to use and consumes less energy. It has real power and houses some fantastic and powerful 'out of the box' applications such as the iPad version of Pages, Numbers and Keynote. If you have ever used these on a Mac you will know how simple yet powerful these apps are. Most importantly it handles lifestyle tasks like movies, photos and music effortlessly. It has been hassled for not having a camera yet seriously people... does your phone not have one? Why would you need it? That is like walking around with your netbook (if it had a camera) and snapping family pics? Get a grip, this is not a camera it's a portable, easy to use computer. Something you can go on the net with in your living room without jumping on your work horse, main machine and before you know it, ending up back in work mode.

I remember when the first iPods came out and everyone said who needs an iPod... we have CD's and discmans!... I remember because I was one of them. Well turns out 250,000,000 people needed them including me. Apple knows how to deliver the ultimate brand experience ensuring consumers desire and more importantly NEED their products. They are cool and functional and while you are using your iPod contemplating where you would be without it, iTunes quietly whipped up 34% of the global music market to becomes the largest single music retailer. Some think there is definitely a question of capitalism behind it but it is us consumers feeding it's success, and why not... we get cheap music on demand 24/7! This is why I query anyone crying 'capitalism' because all they have really done is develop an amazing product that everyone wants. What is the 'good natured' alternative?... to consciously make it worse so people don't think they have a 'take over the world' agenda? And here in lies the iPad kicker... Remember with the iPad comes the iBookstore. The Amazon Kindle has been a top selling device recently topping over $750M of devices sold over the last 2 years (from one little bookstore) so why would the way cooler, way more versatile and functional iPad not trump that too. Personally I think the iPad will do for books what the iPod did for music. It will make reading cool again especially to our increasingly illiterate youth.

The other factor that can not be ignored is that this is Apple. If any company on the planet can redefine a new category, or make a success out of a previously failing category (tablets) Apple can. The brand is trusted and under Trust, innovation thrives. We are not talking about the Teac Tablet or the Sanyo Screen, we are talking about the Apple iPad and that alone makes it exciting. Personally I can't wait for the launch as I can already see how handy this device will be for my life and work.

Apple makes great products from the ground up... Hardware, portable devices, operating systems and applications... and only within an organization with such a holistic approach to development can a product like this be trusted to work brilliantly fresh out the box. Bring it on! And you don't have to love it from day one... took me three years to convert from CD's to an iPod but if I know Apple, they will seduce you and win you over in the end... it's what they do best.

Vented, tomorrow it's back to defining Trust.

“Respect!” (But not how Ali G might say it...)

2010-03-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

The second thing you can do to build and create trust is Demonstrate Respect. Respect is defined as ‘esteem for, or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability’

This is a quick one... It sounds like a simple truism however showing respect for others will lead others to show respect for you. Genuinely care for others. Show you care and respect the dignity of every person and every role. To truly demonstrate respect be conscious about how you treat people, especially those who can’t do anything for you. Showing kindness for the little things will speak to your character and integrity. It will highlight your agenda and motives to be modest and genuine. Don’t fake caring and the worst of all, don’t attempt to be ‘efficient’ with people.

Don’t be one of those people who shows respect and concern for those who can only do something for you as it is a fundamentally distrusting trait. What happens when they can’t do anything for you anymore? What expectation have you created around you?

“The end result of kindness is that it draws people to you.”
Anita Roddick - Founder & CEO, The Body Shop.

Everybody would like to be respected and most know that ‘respect’ is this thing that has to be earned. Personally I like to start from a position of respect. Everyone I meet, I respect. It is up to them to confirm and reinforce that respect through their motives, agenda and behaviour or loose my respect through distrustful tendencies.

This beginning from a position of respect is a little like the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ mindset. You can control what you have a propensity towards as it is a conscious decision. Not only does this propensity apply for respect but for Trust on the whole. Start with a propensity to trust and so much more happens. Try it :)

Great Theory... But What Can I Actually DO To Create Trust?

2010-02-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

From my last entries I hope you now have a better idea how to recognise Trust and what some of the components are that make up this thing called Trust. This theory is great and in the many meetings I do with clients I know that straight after the understanding comes “What do I do to create trust?... the ‘HOW’ is what I want to know now...”

Therefore my next entries will focus on the ‘how’. I will discuss some of the key things you can do as either a person or commercial entity that not only demonstrate and inspire Trust, but things that are also primary catalysts when wanting to create and proactively build Trust. Some of these seem obvious but it’s great to hear them anyway.

The first is Talk Straight.

Simply, this means be honest, tell the truth and let people know where you stand. It helps to use simple language too. I can’t count the number of meetings I go to where clients are blown away by simple clarity. Many people say “You are the first person that has explained this in a way even I understand” which translates to them understanding what they are actually about to get for the first time. Remember it is their hard earned money that they are about to spend. So many people (especially with online services) don’t understand what they are getting and too many times what they get was not what they needed, it was more what the company selling it could offer.

Call things the way they are. People respect direct truth. It is difficult sometimes to sit in a meeting with a new contact (potential client) and tell them straight... your creative strategy is horrific! And although there is a certain amount of ‘tact’ required, the straight talker will always win out, as people will know where they stand with them. Sugar coating things can waste everyones time and start to impact on your own integrity if you are forcing compliments towards something you actually think is terrible. This inauthenticity will show and start to create a little distrust. Talking straight can often take courage but the results are valuable.

Don’t manipulate people or distort the facts. Don’t spin the truth or leave false impressions either. By keeping it honest and true people will respect and know that they will get honest, straight answers in return. This will build trust and as a result they will naturally come to you more. This is the first tangible benefit about building Trust.

Stephen M. R. Covey offers the antonym of ‘Talking Straight’ to help build a clear understanding of what Talking Straight is and to assist you in recognising counterfeit behaviour:

“Beating around the bush, withholding information, double talking (speaking with a ‘forked tongue’) flattery, false positioning, posturing, manipulating and ‘spinning.’ ‘Technically’ telling the truth but leaving the wrong impression.”

Talking Straight is the first easy step to creating and building Trust. There are more that I will write about ion following blogs but for now keep this one in your conscious thoughts...

This one action can achieve huge results and respect on many levels.

Competence Builds Credibility...

2010-02-19T01:07:00.001-08:00

So... Trust starts with Credibility and to quickly bring you up to speed, I have previously blogged about the metaphorical Credibility Coin. It has two sides that work together to form credibility, Character and Competence. The previous entry covered the Character side of things, namely Integrity and Intent - the two key aspects that define Character. But then what about Competence?

For the most part, when I mention Competence in business meetings most people automatically think along the lines of adequacy and sufficiency. But Competence is not just ‘there’ or ‘not there’ it exists in varied degrees. People can be more competent than others. Then there are those who are highly competent and it makes sense that these people instill a stronger sense of credibility.

So, what defines Competence? It’s easy to recognise it in hindsight as we can easily judge the outcome, but there are two key things that equate to Competence:

1. Capabilities - The capabilities we have that inspire confidence. Our abilities to produce and accomplish T.A.S.K.S. (Talents, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge and Style.)

2. Results - Ones track record, past and present. Getting the right things done and accomplishing the desired objectives.

Your Capabilities speak volumes about your Competence.

As humans we are often surprised as to what we and others are capable of. Capabilites can go both ways, good and bad however only good/positive Capabilites demonstrate Competence and therefore Credibility. If we go back to the metaphor of the tree as in Covey’s ‘The Speed of Trust’, Capabilities are the branches that produce the fruits or results. Capabilities are even more essential in todays changing and challenged economy, where technology and globalisation are outdating skill sets faster than ever before. Improve your Capabilities by always developing your skills and keeping yourself relevant.

To highlight all the dimensions of Capabilities, Covey introduces the clever acronym T.A.S.K.S. (Talents, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge and Style.) Most of these are self explanatory except perhaps ‘Style’ which is basically our personality and unique approach to the way we get things done. By developing our T.A.S.K.S. we can accelerate and develop our Competence. The ultimate outcome through this development is to create an alignment between our natural gifts, passions, skills, knowledge and unique approach. By utilising or developed T.A.S.K.S. we create opportunities to earn, contribute and really make a difference.

The simple ways to accelerate our Capabilities are to:

*Run with your strengths
*Keep yourself relevant
*Know where you are going

“I am curious and interested in just about everything. So, I am always learning and working at the margin of my ignorance”
Harvey Golub - Retired Chairman and CEO, American Express.

Results Matter...

Returning one last time to the metaphor of the tree, results are the fruits. They are tangible and measurable. They round out Credibility by being the end purpose and product of your Integrity, Intent and Capabilities. They are the key criteria for overall performance with the primary indicators being: past performance, present performance and anticipated future performance. You probably know how you yourself view someone’s abilities based on experiencing or finding out about their Results. I bet you also know how your own great results affect how you view yourself and the confidence you have to engage your T.A.S.K.S. in a competitive environment. The same way Results can be empowering for you, they can be empowering for corporate entities.

Results are not the be all and end all, remember that balance is key when establishing Trust. If an individual has incredible results but achieves them in an unprincipled, fraudulent manner they still inspire distrust. Knowing your strengths, you can start approach objectives with an expectation to win. This is a good mindset to set in motion the processes to achieve results. Following through with the process until the Results are achieved is also important to be able to say “I did that, those results are mine”. The following through and finishing strong also leads to better results more consistently.

I was watching a movie a while ago called ‘The Last Kiss’ Starring Zach Braf. There is a moment in the movie when after doing some bad things that destroyed his character (lack of integrity and questionable intent) he comes to his senses and decides to win the girl back. The father of the girl gives him simple but brilliant advice which relates directly back to 'follow through' and getting Results... “You can’t loose if you never quit?”

One thing is certain, when you achieve results take responsibility for them... OWN THEM. Many Introverted personality types will often modestly own the activities or process that delivered the results but frankly, it is more important to own the Results when you are responsible for them! They all add value to your track record, your reputation.

How can we accelerate Results?... Simple

*Take responsibility for your results.
*Expect to win.
*Finish Strong.

“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

A Credible Conclusion...

So there you have it, the two sides of the Credibility Coin are complete. Recognise and develop your Character (Integrity and Intent) and Competence (Capabilities and Results) and you have then planted the seed that is Credibility. I assure you, this grows into very powerful and respected trust... and that is worth real value, real dollars and real satisfaction.

Stay tuned for some very special action points to help you and your business create trust.

Defining Trust Begins with Character.

2010-02-15T23:07:00.000-08:00

Trust starts with Credibility. In the previous entry I mentioned the metaphorical coin and its two sides that work symbiotically together to define and create credibility: Character and Competence. I write ‘define and create’ as you first need to understand and recognise Character and Competence before you can start creating it and eventually build trust.

This entry focuses on Character. Stephen M. R. Covey defines Character by two key components:

1. Integrity - Who we really are. Congruency in values, beliefs and behaviours. Deep honesty, humility and courage.

2. Intent - Genuine concern and caring for others. Our fundamental motive of agenda. Are we seeking mutual benefit and acting in others’ best interests?

Person or Company, Integrity is Key...

Integrity can mean different things to different people as those with little or no integrity may have a different ‘starting line’ as to what they think integrity is and isn’t. I often sum up integrity to the companies I deal with as a commitment to stand for something honest. It means you should know what you stand for. This should be something honest and you should be honest about it but also make and keep commitments to yourself. How can someone else expect you to keep a commitment to them if you can’t (or fail to show you can) keep a commitment to yourself? This applies to companies too.

It probably seemed obvious before reading these blog entries that honesty has always been important in building trust, but perhaps less obvious was the why? Hopefully now you can see that it’s because being honest makes you credible and of good, solid Character and more specifically demonstrates Integrity.

To use the metaphor of the tree as in Covey’s book, integrity is the root. Even though it is usually underground and unseen, it is absolutely crucial to the nourishment, strength, growth and stability of the whole tree.

Have you ever encountered an individual with amazing results and limitless capabilities but tend to achieve their outcomes through dishonest or unprincipled ways? They may sometimes even have good intent but they take comfort in the ‘the ends justifies the means’ mindset. This breaches their integrity. On the other end of the spectrum is a person with ONLY integrity. They are thoroughly honest and a really lovely person but without Competence they are kind of useless.

Showing humility goes hand in hand with honesty. Humility can best be summed up by being open. Don’t be closed off to other ideas or areas where your experience may be lacking. Instead choose to be open, this will accelerate Integrity. Those that have the humility, honesty and courage to open and acknowledge others achievements even when outshining their own instantly build stronger Integrity. Humility is the strength to say “You know what, that is better than what I suggested” Often this almost immediately also creates higher social value. Think about how you see yourself and then contemplate how others see you? If you show honesty and humility others will be more honest and humble around you... wait until you see how productive and efficient that environment can be!

In Summary, to Accelerate Integrity:

* Make and Keep Commitments to yourself
* Stand for Something
* Be Open.

“Who you are, what your values are, what you stand for... They are your anchor, your north star. You won’t find them in a book. You’ll find them in your soul.”
Anne Mulcahy - Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation.

Intent - Making Character Whole...

Without thinking too much about it, I always thought ‘intent’ was what I planned to do or The purpose I had planned for something whether it gets executed or not. The Speed of Trust however clarifies Intent exceptionally well with three additional things: motive, agenda and behavior.

1. Motive. Motive is your reason for doing something, and it inspires the greatest trust when it shows genuine concern for people, purposes and society as a whole.

2. Agenda. Agenda grows out of motive. It’s what you intend to do or promote because of your motive. The intent that inspires the greatest trust is seeking mutual benefit, realizing that life is interdependent and seeking solutions that build trust and benefit for all.

3. Behavior. Typically, behavior is the manifestation of motive and agenda. The behavior that best creates credibility and inspires trust is acting in the best interest of others. This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s easy to say “I care,” and “I want you to win,” but it is our actual behavior that demonstrates whether or not we mean it.

In many organizations, the message communicated by behavior is not “we care;” it’s more along the lines of “you’re expendable.” Part of the Brand Alignment exercise that I run with clients is establishing Business Intent. This intent forms the base for the company culture and needs to be filtered throughout every level.

The reality today is that great employees are hard to find and sought after. There is a whole corporate area called ‘Employer Branding’ which basically takes the intent, vision and company culture and creates the company into a desirable sought after Employer, attracting the best employees and retaining them. A lot of this ‘Internal Perspective’ is derived from Intent. Be clear about your motive, agenda and behaviour.

Important Note: Sometimes (unfortunately) poor behavior turns out to be bad execution of good intent.

How does one accelerate Intent?...

* Examine and Redefine your Motives. It’s human tendency to assume we have good (or at least justifiable) intent.
* Declare your Intent. It signals your behavior and lets people know what to look for so they acknowledge it when they see it.
* Choose Abundance. Abundance means there is enough for everybody. The opposite (scarcity) says that there is only so much to go around, and if you get it, I won’t.

“It is important for me to have the currency of a good reputation. Being candid, honest and forthright about my intentions generates future opportunities for doing business, because the mor you are like that the more your counterparts are going to come to you with deals because they know they are going to get honest answers.”
Robert Johnson - Founder, Black Entertainment Television.

Stay tuned for the next entry, The other side of the Credibility Coin... Competence.

Trust So Clear and Real, You Can Touch It!

2010-02-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Trust. An Introduction to your New Number One Business Asset.

One of the key words that comes up in meetings with clients these days is Trust. In the corporate world everyone wants it and those that have it seem to be achieving great success. But the big question I get asked around branding is “I want people to trust my brand... how do I create that?”

Well, the worst thing you can do is mention the word trust. Phrases like “you can trust us” or “the most trusted brand since...” or NZ’s personal worst “It’s all about Trust” (from the leader of the country no less) do not instill trust, in fact they destroy it. Trust is like ‘power’ chances are if you have to tell people you have it, you probably don’t.

There are not set specific rules around generating Trust only some universal traits and concepts that when combined together form trust naturally. These concepts are very powerful and these blog entries are not only to help one understand every aspect of trust but to also introduce the way you may apply them to your brand or business as how you do this often requires your own good judgement.

The basis for this in-depth look into trust is a bestselling book by Stephen M. R. Covey “The Speed of Trust - The One Thing that Changes Everything.” It is an incredible book that demonstrates how trust is an asset with a tangible dollar value. It looks at what trust is, the different forms of trust and breaks down some very key ways of recognising trust. It then goes on to talk about how to apply it and extend ‘Smart Trust’. It is full of great, real examples of how trust has made a huge difference to the corporate landscape. Definitely read this book.

I have created the following entires to take some of the technical speak in the book out, breaking it down to the key aspects and then through adding my own thoughts, discuss how they are relative to all business.

To begin with Trust stems from credibility. Credibility is the seed that if nurtured correctly grows into pretty powerful trust. Credibility is also like a coin flipping through the air. It has 2 sides and if you look at it in mid flight they seem one in the same, working together holistically. Each side has a lot of detail once we look closer but the two main concepts working together to create credibility are Character and Competence. This is the beginning.

This metaphorical Credibility Coin has the power to start and create trust. True trust comes in five waves. Imagine throwing that coin into a still ocean, it creates a ripple effect - these are the 5 waves of trust. It permeates from the centre with:

1. Self Trust - Eliminating any breaks in your Credibility
2. Relationship Trust - Eliminating breaks in Behaviour
3. Organisational Trust - Eliminating any breaks in Alignment
4. Market Trust - Eliminating any breaks in Reputation
5. Social Trust - Eliminating any breaks in Contribution

A break in any one of these waves/ripples will only lead to (and amplify) breaks in the following ripples. The outcome is different degrees of inauthenticity and distrust. By creating and delivering these five waves in everything you do you will automatically be more trusted. As you can see however, it all starts with Credibility.

Once you have Trust there are many ways of applying it to everything you do. This extending of trust has a very powerful effect. Things happen faster and more efficiently, productivity increases and innovation thrives. Most importantly from a business point of view, the external perspective creates desire and necessity and this is immediately financially beneficial.

Stay tuned... The next Entry will focus on the first side of the Credibility Coin, Character.

Brand Alignment.

2010-02-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

From a branding point of view it is important for an entity to understand who they are but it is almost of equal importance to understand the way others see who they are. Their understanding of who they are is the ‘Internal Perspective’ while the understanding of the way others see them is the ‘External Perspective’. The way to establish a trusted and authentic brand position is to focus on aligning these perspectives to ensure they are congruent and clear. The moment these views do not align, it immediately creates confusion, inauthenticity and begins to breach consumer trust.

Trust is key, and following entries will focus purely on ‘Trust.’ However the brand alignment is the very first (and probably the most simple) initial step for building trust.

There is a Brand alignment exercise that I run with companies which is difficult to fit into a single blog entry but the crux of it begins with Business Intent. Business Intent is basically why you started to do what you do in the first place and a lot of the time it is derrived from what you are Passionate about. I ran an advert for my company (OBD Creative Studio) a while ago and the essence of it is still pertinent today, perhaps even more so after the stressful credit challenged 2009. It read:

“Passion
Love what you do. It’s a simple rule and is often the spark that creates the greatest success. Remember why you fell in love with what you are doing in the first place and re-ignite the spark that set in motion your original business intent. Behind every business is a beginning, a vision and intent that stands for something. And although the market may change quickly and you find yourself chasing the revenue stream and opportunity rather than fulfilling your vision, the intent is always there... waiting to emerge.

OBD Creative Studio specialises in positioning and business growth in the areas you are passionate about, so you too can do what you love. Our passion is helping you deliver and live yours.”

Whatever the Business Intent and Passion is, it needs to be authentic, credible and trusted.

Good execution of your Creative Strategy and the aligned application of your brand through good design should convey the core message to your customers and index it in the brain. On the flip side, noticeably poor design or even over-design can make the viewer notice the 'design', disengaging them from the message.

The Brand Alignment exercise can be broken down into 3 key areas:
1. Business Intent - What are you passionate about and why you started to do what you do in the first place.
2. Exposure - All of the touchpoints of your business from Word of Mouth, to Collateral, to Interaction and overall customer experience.
3. Customer Desire and Necessity - The wants and needs of your customers.

Each area has many parts but it is these three fundamentals that form the alignment cycle.
Here is a question for you: How are your businesses touchpoints and the exposure of your brand (the External Perspective) aligned with the actual heart and passion of the business? (Internal Persepctive)

To align the external perspective with the internal perspective often requires consumer education and ‘enrollment’. There are many ways of educating and conveying the value of your business intent that sits behind the product or service offered. The overall objective of Brand Alignment is to create a brand which positions the business intent to consumers in a way that makes it desirable and necessary.

Brands, along with their products and services usually target necessity OR desire. The brands however that achieve both are the biggest winners. (eg. Apple iPod. It is a desirable object which has been branded extremely well, so much so that many iPod consumers believe they NEED it. Result, 250M sold.)

To align the internal perspective to match the external persepctive often also requires transformation or a larger shift in business strategy. This is sometimes essential if the long term objective is of high value. Listening to 'Consumer Desire and Necessity' along with keeping up to date with current market trends and consumer opportunity will help you realise exactly how to position you Business Intent to ensure your product is as relevant as it can be. Relevant products that not only fill a need but are presented in a way that makes consumers want them are trusted, so much so that they are often raved about.

The ‘disconnect’ for so many businesses I encounter is how the brand and product are positioned and delivered to first time potential customers. They often have a wholesome, meaningful intent which consumers want and need, however their brand and collateral are so disconnected that consumer expectation is on a complete tangent. Confusion and inauthenticity inevitably follow because unless a purchaser has already been a customer (and been pleasantly surprised) their expectation (External Perspective) is askew. Just think how different you business would be if you presented your Intent and Passion so clearly that potential customers were making their initial contact in an aligned like minded state. You wouldn't have to sell to them, as you simply being knowledgeable and passionate about it would sell them naturally...

Brand Alignment is important. Get clear on it. Leverage off it. Love what you do and be successful with it. It makes sense right?

The Importance of Branding...

2010-02-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

Everyday I deal with an array of small, medium and large businesses. I am constantly asked about every ‘business’ problem you can think of from structuring tax, right through to "do fridge magnets help people remember us?" The reality is that the business owners, managing directors and CEO’s all tend to focus on ‘financial’ data as their definition of overall success. I understand this as they are all working for the entity that is their company and these commercial entities only really exist to generate profit, however I think they ask me because at some level they know that ‘branding’ and their ‘creative strategy’ directly affects their financials. They may not know exactly how it does, but they know it does.

The biggest problem currently with ‘branding’ is the word itself. For the most part the word ‘branding’ has so much pre-defined meaning to a business mind that often the first step is a re-education on what branding actually is. Sitting right at the top of this list is the words synonymous link to ‘expensive’. There are many, too many in fact, small boutique design shops selling branding as their business mind sees the higher charges and (for them) higher revenue yet they have no understanding of what branding is. To them they will talk a little meaningless waffle, trying to make it fly right over the head of their customer, create a logo and then plop it in some templated brand guidelines document they have downloaded of the net trying to pass it off as their own in-depth process and IP. Beware of how you spend your money and if you are unsure as how to recognise these design conartists follow my simple rule:

If the initial conversation sounds airy fairy and waffley, don’t assume they are of more intelligence and at a higher level than you. The truth is that it is a confusion technique... disengage now!

A good brand strategist does not talk marketing waffle, instead they can pinpoint the strengths of a business that can be leveraged and the weaknesses of a business that need improvement in an instant. They should talk in a way that you understand and that directly applies to your business, not some general concept that could be for anyone.

So, What is Branding and why is it Important?

Simply, branding is an experience. It is the culmination of many strategically manufactured and implemented factors to gain an emotional connection. These factors are set to target every human sense with the objective to create an experience that is then indexed in the memory. It is these experiences and memories that define a brand. Therefore to simply work backwards it is important to create these experiences and memories on every level to define your brand.

The importance of branding is quite a simple one. Value. In marketing the term ‘Branding’ often refers to the sum total of a company’s value. It includes the tangibles and intangibles such as products, services, people, advertising, positioning, culture and goodwill. If the brand strategy is executed well and the experiences created are both desirable and necessary, all aspects of an entity are directly worth more. For a going concern it can mean the justification of higher prices and higher revenue for products and services along with higher outside demand (customers who want you,) as well as higher internal retention of staff. As an investment offering ‘Branding’ can add a huge increase to the equity which is often realised and capitalised at the implementation of the ‘exit strategy’

While you are developing and operating the business it is important to have an underlying vision and position that is constantly adding value helping your brand appreciate.

Over the next while this blog is going to play host to some very powerful FREE branding theories that can add huge value to your business. Stay tuned.

The Hangover // DVD Review.

2009-11-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

The script is clunky yet it works. This is a rare example where the setups for the gags are predictable however the acting is so brilliant you can't help but laugh. There are even setups with no real punch lines, elaborate setups too which aren't really made the most of. But the jokes that are there... priceless.

One of the major complaints I have heard from a lot of friends about The Hangover is that so many excellent moments were ruined by the preview. Luckily for me I was previewless putty in it's hands. The premise is simple: Four guys go to Vegas for a stag do and overdo it. They have no memory of it, and back trace the many odd clues to try and formulate some sort of reality that they can accept. Except for the total memory loss, this might sound like you have seen this story before – or at least the beginning of it – and I suppose that’s the point. Every big party/road trip movie seems to follow the route, party gets out of control, bad shit happens and then everything works out in the Nick of time for the best and the bad boys can relax and laugh about on of the greatest times of their life... yada yada... Whats great about this movie is that they go joking about the hardcore antics that might happen and would then have to 'remain on tour' yet they awake to find themselves so far beyond what they thought was capable with one hell of a mess to clean up and examine in hope of recollection.

This is a hard movie to talk about without giving much away, so I will try and stay 'off plot' where possible. When the Hangover was released in cinema this was one of those movies that I felt like I didn't really need to see until everyone started talking about it around the water cooler, reminiscing about the funny moments which (if you weren't there so to speak) didn't seem that funny. But now I get it... and yes... it's good! The scripted dialogue is not brilliant but even the simplest lines are delivered perfectly. Other than Bradley Cooper (and perhaps Mike Tyson and Heather Graham) the other three leads are fairly understated Hollywood names. This works. Zach Galifianakis starts out with a badly written predictable gag - no pants and has to hug his brother-in-law to be. But he quickly unravels into an awkward, inept and socially challenged guy with a slight screw loose. He is strange but to the point of side splitting laughs! This is a film that requires brilliant chemistry between the cast. These guys deliver! they are as in tune with each other as Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers, but there's four of them.

Bradley Cooper is as good as always, Jeffery Tambor delivers his usual good one liner style and Vegas as always supplies the perfect backdrop for the most outrageous events which 'in Vegas' are probably not that abnormal. Get this out of you want some cheap laughs. This left me we a belly of warm giggles much like American Pie the first time I saw it or There's Something About Mary, except with a slightly more realistic edge.

The hangover is great, makes you want to round up 3 friends and head to Vegas and make a toast to life on a Casino Rooftop!

R16 Rating: Sexual content including nudity, & some drug material.

Time in minutes 100
Director Todd Phillips
Studio Warner Brothers

McDonald's to trademark slang-brand 'Maccy D's'

2009-11-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

LONDON - McDonald's has applied to the Intellectual Property Office to register its popular slang name, 'Maccy D's', as a trademark.

The term has been used widely in the UK for many years when referring to the fast-food chain, but has not previously been officially adopted by McDonald's itself.

Other fast-food restaurant chains have also sought to promote abbreviated versions of their brand names, such as 'KFC' for Kentucky Fried Chicken and 'BK' for Burger King.

Earlier this year, Pizza Hut tried to promote truncated name 'The Hut' in its advertising campaigns.

This is not the first time McDonald's has used slang to promote its restaurants. In 2003, the chain unveiled its 'I'm lovin' it!' strapline, which was designed to take the brand in a fresh direction. At the time, McDonald's said that the phrase would be the strategic 'glue' for upcoming global marketing and ad campaigns, which it wanted to be 'relevant, hip and energetic'. US pop singer Justin Timberlake was drafted in to promote the tag.

Last month, the fast-food chain celebrated the 35th anniversary of its arrival in the UK with a nostalgic campaign that focused on some of its best-known menu items. The push, which uses the strapline 'There's a McDonald's for everyone', shows the range of people who visit the restaurants.

by Amy Golding, marketingmagazine.co.uk 24-Nov-09

Planet iPhone...

2009-11-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Breaking News: Tesco to sell iPhone in deal with O2
by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 25-Nov-09

LONDON - Tesco has confirmed it is to start selling the iPhone after finalising a deal with O2.

Tesco Mobile, a 50:50 joint venture with O2, will sell the 3G and 3GS iPhone models in Tesco Phone shops as well as online, through Tesco Direct. A website has been set up by Tesco where customers can pre-register their interest.

Tesco Mobile joins O2 and Orange in selling the Apple handset, with Vodafone set to start selling them shortly. Orange said that on its first day offering iPhones, over 30,000 handsets were snapped up by customers.

***

Many are asking the question, should I get an iPhone? Sure they are pricey and the plans will cost you more but are they worth it?

The simple answer is yes. I have always loved mobile phone technology and figuring what's the best along with why, but neverbefore has a handset truely had it all.

A touch screen that doesn't require a stylus. It's still a touch screen though so software isn't confined to the using the buttons on the hardware. Software development has been opened up to almost everyone which means the device itself now has easily accessible applications for almost everything... and heaps of them are FREE!

For a corporate iPhone applications are fun, widely used and highly relevant software products. Now with more than 51 million handsets in the market place iTunes - the web based shop that sells music, video and applications for the iphones and ipod touch devices - is a single store turning over more than 3.34 billion per year. iTunes is now the number 1 music store taking over from Walmart in 2008.

iPhone sales have consistently been on the rise since they entered the market place in 2004 and seem to be growing exponentially as opposed to tapering off. iPhone applications are a great marketing tool as consumers see them as convenient, accessible and easy to use.

* The mobile application market has exploded from nothing two years ago to 4.66 billion in 2008.
* It is estimated the mobile application market will hit 16.6 billion by 2013.
* 4 billion mobiles wordwide as opposed to 1 billion PC’s
* 165.2 million smartphones sold in 2009

Volkswagen and Apple Together.

2009-11-02T03:43:00.000-08:00

As a Creative Consultant and Brand Strategist you know I probably am going to have a propensity to use and support Apple Mac. Building iPhone applications is fast becoming an investment for any corporate. It’s an exponentially expanding market with exponentially expanding value if designed and managed correctly. But how big can the market really be... how many iPhones are out there? This article caught my eye this week in the NZ Herald. This could very well be the app to watch as a new benchmark. Interesting facts; the App was licensed, 51 million audience on iphone/ipod touch and 65,000 apps in iTunes... Check it out.

Apple of Volkswagen's eye

The first signs that German carmaker Volkswagen and American computer company Apple might be setting out on a long-term relationship came at the 2007 Frankfurt motor show.
The VW Group stands - VW, Audi, Seat, Bentley, Bugatti - were littered with white Apple laptops. Staff wore white. VW's small concept car, the up! was white.

Marketing people joked that the up! was VW's version of the iPod, Apple's portable music player. They said other colours will follow when the up! goes into production, just like the iPod. That VW chief Professor Martin Winterkorn had been talking for some time to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was no secret. Both companies had worked together before in the United States, around the time of the launch of the iPod.

Since then Apple has launched the iPod Touch and iPhone and VW has come up with interactive racing games for the Scirocco and Polo through Apple's App Store. Now comes VW's and Apple's most ambitious collaboration yet, the launch in the US of the sixth-generation Golf GTi - exclusively on the iPhone.

VW describes the iPhone application as a "cost-efficient approach that is a first for the motoring industry". Just how efficient is reflected in a cost comparison: In 2006, VW spent US$60 million ($83 million) on US print and television ads for the fifth-generation GTi; media analysts estimate the annual cost to VW for the sixth-generation GTi campaign on iPhone would be around US$500,000.

VW countered criticism of the iPhone-only strategy with Apple's help: Apple says there are more than 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide. The most watched show on US television for the week ending October 18 drew 21 million viewers and commanded an average price of $130,000 for a single 30-second spot.

The carmaker's Real Racing GTi game for the iPhone and iPod Touch includes a motion-controlled car-racing game, as well as a virtual showroom. The brand conceived the mobile strategy, which also includes a six-car giveaway for game players, with award-winning independent digital agency AKQA, which has offices in the US, Europe and Asia.

VW licensed the GTi game from Australian developer Firemint, which built a pared-down version with fewer race tracks using only the GTi, the go-fast version of the Golf range. Not only does choosing a mobile platform over a customary 30-second spot reduce marketing cost, but licensing an existing game also means savings.

"It's a clever idea," said US mobile-marketing consultant Raven Zachary, president of Small Society and founder of iPhoneDevCamp. "Licensing game technology saves VW considerable development cost and time to delivery. And the cost of six cars is not bad considering the cost of doing a print campaign or TV campaign."

Cost appears to be a major factor. Of course, there is a real danger the carmaker will miss many prospects using only one narrowly targeted marketing tool. But VW maintains it is a highly targeted strategy to directly reach the GTi customer, a tech-savvy, social-media activist who spends time on mobile devices, most often iPhones.

"It's a home run in terms of the demo overlap," said Nihal Mehta, CEO of search and networking application Buzzd.
VW is banking on PR, viral pass-along and some paid search for consumers looking for iPhone applications and information on the GTi.

But analysts are asking if the buzz alone will be enough for the GTi application, coming at a time when advertisers and agencies are trying to figure out how best to get their applications noticed - and downloaded - amid the more than 65,000 in the Apple App Store.

The GTi game includes built-in functionality for players to send messages via Twitter and upload game play videos to YouTube. Digital experts such as Nihal, who founded text-messaging company Ipsh and sold it to Omnicom Group in 2005, thinks these vehicles will prove more effective than paid media.

"Viral tactics work because media buys aren't that compelling anymore," he said. "You can get clicks, but even if an app is free, people don't want to download it. They really have to be invested or told by a friend." He said he thinks the competition and incentive to play and beat other players will work to make the GTi application popular.

Small Society's Zachary agrees, especially since the game has incentive beyond entertainment: a chance to win a new car.
For consumers, more game play means more chances to win one of the six limited-edition 2010 GTi's that VW is giving away as part of the launch. Beyond the competition, the fact that the mobile-only car launch is a first is a big draw for press, too.
"It's not a gamble in this case," said Zachary. "VW is the first to do this and that's PR value. If this had been the third car giveaway through an app, maybe not. Because this is novel, [VW is] going to generate considerably more press and that will drive downloads."

Press hits aside, pitting application users against each other in competition will also translate to downloads, said Mehta, citing the popular mobile social networking service FourSquare, where users compete to be the mayor of local bars and restaurants, as a prime example. "I don't know if a press event is going to do anything, but building in those viral elements of inviting friends having multi-player games is a good long-term strategy. People like to compete," Mehta said.

VW's launch for the GTi in 2006 featured a dark, gremlin-like character called "Fast" who in TV spots and online urged male GTi drivers to drive faster. The other work, themed "Unpimp Mein Auto," played on VW's heritage with "Helga", a sexy, labcoat-wearing engineer with a German accent aimed at conveying to tuners of Asian cars that the GTi has built-in German engineering.

Online versions with Helga and her sidekick, Wolfgang, were wildly popular and won Miami-based advertising agency Crispin Porter the top cyber award at Cannes that year.

Oct 31, 2009 By Alastair Sloane. NZ Herald.

5 Big Questions Answered.

2009-10-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

_
What on Earth is Bigger Than a Terabyte?
1000 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte
1000 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte
1000 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte
1000 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte
1000 Terabytes = 1 Petabyte
1000 Petabytes = 1 Exabyte (Created in 2000)
1000 Exabytes = 1 Zettabyte
1000 Zettabyte = 1 Zottabyte
1000 Zottabyte = 1 Brontobyte – that is a 1 followed by 27 zeroes, and NO! you can’t get a USB memory stick that big… yet.

Why are Flamingo’s Pink?
Flamingos are pink because of the food they eat, which is shrimp and algae. It's not the the colour of the food that makes the flamingo pink, but the chemicals inside. Feather colour varies with species, ranging from pale pink to crimson or vermilion. Caribbean flamingos have the brightest colouration: crimson or vermilion. The Chilean flamingo is pale pink. Its diet is high in alpha and beta-carotene. People eat beta-carotene when they eat carrots.

Why is Mr T called Mr T?
Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud on May 21, 1952) is an American actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team, as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III, and for his appearances as a professional wrestler. Mr. T is also well-known for his distinctive mohawk hairstyle, for wearing large amounts of gold jewellery, and for his tough guy image. He starred in the reality show I Pity the Fool, shown on TV Land, the title of which comes from his catchphrase from Rocky III. Tureaud worked as a bouncer after he returned from the army. It was at this time that he created the persona of "Mr. T." His wearing of gold neck chains and other jewelry was the result of customers losing the items or leaving them behind at the bar/night club after a fight. A customer, who may have been banned from the club or trying to avoid another confrontation, would not have to re-enter the club if Mr. T wore their jewelry as he stood out front. When a customer returned to claim the item, it was readily visible and available with no further confrontations required. Often, the "former" customers did not return. Mr. T thus built up a large collection and earned a reputation for wearing many gold neck chains and bracelets.

Mr. T managed eventually to parlay his job as a bouncer into a career as a bodyguard to the stars that lasted almost ten years. He protected well-known personalities like Muhammad Ali, Steve McQueen, Michael Jackson, Leon Spinks, Joe Frazier and Diana Ross, charging $3,000 per day. As a bodyguard, Tureaud's business card read, "Next to God, there is no greater protector than I." Mr. T claimed that he never lost a client, saying, "I got hurt worse growing up in the ghetto than working as a bodyguard." A bald-headed Mr. T can be seen on film accompanying Joe Frazier to the ring in Frazier's rematch against George Foreman in 1976.
While reading National Geographic, Mr. T first noticed the unusual hairstyle, for which he is now famous, on a Mandinka warrior. He decided that adoption of the style would be a powerful statement about his African origin. It was a simpler, safer and more permanent visual signature than his gold chains, rings, and bracelets. The gold jewellery was worth about $300,000 at the time and took him about an hour to put on. Most nights, Mr. T spent even more time cleaning them using an ultrasonic cleaner. Occasionally, he would sleep with the heavy neck chains and bracelets on, "to see how my ancestors, who were slaves, felt."

In 1980, Mr. T was spotted by Sylvester Stallone while taking part in NBC's "America's Toughest Bouncer" competition—a segment of NBC's Games People Play. His role in Rocky III was originally intended as just a few lines. His catchphrase, "I pity the fool!", comes from the film, in which he played a boxer facing Rocky Balboa. When asked if he hated Rocky, he replied, "No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool." Subsequently, after losing out on the role of the title character's mentor in The Beastmaster, Mr. T appeared in another boxing film, Penitentiary 2, and on an episode of Showtime's early sketch comedy series Bizarre, where he fights and eats Super Dave Osborne, before accepting a television series role on The A-Team. Mr. T appeared in an episode of Silver Spoons, reprising his old role as bodyguard to Ricky Stratton. In the episode, he explains his name as "First name: Mister; middle name: period; last name T." In one scene, when Ricky's class erupts into a paper ball throwing melee, Mr. T throws his body in front of the objects, fully protecting his client.

In The A-Team, he played Sergeant Bosco "B.A." Baracus (B.A. is an abbreviation of "Bad Attitude" as well as "Bosco Albert"), an ex-army commando on the run with three other members from the U.S. government "for a crime they didn't commit." When asked at a press conference whether he was as stupid as B.A. Baracus, he observed quietly, "It takes a smart guy to play dumb."

Mr. T plays Santa Claus with First Lady Nancy Reagan for Christmas at the White House, 1983
A Ruby-Spears produced cartoon called Mister T premiered in 1983 on NBC. The Mister T cartoon starred Mr. T as himself, the owner of a gym where a group of gymnasts trained. He would help them with their training but they would also help him solve mysteries and fight crime. Thirty episodes were produced. In 1984, he made a motivational video called Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!. He gives helpful advice to children throughout the video; for example, he teaches them how to understand and appreciate their origins, how to dress fashionably without buying designer labels, how to make tripping up look like breakdancing, how to control their anger, and how to deal with peer pressure. The video is roughly one hour long, but contains 30 minutes of singing, either by the group of children accompanying him, or by Mr. T himself. He sings "Treat Your Mother Right (Treat Her Right)", in which he enumerates the reasons why it is important to treat your mother right, and also raps a song about growing up in the ghetto and praising God. The raps in this video were written by Ice T. That same year he released a related rap album titled Mr. T's Commandments. Also in 1984, he starred in the film, The Toughest Man in the World.

In 1988, Mr. T starred in the television series T. and T.. Mr. T was once reported to be earning around $80,000 a week for his role in The A-Team and getting $15,000 for personal appearances, but by the end of the 1990s, he was appearing only in the occasional commercial, largely because of health problems. (In 1995, he was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma.) He frequently appears on the TBN Christian television series. He has appeared in commercials for MCI's 1-800-COLLECT collect-call service and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has also appeared on some Comcast commercials, and in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand during 2007, advertising the chocolate bar Snickers with the slogan "Get Some Nuts!". One of these commercials, featuring Mr. T crashing through a wall on the back of a technical vehicle before firing Snickers bars at a speed walker wearing tight-fitting yellow shorts, was pulled by Mars following a complaint by the US-based group Human Rights Campaign, despite the fact that the advert had never been shown outside the UK. The group alleged that the commercial promoted the idea that violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people "is not only acceptable, but humorous". The commercials are still shown on Australian television. Mr. T appeared in a popular commercial for the Oregon Lottery which parodied the current popularity of reality TV shows. The commercial was a satire, in which Mr. T starred in a fictitious reality show entitled Who can spend 30 days in a trailer with Mr. T?

Mr. T did a video campaign for Hitachi's Data Systems that was created and posted on consumer video sites including YouTube and Yahoo! Video. According to Steven Zivanic, senior director and corporate communications of HDS, "this campaign has not only helped the firm in its own area, but it has given the data storage firm a broader audience." As of December 1 2007, the first version, “Mr. T: The T in IT,” has been viewed 259,857 times on YouTube alone. In November 2007, Mr. T appeared in a television commercial for the online role playing game World of Warcraft with the phrase "I'm Mr. T and I'm a Night Elf Mohawk". In 2008 Mr. T appeared on the American channel shopping TV selling his "Mr.T Flavorwave Oven". Mohawk Media, publisher of the Mr. T graphic novel, has announced on its website that Sony Pictures will be producing a CGI movie starring Mr. T, scheduled for release in 2009, as well as a video game by ZootFly.

How and Why is Whoopi Goldberg Famous?
As an actress, Whoopi Goldberg is best known for her first featured role in The Color Purple, and her Oscar-winning performance in Ghost. As a comedian, she is famous for performing mildly offensive material with a blasé but endearing "laugh or go to hell" delivery. Goldberg has always loved shocking the audience to silence, almost as much as hearing the laughter. Early in her career, her routine included spot-on cross-ethnic impersonations - sexually active surfer chicks, down-and-out bums, pervert priests - and then she would casually describe how she'd used a coat hanger to perform an abortion on herself when she was 14. She is often highly controversial.

Goldberg started on stage at the city's Hudson Guild Community Center, and eventually moved to California, where she did experimental theater and supported herself with low-paying jobs as a manual laborer. When she confided to her mother that she needed an outrageous stage name to match her material, something more memorable than "Caryn Johnson", her mom mulled it over and dreamed up "Whoopi Goldberg". In the 1970s, Goldberg sang chorus roles in stage productions of Hair, Pippin, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and performed in a Berkeley experimental group, the Blake Street Hawkeyes. There, she was "discovered" by director Mike Nichols, who helped get Goldberg's one-woman performance piece, The Spook Show, booked on Broadway. Goldberg's bitchy, angry, but funny pathos got strong notices, and got the attention of someone in Steven Spielberg's office. She was asked to audition for the lead role in The Color Purple, which was definitely not a comedy. The movie was a critical and popular success, Goldberg was nominated for an Oscar.funny, but being aggressively blunt is also part of Goldberg's schtick - an odd tactic for a comedian.

What is the Main Job of Rodeo Clowns?
A bullfighter or rodeo clown, also known as a rodeo protection athlete, is a rodeo performer who works in bull riding competitions. The primary job of the bullfighter is to protect a fallen rider from the bull, whether the rider has been bucked off or has jumped off of the animal. The bullfighter distracts the bull and provides an alternative target for the bull to chase.

To this end, they wear bright, loose-fitting clothes that are designed to tear away, with protective gear fitted underneath. Staying true to the earlier name of the job, rodeo clowns often wear clown makeup and some may also provide traditional clowning entertainment for the crowd between rodeo events, often parodying aspects of cowboy culture.

Nick Hornby Completes Me.

2009-10-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading when it is a really good book. To me however I can’t spend my scarce time reading a thriller or action book, for some reason I do think these are best reserved for film. I find I have an over active imagination. I imagine what I am reading one way, and then stop and think to myself “but what if it was actually more like this… completely different?” and then re-read the passage creating a whole new alternate mental scene. Instantly the suspension of disbelief vanishes and I am bored with the book. A good book however will engage me. It doesn’t allow my mind to stray and for me the genre that most draws me in completely is comedy.

I read an absolute gem called ‘A Starter for Ten’ by David Nicholls who I later found out was one of the writers on season one of the UK series Cold Feet. Brilliant book and at the risk of sounding clichéd, way better than the movie. But for consistency and outstanding contribution to the world of literature you really can’t look past Nick Hornby. I started with ‘How to be good’ which has some very funny, warm moments of genius. But the land mark book for any love challenged male is ‘High Fidelity’. As well as also being an outstanding film the book is sheer brilliance. There are moments of universal truth which most males would stress about, over analyse and apply endless self deprecating meaning to if it was happening to them, however Hornby has a crafty way of turning it full circle and cracking a smile on your face. Then often follows laughter. And why not laugh at ourselves from time to time… Gents, you are not alone. But what makes Hornby’s books so consistently good?

First lets look at who this literary guru is. Nicknamed by journalists as "the maestro of the male confessional," Nick Hornby initially gained popularity through the troubled male protagonists of his first three novels -- Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, About a Boy -- and their eventual film adaptations. Yet, with the female narrator of his fourth book, How to Be Good, and his screenwriting partnership with Emma Thompson, he proved that his pop sensibilities are not gender specific. (Hornby is known for his references to popular culture, especially sports and music)

Born on April 17, 1957 in Maidenhead, England, Hornby is the son of businessman Sir Derek Hornby. When the younger Hornby was 11 years old, his parents divorced and his father began taking him to watch the North London Premier League club Arsenal during their visits. He ultimately developed into a loyal, and somewhat irrational, fan of the team. Hornby also became a dedicated reader, absorbing everything from comic books to Lorrie Moore. As an English Literature major at Cambridge University, he began composing stage plays, screenplays, and radio plays in his spare time. A professor then introduced Hornby to novelist Anne Tyler's Dinner at a Homesick Restaurant, which inspired him to write prose.

After graduating, Hornby worked a series of jobs -- he taught grade school, gave language classes, and served as host for Samsung executives visiting the U.K. -- before becoming a paid journalist. He composed a pop culture column for the Independent, and wrote about books and sports for publications like Esquire and the Sunday Times. In 1992, he published his first book, Contemporary American Fiction, a collection of essays on American writers such as Ann Beattie, Raymond Carver, and Tobias Wolff. That same year, he released Fever Pitch, a memoir about being a devoted (and irrational) Arsenal fan since childhood. The work was a surprise hit, earning countless acclaim and selling out copies years into its release.

Hornby finished his first novel, High Fidelity, in 1995. The story of a record shop owner whose only lasting relationship is with pop music, High Fidelity earned accolades for both its compassion and its flippant refusal to compromise itself for political correctness. Hornby followed its success with the screen adaptation of Fever Pitch (1997), a four-star dramatic comedy starring Colin Firth as a schoolteacher struggling to sustain a romance against the backdrop of Arsenal's first championship season in 18 years. He also made a cameo appearance in the film.

In 1998, Hornby published About a Boy, a novel inspired in part by the children (especially the badly behaved adolescent girls) that he encountered as a teacher. The story follows Will, an immature single man, and Marcus, a struggling preadolescent, as they grow up together. His most favorably reviewed book to date, About a Boy, helped its author earn the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999.

Unlike with Fever Pitch, Hornby did not pen the film adaptations of High Fidelity and About a Boy. Co-written by its star John Cusack and helmed by legendary British director Stephen Frears, High Fidelity opened in 2000 to rave reviews and ended the year on many top ten lists. Despite having its setting transplanted from London to Chicago, the film still owed much of its success to its source material. About a Boy faired even better -- after buying the rights to the book for nearly three million dollars, Robert De Niro's Tribeca Films and Working Title commissioned What's Eating Gilbert Grape creator Peter Hedges to draft the screenplay. The film went into production under the direction of brothers Chris and Paul Weitz with Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult in the lead roles and Hornby as an executive producer. Released in 2002, critics hailed About a Boy as the best Hornby adaptation to date.

While enjoying his big-screen success, Hornby published How to Be Good, which earned him Britain's prestigious W.H. Smith Fiction Award in 2002. He also began working on several screenplays, including a collaboration with Academy Award-winning writer Emma Thompson. He continues to contribute to Time Out, the Sunday Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and is the pop music reviewer for the New Yorker. The parents of an autistic son, Hornby and his ex-wife founded TreeHouse, a school for autistic children in London. In 2000, he edited a collection of short stories entitled Speaking With the Angel to raise funds for the school. The book includes writings by Colin Firth, Irvine Welsh, and Helen Fielding.

Kellogg's to take Branding to a whole new level...

2009-10-14T03:08:00.000-07:00

The world is ever changing and branding has never been more important and never been more integrated into everything we do. But in a world where everything seems to be branded, from the registered and trademarked 'Angus' steak I cooked for dinner right down to the Provenco eft-pos terminal I paid for it on, there is competition everywhere contending for pieces of the same juicy commercial pie. But at what point to we pause and seriously contemlate the possibility that corporations may be taking branding too far?

When building equity in a product or service there really is nothing more important than its brand. The brand can connect with customers, convey it’s brand values and set in motion the journey of brand experience. So I had to chuckle when I read this article about Kellogg’s new game plan to retain their almighty powerful market share. Jacquie Bowser of Brand Republic in the UK writes…
Kellogg's to laser-brand individual Corn Flakes in fight against fakes. LONDON - Kellogg's is to start branding individual Corn Flakes with the company logo in a bid to protect against imitation products.

The food giant plans to burn the Kellogg's signature on to individual flakes using a laser and will then insert a proportion of these branded flakes into each box.

If the system proves successful, it could be used on Kellogg's other cereal products, including Frosties, Special K and Crunchy Nut.

Helen Lyons, lead food technologist at the company, said: ''In recent years there has been an increase in the number of own brands trying to capitalise on the popularity of Kellogg's Corn Flakes… We want shoppers to be under absolutely no illusion that Kellogg's does not make cereal for anyone else.”

''We're constantly looking at new ways to reaffirm this and giving our golden flakes of corn an official stamp of approval could be the answer."

I chuckle and find this quite amusing as the name itself really is wide open for this exact parasidic trade from faux products released by competitors. ‘Corn Flakes’ really isn’t the most inventive product name to differentiate you from competitors. That said, Krafts attempt to be as different as possible with their completely batty iSnack 2.0 got them well deserved press (which I can only imagine was the intention from the outset) but did leave the consumer thinking it is so ridiculous that they might wonder if Kraft know which end of the machine the cheese comes out of.

Good branding builds loyalty however separately this week, hair-appliance brand GHD has launched an anti-counterfeit ad campaign across print, online and social media channels. The campaign shows that consumers can easily be led into buying fakes, which are practically impossible to spot just by looking. This did surprise me as GHD has done an incredible job with their branding and brand positioning. SO much so that it is a household name even to most men that comfortably sit outside their target demographic with the exception of Fabio.

GHD is encouraging consumers to search for approved stockists via the official website www.ghdhair.com/fake.

The Explosive Oil Paintings of Francoise Nielly.

2009-10-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

I have always been a fan of great oil paintings, probably due to the fact that it is one of the only forms of painting I myself struggle with. I don’t think I have the patience? Usually too, the tradition of the oil paining process lends itself to masterful, labour intensive creations. However the work of Paris-based artist Francoise Nielly is explosive and contemporary while evolving out of the ‘oil painting’ skill set.

For more than 20 years this talented Marseille-born French artist has been producing vibrantly coloured portraits that while on the surface seem graphic and full of expression, always seem to capture the form of the human face so precisely and from interesting, engaging perspectives. Her style is unique and today I figured she deserves my artist of the week.  

Standing in front of one of her works is an experience that explores culture, exhilaration and total emmersion into a intensely crafted acidic palette. Her bold portraits are fast becoming a sought after commodity because they are those rare investments that not only appreciate financially but you love to look at in your living space.

Francoise Nielly lives in a world of images.  She has explored the different facets of "image" all her life , through painting, photography, roughs, illustrations and virtual, computer generated animated graphics. It is clear now that painting is her direction and her passion.   She gets her sense of space and construction from her father, who was an architect.

Growing up in the South of France, where she lived between Cannes and Saint-Tropez, Nielly was natively emmersed in the light, the color sense and the atmosphere that permeates the South of France. This is coupled with her studies of the Beaux Arts and Decorative Arts, gave her a solid foundation to express her sense of humour and convey an exciting sense of celebration.

Françoise Nielly's painting is expressive, exhibiting a brute force and a fascinating vital energy. Oil and knife combine to sculpt her images from a material that is , at the same time, biting and incisive, charnel and sensual. Whether she paints the human body or portraits, Nielly takes a risk : her painting is sexual, her colors free, exuberant, surprising and dynamic. The cut of her knife is incisive, almost violent while her color palette remain dazzling and acidic.

Françoise Nielly is a passionate woman who loves life, wide open spaces, sushi, blue lagoons, the Internet, humor, books, Paris, New-york and Vancouver. She lives and paints in Paris near Montmartre; shows and sells her work in Europe, in Canada and in the United States - Works which one can only describe as full of heart and energy. This artist is on the rise and going places.

Perhaps in the not to ditant future I might be lucky enough to own an original including all its texture and exertion. Until then I will simply have to track down a print. Oh yes... Francoise Nizzle is the Shizzle. Word.

Cigar Confusion? Let Big Smoothie Set You Right...

2009-10-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

We all know smoking is bad for you no matter how many local celebrities we apply video filters to and insert into funky, youthful anti smoking messages. We are all subjected to the lunch wrenching imagery on the packets, even the non smokers who treat their bodies as temples can’t help catch a glimpse of these sanguinary images as they lay casually beside a cold beer at the local outdoor beer garden.

But that filth is cigarettes… what ever happened to cigars? You know, the ones you don’t inhale. Sure they’re not good for you but then chocolate makes you fat and causes heart disease and diabetes, alcohol has adverse effects not to mention the worst one… embarrassment!... and cigars, well, cigars have somehow remained cool? And that is because they are. But even if you know you like them, or you have never really tried one but wouldn’t mind joining the ranks of the cool, what should you choose.

Choosing a cigar may seem like an overwhelming task but read this short article and you will become a quasi-expert on cigars with respectable bragging rights AND, you’ll be able to tell your unclassy mates exactly why you choose the Dominican-grown Robusto with a Maduro wrapper.

Firstly, Type of Cigar Based on Size.
There are several ways of categorizing cigars: size, shape, strength, their country of origin, and the way they are made (hand-rolled vs. machine). The most common way to categorize a cigar is by size, which is the cigar’s length in inches and ring size (cigar diameter) measured in 64ths of an inch. There is actually a name associated with each length and ring size and these are the cigar names that you may be familiar with. Corona, Panatela, Torpedo, Toro, Churchill, Perfecto, Cigarillo, Lonsdale, Robusto, and the largest of them all, Giant. The Giant style of cigar is 9 inches in length with a ring size of 52!

Then, Colors, Shapes, and Hand-Rolled.
After choosing a cigar based on size, you can start to whittle down your choices by choosing the color of the exterior wrapper (there are more than 100 different wrapper shades!) and the shape of the cigar. Flared, tapered, pyramid are the basic shapes. And don’t buy the cheapest cigar -- hand-rolled cigars should be your only choice. No one can ever appreciate the true joy of cigar smoking with a machine-made cigar. Don’t even spend the money.

Start with Mild-Flavored Cigars.
If you are an aspiring cigar connoisseur, start by buying one of several different sizes/styles of cigars at your local tobacconist. Choose mild cigars at first and work your way up to stronger flavors. Here are the benefits of starting with mild cigars: they generally cost less than stronger cigars and you won’t lose as much money as you learn how to cut the ends appropriately, learn the best way to light them, and learn the best way to store them at home. You will be surprised at how quickly they dry out if not properly contained. It’s a learned art!

Get the Most Out of Your Cigars.
Here is what long-time cigar enthusiasts recommend about smoking and enjoying cigars. This is also useful stuff to relate to your unclassy mates as you light up to add the extra WOW factor.

• There are many types of cigars. Experiment with new sizes and flavors.

• Don't inhale cigar smoke when puffing and keep the smoke in your mouth for the shortest length of time.

• Unless you buy your cigars in single sticks that were stored in a humidor, age your cigars by stripping off all packaging and placing them in a humidor for a few months before smoking. Do not store your cigars in the refrigerator because it will dry them out.

• Throw away partially smoked cigars—do not put a stinky used cigar in your humidor!

• To really enjoy your cigar smoking experience, choose the right drink to go with your carefully chosen indulgence. Try some strong-flavored drinks to enhance the flavor of your cigar, such as scotch, port wine, and Kahlua drinks.

• Biting the tip off a premium cigar should only be done by gangsters in movies. Don’t do it. Use a sharp cigar cutter.

• Do not use paper matches to light your cigar. Use a butane lighter for best results. Wooden matches are OK but make sure you let the sulfur burn off first.

• When you are finished with your cigar, let it burn itself out in the ashtray. Snuffing your cigar out leaves an unpleasant smell.

Smoking a cigar does have some health risks similar to that of smoking cigarettes but if you do it properly without inhaling, expel the smoke from your mouth promptly, and you smoke cigars in moderation your risks are far reduced.
Who knows maybe you get the chance to exhale and say “He’s dead to me” just to feel like a real Soprano Gangster.

Hudson Shoes... And a Cool Website to Boot!

2009-10-04T23:30:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to write a solid blog about mens shoes. As metrosexual as it sounds I have always been a great advocate for stylish mens shoes. There is nothing greater than the smell (pre everyday wear) of fine leather Italian mens shoes. There is a specific criteria that determines the quality of a mans shoe. Primarily, handmade in Italy is the starting line. Then one looks for leather soles (inner and outer) comfortable creasing position over the toe... well I could go on for hours.

There are key brands I look to and men really should have at least one pair of the following in their footwear collection; firstly Brando (simply the best but reflected in the high price), then Hugo Boss (nothing but high fashion class), Hudson (the best based on quality and comfort versus style and price), and I would have to throw FCUK (but only those made in Italy or France) and Ben Sherman (but stay well away from their cheap plastic soled ‘Made in China’ models!!) into the mix.

So I started looking for more detail on each of the brands and their shoes when I was stopped in my tracks by the Hudson website. A shoe review can wait... Because this website is cool and for all the same reason pretty much as the shoes themselves.

The site is Flash which normally I don’t respond well to but this site uses Flash the way it is meant to be used. The navigation is simple and the load time is smooth and efficient. The visuals look hand drawn but in a refreshingly artistic manner, not like many of the grungy, sketchy streetwear, dance party hand craftings. This site looks like sketches reminiscent of European masters. The site has an ere of authenticity which seems to totally embrace their handmade Italian shoes. The site has a good amount of well written content and it loads focal points well to keep your eye gliding across the screen.

The main aspect of a successful website is the way in which it extends the brand and brand values through an online experience. This site achieves this superbly, visiting this website is like exploring a little virtual world. As the homepage loads the user meets a black and white character roaming the virtual streets of Hudsonville... well, kind of. When you select ‘News’ you are transported to a street news stand where this fancy little fella appears and starts reading a newspaper. The sketchy style is enhanced by soft watercolouring which contains roughened paper textures which totally sums up the ‘handmade’ selling point and adds a freedom often essential for balancing the techno worldwide web.

The only downside to this site is that it is all flash. It doesn’t rank very well in search engines under anything that is not the domain name. This is because all of the content and keyword rich copy is contained within the Flash movie, hidden away where search engine bots can’t find it, yet alone index it. However Hudson has brand power. When you search anything regarding ‘hudson’ italian handmade shoes or anything else remotely similar the results pages are fully loaded with Hudson references. They are available in all the leading online shoe stores and there are copious positive reviews and owner comments etc. It really is a matter of time for those who are interested to track down the manufactures website only to be very pleasantly surprised.

This site is very clever and very cleanly designed. It seems human, not cold and corporate. The perfect experience for handmade shoes. This as a very well produced extension of an already very cool brand. It encompasses all the brand values and secures the brand integrity. It is humble and ‘fine’ in its presentation, it speaks of quality and craftsmanship while being fashionably trendy... basically the core essence of the brand itself. This site gets my commendation for site of the month... check it out - let me know what ya think :)

The Hudson Shoes Website... Click Here.