Forget creating customer loyalty and focus on building friendships with customers

I’m not talking about the glib friendships companies try to encourage by inviting their customers to be friends or fans on Facebook, but rather intimate and deep relationships that come from having a vested interest in the people that make their business possible. I recently came across a study by Michael Argyle and Monika Henderson at Oxford University on friendships. They identified a number of universal rules, which they published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. The rules included: Friends must provide support, respect privacy, share aspirations, dreams and be tolerant of other friendships. It is my belief that any company could use these rules as a framework for their customer experience and engagement framework.

You can read more of my thoughts on this issue in the white paper I wrote called Onions and Parfait: Why customer relationships no longer need to be a thing of fairytales and pirate stories.

Today I came across a great example of the third rule in action. Gwilym Davies co-owner of Prufrock Coffee at 140 Shoreditch High Street, and the current World Barista Champion, has come up with the “disloyalty card.” The idea is simple, you get a stamp on a card for visiting eight different quality focused coffee shops. After visiting the eighth “friend” (actually his competitors) He will say thank you by making you a cup of his own coffee for free. There is no catch Gwilym just wants people to try different quality coffees.

So swing by Prufrock Coffee shop grab a card, enjoy your tour of the best cafes and coffee shops around Central and East London and then go back to Prufrock for your free cup where you can compare notes with one of the best baristas in the world. Pure customer experience genius at work. Superb stuff!!

Why Gen Y isn’t buying from you

I was recently sent this extract from an article entitled: “Why Generation Y isn’t buying your products”. I think it was originally published in the “Retail Customer Experience” magazine.

It is a reasonably good insights into how we need to be thinking if we want to connect with a different generation of young people, especially in middle class suburban areas. It’s not true for everyone, everywhere, but it is something that might get your marketing team into a good conversation.

As a 23-year-old consumer, I can tell you this: my attention is short, my demands are great and my purchases are diverse. I live in a day and age where social media apps, slogan tees and even Nike sneakers can be customized to fit my lifestyle.

I represent Generation Y, or Millennials as we are often called. While we may seem fickle, limited and spoiled to most retail professionals, we’re quite the contrary. Our lifestyle and shopping habits will determine the sales revenue of the retail industry, affecting everyone from big-box retailers to mom-and-pop stores, for the next 15 years. We are responsible for the return of our nation’s thriving economy.

To put it bluntly, if you’re uncomfortable with marketing to Generation Y, or refuse to understand our unique demographic, your store will not see 2020. To understand Generation Y is to overcome many obstacles in the retail industry.

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When social media grows up… it will change everything

Download a copy of this article in PDF format – right click here. The contents of this article can be presented as a keynote or a workshop for your team. Contact our UK or South African offices to find out how.

Twitter recently hosted it’s billionth Tweet and Facebook had over 500 million users by the end of 2009, continuing its trend of doubling every nine months or so. It is difficult to continue to argue that social media is nothing more than a fad, and an increasing number of companies are starting to make use of these technologies.

But most of these companies are merely using social networks as a means to communicate (mainly with customers, but sometimes with staff as well) or to market their products and services. These are simple – and obvious – applications, and soon you’ll just be another voice in cacophony of online noise. Unfortunately, most “social media experts” focus only on these aspects of online social networking, and are overhyping the benefits and underemphasising the cultural shifts required for companies to truly benefit. They are missing a really important trend with huge implications for every organisation in every industry and sector.

The reason that social media has taken off so quickly is that it is more than a fad. It is, in fact, merely the technological expression of a values shift that has been taking place for a number of years. It will therefore be a shaping force in the world over the next decade. It might not be the answer to all your problems as many social media pundits are predicting. But it will definitely change everything, and more and more companies are starting to see the benefits it offers. A revolution awaits us.

You can hardly turn on a TV news channel or read a business magazine these days without being overwhelmed by requests to “follow my tweets”, “check out our blog” or “send us your videos”. Social media has gone mainstream. But most business users and organisations are treating it like a gimmick, and only gaining a fraction of the value they could. If they understood the true nature of what is happening, they’d know that social media is merely an expression of a deeper trend that has the potential to change everything. And they’d realise that the first companies to grasp this will have the opportunity to gain phenomenal competitive advantage in their industry. In fact, some companies have already started to do so.

Social Media 101

If you’ve missed this trend and are not sure what I’m talking about, here’s a quick primer: social media are the tools you can use to do social networking on the Internet. This involves connecting with other people, and sharing information with them digitally (yes, it’s just networking and connecting with others online). The most used tools are:

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Connect with customers like you do friends

In my most resent article Onions or Parfait I put forward the proposition that companies should use new social media innovations to build relationships with customers akin to those of friendships. I strongly believe that customers want to engage in a open two-way relationship with companies that show a willingness and expend effort to build relationships. I just came across an example of 5 big brands that are using blogs, facebook and twitter to do just this. In a post by Attraction Marketing Starbucks, Zappos, Vitamin Water, H&M and Coke are identified as big brands that are actively using social media to build friendships and not just sell products.

I’m not surprised to see Zappos in this list. Zappos are innovators in creating connections with people inside and outside their organisation. I regularly use Zappos as a case study in my presentations and workshops. You can discover more about Zappos here:
Keeping employees motivated during a recession
Zappos hits one billion $ in sales
Zappos – delivering WOW through service

Zappos makes for an awesome case study in the corporate boardroom so if you are looking for ideas for your next meeting or proposal to your boss visit their website or email me and I’ll gladly offer my insights

You can read the article on Social Media 5 Big Brands below

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Gen Y in Japan not consumerising

Interesting article from CNN Go Asia on 8 Feb 2010 about Japanese Gen Y simply not buying.

How times have changed. Japan’s Generation Y have become famous for hating to buy anything. They were first reluctant to buy cars. And now we find out that Japanese youth are also disinterested in motorbikes. Sales for 2009 were a mere 10% of the market’s peak some 23 years ago.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this younger set are different. Generational Theory suggests that each generation, based on the world they grow up in, develop a set of values that in places are different to the generations before them, and those to follow.

I guess what can be surprising is just how different they are! The challenge from a marketing and product development perspective is trying to read these trends and shifts in order to respond accordingly and quickly. Around the world, in most countries this market segment is a large segment. They’re large in number and in wallet size. Not seeing their changing needs and wants can be be detrimental to any business setting their sights on them to secure future growth and revenue.

In most developed world economies there is still a healthy baby boomer population to support short term sales and growth, but once they begin to exit the economy, business is going to have to pander to the younger set coming through. The developing world economies don’t have that luxury. They need to adapt and adjust to these young people NOW!

As this article suggests, this particular group in this particular country are not simply interested in a different colour, shape and size. They’re fundamentally different. Business is going to have to radically change how it goes about what it does, or hope and pray like crazy that they’ll change their world view. Fat chance in my opinion.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

My colleague in the UK, Graeme Codrington, posted “3-d TV is here” a week or so back. It’s a short post about Sky News launching 3D TV.  When Graeme writes he’s normally very definite in his opinion, and he’s not scared to put it out there. If you read his 3D TV post, you’ll notice he ends with a fairly ‘limp’ conclusion around the future of 3D TV. I haven’t spoken to him about his lack of definite view, but based on his post, I share his same feelings around 3D TV. I think it’s a limp idea.

• Perhaps it’s because I haven’t seen the ‘new 3D TV’s’ needed to enhance 3D in this medium. What I have seen (my kids movies) has always left me feeling a little disappointed, experience wise.
• Then there’s the idea of 3D glasses lying around my house. We already have enough of a problem storing, not standing on, dropping, and spilling things on multiple remote controls, all sorts of Wii controls, iPod chargers, iPods, etc, etc. The thought of more paraphernalia to enhance my viewing experience far from excites me.
• While we’re on the glasses, how many are we going to need? Or will it become acceptable to ask friends to bring their own? And how silly might I look with ’sunglasses on’ when friends or family come around to watch TV?

The obvious next step from 3D is going to be  holographic TV (Holy TV?) . That’s 3D on steroids. That isn’t going to need any extra goggles to watch, and while it may mean some new equipment in the viewing area, the massive leap in expeirence from what we have now to that, will be worth whatever pain I may have to go through.

Is 3D then, simply a transitional technology between now and then? If it is, I’m guessing those that run the TV world have done their sums and figure they’re going to sell enough boxes to make the investment worth it? I’m not sure it switches me on enough to get into the game. But then again, peer pressure and great advertising may be all they need to make me a convert.

Still I do think there are times when being able to do/create/buy things doesn’t mean you’ve got to. I think this may be one of those times. Time will tell, and in the mean time I’ll go over to Graeme’s house to watch on his 3D telly : )

Marketing and product development for Boomers

Appliance makers GE and Whirlpool have been quick to recognised to economic power of the silver tsunami (or baby boomers over the age of 50!) and are making great strides in product development. The Wall Street Journal in it’s article Home Appliances to Soothe the Aches of Aging Boomers provides a few examples:

- Whirlpool now offers washing machines with large knobs that make louder-than-usual noise when they’re set. They also offer a pedestal beneath Whirlpool dryer reduces stooping when removing laundry.

- At GE’s consumer and industrial headquarters in Louisville, designers use “empathy sessions” where members of the product-development team tape their knuckles to simulate impaired dexterity. GE’s Engineers and designers have been very busy “boomerising” their products and now proudly offer:
- Ovens with easier-to-open doors and automatic shut-off burners.
- Stoves designed to prevent boil-overs.
- Stoves that you don’t have to reach far into – to prevent boomers from stooping awkwardly, losing their balance and burning themselves on the hot stove!
- Fridges with brighter LED lighting to improve visibility
- Dishwashers and washing machines that allow users to put in an entire bottle of detergent a few times a year rather than a smaller amount for every load. Supposedly the machines are designed to reduce confusion and make housework less of a chore, as GE neatly puts “particularly for older consumers”.

All of these new product designs are great for “old people” but try telling baby boomers that you are selling them a product that will remind them on a daily basis that they are OLD! I’d like to meet the marketer who is able put a positive spin on this marketing message because I don’t believe it exists.

Baby Boomers may be getting old but one of their core values is that of youth and vitality. Designing a product that reminds them they are old is not going to win you any points. Rather companies need to be developing products that enhance boomers lifestyles allow them to enjoy themselves and frees up their time to go skiing (spending their kids inheritance) GE may be taping up the fingers of their product designers but they are failing to use the “empathy sessions” to help get their designers into the heads of baby boomers so that they can understand what drives them and makes baby boomers tick.

The Silver Tsunami – Baby boomers are responsible for more than 40 percent of retail spending, companies need to pay attention to this.

Boomers control over 75% of the personal net wealth in the UK and yet most marketers and companies choose to target families and young adults. Another problem is that companies treat people over the age of 50 as one globular market segment, and they have been using similar marketing messages for the past two decades. Those that fail to recognise how much this market is changing and why are in for a shock. The main reason for changes is that baby boomers have arrived in droves. Baby boomers are those people born after WW2 and 1964. They experienced the economic boom of the 60’s and the moon landings. They are very different from the Silent Generation, those people born before the boomers, between the great depression and 1944.

Booz & Co have written an article highlighting how many companies are missing huge opportunities by not recognising these differences. Authors Richard Rawlinson and Natasha Kuznetsova also believe that “For most companies confused about how to reach older consumers, a good place to start is a cultural shake-up of the marketing organization, which should include the addition of an entirely new set of skills…In short, more gray hairs are needed among brand managers and external collaborators such as agencies, re search firms, and media planning organizations.

Employing aging marketers is a good solution our research shows that boomers respond best to marketing campaign and products when they have been designed by boomers for boomers. Another way is to train younger marketing staff to have generational empathy and to see the world through the eyes of Baby Boomers. Our Mind the Gap presentation and workshops provide this very solution. By giving marketers insights into the values and driving attitudes of people from different generations we’ve achieved fantastic results. For one client we increased total company revenues by 300%, for another we increased sales of key product line by over 70%; and for a leading bank we doubled response rates for a direct mail campaign targeting a saturated market.

You can read more about generational values and generational marketing by following these links :

Detailed introduction to Generations: written by world renown generations expert Dr Graeme Codrington
Onions & Parfait – Why customer relationships no longer need to be a thing of fairytales and pirate stories by generational marketing expert Dean van Leeuwen
Generations in crisis by Dean and Graeme

A breakup, bowiechick, webcams and Logitech’s increased sales

I am currently at the F-Secure partners conference in Vienna, Austria, and have been listening to Richard Gatarski speak about a passion for social media. One incredible story illustrates the power that new social media forms have to influence brands, and how little many established companies (even those who sell products and services that are designed for this new world) know about this.

In March 2006, Melody, a teenager better known by her YouTube name, “Bowiechick”, was feeling pretty depressed. She had just broken up with her boyfriend. So, she decided to record a vlog (a video blog entry). In order to cheer herself up, she experimented with some cool software that came with her webcam. By the end of the 75 second video, she had had a bit of fun and was feeling better. She posted the result at YouTube (see it here). This clip has now been viewed nearly 2 million times!

As you could anticipate, a few of her friends saw it, and wrote notes to her, encouraging her to cheer up and move on. But then people started asking her about the software she used to make the video itself. More and more people asked, so she created a little video to explain how her Logitech webcam and software worked. This 2 minute video has been viewed over 3 million times. Watch it here.

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Rethinking Marketing and the age of consumer capitalism

In this months Harvard Business Review, Roger Martin writes that “modern capitalism can be broken down into two major eras. The first, managerial capitalism, began in 1932 and was defined by the then radical notion that firms ought to have professional management. The second, shareholder value capitalism, began in 1976. Its governing premise is that the purpose of every corporation should be to maximize shareholders’ wealth. If firms pursue this goal, the thinking goes, both shareholders and society will benefit. This is a tragically flawed premise, and it is time we abandoned it and made the shift to a third era: customer-driven capitalism.

I couldn’t agree more. Information is power and information has now passed into the hands of the consumer. Never before have customers been able to find information on available products and services easier and quicker, and with the rising power of peer reviews brochure style marketing is fast becoming obsolete.

In the new world of work talented companies will rethink marketing. The role and function of marketing will change quickly. Customer experience will be placed at the top of the strategic agenda at board meetings and the CCO (Chief Customer Officer) will become as important if not more important a role as the CFO. Companies that fail to identify this shift and implement these strategic changes risk ending up on the dust pile of corporate dinosaurs.

Building values into business

Customers have changed, it’s not just the recession and current market turmoil, there has been a values shift in societies attitudes towards business, finance and consumerism. Our research undertaken in TomorrowToday’s laboratory is revealing that values-focused businesses are the way of the future. If you want your business and brand to be part of a new breed of talented companies and not to end up on the rust pile of corporate dinosaurs then your business needs to be built around connecting with people’s values. The new world of work demands that companies focus their organisation around social and personal values and not just corporate values. Corporate values are the old model traditionally involving trust, integrity, honesty and innovation. These values are now only the base level requirements. Companies in the new world need to go deeper connecting with more far-reaching personal values. People seek relationships with companies; they want a place to be heard, a place to be appreciated and a place to connect. New social technologies are allowing us to build relationships with customers previously not possible. Connecting on a personal values level can place you ahead of the competition in winning the hearts and minds of your customers. The bottom line is if you don’t align with society and you get out of step with value changes, then you’re going to destroy shareholder value.

Hollywood, explain this… (Avatar breaks two very different records)

In almost every country it is being shown, James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar is breaking box office records. It has already made over $ 1 billion, and is well on its way to being the best selling movie of all time.

It is already listed in IMDB’s top 50 greatest movies of all time.

But, in its first week, it was also the most pirated movie of all time with 980,000 illegal downloads of the movie. Hollywood (and the music industry) claim that illegal downloads will destroy their industry and steal money from producers.

So, Hollywood, explain Avatar!

The problem is not with illegal downloads. The problem for you is that quality is now judged more democratically – and more brutally. Good films, and good music, will still sell well. James Cameron is proof of that! Stop whining and fix your industry.

A looming retirement crisis for Boomers (with lots of opportunities)

We have argued many times on this blog that the Baby Boomers are going to redefine retirement (for example, here, here and here). In fact, we even thought we were very clever using the phrase “retyrement” to describe what we think will actually happen. We’ve had a presentation called “Prime Time” about it. And one of our colleagues started her own consultancy called the refirement network.

We’ve been saying this for at least the last 6 years, so it’s got very little to do with financial downturn of the last two years. Although the recession allowed us to add one more reason why Boomers were not going to retire in the way we think of retirement now. But maybe the recession will cause some Boomers a big headache in this area.

Because many companies will need to find ways to strip out costs over the next few years as the recovery slowly begins, they will think of removing the high remuneration costs for senior staff. The weak economy could very well result in job losses that will force more people to retire early. This would severely scupper Boomers plans to continue working longer.

However, we would argue strongly that this will simply see Boomers become entrepreneurs. We cannot imagine that they will retire gracefully to the “do nothing” state often associated with retirement. Some will move into the voluntary sector. There is therefore a huge opportunity for charities, non-profits, and faith-based organisations to target recruitment campaigns at this generation. I’d say this could work for any organisation that could use more volunteers, from local schools to the World Cup Football competition.

But, many of the Boomers are likely to try and start up their own companies. The opportunities here are boundless. This is a generation that loves consultants – and they’ll be very happy to use some of the early retirement payout to buy consulting services. They’d pay for anything from IT support to virtual secretarial services, and from business mentoring to outsourcing of warehousing and deliveries. Many of them are used to having teams of people do their bidding, and they’d probably pay to have this setup again in their startup businesses.

Given just a few good experiences, they may be able to get their heads around virtual support (such as eLance), but in general, they are a “hands on” and “face to face” generation.

There are huge challenges ahead for the Boomers. This next decade is likely to be a very frustrating one for them. But there are amazing opportunities as well.

What are your thoughts?

Tesco, a talented company

I’m always on the lookout for talented companies and I think I found one on my doorstep. The company’s name is Tesco and earlier this week I gave our Mind the Gap presentation at their marketing team away day.

I’m a fan of Tesco (and have written several blogs on the company see TPF has lift off and Tesco trains their staff in generational talk) mainly for one simple reason the customer service and experience I receive when shopping there. I love the fact that they have a stated policy of never having more than two people standing at the checkout. As soon as there is a third person, a new checkout is opened, and this policy works! From the Tesco Express around the corner from where I live, to their megastores I have seen it in action without fail. It is a simple policy but its execution is genius and it keeps me going back to Tesco because I hate wasting my time standing in lines, who doesn’t!

Recently I wrote an article called the Talent Reboot and argued that companies need to be focusing on creating talented companies (by creating talented tribes) rather focusing on individual talent (as banks do). It was therefore great to find in Tesco an example of a talented tribe in action. Carolyn Bradley , Tesco’s marketing director, did a great presentation using Tesco TV adverts (from as far back as the seventies) to bring to life the history of the Tesco brand. It was amazing to see the innovative initiatives and strategies that Tesco has launched since the early 1970’s to grow its market share to nearly twice that of it’s closest competitor. What was more impressive was that this growth has been achieved during at a time when Tesco’s competitors market share has remained relatively stagnant or even decreased. But it was by observing the marketing team in action at their away day and later at their office, that it became apparent that there is more to Tesco than innovative ideas, they are been building talented tribes.

The team spirit I observed at their away day was amongst the best that I have ever seen. I was privileged enough to be given a tour of their very unassuming head office and treated to lunch at the staff canteen (I had a very tasty Cumberland sausage and mash). I was able to see how each marketing team had decorated their cubicles with Christmas themes, building mock chimneys for Santa and using fake polystyrene snow. The finance team won the best and most imaginative design supporting the belief that within each accountant there is a creative marketer waiting to break free. The marketing team at Tesco is clearly talented and full of energy. What I observed at Tesco is very similar to what Zappos, America’s most successful online shoe retailer has achieved. Zappos is often used as a case study of a company that has created talented tribes. At Zappos teams dress up to celebrate events, decorate their team areas and are passionate about what they do – customer service.

What Tesco and Zappos appear to have in common are talented tribes and huge commercial success. They are clearly getting the ingredients right and I plan to follow their stories a lot closer.

In a Web 2.0 world, business has it’s head buried firmly in the sand

I’m curious. Curious about business’ lack of engagement with Twitter  / FaceBook / Tumblr / Google and everything else Web 2.0. I would have thought that any communication channel getting the sort of traction, focus, attention and subscription that these channels are getting, would have business engaging like a love struck teenager who’d just discovered their perfect partner?

But it’s not so. So not so. So far, the majority of my experience and observation is that business has been an extremely poor performer in these spaces. Take a look at these points from Jeffbulla’s Blog:

1. 73 percent of Fortune 100 companies registered a total of 540 Twitter accounts.
2. About three-quarters (76 percent) of those accounts did not post tweets very often.
3. More than half (52 percent) were not actively engaged (This was measured by engagement metrics such as numbers of links, hashtags, references and retweets.)

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S+B’s Best Business Books of 2009

Booz & Co’s Strategy + Business ezine is one of my favourites, and one I always make time to read. Last week’s edition looked at the best business books of 2009, selected by their top team, and helpfully categorised.

If you want to read their reasoning, and some excellent background comments, start here. All I am going to do is list the books (and make it easy for you to buy them – choose from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Kalahari.net – for South Africa):

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After Shock: the five trends disrupting business in the next 5 years

Updated in March 2010 (now with an added Executive summary in the PDF format)

Download a copy of this article in PDF format – right click here. The contents of this article can be presented as a keynote or a workshop for your team. Contact our UK or South African offices to find out how.

As the world slowly emerges out of recession over the next few years, it will become increasingly clear that this was more than just an economic downturn. Disruptive forces are significantly reshaping the world of work. Some of these changes have been brewing for a decade or more – and now this recession has exacerbated their influence and speeded up their effects. Companies that have survived the downturn need to shift their focus to surviving the upturn. We are not ever going to “get back to normal” – a new normal is emerging for everyone, everywhere.

Understanding the forces that are driving this disruptive change will give an organisation the insights needed to adjust their systems, structures and methods and gain a significant competitive advantage in the next 3 to 5 years. It will also set them up for longer term success in the next few decades. It is therefore essential to provide not just senior leaders, but all staff throughout your company, with a framework of thinking about this “new normal”. You want them to work together to take advantage of the opportunities that will emerge.

There are at least five key drivers of disruptive change that every organisation in every industry and sector needs to track. These are the T.I.D.E.S. of change. (It’s a corny acronym, I know, but hopefully it will help with both remembering the framework, as well as making it easy to use on a regular basis in team meetings and informal conversations throughout your organisation). Here then are the key drivers of disruptive change in the next decade, and some questions to ask yourself and your teams as you plan to respond to them:

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Vacation 2023 – I don’t want to go

I just read a fairly depressing forecast (from FastCompany) for the future of vacations. Specifically the year 2023. It’s based on the fuller article from ‘Forum for the Future‘ where they’ve developed four scenarios for 2023 in the tourism world (specifically the UK). A brief summary of the four from the FastCompany article:

In the “Boom and Burst” scenario, economies prosper, advances in air travel make vacations cheap and easy, and fuel efficiency has allowed the industry to stay on target with carbon emissions regulations. But there’s a catch–the massive increase in tourism leads to overcrowding in many destinations and the degradation of wilderness areas.

The more dire “Divided Disquiet” scenario imagines that a “toxic combination of devastating climate change impacts, violent wars over scarce resources and social unrest has created an unstable and fearful world. This has made traveling overseas an unattractive proposition,” so most people just stay home. In the “Price and Privilege” scenario, high oil prices make travel the exclusive domain of the rich, while the “Carbon Clampdown” scenario imagines that the government has regulated climate change and educated the public so thoroughly on the carbon price of travel that most people only want to take “ethical vacations” to volunteer or learn about other cultures.

The reality of vacationing in 2023 will probably be a combination of these scenarios, with high oil prices, disappearing wilderness, carbon quotas, and advances in air travel (i.e. biofuel-powered planes).

It does help give some perspective as to why wealthy people around the world are currently buying up coastal properties and game reserves. Simply because, in the future these investments will be worth massive amounts of money.

To download the full 2023 tourism report go here.

Surprise! Creating experiences for your customers

For many years now, we’ve been telling our clients that one of the keys to connecting with younger customers (Generations X and Y) is to add an experience to your offering. No longer are the traditional “Ps” of marketing (product, price, placement and promotion – and even people) enough. You need to create experiences that transcend these, and give customers a further reason to connect with you.

Some people are talking about tribes (see, for example, a great video by Seth Godin at TED.com). Others are doing funky stuff with their stores (Walt Disney have Steve Jobs to turn their stores in mini theme parks, for example). There are countless examples of creating experiences that develop your brand (Red Bull are geniuses at this).

But here’s a new one…

Hipstery ask their customers to fill in a questionnaire about yourself. They then choose a T-shirt design for you, and send it to you. It remains a surprise until you open the package. This adds an interesting thrill to the boring task of choosing a T-shirt.

It seems that while most companies are providing ever more choice and ever more information, there is a growing trend of businesses relieving consumers of the burden of decision, and helping them make choices. Obviously this can go wrong. So Hipstery will replace any t-shirts that customers don’t like, with the option of a refund if they’re wrong the second time too. Sometimes a lack of choice is a good thing, especially if it is used to surprise and delight consumers.

Nice one.

Big news in Outer space and Cyber Space

Over the past two months there have been a number of huge developments in both outer space and cyberspace. Developments which could change the world we live in forever.

Outer space first…
On the 24th September it was officially announced that water was found on the moon. Chandrayaan-1, India’s first-ever moon probe, detected wavelengths of light reflected off the surface that indicated the chemical bond between hydrogen and oxygen — the telltale sign of either water or hydroxyl. In an attempt to further confirm these findings and establish how much water is present, on the 9th November NASA crashed the rocket and a satellite into a crater near the moon’s south pole. It will be awhile before all the data from the satellite can be analyzed to determine if there is water on the moon, but if confirmed then this will be equivalent to finding the holy grail of space exploration. Water on the moon would mean that colonisation of the moon would be possible within the next 10 – 20 years.

Cyberspace rockets ahead…

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The emergence of Neuromarketing

Traditional market research has it’s limitations when one considers the influence of the ‘observer’ on the ‘observed’ when attempting to understand people’s true thoughts and feelings on the product/brand/service being researched. If we could just get into their heads to withdraw a pure brain impulse without the constraints traditional market research introduces in the mechanisms it uses. Enter Neuromarketing…

Neuromarketing is the practice of using technology to measure brain activity in consumer subjects in order to inform the development of products and communications–really to inform the brand’s 4Ps. The premise is that consumer buying decisions are made in split seconds in the subconscious, emotional part of the brain and that by understanding what we like, don’t like, want, fear, are bored by, etc. as indicated by our brain’s reactions to brand stimuli, marketers can design products and communications to better meet “unmet” market needs, connect and drive “the buy”.

FastCompany posted an article recently that explores the issue and the companies that are using this new ’science’. It also suggests a few shortcomings and some interesting ethical concerns.

Neuromarketing is only poised to grow in use and influence. But as the practice makes its way out of the lab and into the real world, at the grocery aisle, onto your computer perhaps…a debate, well beyond marketing, will rage.

Oprah and Supply Chains

We all know about Oprah’s ability to significantly impact sales. In both directions. She loves it, we love it and we buy it. She hates it, we hate it and don’t ever buy it. It’s one of the reason’s, I suppose, that her business is as large as it is? Started as a simple talk show, added a ‘home shopping network’ component, and now she moves markets (and I’m sure a whole lot more)

I enjoyed this article from CIO because it moves from sales and profits and focusses on supply chains and logistics. I suppose it’s an obvious curiosity, but it does create an interesting question around logistics and supply planning for a product being Oprah-tised.

There’s a great case study exercise around Amazon.com and their Kindle being Oprah-tised. Even the highly efficient Amazon didn’t seem to cope with the added demand apparently created by Oprah.

“The day of the endorsement, visits to Amazon’s website were up 6 percent over the previous Friday, according to Experian PLC’s Hitwise. Web traffic going from Oprah.com to Amazon.com increased more than 15,000 percent.”

Mom’s are big

Every now and then I discover thoughts from marketing experts exploring the value of women between 35-55 and in this example mom’s. Their research and observations remind the marketplace of the value of the people who match the criteria of these segments, and how over-looked they are from a marketing and communication perspective. They either have incredible spending power, or massive decision rights in their world, or are inhabiting a particular channel that isn’t effectively communicating to them.

The Israeli Diamond Industry web site has an article around social media and mothers titled, ‘Mothers use FaceBook, Twitter, Blogs more than average adults’, and again suggests the retail world is missing a trick if they’re not using these platforms to speak to them.

“Retailers who aren’t engaging customers through social media could be missing the boat. Twitter, Facebook and blogs are becoming increasingly popular with moms as they search for coupons or deals and keep in touch with loved ones. The web provides efficient, convenient ways for brands to stay in front of their most loyal shoppers and attract new ones.”

I am always left wondering if these segments have been overlooked for so long is it because there isn’t an effective way to single them out, or is it because companies aren’t wired to see them. Reminds me of that quote that goes something like this, “Do we look at what we see, or do we see what we look at?”

TomorrowToday is getting a Billboard

TomorrowToday South Africa is getting a Billboard for 2 weeks in September. We did an exchange with INM Outdoor earlier this year. We did some work for them, and they’re doing some work for us. So a swap of sorts.

We’ve not had anything like this, and we’re looking forward to seeing what it does for business? We’re not even sure what we can expect? But we are excited, and it has been fun getting it all together.

It’s also been a great catalyst for us to get our international branding on the same page, and we’re starting this with look and feel driven largely by our websites. So by the time the billboard goes live we’ll have a new South African look and feel to our website, followed shortly afterwards by our UK office.

The billboard focusses on Talent and Leadership. In a business world with a changing worker (so called Talent) there has to be a rethink on how to lead. You can’t expect to lead a different group of people in same way. Can you? We don’t think so.

I’m sure we’ll post updates and results, if only to post our thoughts on the medium of outdoor advertising.

Watch this space…..

What Microsoft’s “racism” teaches us about ourselves

The ether is alive with enraged twits, tweeting and blogging on about Microsoft’s racist blunder. If you’ve not heard the buzz, it has to do with MS photoshopping an advert as it transported it from the US (where it features a white woman, older black man, and an Asian man) to Poland (where it now features a white woman, a young white man with a black hand, and an Asian man). Outrage, disgust!

Here are the two pictures:

Microsoft is pulling the advert, and after investigation discovered that all four of the people responsible for the advert have left the company (how convenient).

I am NOT going to join the clamour of voices shouting racism, though. This is just good business (and bad photoshop), and a bad marketing decision, and a great example of the new world of work (yes, it is all of these things).

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The world is changing cell phones

Once upon a time cell phones changed the world. They arrived when we didn’t expect them, and allowed us to do things we never imagined possible. We can quite safely say that our world today (where cell phones have had an influence) bares scant resemblance to the world of 15 years ago.

But people, being who they are, mastered the new opportunities cell phones created and we have individually and collectively pushed cell phone manufacturers and network operators into spaces they once never imagined possible. It’s a lovely example of what we’re capable of with opportunity, resources and a little time to tinker.

FastCompany recently published an article focussed on one cell phone manufacturer, the world’s largest, Nokia. If the article is to be believed then I am incorrect calling them a cell phone manufacturer. They no longer see themselves in that category. As to who they are, not even Nokia is certain?

“Just three years ago, we were competing against Motorola, Sony Ericsson, some Korean players, even Siemens,” he says from his office in Espoo, Finland, just outside of Helsinki. “The competitive environment in the industry at large has changed, and I sometimes struggle to define what industry we are in at the moment and what are the boundaries. But remember, I spoke in 2001 about putting the Internet in your pocket. And now consumers are realizing that these devices are not just for communicating by voice: It is all about information.”

While cell phone companies once significantly impacted how we saw the world, their new task is to take our post-cellphone worldview and re-imagine themselves for the future. That is if they’d like to stay in business.

This article is a great read. One worth sitting through to get a glimpse of a global leader finding their way in a world they’ve had a large role in influencing.

Seeing the world through your customer’s eyes – your key to growing your business

I regularly write articles for magazines and journals. Some of these really strike a chord, and just “work”. Here is a recent article that has been getting a lot of comment, and has been helpful to business leaders trying to cope with the economic downturn. See the original article at The Entrepreneur magazine SA, or download a PDF copy of it here.

Seeing the world through your customer’s eyes – your key to growing your business
By Dr Graeme Codrington
Entrepreneur Magazine, July 2009

In turbulent times such as these, only those companies that can prove they have real value to offer will survive. Yet, in tough times, most companies tend to focus more on their internal systems and processes than on what their customers are looking for. Seeing the world through your customer’s eyes is essential for success, especially during a downturn.

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Secrets of success in The Emotion Economy

The industrial economy was based on ‘make and sell.’ Take, for instance, the massive production of Henry Ford’s cars and his dictum, ‘you can have any colour you like as long as you like black.’ But, back in Henry Ford’s time there was little regard for the customer. The focus was on the production process.

Then, starting in the late 1950s, came the information economy which is based on a ‘listen and serve’ dictum. Nearly 80% of the world’s employees are now in the service industries. Microsoft is the equivalent of the Ford motor company. The focus now is on quality and customer satisfaction, ‘the customer is always right.’ Market research, segmentation models and distribution channels all contribute to making the customer ‘king’. In spite of this, customers are generally ‘faceless’ because they’re lumped together in demographic segments. And, the systems in place to meet their needs are, on the whole, inflexible.

But now a new approach is emerging. The emotion economy recognises that companies will have to take providing service and information a step further if they want to attract clients, and staff, away from their competitors. Go to a banking court and assess the points of difference between banks. Not much, is there? If you’re buying cars, cosmetics or hair care products, except for the very sophisticated and expensive, or the really cheap products, there’s not much in it today price or product-wise. Take supermarkets – you’ll find some are a little more up market than others but on the whole you could shop at just about any of them with much the same quality and service. Furthermore, people are increasingly shopping on the Internet: they will call up a trolley of products from one store and compare it with a trolley from another and then make their decision to buy. The same applies to a travel agent, or indeed, any other kind of booking agent. You’ll shop around for information on the Internet and then choose your agent, or, bypass them completely and make your own purchase.

Now comes the crunch. Which agent, supermarket, cosmetics and car will you choose? Increasingly, your decision will be based on relationship, connection, trust and emotion, and not on price, quality or speed of service.
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Don’t mess with your customers

My good mate, Steve Simpson, creator of UGRs (unwritten ground rules – still one of the cleverest management tools I’ve ever seen!), just posted this story on his blog. The new world of work is going to filled with this type of story – especially, I fear to say, in the airline industry where everyone blames everyone else for everything…

Remarkable development in the voice of the unhappy customer

Technology has just enabled a remarkable shift in the voice of the unhappy customer.

In March 2008, the musical group ‘Sons of Maxwell’ were travelling on United Airlines to Nebraska for a one week tour. Just prior to departure, one of the band members heard a woman seated behind them say ‘My God, they’re throwing guitars around’. Sure enough, as they looked out the window, they could see the baggage handlers literally throwing the band’s equipment.

On arrival, the band discovered that a $3500 Taylor guitar had indeed been broken.

That was the beginning of a long saga of buck passing and avoidance. After nine months, an employee from United provided one too many ‘no’s’ in response to accepting responsibility for the damage. On hearing this, band member Dave Carroll promised to make three songs about the experience and post them on the internet.

As I write this, the song ‘United Breaks Guitars’ has been viewed by over 3 million people. Yes, you read correctly, over 3 million views!!

You can view the video on YouTube by clicking here
There’s even a blog that explains the whole saga which is here.

This is a remarkable example of how unhappy customers can now be heard!

Source

The author as performer

The FT (Financial Times) had a great piece recently on how authors are now using the art of dramatic storytelling to enhance the value they add when doing live presentations based on their books. Specifically focusing on Malcolm Gladwell (who seems to be living my dream life) and TED, it’s a great read if you’re interested in writing, speaking, communicating ideas and the art of the dramatic in business life.

Read it online here, or see the extract below.

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