WestJet's Over-the-Top PR Event

This just in:  Christmas has become commercial.  It seems that Santa is all over the media shilling everything from cars to breath mints.  It's easy to see how the "magic" of Christmas can be lost in the marketing noise.  But if it's done right, a Christmas promotional event can create goodwill and build a brand.

WestJet - a Canadian cariier - creatively tapped into the spirit of giving (and savvy use of technology) to surprise a planeful of holiday travelers.  Click here to see a video of how they gathered a Christmas wish for each of the passengers on a WestJet flight and scrambled to deliver their wishes upon landing.  The video, posted on YouTube, has generated forty million views so far.

I don't know what the promotion cost, but if they spent $100 on each of the passengers, the total for the prize budget would be $15,000 - not out of line for a promotional event.  And for that I believe they got a lot of goodwill (and at least forty million views of the video).

The downside?  You can't do a "surprise" every year.  The cat is out of the bag.  We'll have to see what they come up with in 2015 to top this very creative promotion.

Hawaii has "The Curse of a Strong Brand" ... What to do?

I recently spoke at the Heritage Tourism Conference in Hawaii ... talking about why the destination needs to move beyond Mai Tais and Sun tans and promote its heritage and culture.  Here's a video of the presentation given by my and Dr. Jerry Agrusa of Hawaii Pacific University on the subject. 

(Ignore the fact that I was mis-identified as Peter Shaindlin, the Chief Operating Officer of the Halekulani Hotel).

Click here or on the image to watch the video.

The Death of Marketing as We Know It

Pelin Thorogood just posted a great article on the Cornell Enterprise blog titled ...

The Birth of “Customer 2.0”
and the Death of Marketing As We Know It:

Adapting Marketing to Changing Customer Behaviors and Demands

(click above to see the whole article).

The article is highly relevant (and recommended!).

When a newspaper once erroneously reported the death of Mark Twain, he immediately wired them with the message "the reports of my death are highly exaggerated."  The implied "death of marketing" is certainly exaggerated.  The death of "marketing as we know it" is spot on, though.  

Like any discipline, marketing is subject to Darwin's law of evolution:  adapt or die.  I'm sure that when radio came on the marketing scene there were those who said it was the death of marketing as we know it.  Ditto for television.  Ditto the internet.  In fact when Gutenberg invented movable type, I'm sure that there were monks huddled over their illuminated manuscripts lamenting the "death of publishing as we know it."  

While the conventional wisdom ... the things we "know" about marketing ... change constantly, the fundamental philosophy of marketing does not.  Marketing is about creating value for the customer and the brand by providing a benefit or solving a problem.  Movable type, radio, television and the internet changed the way we communicate, but not the basic idea of communication.  The exciting thing about marketing with the birth of "customer 2.0" is the power that the consumer now has ... and how that better enables the creation of value.

What is changing in a big way is the way we relate to the newly empowered customer.  These days, it is less about finding and connecting with the customer ... and more about enabling the customer to find and connect with us.  Marketers ignore this tectonic shift at their peril.  

Thorogood cites Marsall McLuhan's famous declaration the "the medium is the message."  That was true for movable type, radio, television, the internet and every advancement in technology.  The message about the rise of "customer 2.0" means that old assumptions about marketing tactics are, indeed, dead.  But the changes we're seeing give rise to an era when we can use marketing in a brand new way to do what it always set out to do:  create value for the customer by providing benefits or solving problems.  

Uncommon Common Sense (Once Again)

With the seemingly uncontrollable outbreak of the ebola virus in Africa, the media in the United States has been focused on the story.  One outcome from the presence of the disease has been an emphasis on sanitation procedures and training in U.S. hospitals.

I recently had the occasion to visit someone in the hospital and discovered prominent placards in the entry

and in the elevators informing visitors of the symptoms of ebola and advising them to seek medical help if they displayed the symptoms and had been out of the country in the last few weeks.

The only problem:  the placards were in English and Spanish.  That's ok as far as it goes.  But in Guinea, one of the countries in the epicenter of the outbreak, and in Cote D'Ivoire nearby, the predominant language is French.  Common sense says: check out the basics on how best to communicate with your target audience. 

Selling "What's Good for You"

You may have seen this sixty second ad already (it has more than five million views on YouTube).  Budweiser could have done its "drink responsibly" message in all kinds of clunky ways, but they produced a classic. Click here to view. 

Leveraging Popular Culture

Screen Grab from Ikea's New Catalog Spot (the Book Book)

This clever ad (click here) for Ikea's new catalog maximizes interest and attention by leveraging the familiar images and tone of an Apple product introduction.  This is "borrowed interest"  in the best sense of that term.  Brilliant. 

When to Pull the Plug on a Brand

I'm working on a business plan for a client.  As a marketer, I've spent a lot of time and energy working on new initiatives to turn their business around.  For the past few years, performance has been abysmal and the organization has been eating into its reserves to stay afloat. 

As I was reviewing the plan (with all of its bright and shiny initiatives) I had a conversation with a board member who essentially said:  "It looks good.  But where is the worst case scenario?  When do we pull the plug?"  Being the optimist that I am, I was a little taken aback.  But, the question is a good one. 

Too often we get so invested in a brand that we can't see the writing on the wall that says "this brand isn't going to make it."  Early in my career I worked on a new Procter & Gamble product that was a financial disaster.  The product was a toilet bowl cleanser named Aerex and it was positioned directly against the category leader, Lysol. There were a lot of reasons that Aerex failed (the product was so-so, the price was too high, the advertising wasn't great), but the the real story is that the managers at Procter & Gamble didn't see disaster coming.  They were definitely wearing their rose colored glasses.  If the research showed that consumers were indifferent, they blamed the research.  If the sales force said that major accounts were not stocking the product, they blamed the sales force.  In the end I saw something I have never seen before:  negative shipments.  The stores were shipping the product back faster than P&G was making it. 


It's interesting to see that P&G now has a different view of culling its under-performing brands.  In early August, "The Street" ran this story:

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Procter & Gamble Co.  (PG_) are up $1.01% to $82.61 after it was reported that the company is working with advisers including Goldman Sachs Group (GS_) as it reviews up to 100 underperforming brands for potential divestiture, sources told Reuters. 

By dumping under-performing brands, the company can concentrate its resources on developing its winners and finding new products.  Since the early August announcement the market continues to react positively to P&G's new philosophy.  The value of the company stock continues to climb as investors see the value of shedding losers.

As for the business plan I'm working on, we're going to launch some new initiatives to turn things around because I believe the marketing execution in the last few years has been ineffective.  But, there's a catch.  If the financials don't hit a target by the end of eighteen months, we go to the worst case scenario and stop the losses. 

Tcao Bell's Foray Into Fine(r) Dining

Taco Bell, the butt of many a joke about poor food quality, is testing a new concept called The U.S. Taco Company (click for more information). 

It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off successfully.  If I were giving them advice, here's what I

Some of the new US Taco menu items

would say:

• Stay a million miles away from the Taco Bell name.  Taco Bell is all about feeding your face, not dining. 
• Don't assume that what made you successful as Taco Bell is transferable to the new concept.  The demographics will be different ... the service levels will be different ... the operational controls will be different.  
• In fact, don't re-assign any of your existing management to the new concept.  They will only screw it up.  

When I worked as director of marketing for a Pizza Hut franchisee, I constantly reminded management that our expertise was not food ... but rather multi-unit operations and standardized procedures.  A real restaurant is a very different animal.  

When a Minute Isn't (Anywhere Near) Sixty Seconds

I was really hoping to find some examples of great marketing to blog about.  I feel bad that many recent posts have been about marketing and promotion that just doesn't get it.  Unfortunately, I guess, there is much more of bad marketing out there than good marketing.

Case in point.

A big drug chain has just gotten into the market for walk-in clinical services.  That's good ... more convenience for the customer ... more points of distribution.  I needed a vaccination and so I decided to utilize the new service rather than scheduling a visit to my doctor.  So far, so good.  The sign at the door said that the clinic handled routine physicals, minor ailments and vaccinations. 

The name of the clinic is "Minute Clinic."  Also not bad.  In fact, the premise (and the promise) sound really good.  Convenience.  No hassle. 

The concept is good, though, only as long as the brand lives up to the promise.  And that's where the problem starts.

I arrived at the clinic at about 11:45 a.m.  There was a sign on the door stating that the clinician was on a "mandatory" one hour lunch break and would return about noon.  In the meantime, I was invited to enter all of my patient information onto a very awkward touch screen system.  It would have been much easier to fill in a piece of paper.  Once I filled in all of the information the screen indicated that I would be the next patient and the wait time would be fifty minutes.  Since I had to wait, I left the store and came back fifty minutes later.  Upon my return, the clinic was open ... but the clinician was handling another customer.  The screen indicated my wait time would be thirty-five minutes.   So at this "Minute Clinic" I waited eighty five minutes for service.  When I finally saw the clinician, he asked what type of vaccination I needed ... and when I told him he said that he didn't handle that ... and that I had to go to the pharmacy counter (and wait in line) to get vaccinated. 

I left without getting vaccinated ... and I don't have a good feeling about the "Minute Clinic" brand.

The lesson here is to be careful about the brand promise.  Only promise what you can deliver.  And deliver it. 

Promotional Backfire

A friend of mine posted a message on her Facebook page about a shopping experience.  She went into a store and purchased more than $50 in merchandise.  On her way out the door, she saw a poster that said customers would get a free tee shirt with purchases over $50.  So, not surprisingly, she went back into the store and asked for the tee shirt, but was told that they were out of stock.

Her Facebook post included a sad face and a message to her many friends about her negative experience with the store.  So, while the store intended the promotion to generate good will, mishandling the promotion caused it to backfire.

Some lessons:

- The Internet can make a bad customer experience a very public event
- Make sure that promotional material clearly communicates the terms of the offer ("while supplies last")

The really simple lesson:  Store personnel need to pay attention to what's going on in the store.  When the tee shirts were out of stock, it would have been very easy to take the sign down.  

AT&T Offends Half Its Audience

Click Here to See the Ad

AT&T's Mobile Share program is designed for small business.  That's cool.  The television ad that they have created depicts staff of a realty company asking questions and getting answers about the service.  That's cool, too.  Four of the five of the actors are female.  Also cool.

What's not cool is the fact that the single male portrayed in the spot is cast as a total idiot.  He plays an insecure and bumbling counterpoint to confident and assertive women.  I understand the value of humor in advertising, but why would you create humor that is potentially offensive to half of the population of small business operators?

Here's a test to see whether this situation is offensive or not.  What if the roles were reversed?  What if the ad featured four confident and assertive men along with a woman who is an insecure and bumbling idiot?  I bet AT&T would be swamped with complaints.  Humor shouldn't insult the audience.  Shame on AT&T for insulting a significant portion of its target audience.  

How Promotions Can Fail - An Example

Ala Moana Shopping Center is Hawaii's largest mall.  It features Macy's and Nieman Marcus as anchor stores, high end shops like Abercrombie and Fitch, and a variety of food in a food court along with standard fast food operators like McDonald's and Arby's.

Most stores in the mall depend on traffic generated by the mall's appeal to create visibility and sales.  That's why you pay the big rents at popular malls like Ala Moana.  Occasionally malls feel the need (often prompted by vocal but not-very-sophisticated) of small merchants to "do something" to boost sales.  After all, these stores are generally paying into a merchant marketing fund.  In my career, I've had outlets in malls and I've always told the mall management to spend the marketing money to drive traffic to the mall - not to try to advertise my store.  I'd be happy with more traffic.

This Independence Day Holiday, the management of Ala Moana apparently succumbed to pressure from small operators to run a promotional ad in the Sunday newspaper.  The ad probably made the merchants happy but I doubt that it generated real business for the mall or its tenants.  Here's why:

• It's difficult for the consumer to understand or use.  The ad copy says "show this pass at any participating store from July 3-6 and receive 20% off one regular priced item per store per day."  What "pass"?  There's no actual "pass" or coupon.  The consumer is expected to understand that the whole ad is a coupon based on a tiny scissors icon which appears (delicately) on the side of the ad.  
• The "Big News" ... 20% savings ... is buried in the ad.
• It's difficult to administer.  How are the stores going to enforce the "one regular priced item per store per day"?  The type is so small, they can't use a stamp or even write in some sort of validation.  
• With small merchants, I'm willing to bet that many of the sales staff won't be aware of the promotion.  There's nothing more frustrating for a consumer than to go into a store expecting to get a discount and have the sales associate say "I have to check with the manager."  Or ... try to figure out how to ring up the discount on a point of sales system.  
• The ad features a lot of stores, but not the ones that the customer may actually care about.  There's nothing here for Macy's, Nieman Marcus, or Abercrombie & Fitch.  There are a few food outlets including Jack in the Box, but not McDonald's or Arby's. 

Here is another case of marketing dollars that probably will go to waste.  

Aerial Advertising in Hawaii ...

Despite the county's ban on aerial advertising, a company is trying to start flying a plane towing banners across Waikiki Beach.  Is this where it all leads??

I'm a free market kinda guy, but I think a community has a right to establish rules.  

Best TV Commercials of 2013-14 - Judge for Yourself

Click here to see a story from AdWeek containing videos of 26 TV spots that won the Grand Prix and the Gold Lion Awards at Cannes.  A lot of them are great.  Some of them are "creative" but iffy on their power to sell a product or establish a brand.  I've got my opinions ...

Another "Brilliant" Promotion - With Issues

Coke has introduced a specially labelled product built around the idea of "share a Coke" with a friend.  The special labeling involves putting individual names on the bottle ... i.e. "Share a Coke with Frank."

Now I'm sure the promotion folks (sitting in their cubicles) thought that this would be a terrific way to bring the concept to life.  But marketing only works when all of the elements of marketing work together.  In this case, the "brilliant" promotional idea is fraught with issues for the sales force and distribution system.

How are they going to stock this?  What if someone wants six bottles of "Chris" and "Alex" doesn't sell any?  How do you handle product returns?  Do the names reflect actual consumer names in different geographic areas?  (Hawaii, for example, has lots of unique names that I'm sure aren't on the bottles ... Kimo, Malia, Lei, etc.; African American names may be absent or under-represented).  Are consumers going to be unhappy or disappointed if they can't find the right name to share?

I can just imagine the sales force and store clerks muttering under their breaths when they have to deal with stocking issues in the supermarket.

The very best marketing is when all of the players - brand managers, promotion managers, sales managers, distribution managers - get in a room together to figure out what works in the real world.  Not in an isolated cubicle. 

Is Apple on a Course Toward Mediocrity??

I'm not a Mac person, but I've always used Apple's MacIntosh Commercials when I teach advertising.  They were examples of how to be creative and engaging while still selling the product.  The new ads (click here) show an Apple that is decidedly less adept in creating memorable (and effective) ads.

It is, for some reason, very hard to keep companies at a high level of creativity. 

Perceptions in Customer Service

I recently had the occasion to do some business with First Hawaiian Bank.  At the end of a business meeting, I was given the business card of the customer service representative I had been meeting with.  The title on the business card was "Customer Service Representative III".

What on earth was the bank thinking about when they developed that kind of title on a customer service business card?  Who wants to deal with a Class III representative?  Why don't I get a Class II or a Class I?  The cards obviously reflect the internal structure of the bank, but the customer doesn't need to know about that.  The "class III" title communicates that I am dealing with someone low down in the organization.

When I ran a business, the titles on the business cards (except for very senior management) didn't communicate rank at all.  For our account executives, cards indicated their title as "account service" rather than "senior account executive," "assistant account executive" or other indicators of rank.  Similarly, the media folks had cards that said "media service" instead of identifying their rank.

A non-hierarchical title on a business card gives the client the information needed without damaging the psyche of the employee ... or causing the client to think that they are getting something less than quality service. 

Ben and Jerry's ... Walking the Talk

I recently had the occasion to visit the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory (and birthplace) in Vermont.  Ben & Jerry's is known for the eccentricities of the founders.  It's been called a "hippie" company ... but more importantly it has a longstanding reputation as a company with a core set of sustainable values that include social responsibility. 

Touring the facility, those values were definitely part of the brand experience.  The tour guides were well scripted in verbalizing the founders' values and the three missions were prominently displayed on the walls.  The mission was exemplified by practices such as buying from local farmers, no GMO products and paying fair trade prices for their ingredients.  I was especially impressed because Ben and Jerry no longer own the company.  It was sold to Unilever years ago. 

My impression was somewhat diminished, though, when we ended the tour and bought some ice cream at the little shop on site.  Despite all the talk, the ice cream was served with non-recyclable plastic utensils.

It keeps coming back to a fundamental truth.  When it comes to branding, everything ... even the "little" things ... make a difference.

Kona Brewing: Selling the Sizzle

Sad Hour

Single Tasking

There's an old saying in advertising:  Sell the sizzle, not the steak.  In other words, don't focus on the physical attributes of a product:  sell the enjoyment ... sell the feeling ... sell the "sizzle."

Kona Brewing does a terrific job of selling the sizzle in these two spots which run on television on the mainland.  The spots never mention anything about the qualities of the beer itself.  They just capture the personality of the product.  Click on the images to see the ads.

Creative - or Wasteful - Media?

It seems that people are always looking for new media outlets.  Pizza Hut famously put their logo on the side of a rocket.  I've seen ads emblazoned on urinals.  And I've seen ads on baggage conveyor belts. 

One has to wonder what the effectiveness is.  I suspect the impact of these ads is not measurable, so advertisers are taking a "shot in the dark" when they "invest" in these non-traditional media. 

Recently I was in a fairly nice coffee shop (certainly not a dive).  They had flowers on the table and the decor was quite nice.  When we ordered coffee ... it came in a mug with advertising on it. I have a hard time imagining that someone would look down at their coffee cup and say "by golly, I should use Joseph Perry plumbing."  If I'm right, Joseph Perry wasted some money advertising in this medium. 

Honolulu is considering allowing advertising on the exterior of buses.  Now, that's actually a proven medium in other cities, but Honolulu is a little different.  Right now, there is an ordinance that prohibits any outdoor advertising, so there is a fear that bus ads will begin the "slippery slope" to allowing other outdoor ads.  The other issue stems from the fact that the bus system is owned and operated by the city.  So, by law, the city could not prohibit or put restrictions on ads appearing on the bus.  So tasteless ads, political ads, and any other ads would be fair game.  I was wondering what the mayor would think if a rival in a campaign bought bus ads that said "I'm going to restore the bus service that the current mayor cut." 

I guess my point is that there are an infinite array of media opportunities if you think creatively about them ... I just don't know that they all make sense.

Rules, rules, rules ...

I am currently in New Jersey where I was somewhat surprised to discover that it is not permissible to pump your own gas at a gas station.  When I asked a few people why this was the case, no one knew for sure, but someone speculated that it was all about safety.  Of course, New Jersey is the exception to the common rule in other states that drivers pump their own gas.  This makes economic sense, since it reduces labor costs and, in theory at least, lower costs benefit the customer through lower prices.  I suspect there are other reasons for the rule in New Jersey that are related to creating jobs.

That's only one example of the many local anomalies that companies deal with in getting their products to customers. 

In some states, liquor is only sold through state run stores.  In others, beer and wine is sold in Supermarkets, but not hard liquor.  Long ago I was at a conference in Utah and in order to purchase a drink in a restaurant, the customer had to walk over to a liquor store (in the restaurant) purchase a miniature bottle, bring it back to the table and order a mixer from the waiter.  The waiter was not allowed to touch the alcohol. 

In Hawaii there are strict laws about billboards and other outdoor advertising.  The laws have loosened upa bit, but they're still pretty strict.  At one point, soda vending machines couldn't put the name "Coke" or "Pepsi" on the front panel of the machine if it was visible from the street.  Currently, the city is considering whether to allow panel advertising on city buses.  The opposition cites this as a "slippery slope" leading to outdoor billboards. 

I doubt that there will be common rules for advertising and distribution anytime soon.  In the meantime, companies have to wade through a plethora of local regulations. 

Hubris as Strategy

Sometimes advertisers are so caught up in the competitive spirit that they slam the competition but forget to sell their own product.  The recent Jaguar commercial is an example of hubris in advertising.  The ad makes no claims, creates no unique selling proposition, has no distinctive brand attributes.  The ad simply says that Jaguar is the fastest growing luxury brand ... and that the competition is quaking in their boots.  What's worse, the artful production uses effects (like the headlamps of the car creating a mini light show) that actually obscure the product.  

I'm sure when the commercial was screened, the execs in the conference room were high-five-ing when the ad claims that Jaguar is growing faster than the competition.  I'm also willing to bet that the consumer will simply yawn. 

The Importance of Being Global

I was recently interviewed for a University of Hawaii publication on international education.  Here's what I said:

Q.  You’ve been an advocate for international education at University of Hawai‘i.  What prompted your interest?

A.  It’s no secret that “the world is flat.”  The world has never been so connected … by technology, communications, and commerce.  Success in the future is going to belong to those who understand this and are able to work in a multi-national environment.  If you look at large corporations, they’re all multi-national and more and more of their revenues are coming from areas outside of their headquarters base.  If you look at research and development, you’re seeing more innovation and new patents coming from emerging economies rather than just the highly industrialized nations. 

Q.  What kind of background does it take to succeed in this “flat world?” 

A.  First of all, it requires an open mind and a willingness to look beyond your comfort level.  In that sense, I would say that curiosity about the big, wide world is something I would look for when hiring someone in this day and age.  An educational background in international subjects, knowledge of several languages, and travel abroad all are indicators of that mindset and all of those things help promote that curiosity about the big, wide world. 

A Meeting with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority

Beyond that, there are certain skills that can provide the basis for success in the global   A background in the social sciences is a great foundation for understanding different cultures.  A background in international business provides an understanding of how business is conducted in different parts of the world.  Language skills, of course, are always useful.

community.

Understanding different cultures and being able to adapt products, programs and ideas to fit into them is often a critical skill.  When I worked for a Pizza Hut franchisee that was developing Pizza Hut restaurants in Taiwan, the company started by trying to sell pizza the way that worked in the U.S.:  a great tasting product with an Italian heritage.  In Taiwan, though, there is little appreciation for an Italian heritage.  After struggling with the introduction of Pizza Hut for a while, the company finally made some changes.  They changed the toppings on the pizza to include options like squid.  And they changed the message to be more culturally appropriate.  The message was all about sharing food with friends, which is a natural part of the pizza experience, rather than focusing on the pizza itself.  After those changes, sales really blossomed. 

Q.  What about language?

As I said, being able to speak multiple languages is often a key to success in the global marketplace.  English has been the standard, but more and more people are studying Mandarin to be able to operate in an era when China is becoming such an important player on the world stage. 

There’s an old joke that goes like this:  If you speak three languages, you’re tri-lingual.  If you speak two languages, you’re bi-lingual.  If you speak one language, you’re American.  That has to change.

Even if you’re not fluent, having some basic language skills demonstrates that you care enough about other cultures to at least try to communicate with them in their language.

Q.  What are the possibilities for Hawai‘i in terms of tapping into global opportunities?

For one thing, Hawai‘i has the University of Hawai‘i and its system of colleges.  Given our diverse culture in Hawai‘i and the highly regarded international programs at the University of Hawai‘i, we should naturally be a magnet for international education. 

And, of course, Hawai‘i has a well-respected global brand in tourism.  Tourism is a trillion dollar industry that is expected to continue to grow rapidly fueled by the revolutions in technology, transportation and economic development.  In addition to all of the economic benefits of tourism, the industry naturally exposes people to different cultures and ideas from around the world and, in that regard, it can really be an instrument for global understanding.

Q.  How can Hawai‘i become a better global player?

A.  Over the years, different people have suggested that Hawai‘i is a natural center for global or multi-national businesses, meetings and other activities but that hasn’t happened in a big way.  Part of the rationale for this thinking in the past was that Hawai‘i’s geographic location would naturally make it attractive as a global player.  Long range aircraft, telecommunications technology and the internet have diminished that geographical advantage; however, there are some significant advantages that Hawai‘i has now – or could further develop – that could make Hawai‘i a significant global player. 

One of these advantages is international education.  The University of Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i Pacific University already have a significant number of international students and some extraordinary international programs.  And, of course, there is the East-West Center.  Graduates from these programs often return to their home countries with a familiarity about Hawai‘i, the University and the multi-cultural society here that can make Hawai‘i top-of-mind as a place open to global thinking. 

Another advantage that is still based on Hawai‘i’s geographic location is the ability to host international meetings and events.  As more and more companies are becoming global, it no longer makes sense for sales meetings, product rollouts, conferences and other events to be exclusively scheduled on the US mainland.  Holding these events in Hawai‘i encourages better attendance from Asia and, incidentally, highlights Hawai‘i as a place for international business.  The enormous investment in time and resources to host the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum was intended to showcase Hawai‘i as a place where East and West can have a productive meeting.  We need to continue to take advantage of the publicity and goodwill that came out of APEC. 

And, of course, we should lead from our strengths.  Tourism is the dominant industry in Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i is known the world over for its tourism expertise.  We can take advantage of the power of the Hawai‘i tourism “brand” by exporting our expertise in resort design, hospitality education, sustainable tourism practices and other consulting services.  

Q.  How can UH compete to attract more international students?

A.  It isn’t difficult.   It just requires making international initiatives a priority.  There are many opportunities to recruit international students through enrollment fairs and other activities abroad.  There are also other marketing activities including advertising, social media, and specialized websites that can be developed.  It just takes time, effort and money.

Another approach is to work cooperatively with the state Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) and other colleges and universities in Hawai‘i to develop a marketing campaign promoting the state as a great place for international education.  The individual colleges, then, would benefit from the interest in the Hawai‘i brand and promote their own institutions more effectively.  DBEDT has done this on a limited basis in the past and understands the economic impact that international students contribute to the state. 

 

Logos: The Subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) Evolution of Great Logos

A logo is an essential element of a brand's personality.  As such, even the little things about a logo say a lot about it.   This article takes you through the logic of logo development for some really big brands:  what wasn't right about the "before" and what worked with the "after" rendition of the logo.

What's wrong about the old WAL*MART logo.  Click and find out.

Blah, Blah, Blah. Generic Messages Are Just That

Click here to take a look at this spoof on contemporary corporate brand advertising.  If it weren't so true, it would be funny. 

Customer Empathy

I have been watching the growth of Chinese visitors to Hawaii ... and have been advocating that the hospitality industry do much more to understand their needs.  I've heard from tour operators and others that, to properly service this market, hotels need to have Mandarin speaking staff members available 24/7, include amenities that are preferred by the Chinese (i.e.loose tea in addition to coffee makers in the room), include Mandarin television channels in the in-room entertainment system, and more. 

Intellectually, I understood the importance of these considerations.  Recently, however, they came home to me viscerally when I stayed in a hotel in Morocco. 

The first issue I encountered was the need to make a local telephone call late at night (my suitcase had been lost and I was trying to track it down).  There were no instructions for making calls in the room, so I called the operator and asked (in English) how I could get an outside line.  The operator obviously spoke very little English.  She first said "you must call from your room."  I said "yes, but how do I get an outside line?"  She said, "I don't understand."  I said, "how do I make a telephone call?"  She repeated, "I don't understand."  And hung up. 

I was also trying to follow a breaking news story (the disappearance of the Malaysian aircraft). Once again, there were no in-room materials for the television.  I was able to find CNN, but it was in French.  It was frustrating to try to follow the news without access to a channel in a language I understand.  (Thank goodness for the internet ... it was my English-language window to the world). 

So now I have experienced the issues and challenges that I only imagined before.  Taking a walk in the customer's shoes is a real eye-opener.

Farmed and Dangerous: An "Unbranding" Story by Chipotle

It's not for everyone ... but here's a link to how Chipotle does guerrilla marketing via internet video. 

Stretching a Brand Beyond Its Limits: Porsche

While driving along, I spotted a Porsche SUV the other day.  I had heard that Porsche was making a sports utility vehicle, but I had never seen one before.  It matched my expectations:  a vehicle that was way out of character for a sports car brand. 

The Porsche 997 G3T (top) and the Porsche SUV.  Do you see the family resemblence?

I'm sure that the folks at Porsche had meetings in which they analyzed the SUV market and evaluated the generous margins that go along with manufacturing SUVs.  But apparently in those meetings, no strong voice spoke up to say "this just doesn't fit the Porsche brand." 

I obviously don't work for Porsche, but I imagine the brand is all wrapped up in images and fantasies about speed, youthful fantasy and testosterone.  I can't imagine that the brand fits well with a type of vehicle that is associated with taking the kids to soccer practice. 

Many car manufacturers want to have an SUV in their lineup exactly because they are profitable and desirable for a segment of their customers.  But for me, it's easier for brands like Mercedes and Volvo to include an SUV in the lineup (even though the fit isn't perfect) than for Porsche ... because Porsche doesn't have a brand that stands for anything as mundane as taking the kids to soccer practice.  To take this to an extreme ... do you think Rolls Royce should have an SUV in its lineup?  Hmmmm.  I doubt that would make sense. 

Doing Well by Doing Good

Enlightened corporate philanthropy works on many levels.

Click here for a link about the experience of TOMS shoes ...

 

Pricing as a Signal

The greeting card industry is an interesting one.  They sell love ... they sell affection ... they sell good feelings ... they sell sympathy. 

So, how do you know how much of those feelings are wrapped up in the card.  One very clever thing that all the greeting card companies do is to print the price on the back of the card.  They could obviously use a bar code or some other device to obscure the price.  But, there it is - plain as day. 

If you've ever watched someone when they open a card, after they read the greeting, they will often turn to the back of the card.  They really want to see how much they are loved as evidenced by how much the sender spent.

Here's a the back of a Valentine card that I got for my wife.  The message is (hopefully) loving but
lighthearted.  But the price was $5.99.  So I love her a whole lot more than the 99 cent Shoebox card would show. 

Worth it?  Hallmark thinks so.  When buying a card to express your love, isn't love worth $5.99??

Great Ideas Are Evergreen ...

I'm reading "Practically Radical" by William C. Taylor (founder of Fast Company Magazine).  The book is all about change and changing ossified companies.  It's a good book - but, what strikes me is how changeless

some of the strategies for change can be.  The first section of the book stresses the need to look at an organization with outsiders' eyes.  That's absolutely true.  We get blinded by what "is" and can't see what "can be" when we've been in an organization too long.  The only thing is: this is the same advice delivered by a host of other management books.

In one powerful example, Taylor cites a hospital that sent a team of its employees (including doctors) to Japan to see first hand how Toyota manages quality production.  As the story goes, a Toyota manager asked to see floor plans for the hospital.  "What is this room with chairs?" asked the Toyota exec.  "A waiting room," was the reply. 

Toyota:  "Do you have other waiting rooms?"

Hospital:  "Yes, fifteen of them?"

Toyota:  "And they all have twenty five or so chairs?"

Hospital:  "Yes."

Toyota Exec:  "Aren't you ashamed?"

Nobody had looked at the hospital's operation as one built around customers/patients. 

If an outsiders' point of view is so critical to making change that it is a core idea to a host of management books, why don't more organizations do it?

It's uncomfortable.  And it causes change.  

When to Pull the Plug? The Pro Bowl Saga in Hawaii

One of the most dangerous practices in marketing is to keep pouring money into an unsuccessful product or campaign just because "we've always done it."  In business school, students are taught to pull the plug on failures, but in the real world sometimes the band plays on because of emotional attachments or a misguided belief that "if we can only tweak this thing it will turn around."

Hawaii has just such an example of an idea whose time has come and gone:  the Pro Bowl.  The reason that the Pro Bowl is a yawn (with declining attendance at the game and low television ratings) is that fans don't like the product.  What's changed over the years is the growing "super event" - the Super Bowl" which sucks all of the oxygen out of any "All Star" event.  (The Super Bowl is the All Star Event; the Pro Bowl is a weak sister).  The Super Bowl is the culmination of a fan-frenzied playoff series.  The Pro Bowl is a pick up game.

What's more, there's a change in the economics of the game.  Players are sooooo valuable now that they don't want to risk injury in a game that doesn't mean anything.  The result is a Pro Bowl that looks more like a neighborhood game of touch.  It has become so bad that a few years ago, the fans in the stands (who paid good money to watch a football game) booed when it became obvious that they were watching something entirely different.  Even worse for Hawaii, the game is played in Aloha Stadium, which is an embarrassment when it comes to showing off our state.

This year, the National Football League is trying to improve things by changing the format of the game ... using a Fantasy Football draft as a way to select the players.  That still doesn't change the underlying dynamics that have made the game a dud.

Yet, despite all the signals that the game isn't going to become the success that it was years ago, the Hawaii Tourism Authority continues to write multi-million dollar checks to keep the game on life support - and keep it in Hawaii.  There's an emotional attachment to the "game" that makes it hard to act rationally.  But, there's also the comments from fans tourism execs that the game shows off sunny Hawaii in the midst of the Mainland winter.  Granted.  But the HTA could spend that four or five million dollars in other advertising efforts that would not only show Hawaii's sunshine, but communicate a message that is strategically aligned with the brand.  

When I was at HTA I (un-popularly) suggested that we continue to partner with the NFL to benefit from the star power of its players ... but dump the game.  I suggested that we host a post-season event for the NFL all-stars with skills events, celebrity parties and other made-for television activities ... and get rid of a game that no one cares about.  That idea went nowhere.

So, I suspect the Pro Bowl will go on for a while until it dies of natural causes.  In the meantime, the state and the NFL are pouring money into a terminally ill brand. 

Driving Points Home ...

When I teach or make presentations, I find that if I do the conventional thing and make a rational speech with rational points, what's often heard is "blah, blah, blah."  What seems to stick with the audience are axioms or sayings - liberally borrowed from others - that make the point in a much more clever (and memorable) way.  Here are some of the "sayings" that I sprinkle through my presentations.  Feel free to "borrow" them for yourself.

• Nobody wants a quarter inch drill bit.  What they want is a quarter inch hole. The lesson here is that marketing is all about benefits ... not features.
• Learn to fail fast. You need to take risks to create products and services that are unique.  Calculated risks.  Of course, if you take risks, you often fail - so learn to fail fast so you're not throwing money into a black hole.
• Never let a good crisis go to waste.  A crisis is a huge opportunity because conditions are changing and change opens doors.  Sometimes the best time to make change is in a time of crisis.  When times are good, you get fat, dumb, and happy.
• You can’t win at chess if you’re playing checkers.  Strategy, strategy, strategy.  Think long term.
• We have met the enemy and he is us. We're often our own worst enemy ... engaging in group think and ignoring the world around us.  
• I’d rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong.  How often do we get caught up in reams of data and lose sight of the big picture.
• What got you here won’t get you there.  What made you successful won't necessarily help you in a changing environment.
• Your past success is your worst enemy.  Your confidence in business is based on your past success.  That is a false sense of confidence. 
• If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.  You have to be moving forward, or else you'll be standing still or falling behind.  Similarly:  There are three kinds of companies:  Those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that wonder what happened.
• Sacred cows make the best burgers.  Find your "sacred cows" and ask if they're producing milk.  Otherwise ... it's time for burgers. 
• Search all your parks in all your cities – you’ll find no statues to committees.  Committees often lead to "group think" and paralysis.  I was on a panel once with Jerry (from Ben and Jerry's ice cream, famous for its open corporate culture).  He said:  "We're participatory but not a democracy."  Well put.
• Avoid the curse of knowledge.  How often are we so knowledgeable about our product that we speak in language alien to the customer?
• In the factory I make cosmetics … in the store, I sell hope.  Charles Revson.  This famous quote once again makes the point that we sell benefits not features.   
• Some is not a number; soon is not a time; hope is not a strategy.  Look at your plans and programs.  Do they contain flabby generalities?  If so, get out a sharp pencil and make yourself accountable for specific results!

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