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.