Here we go again?

Last year, a few weeks after moving into our new home, we were greeted with an unwanted visitor:  Hurricane Irene, who managed to drop a tree across the driveway and another on the house.  Welcome to the neighborhood, Paul.

Now, forecasts have Hurricane Sandy turning into 'Frankenstorm' in time to mess up Halloween, so having learned my lesson I'm planning in advance.  Well, a couple days in advance.  Which is clearly not enough, if you want to buy a portable generator.  Which leads me to a comment:  why, when an e-commerce site is out of stock, do we need to find the product, read the reviews, decide we want it, and THEN discover that it's nowhere to be found in a 12 state vicinity?

After Irene, sensible bricks and mortar retailers posted hand written signs saying 'No Ice' so that customers didn't need to stop and bother the clerk for the 300th time.  During the petrol tanker strike in the UK, stations posted signs saying 'No Petrol', again to dissuade motorists from queuing for hours for nothing.



Somehow, this notion of retail sensibility for out of stock situations during times of peak demand does not spread to e-tailers like lowes.com, who merrily let me waste time only to find that the closest my local Lowes has to a generator is a few candles.  A simple interstitial either confirming out of stocks, or directing to an availability page, would have been welcomed.  The lack of communication is another example of how some retailers just don't get it where their e-commerce sites are concerned.  What the ideal e-commerce site provides is the ease of at home shopping, and a virtual replication of, or even enhancement to, the in-store experience.  Surely out of stock situations - and it's not just hurricane prep items but hot Christmas toys or fashion 'must haves' - warrant a well thought out contact plan and strategy to save customers time and ensure the experience is less negative.

Unlike my posting last time prior to Irene, I'm not going to say anything tempting fate.  Stay safe, anyone in Frankenstorm's path!

Farewell Newsweek as we knew it

Time for a touch of nostalgia, folks, as Newsweek just announced it is going purely digital, and dropping the print version of their magazine.  Of course, I saw this on-line, so the irony is clear, but it reminded me of some of the old Newsweek magazines which my father had saved ... presumably for days like this.  One in particular is the July 28, 1969 edition.

Here's the cover shot, so you can guess the main story:

An unearthly shot if ever there was one.  And at the time, although I was too young to realize, a monumental moment in mankind's mission for mastering the majestic moon and outer space.  Okay, I got a little carried away with the alliteration, but the point is that Newsweek, along with the daily newspapers and other magazines like Time, were THE source of information, and used some extraordinary journalism to capture the essence of this event.

Other little tidbits from this edition:

• Teddy Kennedy was in a bit of hot water, as this edition spotlit the infamous Chappaquiddick tragedy in the National Affairs section that dogged him for decades after the incident.
• The Vietnam War had an update page called 'Steady on Course', showing a photo of Admiral John S McCain Jr. walking with others to plot the course of the war.  No, that's not the Republican nominee for President from 2008, but his father.
• The international section headline was "India:  Gunning for Mrs. Gandhi".  25 years later, that is exactly what happened, as the Indian PM was assassinated by her bodyguards.
• The Spotlight on Business section highlighted 'Bernie and His Billions'.  No, not Madoff, but another Bernie, Benard Cornfeld, who was described as a "self-made emperor of international finance".  The article included color photos of him cavorting with women as the 'Hugh Hefner of Western Europe', and riding horses at one of his grand estates.  He was ultimately tried and acquitted for running one of the biggest confidence games of his era.  Must be something about being called 'Bernie' that leads people down a crooked path.
• The Dow closed the week before at 845.92.  Total.  As in down 6.33 to close at 845.92.  Contrast that with what happened on October 13th, 2008 when the increase was +936.42 or September 29th of the same year when the Dow declined -777.68, and you get the point.  A lot of shares have changed hands since that magazine has published.
• Blind Faith made their first appearance in the US, jamming 20,000 into Madison Square Garden.  If you've never heard of Blind Faith, you might know the band members.  Ginger Baker on drums, Eric Clapton on guitar, and 21 year old upstart Steve Winwood.  

Interesting infographic on mobile traffic, courtesy of Go-Globe

Infographic by- GO-Globe.com

Green Eggs and Ham anyone?

Like many parents, I occasionally go through old toys and children's books which have fallen into disuse or are outgrown.  Usually it involves making comments like 'ah, remember when' and 'not sure I can get rid of this', especially if both you and your spouse are attempting the clearing out task.  With a 10 year old, sadly many of the Dr. Seuss books have given way to more challenging material involving fewer pictures, more words, and no rhymes.  One such book, 'Green Eggs and Ham', was one of my personal favorites and on re-reading it last weekend, it became clear that there's a few lessons we marketers could benefit from courtesy of Dr. Seuss.

I won't repeat the entirety of the tale in this posting but suffice to say it is about an effort by one character, 'Sam I Am', to get another unnamed character to taste something new, and the often absurd extremes Sam goes to in order to entice a tasting.

If we think about conventional marketing of a product or service, the approach is often similar to that taken by Sam I Am.  We describe the product and ask the customer to try it.  If that doesn't work, we try different circumstances to drive the initial trial.  Maybe we don't opt to put the product on a boat or with a mouse, but we still try to find alternative ways to influence perceptions through changing the positioning, conjuring up new campaigns, endorsements or sponsorships, or various other initiatives aimed at inducing trial.  And marketers sometimes spend vast fortunes bludgeoning customers into surrender - especially political candidate marketers, if my experience in the swing state of Virginia is anything to go by.

For many products or services, once the initial trial is obtained, the customer is sold.  Hence the efforts auto manufacturers and dealers go to to gain the crucial test drive of a new vehicle, or the millions spent on sampling at grocery.  Yet is the 'Sam I Am' approach to marketing the best way?  Does constant repetition and adaptation of a core product/service message really the best way to gain trial?

In the social world that we inhabit, I'd argue that while components of the 'old way' of positioning and gaining trial still work, it would behoove Sam I Am to undertake a few other tactics in his effort to secure trial of the green eggs and ham, namely:

1.  Basic data interrogation -  Of course, learning primary data, ie the character's name, is vital to ever gaining an element of trust, so clearly Sam I Am had some data interrogation to do with his prospect green eggs and ham list before approaching with the offer of trial.  He might have also checked his records regarding previous egg and ham campaigns, to see if his unnamed prospect had been approached, how many times, with what message combination or offer, etc.  And if the prospect had indeed been a customer who had lapsed, maybe check with his customer service data to see any complaints raised about the eggs or ham - perhaps the previous color for the eggs was red, so green might be a product innovation that could re-gain a lapsed customer?  Using a decent CRM system linked to a customer service platform, Sam I Am might have armed himself better for his initial foray.
2.  Social listening - Sam I Am could have determined the unnamed characters preferences or  what has been termed 'secondary data'  - ie interests, goals and motivations - through social listening using tools like Radian6.  This might have helped him refine the selection of use occasions or participants to offer - instead of on a boat, maybe a kayak if the unnamed character was a regular REI fan and blogged about his kayaking?  It may have uncovered a vast group of prospective green egg and ham users, who perhaps had preferences that could have honed down the rather haphazard food and location pairings Sam I Am attempted.
3.  Influencer marketing - Sam I Am could have sought expert recommendations on the quality of his green eggs and ham from noted experts or foodie bloggers, and ensured the unnamed character saw said recommendations prior to initiating trial efforts.  This may have softened resistance to the notion, although the unnamed character does go to great lengths to say he does not like green eggs and ham, suggesting an unsatisfactory prior experience with the 'brand' that an influencer may not overcome.
4.  WOM - There's little doubt that if Sam I Am had trust to begin with, he would not have needed such extreme lengths and effectively gain 'surrender' for the trial.  Yet many customers do not trust the brand owner, and are more likely to believe a friend.  So perhaps Sam I Am could have cultivated some known advocates with a word of mouth marketing program to encourage sampling and trial by their friends, in the hopes that trusted friends may have induced the trial.



In the end, of course, the green eggs and ham is liked, no matter the physical circumstances or who the meal is presented with.  The unnamed character becomes a joyous advocate for green eggs and ham.  And Sam I Am tried to win an Addy for his "out of the box, hit them with rocks, put on white socks" thinking.

Dog days

Our dog is a 12 year old Scottie named Murphy.  Unfortunately, Murphy had a tussle with our significantly younger and bigger King Shepherd, resulting in poor Murph spending most of the weekend and this week in the vet emergency clinic.  Good news is he survived the scuffle (barely ... a case of attempted dogslaughter by the Shepherd?) and is recovering nicely.  But he is definitely off his food.  After numerous discussions with the vet, the recommended solution?  Baby food, non-chunky, off of a spoon.


Hence my trip to the grocery store to buy 10 jars of pureed turkey, chicken, and beef for the dog.  First time visiting this aisle in 9 years.  And it was an interesting excursion from a couple perspectives.

First, that an aisle which is normally nothing more than a cut through to the dairy department is a lot busier brand-wise than I recall from the days when baby food was bought for a baby, namely mine.  The variety of foods and food combinations is quite remarkable, with clear delineation of more expensive varieties from the value options.  Yet what is even more remarkable is the lack of standout on the shelf, and overall poor quality of merchandising by the large manufacturers.  Now that could be the buyer at Kroger stopping some nice initiatives, but it felt like a part of the store which, though high profit, is relatively ignored from a shopper marketing perspective as young mom's account for a small minority of this particular store's traffic.  Any short term promotions to build trial and loyalty was almost non-existent, if you judge activity by the shelf alone.  So I went on-line, and whoa:  what a lot of stuff is available, courtesy of Gerber/Nestle, Beech Nut, and a whole host of brands.  Plenty of what marketers are terming, in annoyingly repetitive fashion, 'engagement opportunities' for the young mother with time on her hands (not) to explore these sites, laden with coupons and advice.



But that raises the question - why isn't it carried through to the point of sale, the zero moment of truth or whatever you want to call it?  Is all the seeding of prospects occurring outside the store, such that the in-store experience is purely a transactional relationship, aimed as satisfying the shopping list item?  Why is there no guidance to choosing a selection of items which provide a balanced diet to a baby or toddler, in the form of shelf strips or point of sale advice?  Or why not provide QR codes which link to the information, to help a mother get the right assortment for her child?

In short, it seems at least where baby food is concerned, that the digital revolution has been at the expense of the shopper marketing revolution, with precious little interest or effort in driving sales and information at the last few feet.

Still, at least Murphy is feeling better!!

PS:  It feels kinda weird feeding a dog baby food from a spoon.  Almost had a knee jerk reaction to put him over my shoulder to 'burp' him afterwards ...