Marketing Today

Sesame Street Celebrates 40th Birthday Starting with the Google Homepage

Sesame Street's40th year brings Big Bird to the Google homepage today.  But, that is just part of the big birthday celebration which really takes place on November 11th and appeals to all of us who grew up with the show.

Created by Children's Television Workshop (CTW), Sesame Streetpremiered on November 10, 1969.  It combined education with entertainment on a television show that was originally developed especially for low-income families to help their children learn and prepare for school.

The show brought us the Muppets and many other lovable characters.  It spawned movies, toys, and games.  It has kept up with the times by introducing new characters like H. Ross Parrot when H. Ross Perot came onto the presidential election scene.  And, has brought the most popular actors and singers onto the show in their prime.  The show has continued to innovate while continuing to make learning fun for kids and the adults who sit down to watch the show with them.
 

What's happening on November 10th?

On November 10th, First Lady, Michelle Obama, will be on the show interacting with some talking vegetables to teach children about good nutrition and staying active.  There will also be a new DVD entitled Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days for sale as well.  To see a preview of the 40th Anniversary show, head to the Sesame Street website.  And, run a search on Google for the latest Sesame Street news from the media and bloggers.  Happy birthday, Sesame Street!

 

When Madeleine Albright Does Your Marketing For You

If you ever get a chance to hear Madeleine Albright speak, take it!  I just got to hear her at a recent Commonwealth Institute event in Boston coordinated with the publication of her new book "Read My Pins:  Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box." Her stories about how her jewelry collection was used to make diplomatic history during her time as Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of State during the Clinton administration are both funny and fascinating. 

A few lines from her book tell it best: "Before long, and without intending it, I found that jewelry had become part of my personal diplomatic arsenal. Former president George H. W. Bush had been known for saying "Read my lips." I began urging colleagues and reporters to "Read my pins."

Talking About Your Pins Means Big Business for Ann Hand

I was inspired by my autographed copy of Read My Pins and its more than 200 photographs combined with the wonderful stories about jewelry and it's place amongst global politics.  So, when I was in Washington, DC this week, I set out to visit the Ann Hand Jewelry store were several of the pins and diplomatic gifts featured in Albright's book are sold. One pin in particular, the Liberty Eagle, was on my acquisition list.  

The first thing I saw upon walking into the Ann Hand salon was a copy of Read My Pins cracked open to page 68 where the pin is magnified on a black velvet background.  Featured on the next page is the pin as part of a necklace worn by Madeleine Albright in a photo with President Clinton.  When I asked to purchase the pin, I was told that they had sold out right after the book came out and that they were back-ordered.  So, I placed an order.  Sure enough, while I was looking around the rest of the store, a lady walked in wanting the Liberty Eagle pin because she had just seen Madeleine Albright giving an interview about her pins on TV.

Riding the Wave with Celebrity Endorsements

Unsolicited celebrity endorsements or simple word of mouth endorsements from happy customers are one of the best ways to market your product.  You get them by a) having a great product or service, and b) attracting customers to what you're offering.  Sometimes you can help get endorsements by promoting photos of celebrities with your product or developing case studies that you publish or generating press featuring your customers and your product.  But, when you get someone like Madeleine Albright for customer because she just plain likes your jewelry and wears it proudly, you know that  you've done your job well.  The sales that roll in from a happy customer endorsement just reinforce that, so enjoy the success. 

Personally, I can't wait for my pin to arrive and here I am blogging about the Liberty Eagle and the Ann Hand shopping experience when I didn't even get to wear my purchase home.  Even worse, I'm thinking about my next trip back to the store and what I'll buy then!

Ads I Love: Knob Creek Says "Thanks for Nothing"

I had to smile last Sunday as I was reading the New York Times when I came across a full-page, full-color ad announcing that Knob Creek was out of bourbon until November.  The "Thanks for nothing." ad tells loyal fans of this premium Kentucky bourbon that demand has outstripped supply.  Because Knob Creek bourbon batches need to age for a full nine years, customers may experience a shortage when you head to the liquor store.  So, thanks for understanding.

"Thanks for nothing." Direct Mail

Accompanying the ad was a direct mail piece to press who write about drinks & spirits along with top Knob Creek loyalists who write about the brand.  They received a "mysterious shipping box" that contained an empty Knob Creek bottle and a note that read:

"For the next few months Knob Creek Bourbon is in a unique situation -- our product is so popular that we cannot keep up with customer demand. As a result, our supply will be running low over the next few months, And, in some cases, we may experience temporary stock depletion. But, instead of compromising quality to meet demand, we have chosen to let the supply run low. In deference to Booker Noe and his vision for Knob Creek, we will age all our bourbon the full 9 years. The next batch will be ready in November of this year...Again, with all the success we've had, we've still come up empty. Thanks for helping make it happen."

Turning Problem Into Opportunity

I love this campaign because it takes advantage of what most would consider a bad situation.  Nothing like letting people know in a very creative way that a) they need to stock up, and b) they might want to pre-order so they make sure to get their Knob Creek bourbon as soon as it's fully aged.  By advertising in major publications like the New York Times and sending out packages to their top brand ambassadors, they've got loyalists helping to spread the message through blogs (and there are plenty on this campaign if you do a search on Google) and in print.  Bravo!

What? You Ordered Employees to Post Fake Reviews?

Today's New York Times reports that "Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web."  According to the press release, Lifestyle Lifts was also ordered to shut down websites they created to look like independent consumer site like myfaceliftstory.com where Lifestyle Lift employees were posing as satisfied customers in forums and typing in comments as well.

What I found really interesting about the article is that the Attorney General's office found an e-mail message that told employees to “devote the day to doing more postings on the Web as a satisfied client.” Why did this e-mail go out?  Because the company felt that negative reviews found on the Internet were hurting Lifestyle Lift's reputation.  (For the sake of this blog entry, let's pretend that those reviews were written by real consumers and not their competition.)

Value of Online Marketing Reviews

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I have participated as a BzzAgent, a word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing network for new products, and epinions,  a consumer review site, in the last several years.  Unless I'm really angry about bad product or bad service I've received, I will rarely write about or endorse anything that I don't really, really like.  I believe most people are the same way which is why I rely on the advice of independent consumers when making a purchasing decision about a particular product.  When companies like Lifestyle Lift and Carbonite encourage employees to post fake product reviews as if they were satisfied customers of their own products, it ruins the value of consumer review sites for everyone.

What Kind of Marketing Strategy is Posting Fake Reviews Anyway?

Lifestyle Lift operates 32 centers that offer a procedure that "specifically to tighten the jowls and neck, and reduce frown lines and wrinkles."   Their website features plenty of before & after photos of clients and a free consultation.  There are plenty of logos from TV shows and magazines where Lifestyle Lift or Dr. Kent, the founder, have been featured.  Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a link to "News & Events" on the site even though after being ordered to pay $300K in penalities to the State of New York over the false consumer reviews they clearly have a crisis PR issue on their hands.

When the product or service you are marketing is based on trust in the organization performing the service, what does writing fake reviews do to build trust?  Do you really think no one will catch on?  What's more, would you let someone perform a procedure that is going to permanently change your face based on something you read on the Internet?  If the day comes that I consider that, I want to speak to people who have actually had the procedure done and examine the work done up close.

Note:  The image used in this blog post was taken from the Lifestyle Lift home page where it is prominently placed next to The Lifestyle Lift Code of Internet Conduct and Assurance.

JetBlue Likes Me! They Really Like Me!

Even though I am the last person in America to try JetBlue, I gotta say that I'm so glad that I did.  I love when an organization makes something I take for granted (like airline travel) so much better because they stay close to their customers and follow their competition to create a better experience.  That's marketing!

As a long time flyer on the big airlines - USAir, Northwest, Delta, and American - I'm used to being treated like cattle.  I actually expect it.  From making reservations and settling for a bad time to fly to sitting in a dirty airplane and not even being offered peanuts to eat, my standards have gotten really low.  Flying to mean is a means to an end for me.

JetBlue is Really Different!

I made online reservations and got the time that I wanted to fly through an easy-to-use site.  I showed up at the airport and headed over to the online kiosk to check my bag through an efficient system.  Then I headed over to the gate and hopped on the plane.  The plane was clean and I could hook right into DirectTV on the flight.  No cheesy reruns to watch on inflight TV!  I was offered Dunkin' Donuts coffee and animal crackers (it was an early morning flight!) and left alone.  I deplaned at Dulles - again in a clean terminal and picked up my bag and headed off for the day.  Doesn't sound like much does it?  But when you start your day with surly people who want to charge you for everything from walking through their terminal (just kidding!) to using a pillow on their flight, it gets your day started on a different note.

JetBlue Asked For My Opinion

Just 24 hours after I flew, JetBlue sent me an online questionaire to see how my experience went.  They asked me how I liked everything from their airline pilot's message on flight to my choice of programs on DirectTV in flight.  I think they want to keep me as their customer!

These days, we have a lot of options as to who we chose to do business with.  Times are tough and we're selective as to how we spend our money and who we spend it with.  I'd much rather do business with someone who wants me as a customer than with someone who seems to care less.  Making my customer experience a pleasant one, ensures that I'll be a repeat customer too.  Go JetBlue!

Faking product reviews backfires big time for Carbonite

This week, online data storage company, Carbonite had some explaining to do when a New York Times article exposed the fact that employees of Carbonite had actually written fake reviews praising the Carbonite backup service and had posted them on Amazon.com back in 2006.  If you read the article, you'll learn that a customer who was using the Carbonite service backed up his PC using the service and then had his computer crash.  When he went to use the backup to restore his computer, he found that it didn't work and that customer support kept him waiting on hold for an hour.  A quick search on product reviews on Amazon led him to discover several suspicious ones all praising Carbonite that were all written around the same time.  One review that gave the service 5 stars was published by the VP of Marketing for Carbonite.  Yikes! 

Fake Reviews Would Be Bad

When the service that you market is responsible for backing up people's computer files and when the tagline under your logo posted at the top of your home page reads "Because your life is on your computer", you want your service to work right every time.  You hope no one has to write a review about using your service, because you hope your customers never lose their data and have to recover it.  If they do, you certainly want them to have a good experience.  What does it say about your service when people discover that your marketing team has been posting fake reviews?  Not much.  Did you really think no one would figure it out?  And, while Carbonite has pulled the fake reviews off of Amazon, the angry customer has all of the screen shots posted online in Picasa where anyone with access to the Internet can still find them.

Carbonite CEO Apologizes

In one story in Xconomy, the writer spoke with Carbonite CEO, David Friend, to get his company’s side of the story.   The article reads "He didn’t try to spin or shift blame for the episode: He says it was “totally wrong” for Carbonite staffers Swami Kumaresan and Jonathan Freidin to post positive reviews of Carbonite’s service on Amazon without making it clear that they were Carbonite employees....The Amazon case was an isolated incident.  Some people are alleging that this is a pattern of behavior.  It isn’t. It was just one thing that happened back when Carbonite had eight employees and there were a bunch of young guys who didn’t know any better…This was just two overenthusiastic employees who decided to post these things on their own. To be honest they thought it was cool.”

The article goes onto say that since January of 2007 Carbonite has had a policy requiring anyone affiliated with the company to disclose that relationship whenever they contribute to blogs or review sites.   Really?  Might have been nice if that policy had been expanded to take all fake reviews that presiously existed down.  A quick Google search might have helped to find out where some of them lived out there on the Internet.

What Did the Carbonite CEO Think Was Going to Happen in the Blogsphere?

What interested me in the Xconomy article was this sentence "But while Friend is apologetic, he’s also a bit miffed about Carbonite’s treatment in the blogosphere over the past couple of days."  Hello?  Welcome to 2009 and the new world of PR where you can't control your message the way you'd like to online.  It's great to come clean and admit a problem, but understand that there are plenty of citizen journalists with blogs and cynical journalists on deadline with a beat to cover who write their own stories, not yours.  A quote like that is just catnip for journalists and new marketers.

Given the nature of what Carbonite does with online backup, it's important to note that all these journalists and their readers might be customers.  If they're not impressed with the way that you understand how media works today when you respond to a crisis, it's pretty easy for them to switch the method they use to back up their systems -- especially when the cost of your service is about $50/year.  And, they have the methods to suggest that others do so as well.

It's also interesting to note as of the writing of this blog entry, that there is no mention of the fake reviews or the company's response to it on the Carbonite website.  Seems kind of like putting your head in the sand, doesn't it?

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Survivor: Retail - Why some stores won't make it through 2009

This past week, I was was reading an article entitled "Big Retailers Which May Close or Downsize" and it really got me thinking.  Like many people watching the market these days, I've cut back my spending considerably and am cranking up my savings.  But, with Christmas coming, I've got to get out to stores and pick up presents for family and friends.  Watching the way that retailers are marketing to customers this year is amazing to me and it's not surprising to read that several stores that  we've been shopping at for years, just aren't going to make it in 2009.

Is Talbots First on the "To Go List" or What?

Growing up as a Connecticut preppy, I confess that I've been shopping at Talbots since I was 14 years old.  I liked their old tagline "Talbots is the Classics" because that's how I've always thought of it.  It's always been a great place to pick up a black skirt or some other item that you know will fit, that you'll have for years, knowing that if you go back to the store a year later, you'll find something to match it.   These days, they've switched their merchandise to be more like Ann Taylor and they're still marketing (desperately) to their old customers.  I must get e-mails from them twice a week to get me in the store.  My mom who's less Internet savvy, gets plenty of direct mail and even got a phone call before Thanksgiving to get her in the store.  So, as loyal customers, we went in this past week.  With 30% off coupons in hand, neither one of us could find anything we wanted to buy and we walked out.  When you lose touch with your customer base or no longer care what they think, you probably shouldn't be in that business any more and that's what's happening to Talbots.

I Get Talbots, But Williams Sonoma Too?

Williams Sonoma announces the earnings the first week of December.  Right now, their stock is down 72.4% over a 52-week period.  Being a kitchen gadget nut, I really like this chain of stores, but I confess that I haven't bought anything there in a while.  I just don't need muffin tins shaped like Halloween pumpkins or a variation of plates that are already taking up space in my cabinets.  I used to stop in to pick up Riedel wine glasses which constantly break, but since Target starting carrying that brand for less money, I head there.  With the CEO recently forced to sell 60% of his shares due to financial obligations and other business issues, if the numbers aren't good next week, we may see this retailer out of business.  I'll certainly miss the catalogs and it will be a drag shopping at Target for all other kitchen-related things, but if people aren't buying your merchandise, you don't have a business.

Wal-Mart As The Sole Survivor?

It's a competitive world.  The only retailer I see right now that is directly speaking to customers with an offer to help them out is Wal-Mart.  With a tagline of "Save Money. Live Better" they are speaking directly to their customer base and other retailer's customers as well.  Their website is up to date with the same messaging in their TV ads and they make it easy to shop with them online or in the store.  I think it's terrible that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death on Black Friday, when 2,000 customers turned into a mob in New York, but in a very sick way, it shows where the customers were headed to shop.  Hopefully, the company handles the situation with the seriousness that it deserves via public relations and by hiring more security and personnel through the holiday season and beyond.

Petco Better Keep Those Coupons Coming (or Petco Park is History)

Guess it's been a while since I had to pick up more Hill's Science Diet Light pet food because when I stopped over to my local Petco to pick up some more using the coupons they've been sending me, I couldn't believe the prices.  The 4-pound bag had risen $4 in price to $13.99 and the 10-pound bag that had an $8 off coupon cost $24.99.  The clerk who rang me out agreed that prices were up by at least $1 to $4 across the board because the cost of pet food ingredients is up.  She's right.

A quick search on the Internet lead to several articles on the subject.  Business Week had the best one that I found.  According to their article we can blame the rise in commodity prices for most of the price hikes on pet food because the price of key ingredients such as corn and rice are up some 30% in the past year. The article quotes Purina spokesman Keith Schopp who says "Like the entire food sector, we're seeing sharply escalating energy, transportation, and ingredient costs."  Pet food manufactures are keeping the pet food bag size the same and raising prices and/or shrinking the size of the pet food bags to keep the price the same as it was before.

The thinking is that pet food buyers are brand loyal and they'll keep paying the price for the pet food that their cat or dog likes even if it means giving up a fancy vacation.  The pet industry has become a $41 billion industry which is how a pet supply firm like Petco can afford their own stadium like Petco Park in San Diego. 

You have to think that without couponing, free samples, and plenty more promotions in sight, it's going to be a lot harder for the stand alone pet supply stores to compete.  Yes, people are still going to buy their pets food, but they're going to give up other things in the store that might have had appeal years ago. 

Starbucks coffee like fine wine? Not from market testing in my 'hood.

Tired of my own company after being stuck at home 24 hours with the stomach flu, this blogger decided to do a little coffee (let's hope it stays down!) taste test in my own neighborhood, Beacon Hill.  Since reading about Starbucks big Pressed Coffee taste test on the cover of this week's Beacon Hill Times, I decided to see what all the fuss was about and see how Starbucks was marketing it to the 'hood.

A bit of background first.  We actually have three Starbucks on Beacon Hill.  This particular one at 1 Charles Street has a lot of neighborhood traffic (including me most days) and a lot of tourist traffic on weekends and throughout the summer as it's just across the street from the Boston Common and is situated between the Massachusetts State House and the Cheers Bar.  This particular Starbucks is one of six locations chosen for the big taste test.  There are two other locations in Boston (Harvard Square and Boston's Financial District) and the other three locations are in Seattle.

Checking Out The Clover Brewing System for Myself

This new $11,000 coffee press designed by two Stanford University graduates in 2005, is a one-cup-at-a-time brew that's a sort of combo French press and vacuum press.  Because it's made to order, customers can try any it with any coffee bean that Starbucks has rather than make their coffee selection from the several brewed daily for drip coffee.  (Although the taste test is only offered with six coffee choices.)

This giant coffee press isn't nearly as cute as the French Press that I've got at home and it's a little inelegant in the way it makes coffee.  As the coffee brews, the grounds rise to the top of the press in a brown foamy layer that gets scraped off with a special little scraper sitting in a glass next to the machine and it leaves the fresh brewed coffee behind.  I ordered a tall (in Starbucks lingo, that's a "small") cup, but they gave it to me in a grande (in Starbucks lingo, that's a "medium") so that I'd have room for a little milk.

So, how's it taste?

I liked it both before and after I added whole milk.  As one of those people who refers to Starbucks as Charbucks because I think their coffee usually tastes a little burnt, I thought that it tasted much better than the brewed coffee I usually get there.  It's not available as a non-fat latte which is what I generally order, but who knows on a slow day, maybe the baristas can get a little creative.  I wouldn't say that it has the quality of a fine wine as the co-founder of the coffee maker says in statements about it.

Starbucks must think it's a hit because they are acquiring the company that makes the Clover Press just five weeks after they started the six-location taste test.  Says Howard Schultz, chairman, president, and CEO of Starbucks in the press release “The Clover brings drama and theater to the brewing process and enables our baristas to have emotionally rich conversations with our customers.”

The pressed coffee costs a little more per cup than the brewed coffee, with a tall selling for $2.25 per cup.  After I fill out a market research study online, Starbucks is going to mail me a $5 Starbucks card so I'll get my taste test investment back (and more).  As part of the coffee press experience (and because it takes a little longer to make) Starbucks has an open journal out in front of the Clover press so that customers can express their thoughts while they wait (in case the barista is too occupied to have an emotionally rich conversation).  This blogger picked out a few comments from happy and not so happy customers.  All in all, I think the new pressed coffee is here to stay and should be coming to a Starbucks near you in the not too distant future. 

Handling a PR crisis - is Dell the new Tylenol?

Back before I ever knew I wanted to be a marketer, there was the "Tylenol Scare."  In the space of three days beginning September 29, 1982, seven people who took cyanide-laced Tylenol in the Chicago area died.  Urgent warnings were broadcast over the news and police literally drove through Chicago neighborhoods issuing warnings over loudspeakers.  Because the tampered bottles came from different factories, and the seven deaths had all occurred in the Chicago area,  they learned that the problem wasn't employee sabotage during production. Instead, the culprit was believed to have entered various supermarkets and drug stores over a period of weeks, pilfered packages of Tylenol from the shelves, adulterated their contents with solid cyanide compound, and then replaced the bottles. In addition to the five bottles which led to the victims' deaths, three other tampered bottles were discovered.

Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Tylenol, made public relations job number 1 for everyone in the company.  They distributed warnings to hospitals and distributors and halted Tylenol production and advertising. On October 5, 1982, J&J issued a nationwide recall of Tylenol products; an estimated 31 million bottles were in circulation, with a retail value of over $100 million. The company also advertised in the national media for individuals not to consume any products that contained Tylenol. When it was determined that only capsules were tampered with, they offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules already purchased by the public with solid tablets.

As I dust off the Public Relations textbook used ten years later as part of my masters program, I still remember how studied the Tylenol case as an example of how to pull it together in a crisis PR-wise.  While the case is still studied today, the world's changed a lot in 25 years, and there are new ways to respond to a crisis.  (And, oddly, they never found the person who tampered with the Tylenol bottles.)

Is Dell the new Tylenol when it comes to crisis communications?

Remember the Dell laptop explosion in Japan a few years back that caused a whole battery recall?  Remember these photos from the national news around throughout the Internet?  How about some of the other consumer issues Dell has had over the last few years with their laptops?  We've moved a long way away from the Chicago police driving around town with a megaphone telling residents to turn off their laptops or being told about Dell consumer issues on the 6:00 news.  Today, consumers are getting the word out themselves over the Internet and it's working for them.

I bring up Dell because twice in the last week, I've heard them used as a good example by analysts at IDC and Forrester as a company who "gets it" when it comes to utilizing social networking techniques to reach their customers to stay ahead of customer issues.

Try this - go to Google and type in "Dell Customer Service."  The first two entries I got were links to Dell Customer Service.  Next came "You Tube - Funny Dell Customer Service Call," which sounds like a real customer (and very well might be one) who can't turn off his mom's laptop.  This call complete with an image of the Dell logo has got almost 95,000 views and about 500 comments.  He's not the only angry Dell customer.  The next Google link is from a woman in Pennsylvania who's posted her Dell complaint to a consumer site.  Next came the results of a Computer World study from 2005 which shows Dell's plunging consumer satisfaction numbers.

So, how has Dell becoming a shining example of how to turn it all around?  For starters, they've developed the Dell Community where open discussions are encouraged.  Forrester Research gave them a Groundswell award in 2007 for changes happening across all functions at Dell relating to customer satisfaction. The Dell Customer Advocate program created to provide fast resolution of support problems decreased the negative share of online comments about Dell by 25%. Direct2Dell, a Dell blog dedicated to honest information exchange 3.5 million page views per month. Ideastorm, Dell's innovation community, tallied 500,000 votes for over 7,000 ideas and generated a new product, Dell PC's with Linux pre-installed. And, according to Forrester, "Employee Storm", an internal idea community, has generated 2,700 ideas and seen visits from 22% of Dell's employees.  IDC mentions them as a company who's proactively gone out to sights where laptop owners communicate and who has jumped in and joined the conversation.

In today's world of information sharing, you need to address problems head on where your customers are.  Accept that it's not necessarily going to be on your company portal.   Who's got enough time to go to multiple, one-way communication sites for information every day?  As marketers, we need to aggregate content and get it to where are the consumers are which could very well be Facebook or the Wikipedia or their iPhone.  And, while there's never a good replacement for a leader stepping up in a crisis, when all employees realize that they are PR for their company, everyone can march in the same direction when crisis hits (or better yet, before the crisis hits.)