momorantings

Jeffre nicely skewers a domain name seller for being so transparent in their upselling motivation that they inadvertantly announce it in their url. This doesn't just apply to the online world of course. Everything you do is noticed somewhere by someone and, if it's noteworthy, it will be repeated. All the more reason to ensure it's noteworthy for positive reasons.

On Saturday, I attended Innocent's first AGM. One of their founders told me that the key to success is making a good product. I, of course, agree that it's that simple (and that difficult). They also have insightful labelling. It was nine years ago today that they sold their first smoothie. Today they sell more than 100 million. No wonder everybody talks about them.

I will share my thoughts in a future post, but it begs the question--is it really a bad thing that some theatre companies are closing their doors? is this a "market adjustment" to equalize supply and demand? From this Wednesday's Washington Post : More Shows, Fewer Showgoers Helen Hayes Group Cites Increase of 402 Performances, Decrease of 36,000 Patrons By Jane Horwitz Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, April 23, 2008; Page C05 The number of stage performances and theater companies in and around Washington went up last year, while overall attendance dropped 1.9 percent, according to statistics from the Helen Hayes Awards organization. Despite that dip, 2007 was the busiest year since the first tally in 1985, the Hayes group said, with 67 professional companies presenting 8,050 performances of 454 shows. That is an increase from 2006 of three companies, 402 performances and 20 shows. (These figures represent all area professional theaters, not just those eligible ...

(click here to enlarge ...... the picture). Many of the key innovations of the online world have been led by the adult industry, so naturally my first reaction on seeing this image (courtesy of Marcus ) was to consider the numerous marketing insights it provides. 1) Scarcity Of Attention - traditionally the scarcity has come from the potential customer, but here we see the provider rationing her attention and thus stimulating a huge pent-up demand. 2) Trading Up - traditionally it's been felt that you have to provide your customer with an enthusiastic greeting and rewarding experience in order to increase their expenditure, but here we see the indifference strategy forcing customers to the paid rooms. 3) Power Naps - human capital is your key resource in this ultra-competitive world, but here we see what happens when you don't ensure your staff are well rested. Providing sleeping facilities at the office is not the answer. 4) Free Is The New Pricing - some would have you be...

Hidden in the interview with the founder of mobile advertising network Admob was the revelation that banner ads get better click-through rates than simple text ads, but that some operators worry about them interfering with the UI and thus the user experience. It's the age-old marketing problem. Balancing the needs of your clients against the needs of their customers. Never doubt that erring on the side of the latter is the way to go.

Speaking of the logo that artists designed for his new album, Nick Cave makes an interesting observation. “The wires are telling you: somebody built this thing. It's the same reason we tend to use the first or second take of a song rather than the third or fourth. They may not be perfect, but they capture some sort of essence.” Would your customers recognise your product/service as being made by someone, but not "perfected" to the point of sanitisation?

In my usual early acquirer fashion, I started using Twitter a long time and have delighted in receiving classic tweets such as "Pardon me boy is this the Heathrow Express?", "Gazing at the ocean. Looking for a kettle", and the classic "Riding the Tube like a mofo." The stress was very much on the ambient intimacy that Lisa Reichelt identified. The reaction was one of delight, wry amusement or an excuse to grab a coffee/beer. But now, hot on the heels of the rise of the verbose super users, we're inevitably getting the guides to corporate tweeting. Tara produced a comprehensive one yesterday, but I fear that a lack of restraint on the part of companies who read her words will ruin the delight of Twitter and backfire on them. The technology is only the medium and any company using it cannot afford to forget that Twitter is something more than that to its users and no doubt a different thing to each of them. The strength of Twitter is its "one to ...

Continuing my recent thought that a social object used to faciliatate interest in one's product/service doesn't actually have to be an object, I even wonder if it has to be something with which the customer directly engages at all. Maybe it could be something that happens to the customer. The advantage with this type of social object is that the business can exercise significant influence on it. Some thinking aloud follows. Behaviour as social object - people talk about the fact that your business walks the walk and that you consitently do what you claim you do. Etiquette as social object - people like to belong and will talk about a place, be it real or virtual, be it club, society or user group, where everyone implicitly acknowledges a certain way of doing things. Interaction as social object - people notice when you make it easy for them to do what they want to do. They talk about it and usage spreads. Service as social object - people talk about little else. Get it wron...

Four advertising folk discussing their just completed pitch meeting with an insurance client. Since you weren't there, I was obliged to take notes on your behalf. Key takeaways include "It's all guff on charts until you put it in an ad." "Forget the offer that gets you in the door, it's all about moving the brand." "I'm not sure why I needed to be there." "Me too, but I guess it gives the impression of commitment." No, they never mentioned customers. Not once.

Today, in respect of my recent post , I was told that the original concept behind the Nokia stores had been to create a "retail cathedral". While that is ironic both because of what Eric Raymond wrote and because I'd question the desirability of customer worship alone, it is undeniable that they have succeeded. They have a cathedral while the Apple store is a bazaar filled with people doing things. The question, of course, is how could Nokia get people doing something (other than perfunctorily fiddling with inert handsets) and thereby staying longer and becoming more engaged. There are many possibilities. Perhaps customers could be helped and encouraged to customise their phones in some way. Or there could be other free services, either directly related to the phones (in the form of game or ringtone downloads) or something along the branded utility lines of perhaps a free fast recharging service or something much more left-field as with the Diesel Playhouse that Faris h...

David Armano has been gaining a lot of traction with his tongue in cheek guide to the invented words of Web 3.0 but, in similar vein, let's not forget the invented words of Web 2.0. Conversation It's a metaphor folks. It doesn't mean that your customers want a conversation with you. They generally want a quiet life without unwanted noise from you. They want the ability to interact with you on their terms, they want you to listen and, most crucially, they now have the ability to have a conversation about you when you screw up. Your focus should be on listening and not screwing up rather than having a conversation. Community It's a bunch of people folks. As Clay Shirky has indicated, Web 2.0 means they can come together very quickly to form a group that might oppose something, but they're yet to come together to pursue a positive. Crucially, they can quickly disperse and, as Bob Putnam points out, there's not much community feeling out there. Your focus should...

Talking about craiglist's founder Craig Newmark, Robert Scoble gets it very wrong. He's not being self-deprecating, he's acknowledging that everybody is a "customer service rep". It's those people who don't realise this simple reality that cause all the problems.

Humour can be a great route to engagement, but I thought we all knew from personal experience that if the joke has to be explained to you, then the impact is greatly diminished. It's either a bad joke or it's been badly told. Or both. The parentheses above left me dumbfounded. Not only did it bring to mind memories of excrutiatingly unfunny speakers/party bores, it also managed to be sleazy rather than risque. If you're that unconfident about getting your idea across, tinkering at the edges will simply make things worse. Far better to go back to the drawing-board and craft it properly. If you have to explain it, rewrite it.

The Los Angeles Times ran an article on Tuesday, April 8 about the possible demise of the cultural critic. In the article, they cited numerous high profile critics which have recently left their posts, begging the question whether or not they are a dieing breed. As many major newspapers continue to lose large numbers of readers, the impact of reviews and critics is beginning to shift. I myself blogged about this experience in a previous post . This is the first time that I have read an acknowledgement of this trend in a major daily newspaper. With the rise of many online, "citizen" review sites such as Yelp.com , more and more people are looking to common lay folks for their opinions on cultural attractions. Fewer and fewer people are turning to what Mr. Goldstein refers to as the "arbiters of culture." In fact, Mr. Goldstein's son hits it right on the head when he said "I trust my friends more than I trust that guy writing the review." This highli...

Two leading tech businesses. Two flagship stores separated by the width of Regent Street. Two retail experiences separated by a chasm. This is the new Nokia store at 4 p.m. today. A stylish place but few customers, no buzz and inevitably bored staff. A sterile environment. Literally across the street is the Apple store. A similar design aesthetic but, as ever, full of people either using it as an internet cafe or buying stuff from constantly engaged staff. An active environment. The design and ethos of both stores urges you to interact with the products. Indeed, the Nokia store explicitly exhorts you to "discover" more about each phone. But clearly, there's a difference between the two. Each phone says "No SIM card inserted". We all understand why and I'm not saying Nokia are doing anything wrong, it's just that the nature of their product hamstrings them when it comes to customer trial so they surely have to do something more to facilitate that discove...

Many marketers would have you believe that it's all about building a brand image by messaging and clever tactics, but really it's what you do that is much more important. I've previously highlighted No Impact Man's decision "to live in the heart of New York City while causing no net environmental impact." It has gained a lot of mainstream publicity and media coverage for sure, but the family are not celebrities and are seen as just regular customers in their local coffee shop. Except that they're not. The woman behind the counter said to Michelle, "I just want you to know that you and your husband really make me think. I've joined an environmental group because of you and this week we're starting to compost." This woman, by the way, doesn't know about the semi-famous No Impact project. She just sees Michelle and I coming in most days, refusing to use disposable products. People don't need to know your whole carefully-crafted mark...

Talking of different, I'm still bemused by Becks Vier and their "different by choice" campaign. They may well be, but the only objective attribute they mention is the 4% alcohol strength which, of course, is also enshrined in their name. As a drinker of bottled Becks (5%), that strikes me as a claim to Vier being a weaker beer while the question of taste which is what they're really wanting to emphasise is lost in the shuffle. Yet again, we see how difficult it is to get two ideas across simultaneously.

When David Ogilvy said "If you can't make a lady laugh, you certainly can't make her buy", I'm not sure this is what he had in mind. But, amidst a sea of "Creating World Class Solutions" and "Your Growth Is Our Business" banners at the trade show that I briefly endured the other day, it was this one for a tiny accounting business that was catching a lot of eyes (and causing women to laugh) . Now you can debate whether the impression it gives is the one you would want from your accountant, but that actually has more to do with you than them. Your worldview is beyond their control but, in a truly commoditised service business, they've shown themselves to be different and human.

Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate Tastes like chocolate you'd brush to the floor. Joss Stone features in the latest version of the classic Flake ad. She's there no doubt to modernise the feel, but the women who brought it to my attention had noticed something else. At the end of the piece, she brushes away the chocolate crumbs and with it all the sensuality. Because, as my friends said, they would never brush the chocolate away, they'd eat every piece flake by flake. Here it just ends up on the floor. Along with its effectiveness.