Church of the Customer: February 2004 archives
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February 11, 2004
Musicians have Ozzfest. Authors have Blogfest.
Jackie and I are getting in shape for another book tour... via blogs. Beginning March 15, Jackie and I will have blog performances at:
apennyfor.com
businesspundit.com
ensight.org
brand.blogs.com/mantra
jstrande.typepad.com/blog
brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy
Additional times and locations to follow. Every seat is front-row. Admission is free. No TicketMaster service charges apply.
Many thanks to Todd at A Penny For for his tour-manager help.
TV chef Rocco DiSpirito sued by backers
Rocco's investors are suing him.
In this USA Today article, investors say "The quality of the food and service have been widely criticized" at Rocco's on 22nd Street, site of the reality show "The Restaurant."
Just goes to show that all the buzz in the world won't help a business if it doesn't have a great product or service.
Sequels usually flop
Comcast has made a hostile bid for Disney.
For Comcast, a takeover could help stem the out-of-control carriage fees content providers like Disney charge, but it's unlikely customers will reap realized benefits such as lower bills (Comcast raised its rates 14-20 percent across the country recently) or better customer service (complaints about the company's service are widespread).
But as The Marriage of AOL and Time Warner showed (as does the work of many economists), most mergers are disasters for customers and shareholders. Even big bankers are skeptical. Kenneth J. Costa, vice chairman of UBS Warburg says there is no evidence on a three-to-five-year basis that mergers actually work.
A Fortune article recently profiled the ambition of Comcast's Brian Roberts.
February 10, 2004
That other customer segment
Airline, the A&E show that examines behind-the-scenes life of Southwest Airlines, each week features an aspect of business that few marketing texts explore: dumb customers.
For Southwest, dumb customers go beyond the typical nubs who can't follow simple instructions, like plug your computer in to an outlet to make it work.
In Southwest's case, dumb customers are often the worst of the worst:
* Drunk customers
* Lying customers
* Obnoxious customers
* Abusive customers
* Horrible-smelling customers
* Drunk, abusive lying customers who make everyone's life wholly unpleasant
The series illuminates how one dumb customer's actions can ripple through the psyches of hundreds of otherwise well-behaved and profitable customers. A recent show featured a group of out-of-control teenagers traveling to a BMX rally; their rowdy and offensive behavior in mid-air obviously rattled and angered the rest of the plane.
At the arriving gate, a group of angry customers confronted Southwest officials about the unrepentant ne'er do wells, who were scheduled to make a connecting flight to a final destination of mayhem. After some quick investigating, Southwest refused to board just one of the troublemakers: An adult chaperone (who'd been identified as the mayhem ringleader!)
Dumb customers who cause havoc with other customers and your operations suck profitability out the window, pressurized or not. Southwest could have won the hearts and future trust of the upset customers by declaring it does not tolerate offensive behavior from anyone and that all of the ruffians were disinvited from ever flying with Southwest again.
For companies that ocassionally deal with drunk, abusive and otherwise obviously unstable customers, isolating them Secret Service-style from public view quickly and quietly, with an option to never take their money again, is one way to keep the happy customers happy.
February 09, 2004
They said it: Andy Rooney
From the Feb. 8, 2004 broadcast of 60 Minutes, in which Andy Rooney describes his experience attending last week's Super Bowl:
Even before the game, they were setting off fireworks. At halftime, the explosives looked like World War II. If there had been a terrorist attack, no one would have noticed because people thought it was part of the show. When the second half started, fans could hardly see the field because of the smoke. For the players, it must have been like smoking a carton of cigarettes. Show business has no place at the Super Bowl. Football is a good game because it's real.
As a "customer" of the NFL, I agree with Andy. The worst elements of show business have taken over the Super Bowl, and the results aren't pretty.
While some in the NFL may be silently pleased with all of the supersillious buzz of the bodice ripping seen 'round the world, the Super Bowl has jumped the shark into a textbook case of dilution by overextension. Today, the Super Bowl actually means less about football than it does about the worst aspects of excessive consumerism and potty humor. There's nothing inspiring about that.
February 06, 2004
More data on online evangelists
A study by the research firm behind "The Influentials" finds in a new study that online political activists are not "body piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show" people as the dubious organization Club for Growth would have you believe.
The report says, "Online political citizens are influential Americans who most political organizations have either overlooked or misunderstood. This group has already made a huge impact on the 2004 presidential campaign and OPCs foreshadow a radical change in the nature of American politics."
Not just politics, but commerce, too. And everything in between.
February 05, 2004
Southwest's booking engine
Southwest Airlines said today that about 53 percent of the company's total passenger revenue -- more than $3 billion annually -- is booked via southwest.com.
Although Southwest does not accept email from customers (the company says it would drive up operational and ticket costs), the company was an early leader, along with Dell Computer, in focusing on ecommerce as a strategy for customer convenience and lowering costs.
Soup as a cause -- bon appetit!
Jackie Bergman's homemade soup business is boiling hot thanks to her enthusiastic customer evangelists (as reported in the New York Times).
Besides making exceptional soup, Bergman attributes her success to personalizing soup as a cause. It's more than just than just a convenient lunch entree. Using an email newsletter, her strategy: make soup very personal, a metaphor for life. Her strategy works because she has crossed an emotional chasm with customers. As the Times reports:
[Bergman] wrote subtexts for each selection — yellow split pea is "soup to embrace the moment"; Berkshire borscht: "soup to connect with our roots." She describes the farmers she works with, and she shares community food news. She weaves personal impressions into her menus. In one issue, she wrote of the pleasure of finding a secret patch of wild herbs; in another, the memory of a simple summer meal.
The ports and the newsletter embody Ms. Bergman's slogan: "connecting people, food and land."
Soup as a cause... simple yet effective. How are you marketing your product in the most personal way possible, so much that you cross an emotional chasm with customers and prospects?
