Church of the Customer: February 2005 archives
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February 28, 2005
Keeping useless ads off the big screen
As a follow-up to Jackie's previous post protesting TV-like ads at movie theaters, kudos go out to Century Theatres for keeping its theaters ad-free.
While somewhat ironic that the company uses advertising to say it doesn't show ads, it's a unique selling proposition nonetheless. If I lived relatively near one of its theaters, Century would get my business.
Until then, I'll stick with HBO and DVDs.
(Thanks to Charles Hoffman of Des Moines for the tip!)
UPDATE: Two lawsuits were filed in Chicago the other week about pre-movie ads. Perhaps an example of frivolous suing to some but then again, never underestimate the resolve of a customer vigilante. (Via Chicagoist)
Creating customer evangelists for small businesses
Last week, Anita Campbell and Steve Rucinski of SMB Trendwire invited me onto their podcast to discuss how small businesses can create customer evangelists.
On the show,
you'll hear how it's often easier for small businesses to create
evangelists than large businesses, how to get started in creating word
of mouth, and the differences between viral marketing, buzz marketing
and other word-of-mouth buzzwords.
Listen to the audio show here.
The Apple experience
During a trip yesterday to the beautiful (and busy) Apple store on Michigan Avenue, I bought a Powerbook. And I loved the experience.
All of Apple's experiential marketing consistently exudes luxury. From the layout of the store, to the knowledgeable and candid help of store associate James, to the terrific design of the packaging of the box (even the handsome and sturdy Apple shopping bags), to the speed of my new laptop starting up for the first time, finagling my wireless network and getting on the Net in about 8 minutes, it was like upgrading to first class after 15 years of flying coach.
Is there a technology company today with more beautifully executed experiential marketing than Apple? I don't think so.
February 24, 2005
Word of Mouth marketing conference
Stop what you're doing and reserve your calendar dates of March 29-30 now for...
The first summit for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. It's the most comprehensive conference on word of mouth marketing ever, and it'll happen in Chicago.
The conference will cover many topics, including:
* Ethics in word of mouth marketing
* Measuring word of mouth
* Corporate Blogs: Creating them, being transparent, linking, and promotion.
* How to work with bloggers. The do's and don'ts of taking your message to blogs
* Customer Evangelists: Motivating Customers to Talk About You
Speakers announced so far include:
* Emanuel Rosen, author of The Anatomy of Buzz
* George Silverman, author of The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
* Ed Keller & Jon Berry, authors of The Influentials
* Ben McConnell and myself
Our blog readers can get $75 off the admission price. Register online and use welovemini as the discount code.
[Disclosure: We just joined WOMMA's board of advisors. We would still recommend the conference if we weren't on the board.]
Fred Jacobs joins the blogosphere
Radio industry pioneer Fred Jacobs launched his blog today.
These days, Fred and his firm are generating growing buzz (like this recent issue of Wired) for the independent "Neo Radio" movement, which is trying to overthrow the corporate blandness of today's radio programming.
Once Fred and his team get the blog's RSS feed up, I'm adding it to my aggregator. (Hint!)
February 22, 2005
The Internet really is a place
Just in case you were wondering where the Internet is located, it's in the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas.
I finally found the network there, too.
No sign yet of LAN Lane.
February 21, 2005
It's the little details that matter
I sat in the exit row of my flight today.
Should I be asked to "assist us in the event of an emergency," as the flight attendants always say with some measure of gravitas -- and I hope that request is never made -- I'm not quite sure where to put exit door.
Or, "hatch," as the sign says.
Once removed, is the 50-pound door/hatch supposed to rest on top of the seats, as the graphic on the exit door/hatch illustrates?
Problem is, these exit row seats feature the not-so-helpful immovable arm-rest, and don't resemble the seats in the graphic. A big exit door/hatch will probably not rest easily on these high chair-like seats.
Not that I'd ask, but I would probably be inclined to chuck that door/hatch a few dozen feet well outside the plane.
Air Elton
Snapped this photo on the runway today at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
AirTran just began marketing its introduction of XM Radio on its flights by painting a giant Elton John image on its planes. (As if Elton John's head isn't already big enough.)
It's reminiscent of Southwest Airlines creating livery (the official term for painting planes) to resemble Shamu and promote its partnership with Sea World.
Not a bad way to promote a new feature of your fleet. Spare us, though, planes encased in beer ads. Nothing buzzworthy about that.
Chicago Marketing Wonk roundup
Thanks to all who attended the Chicago Marketing Wonk dinner Friday.
Over a delectable dinner of Potbelly sandwiches and sodas, our topics included blogs, shoes, the viral "Numa numa video," and women on company boards.
Organizations, companies and bloggers represented included the American Marketing Association, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, comScore, Pheedo, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Re:invention Inc., CareerBuilder.com, 360i, TechSmith, Emerson Process Management, ExactTarget, Bloomberg Marketing, Lending Solutions Inc., NetConcepts, The Adare Group, Paragon Five, and Lemmon Consulting.
More pictures from the shindig are here.
Many of the attendees were from the sold-out Chicago stop on the American Marketing Association's blogging workshop tour. Dana blogs the event here.
February 20, 2005
Herb Kelleher's doppleganger
Two recent articles help explain the continued success of Southwest Airlines, which now carries more domestic passengers than any other U.S. airline.
Businessweek says (subscription req'd) CEO Gary Kelly is extending the company's reputation for transparency by insisting "all employees get regular scorecards on productivity and profitability measures."
Easily a no-brainer idea yet so frightening for the command-and-control organizations that fear a single misplaced hair could tarnish the company's branded 'do of infallibility.
Kelly is carrying on founder Herb Kelleher's love of Halloween, too. At the company's Halloween party, Kelly dressed up as the spitting-image (or is that the tongue-licking image?) of Kiss frontman Gene Simmons. A pict of Kelly in full Simmons regalia is in the print edition.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review explains various reasons (including mine) why U.S. Airways should be concerned about Southwest's entry into Steeler Town in May. Two among them: Southwest typically hires the most-friendly employees -- not easy to do when the starting salary for a new flight attendant is $16,760 -- and it consistently ranks in the top tier of fewest complaints. U.S. Air consistently is near the bottom of customer satisfaction.
