Marketing Mangers should experience their campaigns like a customer.

I was at a bar tonight – the name of the place isn’t important as I’m sure this is how the promotion came across at any bar in the Toronto area.  [...]]]>

Note how the Coke between the two glasses is greatly different - one very highly diluted.

Marketing Mangers should experience their campaigns like a customer.

I was at a bar tonight – the name of the place isn’t important as I’m sure this is how the promotion came across at any bar in the Toronto area.  Nor is the promotion flop the result of the girls but rather that of the marketing firm behind the campaign.

After settling in a two scantily clad girls (dressed as wenches?) came over to my table and offered our table FREE Rum and Cokes (full glass) for a ‘tasting’  (I had noticed the costumed girls earlier as they were awkwardly hanging around near a servers station – clearly out of place).

On the table two glasses were placed – neither drink was the same colour of Coke.

Off a tray of several glasses – we were given a sample to try out.  Now remember bars are loud, so I didn’t clearly hear what brand it was she was promoting – it came across more like I was getting a free drink.

The glasses were standard water glasses – no logo’s, no branding, no coaster or anything to remind the customer of what product they were trying.

The Coke was flat and the drink tasted watered down – in fact nobody finished their drink.   The girls never came back to the table.  Our main server never inquired about our thoughts – never even acknowledged the campaign.  At the end it all boils down to us being given a few free brand anonymous Rum and Cokes.

So essentially some drink company paid for some girls to hand out flat drinks.  What a great waste of money.   And I’m sure back at HQ this has been reported as a runaway successful campaign.

Here’s what I would have done:

Giving away full glasses of Rum and Coke is  great – it’s an amazing deal and a win for the customer.  But don’t have inferior products being given away and make it an event.  The Coke and Rum should have been poured at the table.  The women could have gone table to table with glass Coke bottles and a bottle of Captain Morgan‘s Rum making drinks in-front of the customer.  While interacting with the customer done a quick natural spiel about the product attributes.  Leaving behind a branded coaster and maybe a scratch and win a free t-shirt ticket provide something lasting to the customer.

After 20 mins. the girls should go back table to table and just inquire if the customer enjoyed the drink.  Asking if the customers have re-ordered.   Again, I don’t want to come across blaming the servers – they were great – it’s their direction and the overall conception of the campaign which is the failure.

The dump and run is a waste of money – and doesn’t work.  I have no lasting impression of the brand. Any Brand Manager who would take the time to experience the campaign as a customer would most likely agree with me.

OH one final idea – run TV ads on the channels being played in the bar.  Get all the touch points at once.

*** Note: if this wasn’t a campaign for Campaign for Captain Morgan’s … I apologize … that’s what we thought the girls said  ***

A recent trip to the newly (launched/re-launched??) Marche in downtown Toronto shows that there’s a way to go in their restaurant management.  (This was formally known as the Movenpick)

Staff members running around with loud, obnoxious walkie-talkies.  It might be a oversight by restaurant management, but makes for a poor customer [...]]]>

Here’s a Quicky:

A recent trip to the newly (launched/re-launched??) Marche in downtown Toronto shows that there’s a way to go in their restaurant management.  (This was formally known as the Movenpick)

Staff members running around with loud, obnoxious walkie-talkies.  It might be a oversight by restaurant management, but makes for a poor customer experience.  As customers eat, they are exposed to walkie-talk chatter.

This should be a simple fix for the Marche that involves improving the communication technology and staff training.

A bit of background – in June Rogers announced that it would be providing customers with the ability to upgrade to the iPhone 4.  It was around the same time that Apple formally acknowledged issues with their new devices th

Rogers iPhone 4 Email from June 2010. [...]]]> How not to run a marketing campaign courtesy of Rogers.

A bit of background – in June Rogers announced that it would be providing customers with the ability to upgrade to the iPhone 4.  It was around the same time that Apple formally acknowledged issues with their new devices th

Rogers iPhone 4 Email from June 2010. The last email I have received from Rogers regarding the iPhone 4. Why so silent?

at under certain circumstances could result in dropped calls.  In the process, the supply of iPhones all but dried up as Apple worked on a fix.  As of the time of this writing, inventory in Canada is still in low supply.

As a current Rogers customer I was invited (well after visiting their website and providing my email address) to be informed of the upcoming release.   The last email I have ever received is the one shown here.  And NOTHING, not a word since.  In the meantime, the iPhone has been released to the public.  And still nothing from Rogers – no front of the line privileges, no phones set aside for me.  Instead I had to go and seek out the iPhone myself – of course they were sold out everywhere.

Finally in Mid-August by chance I stumbled upon a Rogers store that had 5 left in stock.  I got in line – and was customer number 5.  As the iPhones were issued – I got excited – here we go.  But when the line got to customer number 3 – that person decided to take two phones!   Thus denying me a phone.

Since then I’ve gone into Rogers stores that have told me they’ve never seen an iPhone 4, and the regular Rogers store has a sign buried inside the store that tells customers that they are currently out of stock of the devices.  But a clerk at this one location told me to keep coming in on Monday’s and Friday’s as they are the days that the store receives new shipments.

In the weeks since, I’ve continued my degrading visits into the stores to get my phone – of course each time leaving more annoyed and hater of the Rogers brand.

So what’s gone wrong?

Rogers should know better.  When the iPhone 3 and 3G were released – it was a highly sought out device – so there is NO EXCUSE for Rogers to not be prepared for high demand and have a plan in place.

What would I have done?

Let’s face it, once you’re locked into a Phone company, they own you.  Fine, I get it.  The money is in keeping customer and more importantly expanding their customer base.   With the launch of iPhone 4 Rogers now had to compete with Bell and Telus – as these companies now were able to sell the devices.

1.  Keep your customers updated.  Customers understand that problems can arise – are are forgiving.  So why on earth hasn’t Rogers sent out emails (to those who’ve opted in) informing them of the problems Rogers is having securing phones?  Silence is no answer, no excuse.

2. Incentivize Waiting. Every single new iPhone 4 should be going to new customers.  Those who already have an iPhone and Rogers customers should be at the bottom of the list.   Rogers should provide a good incentive for my patience.  Say 3 months free at the end of a 3 year contract.   Reason at the end of the contract is double fold – if I leave Rogers early they won’t lose out because of the offer also in year 3, I’ll have forgotten about this offer and it will be a nice feel good bonus at a time that I may consider moving to the competition.   This makes their current customers happy with the delay and frees up badly needed inventory to new customers.

3. Don’t play games with your customers.   A Rogers store rep admitted to me today that they aren’t allowed to display in the window signs stating that they’re out of stock of iPhones.  So they make their customers enter the store each and every time they’re curious about more iPhones being available.  Their logic is that by having me come in their sales clerks can sell me another device – good luck.   Just be straight up – find a real solution.  Text me when a phone is ready, send me an email, create a website showing where they’re in stock.

Really Rogers, you can do better.   Making your customers beg for a phone is a joke.  Even worse when you leave your customers in the dark.

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This is one of those – what where they thinking?

Every spring, when patio season begins I always am reminded of how idiotic the Hoegaarden glass is. It’s so ridiculous, I can’t help but think that it’s a way for this European brewery to mock consumption sizes desired by Canadian consumers.

The problem is [...]]]>

Hoegaarden's Canadian Beer Vase

This is one of those – what where they thinking?

Every spring, when patio season begins I always am reminded of how idiotic the Hoegaarden glass is. It’s so ridiculous, I can’t help but think that it’s a way for this European brewery to mock consumption sizes desired by Canadian consumers.

The problem is the Hoegaarden glass served up at bars with the beer on tap.  The pint glass should be called a vase of beer.  The glass is HUGE and looks ridiculous on any table.  The glass is thick, heavy and very awkward to lift and hold.   Alongside other glasses on the table it’s disproportionately HUGE.

I can’t stress enough how awkward this class is to drink from.  Virtually every other pint glass I know of are of the shape where you wouldn’t mind walking around with it as you socialize – but not this beast, your arm would tire from holding it up.   In addition, as you get near the bottom of the glass, you feel like a 5 year old who’s drinking from an adult sized cup, as the glass covers your whole face whilst you can see your guest starring back at you (usually with a smirk).
Solution:

So Hoegaarden is not a low-priced beer aimed at low-brow people.  This is a premium, import brand.  The glass should first and foremost convey this to the consumer. Because this is what I define as a summer patio beer, I would highly recommend that they only serve the beer in 1/2 pint glasses or 3/4 pint sized glasses – with the focus on it being a beer best served cold – quality over quantity.  The well designed pint glass has been done.  We know the half pint is the way Europeans enjoy their beers, no reason why Hoegaarden can’t bring this tradition to Canada.

=== UPDATE ===

A few weeks ago (this past August) I witnessed a couple sitting at an outside patio in Toronto.  The woman was posing with the over-sized Hoegaarden glass – holding it with both hands up to her face as her husband snapped a picture.  Embarrassing for the brand.

Great, we’ve bought your product but now that we’ve got it home ..

I actually go out of my way to buy Mead Five Star notebooks.  I like the size, the hard plastic cover and the casing covering the wire binding (preventing it getting snagged on [...]]]>

The sticker that won't come off - bad brand experience.

Great, we’ve bought your product but now that we’ve got it home ..

I actually go out of my way to buy Mead Five Star notebooks.  I like the size, the hard plastic cover and the casing covering the wire binding (preventing it getting snagged on other stuff in my backpack).

But time and time again I run into the issue of the sticker label never peeling off properly.  It’s too sticky, so the you can’t pull it off in one go as one uniform piece.   Instead your left with sticker residue, which you need to scrape away with your finger nails.  Not something I imagine most people liking to do.

My theory is that when the books are freshly manufactured there’s no issue – the labels come off easily, before the glue sets, so to those at head office are oblivious to what is happening when the products have been on the shelf for weeks (alternatively they are aware of the issue and choose to do nothing).   A major reason why companies even the makers of paper products need to go out in the field and experience their own products as their customers do.  So what is Mead to do?  Simply look at reformulating the glue or alternative methods of adhesion that don’t result in  a label doesn’t peel in one go.

Is this a major issue?  Yes, if you’re a company that wants to create a better brand experience.  There’s no reason for a customer to be fussing with a label – yet they are.   Why annoy the customer?

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It used to be that if you ran a store and a customer walked into your premise you’d have full control over the consumers user experience, till the moment they left your shop.  Unless the customer has a flyer in their [...]]]>

Is Your Bricks and Mortar Store Ready for Digital Invaders?

It used to be that if you ran a store and a customer walked into your premise you’d have full control over the consumers user experience, till the moment they left your shop.  Unless the customer has a flyer in their pocket or a photographic memory – the competition had little chance to directly interact with the customer once they entered another business.  But that’s so 2006.  In today’s world your competition can have  interaction like never before with any other retailers potential new client.  Welcome to the world of the smart phone.

The smart phone is a game changer in the retail world.  Customers can now can reach-out and bypass your store all together.  You go from being a retailer to a commodity dealer.  I was reminded of with my last visit to a Canadian Tire in which I utilized the do-it-yourself checkout.  I was struck by the idea that I now shop – in a very large store with Zero human interaction.  So do I try to hunt down a staff member to ask a question? Or do I turn to my “trusted” (keyword there) smart phone for advice, pricing, comparisons, etc.

As consumers get trained to seek advice and answers from their pocket – and not the sales associates – my-oh-my how this changes the playing field.

A savvy competitor should make its move and find ways of courting the customer – whilst in their competitors store.

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