Monday, June 19, 2006

June 19, 2006

Spoleto Success

Spoleto Festival USA has recently concluded its 30th season in Charleston, and the Festival enjoyed record box office revenues and generally rave reviews.

There are many components to Spoleto's success. One is certainly context. That is, if many of the Festival's individual events were presented on their own, attendance would not be very strong. But, offered together, in the context of the entire Festival, these events sold extraordinarily well.

It's a wise reminder of the importance of context in all marketing and communications. Our media people are as interested in the program and time placement of a spot as they are in the time period's probable rating. The same obviously goes for a well-placed article or a presence on various websites.

Who are we going to be with? What's the context of our message? And how can we enhance the impact of our message by complementing it in other media or in other ways?

I just read that the new Alka Seltzer spot (with Kathy Griffin reprising the evergreen "Try it, you'll like it" ad concept) will appear on Alka Seltzer's website...along with a bunch of out-takes...which should be very good fun, and help sell the product.

"One offs" simply don't fly any more. Context is everything. Spoleto understands that, and the programming is a brilliant blend, especially well integrated this year as - for example - orchestral concerts reflected themes from operas and the theater.

The arts can teach us a lot...even about marketing.

The Baggage We Bring

We all look at products and people and (probably) situations with prejudice...pre-judgments.

You look at a bottle of Coca-Cola, and you remember a particular time you enjoyed its rich, sparkling taste...probably as a child.

Or you look at actor Jason Alexander, and it's difficult not to imagine him as George Costanza.

We jump to conclusions. We project.

The other day, President Bush chided a Los Angeles Times reporter at a news conference. The reporter, who was wearing sunglasses, sought to ask the President a question. "Are you going to ask that question with shades on?" asked the President. The reporter offered to take them off, but the President chided him again: "I'm interested in the shade look, seriously."

It turns out that the reporter has Stargardt's disease, which is a degenerative disease causing blindness, and sunlight can be especially painful for him.

Ooops.

As marketers, we're challenged to understand and appreciate the prejudices our customers and prospects bring to the table. And then we need to craft our messages not to combat those prejudices but rather to gracefully acknowledge and disarm them. Tricky business.

This Week's "Just Shoot Me" Award...

...goes to People Magazine for its profitable gamble paying $4.1 million (or whatever it was) for the 'first' photos of Bradjolina's baby. The combination of a 50-cent cover price premium and increased sales of the issue provided People with more than $3.5 million in additional revenue. And just consider the free publicity they got.

Eleven million children will go to bed hungry in America tonight.

They are not the only ones here who are starved.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

June 13, 2006

Managing Expectations

A friend tonight was telling us about her son who is at a five-week college summer school designed for incoming freshmen whom the college wants to consider more closely before absolutely positively granting them admission this coming fall.

There are a total of ten students in the program. What a great opportunity for the students to get to know the college and become the first positive advocates in their freshman class.

But the college seems to have botched that opportunity.

They neglected to provide any orientation. They didn't get the ten students together and let them get to know one another. They didn't tell the students what's expected of them...and what they can expect. They didn't tell them about the various logistics of life...even such basics as what dining halls are open and when.

Managing expectations is one of the most important roles of an effective communications program.

Nationally, the frustration with the administration may have been caused less by the war itself than by the fact that we were told three years ago that the mission was accomplished.

Locally, there's a good restaurant here with good food and lousy service. I'm wondering if the lousy service - which has been consistently bad since the restaurant opened a few years ago - isn't the function of some limitation on space or equipment. I can't believe that it's a function of human error, as that would have been remedied a long time ago. So, suppose they can't afford to fix the problem. Well, then, they should manage the customers' expectations by telling them that it takes a while to prepare their food, and then - for example - they could provide some small already-prepared plates in between courses. One way or another, they've got to manage people's expectations.

At Disney attractions, where there are waits for certain rides, there are signs advising you how long your wait is going to be. Except that Disney always adds five minutes to the actual wait.

So, if the sign says that your wait is 40 minutes, it's likely to be only 35. You get to the front of the line "five minutes early", and you're a very happy camper. It's that simple.

People in our business are often tempted to over-promise. And there's nothing more dangerous. They want to please our clients, so they say they'll do something in an unreasonably short amount of time, or for an unreasonably low amount of money...and all they're doing is hurting themselve, their client, and their relationship.

Several years ago, we helped an 8,000-employee institution communicate to its employees the necessary downsizing that was about to take place and put more than 3,000 people out of work.

We instituted a series of contexts in which managers and employees communicated with one another. There was straight talk. And there were no surprises. Everyone was treated straight up. The communications systems we instituted there are still in place today. And the workforce is more enthusiastic, proud, and productive than ever before.

We can all think of situations in which our expectations have been managed well. And we can think of the opposite, as well. But how are we doing?

Monday, June 12, 2006

June 12, 2006

Adding Impact to E-Mails

Podcasts are a new way to embellish e-mails and give them an added oomph. Suppose you're a New Orleans hotel e-mailing past guests to tell them how you're up and ready to welcome them post-Katrina. Wouldn't it be great to include a podcast of classic New Orleans jazz...perhaps with a message or two about the hotel and the destination?

And, on the subject of iPods...the other day I read that iPods are considered the coolest thing by college kids. Ranking slightly behind iPods were beer (!) and Facebook.com (which we recently wrote about). Quite amazing...when one considers that neither iPods nor Facebook.com existed five years ago.

Organic Food Wars

There's been a real rush on organic food, thanks to the success of Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc. and the increasing interest in our environment and natural resources. While organics are still a relatively small portion of overall food sales ($20 billion out of a trillion dollars), the trend is clear. And the biggest news is that Wal-Mart is going to be selling organic foods...and doing so at prices only 10% higher than non-organic products. Typically, organic foods cost 50% more.

This may seem like good news, and - in a way - perhaps it is. But that depends what your definition of "is" is.

The murkiness lies in the definition of organic. Most of us think that organic milk, for example, should come from farm cows that are grazing on grass that has not been treated with pesticides. The truth is that many agribusiness companies are setting up 5,000-head dairies, often in the desert. The cows stand around in a dry lot and eat organic grain that results in a milk with poor nutritional value.

This past year, the Organic Trade Association worked hard to get Congress to agree to make it easier to include synthetic ingredients in products labeled organic.

So there's a lot of funny business going on in agribusiness. Not only is the definition of organic up for grabs, but you've also got to wonder how Wal-Mart will be able to come in at those prices. For example, will their suppliers need to resort to soil depletion and pollution in order to meet Wal-Mart's cost demands?

Wal-Mart's entry into organic foods will no doubt increase interest and demand for them. But I wonder whether when consumers start to get better educated about organic food whether they will not be comfortable with the practices of Wal-Mart's suppliers and the loose definitions of the word organic. I wonder whether then consumers will turn to (or simply stick with) the grocery stores they trust and know and feel have a true commitment to them - great stores like the Piggly Wiggly stores we are so proud to represent. When lots of folks are bandying around a term like organic and giving it a lot of different meanings, one tends to turn to the people one trusts. And that's where - once again - the bond a store has with its customers transcends price cutting, "hot deals" and all the flash and dash of shallow everyday commerce.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

June 4, 2006

Primal Branding

Many books and articles identify the attributes they consider essential to successful companies. I always find them interesting, and - selfishly - inevitably analyze how many of those attributes pertain to our company and the companies with whom we work.

Primal Branding, by Patrick Hanlon, claims that when products or services have seven "pieces of code" they become a meaningful part of our culture. The seven pieces of code are the creation story, the creed, the icons, the rituals, the pagans (or nonbelievers), the sacred words, and the leader.

According to Hanlon, a creation story is not a strategy. It provides context, and meaning. Think of Hewlette and Packard working in their garage, or Henry Ford producing the very first assembly line automobiles.

The creed is what defines a company. Think of Starbuck's seeking to be "the third place" (the other two being home and office), or Barnes & Noble saying "We do important work." Sometimes the creed can also be a company's slogan: i.e., Just Do It...or Think Different.

The icons may be a company's logo...or even a sound, taste, or smell. Or touch: consider the shape of the handle on all OXO tools.

The rituals are the ways in which a company makes more distinct and memorable the repeated points of contact between themselves and their guest, customers, client, or target market. For example, Wal-Mart enriches the experience of entering their stores simply by the presence of greeters. The idea is to develop rituals that make the mundane experience become exciting and reinforce the brand.

Part of saying who you are and what you stand for is also declaring who you are not and what you don't stand for. That's what "the pagans (or nonbelievers)" is all about.

For example, people who drink Starbucks aren't going to be satisfied with Folger's instant.

I think this is an important point, because so often companies try to be all things to all people...reluctant to give up any portion of the market...and thereby becoming nothing special..and standing for nothing special. And not doing well!

The sacred words are the words that people need to learn to become insiders in a company's culture. Having learned those words, people feel a real sense of belonging. They develop a bond with the brand. And that's enormously valuable. For example, people who "belong" at Starbucks understand the difference between a "tall" and a "grande." Or think about all the special word references on Seinfeld. Or the "words" kids use in instant messaging.

Finally, Hanlon writes that all successful belief systems have a person who is the catalyst, the risk taker, the visionary, the iconoclast who set out against all odds to re-create the world according to their own sense of self, community, and opportunity.

The leader can be the founder (like Branson, or Disney, or Edison)...or a strong individual who takes their place (like Welch, or Eisner).

It's always helpful to step back and think about what makes a company successful. As I consider the companies we're fortunate enough to work with, most have many - if not all - of Hanlon's attributes. And, in cases where all seven attributes are not clearly evident, it's often a case of the attribute being there but it not being adequately developed and communicated. That's an opportunity.