Random Thoughts

Great Expectations

I measure all paid software and web based solutions against my experiences using Turbo Tax.  I measure all breakfast restaurants against Walker Bros.  I measure free web services against Gmail.  I measure hotel beds against the Westin Heavenly Bed.  I measure the way an airline treats me against my experience as an Executive Platinum member of American.  I measure commercials against the Mac vs PC ads these days and the older Bud Light commercials, both of which make me laugh.  I measure TV shows against Seinfeld, 30 Rock and The Office (which also make me laugh.)  And I measure consumer electronics against TiVo and the iPod.

These are the standards against which you will be judged if you want to feed me breakfast, sell me a gadget, or get me to watch your TV show. 

It doesn't matter to me one bit if you consider yourself in a different "space" than Gmail, TiVo or Turbo Tax.  You will be judged by the standard they set because I said so.

I'm not being difficult, I just know what is possible based on my experiences with my favorites and I will hold you responsible every time you fail to meet my expectations. 

It's tempting to "mange expectations."  But be careful, if you manage expectations too low, I will just avoid you.  If you manage expectations too high, you better stack up against the best.  It's a catch 22, it's completely out of your control, and it's the cost of getting my business.  Get over it.

Microsoft spends billions developing and improving it's core software product Microsoft Office and sells it for around $300 retail.  Or you can get a 100% compatible suite of software from Open Office for free.  I used to buy shoes at Nordstrom's, but now I use Zappos because it has a better selection and is a better use of my time.  Two hugely recognizable brands with long histories of being the best at what they do, swept aside because my expectations changed.  Don't get me started on books, music and movies...

And if you think that this only applies to businesses, think again.  I'd bet that every one of you can name a person that does a really good job at something that's important to you.  Whether they work for you, with you, or as a customer or contractor you know who they are.  They set the standard for how you will judge other people you come in contact with. 

When you take a new job, how will you most likely be introduced?  "This is Tom, he is the 'new Steve.'" 

How much of your acceptance in your new job will be based on who you are and what you bring, and how much will be based on how you stack up against Steve?  Fair?  Doesn't matter. 

There are simply too many options available to us consumers to think that anyone can get away with being "below expectations" for longer than it takes me to find an alternative and switch.  And you don't even have to be bad at what you do to find yourself on the wrong end of expectations.  Sometimes a new concept comes along and totally changes expectations (Zappos).  Or circumstances outside your control change how people view you (kinda wish you bought a Prius last year instead of an SUV?)

So you can be the best at what you do, or be so different that you create a whole new expectation.

At the very least make sure you are obsessed with understanding the expectations against which you are being judged. 

And be ready to change.

So bad it's good, really good

I have written about the increasing ability of consumers to screen out messages that they don’t want to receive.  I observe my kids as they effortlessly avoid anything they aren't interested in, embrace technologies like iPod and TiVo that help them skip or avoid commercial intrusion, but at the same time stop a fast forwarding TiVo to watch a commercial they find amusing.  This led me to propose that businesses were going to have to find a way to be funny or entertaining in order to reach customers.

But recently I have seen another phenomenon at work that presents an alternative to being funny and engaging.  You can create a commercial that is so bad it is remarkable. 

And not just in the sense that it is so bad it is good, but one that is so bad that people talk about it.  That kind of remarkable.

In the past several weeks,I have seen multiple people stop and comment on this one particular commercial currently playing in the Chicago area and talk about how much they don't like it.  My kids even re-wound TiVo to play the commercial for me and tell me how much they hated it. 

A couple days later we were having a party at our house and the TV was on in the background with the sound turned down and this particular commercial came on.  Someone noticed it and immediately began a commentary on how terrible the commercial is.  Another guest who had missed the beginning of the diatribe walked over and said, "what are you talking about?"  At which point the speaker grabbed a remote and rewound the commercial so they could share the whole story. 

This falls into the uncomfortable zone of, "Yikes, this smells terrible!  Here you smell it..." 

But then I started thinking about the real goal of a commercial.  Isn't it to be memorable?  Does it really matter what causes it to be memorable?  OK, it shouldn't offend your target audience, but does it have to be good? 

I'll bet that you can think of a few advertising jingles.  You know the ones that get into your head in the morning and stick with you all day.  Do you remember any of them because you really like them?  Probably you hate the jingle, but do you hold it against the company?

So here are a couple questions for you: Do you think that any company really sets out to make a commercial that is so bad it's remarkable or is this a fortunate accident?  If this was an accidental strategy, would they be happy that people are talking about them even if they knew it was for this reason?

Can you guess what the commercial is that I am describing in this post?  Hint, it has a jingle at the end.

Mixed messages

I'm staying at a nice hotel, almost $200 per night.  As I walked into the room the first thing that caught my eye was that they provided a very nice clock radio, one that was optimized to work with an iPod.

I thought this was a very nice touch, and clearly something tailored to a business traveler. The kind of thing that says, "We think about you and want to make your stay a little more enjoyable."  The kind of thing that makes you remember a hotel.  They also have a very nice DVD player attached to the television.

I stay in a lot of hotels, and have to say that having an iPod enabled radio and a DVD player are not common amenities that I run across.

Then I went to unpack and hang up my clothes, and the message changed.

This message was quite different than the first one.  It said, "Welcome, thief.  We can't really trust you even with our hangers.  Enjoy your stay, we're keeping an eye on you."

If you look closely at the picture (click on it to enlarge) you will see that apparently three of these completely useless hangers have in fact been boosted.  So maybe they are on to something after all.

Next I discover the smallest bar of soap I've ever seen.  This is the bar of soap after washing my hands exactly one time.  I put the quarter in the picture so you would get a sense of scale.  At this point I was completely confused.  A couple observations and a question for the hotel manager.

You are savvy enough to know that most business travelers have an iPod, and aren't carrying their favorite CD's around with them.  But you apparently believe that they are carrying DVD's in their travel case.  You have enough money to put a DVD player in the room, which probably doesn't get used very often, but go cheap on hangers and soap which are used by nearly 100% of your customers.

Is this part of a master plan?  Do you have a target audience in mind that responds to this particular positioning?  Or is all this the result of a series of disconnected decisions made by you and your predecessors?

The ROI on funny

I was watching TV with my kids last night, using TIVO as usual.  Between everyone's schedule we don't get much TV time, and we always fast forward commercials.  But several times, I noticed my kids scanning the fast forward and stopping to watch a commercial that they like.  Invariably a commercial they found funny.

Think about it.  TIVO fast forward really moves.  They are giving a little slice of their Gen Y brains to subliminally look for something that amuses them.  Stop, watch for 30 seconds, and then fast forward again.

This generation is going to be the best ever at avoiding messages they don't want.  They have the tools to control what they see and hear, and they have never known a world without banners, Google Ads, spam, and pop overs.  They are immune to it all.  They literally don't see it.  It's all background noise.  To say nothing of all the ads they just fast forward through on TIVO or never hear on their iPod.

But do something interesting, something that amuses them and they will stop what they are doing and come see.  And if they like it they will tell their friends.  And in today's world, that could mean 10,000 people directly with the push of a button.

Marketing to these kids as they start to achieve significant buying power in the next couple years is going to be very interesting.  Is your company ready to make funny commercials?  Maybe even make fun of itself?

Or is Marketing, serious stuff?

You are competing with everything

Are you trying to reach people?  To get them to come to your website, buy your products or services, read your newspaper, view your ad, remember your message?

Good luck.  In the history of the world it has never been harder to do this than it is today.  There was a time, not long ago, when we all watched the same TV shows and listened to a half dozen radio stations.  Your town had one or two newspapers, and a really big movie theater had 2 screens.  The only barrier to reaching people was money.

Getting your message out in today's world requires that you first acknowledge that you are competing with absolutely everything in every medium.  The entire Internet, not just your competitor's website, your customer's favorite iPod playlist, the entire catalog of On Demand movies, the 20 different reality TV shows playing at any given moment.  Absolutely everything.

Because what you are after is a few precious minutes, not of someone's time, but of their attention.  And while people will sometimes allow you to waste their time, they are very protective of their attention, and they punish people who waste it.

So now it's not enough to be able to buy commercial time, or a full page ad, you have to be interesting too.  Interesting enough that someone will choose to give you their attention.  Interesting enough that after having given you their attention, they will be glad they did.

How interesting is your message?  Are you even trying to be interesting, or just accurate?

The future is fan clubs

Do you remember when the idea of belonging to a fan club conjured up images of geeky obsessed teenagers writing letters to aloof musicians and movie stars?  Marcia Brady as the president of the Davy Jones fan club didn't do a lot for Marcia's image, and Davy showing up at prom based on her request, didn't do a lot for his.  Can you honestly remember any of the "cool kids" being part of a fan club?

And let's face it, actively participating in a fan club always seemed like a one way deal.  The fan club channeled adolescent emotion and energy but had no payoff other than the occasional opportunity to meet William Shatner at a Star Trek convention, and the added insult of paying for his autograph.  The fans had no power in the relationship, and were openly mocked even by the stars they adored.

But that is all changing. 

The TV show Jericho was literally rescued by devoted fans who petitioned vigorously after the series was canceled.  The TV executive in charge of programming opened a dialog with the fans and made a deal with them.  We will bring back the show, but you have to use your considerable passion and energy to help get the word out and make a commitment to not just watch the show but to help bring in new viewers.

Lost, with it's myriad plot twists and mysteries has dozens of communities dedicated to trying to figure out what's going to happen next.  And guess what, the producers and writers read what those communities are saying.  They have admitted changing plot lines based on the communities' theories, and have even killed off unpopular characters.

It will be interesting to see how television executives incorporate fan passion into their traditional means of measuring success, the Nielsen ratings.  Are 5 million casual viewers worth 5 times as much as a million passionate viewers?  Who will stay with a show even if you move it to a new time-slot?  Who will tell their friends about it?  Who will start a fan club?

And listening to your fan clubs isn't the only way to engage with them.  My tweenage kids have gone to 3 or 4 concerts recently all with the same family, who seems to be able to get all the tough tickets.  Hannah Montana, Fall Out Boy, Jonas Brothers.  I finally asked who their ticket connection was, because I knew they weren't paying scalpers rates for these sold-out shows.  And the answer was, of course, fan clubs.  In each case they had joined the fan club, learned about the upcoming event and been given inside information on how to purchase tickets.  Parents are heroes for getting the tickets, the kids gladly fork over $40 for a t-shirt, and load up their iPods with the band's music. Everybody wins.

Who are your fans, and are you helping them organize?  Are you listening to what they say?  Are you inviting them into the product development process?  Do you even know who they are?