Experience Manifesto

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due!

We just decided to buy a new air conditioner for the house, so we did our online research and then hit the stores. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a really bad shopper. I love to go from store to store, to see what they have and who has the best prices. Seriously, I do. So, when we needed a new window a/c unit for the apartment, I packed up the family and off we went!

We started at Best Buy, went to Home Depot, PC Richards and Electronics Expo before returning to Best Buy to make the actual purchase. Why Best Buy? Well, certainly price was somewhat of a factor, although they were all pretty similar.

The main reason? Best Buy had a well-organized a/c area and actually had them all plugged in so you could test them out. In addition to seeing which air conditioner blew the coldest, we also got to hear what they sounded like and that was important for us.

I wish that more of the stores had working displays like Best Buy -- it really made this shopping experience much more enjoyable!

The Power of TV

So, as we were leaving to come home tonight, I happened to mention that I really needed to lose some weight. So my daughter chimes in and says all I need to do is pick up the phone and call Nutrisystems. They'll send me 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners and 7 desserts and the food is all yummy. And if I eat it, the fat will melt off and I will be a size 2. Whatever I like to eat, they'll deliver to my door.

And we think that TV advertising isn't effective any more!

Don't Copy. Lead

Happen to be the the local Barnes & Noble -- letting Sydney play with the trains -- and catching up on some of my reading. Got to show Sydney that her Daddy was in two chapters of Experience the Message by Max Lenderman, but sadly she was much more interested in the trains!

But while reading Business 2.0, I came across this ad for Toshiba. I know it's a bad picture, so I'll see if I can find the ad online when I'm back on a computer. But you should be able to make out two men in the picture. One suit and one casual guy. Underneath it says Finance & IT.

The tagline for the two page spread is Toshiba. Don't copy. Lead.

The irony, of course, is that it looks just like the Apple ads that have been running for quite some time now and have gotten lots of buzz in the ad industry. I mean, not a little like it. Exactly like it. They're even holding hands, just like the Apple guys!

Now, it is possible that Toshiba came up with this ad campaign either before the Apple ads broke or independently at the same time as Apple. But when you're staking your whole campaign on Don't copy. Lead, you think it might be worth the time to come up with something that doesn't have the perception of being a copy!

Moblogging Test

I'm testing the mobile blogging capabilities of Typepad, since so often I am writing blog posts while out & about. And, as usually happens with my ADD, I write lost of potential posts, but don't always get them posted! So, if I've set this up correctly, you'll be able to see more posts from us in the future!

Not TiLE Bound

Unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip to TiLE 2006 this year. I’m hoping that my friend Limor Schafman will be updating her blog about the conference, but if not, I’ll make sure to get what I can find up on our blog. And, hopefully they’ll give me the chance to try again and participate in next year’s program. Barring my own death, I promise that I’ll be there for the entire conference next year!

When Good Retailers Go Bad

There's an electronics store in downtown Manhattan that's a fixture in NYC. They've continued to grow over the years and you can hardly go downtown without seeing hundreds of their shopping backs on the streets. I've bought from them in the past and while I may have found the occasional pushy salesperson, I've always felt that I got a good deal from them. Maybe until now. Guess that didn't see this report on bad experiences!

You see, it's been a really long time since I bought a new gadget and I was going through some serious withdrawal issues. And my cell phone is about 3 years old and it was discontinued when I got it!

So, after obsessing for months, I finally broke down and bought a cool new phone, the Nokia 9500 Communicator. I researched, checked in stores, dragging my wife with through the entire process. And let me tell you, that wasn't always fun.

And then one day I find that this store had the lowest price by @ $100 and it was time to break down and buy it. I'm a huge fan of both Nokia & Symbian, their operating system, and since I was on the road a lot lately, this phone would be a great communication tool.

But, when I went to buy it, I was told that they had no return policy on this phone and only carried the manufacturers warranty. I guess that should have clued me in that there could be a problem! In fact, the first time I went to buy, I left with nothing. I was defeated by the fact that I had money to spend and couldn't seem to spend it!

I called their customer service line and was told that the phones were carried under a 14 or 30-day return policy, depending upon the model. Energized by this new information, I went back to the store to buy the phone. Unfortunately, I was once again told that there was a no-return policy, but if I hadn't used for the phone for more then 30 minutes, they would take it back. Since I cared more about the other functions of the phone, I decided to give it a try.

So, I plunked down $500 and took the phone home. That's when I discovered that it was not a US phone, but one that came from Asia. Thinking that maybe that wasn't going to be too bad, I forged ahead. It was cool to go online and get mail through the wifi network in my house and it seemed like all would be good.

The trouble began when I tried to go online or check mail using the phone, not a wifi connection. It started to dial an overseas number, which turned out to be in Kuala Lumpur! I checked on the settings and, sure enough, it was set up to only use numbers from the Pacific Rim! Being in NY and not Australia, Malaysia or Hong Kong, this looked like it was going to be a problem. I sent a note to the store right away, concerned about both the fact the phone seemed to be locked in this Asian mode and worried that this was clearly a grey market phone and that it would carry no manufacturers warranty.

I went back to the store several times before I was able to speak to my sales rep and he assured me that he could fix the problem. He could reset the software there and that everything would be fine. I left the phone with him with high hope that the situation would finally be fixed.

When I came back later that night, I found out that all he had done is reset the clock so it would be on east coast time, but that didn't really fix the problem. And, BTW, the clock still seems to off on my e-mail system.

I then found out that since I was sold a phone from outside the US, it probably would not be covered under warranty unless I sent it back to Asia or Finland and then waited at least two weeks for the repairs to be completed. I'm not sure that I know anyone who can go that long without his or her phone.

Don't worry, I was told, we have our buyer getting a new shipment in just a few days and we'll swap the phones out. BTW, if you could do us a favor, try not to use the phone that much. If you have over 30 minutes on the phone, it's very difficult for us to take a return on it. OK, I said, trying to be a nice guy. This despite the fact that I was paying for a plan with 1500 minutes/month.

So, twice a week -- at least -- I would call or go down to the store to see what was happening and each time I was told The buyer said they would be here any day now, so sorry, but just be patient! Sometimes they would apologize profusely and call to leave a message with the buyer. Oh please let us know right away about the Nokia 9500 shipment, the client really wants to get the right phone.

But now that it's been close to five weeks, I'm beginning to feel like I'm just getting the big run around. I mean, five weeks of this without any resolution. In fact, today my sales person told me he would swap this one for the 9300i (like this one without the camera) or just refund me all of money. Not very encouraging!

Here's what strikes me as strange. I'm sure the problem is that they got a great deal on this phone, since it shouldn't have been sold here, and they'd have to spend some money to get me the right phone. But, rather then do that and spend a few extra shekels, they'd rather just give me my money back and cover my termination fees for T-Mobile! I never get how businesses make decisions like this!

So, I'm holding out hope that my correct phone will come in on Monday and I will be able to get on with it. Either way, I'll be trying the phone out in Europe next week and I'll see if it works well over there too!

And for those of you wondering, if they can't fix my problem, I will post their name!

Mainstream Ads Lose Clout

Not really surprising to hear, but it is surprising that so many people are saying it. If only they acted like they actually believed it!

A growing number of marketers believe that general advertising is no longer the most important component to a company's overall marketing communications program, according to a survey commissioned by the Association of National Advertisers.

The survey found that just 30 percent of those polled believed that general advertising adds the most value to marketing programs, down from 51 percent of those polled in a similar survey done in 2003.

The survey, based on responses from 85 major advertisers, was released today at the ANA's conference on integrated marketing in New York.

The survey also found that 67 percent of marketers develop integrated marketing programs across most or all of their brands, but only 33 percent said they are happy with their efforts. The biggest challenge to executing such programs successfully is the siloed corporate environment, the survey found. (Emphasis mine)

According to 72 percent of the respondents, the most important contribution that ad agencies can make to integrated programs is coming up with the "big" creative idea that can be leveraged across all marketing channels. (Emphasis mine)

Link: Mainstream Ads Lose Clout.

Word of Mouth Research Blog -- Word of Mouth Marketing Association -- WOMMA

Interesting report on the Word of Mouth Research Blog about the impact of negative experiences. It certainly drives home the point that it doesn't matter what you say, it's what you actually deliver. And a bad experience can have a significant impact on your business.

When a consumer hears about a negative shopping experience from a friend, it is likely to prevent them from setting foot in that store altogether. The Customer Dissatisfaction Study conducted by the Verde Group and Baker Retailing Initiative at Wharton found that negative WOM influences future patronage up to five times more than the person who experiences the problem first-hand.

Other key findings include:

* 31% of consumers tell one or more friends about the problems they experience in a store.

* On average, consumers tell four other people about their negative shopping experience.

* Almost 50% of shoppers said they avoided a particular store in the past because of someone else's negative experience.

Link: Word of Mouth Research Blog -- Word of Mouth Marketing Association -- WOMMA.

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

So here's how my daughter describes New York City, the greatest city in the world!

I don't like NYC. It's boring and it doesn't have any rides for kids. All it has is cigarettes on the ground and people walking around bored.

I guess we all have different perspectives on the world!

Big Cuts in Marketing, Ad Spending at United

They should be using the savings to give J. Ketchum a raise!

United Airlines chief Glenn Tilton announced on Wednesday that the newly restructured company will lay off at least 1,000 salaried workers and cut marketing and advertising costs by $60 million.

Tilton broke the news at the Merrill Lynch Gobal Transportation Conference in New York.
In 2005, United spent $75 million on media. It spent $98 million in 2004, per TNS Media Intelligence. Details on the advertising and marketing cuts were not available Wednesday.

The $60 million cut did not come entirely out of the blue, according to one observer, as the company emerged from bankruptcy in February of this year.

“They invested heavily before and after bankruptcy to establish niche products and reinvigorate the brand,” said Robert Mann, president of R. W. Mann & Company, an airline industry analysis firm in Port Washington, N.Y.

The company’s re-emergence earlier this year required a focus on traditional media like radio and newspaper ads, Mann said.

“Once that’s been established and the pump has been primed, they’re going to rely on the far more efficient new media,” Mann said. “It could coast a while on the changes it had already made.”

Link: Big Cuts in Marketing, Ad Spending at United.