Author: Drew Neisser

Ask for More

Posted on by Drew Neisser

So here’s the deal: You have $140 million dollars to spend and all you have to do is generate trial and repeat usage of your website. 140 million smackeroos. Salivating yet? That’s a lot of dough from where I sit. If you spent it on TV, you could pretty much blanket every man, women and child many times over with your message. Of course, spending it all on TV would be pretty silly in these DVR days, so I simply provide that as an illustration of how much money you have to work with.

One hundred and forty million dollars! That’s exactly how much Barry Diller’s Interactive Corp spent over the last two years to get folks like you and me to visit and use Ask.com (according to today’s Wall St. Journal). Amazingly, we didn’t come. Nope. We just kept using Google. In fact, despite outspending Google three to one, Google’s usage actually grew over the last two years.

So, here are my questions:

* Why do you think Ask.com failed so miserably?
* What would you do if you had $140 million to work with?

While you are pondering these questions, let me offer a couple of anecdotes. My assistant suggested that nobody uses Ask because “it sucks” and “doesn’t even load properly.” Indeed, it could be a product problem although many industry insiders praised Ask’s redesign and the quality of the searches it delivers. Our Digital Development Director, Lydia, isn’t so sure it is a product problem and actually has nice things to say about its performance. So if it isn’t a product problem then it must be a marketing problem.

One quick observation is that the hardest thing in marketing to do is to change behavior. Using Google is simply effortless. It is on top window in most people’s browser and therefore front and center every time you consider a search. I simply don’t think about going to another search engine because Google is right there. Unless you paid me or could prove to me that I wasn’t getting what I needed on Google, I’m simply too lazy to switch.

With that small barrier to overcome, I once again ask what would you do with $140 million dollars to drive traffic to Ask.com? I’ll be back later with some thoughts of my own.

Good Service; Bad Survey

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Had a great shopping experience the other day. Having just upgraded my home Macs to Leopard, I was anxious to test TimeMachine (Mac’s new back-up system) and needed a new external hard drive since TimeMachine wanted to erase everything on my old hard drive. Dashing to BestBuy.com, I quickly identified the drive of choice (a whopping 750 gig WD model that was under $300), and clicked the buy now button. Given the choice of shipping or picking up at a store 9 blocks from my apartment, I selected the latter. Five minutes later I got an email confirming the product was indeed waiting for me at my local Best Buy and that I simply needed to bring my ID and a print out of the email. So far so good.

A few hours later, I dropped by the store, found the pick-up counter and walked out with my hard drive in a less than five minutes. It was a mini-miracle. By the way, when I got home, it took less than five minutes to install the drive and set TimeMachine into motion. This was truly an amazing shopping experience. From the online ordering process all the way through the in-store pick-up, everything was easy and speedy.

So, when BestBuy sent me a customer satisfaction survey via email, I felt compelled to share my positivity. And for the first few questions the glow of satisfaction overwhelmed any misgivings. But then the survey kept going. All told they asked 37 questions. Holy cow! It took me longer to complete the questionnaire than it did to buy and pick-up my gear. Half of the questions were redundantly and few of them will provide any actionable insight which, of course, is the purpose of the survey.

Here’s a new rule for you e-researchers out there. Never make the survey longer than the shopping experience. It annoys the customer, even the ones that were gloriously happy. Short and sweet is the way to go. If you find the customer isn’t happy after a few questions, then you can always ask them for more detail later on. This will also impress this customer and hopefully prevent them from sharing their disappointment with others. If they are happy, you will know based on their willingness to recommend your service to a friend (a la Net Promoter Score). Short and sweet.

Good isn’t always Great

Posted on by Drew Neisser

For 18 months, I’ve been making the case that marketers can do well be doing good. I still believe this. I have also tried to make Marketing for Good broader than CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) including quality engagements, product improvements, educational programs and even highly entertaining communications in MFG. One of the reasons for this is that CSR is one of those areas that feels like the right thing to do but is rarely held to the same accountability standards as other forms of marketing. I have no problem with CSR and in fact embrace it wholeheartedly as long as it represents a meaningful commitment by management and not just an insincere means of gaining customer preference.

Ironically, marketers that are doing well anyway tend to be the ones who have money left over for CSR. A short article in today’s New York Times called “Bottom Line on Doing Good” made this very clear:

“IT’S alluring and very much in vogue to connect social
responsibility with profitability,” an article in The Harvard
Business Review begins. “If you can make a business case for
positive social action, everybody wins — employees, shareholders and
society at large.”

That, of course, leads to the question: Is there such a link?

The issue has been studied to death. And after reviewing a huge
number of the studies, the writers say, the answer is that if there
is a link, it is “not a strong one.”

Joshua D. Margolis of Harvard Business School and Hillary Anger
Elfenbein of the University of California, Berkeley, say they
analyzed 167 studies conducted in the last 35 years that examined
the issue of whether social responsibility leads to increased
profitability and found that while it certainly did not hurt — that
is it did not diminish shareholder value — there was only “a very
small correlation between corporate behavior and good financial
results.”

And that minor correlation, they add, could be explained by the fact
that companies that have performed well over a long period of time
have enough money to contribute positively to society. Conversely,
corporate misdeeds, once they become known, do have a significant
negative impact on financial performance. So, intriguingly, it is
easier to prove the negative in this case.

“Perhaps the easiest way to communicate our findings is to say that
only 2 percent of the studies we reviewed showed that managers who
dedicate corporate resources to social performance — taking actions
that consider in the interests of society — impose a direct cost to
shareholders,” they write. “Companies can do good and do well, even
if they don’t do well by doing good.”

Recently a prospective client approached us about a CSR project. They asked about setting up a foundation that would support people who suffered from a disease their product could have helped prevent. This seemed like an interesting idea until we did some homework and found out a foundation already existed that met the same need. It was at that point we realized this client was not really committed to the problem but simply saw it is an opportunity to gain exposure. Ultimately we were able to talk them out of this avenue since the cost of setting up another foundation would really limit the dollars that actually went to help people in need. We also talked ourselves out of an assignment. In this case Good would not have been Great at all.

CES Goes Green & Gizmo Challenge

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Spent a couple of interesting days at CES. Not surprisingly, green messages were everywhere. The Wall St. Journal provided a quick round up of some of the green initiatives in an article from CES on Monday as well as in a video. From what I saw, most of the initiatives could be lumped into these broad areas:

* Recycling: Panasonic announced a JV of CE manufacturers that will
recycle old CE equipment (called e-cycling).
* Re-engineering: Panasonic spoke about their efforts to
engineer-out all of the environmentally harmful materials in their
products over the coming years noting they were the first to
eliminate lead from their TV’s. Along these lines, Fujitsu
announced a laptop with a body that’s made from biodegradable corn
oil rather than petroleum.
* Reducing power: Panasonic also spoke about their goal to make the
majority of their products Energy Star compliant dramatically
reducing the amount of energy each of their products consume. As
one example, they introduce an update line of Viera plasma’s that
would have twice the luminance yet consume half the power of
current models.
* Carbon Offsets: The organizers of CES, the CEA (Consumer
Electronics Association), announced that they would be buying
offsets to compensate for the carbon emissions generated by the
event. I will not address the relative efficacy of offsets but
simply offer it as one more example of the pervasiveness of green
messaging at the show.

All that said, CES is about the latest and greatest gear. The fact that some of this gear is greener may influence 12% of potential buyers according to a recent Forrester study. The other 88% simply want cool stuff and lots of that was on display too. The Panasonic 150″ plasma TV was indeed the 800 pound gorilla in the room measuring 11″ wide by 6″ tall blowing away the competition on size and clarity. Sony impressed on both the hardware (a paper thin 11″ LCD monitor) and software (lots of live talent from their movie, TV and music divisions) fronts. For a more comprehensive look at the cool stuff, check out:

* BBC
* Gizmodo
* cnet

*GIZMO CHALLENGE:* During Panasonic’s Keynote address (which was amazing by the way–more on that later), Panasonic and Comcast announced a new kind of set-top box that combined a cable DVR and a portable DVD player. Basically you record your shows on the harddrive of the DVR and then you can detach the DVR and watch the shows wherever you want on a small screen that folds up from the DVR. Very cool concept. Made me wonder what other product combinations clever people might conceive. So here’s the challenge, come up with the cleverest combo gizmo and I’ll send you a pair of very cool retro Panasonic headphones. For example, why not combine a bathroom door and a Kindle to create a “Koilet” so you can read the headlines of the New York Times hands free and without wasting paper. Or perhaps combine a computer and a George Foreman grill to add some tasty nuggets to your next PowerPoint presentation. So mix and match. See what you can cook up. You have until [EXTENDED TO] April Fools Day, 2008 to dream up something amazing. An expert panel of judges will be nowhere near this context. Just me. Good luck.

Renegade Greensaver

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Since we’ve been prescribing Marketing as Service (a subset of Marketing for Good) to our clients for some time now, I thought it was important to offer up an example of how we take our own medicine here at Renegade. Pardon the self-promotion but it is just too good an example of replacing messaging with a genuine service, in this case a screensaver that serves up “green” tips when your computer is at rest. Here’s what Sean Bartlett said about it on his blog

Letting your computer sit idle isn’t the most efficient thing to do
but throughout the day you are bound to step away for awhile. When
you do, the Greensaver from Renegade will
take over and serve up a variety of green tips for you to view
before getting back to work.

The Greensaver is connected to the Internet so you can look forward
to refreshed content and even submit your own tips.

Renegade Greensaver website.

The idea behind Marketing as Service is quite simple–deliver real value via your communications rather than attribute-focused messaging and your prospects will become customers and your customers evangelists. Hopefully the Greensaver will also encourage greener behavior along the way which will have a positive ROI for all of us.

As Sean noted, the Greensaver will also remain fresh as people like you add more tips. Give the Greensaver a try and let me know what you think. Happy New Year.

Renegade Thinking: To Increase your ROA (Return on Agency)

Posted on by Drew Neisser

A new year awaits, ripe with promise. Time to pounce on the opportunities that guarantee higher ROA in 2008. Here are a few for your consideration:

1. Stand for something—Sounds simple enough but few brands or companies for that matter, really stand for anything. Those that do seem to thrive and inspire endless amounts of creativity from their agency partners. Apple stands for originality, consistently delivering products and services that are intuitive, elegant and a joy to use. (For more on how Apple got here, see this great summary on basement.org). Dove stands for self-esteem, striving to help women find “real beauty.” What will you stand for in 2008?
2. Fix your product—Is there some aspect of your product or service that you simply know is not competitive? This is the year to get it right before you spend millions on marketing the same old same old. The ancient adage that ‘there is nothing like a great ad campaign to kill a bad product’ applies now more than ever. With bloggers waiting to pounce faster than you can say Digg, your flaws will be paraded for all to see. You need look no further than Dell and Jet Blue to know how quick and painful an avalanche of negative cyberink can truly be.
3. Provide vision not tactics—It’s your brand. Tell us where you want to go, share your vision, loud and proud. But don’t be ultra-prescriptive, detailing every last tactic you want to pursue. Nothing inspires a clever agency like a clear destination AND an open road. You’ll be amazed at the creative solutions your agency (partners) will discover to help you get where you want to go. With so many tactical options to consider, the most effective combination of tactics is rarely clear until the big idea is discovered. Limit the tactics upfront and you’ll undoubtedly be asking yourself later “why isn’t my agency thinking out of the box?”
4. Think about marketing as service—Instead of investing your precious marketing dollars on ads that explain why your widget is superior use your marketing to provide a genuine service that benefits customers & prospects alike. Your customers will thank you with increased loyalty and your prospects will appreciate the added value you delivered. The HSBC BankCab provides a service, giving customers a free ride in NYC. It also generates tons of good will and PR in the process. For many more examples visit MarketingForGood.net.
5. Dance with your customers—Everyone talks about having a dialogue with your customers and this has spawned the user generated content craze. And a dialogue is certainly better than a monologue–but a dance is better still. A dance is a far more intimate and memorable affair. It requires being in sync with your customers, creating interactive brand experiences both offline and online that are simply unforgettable. Channel Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman” and you’ll be dancing into the marketing history books in 2008.
6. Measure what matters—Of course, the ultimate goal of marketing is to support sales. However, when was the last time you made a significant purchase decision without doing some research first? The reality is that most of us collect all sorts of information from all sorts of sources, narrow our list to a reasonable consideration set and then make a purchase decision based on price, availability, convenience, reputation and a myriad of intangibles including that bane of rational marketers: “I just like that brand better.” Marketing can and does impact the consumer across their journey. You need to measure the critical milestones along this journey not just the sales at the end. If your CEO asks “are your communications working?” then you need to be able to show your “dashboard” with all the critical datapoints from awareness to trial, purchase consideration to Net Promoter Score, web traffic to social media buzz and so forth. This sounds so obvious but you’d be amazed how few CMO’s have the metrics they need to defend their campaigns.
7. Say thanks—We agency types are like faithful workhorses, toiling 24/7 to please our masters. A heart-felt bit of praise is cheaper than a crisp apple or sugar cube and goes a long way to ensure continued dedication. We know it is our job to meet your deadlines, to deliver big ideas and to flawlessly execute them. Just the same, a little praise goes a country mile on our side of the fence. Think about it, offering up a thank you for a job well done costs you nothing and could be the glue that holds your high-performing agency team together for another campaign or six.
8. Your welcome—Make a point of sitting down with your agencies this January to discuss how the relationship could be more productive. You might be surprised how an open dialog could identify some simply fixes on both sides that can speed up the process, increase the work quality and improve overall program results. Make sure you ask for a frank appraisal of your staff as well. You might learn about an abusive product manager who is a thorn in everyone’s side, gumming up the works and is in need of a “fresh” opportunity in the shipping department at your Des Moines warehouse.
9. RIP RFPs—Here’s a wacky thought, forget the RFP’s for small projects this year. The time your staff will spend preparing, briefing and reviewing redundant proposals could surely be put to better use and negates any possible cost-savings procurement might squeeze out of your otherwise demoralized agency. Instead, give the project to one of your long-time agency partners as a reward for all their hard work to-date and as an incentive to making your business their most important and beloved. Not only will you save time but also you’ll probably end with a more cost-effective marketing campaign. Cheers to that!