Author: Drew Neisser

I had a Japanese client many years ago who loved the movie Gung Ho. He would do a brilliant imitation of the Japanese boss in the movie who told protagonist Hunt Stevenson (played by Michael Keaton) “I like you, you make me laugh” after Stevenson had basically gone postal. Funny enough, I had great relationship with this particular client and I did indeed make him laugh. It was life imitating art imitating life. Laughter cemented our relationship, making it easier to do business together and smooth out the cultural divisions.

When marketers make people smile, they are paving the way to have a lasting relationship with their customers. We all talk a big rational game when asked about a particular purchase decision but the truth is that most of us choose brands like friends– on a highly emotional basis saying to ourselves “I just like this one better.” Brands that help their customers and prospects share a smile are providing even more value, value that can be exchanged for loyalty through thick and thin. Given all that, it’s easy to understand why I am such a big fan of OfficeMax’s ElfYourself.com website. Here’s what they said about it on MediaPost:

ElfYourself.com, the wildly popular
game launched by OfficeMax last year, is back with a twist:
additional dancing elves have been added to the mix, along with a
new Web site called ScroogeYourself.com.
Both sites are worth visiting,
but good luck getting through the heavy traffic anytime soon.
OfficeMax also resurrected nine of the 20 holiday-themed
procrastination sites it created along with ElfYourself. If you have
some time to kill, check out Reindeer Arm Wrestling…

This is the second year of ElfYourself and it seems to have gotten better age. Here’s to lots of good laughs in 2008 and that we all get better with age.

I have been a big fan of LinkedIn since it first started and have enjoyed watching it grow. I have touted it in various articles and networked through it with the best of them. I dutifully review each networking request, responding “yes” to those I actually know and “no” to those who somehow had me in their address book but couldn’t accurately answer the question “what color is my hair?” Most recently, the media team at my agency has been evaluating LinkedIn for various Renegade clients. So you can imagine my surprise when I got this email yesterday:

Dear Valued LinkedIn Member,

In a recent review of your profile, we have found that information other
than your first and last name appears in the name field of your LinkedIn
account. The LinkedIn user agreement requires use of true names rather
than pseudonyms, business names, associations, or groups when
registering on our site. Attached is a link to our Terms of Service for
your review:

We at LinkedIn do our best to accommodate all users? individual needs
and although we appreciate the use of our site for recruiting purposes,
LinkedIn offers several solutions for your recruiting needs in a more
proficient manner. Attached is a link that can assist in using our site
with a more efficient approach:

Because we believe that any information other than first and last names
in the name fields compromises our site and the service that we offer,
we have removed the profile in question. We would be happy to discuss
any questions you may have and look forward to assisting you with all
your professional networking needs.

Thanks for using LinkedIn!
Brian F. Customer Support Specialist

Ouch! Tossed out of the game without so much as warning. At first I thought this might be some kind of joke from those crazy folks at the Onion. But no I was locked out like Fred at the end of every Flintstone’s episode without a Wilma to let me back in. I started to wonder who this Brian F. guy was and whether or not he really “valued” me as a customer. So I sent Brian F. a note suggesting that this might be some kind of a mistake. Here’s what I got back within an hour:

Dear Drew,

This is an automated response email, we don’t mean to be impersonal but
want you to know that we received your inquiry sent to LinkedIn Customer
Support. We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us and we
will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks,

The LinkedIn Customer Service Team

Please note: This is an automated message therefore your reply will not
be answered. Please feel free to contact us at cs@linkedin.com with
additional questions or concerns.

Okay, so they get points for quick response time but now I have to write another note and I’m beginning to tire of this game. I figured, why not simply express my frustation about LinkedIn on this blog and see what happens. But I need some help with some protest slogans. Here’s a few:

* Linked Out and Proud
* LinkedIn Blanked Out
* I’m a LinkedIn Drop Out

For all you clients out there, be careful how you treat your customers. If you have a Brian F. on your customer service team, give him an F on his next evaluation. If you leave customer relationship decisions to your computers, then expect your human customers to get pretty annoyed and share that annoyance with the world.

Let me know your protest slogans. The winner will be saluted in my next network whatever that might be (can you say Plaxo?). In the meantime, say hello to all my LinkedIn friends for me since I’m Linked Out.

Looking ahead to 2008, expect to hear a lot more from me about Marketing as Service. It’s not that I’ve lost interest in Marketing for Good, on the contrary, it inspires me every day. But the reality is that Marketing for Good can seem a little airy-fairy to nitty-gritty marketers who want to sell more of their products and services. In contrast, Marketing as Service seems to resonate with every marketer I talk to. These marketers instantly see the profundity of transforming their communications from mere messaging to delivering a genuine service. And the reality is, when marketers apply Marketing as Service they are also being good, typically by enhancing their product offering.

The funny thing about Marketing is Service is that the mere act of providing service above expectations is headline news. In a “big box” retail world where help is impossible to find, a little bit of service goes a long way and a lot of service is a earth-shaking, loyalty-inspiring, game-changing move. Barneys and Nordstrom’s were rewarded for adding concierge service with a front page story on the Wall St. Journal and increased customer loyalty:

In the race to attract customers, luxury emporiums are doing what
the best hotels have done for decades — installing concierges.
Customer service has always been the hallmark of luxury retailers.
But Barneys New York (a unit of Dubai World) and
Nordstrom Inc.,
in particular, have kicked it up a notch by stationing concierges at
several of their highest-profile branches to fulfill an array of
customer requests that have nothing to with shopping — for example,
obtaining seats at the best restaurants or arranging admission to
the hottest clubs. In return, the stores say they gain new customers
and foster deeper loyalty in their old ones. It is another way for
retailers to set themselves apart in a world where even the best
stores often carry similar brands.

We have a client who is building an online “university” that will help train their resellers that will ultimately lead to higher customer satisfaction. We have two clients for whom we are building social networks both of which will enable their constituents to share, learn and network. This is Marketing as Service in action. Rather than spend their marketing dollars on messaging ads, these clients elected to create programs of real value for their customers–value that will be exchanged for increased loyalty, positive word of mouth, fatter margins and generally higher ROI. Look for more evidence on these pages in the coming year.

A few green morsels for you before you break for a Friday night cocktail.

First up, check out the introductory video for a new-to-me website called Viropop. The premise of the site is the “green is the new pop” and they waste no time lambasting some epic greenwashing especially by the car industry. For those marketers with green on your ‘08 strat plan menu, make sure you’ve got some steak behind the sizzle otherwise you can count on sites like this burning you with relish.

Thanks Jason for the head’s up about this neat gizmo that is sure to tidy things up in our urban jungle:

Don’t know if anyone has seen this before (I guess the city has had
some of them for a few years now), but I passed by one in Union
Square the other weekend. A public trash compactor – solar powered,
no less.

Thanks Dina for tracking down some other greenish new products on Gizmodo:

* Aleutia E1 computer runs on solar power

* Power conscience concept keeps tabs on your electricity
consumption

* Toshiba helps mask your guilt by planting trees

* MIT designs electro-scooter that folds up into tiny, wheeled
package

Finally, might I suggest you end the day with Drew’s Truly Green Martini. Start with 2 jiggers Square One Organic Vodka, squeeze in half an organic lime and add one splash of organic agave just for fun. Of course, this concoction should be shaken not stirred. Garnish with an organic apple slice grown within 250 miles of wherever you happen to be. Enjoy.

I never ceased to be amazed about the uncommon nature of common sense. Common sense would tell us that there needs to be a clear separation between editorial and advertising if a particular media property wants to maintain credibility in the marketplace. Common sense would tell a major game maker that even a critical review is still advantageous editorial coverage and that to raise a ruckus about it would simply bring out the animosity of the hard core gaming community. Common sense would tell a website that sells itself as “your source for video games” not to fire an editor who authored a critical review of a major advertiser. Common sense would inform a major online publisher like cNet not to risk their credibility by putting one of their websites in the hands of a gaming neophyte. Once again Harry Truman gets the last laugh having noted that “if common sense were so common more people would have it.”

This particular story is my new poster child for Marketing for Bad. According to a number of sources the plot line goes something like this:

*Kane & Lynch, a new game from Eidos takes a dominant advertising position on the GameSpot website (a couple of weeks ago)
*GameSpot critic Jeff Gertsmann gives Kane & Lynch a 6 out of 10 rating in his review
*Jeff Gertsmann is fired & the video review of Kane & Lynch is pulled from the site
*The gaming community gets wind of the story and rants about it
*“Gertsmann-gate” becomes a top story on Digg
*Gertsmann’s video review is posted on YouTube and gets over 330,000 views in 5 days
*C-net defends its editorial integrity
*GameSpot restores the review on its website
*GameSpot is raked through the coals by gaming blog Destructoid masked as “Cashwh0re” which looks a lot like the GameSpot website

This story is a text book case on how to screw up without really trying. Eidos screwed up by putting pressure on GameSpot about a mediocre review. Imagine what might have happened had they responded by saying, “hey Jeff, you’re right on these points but wrong on these points.” At least they could have started a dialog with Jeff and his readers. Better yet they could have said “Hey Jeff, you’re right, the game isn’t as good as we wanted it to be but we rushed it in order to make the holiday sales period–anybody who buys it before xmas will get a free upgrade next year.” The point is that they could have been honest. Instead they tried to bully their way out of a mediocre review and got caught.

GameSpot screwed up by pulling the review and canning Jeff Gertsmann. Pulling the review was unusual and certainly raised a little smoke. Firing the editor was practically an act of self-immolation. Even if his firing had nothing to do with the pressure from Eidos, any idiot would have assumed that the outside world perceive a direct cause and effect and put a reasonable time period between the editorial and the eviction. Once word got about this situation, GameSpot had a chance to come clean and admit they screwed up. Instead they and their parent c-net offered the usual pulp about editorial integrity and standards above suspicion. Yeah right. You blew it. And then you blew it again.

But there is always time to admit the error of ones ways and be forgiven. Jason Giambi came clean. Barry Bonds didn’t. Now Bonds is facing jail time and Giambi is still the pride of the Yankees (witness how many fans still wear Giambi jerseys despite his problems). Both Eidos and GameSpot can still fess up. Eidos can apologize for being a bully and making a game that isn’t as good as they hoped. GameSpot can apologize for feeling financial pressure that made them compromise their editorial and they can hire Jeff back and fire the publisher responsible for this silliness. And c-net can establish an independent task force to evaluate and monitor the editorial integrity of not just their websites but their competitors. These folks need to start turning lemons into lemonade lickety split or forget the whole thing.
Come on guys, this the internet era. Honesty is the not the best policy, its the only policy.