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Is 'below the line' simply a pejorative?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:56:20 +1300

I have been wondering for a while about the genesis of the term ‘above the line’ to describe mass media advertising – and its corollary, ‘below the line’, for everything else.

A little bit of online research hasn’t unearthed the source, other than to clarify its association with the same term used in financials. And that’s fascinating. In financial vernacular, the line separates where you make your money from where you spend it – and guess what – above the line is where you make money.

Business managers understand the difference between investments and costs, and what that means: maximise the return on the former and minimise the latter. It’s not absolute, but the things to invest in are mostly found above the line and the costs to minimise are found below it.

I imagine some ‘Mad Men’-style advertising executive in the youth of the TV age creating this cunning plan to elevate the importance of mass media advertising by simply associating it with investments (rather than costs) through labelling it ‘above the line’. And gosh, it’s worked rather well. The whole industry still uses the term.

If ‘above the line’ is still broadly, if unconsciously, understood in these terms, then calling ourselves ‘below the line’ can be seen as pejorative. Perhaps we should stop doing it. We want to promote an integrated and interactive connection with customers, so we should consider using a more powerful and less reverential term to describe it.

The most successful change campaigns take control of the language – it’s a powerful tool.

Commercial intimacy and Trade Me

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:19:09 +1300

I think Trade Me is real live, real life proof of the business potency of commercial intimacy.

Very soon you will be able to buy shares in Trade Me on the New Zealand stock exchange. Four years after buying Trade Me for $700m, Fairfax are floating 34% of the company at a price which values the Trade Me business at just over $1 billion.

Four years ago, many wondered if Fairfax had paid way too much for Trade Me and doubted it could grow enough to repay their investment. The price of the new float and the enthusiasm with which it’s being greeted by prospective buyers suggests otherwise.

Trade Me’s on-going growth and success is down to one thing, and I suspect it’s a thing it has always known is the key to its business. Let’s face it, the Trade Me brand wouldn’t win any design awards, but most well-polished brands would gladly trade their gorgeous collateral and clever campaigns for what Trade Me has – a deep, enduring and mutually profitable relationship with its vast community.

Connecting in meaningful ways with each individual in your community, and backing those relationships with performance that does what those individuals want and need, is more important than anything else in your business.

The mobile phone as a change agent

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:25:49 +1300

With close to 6 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, two-thirds of the world’s population now have access to a mobile phone. It is also estimated that half the world’s population are able to access the internet through a mobile phone. Penetration rates in the developing world have been described as happening at a ‘blistering pace’. In 2007 mobile penetration in Africa was about 30% – it is now well over 50%.

In developing countries the primary access point for the internet will be the mobile phone rather than a PC, and it is already a key weapon for improving access to health and education services. For example, Vodafone, Tanzania’s biggest mobile provider, helped solve a problem that prevented thousands of women from accessing a gynaecological service. There was a nice big hospital, full of good doctors – but no patients. Women either did not know about the service or could not afford the bus fare to get to the hospital. Vodafone linked with a local community organisation and used its mobile phone-based money transfer service to text message the bus fare to affected women. One international agency specialising in microfinance estimates that 1.7 billion people in the developing world now have a mobile phone – but no bank account.

The power of the mobile phone to increase the on-the-ground effectiveness of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is being harnessed through organisations such as MobileActive.org which publishes ‘how-to’ guides and strategic tool kits for NGOs and others working to use mobile phones in their work. Already the prevalence of mobiles in the developing world is being used to tackle major and persistent health issues including HIV/Aids, malaria and polio.

Who knows what developments could come out of this part of the world?

Sorting out New Zealand is a design job

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:41:21 +1300

At DNA we help organisations thrive by making sure that everything they do lines up with, and springs from, their essential nature It’s a design exercise sometimes labelled as branding, service design or customer experience design, but, labels aside, in principle it’s a simple process. Understand clearly the essence of the organisation, then design everything – the way it works, the products it makes, and the way it communicates, recruits and connects with its world – to reflect and reinforce that essence.

The brighter future we are promised will materialise only when we collectively earn a better living in the world. We need to export more and get paid better for what we export. And we need to do that in a world economy which looks shaky at best.

Analysing New Zealand the way we would analyse a client before starting work quickly identifies the problem. A lot of what of what we do is in conflict with our essence.

In the world we are known primarily for our magnificent and unspoilt environment; our unique and renascent Maori culture; and, to a lesser extent, our social and technical innovation. I think of this bundle of core assets as Arcadia plus Utopia, and most of what we sell in the world is essentially a product of these characteristics – clean safe food, sustainably produced timber, holidays in paradise and, peripherally, a number of innovative products and services. All these things carry with them the imprint of us and our country. In many respects, when we sell honey or merino clothing we are selling a little of the dream of New Zealand Aotearoa.

So if you were the Government, the right strategy – the one good designers would recommend – would support, encourage and require New Zealand businesses and government to align their activities with New Zealand’s essential nature – the Arcadia Utopia complex.

This strategy would

keep our wilderness wild and our environment clean
make sustainability a virtue
invest in and profit from the natural and growing diversity of our society
encourage entrepreneurism and technical innovation, especially when it supports and feeds off the above.

With this platform in place, our businesses will be better able to move upmarket, increase scale and earn us a better living. Then we could afford to educate our kids, keep them healthy and safe, stay healthy ourselves and support our elders.

The design strategy is obvious, but clearly the politics are more difficult. What we are going to get is potentially contrary to our essence: mining, irrigation, postponing emissions trading, losing control of vital bits of infrastructure, less rather than more social cohesion.

So, vote for design!

Like changing airplanes in mid-flight

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:13:40 +1300

A client the other day used the analogy of changing airplanes in mid-flight to describe what service design is like for most businesses.

Imagine yourself flying along at 31,000 feet in a rather old aircraft that is getting a bit tatty around the edges – it smells a bit, rattles and shakes constantly, is not very fuel efficient and the food really sucks.

A brand new shiny, gleaming, fuel efficient and much more comfortable plane – representing what your business could and potentially should be – is flying right next to you. You really want to be on the that plane and not the one you are on.

It's easy to want to be on that other plane – the hard bit is transferring yourself and all your passenges (customers) while you are in mid-flight.

Through applying service design thinking it may be relatively easy to identify what needs to change with your business – the challenge still remains how you will make those changes especially when your business probably doesn't have the funding, resources, capability or time.

Not all services are designed equal

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:34:04 +1300

Every service experience you love or loathe has been designed – maybe in bits, sometimes as a whole. And that includes even the really, really bad ones. Lately we have been 'talking' Service Design with a few of our clients and 'doing' Service Design with others. What we have observed is that Service Design can be both a big, scary spectre and a liberating and transformative opportunity for businesses. People have described it as either small, iterative and manageable or all- encompassing and holistic – but, simply put, Service Design is the practice of delivering great on-brand customer experiences using optimised and efficient business systems and operations.

The thing we've noticed is that many businesses look to improve customer experience, and many also look to streamline processes, improve their offers, migrate to the channels and Touchpoints their customers most use, cut costs and so on. Service Design is the practice of doing both in unison.

‘Ground up’ is how many organisations deliver improved services, and ‘ground up’ is where many look to cut costs. ‘Top down’ is how Service Design thinking suggests you'll be most effective.It is, however, an ambitious endeavour that requires clear vision, strong leadership and compelling value models. What we have learned is that while you can bite off Service Design and chew it rapidly in pieces, and while you can improve, optimise, and create services and customer experiences iteratively, you can never tune a single touchpoint or make the most of a given channel in isolation from the cumulative customer experience strategy.

Touch, pause, hold, engage

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:06:35 +1300

What kind of supporter are you? Who are you supporting and why?

Being perfectly positioned in the heart of party central, it’s been interesting to watch the fans from different countries. One thing’s for sure: if you have flown to the other side of the world, you must at least have some passion for your country or the game. Passion and enthusiasm are definitely not based on how well the team will perform.

After doing some 'fan watching' and being a spectator at a game, it’s fairly easy to identify two different types of supporters. There are those who support their team with loud, jovial enthusiasm, win or lose, even if they know from the outset that their team are the underdogs. And then there are the aggressive supporters who believe in winning at all costs.

I think we forget that the journey to the Cup is all part of the experience. At the risk of sounding like a real Mom, there can only be one winner, so let’s make sure we all enjoy the ride, win or lose!

Social Media Maturity

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:56:23 +1300

The way people behave on social media tells us little about their age, life stage and everyday behaviour. Rather, it may simply reflect their level of exposure to, and comfort with, social media itself. This means that traditional expectations about the ways in which old and young express themselves, and interact with each other, may no longer apply. Fifty-year-olds can act like 15-years-olds, and vice versa, on social media – making online behaviour an unreliable guide to an audience’s everyday life maturity.

Companies and brands targeting their market on social media will therefore need to recognise not only that life maturity and social media maturity are not necessarily the same thing, but also that the lines between the two are frequently blurred.

For example, I would class my 15-year-old sister who ‘has become a fan of…’ almost everything on Facebook as having the same level of social media maturity as one of my 25-year-old friends who has also ‘become a fan of …’ everything on Facebook. But I also know 25-year-olds who use Facebook purely for stalking, rather than as an outlet for expression – a very different online behaviour. Then there’s the ‘life mature’ social media user – someone over 50, say – for whom Facebook is an entirely new medium of interaction and expression. However keen and adventurous they may be, their online behaviour will be very different from that of the 20-year-old social media veteran who started off with ICQ, moved to MSN, Hi-5, Bebo, Facebook and Twitter, and is now moving into Google+.

Traditionally, marketers would have divided these five people into three segments — a teen, three 20-somethings, and a 50+. Online, however, the groups are much less well defined – the three 20-somethings have little in common, and the 50+ and the 15-year-old could well be using social media with similar motivations.

Understanding your social media target market is like taking everything you know about your traditional target market’s psychographic behaviour, chucking it in the air like a game of knuckle bones (now who is showing maturity?) and seeing how it lands – knowing you’re not going to catch who you thought.

Social media marketing is a relatively new concept to us all. It’s an example of another challenge that marketers will have to surmount before we are really able to fully understand that territory.

Designing for mobile: A golden rule

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:35:56 +1200

Designing any kind of interface, but particularly mobile, is brokering a little deal between your business and your customers.

Essentially you are saying to customers 'You give me this much time, space and attention, and we’ll give you x in return'.

You are giving your customer some sort of value with your mobile app. Whether the app itself is your product, or you’re using it to sell something else, or helping them achieve something like checking their bank balance, getting a deal or even just finding your store – you are giving them something of value.

It’s important to realise that your customer is actually giving you something in exchange for that every time they use your app. They’re giving you time, space, and attention. Those are precious in the desktop environment, and more so in the mobile context.

When you balance the deal right, you’ll make your customers lives’ that much easier and they’ll love you for it.

Everyone has baggage

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:00:14 +1200

In fact we had bag-loads courtesy of my fiancés desire to pack for every conceivable occasion as we arrived at a prominent hotel in Hong Kong. Despite the luggage challenge, I was excited about the prospect of staying at a hotel that was about 3 stars above my usual station. Armed with confidence given this hotel rated highly in its star category, the last minute website deal that gave us an attractive rate, the positive guest review comments posted, not to mention the free upgrade voucher to a suite – my expectations were high. And this hotel delivered – the sweet scented foyer was grand, the front line staff were friendly and attentive, the room was beautiful with more technology than I knew what to do with, the roof top pool had exceptional views, alluring bars, quality restaurants, cigar rooms, spa facilities and the list goes on.

But in a field where a 5-6 star rating suggests a place is ‘top class’ – how do you rate one ‘exceptional’ hotel from another? Does price set the expectation or is it the comfort of the bed, the size of the television, the proximity of its location or the depth of the mini bar that wins us over? Is it the ‘grandness’ of the foyer or genuineness of the smile that greets you? The balance of such expectations are of course essential, but what is to say a five star hotel down the road would not deliver an equally impressive experience? It’s the little things you may say, but how do you define what they are?

Once I was able to overcome the challenge of trying to suppress the child-like excitement of checking out the hotel facilities so as to suggest to other guests that I was used to such extravagance, I started to pay more attention to the small things. First port of call was to offload some of these bags that were dominating the impressive floor of our suite. As we placed some of our luggage in storage the hotel baggage ticket read ‘EVERYONE HAS BAGGAGE’. I chuckled thinking how those three words reassured me that I am not the only one having to manage such excess.

We then looked to venture out into the city and came to the realisation that we would need firstly a map and then translate to our cab driver where we needed to go. The concierge of course negotiated the deal at the door, but handed me a card that read ‘TAKE ME’ with tick boxes to various locations around Hong Kong with a return to sender detail – essential for late night return. The free hotel umbrellas were also a welcome touch in case of the inclement rain forecast.

On return to the hotel room, a drink was required. Not brave enough to usually pay for anything from a mini bar, it was impossible to resist at least a look – to which the card inside read ‘DON’T WORRY WE WON’T TELL ANYONE’ possibly playing on the regular corporate rule of it being a no-go zone. The next morning breakfast was of course exceptional, but as I waited a ruthlessly efficient 2 minutes for my coffee I noticed my place mat had the top news headlines from every major source for that day, the weather forecast and currency movements. I marvelled at how the hotel knew that I might have 2 minutes of downtime that needed satisfying.

It seemed that every conceivable thought I had at the hotel had been covered before I knew I needed it. In fact it became a treasure hunt of enjoyment (get out more I hear you say...) as I opened cupboards within the room awaiting a smart note – from the ‘CLEAN ME’ label on the dry cleaning bag, the ‘NOTE TO ME’ on the stationary, to the ‘READ ME’ on the daily newspaper sleeve or the ‘CONNECT ME’ information pack as to how to use the technology in the suite. The most favoured was what I found when I went to plunder the rich bevy of bathroom products on check out which read ‘CHECK OUT THESE GOODIES’. They even knew I intended to knick the soaps...

The question is often asked how an organisation in a generic category can differentiate itself from its competition and deliver an exceptional customer experience? The small things that count are those that are anticipated before your customers know they are needed. It was clear that this hotel had anticipated its customer needs across every conceivable touch point. Everyone has baggage and is looking to engage in an organisation’s product or service in which to address their requirements. Anticipate customer needs and deliver them in a manner that will delight to build greater loyalty.

‘LIKE ME?’ the hotel questioned on the survey – bloody long time. And I will be return as a consequence.

A word from our sponsors

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:46:24 +1200

Corporate affiliations with sports teams to engender greater brand loyalty is nothing new. In the past they have been a proven strategy to not only to amplify brand perception through association, but get the formula right and commercially the rewards can be enormous. Just think of the global exposure and merchandise successful teams such as Manchester United push through as a fanatical fan base look to support their team with their voice and wallet.

So the notion of ‘sponsorship’ has never simply been an outreach of generous corporate support, there is always an expectation of a profitable return. Perceptually the equation is pretty simple – fans love their team, so will in turn love the sponsor brands that support them and we will all live happily ever after right? Well as Adidas and Telecom, two of the All Blacks principal sponsors recently found out, there is no right-of-passage to winning the hearts and minds of their fans through mere association alone.

In fact, the significant sponsorship fee to support such a powerful brand will not buy the rights to such fan loyalty, moreover the investment allows the opportunity to access and engage with their audiences. As a consequence, it is often the manner in which organisations leverage their affiliation with that beloved sports team which will determine a successful sponsorship outcome.

Getting it spectacularly wrong

It may sound obvious that the way in which organisations leverage their brand must be geared towards the values that the sponsorship asset embodies and delivered in a manner that connects with their audience. But with arguably one of New Zealand’s most potent global brands, it is surprising how two sizeable organisations got it so spectacularly wrong.

In recent years Adidas have been able to capture the very spirit of New Zealanders deep seeded emotion with the All Blacks in an almost sacred manner with much of their campaign advertising. But the well-published events surrounding inequitable pricing of the Adidas sponsored All Blacks jersey in which they looked to profiteer from exploiting New Zealanders ‘right’ to ‘their’ brand was never going to wash well. Like a school yard bully stealing lunch money, no New Zealander was going to accept the ‘standard commercial practise and international pricing policy’ line that Adidas touted.

The reality is, just like a player does not own an All Blacks jersey, neither does a sponsor. Regardless of the giant sporting brand that buys the right to have their brand sit alongside the silver fern, any suggestion of exploiting that privilege at the expense of restricting New Zealanders ability to support ‘their’ team was never going to be accepted without a fight. Despite the national outcry, the unmoved reaction of Adidas has seen the domestic boycotting of their product and the negative PR generated will impact not only their commercial return over the RWC, but also those of their retail distributors.

Abstain! Really?

It was no surprise to see Telecom ‘abstain’ from its attempted campaign to leverage their association with the All Blacks. Making a mockery of the Wallabies is one thing, but to ridicule the sanctity of our national pride in the form of the All Blacks is another. The very notion of abstinence over what will be a stressful period for New Zealanders is a ridiculous concept in itself! For the wealth of resources Telecom has at their disposal, it is untenable how this ‘abstain for the game’ campaign managed to even fly as an idea within their hierarchy without someone sensing that it would polarise the majority of New Zealanders. That failed campaign of epic proportions will be costly for Telecom on many levels, none more so than the missed opportunity to positively associate themselves with the All Blacks in a RWC campaign hosted on home soil.

Sponsorship is a difficult field to measure in terms of ROI and an increasingly expensive one which organisations struggle with. Leveraging mutual values associated with an organisations brand and that of the sponsorship asset must be the focus. Just like the game itself, losers in this field will not be tolerated.

Dropping the price or dropping the ball

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:55:45 +1200

OK, so in New Zealand the Adidas brand seems to have taken a bit of a kicking for not addressing a raft of public sledging and much media handwringing over the domestic price of replica All Blacks jerseys' – compared to the price in other countries. Their key partner the NZRU also did not seemingly fare so well as they battled to contain the issue only weeks out from the start of the New Zealand hosting of the Rugby World Cup (RWC).

A few things spring to mind, namely that markets and prices are fair game where seasonal or event based demand makes a difference and that the loyalty of All Blacks fans is being severely tested, as is brand loyalty to Adidas – but the bigger picture for both parties may have been lost. As I see it, the NZRU, kiwi fans and Adidas all need to acknowledge market forces, and as the saying goes you live by them and you die by them.

Adidas found out how quickly an issue can gain momentum – when the furore over their pricing of the jerseys blew up the Adidas line of response was flawed, it was defensive, it was inconsistent. Add to that the lack of unison they showed with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and the argument they needed to convey ‘together’ all got lost in the fray. It is an issue more about the cost and opportunity – it was an argument lost solely on price.

The debate should have covered:

1. Pricing and timing

Market forces dictate to price – the RWC in our back yard suggests all services and products will bear a premium through this time. Just look at the need for blank venues and inability to pay cash for a beer at RWC games.

2. We don’t own the team anymore

The sponsors do – be it $200 or a reputed $500 million, you have to admit it, Adidas are committed to New Zealand Rugby. That may not be that palatable for many Kiwi fans but hey that's commerce for you.

3. Nothing comes for free

A lesson fans are getting – but one the sponsors best pay close attention to. The RWC is a freak event that everybody is trying to leverage for gain in what is a concentrated burst of fervour. However in what is arguably is quite a rare commercial bubble, its the fans who will be spending that money.

4. Local brand, global market

Well they are our team, but lets face it the market for the All Blacks brand for ticket sales and merchandise is the rest of the rugby playing world.

Hold your ground

So what to do if you are an All Blacks fan, the brainy lads leading Adidas or the brand managers down at NZRU (for whom in each case the price of loyalty is being tested). Here are the things I see; define your ground, try to see the big picture, and remember we are all tied together in this.

It seems simple – if you are Adidas the 'pro’s' for holding your ground on price are simply that you have set the price for the market – the cost of accommodation is higher for the cup, why not lattes and rugby trips? The argument for not doing it is around a poor connection in the minds of the fans about what cost to them they should realistically bear for the sponsorship support of Adidas.

Why NZRU are standing by their sponsors – A nine-year contract signed in 2002 was reportedly worth $200 million. The sum involved in the 10-year deal signed last year has not been revealed, but NZRU Chief Executive Steve Tew said it was the largest in rugby history (its suggested that Adidas will fund New Zealand rugby with close to $500 million by the time 2019 rolls around).

As a fan – holding your ground may be cutting off your nose to spite your face. The domestic and international price issue suggests that a developed and loyal market vs an emerging one may require a variable pricing policy. You can vote with your feet and buy an alternate replica brand. The local market is small, and yet local support is traditionally strong – sure we’ll be vocal – we are likely to signal our dissent and not buy one. But leave behind the best brand in world rugby over this – no way. Adidas must be pretty sure of this – as they aren’t leaving NZ anytime soon.

What's the cost to the brand?

For Adidas: A bit short term, but not much really. Adidas’ NZ CEO had this to say “I think if consumers thought that suddenly they're getting a cheaper All Blacks jersey but then Adidas wouldn't invest any money into New Zealand, the question I'd ask is is that really what they want of us as a brand?" He said the sponsorship cost counted as a marketing cost that was factored into the final wholesale price of the jerseys.

The NZRU: Minimal. They have stuck by their sponsors – and again the fans may feel a bit let down – but the team they love and want to always love is brought to you by the NZRU.

The All Blacks: Nil. The real test is whether they perform for fans in the RWC and bring home the Webb Ellis Trophy this time.

The last word

The fallout here is that the Adidas brand and that of the NZRU have had a softening up (rather than having taken a hammering) short term in this market only, but I have no doubt both will rebound when both the reality of their co-dependence dawns on the locals, and the fans turn their attention to the games.

At the end of the day the fans are committed to the team, and that will bear out whether they pay the price for jerseys that are higher in local markets happily or not. In short – the NZRU can’t survive without a sponsor like Adidas. The price of a replica jersey here probably reflects that. The team can’t survive without a World Cup win – soon.

Oh, and as for the jersey itself, I think its kind of ugly – the weird little collar leaves me dead – plus I don’t have the body for it – in fact never did.

Out of the cave or the mob will get you!

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:18:48 +1200

I can't believe that I still hear people say, "All press is good press." There was a time when this statement was true – however at that same time the ‘brand’ authority within an organisation had the power, influence and impact of a highly trained 'operative' to create an often elegant and always heavily orchestrated reality. Today this statement is anachronistic, as the ‘brand’ authority has little control over issues. The influence of the 'operative' has been relegated to the status of rent-a-cop.

The way it was, once there was public awareness of an issue, in a business it was the responsibility for the 'brand authority' to lead or direct the conversation. Now, the conversation is happening out there and there is no longer any way of owning the calibre of the content, the flow of dialogue or in any way dictating the terms of the conversation. Now one thing for certain, your 'Brand Guy' is now many parts of your organisation and they all must be part of the conversation, but its a conversation where media, consumers, stakeholders and agitators can all get involved, and where the argument and the issue run its course.

The Mob effect

Now very rapidly an issue or a cause can appear, be ignited, be taken over, gain scale and momentum and be almost impossible to ‘control’, its the Flash Mob effect. To a greater extent businesses and brands have lost control and they don't like it. This is not true solely in the commercial domain – its happening everywhere – for a recent example of this we just have to look to the London riots. The way the riots spread, were organised and became more than the response to a police shooting developed rapidly. The inability for any one source to control the issue, the reporting and debate around it was resoundingly clear. Sure, politicians still get air time – but the voice of the people can outweigh that by a significant factor – the call of the people can mobilise action and debate now more than ever. In fairness, many of the looters are being typecast as a disaffected minority – the issue though is on the lips of everyone across Britain and beyond.

The Mob in action

Recently the Arab Spring has seen extraordinary change right across the region. To look at the Flash Mob effect look no further than when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak thought that after leading his country his way for 30 years he could continue as he pleased. One person, one blog post proved a catalyst for change. Over these last few months, many Arab leaders chose not to engage with their people and not to discuss their demands for change, and before they realised it, the conversation was in full force and the Flash Mob effect of many Nation’s went to work and literally destroyed years and years of domination overnight.

What this has shown is that retreating to the cave won’t work. One party controlling the debate no longer does. And sometimes change happens because it should.

A local lesson

Away from politics and poverty – and back to the to the power of brands. In New Zealand recently Adidas found out how quickly an issue can gain momentum – and that old ways of dealing with issues don’t always suffice. When the furore over their pricing of replica All Blacks jerseys on the domestic blew up in New Zealand the Adidas line of response was flawed, the unison they had with NZRU and the logic they needed to convey ‘together’ all got lost in the fray. It was an issue more about the cost than the price. The fallout there is that their brand and that of the NZRU have taken a hammering short term, but will rebound when the reality of their co-dependence dawns on the locals. At the end of the day the fans are committed to the team, and that will bear out whether they pay the price for jerseys that are higher in local markets happily or unhappily. In short - the team can’t survive without a Sponsor like Adidas. The price of a replica jersey here probably reflects that.

In the end – the team winning the Rugby World Cup will place a true value on a replica jersey – and determine the size of the market of fans who will want to buy and wear one.

Simple wins on the small screen

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:20:57 +1200

Mobile content can sometimes be the best kind of web content. If delivered well, it’s short and contains only the essential information. Content designed and written into bite sized chunks lets users get to information quickly and cherry pick what they want. It’s fair to say being lean and delivering only the bare essentials elegantly is a hard discipline, but one that is becoming increasingly relevant.

It is common for the content style to be the last thing companies think about when it comes to their website. Aesthetic requirements and an organisation’s need to get everything across to users usually get in the way. But content (arguably content ‘over’ style) on the web matters. On websites via mobile it matters even more.

If you’re checking out a site on your phone, your attention is usually divided. You’re busy and short on time. You want content that addresses your needs and is actionable now. There’s nothing more frustrating for a user than a mobile web experience that’s slower than the royal wedding. So, how do you create a great mobile web experience? Here are a few ideas:

Use the inverted pyramid: Bring home the bacon at the start and put your most useful content at the top of the page. Then users can have the option to find out more details later (1).
Cull, cull, cull – be brutal: Don’t make your key content harder to find than Osama. Be concise and try to keep sentences short. Make each word work hard. Test your content on a mobile screen.
Write headings and subheadings that are descriptive: Make it clear what content sits below the heading. A user will usually scan for keywords to figure out if they are in the right place or not.
Simplify page layouts: Single column layouts usually work best. Eliminate or reduce image sizes and don’t use unnecessary animation or gimmicks.
Consider making a mobile only version of your website: Some of the more complicated elements and details can go on your standard site. The basic most accessed information can be put on the mobile site.

Check out these great resources for a little more detail on putting together mobile content 'Writing for the mobile web' and 'Best practices for mobile web writing'.

We think these rules are mission critical for mobile, and in fact they are gold for your main site too. The discipline of making sure less becomes more is sadly lacking in too many user experiences.

The omnipresent opportunity that is mobile

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:42:05 +1200

How do you use the mobile channel to solve many of your customer intimacy problems? Here are 4 truths, and 4 simple rules for mobile as I see them:

It’s trusted: you only interact with something you feel safe with. Your Smartphone is still seen as safe, secure and private, it even has access to your bank account!

It’s ubiquitous: it’s everywhere, and it also knows where you are, where you’ve been and where you are going.

Its always on: in fact it’s downright disruptive. It allows you to gain attention when it really matters, anticipate the real time need and offer the relevant solution, provide immediate results, whether that’s interacting, redeeming, purchasing, or simply providing a voice/opinion.

It’s mobile: Always moving with you, changing with you and ultimately it knows you best. What better place for the brand experience, custom application, or specific offer to exist than at the point where the need for it becomes most apparent. How do you harness its unique advantages - Build trust. Get local. Never close. Be there (when and where you are needed).

Bonding with a new brand

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:57:07 +1200

We’ve all been through it, when something breaks you weigh up its value against the effort and expense of getting a new one, and trying to fix it yourself. I’m more of a fixer – primarily because I’m tight with money – but also, I think, because of the achievement factor. After years of fixing and refixing a plastic handle back onto a steamer lid (with superglue) it was becoming increasing frustrating each time it broke off again, as well as being slightly dangerous if you were actually using it.

So when I heard about Sugru it seemed too good to be true, a mouldable ‘glue’ to hack all your old broken things back together. It works in almost all environments, materials, temperatures... WOW its really looks like the wonder glue and the answer to my problem! A lovely impression to start with, their website is clear and well designed and they seemed pretty on to it. Even ordering was a breeze, as I was a beginner (and actually didn’t need that much of it) I went for the mini 6 pack. However I tend to need to see to believe – so until it arrived I have to admit I was still a bit of a disbeliever.

Only 5 days later (bear in mind the package came from their UK base of operations), a lovely silver package arrived in the mail. Everything was written so friendly and the instructions incredibly clear, in a way almost with childlike simplicity. You basically mold the material (which is a bit like plasticine or fimo consistency depending on what you grew up with) in your fingers until it gets really pliable then you can stick to anything, leave it to harden for 24 hours and voilà, sorted. In all it took me about 5 minutes to fix my steamer lid and it's worked perfectly ever since.

Now the other lovely little thing they did; the first packet I opened was really hard and I just couldn’t get it to mold – it was breaking into pieces. Not really a big deal to me, I only wanted one packet and I had 5 left in my package, but I felt it was appropriate to just ‘let them know’ that one of them had sadly not made it on its trip across the world. So I left a message on their forum which you can access through their website, not expecting anything much, but just to warn them at least that one of their batches may be affected. As it turned out, they were so appreciative I had mentioned and apologetic that one of the packs arrived in bad shape that they offered to replace the whole pack of 6, so now I have heaps of the stuff!

As a result I’ve been offering it off around the office over the last few days, with so far 2 takers, one of whom commented on the Sugru packaging similarity to those supplied by durex et al :-). I wonder if there was any intention in this?

Seriously though, I'm getting no commission for this, but you know when you discover something that is just SO ingenious and niche you just want to tell everyone about it? So go, now, and check it out even if you have nothing to fix, and give me call if you do, I might lend you some. www.sugru.com

Change can be fun – or it can be fraught

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:45:20 +1200

40 years later, words from the cockpit of Apollo 13 still echo, “Houston we have a problem!”

Today customer habits are changing – be that through technology adoption or a desire to self serve – much more rapidly than many organisation’s existing capacity to adapt, yet there is little evidence that organisations are effectively applying new strategies, customer understanding or thinking patterns to these new challenges.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of major market shifts, driven by the global digital grid and accelerating customer choice we continue to use old ‘solution’ models to address the new ‘challenges’ that are confronting our businesses and service lines. Would we expect NASA to utilise the same approach in resolving a modern day technical glitch as they did in the 1970 crisis? No, in fact it's clear NASA do more to mitigate potential challenges than many businesses.

Despite the ability by many businesses to rationally see the need to change – the ruts of past success often dictate future pathways. And because businesses were once able to accurately forecast customer demand they continue to be seduced by old forecasting models, old technologies and outdated research approaches. This, despite the overwhelming evidence of the increased complexity of choice – in not just products and brands – but channels and interface. So what do we do? We need to ‘live’ the customer journey.

People expect more from products and services and are becoming accustomed to an increasingly personalised and intimate experience, yet how many programmes are you aware of in businesses like yours that are embracing a systemic service experience approach? Let me ask that question in another way, “Why are people choosing to buy iPhones versus much less expensive Nokias... they both get a dial tone and internet? Why are people flying Air New Zealand versus Jet Star… they both get you to the same destination?

Cost efficiency is created at great cost, and customer satisfaction and sustainable market position are never guaranteed, but living and adapting through the journey of service experience is something to be invested in as it will build trust, confidence, intimacy and most of all the insights to adapt.

Business leaders are preoccupied with the siloed intricacies of their social media community, location based cloud services and mobility services, but when we think about these services holistically we get a sense of convergence and the possibility of deep customer engagement at the interface. Based on experience and foresight I would say, 'Your ability to adapt and evolve at the interface will have a direct correlation with your ability to maintain a competitive edge.'

Change must be seen as an opportunity or else your organisation will be truly rooted… to the past!

Branding is dead. Long live the brand!

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:30:45 +1200

I’d suggest that alot of what I do as Strategy Director at DNA is customer experience design. Simplistically if you design and deliver customer experiences you are branding.

“Brand” is all the past, present and future associations about an organisation that have some value in the eyes of the customer.

“Branding” is designing, building and operating everything in the present thereby creating positive memories and valuable future promises.

Customer experience is the interaction between a person and a business at any number of touchpoints. If you design and deliver customer experiences you are branding. So they are one and the same or another term for the same thing.

The problem with this thinking is that it is completely wrong.

Here are some quite revealing stats I came across when prepping for a presentation at the Customer Experience Management conference last week:

From Bruce Temkin: 90% of senior executive respondents think that customer experience is very important or critical to their strategy and 80% want to use customer experience as a form of differentiation.
From Fournaise: 75% of all CEOs believe marketers lack credibility and 77% feel that despite marketers talking about brand, brand values, brand equity and other similar parameters, top management has difficulties linking it back to results that really matter: revenues, sales and even market valuation. 67% think that unlike CFOs and Sales, marketers don’t think enough like businesspeople: they focus too much on the creative, “arty” and “fluffy” side of marketing and not enough on its business science, and rely too much on their ad agencies to come up with the next big idea

So, customer experience is real observable interactions between the business and people, quantifiable, meaningful, impactful and business-like. Branding is a misnomer generally confused with logo design and advertising, controlling aesthetics, form and communication.

Clearly there are big perception problems with brand and branding and people who undertake this in the mind of senior executives who allocate scarce resources in organisations.

How do we (marketers and brand designers and builders) secure a share of scarce resources to design and deliver a strong branded experience? How do we get experiences that are ‘brand-led’? How does the customer experience create brand equity and value?

Here are five tips to consider to make headway against this issue:

Rethink the concept and execution of brand and marketing in the organization
Do better brand visioning that helps and leads customer experience design
Really truly engage the employees at the frontline
Rethink the hard numbers around brand
Shoot the mule which is “branding”!

For more on this check out McKinsey Quarterly for an article on the future of branding and then give us a call and we’ll take you through the full presentation I made to the Customer Experience Management conference.

Can you really get something for nothing?

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:05:16 +1200

Have you ever stopped to think that we spend a great deal of time striving for 'nothing'? When you look a little bit closer we do it every day, and it's been happening for a while. Some brands pride themselves on the fact they sell 'nothing' – just think of Antipodes water (the purest water in New Zealand), Charlie's Orange Juice (the juice, the whole juice and nothing but the juice) and Icebreaker (nature's genius, engineered for us). It seems to me that the more 'nothing' on offer, the more it costs, or at the very least, the more we want it.

It doesn't stop there though. Your product, or service doesn't have to be super premium to qualify and claim the 'nothing' phenomenon. It's intrinsic in our every day lives. We pay more for the property with the unhindered view, or the larger section so you can have your own territory of 'nothing'. We even treat ourselves to that holiday so we can 'get away from it all'. No phones, no pile of work, just being.

In a world which is growing ever more filled with messages and 'things' how do you set your product or service apart from the masses? How can you not only create a loyal customer base but have them sell and promote your service to others because they want to? It seems to me that the most compelling communication nowadays is 'nothing', and that's why we believe in Commercial Intimacy where every consumer can have what they want, in the way they'd like it.

If you want a better service experience, should it not be about process refinement rather than process complexity? The same could be said for products you love – they have all the features you need and nothing else.

So the next time you need to achieve 'something', how about focussing on 'nothing'. It just might grant you the success you're after.

Protein Anyone?

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:07:28 +1200

We became one of the richest countries in the world by twice cashing in on British protein booms. Affluent middle classes emerging from 19th century industrialisation and Second World War austerity were able to eat meat and dairy like never before – and they got it from us.

In huge developing economies, rising income levels are changing diets to protein again, and in vast numbers. Our meat, dairy and fish exporters need commercial intimacy to cash in on this boom.

We could treat all Britain as one niche and we had much stronger cultural, social, historical and language linkages there than anywhere else – and the trade was protected. Lacking those advantages, we must get close enough to Brahmins in Bangalore, samba dancers in Rio, apparatchiks in Guangdong and thousands of other groups, to develop products that resonate for them. It’s a big enough opportunity to make us a rich country again.