The ability to access products and services without requiring personal assistance is a relatively new phenomenon. In the bricks and mortar world the first example was probably the supermarket. Since then internet and kiosk based versions have revolutionised the retail environment and beyond. Everything from government information through banking, travel, groceries right through to pornography can be accessed privately and without help.

Perversely, this lessening of person to person contact is a powerful driving force for greater personalisation of service. For a start the ability to capture, store and process data from the digital interface is much greater than from the face to face encounter. Data underpins the ability to tailor offers to personal preferences and needs. Secondly reducing the number of face to face contacts, and consequently the staffing required to support those, allows suppliers to employ fewer service people but of a much higher quality thereby improving the service, whilst reducing its cost. —

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?  More

OK. So Wellington has an international reputation as a film destination (quite apart from everything else that's wonderful about the city), and it's perhaps a useful thing to highlight and raise with visitors flying into the city (well at least those sitting in a window seat on the left hand side of a plane landing in a Southerly). To keep pushing a concept that is quite frankly insulting to all our collective creative intelligence is quite one thing. To ignore the outrage of the populous is quite another.

Place branding is one part the physical location, another part the people who live there, make up the culture and contribute to the local economy. The Airport company seem to lack an understanding of what place-branding is all about. (According to them we're also aparently 'Wild at Heart' which I don't actually mind.) They said they opened this up to the public, to get their ideas, and got diddly-squat back. But what was the forum, the brief. 

Come on, really, Wellington is held up as the creative hub of the country, and we can't come up with something more original? This is a PR opportunity waiting to be milked. An open transparent competition that's well publicised would actually do a lot of good. It would seem, however, that those sitting around the table are determined to push ahead and argue that it's all just a little too late. The fact that they aren't listening to what would seem the majority, that the idea is unoriginal, that the idea is already subject to some kind of trademark, that the threat of vandalism hangs over any planned installation should really smack this one between their ears.  More

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! —

There is a change going on in the banking industry that is not about balance sheets and liquidity. It’s about what people need a high-street branch for, and how the banks are trying to get better utilisation out of hectares of retail space. It is not news to anyone that banking is in a state of flux. The relationship between the banker and the customer is shifting, the category is over-banked in every developed country of the world, reputations have suffered around the economic meltdown, and New Zealand’s banks are under scrutiny for tax irregularities. In effect the shine has gone off.  More

Retail is highly competitive, so its got to be very clear just what benefits a customer focused, multi channel strategy can offer before anyone is going to invest. The evolution in creating value in retail is lead by efficiency, followed by intelligence, and then intimacy. Value innovation around customer intimacy is about  “managing consumer relationships by ‘customerising’ the interface and interaction with individual consumers”. In simple terms that means putting the power in the hands of your customers to shop how and when they like. Do that and they will reward you handsomely.  More

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.  More

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:  More

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.  More

Loyalty schemes have for many years been part of our purchasing experience. But their pervasiveness and standardised blandness may force radical change.

When computing power makes it possible to differentiate and track individuals and their patterns, it will be possible also to customise rewards. By the time that level of personal responsiveness is the norm, the loyalty scheme will probably be an integrated part of the sales interface. Some loyalty schemes are already moving towards this future – is yours? —

The deployment of information and communication technology in our lives creates huge amounts of data about our movements, preferences, health, wealth, habits and more. Much of this data is collected and stored sometimes with, and sometimes without our consent. Much of the data collected is used by various organisations to better tune the products and services they offer to us. The potential to collect data will increase over time as technology becomes both more capacious and ever-present. This will make it more and more possible for organisations to use that data to more and more personalise their offers and their service.

Before this can develop to a stage that makes truly individual service the norm, issues of data ownership and access will need to be resolved. For commercial intimacy to be realised in all its glory and potency the data used to personalise the engagement will need to be of a depth and intimacy best gathered with consent.

Equally the organisations most likely to gain that consent and the consequent access to powerful personal data are those who have earned the trust that consent is based on.  More

Like never before, customers are being exposed to the head and heart of the businesses they buy from – or at least the market’s view of it – thanks to the proliferation of communications channels that give equal voice to an individual and an organisation. Beyond specifications or pricing detail of a product, potential buyers are faced with weighing up the opinions of other customers on any manner of related subject – not least the ethics, corporate citizenship, legal history, financial integrity – of the organisation they’re looking to purchase from. The backlash on Adidas by Polish graffiti artists and formation of the Adisucks facebook page is a fantastic example.

All well and good we say – power to those who invest in a clear corporate conscience. Transparency and openness is a good thing.

But the longer term implications are worth pondering. Does the threat of ambush by the masses really encourage greater integrity by corporates – or does it simply stifle innovation and limit boundary pushing? Worse still, does it actually perpetuate a greater propensity for guarded, whitewashed communications by organisations to avoid a social media headache?  More

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.  More

Listen to the way people talk to their partner – I want you to know me, listen to and love me. And then about them – I want them to be their best, to feel safe and cherished. 

Compare this to how your business talks to your customers – Dear Sir/Madam your invoice is overdue, please hold to speak to an operator; and about them – cost-to-serve and acquisition / retention strategies.

Why so different? What kind of relationships could you have with your customers if you spoke both to and about them like they were people – I know you, I hear you and I’d miss you if you were gone?  More

Black has always been in style for the customer, so its great news companies are on board to. The thing is, I think they always knew, but it was all too hard. After all service design is all about rhythm and sequencing. It’s synchronising the front of house shown to customers with the back of house behind the scenes systems and processes.

As customers we are highly sensitive to the rhythm of service design. We feel the irritant of the lunchtime queues as staff go on their own lunch break; of nifty internet banking calendars which tell us when my visa is due but not the amount; of calling the 0800 number and having to tell each person I am passed onto my account number; of having to print out and remember my discount voucher even though it is sitting on my phone.

Check out the capitalized statement which upsets the rhythm on this brand spanking new homepage. Front end, all bright and smiley. Back end, business as usual. Am sure their mortgage customers wished they had worn more black.

The absolute good news is black is always in style. Ask any designer or architect.  More

Most of the large projects we are working on now have some degree of self service element to them. There are advances in technology and competitive forces that drive this. But there also seem to be three reasons why this is so: cost efficiency by reducing labour costs; customer process efficiency or pure brand value. We think it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that in a self-service environment, staff need to be close at hand, either physically or virtually, for when things get sticky. Never get caught by thinking that if customers are self serving they don’t want or won’t need your help.  More