May 10, 2010 | Jeff Cohn
We were all set to take our client to the Samba Room in downtown Denver tomorrow night for a fun evening of mojitos and Cuban delights when, as I was departing a flight, my phone rang. The message was from Anna, General Manager of the Samba Room. Because I could not reach my phone, I had to listen to her voicemail. It was simply fantastic. Anna left the kindest message for me, indicating that they had suffered a flood over the weekend and were going to be closed for the week. She was extremely apologetic in the most sincere way. I felt way more concerned for what she was dealing with than the fact that I would have to rearrange my plans for the next evening.
I was so taken by her message that I called Anna back immediately, wanting to share my concern and acknowledging her message. In the heat of a customer service and business emergency, she was calm, thoughtful and considerate. She even asked me to come by and have a drink with her to celebrate their reopening.
I have only been to the Samba Room once, but my memories of it were positive. Now, through the professionalism exhibited by this manager, I am a brand ambassador. I cannot wait to go there again. She has given me confidence that the operation is well run and that I, the customer, will be well taken care of.
Anna and her company should be celebrated for this and there are some great lessons about service here. I wish them well and I am happy to share this positive experience with anyone that reads this post. After all, Anna made lemon mojitos out of lemons. And that is a tasty way to build any brand.
February 22, 2010 | Melissa Eggert
I read Brandweek this past week and have been thinking over the feature article titled “The Tweet Hereafter – Just how effective is Twitter as a marketing tool?” The argument in the article is rooted in the lack of participation on Twitter, the decline of new users per month, and the disconnect between large brands and their audiences on Twitter.
I bring up this article because I see validity behind the points. I think it’s something to consider when suggesting Twitter to clients or for your own company. One director of social media strategy stated that Twitter was effective for only a few areas of marketing:
- customer relations management
- conversations for smaller, lesser-known brands.
The statistics also prove a point. Large brands, such as Verizon and Target, have 5,000 to to 10,000 followers. Smaller “organic” brands like Woot and Someecards have almost 2 million followers. And some celebrities? 3-4 million. Why? Because the smaller brands and the celebrities have distinct personalities that larger brands simply cannot have on Twitter (unless it’s the CEO or a customer service help-line like Best Buy’s Twelpforce). Think about how many checkpoints corporations have to go through if they want to get their tweets approved, etc. It takes a long time, and the personality gets lost in the process.
The CEO of Someecards, which has 1.7 million followers in a little over a year, credits his success to his ability to express his creative personality within his brand on Twitter (snippets of wisdom, random links, etc). Twitter matches with the company mission – their cards are all short-form communication. They are known for great one-liners. Twitter works.
Bottom line: No one is really certain how long Twitter will be around. But what I am learning is that before we jump into these social network tools, we need to be thinking about what purpose they serve us. Does Twitter really work for your company? It’s easy to set up an account, it’s easy to acknowledge that everyone in involved in it currently – but are you asking: Why is it good for me?
Being on the cutting edge is crucial in this industry. Equally so is our ability to evaluate these cutting-edge trends and decipher whether or not they align with our brands’ goals. I would love your feedback.
November 5, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
Thomas Friedman’s thoughtful and spot on op/ed in the New York Times Op-Ed Columnist: More Poetry, Please hits the nail on the head. But I’ll keep my political views to a dull roar for now and shift to the brand message lessons within the article, something I’m more comfortable speaking about. Mr. Friedman speaks about the need to weave all of the Obama administration’s programs and initiatives together into a single voice or narrative. For example, the link between health care reform and economic vitality for the U.S. are inextricably linked, but rarely is this communicated when his surrogates are talking about healthcare. This message linkage across initiatives forms the activation of the administration’s brand. It’s a great example and way to understand the distinction between brand strategy and brand execution (or activation).
Brand strategy is the hard work of defining a brand’s distinction in the marketplace. In the case of brand Obama, there was a clear focus on “Change” – change from the policies of the past, change in who is driving policy, change from a new generation of voters, etc. But rolling out that brand through our complicated political process is a much more difficult challenge. This is also a challenge for CEOs at companies of all sizes. They first have to find their brand distinction and bring that brand to life through internal and external brand activation. A single voice for the brand should manifest itself through advertising, human resource communications, websites, public relations, corporate social responsibility initiatives, etc. The idea of the narrative in governing is the same thing and Mr. Friedman totally gets this as reflected in his piece. Read the rest →
October 25, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
H&M Window in New York City
H+M, the Swedish retailer, has taken the U.S. by storm in recent years. They do it right every step of the way. The company has a clear brand position and definite understanding of whom their target customer is and her lifestyle and they constantly work to build that brand position with every customer touchpoint.
I was fortunate to be in New York City last week. While my associate Robin Lybarger and I were walking to a meeting, we were both taken by the signage in H+M’s windows. Well, not really their windows but the communication about why there was nothing in the windows. Wow, do they GET IT!
Using simple but highly effective copy on a plain background, the retailer covered their windows while in transition from one display to another. They could have said something mundane like, “Sale” or “New arrivals for Fall” but no, instead, they used humor to support their overall brand message and voice.
Copy lines like, “Sometimes even our mannequins have a hard time deciding what to wear” are fun, imaginative and spot on for the woman that shops H+M. Brilliant.
It speaks to the power of using every customer touchpoint, in this case window signage, to express a brand strategy. When looking at your brand, you have to first identify all the ways your external and internal targets interact with the brand and use those touchpoints as a platform for communications. Even things as simple as an invoice form, a company internal newsletter or intranet, a social media site or even a window display message. Every touchpoint brings the brand to life, every step of the way.
October 9, 2009 | Robin Lybarger
With the onslaught of communication channels people expect “transparency”. While I am not a big fan of this buzzword, I think the idea it conveys is here to stay. Put simply, today’s consumers demand companies and individuals to be open and honest. If a company or celebrity tries to hide from an issue, it will certainly spiral out of control. Please note, that if a situation is legal in nature other rules apply.
Now, take the recent situation with David Letterman. Okay, I definitely do not condone his actions of infidelity, but the way he handled the situation publicly was a good example of how to deal with a crisis situation. It was obviously painful to address his infidelity on air honestly and openly, but it squashed rumors and allowed him to own up to what he had done and whom he hurt. A very humbling experience indeed. In my opinion, the fact his fans heard the confession firsthand will certainly bode well for him.
With nearly two decades in the public relations business, I have always counseled my clients to get in front of a crisis. It is important to communicate YOUR message as the conversation will go on with or without you. This is an approach even more important in a world that includes instant communication tools – such as Twitter and Facebook.
At the end of the day, it is only human to respect and appreciate when people are open and honest. I remain amazed at how many companies are still afraid they will lose control if they say too much. Let’s be honest, in most situations if don’t speak up you will lose even more control!
As the Harvard Business blog says, Letterman’s ability to manage the crisis on his own terms helped him contain the damage.
