Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

9 March 2010

You Had Me at Happy Meal

by Jen Maltby

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All posts by Jen Maltby

It’s not easy for me to admit this, as I am not really known as the “emotional type,” but I need to get something off my chest…McDonald’s made me cry.

Allow me to explain:

It’s not easy for me to admit this, as I am not really known as the “emotional type,” but I need to get something off my chest…McDonald’s made me cry.

Allow me to explain:

It was a Saturday afternoon and my daughter and I were out running through my ever-growing list of errands when I realized that it was getting to be lunch time. I was too far from home to head there to satiate the persnickety cravings of a three-year-old, so I thought we should grab a quick bite on the road and the first thing that caught my eye was the “golden arches.”

Here’s the thing: I have never actually taken my daughter to McDonald’s before. There, I said it. I’m a vegetarian for crying out loud and I generally just don’t eat this kind of fast food. Hell, if I’m really honest, I didn’t really think I was a fast food kind of mom. I mean we buy organic and love Whole Foods, could I really take my daughter to McDonald’s? These thoughts rattled through my exhausted brain as I found my blinker turning on and my car cruising—as if being controlled by someone else—into the McDonald’s parking lot. With one click of the car seat buckle, I grabbed my daughter’s happy little hand and off we went.

Once inside, without a thought, I ordered my little lady a hamburger Happy Meal. The exact meal my mom had ordered for me close to 1 bazillion times before when I was a child. I got myself a milkshake (because, why wouldn’t I?) and we proceeded to a little corner table by the window. As my daughter tore into her bag with excitement and discovered not only French fries and a hamburger, but a toy surprise, she was absolutely GIDDY! She looked at me with such earnest three-year-old eyes and said, “I like this place momma, a LOT.”

That did it. Here come the waterworks. The feeling of nostalgia hit me like a tidal wave and I started to tear up like this was some sort of milestone moment in my daughter’s young life. I remember thinking, “What the hell is wrong with you lady, get it together!” But I couldn’t help but remember all the “special” meals I had at McDonald’s as a kid. All the affection I had for the brand that lay latent for 20 some odd years was back … with a vengeance.

Once I got myself together and my daughter happily gnawed on her tiny bag of fries, I started thinking about it. Why did I react this way? I guess it was a mixture of nostalgia, and a deep brand connection that caught me completely off guard. As a recovering member of the ad agency game, I couldn’t help but think if agencies could figure out how to harness this kind of connection with consumers it would be like uncovering the Holy freaking Grail. But it’s a tough nut to crack and it seems like there are really only a few iconic brands that will ever have permission to live on this kind of hallowed ground.

So what do you think, what brands do you find yourself most strongly connected to? But WAIT, before you answer, I would challenge you to skip the first few answers that come to mind and REALLY think about it. The answers might surprise you as much as McDonald’s surprised me.

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8 March 2010

Growth and Culture: “What’s it really like to work at Communispace?”

by James Bailey

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At a recent company-wide meeting, a long-time client summed up the unique culture at Communispace: “You have really achieved a culture here that most companies only dream of… don’t ever lose it.”

There are a number of rewards that I’ve experienced as an employee at Communispace, all of which help to feed our culture continuously. Working with more than 100 of the best and most innovative brands on the planet is one. So is being associated with a revolutionary concept in the market research landscape—one that was co-innovated by our CEO and first client over 10 years ago. Of course working alongside some of the most talented, hard working, and fun people I have ever met is a constant source of job satisfaction.

At a recent company-wide meeting, a long-time client summed up the unique culture at Communispace: “You have really achieved a culture here that most companies only dream of… don’t ever lose it.”

There are a number of rewards that I’ve experienced as an employee at Communispace, all of which help to feed our culture continuously. Working with more than 100 of the best and most innovative brands on the planet is one. So is being associated with a revolutionary concept in the market research landscape—one that was co-innovated by our CEO and first client over 10 years ago. Of course working alongside some of the most talented, hard working, and fun people I have ever met is a constant source of job satisfaction.

I get a real jolt of pride and job satisfaction out of telling people where I work. These days, Communispace carries name recognition as a great place to work, and I’m routinely asked by my peers how they can get their foot in the door.

The question I am asked most often is something like, “What’s it really like to work there?” or “Is it really as cool as it seems?” My answer is simple and true: What you see on the outside is exactly what you get on the inside. No hidden agendas, no debilitating politics—just hard working individuals passionate about being the best at what they do.

Yesterday’s article in The New York Times highlights one of the really innovative aspects of our culture here. The message of the story just makes it even easier to respond to those questions with deeper conviction. 

As you will see in the article, our growth is not inhibiting our culture at all. In fact, it continues to evolve daily.

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5 March 2010

Minivan Dreams Powered by Toyota

by Karen Barone

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All posts by Karen Barone

I want a minivan and I don’t want to be judged! When I was in my early twenties, I drove a minivan and it was the car-of-choice among me and my friends. We didn’t care what we were driving in, as long as we were together and the music was loud. I could fit 10 people in that minivan; it was a punk rock clown car.

I now fit the profile of a minivan driver—I’m in my thirties and I’ve reproduced—and therefore I’ve been told by friends and family that I absolutely cannot drive a minivan.

It’s not fair!

I want a minivan and I don’t want to be judged! When I was in my early twenties, I drove a minivan and it was the car-of-choice among me and my friends. We didn’t care what we were driving in, as long as we were together and the music was loud. I could fit 10 people in that minivan; it was a punk rock clown car.

I now fit the profile of a minivan driver—I’m in my thirties and I’ve reproduced—and therefore I’ve been told by friends and family that I absolutely cannot drive a minivan.

It’s not fair!

I have musician friends who drive minivans. So, it’s okay to open that deliciously-easy sliding door if you’re taking a bass guitar out of it, but it’s lame if my son is the precious cargo?

Enter Toyota’s new “Meet the Parents” ads for the Sienna Minivan.

      

These ads are pure genius, playing on an oft-forgotten truism of cool: There’s nothing less cool than trying to be cool.

Will the ads convince naysayers to enter through the sliding door? I live with one data point who might be coming around. As for me, I consider myself an early adopter. (How cool is that?)

One Response to “Minivan Dreams Powered by Toyota”

  1. Noah Shaw (aka, Data Point Numero Uno) says:
    March 5, 2010 at 7:37 am

    This data point — the one who lives with the author of this post — is sooooooo not coming around. Sorry honey.

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4 March 2010

Social CRM: A work in progress?

by Guest Blogger: Denis Pombriant

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CRM’s infatuation with all things social may be taking a bite out of its backside. Too often CRM vendors focus on outbound messaging through products like Twitter and Facebook while forgetting about Stephen Covey.

Stephen Covey?

CRM’s infatuation with all things social may be taking a bite out of its backside. Too often CRM vendors focus on outbound messaging through products like Twitter and Facebook while forgetting about Stephen Covey.

Stephen Covey?

You might remember him as the guru who told us about “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.” Remember Habit 5? “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Brilliant stuff—something we all should have been taught at home though I confess I don’t recall that memo. My bad. I caught up eventually.

A recent article in The Economist brought a lot home to me. The article quotes work by Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, a Harvard Business School professor and one of his MBA students Bill Heil. According to The Economist, the researchers surveyed more than 300,000 Twitter users in May 2009 and reported results that include:

  • More than half said they tweeted less than once every 74 days
  • The most active 10% of Twitter users published 90% of all tweets

That last bullet should give anyone who believes in the wisdom of crowds reason to pause. What kind of crowd? Ought to be the first question we ask, followed by, who is in it? This goes right back to Covey—understand the audience before beginning your sermon. The first bullet proves another kind of wisdom; the kind that understands that membership is not participation.

Of course there are times when the proverbial (or Monty Pythonesque) blind horse could tell you all you need to know, as in when you start getting complaints that a product or process is broken. But that’s called feedback and often we confuse it with discovery.

When you really want to discover what your customers think—their attitudes, behaviors, biases, and unmet needs—it really helps to know that the data you are collecting is coming from a reasonable cross section, not the noisy ten percent. Just as there are names for processes like “feedback” and “discovery” there’s a term that describes that noisy ten percent. They’re often called outliers.

CRM’s work with social media so far seems focused in various ways on the outliers, and predictably vendors are still trying to figure out social media’s true potential. If you understand the value of communities, it should be obvious.

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2 March 2010

Moving from Social Media to Social Business

by Guest Blogger: Peter Kim

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Thanks to Diane and company for giving me an opportunity to share thoughts with you via Verbatim. I’ve been following Communispace since 2006, when I covered social computing as a research analyst; now I see the value of what the company is doing through a lens of social business design.

Over the past decade, we’ve been witnessing the rise of social media. While we are fundamentally social beings, technology advances and cultural preferences have driven proliferation of these behaviors online. The series of tubes that carry data are wider and reach further than ever. Moore’s law still holds true, as does Metcalf’s—to which 400 million Facebook users across a variety of platforms can attest. We have become conditioned to share opinions on anything and everything in our new digital forums, salons, and echo chambers.

Thanks to Diane and company for giving me an opportunity to share thoughts with you via Verbatim. I’ve been following Communispace since 2006, when I covered social computing as a research analyst; now I see the value of what the company is doing through a lens of social business design.

Over the past decade, we’ve been witnessing the rise of social media. While we are fundamentally social beings, technology advances and cultural preferences have driven proliferation of these behaviors online. The series of tubes that carry data are wider and reach further than ever. Moore’s law still holds true, as does Metcalf’s—to which 400 million Facebook users across a variety of platforms can attest. We have become conditioned to share opinions on anything and everything in our new digital forums, salons, and echo chambers.

At the same time, many of us seem to have realized that pursuing work/life balance ends up as corporate Samsara. Instead, we’ve intertwined work and life to the extent that we do what we love and love what we do. (Or perhaps have gotten much better at fooling ourselves about it.) Along the way, we started bringing our toys to work and realized that our personal technology was better than the company’s.

Good businesses follow the action and most brands finally realize that these trends can be harnessed for commercial benefit. But using social media for business is easier said than done—so far, many brands have been tacking on social real estate to campaigns the same way they’ve been doing with digital microsites and banner ads. To make social media work, businesses must participate in this space differently than consumers; in other words, they’ve got to take a social business approach.

I think Communispace provides a great example in helping companies participate in social business. Using a framework developed by Dachis Group, here’s how I see the company creating social business value:

  • The Ecosystem. Providing connections with prospects and customers to help extend organizational functions beyond those on the payroll, e.g. marketing research.
  • The Hivemind. Allowing brands to become more culturally calibrated with their customers. Understanding motivations paves the way for social calibration.
  • The Dynamic Signal. Bringing out insight from previously unheard voices. The silos in existing listening processes prevent weak signals from being heard.
  • The Metafilter. Moderating discussion and drawing out signals from noise. Listening requires a balance of automated filtering and manual curation.

It’s time to shift from social media and get down to social business. Finding the right partners to help you get there matters.

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26 February 2010

Tiny Dancer

by Rocky Prozeller

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Secure your sequins and squeeze into those spandex, ice skating is in season. Through 14 days of Olympic Coverage there’s been naught but a single night where audiences weren’t subjected to ice skating in some form—the Opening Ceremony. Apparently by “coverage” of the Olympic Games, NBC meant a spotlight on skating in all its forms.

Despite a limited love for the sport, admittedly accredited to an inability to see past the pageantry nor distinguish between a salchow and axel jump , through this past weekend I had set a personal record in viewership—that is until Ice Dancing dominated Monday’s lineup and I was finally forced to put the games on ice.

Secure your sequins and squeeze into those spandex, ice skating is in season. Through 14 days of Olympic Coverage there’s been naught but a single night where audiences weren’t subjected to ice skating in some form—the Opening Ceremony. Apparently by “coverage” of the Olympic Games, NBC meant a spotlight on skating in all its forms.

Despite a limited love for the sport, admittedly accredited to an inability to see past the pageantry nor distinguish between a salchow and axel jump , through this past weekend I had set a personal record in viewership—that is until Ice Dancing dominated Monday’s lineup and I was finally forced to put the games on ice. 

My personal preference aside, the chorus of complaints from viewers has continued (and climbed) through the weeks. The USA-plus  plan for coverage, using downtime in skating to show snippets of other events (often on delay from earlier in the day) leaves something to be desired—like seeing other countries compete in any of the events. Those on the West Coast  are riddled with ridiculous three-hour lag times, despite having clocks tuned to the same time-zone as Vancouver and real-time access to results. Ignoring mass-interest in another episode on ice, US versus Canada in hockey, NBC excommunicated the event to cable’s MSNBC, a news network; 8.22 million fans followed (again, a near record in ratings), but we’re left to guess what the game would have drawn if offered en masse on basic cable.

Not long ago much was made of NBC’s creative use of ratings to endorse Leno’s return to the late night lineup, a policy they’re playfully pulling back out of their PR pocket . While its true viewership has vaulted past Turin—my attention isn’t for entertainment, it’s for endurance.

NBC is surviving on the success of America’s record run of medals and increased interest in more extreme events, while falsely assigning credit to their own “premier programming.” If the path to seeing Shaun White grab gold leads through tassels and toe loop jumps, then so be it—but my attention and affinity for the network is on thin ice.

–

Here’s to uncovering a universally understood maxim heavy hitters, the pleasure of a few work-free days!

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25 February 2010

A Cure for “Terminal Niceness” at Xerox

by Renee Piazza

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This past Sunday, I was derailed from my usual routine of bee-lining straight to the Modern Love column in The New York Times (by the front page of the business section), where the cover story read “Xerox’s New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture.”

Ursula Burns, who was appointed CEO this past July, describes an environment at Xerox where the employees are simply too nice to one another. She wants them to “become more fearless and be more frank and impatient with one another” to help the company grow.

This past Sunday, I was derailed from my usual routine of bee-lining straight to the Modern Love column in The New York Times (by the front page of the business section), where the cover story  read “Xerox’s New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture.”

Ursula Burns, who was appointed CEO this past July, describes an environment at Xerox where the employees are simply too nice to one another. She wants them to “become more fearless and be more frank and impatient with one another” to help the company grow.

Ms. Burns’ call for brutal honesty within her organization got me thinking—can Xerox’s 130,000 employees leverage anything we know at Communispace about building the kind of community that will cure Xerox’s internal positive bias? Here’s what I came up with:

1. Build intimacy.
Give Xerox employees a platform to be heard in a way that doesn’t make them feel like they are one of 130,000. Intimacy is what drives participation. For us, that means that a community of 500 members has better participation than, say, in a community of 2,000. With larger size comes increased anonymity, which means less engagement.

2. Talk to the same group of people over time.
Knowing what to ask is important, but knowing when to ask can be even more important. Our members become increasingly loyal about the companies who sponsor a community, and this makes them more honest over time. They become more committed to your success and stop being polite and when they feel you are committed to listening—and that you aren’t going away.

3. Close the loop.
Take listening one step further and close the loop. Tell them what you are doing with the information you heard, and how it is making a difference. This will make everyone feel that giving feedback—both good and bad—is a good use of their time.

4. Let your customers help.
Gather the customer stories—both the ones who’ve been loyal for years and the new ones you’ve acquired through Affiliated Computer Services—that will help open up the conversation. They are uniquely poised to keep everyone honest if you have the kind of relationship with them where they feel that you are truly listening.

And who knows—maybe in a few months the NYT headline will read something like “New Culture Redefines Xerox.”

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24 February 2010

Doggerel for Daunting Days

by Julie Wittes Schlack

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When faced with a constipated Congress, evidence of corporate cover-ups, and the salacious spectacle that passes for news, sometimes the only choice is to laugh rather than cry, and to find meaning in art rather than commerce.

In that spirit, I offer a few modest literary observations on current events, employing two poetic forms: the elegant haiku and the sublime limerick.

When faced with a constipated Congress, evidence of corporate cover-ups, and the salacious spectacle that passes for news, sometimes the only choice is to laugh rather than cry, and to find meaning in art rather than commerce. 

In that spirit, I offer a few modest literary observations on current events, employing two poetic forms: the elegant haiku and the sublime limerick.

A once-loved brand called Toyota
Has met its embarrassment quota
They turned their back on their base
Now their egg-covered face
Appeases loyal fans not one iota

Tiger’s remorse and
video confessional –
chick sports? I think not.

Sarah Palin’s wrath went awry
Lashing out at the crude “Family Guy”
Queen anti-hopey-changey
Appeared quite derangey
Since Fox keeps them both riding high

If pole dancing’s the next Olympic sport
The IOC faces risk of a tort
Should the dancers be girls?
Or can boys show their twirls?
Indoor rink? Or beach volleyball court?

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17 February 2010

Wavering Brand Loyalty: The Toyota Recall

by Mark Cohen

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All posts by Mark Cohen

When did Toyota stop taking its customers seriously? When did it stop listening to them? Why would a self-described Toyota loyalist even ask these questions? Bear with me for a few moments and I’ll explain why.

When did Toyota stop taking its customers seriously? When did it stop listening to them? Why would a self-described Toyota loyalist even ask these questions? Bear with me for a few moments and I’ll explain why.

My journey as a Toyota loyalist began at a young age. As a child I always knew my family could depend on our Corolla station wagon or hatchback to safely get us where we needed to go without any worries or drama. It’s hard to recall even one time when these cars let us down. (Well, maybe the time when one of my parents left the headlights on and drained the battery, but I don’t think that counts.) Even as a kid I remember admiring a company that seemed genuinely focused on making products of the highest quality—even its marketing seemed to take the high road and eschew negative mentions of other car brands.

Not surprisingly, when my significant other needed to replace his troublesome Pontiac, I strongly encouraged him to consider a Toyota. He saw the light, and for the past six years we’ve been driving a completely reliable Matrix which hasn’t let us down once. It seemed a given that our next car would be a Toyota (we’ve been coveting the Prius), but the recent recalls and Toyota’s handling of the situation have me questioning this choice and wondering what happened to the company I’ve admired for so long.

I guess part of me believes Toyota is a casualty of its own success. Like so many companies that grow large very quickly (perhaps too quickly?), it seems to have lost touch with reality and with its customers. Perhaps it even saw itself as immune to these types of problems. You can almost imagine company executives’ naïve disbelief at hearing news of the problems—this could NEVER happen at Toyota! It’s troubling to hear how customers’ concerns were initially ignored and how Toyota initially blamed the sudden acceleration problem on drivers. This type of behavior makes you wonder if besting the Big Three became more important than the brand’s pillars of quality, value, and reliability. I’d bet you that most Toyota owners could care less about the company’s ascendancy and simply want to know that their concerns matter—especially when it comes to safety.

Despite the recent recalls, I still have faith in the company—especially since I continue to experience the quality of its products on a nearly daily basis. I haven’t given up hope that Toyota will do some serious corporate soul-searching, review its priorities, and once again see the customer as its main stakeholder. After all, I still have my heart set on getting a gas-sipping Prius.

What are your experiences with the Toyota brand? How do you think Toyota has handled its recent quality problems? What, if anything, can it do to recover? A loyalist wants to know.

2 Responses to “Wavering Brand Loyalty: The Toyota Recall”

  1. Diane Mimmo says:
    February 19, 2010 at 8:33 am

    Great article! I am not a lifelong Toyota enthusiast, but the Venza and the Highlander are on my list of candidates for our next crossover/ SUV and these incidents have tipped me back in favor of the Honda products. Even with all the bad press, I don’t think they are in danger of losing customers to the Big Three- in my opinion they are still above and beyond in terms of quality…but maybe in danger of losing customers to other Japanese automakers.

  2. Sarav Chithambaram says:
    February 21, 2010 at 5:04 pm

    I agree the sentiments you penned in this article. As a long term Toyota loyalist, all my 3 cars I owned/own are Toyota, I am very disappointed. The way Toyota is dealing with the situation is not right. I had to bite my tongue and make a official complaint to NTSB about my 2010 prius. I feel Toyota should have taken ownership of the problem and done something better to preserve confidence in the brand. They missed the boat of telling their customers that they do care and go to any lengths to provide them a better experience. The previous Rav4 I owned for 10 years and it never failed on me. And I hope Toyota will do the same.. I can see lots of class action suits brewing in the background.

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12 February 2010

The Thrill Is Gone

by Rocky Prozeller

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All posts by Rocky Prozeller

While you worked last Friday, I moseyed to a movie matinee.

Boasting better than a billion bucks worth of worldwide sales, audiences flocked to ‘Avatar’ with force and it seemed time to follow. The flick, now favored among Oscar options for Best Picture (uncommon for the Sci-Fi category), proved an entertaining experience, fashionable 3D eyewear et al. Given relaxation was the reason for vacation, I decided to double-down and watch ‘Up’ (another Best Picture Oscar nomination nod) later that evening.

While you worked last Friday, I moseyed to a movie matinee.

Boasting better than a billion bucks worth of worldwide sales, audiences flocked to ‘Avatar’ with force and it seemed time to follow. The flick, now favored among Oscar options for Best Picture (uncommon for the Sci-Fi category), proved an entertaining experience, fashionable 3D eyewear et al. Given relaxation was the reason for vacation, I decided to double-down and watch ‘Up’ (another Best Picture Oscar nomination nod) later that evening.

Initially, the range in ‘Rocky Ratings’ was minor: both ranked as reasonably entertaining ways to spend some time. But as I contemplated clips and quips from both, my scale started to swing—‘Up’ soared as I lost connection to ‘Avatar.’

Fondness for devilishly clever details in ‘Up’ expanded the movie’s entertainment value; conversely, outrage over cheap copouts from its counterpart failed in forming a long-standing liking of ‘Avatar.’

As researchers we strive to monitor consumers’ opinions in the moment, intent on protecting the integrity of their insight by securing reactions before they have a chance to slip away. But doing so fails, in part, to procure a rounded reaction.

The missing metric is the linger level; understanding both the initial reaction AND the end result after the excitement wanes and we’re left with our more methodical opinion. Measurement at the point of purchase only captures a piece of the psychology involved in the decision making process. To gauge a truly accurate account we have to collect consumer feedback on a continuum, speaking with the consumer several times over an extended period.

After all, who among us hasn’t altered an opinion about a product we just brought home or an experience we engaged in after the rush resided? Think about it for a few days and get back to me.

–

As is custom, some sounds to send you sailing into the weekend in style; happy chocolate and flowers this 14th friends.

One Response to “The Thrill Is Gone”

  1. AHR says:
    February 21, 2010 at 11:20 am

    Ahhh… the psychology of it all! I make many snap decisions which I usually end up rescinding (or regretting). I am also swayed by other people’s opinions. Sometimes I can’t even tell which reaction is the authentic reaction. Great thought to focus on both.

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