How Mattel Got It Right With Goth Barbie

Lucky Mattel – its Goth Barbie is a bestseller. The company launched the doll in 2010 as part of its "Monster High" collection. Three years later, Goth Barbie counterbalanced the slumping sales of it pink counterpart; Mattel enjoyed a sales increase of 56 percent.

At the time the collection hit the market, the Gothic Barbie dolls were received with cynicism. As toy analyst Gerrick Johnson phrased it: "I didn't think it would work. Why does Barbie work? Barbie works because she's aspirational. Girls want to be like Barbie." He thought that the dolls would be too ghoulish for girls to relate to.

However, in the age of “Twilight”, True Blood” and “The Hunger Games", ghoul is glam. Mattel understood what girls really want and delivered accordingly. Goth Barbie is thin, glamorous and carries an uncanny resemblance to Abby Sciuto of NICS.

The dolls have become so popular that other brands launched copycat versions such as zombie Little Mermaid and zombie Snow White.

Cathy Cline, Mattel’s manager in charge of marketing the novel toys, said this about the meteoric success of Goth Barbie dolls: "The message about the brand is really to celebrate your own freaky flaws, especially as bullying has become such a hot topic. And it's also one of the fastest growing brands within the entire toy industry."

Mattel is laughing all the way to the bank. As Kiyomi Haverly, vice president of design at Mattel puts it: "Honestly, it was very surprising to us. We just noticed girls were into darker Goth fashion."

Kudos for Mattel to listening to their customers!

Dutch Radboud University Demands The Right To Publish Research On Hacking Security Codes Of Luxury Cars

Scientific researchers Baris Ege and Roel Verdult are two researchers at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Together with Flavio D. Garcia, a colleague  at the University of Birmingham, they conducted research on how secret codes of luxury cars can be hacked.

In their article “Dismantling Megamos Crypto”, they describe in detail how the security method Megamos Crypto can be hacked. Megamos Crypto is used in luxury brands such as Volkswagen, Bugatti and Bentley.

The research was slated to be published and presented in August 2013 at the USENIX security symposium in Washington. The Volkswagen Group requested that the researchers would publish their article without describing the exact code. The three scientists refused “out of principle” claiming that the general public has a right to know about security holes and flaws in car security systems.

The Volkswagen Group went to court, arguing that publication of the article would “facilitate” gangs specializing in luxury car theft. The judge agreed and issued an injunction, stating that the article could lead to theft of millions of cars such as Porsches, Audis, and Lamborghinis.

The Radboud University expressed its disappointment since “the injunction does not comply with freedom of academic publishing”. The university also pointed out that to steal a car, cracking the security code is not enough. “Our researchers found out how the immobilizer can be turned off. However, the thief must also get into the car to disengage the car alarm.”

The universities will fight for their right to publish in court at a later date.

JK Rowling’s Secret Crime Novel – Clever Marketing to Boost Sales

Robert Galbraith penned a 450-page crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling.

In the tradition of PD James and Ruth Rendell, it features sleuth Cormoran Strike, a damaged war veteran turned private detective, to investigate the death of a troubled model who falls to her death from Mayfair balcony.

The book was released in April 2013 and got positive reviews, but low sales of 1,500 copies. In July 2013, an untraceable Tweeter Jude Calligari exposed Galbraith as JK Rowling.

The result?

• Within hours, the crime novel went up more than 5,000 places to top Amazon's sales list.
• The "Movers and Shakers" section of Amazon reported that book sales went up by more than 507,000%. 
• It outperforms by far the first post-Potter book (The Casual Vacancy) that Rowling wrote.
• Excellent preparation for the release of the next Cormoran Strike book by Robert Galbraith in 2014. 

Rowling claims in an interview with The Sunday Times: ‘I had hoped to keep this a secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without any hype or expectation and pure pleasure to get feed-back under a different name.’

Nicely put, but I am not buying it. How I see it, once sales were not as expected, the tweetleak was a convenient way to create a (social) media storm and boost sales. This clever marketing ploy worked like magic. Chapeau!

Abercrombie & Fitch Does It Again – Another Marketing Disaster

It seems that Abercrombie & Fitch just cannot get it right.

After its previous marketing disaster, the company went on to alienate even more potential:0">potential

) customers.

The company launched a T-shirt with the following text printed on it:

#more boyfriends than t.s.

It tried to poke  fun at singer Taylor Swift’s love life,

As any marketing professional could have told the company, it alienated the singer’s loyal fan base. It did not take long for fans (known as “Swifties”) to take action.

Ms. Emma Worley from Pennsylvania posted an online petition asking Taylor Swift fans around the world to rally against the T-shirt. She got about 130 signatures supporting her petition to have the shirt pulled from stores. Although this does not seem to be an impressive number, it was enough to force Abercrombie & Fitch to react, announcing on Twitter that it would pull the T-shirt from its stores.

Apart from Ms. Worley, fellow Swifty Ms. Chelsea Nicole took to You Tube to express her discontent.She calls Abercrombie's PR department to voice her complaint. She also appeals to fellow swifties to do the same.

Singer Taylor Swift herself hasn’t made any comment about the T-shirt, which is a smart move from her side.

Taylor has more than 20 million Twitter followers who don’t want to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch anymore. To just quote one of them: “I don't even care that the T-shirt is out of production, I will never shop at Abercrombie & Fitch again. I hope your business falls to the ground."

It’s time for Abercrombie & Fitch to reconsider its marketing and PR!

German Court Rules: Autocomplete of Google Searches Can Be Illegal

The founder of a public company sued Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) since googling the name of his company offered autocomplete searches that connected the company’s name with "Scientology" and "Fraud".

According to the plaintiff, these autocompletes were baseless. Furthermore, they infringe on personal rights as well as corporate image.

The GermanFederal Court of Justice agreed and ruled that Google’s autocomplete function sometimes present suggestions that are considered to be a breach of law. With this ruling, the court overturned the verdict of the District Court of Cologne.

The ruling could help former First Lady Bettina Wulff with her lawsuit against Google. When her name is googled, Google’s autocomplete function offers additions such as "red light district" and "escort." Needless to say, the lady is not amused.
 
The ruling does not imply that Google is liable for each and every autocomplete. Owners of search engines “Are not obligated to check the legality of autocomplete searched proactively for liability”. Only when a victim reports infringement must the search engine owner take action.

Google spokesperson Kay Oberbeck explained that the autocomplete suggestions are generated by users searching Google, not by Google itself.

According to German lawyers, Google’s autocomplete function could go two ways: (1) the autocomplete function will be completely deactivated in Germany, or (2) users will be automatically able to remove autocomplete suggestions.

One thing is clear, Google has to react quickly!

Google Acquires Navigation App Operator Waze for $1,1 Billion

Google (GOOG) is buying Waze, a navigation app operator, to keep up with competitors such as Facebook. The deal is expected to be announced on June 11^th according to an anonymous source. Google will have access to 40 million Waze users.

Waze is a relatively unknown company. It provides a free app for iPhone and Google Android devices. Base on the principle of crowd-sourcing, real-time GPS data from Waze users are used. This makes traffic and navigation information accurate and useful. Users can also add information themselves, such as traffic incidents, speed traps and gas prices.  

It is a smart move considering the rise in use of smartphones and tablets. Google and Facebook are both targeting mobile device users with a wide range of services, including navigation.

Greg Sterling, analyst at Opus Research told Bloomberg that Google will be able to provide better navigation services such as directions and traffic information.

There are three reasons why Google is spending more than $1 billion to acquire Wave:

1) Wave has an innovative and hot technology

2) Wave directly competes with Google Maps

3) Apple and Facebook will not be able to acquire Wave.

Waze was founded in 2009 and according to IVC, Waze has raised $67 million to date in three financing rounds from venture capital funds and strategic investors.

How a Fake Restaurant Review on Yelp Backfired

A SF writer got wind of a review of Tuba restaurant on Yelp.

The woman who wrote the review claims to be working at the SF.  She wrote: “This place totally rocks! The food blows your mind away. I also write for SF weekly and I definitely am writing about them this week!”

But there is one major problem - she never wrote for SF! As the editor stated, he knows all the writers and what they are and aren't assigned to do, but he never heard of “Maya C.”

The SF editor set out to correct it –easier said than done. Yelp isn't easy to deal with.

He sent the fake review Ms. Maya C. a message: "I am the food editor at SF Weekly. Who are you? We don't have a Maya C. working for us right now. Please explain why you cite us in your review of Tuba."

Maya C, sent the following response (to avoid legal action?): "sf weekly voice, I will fix it. I am very very sorry to cite your name, I haven't checked my reviews since."

Needless to say,she did not. SF Weekly is obviously worried about its credibility, while Yelp could not care less.

In the mean time, just ignore the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! fake review of Tuba - it’s as real as a three dollar note. If you still want to go to Tuba, I have a bridge I want to sell you…..

Maya C has damaged Tuba's restaurant's reputation beyond repair - be careful when you engage a so-called social media wizard ad Ms. Maya C!

Saudi Arabia’s Brave Advertisement

It is not often that an advertisement from a Middle Eastern country creates a media buzz. But a daring advertisement in the local media changed that.

A full-page newspaper ad showed a burqa-clad woman with a clearly visible black eye. At the bottom of the ad was a slogan in Arabic that reads in English: "Some things can't be covered", followed by a list of phone numbers for local domestic abuse shelters. Needless to say, newspaper readers were shocked by this powerful image.

The print ad was the brainchild of Scott Abbott, the creative director of the Riyadh-based ad agency Memac Ogilvy (part of the famous Ogilvy & Mather ad agency). He wanted to spark a national social discussion about spousal abuse.

The advertisement is endorsed by the King Khalid Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on social issues. The Foundation’s director, HRH A.R. Al Faisal, doesn't think that the advertisement was that controversial.

Protecting women from spousal abuse is a major issue across countries, cultures, and social classes. It is also a subject that society is often hesitant to deal with in such an open way.

According to Ms. Al Faisal, things are changing in Saudi Arabia, with a notable rise in women’s shelters. Furthermore, the King Khalid Foundation has prepared a bill that outlaws domestic violence. If convicted, an abuser will face jail time, fines and loss of custody. A similar bill outlawing child abuse has already passed.

The ad also created buzz outside Saudi Arabia. The ad was discussed by marketing and PR professionals in Europe and the US for its PR effect while the design was lauded by graphic designers.

The “less is more” approach worked beautifully here. It will be interesting to know what the social impact in Saudi Arabia was – and if it contributed in changing society’s take on domestic violence.

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mark Jeffries’ Marketing Mistake

Recently, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mark Jeffries said that his company was only for the “cool kids” – and not for “fat people.”  He explained that Abercrombie & Fitch is a well-defined and specific brand that the company wants to protect. Its target customers are therefore (according to Mr. Jeffries) young, thin and beautiful.

In itself, there is nothing wrong with profiling your customers and being protective of your brand. But as company (and especially as its CEO or CMO) you must be careful how to deliver your message.

Define your brand

A brand it one of the main assets of any company – big or small. There is nothing wrong with Abercrombie & Fitch building a strong brand that people talk about. However, never alienate a customer – jilted customers have long memories, especially if they feel they are being insulted. Although Jeffries’ remarks got a lot of attention, but in this age of (cyber)bullying and its horrible consequences, telling uncool, overweight kids to not buy your brand is just not the way to go.

Not all PR is good PR

The Abercrombie & Fitch brand is not as strong as it used to be. This PR stunt goes by the assumption “all publicity is good publicity”. As any marketing or PR professional can tell you, that’s not true. Moreover, if you are a publicly-traded company, it can even harm you. Creating social media buzz is a double-edged sword that must be yielded carefully. Mark Jeffries is acting like the proverbial bull in a china shop.

Social Responsibility

In an era where apparel companies emphasize their social consciousness (fair trade/labor conditions, organic materials, low carbon footprint, etc.), endorsing so-called ideal customers who are cool, thin and attractive is counterproductive. It shows insensitivity to youngsters struggling with body issues and eating disorders. The Duchess of Windsor might have stated that “one can never be too thin”, but we all know now that’s just plain silly.

Be Smart – Think of the Future

Even if Mr. Jeffries thought that his remark served a higher marketing purpose, he harmed his company. Explicitly excluding certain types of customers can backfire in the future for several reasons. For one, apparel is often bought as a gift, which means that parents and grandparents with all kinds of body sizes could buy Abercrombie & Fitch for their skinny and young (grand)children. The CEO for sure ticked those affluent potential customers off with his remark.

Furthermore, the company might decide at one point to branch out to large-size items or a different age group, such as baby boomers or Generation X. Upsetting any demographic group now can backfire in the future.

What will be the fallout of the CEO’s remark? It depends. If the brand can attract enough “young and cool” customers, it will be OK for the immediate future. If not, the brand will suffer, and a new CEO will be hired for damage control. May be it’s time for Mr. Jeffries to dust off his resume?

SEC Accepts Social Media for Disclosing Material Information

The SEC has officially announced that posting corporate information on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are equal to releasing information via a news release and on the corporate website. In general, the SEC stipulates that companies must make material information available to all investors simultaneously via SEC filing or press release.

The SEC made the move following an investigation into the Facebook posting of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. He bragged that his company's monthly viewing had exceeded one billion hours for the first time. As a result of posting this information on Facebook, Netflix stock promptly closed higher during that trading day.

The SEC decided to loosen its rules for disclosing information and decided not to start any proceedings against Hastings.

Although this is in itself good news, it is not as straightforward as it looks. The catch is that a company must tell its investors which outlets it is intending to use. Ironically enough, the best way to do this is via a press release!

The SEC announcement gives companies more channels to disseminate news. As I see it, a publicly-traded company cannot replace press releases with postings on Facebook and Twitter. Furthermore, the legal department of the company needs to review any posts concerning the company before posting them.

My advice? Be wise! Use official news distribution channels such as PRNewswire to inform your investors, customers and the public at large. Before distributing a press release, the legal department of PRN reviews it and will therefore ensure that your press release complies with the SEC’s rules and regulations. This also means that a CEO cannot “brag” anymore, but needs to state the (dry) facts. 

Companies also need to learn how their investors want to receive news. Not everybody uses Facebook and Twitter, and even if they do, they normally use it for informal purposes. Especially institutional investors will find news the old-fashioned way (using EDGAR, checking press releases and corporate websites), since that’s the way they research and keep up. Private investors (especially those interested in penny stocks) are more likely to embrace Facebook and Twitter for updates and news.

The SEC did not specify what steps a company needs to take for using Facebook, Twitter, et al. It is also unclear what is material information and what not.

Until the SEC formulates strict guidelines, my advice for companies:

1) Write an official press release

2) Have it approved by the legal department

3) Distribute it via PRN et al + post it on the corporate website

4) Post the press release on the company’s Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn page, Pinterest account.

5) Put it on your corporate blog

(Image courtesy of dailyfinance)

Target’s Manatee Marketing Lesson

When Susan Clemons was searching Target.com, she found a grey, plus-sized dress. The grey color was described as “Manatee Grey." A manatee is a big, rather large and shapeless sea animal also known as a sea cow.

Ms. Clemons took offense and tweeted Target "What the Plus sized women get "Manatee Grey" while standard sizes are "Dark Heather Grey." @Target #notbuyingit

Target promptly issued an apology and tweeted that it was looking into fixing the misunderstanding.

Target employees posted on the store's Twitter page: "We apologize for this unintentional oversight and never intend to offend our guests. We've heard you, and we're working to fix it ASAP,"

In the end, Target decided to remove the offensive description. The garment in both regular and plus size versions is now labeled as "Dark Heather Grey."

What does this case teach marketing professionals?

Be careful with your product descriptions
When describing a feature or a color, keep it positive. Try to use words that are neutral but still appeal to (potential) customers. In this case, a physical description such as “dove grey” or “anthracite grey” could have worked. If not, you can always use poetic ones such as “magical grey” or “kissing stone gray”.

If I would have been the copywriter for Target, I would have gone for “Dolphin Grey”. It’s not only the same shade of grey as manatee, but playful dolphins are universally loved (thanks to Flipper et al). My other option would have been “pearl grey”, since  associations with (semi)precious stones are always appealing to buyers – just think of jet black, jade green, turquoise blue!

React quickly in case of crisis

Target did a great job by immediately tweeting back and apologizing. Instead of hiding behind excuses, Target apologized and fixed the problem. They followed the golden rule of crisis management: apologize (mea culpa), quickly fix, and communicate.

Use the correct social media to communicate

Target obviously uses and monitors social media to communicate with its (potential) customers. Once the complaint was tweeted, it also used Twitter to respond.

In this social media age, it’s essential to monitor what is written about you as a company in (near) real time and react accordingly. For B2B enterprises, other social media than Twitter would be more appropriate.

All in all, Target got a lot of free publicity and handled the incident in a elegant way. All in all, the media put Target in a positive light. Some even pointed out that the customer was suffering from hypersensitivity.

Personally, as a marketing professional and lawyer, I am puzzled. I don’t understand how a company such as Target (which should be mucho PC) allowed its copywriters to hammer out product descriptions like this. Furthermore, it is also very strange that its legal department did not object to the description (sua culpa!). They are lucky that the customer did not sue for mental distress!

All in all, being PC in marketing is a grey area, isn’t it

Google Nose (Beta) – Google’s Perfect April Fools’ Day Prank 2013

If you googled during the first day of April, you might have noticed a new tab: “Google Nose beta”. There was also a link under the search field: “New! What’s that smell? Find out with Google Nose”

Google Nose offers “the sharpest olfactory experience available."  It promises the latest sensation: searching with your nose.

Google Nose uses professional knowledge statistics to combine images, descriptions and scents.

Afraid of bad smells? No problem, SafeSearch protects you from foul odors!

According to Google, the product intersects "photons with infrasound waves" and "temporarily aligns molecules to emulate a particular scent." The "mobile aroma indexing program" at the heart of the product has amassed a “15 million scentibyte database of smells from around the world.”

Google Nose is even available on mobile devices with its "Android Ambient Odor Detection" which allows users to collect smells on their smartphones.

Google even created a YouTube video explaining how users can “search for smells.”

It all seems too good to true, right? Well, that’s because it is! This fake product is Google’s April Fools’ Day prank 2013.

In my opinion, it’s brilliant! Just a pity I will never be able to find out what space smells like.....

A New York Court Ruled that Clipping Content from Internet without Payment is Not Covered by Fair Use

Meltwater is a Norwegian clipping service that monitors news about its clients on the Web. These paying clients include companies and governments that fork out good money to outsource trolling the internet for news items themselves. Meltwater provides them with news alerts, newsletters and access to a searchable database.

Those newsletters include introductory sections of news stories (aka “ledes”) that were taken from the Associated Press (AP) and other sources. AP promptly demanded that Meltwater buy a license to distribute news story excerpts. Meltwater refused, pointing out that lifting those ledes from the internet is covered by the fair use rules. AP then sued Meltwater for copyright infringement.

In court, Meltwater argued its activities are identical to those of search engines such as Google (which is showing headlines and text snippets in search results and is covered by the fair use rules. Meltwater would therefore be allowed to clip and display news stories that were found on internet.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote disagreed and ruled that there are limits to the amount of content an internet scraping service such as Meltwater can lift from internet without payment stating: “Instead of driving subscribers to third-party websites, Meltwater News acts as a substitute for news sites operated or licensed by AP.”

This ruling is also based on the “click-through” rate of the news stories Meltwater dissipated. According the judge, Meltwater had lifted more than was necessary for a search engine and that is therefore harmed AP stating: “Paraphrasing James Madison, the world is indebted to the press for triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression [...] Permitting Meltwater to take the fruit of AP’s labor for its own profit, without compensating AP, injures AP’s ability to perform this essential function of democracy.”

Reactions to the ruling were mixed. According to Techdirt’sMike Masnick, the judge misinterpreted the “fair use” rules, while AP and the New York Times were happy.

Needless to say, Meltwater appealed, so stay tuned!

Apple's Smart Move - Purchasing WiiSLAM

Remember when people were having fun at Apple’s efforts to rival Google maps? Well, Apple (AAPL) cleverly purchased WiFiSLAM (an indoor GPS company) for a reported $20M.

While most GPS companies focus on pinpointing locations in general, WifiSLAM is able to detect user locations inside buildings where standard GPS services often don’t work.

WifFiSLAM is a two-year old start-up that “building the next generation of location-based mobile apps that, for the first time, engage with users at the scale that personal interaction actually takes place.”

Its technology addresses the problem of detecting a user's GPS location when that person is indoors or otherwise in a location that might not be easily reachable by traditional GPS or cellular signals. The company uses nearby Wi-Fi networks to pinpoint where that user is located. Apple obviously wants to leverage WiFiSLAM 's capabilities to improve its own iOS offerings which is perfectly legit.

.

By incorporating WiFiSLAM, Apple can provide walking directions to businesses inside shopping malls or airports. 

Will this be enough to compete with  Google Maps? You are the judge!

The Power of Colors in Marketing

How people define colors depend on their native language. There are peoples that have words for colors in terms of “dark” and “light”. For them, it is enough to name basic colors. But for many people in the Western world (especially designers and marketing professionals) there is a need to describe colors such as eggplant purple or stone red.  Defining turquoise can be tricky – it can vary from a clear shade of blue to a bluish/green hue.

In his excellent book "Looking at language through glasses – how words color the world" (Spectrum, 2012)  Guy Deutscher shows that people around the world distinguish between colors, even if  they do not have specific names for hues of color.

Funny enough, description of colors was not taken seriously since the subject was mentioned by Gladstone. He stated that neither the color of the sea not the sky was mentioned in Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey. For sure the ancient Greeks were not color blind – so what is the issue?

A large-scale ethnic research shows that many civilizations have limited vocabulary to define a multitude of colors. However, they were perfectly able to distinguish between one hue of blue and another one shade of blue.

Lazarus Geiger already identified in the beginning of the 19th century that words for colors in many cultures follow the same pattern. It starts with black/for dark and light. It is followed by red, yellow, green, and blue.

Berlin and Kay have confirmed this for many more languages in the 1960s. Deutscher concentrated on the transgression from blue to green, explaining why the Japanese  “green”' traffic light looked blue in Western eyes.

The word “khaki" is used in Belgium for a pale shade of green, while the term in neighboring the Netherlands describes a kind of desert sand light brown. Go figure!

For marketing professionals and graphic designers, it would be great if there would be an international code of colors. This would enable us to refer to and understand terms such as “winter blue” (a grayish blue hue, popular in Europe for websites) or “spring green” (a bright light green that is especially popular with eco-friendly companies).

(Image courtesy of hdw.eweb4.com) 

Flash Retailing or Pop-up Retail – an Interesting Marketing Trend

Flash or Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK) or flash retailing, is the trend of opening short-term sales spaces in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also popular in Western Europe, more specifically Paris, France.

This breed of pop-up shops typically host fledgling businesses which were previously selling online, in local markets or at craft fairs. Since so many shops (even at Main Street) are empty due to the economic turn down  savvy entrepreneurs can negotiate profitable deals relating to rent. It also presents them with the opportunity to gain experience and conduct market tests without having long-term lease agreements.

This phenomenon is also known as "flash retailing". Even big retailers love it due to its obvious benefits. It allows them to showcase their new brands or test the waters for their exciting and/or innovative products.

According to Emma Jones, “the genuine pop-ups are bringing much-needed variety and flexibility to our high streets. They are not just a passing fad."

The concept is not new. Vacant of Los Angeles, CA was the first company to develop the concept of pop-up retail or temporary retail shops way back in 1999. A limited edition of products was on sold. Once those products were sold out (usually within a matter of hours) the store would be closed until shop owners received more products that would enable them to reopen the store. Vacant considered closing stores permanently after the merchandise was sold, and then move on to another targeted destination. This made sense since its consumers traveled long distances to niche retailers to purchase items. Up till now, Vacant still provides pop-up retailing and brand marketing.

Real estate companies and landlords are looking at leasing short term real estate since it gives them income until the market picks up. Pop-up stores fit the bill perfectly.

Some brands, such as Target Corporation, Kate Spade, Gucci, and LouisVuitton, use pop-up shops as part of their campaign since it is highly effective within a reasonable budget.  Incubator program such as Boxpark in London, UK and PopupHood in Oakland, CA are incubator companies that have also embraced the concept to get noticed.

So watch out for a pop-up shop success story near you! If you were involved with pop-up shops or flash marketing, please share your thoughts! I will be happy to cover you in my next blog!

(Image courtesy of Richard James at ftape.com)

New Online Press Release Kid on the Blog

PressDoc is an online platform for “press releases 2.0″ (aka “social media releases”) distribution. Traditional press release distribution services make sure that your press release ends up at a slew of media, including mainstream media (e.g., Yahoo, Fox, CNBC) and trade mags, as well as journalists, social websites and blogs.

PressDoc takes a different approach and focuses on individuals and organizations that already have a media contact list and do not want to bother with writing a standard press release. Instead, they can send a link to those contacts pointing them to a webpage with images and videos on the PressDoc platform that also provides statistics.

PressDoc is aimed at startups that do not want to spend money on established press release distributors such as PRNewswire (which also distributes social or multi-media press releases).  The average amount of press releases on PressDoc is around 150 per month.

Is PressDoc a main contender or a niche player? You decide!

• Amsterdam-based PressDoc is very Euro-centric with payment in Euros. Its main customers are based in Europe, which is a problem when penetrating the US market, let alone other foreign markets such as Latin America, Russia and the Far East.

• PressDoc offers do-it-yourself services like hosted multiple online press rooms where you can use your own domain and provide a place to store bookmark links to collect articles about your brand. This requires a certain level of knowledge how investment in time from the user.

• PressDoc offer the Social Media Release (SMR or SMNR) press release template / format that was originally authored by Todd Defren of Boston-based SHIFT Communications. This template is also offered by PressDoc competitors such as RealWire.

• PressDoc offers no apparent options to distribute a release or SEO-enable it, which is the main reason why PRNewswire et al remains the main choice.

• According to users, PressDoc doesn't distribute press releases for them, but makes it easier to leverage existing online presence for PR purposes. In many cases, a wire service might still be the way to go.

How I see it, PressDoc is competing in a market niche dominated by Prezly.

Do you agree? Please share your input!

Maker’s Mark Magnificent Marketing Move

Sometimes a company gets it so right, it boggles the marketing mind.  Maker’s Mark is a is a small-batch bourbon whisky that is distilled in Loretto, Kentucky, by Beam Inc. It is bottled at 90 U.S. proof (45% alcohol by volume). To meet demand, the company announced plans to cut the alcohol content in its bourbon to 42 percent (84 proof).

Consumers were not amused. They got really mad and communicated that they would rather deal with a shortage of their favorite bourbon than a shortage of alcohol in their bourbon.
 

Maker’s Mark listened and learned. The company tweeted “You spoke. We listened,” with a link to a public apology from COO Rob Samuels and his father, chairman emeritus Bill Samuels, Jr.
 

The text of this letter should be included in any marketing or MBA course.

Dear Friends,

Since we announced our decision last week to reduce the alcohol content (ABV) of Maker’s Mark in response to supply constraints, we have heard many concerns and questions from our ambassadors and brand fans. We’re humbled by your overwhelming response and passion for Maker’s Mark. While we thought we were doing what’s right, this is your brand – and you told us in large numbers to change our decision.

You spoke. We listened. And we’re sincerely sorry we let you down.

So effective immediately, we are reversing our decision to lower the ABV of Maker’s Mark, and resuming production at 45% alcohol by volume (90 proof). Just like we’ve made it since the very beginning.

The unanticipated dramatic growth rate of Maker’s Mark is a good problem to have, and we appreciate some of you telling us you’d even put up with occasional shortages. We promise we’ll deal with them as best we can, as we work to expand capacity at the distillery.

Your trust, loyalty and passion are what’s most important. We realize we can’t lose sight of that. Thanks for your honesty and for reminding us what makes Maker’s Mark, and its fans, so special.

We’ll set about getting back to bottling the handcrafted bourbon that our father/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr. created. Same recipe. Same production process. Same product.

As always, we will continue to let you know first about developments at the distillery. In the meantime please keep telling us what’s on your mind and come down and visit us at the distillery. It means a lot to us.

Sincerely,

Rob Samuels Chief Operating Officer rob@makersmark.com

Bill Samuels, Jr Chairman Emeritus bill@makersmark.com

Although the reversal was primarily business-driven, it is an elegant marketing move. It shows that Maker’s Mark’s leaders are human and can make bad decisions. (To err is human, toforgive, divine).

From a marketing perspective, it is short of brilliant. The company didn’t defend its motives but acknowledged that it let down it loyal customers. Furthermore, the company made a commitment to return to the original recipe although it would result in more product shortages. The well-crafted letter reminded its fans that Maker’s Mark is still a family business.

This case teaches us marketing professionals several things:

• When something goes wrong, let customers vent.
• Emphasize that you listen.
• Show that you reacted to your customers’ opinions (social media are perfect for this).
• Be sincere in your apology.
• Be transparent.

Subway Foot-Long PR Nightmare

Once you make a claim – make sure you can stick to it. That’s the hard lesson that fast food chain Subway is learning. (Shame on its legal team!). Subway sells a sandwich called the “foot-long sub”. Needless to say it is suppose to be a food long.

As always, an overzealous customer popped up who ordered the sandwich and measured it. (Yes, we are talking about a male customer – pun intended).

 

Mr. Matt Corby of Perth (Australia) measured his food-long sub and found it to be 11 inches long. Needless to say, in this social media age he vented his outrage on Facebook, where he also posted a photo of his sub alongside the tape measure on the company's page with the caption: “Subway, please respond."

The page received more than 131,000 likes and thousands of comments, ranging from "I think they [Subway] owe us some," to "there are way more thing in life to worry about then 1 inch of sub."

The New York Post launched its own “investigation” and found that most New York Subways serve foot-long subs that are less than a foot. According to the NYP, four out of seven "five-dollar foot-longs" purchased at Subways in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, measured 11 or 11.5 inches.

Subway attributes the discrepancy in length to the fact that the bread is baked fresh daily in each of their 38,000 restaurants, which makes sense in my humble opinion. The chain went on to state that they are looking into the matter.

The company stated: "We are committed to providing a consistent product delivering the same amount of bread to the customer with every order. The length however may vary slightly when not baked to our exact specifications. We are reinforcing our policies and procedures in an effort to ensure our offerings are always consistent no matter which Subway restaurant you visit."

The story made the rounds and was picked up by major news outlets such as Fox.

How can Subway overcome this PR nightmare?

1. Check the reasons why one foot is not one foot, and post it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2. Issue a press release explaining the discrepancy and thanking Mr. Corby for his due diligence.
3. Make Mr. Crosby a Subway ambassador and award him perks.
4. Encourage customers to help improving products and service.
5. Last but most least: use humor! A funny video or picture will be a healthy antidote!

The Lessons Companies can learn from their Live Chats

More and more companies have a live chat option on their websites. It’s a great tool on many levels. Why?

It allows companies to connect with users that are unfamiliar with their offerings

People search internet and come across their website. They are looking for something and they often do not find it immediately. These visitors love a live chat option to ask for tips. This allows a company to learn a lot about their visitors.

Furthermore, live chat allows a company to communicate with user groups that normally would not purchase the company’s products or services. However, since these visitors did end on the website, they expressed an interest or problem that the company can address.

Live Chat can help with conversion

Live chat definitely helps with conversion. It is the perfect tool to persuade any doubting Thomas, and also helps to accumulate questions that visitors are wrestling with to make their decision. Addressing these questions is often crucial.

Addressing the irritation frustration of users

Visitors often turn to live chat because they are irritated or even frustrated with a company. In many cases they tried to contact the company in a traditional way (phone, fax, email) without success.

The service department or the helpdesk must be used to being contacted 24/7. However, in case that that the customer does not get the response/ / service he or she expects, live chat is a great way to retain such a customer.

In short, live chat (when used properly) can give amazing insight into one’s (potential) customers and market!

Looking for a great chat solution? Check out nanoRep!