Tweet Genie - A New Tweet Analysis Tool for Marketers

Tweets are supposed to reveal your age – at least that’s the assumption of the latest Twitter tool Tweetgenie.nl.

This Dutch app invites you to enter your Twitter-name on Tweetgenie.nl. Computers at the Meertens Institute (a research center for language and culture) and the University of Twente will start calculating. Your last 200 tweets are benchmarked against a database with keywords related to youngsters, the elderly, men and women.

Tweetgenie.nl is part of his research at the University of Twente. On its website, the university explains: “We tried to identify the average Dutch Twitter users.  Of 3,000 users, we manually indicate age and sex. This way, the program can estimate the sex and age of each Twitter user."

The brain behind the software is linguistic scientist Nguyen. According to him, identifying the sex of a twitterer is between 80 and 85 percent accurate. Estimating age is trickier – it’s normally 4 years off.  

He explained:  "Above 30 - 35 years, it’s even more difficult. The difference between language of a 12-year old and an 18-year old is much greater than that between a 40 and 50-year old."

According to the Meertens Institute, the results should provide insight into patterns of how stories and rumors are spreading via social media. This could be digital gold for marketers.

Want to try it out? Just fill in your twitter name and press the check button. I tried it myself and was identified as a 39-year old man. Trust me, I am very much female and at least a decade older……

Bags Made From Conveyor Belts – The Green and Fashionable Way To Travel

Going green is the way to go. We are all environmental conscious. But we still want items we use to be easy to use and aesthetic.

The Dutch company Kazoo came up with a way to produce bags from industrial recycled material that have an upscale look.

If you look at a Kazmok bag, you would never guess that it’s made from e.g., a rubbery conveyor belt.

Kazmok’s product range includes briefcases, shopper bags, trolley bags for travel, and accessories such as belts and iPad sleeves.

The company gets its materials from the flower industry, postal depots, distribution centers, and the recycling industry.

According to Dinand Stufkens, founder of Kazmok, "The challenge is to sell all the products we potentially can make."

Kazmok nabbed an award at last year’s Red Dot Awards in Germany. Judges praised the handmade bags, which are fabricated from rubber and PVC, for being "extremely durable but also unique in terms of color and texture."

Founder Stufkens sees the bags as a metaphor, since they refer to a throwaway culture, where waste is turned into new products.

He stated: "We decided to transform the conveyor belt, because it is a symbol of mass production and consumption. However, we want consumers to buy them because they are beautiful."

For frequent travelers, your Hazmok bag will stand out among the other near-identical bags on the baggage carousel. You will not have any problems grabbing your signature luggage!

Equinox Pulled Its Edgy Ads – A Wise Move

Looking at the latest Equinox ads, you might think they are for shoes or lingerie. The glossy photos were taken by famous photographerTerry Richardson,and were supposed to promote high-end gym chain Equinox.

The ads should promote luxury fitness, which is ironic since none of the ultra-thin fashion models are doing any real athletic activity. Instead, the female models are draped around ultra-fit nude male ones. However the target audience consists of well-heeled professionals – in their 30s, 40s and 50s as well as baby boomers. It is therefore doubtful that the ads will appeal to them.

Equinox hired ad agencies Wieden+Kennedy New York and R/GA to go edgy. According to insiders, Equinox paid R/GA $8m to overhaul Equinox’s digital platform and blog,

It is not the first time that Equinox went for edgy marketing. It hired fashion photographers Steven Klein, Gilles Bensimon and Ellen von Unwerth for previous ad campaigns.

Due to public backlash, Equinox decided to pull the ads and go for a mainstream, sportier look. Equinox creative director Liz Nolantried to downplay the debacle by stating: “We worked with Terry Richardson for three extremely successful campaigns. The natural point has now come to explore a fresh direction, and we’re really excited to launch a provocative new brand campaign in January 2014.”

Photographer Richardson has since moved on and directed Miley Cyrus in her controversial “Wrecking Ball” music video.

McDonald’s Is Going to Replace Heinz Ketchup

A peeved McDonald’s is in the process of cancelling its 40-year old partnership with Heinz. The fast-food giant has approached Hunt’s and Del Monte to replace Heinz ketchup.

The move is the result of a management change at Heinz. In June 2013, Heinz appointed Bernardo Hees as its new CEO. Hees used to be the CEO of Burger King, one of McDonald’s main business rivals. The appointment is the result of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian 3G Capital taking over H.J. Heinz Co.

The switch will mainly impact McDonald’s 34,000 restaurants outside of the US. Only outlets in the Pittsburgh and Minneapolis areas serve Heinz ketchup; all other US-based restaurants use local suppliers.

McDonald’s went on record stating: "We value the relationship we’ve maintained with Heinz for more than 40 years. As a result of recent management changes at Heinz, we have decided to transition our business to other suppliers over time. We have spoken to Heinz and plan to work together to ensure a smooth and orderly transition of the McDonald’s restaurant business, and are confident that there will be no impact to our business, our customers and our great tasting food at McDonald’s."

Heinz (wisely) could not be reached for comment.

Consumers might not be pleased; Heinz fans believe it to be the best-tasting ketchup.

It’s not the first time that there is a discord between McDonald's and Heinz. John F. Love mentions in "McDonald's: Behind the Arches" that Heinz used to supply 90% of McDonald’s ketchup and pickles until it could not meet demand due to tomato shortage. McDonald’s promptly took its business elsewhere. But this time around, it’s far more personal...

How to Conduct Crisis Management When Your Company is the Victim of a Cyber Attack

It can happen to the best of companies – a cyber-attack. Cybercrime is booming and cyber crooks are fine-tuning their attacks. They are constantly developing sophisticated methods to get their hand on the financial details of customers.

Websites of banks, shopping sites, and online booking sites are popular cybercrime targets. But any website with a large database that contains login data and payment credentials of customers are targeted.

As an organization, once you know that you have been breached, how do you react? That’s when crisis management kicks in. Informing your customers that their details might have been exposed is painful, but necessary.

I recently got the following email. It’s the perfect example of how to conduct crisis management in case of a breach. (I removed the company’s details for obvious reasons).

Dear Valued Customer,

The privacy and security of our customers’ data are of the utmost importance to us, and we are writing to inform you of a recent incident affecting one of our databases.

We recently learned that this database, which primarily houses access credentials and business contact information for some of our customers, was compromised. We are conducting an extensive investigation and have notified appropriate law enforcement authorities. Based on our preliminary review, we believe that customer payment data were not compromised.
As a precautionary measure, we have implemented a mandatory reset of your password to protect your account. The next time you log in, you will be asked to input a new password. Acceptable passwords may not have been previously used, and must contain at least eight characters as well as at least three of the following:

• Lowercase characters
• Uppercase characters
• Numbers
• Punctuation
• Special characters (e.g., !#$@)

As a general practice, we recommend that you use strong passwords and regularly update them for all your websites that require login credentials.

We continue to refine our security approach in light of the ever-changing nature of security threats, and to implement security enhancements and additional protocols to help further protect user portals and customer and proprietary information.

There is nothing we value more than the trust and protection of our customers, and we will continue to work diligently to prevent these types of events from occurring in the future.

We sincerely regret any disruption that this incident may have caused you, and we will keep you appraised of any additional important information. Should you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

As you can see, this letter is the perfect example of how to react in case of such a security breach:

1. State the facts
2. Explain the scope and impact of the incident
3. Inform about the steps you are taking
4. Apologize
5. Be available for questions and reactions

Curapipe Demonstrates a New Category of Leakage Repair at WATEC 2013 in Hall 11A, Booth 15

Curapipe shows its Trenchless Automated Leakage Repair (TALR) Solution – a low-cost alternative for water mains renewal

Curapipe System Ltd, a pioneering provider of an innovative breakthrough leak curing solution for water pipes, today announced that it will show case its Trenchless Automated Leakage Repair (TALR) solution at WATEC 2013, 22 – 24 October 2013 at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center in Hall 11A, Booth 15.

Curapipe’s Trenchless Automated Leakage Repair (TALR) repairs leaky holes and cracks in urban water pipes that normally remain undetected by existing detection technologies.

“By introducing the TALR solution, Curapipe has launched a new category of leakage repair, thus filling an important gap in the market,” explained Peter Paz, co-CEO of Curapipe.

“Current detection and monitoring solutions ensure maintaining leakage levels but not sustainably reducing them. With the current economic and environmental needs for bulk reduction of water leakage, governmental agencies, water utilities and operators are looking for a “detect & in situ repair” solution for reducing leakage levels,” he continued.

“With TALR, there is now a breakthrough leakage repair technology available that the industry has been waiting for.”

Curapipe’s Trenchless Automated Leakage Repair (TALR) solution offers water utilities the following benefits:

• Trenchless (no digging) enables no / low social and environmental disruption 
• Automated detection, sealing and curing of leaks 
• Low-cost alternative compared to pipeline replacement or renewal 
• Rapid deployment since TALR is much faster than replacement or renewal 

About Curapipe
Established in 2007, Curapipe System Ltd. is a pioneering provider of an innovative breakthrough leak curing solution for buried pipelines. Curapipe addresses the need of urban water utilities by repairing leaks and cracks in their mains and service connections that normally remain undetected. The solution is the result of many years of development by a team of highly skilled and experienced PhD technologists in the fields of hydraulics, materials and pipelining. Curapipe is working with several water utilities to commercially deploy its TALR solution at various global locations.

Under the framework of the European Eco-Innovation program, Curapipe is executing the LEAKCURE project aimed at market uptake of a method of repairing leakages in distribution water pipes applying trenchless technology.

For more information, visit the corporate website at www.curapipe.com

Media Contact:

Debra De-Jong, Marcom
T/F: +972 (0)8 675 1766
E: Debra @ curapipe.com

Chipotle’s Brilliant and Subtle Advertisement – 5 Million Views On YouTube Alone

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a chain of restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany. It mainly offers burritos and tacos. Chipotle means "smoked chili", mainly used in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines..

Chipotle recently produced a video that looks like it came from the Pixar studios. The ad has already been viewed 5 million times on YouTube,

The animation shows a scarecrow slaving away in a factory where fake meat is branded as “all natural”. The poor soul is plagued by mechanical crows representing evil or greed. After seeing all the horrors of the production process, he decides to grow his own food. He starts to sell his home frown food, addressing a market need.

Only at the end of the quite long video clip is the fast food chain credited (as well as the annoying song – I clicked "mute” to get rid of the ear piercing soundtrack).

According to the CMO of Chipotle Mexican Grill “We are on a mission. We want to change the way that people perceive fast food. Food producers paint a rosy picture of the industry. That’s only a front, as we want to show.” Chipotle’s previous video was viewed around 8 million times.

Chipotle claims not to use any meat products with hormones and antibiotics. The company also emphasizes that it purchases all its ingredients nearby, thus reducing its carbon footprint. However, a fast food chain is still a fast food chain. According to Erica Griedler, "Chipotle gets its avocados from Chili or Mexico if not locally available." She points out that a company can only be as green as its business model permits.

Still, the video clip is really cool:, as you can see below:

h

Will Customers Soon Be Able To Pay Via Facebook?

Social media giant Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is working hard on its own online payment model. The idea is to make it easier for Facebook users to purchase apps via mobile phones. Facebook is targeting users that have already made purchases on Facebook before. Their credit card details are therefore on file. These details are currently used when a FB-user wants to purchase credits and “gifts” for friends. Those users would soon be able to buy e.g., apps using just their Facebook login, eliminating the need to have to submit credit card information.

This payment option would streamline the current cumbersome payment process. Currently, FB-users paying from their smartphones often have problems submitting detailed information via the small screens or touchscreens of their devices.

Facebook is launching a pilot with one of its partners: JackTheads, a flash-sale shopping site for young men. Once Facebook will complete the pilot successfully, the Company will go into direct competition with PayPal (purchased by eBay), one of its partners.

Facebook representative Tera Randall went on record stating: “It does not involve moving the payment processing away from an app’s current payments provider, such as PayPal.” She went on to emphasize: “We continue to have a great relationship with PayPal, and this product is simply to test how we can help our app partners provide a more simple commerce experience.”

The online payment model offers Facebook several benefits:

•  Analysts want FB to enter the e-commerce market which would translate into a higher share price.
• FB will garner important information about the purchase behavior of its users.
• Current users will keep on using FB for payment and not switch to e.g., PayPal.
• The payment method would appeal to gamers and geeks who purchase online.
• Companies such as JackTheads and Fab would benefit since they generate revenues from mobile phone purchases and their demographics overlap with those of FB.The model also has its critics, who especially voiced security concerns. 

All in all, it will be interesting to see how it will pan out. 

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.....