Rich Customer Experience Community

Top 12 Customer Loyalty Trends for 2012

2011-12-26T14:49:00.001-06:00

Happy Holidays and New Year to all of you...

http://www.marketingprofs.com/pics/2011/6705/top-12-customer-loyalty-trends-for-2012?adref=nlt122311&utm_source=mpt&utm_medium=slideshow&utm_campaign=basic&utm_term=custbehavior&utm_content=slideshow

Forrester's Kerry Bodine: Why Customer Experience? Why Now?

2011-10-19T20:44:00.000-05:00

Good blog from Forrester. Nothing new or surprising here, but a clear reminder on why customers are in control...

Forrester's Kerry Bodine: Why Customer Experience? Why Now?

How AT&T pushed my business away

2011-08-25T21:42:00.010-05:00

I just experienced an all too typical poor customer experience in which the company actually made it easier for me to leave than staying on as a valued customer.

As a result of my consulting with many different organizations throughout the year, there are often times when I am unable to access the Internet through their company networks while working on-site for long stretches of time. Because of this, I purchased a wireless card awhile back through AT&T. A few months ago, I was at a client location where web access was not an issue, so I knew I would not need my wireless card for about 3-4 months. I didn't want to keep paying $60/month if I was not even using it, so I contacted AT&T customer service to see if they could help me out. Rather than cancelling my contract outright, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of a "contract suspension' program they offer, where it was explained I could put it "on hold" with out any monthly fee and then resume whenever I chose. Kinda like stopping the newspaper for a vacation hold. This seemed like the perfect soution.

However, I just realized I had been charged $10/month during this suspension period. I would have realized this sooner had I looked more closely at my monthly statements. Because I had a large credit due to starting this suspension at the start of a billing period, I only saw the overall credit appearing on each statement. But apparently that credit had been going down every month until this latest bill, when it ran out and I now owed $7.37.

I immediately contacted AT&T customer service to find out why I had been charged a monthly fee during this suspension period. I soon learned that there is actually a "reduced" monthly service charge. The original agent who explained this program to me was completely wrong on the key essence of the program. If I knew that before, I would have just ended my contract then rather than pay any amount while my card was never going to be used for this period of time. In explaining this situation with CSR "Willy," it became clear that he was unable or unwilling to make amends for their agent's misinformation, so I asked to speak with a supervisor.

As I waited on hold for about 15 more minutes, expecting to finally speak with a supervisor who might be willing to credit these past few "reduced" monthly charges and as well as waive them for no more than a couple more months until I resumed service, Willy returned to tell me that "he" spoke with the supervisor himself and all they would offer was to allow me to cancel my contract without paying what would be a $106 early-cancellation charge. At first, that seemed like a good deal and an easy solution, but I really didn't want to cancel.

I countered that if they were willing to credit me back the last 3 months and not charge me anything for up to only 3 more months, I would keep my contract and stay an AT&T customer. I further explained that if I cancelled my contract, it was very uncertain that I would return back to AT&T when I do need to resume having a wireless card, as there are many competitive choices out there, but if they kept me in suspension a little longer under the terms it was originally proposed to me, that would ensure I stay a customer and keep paying $60/month or $720/year once I started back up. I further explained that separately, I am an AT&T customer for my for home cable, phone and Internet and spend over $150/month ($1,800/year) for those services, but that did not seem to matter.

So, bottom line, when AT&T could keep me as a satisfied and loyal customer for as little as $60 total (to credit past charges of $30 and waive up to 3 new months of up to $30 maximum while on suspension), they preferred to instead eat $106 and take the chance that I might possibly start up a new wireless card contract with them in a few months when I am again shopping around for a new wireless card.

Wally was not empowered to deviate from their standard terms & conditions, no matter the circumstance. The supervisor could not be bothered to speak with me after I requested to. From a pure financial standpoint, they made a very bad business decision in both the short-term and long-term. From an overall customer experience standpoint, they were unwilling to take responsibility for an agent's misinformation and essentially opened the door and pushed me away rather than trying to retain my business.

Customer Bliss' Jeanne Bliss: Wegmans Food Markets Excels by Throwing Away the Rule Book

2011-07-25T09:55:00.000-05:00

Customer Bliss' Jeanne Bliss: Wegmans Food Markets Excels by Throwing Away the Rule Book

In The New Marketing Environment, Customer Experience Is King

2011-06-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

Great article from a colleague of mine at Accenture

In The New Marketing Environment, Customer Experience Is King

New seafood brand lets you track your snapper

2011-04-08T12:43:00.002-05:00

Two Musts for Customer Experience Excellence

2011-03-02T12:01:00.000-06:00

Two Musts for Customer Experience Excellence

Marketing’s Need for a Fifth “P”

2011-02-15T13:16:00.002-06:00

The following from Peppers & Rogers 1to1 Media is a book excerpt from my colleagues at Accenture called The Social Media Management Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Get Social Media Working for Your Business.

I am not promoting it because I work with the authors, but instead because it reinforces the critical importance we place on people and the "rich customer experience" that companies must deliver to build and grow collaborative customer - company relationships.

Share your thoughts...

The Year's Biggest Branding and Marketing Fiascoes

2010-12-29T08:33:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to share a look back at 2010's biggest branding and marketing fiascoes, from Ad Age. Do you have any others to share?

Have a happy and healthy New Year and new decade!

The Multichannel Service Imperative

2010-11-29T19:32:00.000-06:00

The Multichannel Service Imperative

Old and New Direct Marketing Worlds Collide

2010-11-11T07:53:00.000-06:00

Old and New Direct Marketing Worlds Collide

American Airlines Renewed Focus on the Customer Experience

2010-10-24T10:17:00.002-05:00

Recently, as I traveled back home to Chicago on my weekly Thursday evening American Airlines flight, I found myself without any reading material. Feeling desparate, I checked out the seat pocket in front of me. I had no interest in buying any life altering invention, so I picked up the in-flight magazine, The American Way.

I was very interested when I came upon an article from Craig Kreeger, SVP - Customer Experience, on American's "renewed focus" to enhance the customer experience. "Today, we are working to improve your journey with us from start to finish -- mindful that it really begins when you select and book your flight and ends as you pick up your bags upon arriving at your destination." This particular article provides examples of how they have invested in technology to improve the travel experience, such as a free iPhone app.

I look forward to following his updates on his progress, as well as experiencing them myself! To read his entire article, please go to page 77.

http://www.emag-americanwaymag.com/october_15_2010.html

Report - Consumers Pay More for Great Experience

2010-10-20T17:57:00.003-05:00

Interesting research report from RightNow that reveals that 55% of North American consumers have become a customer of a company because of their reputation for great customer service. Read more...

http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/consumers-pay-more-for-great-experience-14657/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink

The Case for a Chief Marketing Technologist

2010-10-02T12:50:00.002-05:00

Here is a very good article posted in Ad Age.com that I could not agree with more. I have had deep experience throughout my career leading various marketing initiatives and strategies that involved strong interaction and dependency on technology and the various internal and external resources and solutions available to make it all come together and work. The line between Marketing and Technology increases to become blurred and it is critical that they work hand in hand...

http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=146175

Your thoughts??

No screaming or passenger unrest on this flight, just a birthday song

2010-08-16T14:54:00.002-05:00

We've all heard about the meltdown on JetBlue last week involving flight attendant Steve Slater and his intercom tirade and quick chute exit. As all the details are still being uncovered, I am not shocked to learn that he has already hired a Hollywood publicist to sort through all the "offers." My personal belief is that no matter what may or may not have happened on that flight (most of his account has been seriously discounted from many passengers thus far), his actions were most unprofessional. However, in today's society, little details like the actual facts of what occurred are less important to many people than the immediate, viral momentum for many to consider him a hero. I think not. I hope his 15 minutes of fame are over, but I suspect there will be the made-for-cable-tv movie hitting the airwaves before the year is up. Even if his story turns out to be true, I still plan to skip that flight.

Anyways, upon just returning from a family vacation to Maine (Bar Harbor, Acadia, Freeport, Camden), New Hampshire (Portsmouth) and Rhode Island (Newport), I wanted to share a little "rich customer experience" that won't ever receive any media attention. On our Southwest morning flight from Chicago to Boston, the flight attendant announced that someone special on board was having a 7th birthday that day. She then proceeded to instruct all the passengers to turn on their overhead light to "turn the plane into one big birthday cake with candles." Then she delivered him the most charming birthday crown, made up of peanut packages and coffee stir straws. It actually looked like a King's crown! We all then sang happy birthday to this most appreciative little boy. It was a real great experience for this kid and his family, as well as for the rest of the passengers knowing they were welcome, appreciated and valued.

Does ayone else have any good or bad travel experiences they would like to share?

'Mad Men' Returns, Smoke Clears, and Things Still Aren't What They Seem (Maybe)

2010-07-23T11:11:00.002-05:00

ok, this blog isn't intended for TV reviews, but if you are like me, have been pulled into the Mad Men world these past three seasons. Perhaps it is because of my early career passion for the ad agency world. Or, perhaps now that I am well past 30 something, old repeats of thirty something just doesn't cut it anymore.

Anyways, if you currently enjoy Mad Men, or might want to give it a try, the season premiere begins Sunday night on AMC. Here is a season preview...

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=145044

Five Video Ads to Get You Pumped About the World Cup

2010-06-23T19:53:00.002-05:00

The largest-single global event, the 2010 World Cup, is now two weeks in and we're on to the knock-out round of 16. The U.S. team advanced today in a riveting last-minute win over Algeria. One (last) second, they were about to be eliminated and sent packing...the next, they scored, won Group C and will move on.

The magnitude, importance and excitement of the World Cup has been captured in these five commercials. Even if you're not a "futbol" fan, these ads can't help but demonstrate the rich experience of this global tournament.

Nike, Puma, Pepsi, Carlsberg and Coke Have the Most-Viewed Online Spots so Far. Click on the link below to view...

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=144375

IMC Gathering at BMA Conference

2010-06-04T23:26:00.000-05:00

Just returned from IMC event (Northwestern IMC graduate program) as part of national BMA 2010 "Engage" conference at Swissotel Chicago. Re-connected with old classmates, met other IMC alums, shared my wisdom with some current students and heard fantastic presentations from digital age networking guru Sima Dahl and Jeffrey Hayzlett, former EVP and CMO of Kodak, who is single-handedly leading them back to relevance, and also star of Celebrity Apprentice and digital/social media rock star the world over. A very good day!

Ten Big Marketing Risks That Paid Off for Brands

2010-05-23T22:10:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile since my last blog post. Sorry for that. I look forward to hearing from any of you followers with any of your thoughts or interesting articles to share among the community...

Marketing, like many things in life, requires you take a risk now and then to make a big impact that otherwise you may not attain. Here are ten, as described by Bob Liodice of Ad Age, that we may all not fully realize the risk that they were at the time.

by Bob Liodice Published: May 17, 2010

Marketers consistently push the envelope, hoping that novel ideas will yield stellar results for their brands. Companies attempt to break through boundaries previously set by competitors or, sometimes, themselves. Risk-taking, of course, is both exciting and scary. Deciding which lines to cross is never an exact science. Every decision demands that marketers weigh risks and rewards, but ultimately, without the risks, brands never achieve the best rewards. Below are 10 brands that took risks in their marketing practices and campaigns and proudly lived to tell about them.

-->EVEREADY POWERS PROGRAMMING HOURS
Ads and brand mentions during radio programming appeared in the very early stages of the medium. Programs were often interrupted to allow for station identification and to give proper billing to advertisers. New ways for companies to advertise on the radio appeared in the mid-1920s when the National Carbon Company's "The Eveready Hour" became the first broadcast series to be entirely sponsored. The idea came when George Furness heard a book being read on-air and imagined the possibilities of continuous radio programming, and how advertising could fit into that vision. He went on to become the producer and supervisor of "The Eveready Hour," a show created to showcase American culture.

-->AMERICAN TOBACCO SPENDS MILLIONS TO ADVERTISE LUCKY STRIKE
Lucky Strike sought a motive for the female market to smoke. In doing so, the American Tobacco Co. took on an unlikely competitor: candy. The brand's campaign encouraged women to "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." The National Confectioners Association launched anti-smoking literature in response. The industry rivalries led the FTC to investigate. To fight back, American Tobacco allocated $12.3 million for advertising, an unprecedented amount in 1929, equal to more than $155 million today. Despite great effort, the FTC banned the idea of marketing cigarettes as a weight-loss aid and Lucky Strike amended its campaign to the more innocuous, "Reach for a Lucky instead."

-->ANHEUSER-BUSCH KICKS OFF STADIUM SPONSORSHIPS
In 1953, the famous brewery attempted to buy the naming rights to Sportsman's Park, occupied by the St. Louis Cardinals, and to identify it as "Budweiser Stadium." Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick rejected this first suggestion but eventually accepted the second proposed title, "Busch Stadium." Named for one of Anheuser-Busch's founders, Adolphus Busch, this was the origin of stadium sponsorships in the United States. After the name was approved, Anheuser-Busch released a product called Busch Bavarian Beer, now Busch beer, to complement the stadium's moniker. Its success paved the way for the stadium sponsorships we know today.

-->THE VW BEETLE BEGINS THE CREATIVE REVOLUTION
The Volkswagen Beetle was a small, economic vehicle, with comfort and power. While most advertisers in the 1960s used information-heavy text or fantastical ads to sell products, DDB went against the norm to advertise this unique car. VW appealed to consumers' sensibilities, using emotion and product benefits in clear, concise ways that had never been attempted before. Single words and short phrases such as "Think small" accompanied simple product imagery. The distinctive format of the advertisements and DDB's new agency model, where creative departments and copywriters worked side by side, were the start of what is now known as the creative revolution.

-->THE PEPSI GENERATION JUMP-STARTS THE COLA WARS
According to the Los Angeles Times, "the groundbreaking 'Pepsi Generation' advertisements launched in 1963 profoundly changed the direction of marketing. It focused on the attributes of people who buy Pepsi, rather than attributes of the product." The brand targeted baby boomers, showcasing energetic, young consumers enjoying Pepsi as they went about their athletic, fun-filled lifestyles. Coca-Cola and Pepsi had already been competitors, and for the next 30 years the two would fiercely battle on the advertising stage. The "Cola Wars" defined the soft-drink category for decades.

AVIS USES HONESTY TO WIN
In the early 1960s, Avis had spent 13 years in the red and in second place in the rental-car industry. Robert C. Townsend, Avis' new president, hired DDB to right its business model. Bill Bernbach told the brand to first revamp customer service and improve its product. During the initial collaborative efforts, a gem of an answer was given in response to the question, "Why does anybody ever rent a car from you?" The answer: "We try harder because we have to." This, and acknowledgment of its No. 2 status, became the tagline for Avis. "We're No. 2. We try harder," was risky as a campaign, but the brand's honest, fresh approach used frank facts about the company's business philosophy.

REESE'S PIECES PICKS UP WHERE M&MS LEFT OFF
When Mars Inc. was approached by the producers of a new movie who wished to use M&M's in their film, it declined to participate. The movie integration fell into the hands of the candy most similar to it, Reese's Pieces. Hershey Foods Corp. VP Jack Dowd gauged the opportunity, made sure that it was not a "monster film," and approved the use of the product as the means to lure an alien creature into a boy's home. This became one of the first, most well-known and successful examples of product integration within a movie. In the few weeks following the release of the blockbuster, "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial," sales of Reese's Pieces grew by 65%.

-->THE INUNDATION OF AOL CD-ROMS
Before the days of Facebook and Twitter, AOL dominated the internet world. AOL's onslaught of mailing CD-ROMs and disks to homes and businesses in the late 1990s and early 2000s is still one of the most well-known marketing pushes and led AOL to become the No. 1 internet company. Collecting the disks became a hobby for some, while others rallied against the practice. With the disks and CDs flooding mailboxes, protest groups formed. In 2007 the CDs were given the undesirable top spot on PCWorld's list of most annoying tech products. Despite this, the AOL CDs were deemed a huge success for the company, as AOL soon took the reins as the biggest internet service provider in the world.

-->DORITOS CEDES SUPER BOWL CONTROL
With social media on the rise, brands find themselves relinquishing more control to consumers. Nobody has done that in a bigger way than Doritos. In 2007, the brand launched a contest inviting consumers to "Crash the Super Bowl." It solicited consumer-generated ads for Doritos, asked the world to vote and planned to crown a winner whose 30-second ad would air during Super Bowl XLI. The 2009 contest came with a bonus of $1 million for the winner if the video took the top spot in the post-game advertising polls. For the 2010 Super Bowl, the contest morphed into a 60-second music-video contest featuring a band chosen by visitors to CrashtheSuperBowl.com.

THE SUBSERVIENT CHICKEN CHANGES EVERYTHING
When Burger King looked to promote its TenderCrisp sandwich in a way that supported its "Have It Your Way" tagline, the fast feeder turned to Crispin Porter & Bogusky for help. The agency brought in The Barbarian Group to create a viral-marketing website that risked Burger King's brand image, then quickly rewarded the marketer with a loyal group of young followers. There were upwards of 300 commands to which the Subservient Chicken would respond, and consumers flocked to the site to test them out. Since it debuted in 2004, almost half a billion consumers have interacted with the Subservient Chicken.

http://adage.com/print?article_id=143873

When Good Brands Go Bad - Look for the warning signs before your brand does a Toyota.

2010-04-19T12:50:00.002-05:00

Here is a good article from Forbes about Toyota and its brand that reinforces how important it is to always listen to your customers before it's too late...

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/07/toyota-general-motors-branding-cmo-network-mike-linton.html?partner=cmonetwork_newsletter

A Look Back at 10 Ideas That Changed the Marketing World

2010-02-21T16:59:00.002-06:00

So, do you have any comments on these ten below or any new or different ones to add??

From the Absolut Bottle to the Nike Swoosh, the Inspiring Stories Behind Some of the Industry's Greatest Innovations

Looking back at some of the greatest innovations in marketing and advertising over the past 100 years, the creative brilliance of these ideas is obvious. Yet the stories behind these examples involve bold thinking, the passion to champion new ideas and a high dose of risk. Our industry's visionaries often countered research results, drove themselves beyond the great idea and defied bosses and boards to push through their plans.
Let these stories inspire today's marketers, who have so many new tools at their disposal, to set aside conventional thinking and become the marketing innovators of the next 100 years.

-->L'EGGS' PACKAGING HATCHES A NEW LOOK In 1969, designer Roger Ferriter of Herb Lubalin Associates wouldn't settle. Feeling the work wasn't creative enough, the morning he was presenting new marketing and packaging ideas to Hanes for a low-cost pantyhose launch, he sought to showcase the product in a new way. While squeezing the pantyhose in his fist to see how compact they could be, it struck him that the package could be an egg. Immediately, he also realized that egg rhymes with leg. Adding a French flair, he named the product L'eggs, prepared sketches for that afternoon, and hatched one of the most successful product launches in history.

-->ABSOLUT VODKA'S BOTTLE SPEAKS FOR THE BRANDLars Lindmark, CEO of Sweden's Wines and Spirits, teamed with Gunnar Broman, a Stockholm ad man, to create a liquor-export product. Bowman borrowed the name Absolut Pure Vodka from an inexpensive Swedish vodka and took inspiration from 19th century apothecary bottles for the unusual package. Ignoring opposition from art directors, liquor executives and focus groups, Lindmark began shipping. When he coupled the bottle design with the Absolut (something) campaign from TBWA, the bottle itself became its own marketing engine. Launched in 1979, Absolut became the No. 1-selling imported vodka by 1985.

-->WOODBURY SOAP DARES TO USE SEX APPEALIn 1911, the ad industry was dominated by males, and the advertising they produced was predominantly product-centric. It took a woman, Helen Lansdowne, who headed the newly formed women's editorial department of J. Walter Thompson, to challenge the norms of the day. She refocused Woodbury's advertising on product users with ads that featured elegant young ladies enjoying the attention of dashing young gentlemen. The campaign she directed, "Skin You Love to Touch," is considered by several advertising historians to be the first modern ad campaign to use sex appeal.

-->APPLE COMPUTER: ONE MENTION, ONE AIRINGThe "1984" commercial introduced the Macintosh PC to the world for the first time. Airing nationally just once, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII in 1984, the Ridley Scott-directed spot by Chiat Day represented the Macintosh as a means of saving humanity from "conformity." It mentioned Apple Computer only once. The board of directors hated the spot after viewing it for the first time when Steve Jobs and John Sculley asked for permission to run it. Steve Wozniak volunteered to personally fund half the cost of airing the ad, but luckily there was no need for that, as the board gave in and approved it.

-->AVIS TRIES HONESTYThe "We're No. 2. We Try Harder" campaign broke all of the rules. It admitted Avis was losing money, was short of customers and was second to Hertz. Test results from agency Doyle Dane Bernbach were so poor, no one today would allow it to run. But Bob Townsend of Avis believed in the tagline and knew it expressed Avis's management desires to be different, effective and outstanding. Almost 40 years later it is more than a catchy slogan -- it has become the essence of Avis.

-->BURMA-SHAVE LINES THE HIGHWAYSIn the early years of the automobile, Clinton Odell developed a brushless shaving cream. It was a great product with no marketing plan until his son, Allan, pitched him an idea in 1925: consecutive signs with simple verses, posted at the edge of highways. Clinton, not crazy about the idea, gave Allan $200 for a trial near Minneapolis. The signs delighted motorists, sales soared, and the iconic campaign eventually spawned 600 verses on 7,000 signs, many submitted by the public through an annual contest. Within a decade, Burma-Shave became the second-most-popular shaving cream in America.

-->BENETTON BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHERIn 1965, four brothers in Treviso, Italy, started the now well-known international fashion empire Benetton. In 1984, advertising only in Italy and France, they hit upon an idea. Focusing on the global appeal for racial harmony and peace, Benetton launched its "All the Colors of the World" campaign. In 1989, an intense collaboration between Luciano Benetton and photographer Oliviero Toscani produced a bold and startlingly different campaign. Removing the merchandise from its ads, "The United Colors of Benetton" featured symbolic multicultural photographs. Benetton's commitment to ethnic diversity remains the staple of its advertising today.

-->VOLKSWAGEN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS What do you do if you are Doyle Dane Bernbach and the small, ugly, foreign car you are promoting is competing with over-the-top, macho, American superhero cars? You advocate the negative truths about your car: It isn't big, beautiful or fast. Then sneak in the positives: It doesn't eat gas, oil or tires and doesn't require a big parking spot or high insurance premiums. By turning negatives into witty positives, DDB created an influential ad campaign that made the VW Beetle the best-selling imported car in America and proved that it pays to "Think Small!"

-->BURGER KING'S 'SUBSERVIENT CHICKEN' DOMINATESThe brand promise, "Have it your way," took on a whole new meaning in 2004 with the "Subservient Chicken" campaign. Launching a new TenderCrisp Chicken Sandwich for the company and targeting young adults, VP-Marketing Impact Brian Gies wanted to launch in an unconventional way. Crispin Porter & Bogusky's solution was to launch an interactive website featuring a chicken that could do seemingly any command visitors typed in. The results? A million hits in a day, 20 million the first week, 396 million the first year, an average of a remarkable six to seven minutes spent on the site and a sales increase of 9% per week.

-->NIKE TAKES A $35 LOGO THE DISTANCEOne of the world's most-recognizable logos was derived from truly humble beginnings. In 1971, Carolyn Davidson, a graphic-design student at Portland State University, met University of Oregon track runner and accounting teacher Phil Knight. Phil and his coach, Bill Bowerman, needed a logo for a line of athletic footwear for their new company. They named their product Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory. For $2 an hour, they hired Carolyn as their designer, and, inspired by the wing in the famous statue of Nike, she created the swoosh. Total invoice: $35.

http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=142090

A Short (and Personal) History of Social Media

2010-02-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

I never realized the actual origins of what we know today as Social Media, until I read this interesting article from AdAge/CMO.com. Who would of thought?

http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=141882

Super Bowl Shuffle: Why Marketers Will Shift to 'Platforms'

2010-02-02T19:52:00.001-06:00

Interesting article from AdAge.com on where Super Bowl advertising is evolving to. Go Saints!

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=141790

Domino's delivers with centralized database - DMNews

2010-01-21T21:02:00.000-06:00

Domino's delivers with centralized database - DMNews

Want to Innovate? Then Create a Rich, Holistic Brand Experience

2009-12-28T13:15:00.002-06:00

I wanted to share this perspective on the importance of rich brand experiences , by Laurence Knight, posted on Ad Age.com 12/23/09

Want to Innovate? Then Create a Rich, Holistic Brand Experience
Here's How CMOs Can Capitalize on This Emerging Opportunity

Brand experience is rapidly becoming the new frontier for innovation.
Such brand experiences authentically embed the product into deep content or services, stretching the footprint of the brand far beyond where it is used. This type of innovation is becoming a mandate for growth across a number of consumer categories, particularly in package goods.

Not to be confused with the lifestyle marketing approach of Patagonia, North Face, Disney and the like, experience-led innovation is all about serving up rich, differentiated experiences that encourage consumer involvement and collaboration.

As CMOs look to capitalize on this emerging opportunity, they must take several prerequisite steps.

First, CMOs must rally their organizations to create a clear vision for consumer involvement. Brand development, customer service and breakthrough innovation groups should be integrated and aligned around visionary, experience-based insights that drive the involvement.
Identifying these insights unlocks product benefits and services. Gone are the days when marketing and innovation groups can focus on new product benefits to drive growth and when the innovation group fills the funnel before passing on the responsibility for managing the brand development vision to brand managers.

Insight-led research must be broadened beyond usage to examine how a brand can resonate across core consumer experience states, looking at: 1.) "How does a brand educate me?" 2.) "How does it entertain me?" 3.) "On what can it advise me?" 4.) "Is the brand an expression of me?" 5.) "Does the experience connect me to similar consumers?" 6.) "Does the brand give me a sense of purpose?"

As a team, this integrated organization needs to work seamlessly to translate the experience-based insights into an authentic, holistic experience rather than come up with only emotional and functional product benefits.

A brand that has figured this out is Nestlé's Nespresso, which goes way beyond selling packaged coffee on shelves to offer a holistic experience delivering coffee, machines and services. The brand educates, entertains and involves the fan base in the full experience of how the coffee is grown, selected and roasted. This brand understands the insights behind its experience so deeply that it can present the entertaining style of actor George Clooney alongside the educational voice of its supply-chain manager on YouTube and knows to come up with different innovative designs to appeal to the distinct preferences in different countries.

Second, as brand and innovation teams create new experience states, it's critical to define how a brand philosophy serves the fan base. To do so, it's essential to flip one's thinking, embedding the brand in experiences created rather than taking the traditional benefit-driven approach that consumer package goods have followed. For marketers it's no longer good enough to just capture and manage the brand equity as a static snapshot of benefits, essence, reason-to-believe and key differentiator.

For instance, Unilever's Axe young men's grooming brand differentiates itself by creating authentic, consistent experiences built around a "mating game" platform. Unilever involves consumers using traditional media but also draws them into whole experiences, everything from renaming a popular nightclub in New York's Hamptons to the Axe Lounge and saturating it with Axe branding to creating a female Axe Patrol that visits bars and clubs, frisking guys and applying body spray. This platform is clearly linked to the Axe brand, and no other brand could replicate these experiences and still seem authentic.

Third, with the shift toward identifying rich experience states rather than product usage, teams must experiment with new formats for describing concepts that depart from the standard 100-word limit. Now working directly with rich-media production companies, the pioneering marketers in this area are creating deep content from five to 30 minutes that is more entertaining, educational and solution-oriented. Embedded in the rich experience are 15- to 30-second sound bites that can be used in more than just traditional media activation.

Natural beauty brand Bare Escentuals embeds the simple "swirl, tap, buff" foundation-application ritual into every brand experience, both in media and at retail. This not only educates the consumer, but the ritual becomes the essence of the brand reinforced across all experience points and creates a product connection simply through the experience itself.
A key element of Bare Escentuals' marketing is QVC programming featuring CEO Leslie Blodgett, a format that demands demonstrable, experience-driven storytelling. She has created rich stories around the brand, how it's used and where it's from, and she actively recruits her fan base as unpaid advocates to go forth and evangelize. She also drew them in with a documentary-style video shared on YouTube about how the Bare Escentuals' campaign called "Try, Believe, Love" was created. She's living the experience of the brand and showing how it can be lived on so many levels.

Brands such as these that understand, embrace and innovate using experience-based insights have a true advantage in developing breakthrough innovation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laurence Knight is president-founder of Fletcher-Knight, a marketing-innovation consultancy that specializes in translating consumer insights into winning brand ideas and growth strategies.

Social Media's the Little Engine That Can Build Awareness

2009-12-17T13:33:00.002-06:00

I wanted to share this interesting perspective from Judy Shapiro, posted on AdAgeDigital 12/16/09

Social Media's the Little Engine That Can Build Awareness
Here Are Six Reasons Why It Will in 2010

Remember the children's story "The Little Engine That Could"? It told of how the big shiny engines were not up to the task of getting up over the hill to deliver the toys to the kids in time for the holidays. Instead, despite the skeptics, it was the little engine in an act of pure will, that kept telling itself, "I think I can, I think I can," who was able to get over the big hill to get the job done.

In some ways, social media is like that little engine (and I use the term social media in its broadest sense to encompass digital and social media). Everyone is playing with social media, but there is a deeply held perception that social media lacks mass audience reach, measurability and depth to get the job done. This perception fuels the debate of whether digital agencies are "ready to lead," which as been a hot topic even within this very forum. Some digital agencies contend that social media is mature enough to be the leading vehicle whereas big agencies stay true to the law of large numbers that traditional media reliably delivers.

But the debate about who should lead seems rather irrelevant, because the key concern should be what will work to get over that "awareness hill" that every advertiser must scale to achieve business results. Is the little social media engine ready to scale the big hill?
"I think it can" and here's why.

When social media exploded on the scene (and I think that's a fair characterization), it garnered attention because it held the promise of microtargeting in combination with a new level of engagement that one-way traditional advertising could never duplicate. No one doubted the value of reaching people in these highly engaged environments, but no one really knew how to do it efficiently en masse. Large agencies operated within the traditional ad model that delivered numbers while digital agencies tended to rely on the "viral" nature of their tactics to deliver large numbers. That approach was too hit-and-miss to satisfy most businesses and rightfully so.
This is why, until now, social media has not captured a larger share of big advertisers' budgets -- it seems oxymoronic that social media's microtargeting capability can ever deliver mass audiences.

But like our little engine, I believe 2010 will be the year where the social media finally says "I think I can" to deliver large audiences because the technology pieces are coming together to create the formula for audience reach, measurability and interactivity that yield intent and business results. There is a new maturity in this space as represented, for example, by marketers who now understand that thousands of Twitter followers has no direct relevance to effectiveness or that Facebook alone can not launch campaigns.

Here's how the social media engine can be used to deliver mass audiences efficiently:

Think about creating "content campaigns" to drive a focused message using a multichannel approach, e.g video, mobile marketing, social networks and even traditional media. This approach puts the value on content as an audience builder but in a very strategic way. And to help content campaigns along, there are innovative new technology companies, like WebCollage, that offer content syndication and management services to make this task very efficient on a large scale.
Tap into the power of your customer service organization to be your social-media front-line soldiers. It is one of the most powerful ways to achieve mass reach within current organizational resources. JetBlue is a great example here as they make it a point to respond to every tweet within minutes.
Create mobile apps to propel new interactions while allowing you to bake in the viral looping element. Gap Style Mixer is a great example; the app gets you in-store discounts while letting you share the discounts with friends.
Use behaviorally appropriate ad networks as the "carpet layer" of a social-media campaign to deliver large number of impressions similar to the old fashioned GRP (gross rating points) of TV. But to ensure that impressions deliver interactivity, weave in a diversity of behavioral targeting opportunities and retargeting programs from companies like FetchBack or SearchIgnite (this is where you re-present ad an to a target who did not respond the first time).
Adapt real-world social networks to extend the reach of your social media campaigns. One innovative company in this space is called HouseParty, which allows people to host real world parties for product sampling (think Tupperware parties or Avon Ladies). This company cleverly utilizes social media so they can deliver large scale numbers quickly and efficiently.
Introduce new tools to measure social media that focus on engagement, interactivity and intent. One great example is a company called Nuconomy, which provides new tools to understand how interactivity drives intent and sales.

As in our story, when the little engine scaled over the hill, it gleefully said "I thought I could, I thought I could." Perhaps 2010 will be the year when the social media is able to say the same.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Judy Shapiro is senior VP at Paltalk and has held senior marketing positions at Comodo, Computer Associates, Lucent Technologies, AT&T and Bell Labs. Her blog, Trench Wars, provides insights on how to create business value on the internet.

The Economic Recovery Mirrors Customer Strategy

2009-12-09T09:17:00.002-06:00

This is an interesting article that compares and equates the broad economic dynamics of the past year with that companies in how they deliver to their customers...

"There was a shattering of confidence and no trust" within the global banking sector. If a lack of confidence and trust brought the world's economies to their knees, imagine how a lack of customer confidence and trust can impact a company. "Once confidence goes, you're in a terrible position because you don't know how far down it will go," added Gerard Lyons, Ph.D., chief economist at Britain's Standard Chartered Bank. He was referring to national economies, but he may as well have been speaking to a room full of customer executives.

1to1 Weekly
Date: 11/09/2009
Issue: November 9, 2009

The Economic Recovery Mirrors Customer Strategy
Global economic recovery and customer-focused business strategy have a lot in common.

These days, when economists get together, the conversation usually isn't pretty. The Great Recession this past year hit almost every industrialized nation, and then some. At last week's Premier Business Leadership Series (PBLS) conference, however, leading economists framed what they think will be a global recovery in a way that mirrors customer-centric strategy.
The recession has two overarching causes, according to Joseph Quinlan, managing director and chief market strategist at Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division. "There was a shattering of confidence and no trust" within the global banking sector, he said. If a lack of confidence and trust brought the world's economies to their knees, imagine how a lack of customer confidence and trust can impact a company. "Once confidence goes, you're in a terrible position because you don't know how far down it will go," added Gerard Lyons, Ph.D., chief economist at Britain's Standard Chartered Bank. He was referring to national economies, but he may as well have been speaking to a room full of customer executives.

As the recovery begins, the tactics and strategies being discussed sounded a lot like what you would find in a customer strategy playbook. "We are seeing the first flickering signs of recovery," said David Hale, a global economist at Hale Advisors, referring to slightly positive numbers around housing starts, consumer confidence, and the loosening of credit by banks. However, we've got a long way to go, he said, and there is still rampant unemployment and uncertainty.

One positive outcome of the recession, Hale noted, was that as a consequence of layoffs in the U.S. there has been a gain in productivity compared to other nations that did not eliminate as many jobs. "U.S. businesses will enter 2010 ten to 15 percent more competitive than Japan or Germany," he told the PBLS audience. "This puts us in a good position for export growth."
Growth in exports is akin to a strong customer acquisition and retention plan: Who are we going to export U.S. goods and services to, and will they buy? Lyons said that within the past decade more people in the world have emerged from poverty, creating a new middle class in China, India, and other parts of the world. As potential customer bases expand, nations will have to understand the needs of these new consumers to deliver the right products and grow share-of-wallet in these emerging markets. "Countries with the ability to adapt and change will be successful," Lyons said.

The invisible versus the visible handIt's almost impossible to get a group of economists together without someone bringing up Adam Smith, the father of modern economics. And the PBLS event was no different. During the conclave Lyons pointed out that Smith's term "the invisible hand," which describes the free market, doesn't tell the whole story. He explained that Smith also defined a "visible hand" – morality and ethics. "People talk about the power of the invisible hand, but not the visible," Lyons said. "The financial sector has lost that."

This is another direct reflection of customer-centric thinking. As Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., discuss in their latest book, Rules to Break and Laws to Follow, a company that does not act in the best interests of its customers shouldn't operate a business at all. Acting in customers' best interest is necessary to create an internal corporate culture that encourages morality and ethics in all business dealings. Trust and transparency, effective employee engagement, and the balance of short- and long-term strategy are the foundation of a successful customer-focused organization, they write. It's also the foundation for a successful global economy. "We need to get some morality and ethics back in the system and focus on the long-term opportunity," Lyons said.

If You're Wondering What Not To Do When It Comes to Social Media, Learn From BCS

2009-11-30T09:05:00.002-06:00

To the RichCustomerExperience Community, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! With the holiday shopping season upon us, I know there will be many companies who will deliver you a rich customer experience. I am even more confident there will be companies who will leave you disappointed. Please share your stories with us...

In the meantime, I wanted to share this good article that reinforces an important lesson regarding how to use, and how not to use, social media.

The BCS might not be your favorite institution, but it has kindly spent the last week creating a useful case study in how not to use social media...but it made the classic mistake—at least initially—of treating these social-media platforms like propaganda broadcast tools, rather than a way of finding out what, exactly, fans want.

If You're Wondering What Not To Do When It Comes to Social Media, Learn From BCS
http://adage.com/article?article_id=140754

Behind Coca-Cola's Biggest Social-Media Push Yet

2009-11-18T08:30:00.000-06:00

This is a real interesting article on how Coca-Cola is gearing up for its largest social-media project ever, one that will test its own internal flexibility and force a number of its global markets into the digital and social-media space. Although I am not convinced that this project will really sell more Cokes, I do applaud their aggressive move into social media and inserting this new channel, that is becoming pervasive in many peoples' everyday lives, into their marketing machine toolkit.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140591

My Rich Experience at Springsteen Concert

2009-11-17T15:47:00.009-06:00

Much has been written about companies needing to deliver a "rich customer experience" built around their products and services and all aspects of their brand to their consumers. The other night I was enjoying myself at yet another Bruce Springsteen concert and came to the realization on something I guess I had always known as a loyal fan...he delivers a great experience, everytime. Performers should be held up to as high a standard when it comes to delivering on a memorable, satisfying and enjoyable experience. If they don't, they face the same consequences as the retailer or the airline does...growing customer discontent, less loyalty, fewer purchases, poor word-of-mouth, declining profits...

Anyways, back to The Boss. Throughout his long career, he has always been known for delivering marathon-length concerts packed with his non-stop energy, emotion and responsiveness to his fans. Even now at the age of 60 years-young, his fans comes first.

On this tour, he is playing certain albums in their entirety among the 3-hour set-list. This night, he played Born to Run. As he noted on stage, this was the first album to start a real “conversation” between himself and his now-rabid fan base. More than 30 years after its release, this album still touches a powerful chord among the Springsteen faithful. He also takes requests from the crowd. There were hundreds of homemade signs with names of songs on them, and sometimes even a special message. "Living Proof" was a request the Band wasn't prepared to play. A sign with a photo of an infant, "future Boss fan," born two weeks ago Sunday night, prompted Springsteen to tackle the song. It took a while for him to get everyone together. It was like a glimpse of a rehearsal, but they got it right. That moment gave a feeling of intimacy, not sloppiness. He also went into the crowd multiple times, even at one time "body-surfing" the crowd from half-way back on the floor, trusting his faithful would get him back where he belongs on stage.

At times, it was hard to tell who was enjoying the concert more, the crowd or Springsteen. Truly a rich customer experience. Can't wait until the next show!

Marketing Needs a CMO: Why It's Time to Restore Marketing's Credibility by Driving Growth

2009-11-17T14:57:00.000-06:00

Here's an interesting article that offers a perspective on the credibility, relevance and importance of marketing today... along with a good discussion that follows
http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=140520

2009 State of Marketing Study: The Shift

2009-11-16T10:06:00.000-06:00

Prophet recently released results of it's latest survey, 2009 State of Marketing Study: The Shift, conducted in partnership with the Association of National Advertisers. The goal of their research was to understand how marketers are shifting their roles from supporting business growth to being in the driver's seat and leading the growth agenda. Elevating marketing to a higher level requires both mindset and cultural shifts that start with, but are by no means limited to, marketing leadership. This study uncovered that while marketers from all walks and at all levels understand the need to effect such shifts, they’re further away from its realization than they think. See an executive summary of survey results here

http://www.prophet.com/downloads/whitepapers/shift-survey-2009.pdf

Southwest Airlines and Case-Mate on Leveraging Social Media to Gather Customer Feedback by Steve Latham

2009-11-01T13:40:00.000-06:00

Southwest Airlines and Case-Mate on Leveraging Social Media to Gather Customer Feedback by Steve Latham

The DMA Needs a Paradigm Shift

2009-10-22T18:16:00.001-05:00

The DMA Needs a Paradigm Shift

Posted using ShareThis

Customer-centric view to define future CMOs: Forrester

2009-10-22T08:34:00.000-05:00

Here's interesting but expected findings from a new study from Forrester...

Forrester Research data released this month shows that just over one in 10 companies value data-driven customer intelligence at the C-level. However, analyst Dave Frankland, the report's author, expects that to improve.

Forrester found in its October 16 study, The Intelligent Approach to Customer Intelligence, that 12% of company executives embrace customer intelligence, defined as "the management and analysis of customer data from all sources, used to drive marketing performance and business strategy."

In the study, the result of interviews over the past year with customer intelligence professionals, including a survey of 301 during the year's second quarter, Frankland noted marketing departments are likely to become "customer advocate[s]" as they try to reach savvier, advertising-skeptical consumers while demonstrating bottom-line results.

"In many organizations, the database was built solely to send direct mail," Frankland said. "Now, many companies are waking up to the fact that this isn't a contact opportunity, it's a knowledge opportunity."

It's likely that CMOs will lead this charge toward more accountable marketing, he added.
"The traditional archetype of CMO is focused on the brand, and though that will never go away, I think the focus on the customer hasn't always been there as much as it should," Frankland said. "There is the opportunity for the CMO to become the change agent.”

"When we discuss this with direct marketers, we tell them this is an opportunity for them to enhance their role in the organization," he added.

A little humor

2009-10-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

Taking a slight detour from the all serious and important topics related to the customer experience, I wanted to share a funny clip on How NOT to use Powerpoint. Perhaps a learning opportunity here as well. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM

Knowledge-Sharing Resources

2009-09-21T07:58:00.000-05:00

Aside from sharing all our own personal and professional rich customer experiences with one another, there are also plenty of other good resources like blogs and industry websites where we can also turn to for knowledge. I wanted to share my set of resources that I track and monitor with you, in hopes you might be able to share some of your top knowledge-sharing resources with our Community as well...

CRM2.0: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/
Customer Experience: http://www.rightnow.com/blog/
Paul Greenberg http://the56group.typepad.com/
Destination CRM: http://www.destinationcrmblog.com/
Brent Leary: http://crm2.typepad.com/brents_blog/
Inside CRM: http://www.insidecrm.com/
CRM daily: http://www.crm-daily.com/
CRM Buyer: http://crmbuyer.com/
1 to1 media: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/
Bruce Tempin/Forrester> http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/
Forrester/Marketing Leadership> http://blogs.forrester.com/agencies/
Dave Frankland/Forrester> http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/daves_posts/
Customer Think www.customerThink.com
CRM Outsiders http://www.crmoutsiders.com/
Collection of CRM Intelligence> http://freecrmstrategies.wordpress.com/
Graham Hill's blog has some good insights> http://www.customerthink.com/user_content/37 Peppers & Rogers > http://www.peppersandrogersgroup.com/blog/
Big Fat Marketing blog http://www.bigfatmarketingblog.com/
Ultimate Customer Experience http://ultimatecustomerexperience.blogspot.com
Vitamin IMC vitaminimc.blogspot.com
Trends > http://www.trendcentral.com/WebApps/App/Global/Home.aspx Branding/Advertising blog> http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/
Interactive Marketing/Advertising blog> http://www.adverblog.com/
Customer value resources http://www.colloquy.com/
Peppers&Rogers http://www.1to1.com/
Yankelovich data-driven marketing> http://www.yankelovich.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Marketing charts for download> http://www.marketingcharts.com/
Technorati blog search engine http://technoratimedia.com/
MarketingSherpa http://www.marketingsherpa.com/
BtoB Magazine http://www.btobonline.com/
Target Marketing http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/
MyCustomer http://www.mycustomer.com/
Top 100 Social Media Cheat Sheet for Business http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=52413013&gid=146431&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fnextmark%2Etypepad%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F2009%2F07%2Ftop-100-b2b-social-media-cheat-sheet%2Ehtml&urlhash=Z91s&trk=news_discuss>

How much does the role of company recruiters impact the customer brand experience?

2009-08-07T16:42:00.000-05:00

A recent report from Forrester Research shows that customer experience is closely tied to customer loyalty, and that the correlation between the two has been increasing. In the report, customer experience was measured by whether the company meets a customer's needs, whether the company is easy to work with, and the enjoyability of a consumer's interactions with the company. Bruce Temkin of Forrester also states that the most fundamental customer experience principle is that "every interaction creates a personal reaction, simply put, experiences are totally in the eyes of the beholder."

According to a related study from SAS Institute and Peppers & Rogers Group, only 20 percent of companies today even try to know the state of their customer experience by measuring it holistically across all channels.

Throughout my consulting career, I have been helping companies to recognize that it is the summary of all customer touchpoints, not solely advertising and marketing activities, that form that customer brand experience. I believe one major, "under-the-radar" result of this economic recession and competitive jobs market is the new and growing impact that HR (now sometimes called Talent Acquisition) is having on the company brand experience.

Over the past six months, I have interacted (or attempted) with HR/Talent Acq. recruiters at over 100 companies. Based on my own personal job search, the typical "experience" has been a general lack of acknowledgement, status or response to job applications, even sometimes when after actually going through the interview process. I miss the days of rejection letters in the mail, which at least provided closure. Likewise, I have heard very similar and frightening stories from others. In my opinion, the millions of job-seekers out there today, who may also be potential current consumers, as well as future company business leaders, vendors, partners or industry peers, are experiencing very poor interactions with many companies that will stick with them (and everyone they tell). It's too early to tell just yet the longer-term impacts on company brands from this current phenomena, but I think it's worth noting the importance and influence of company HR/Talent Acq recruiters who are on the front-lines.

Whether you have interacted with company recruiters recently or not, how much does the role of HR impact, whether positively or negatively, the customer brand experience in today's bad economy?

Share your good company customer experiences

2009-07-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

In a previous discussion, we talked about bad company customer experiences. I think people will think twice now about flying United Airlines, or signing up for AT&T (dis)service.

Anyways, please share any of your good or great company customer experiences ALONG with why you think so. Thank you.

Blog Community Engagement

2009-07-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

It often takes a little while for new blogs like this one to gain traction through posts and comments to discussions on an ongoing basis. Until then, I will initiate topics more frequently to keep the momentum.

I value your current participation, whether just monitoring or posting, and hope you continue to find increasing value here. As your time and interest allows, please feel free to go back to any previous discussions to post any comment, or start up a new topic of interest to you.

Thank you again for being a part of the Rich Customer Experience Community.

Share your bad company customer experiences

2009-06-19T12:10:00.000-05:00

Every one of us has experienced just bad, horrendous service from a company or organization at one time or another. Aside from all of us being consumers, the fact that we are also customer and marketing professionals makes these customer "experiences" that much more shocking.

Please share any of your bad company customer experiences ALONG with how you would have managed the situation after it occurred or prevented it in the first place.

What is your definition of CRM?

2009-06-09T20:04:00.000-05:00

There are literally hundreds of definitions of CRM (customer relationship management) out there. My own personal one is: a company-wide business philosophy embodied throughout an organization that puts customers first, with the objective of engaging them to build mutually-beneficial long-term, valuable relationships.

What is your definition or what are attributes that you believe it should include?

Pre-Launch...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

2009-06-09T09:39:00.000-05:00

Once again, thank you for being a part of the Rich Customer Experience Community. With the launch of this new blog, I wanted to reiterate that its relevancy and value for everyone is driven on your active engagement. However, if you just want to monitor the discussions, that's ok too. Hopefully this new community will become a meaningful resource to you for spurring new ideas, challenging old ones, identifying and sharing best practices (or worst practices), helping a peer to solve a problem or any other useful purpose.

Welcome...

2009-06-04T23:29:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Rich Customer Experience Community!

Before launching into the first topics of discussion, I wanted to first provide just a little background on how I began my career and the path, with its twists & turns, that led me here.

Growing up watching way too much tv during my childhood, in some unconscious way, Darrin Stephens (both of them) and the antics at McMann & Tate exposed me to the glamorous, exciting and "magical" world of advertising. Of course, I was watching re-runs, since Bewitched ran from 1964 to 1972. I can't pinpoint any other significant influences on my career aspirations looking back now, although I somehow knew during my high school days that I wanted to study both advertising and marketing, two discliplines I felt were so inter-connected that I wanted to understand both. That led me to Syracuse University, where I could major in both simultaneously. During this time, my interest in both fields continued to grow and reconfirmed my decision and focus. However, it seemed like another tv drama came along and influenced me further. Although I wasn't even a twenty-something yet, I became hooked on the ad agency world from 1987-1991 watching Michael and Elliott and the travails at DAA on Thirtysomething. I knew then that I had to be a copywriter at an ad agency.

As my graduation in 1990 was now fast-approaching, I soon began to face the stark realization that breaking into advertising, on the creative side nonetheless, would not be easy, especially with the industry heading into an economic tailspin. This is where the path became bumpy...

During my last semester of school, I flew to Chicago (all on my own dime, or I should say credit card) for two days just to drop of my resume and portfolio around town and pound the pavement. I left with blistery, bleeding feet and had to catch the train back to the airport wearing only socks...

Heading back again to Chicago that summer for 9 days, again all on my own...credit card, I managed to obtain 31 informational interviews at almost every major and minor ad agency in town. Of course, no one was hiring, but it was a start...

Realizing that I wasn't going to find a job while still living at home in Upstate New York, I was determined to save up money and move to Chicago one year from my graduation date...

On the morning of May 6, 1991, I hit the road with all my life's belongings (or at least what I could squeeze into my small sports car) and hit the road, never to look back...and arrived in Chicago 12 hours later without a job, a place to live, or even knowing anyone. Well, that is not entirely true. This was not some spontaneous adventure. If you know me, I research and plan out everything. Actually, I had been planning this for a year...

I lived in a tiny but nice dorm room at Northwestern's graduate housing building at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive for $12/night. It fit my budget well. Lived on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and water as my two meals a day, every day. Ummm...

Outside of my ongoing informational and real job interviews, the only person I ever spoke with was the newspaper guy at the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues, who I passed about ten times a day.

Finally, finally, after three months, landed my first job in advertising at a small ad agency off of Michigan Avenue. I had kept in touch with them since speaking with them the summer before. I was earning $10,500/year with no benefits, no paid holidays, no vacation time. It didn't matter. I was in. I could now move out of the dorm. I could now stop eating pb&j.
I was now a copywriter (as well as anything else they asked me to do each day). Nine months later, though, the agency was sold to a larger one and I was let go, but it didn't matter because I was on my way.

Two months later, I was working in a new position with a large publishing company, doing direct mail, advertising, PR and promotions. I was beginning my strategic shift from creative advertising to integrated marketing. A few years later, went back to school full-time and earned my MS in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern. Then off to Leo Burnett, where I led all database marketing programs for two large brands. Wanting to gain broader industry experience, I entered the world of consulting for the next eight years with Andersen, KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint (all the same company--but that's another long story), where I consulted to Fortune 500 clients across many industries on a wide range of customer, marketing and branding strategic & operational issues and solutions to improve the customer brand experience and the effectiveness of delivering it. My most recent stop was on the client side, leading the database and interactive marketing teams at USG, a Fortume 500 building-materials manufacturer.

Over this Long path, my professional as well as personal life events have shaped and instilled in me a passion for rich customer experiences. Thank you for allowing me to share a little background. Now, on to our discussions!