FRANKthoughts

Find a simple way to make me talk about you and love you. Give me something I need/want. Don’t make it hard for me to participate. Make it easy for me to tell a friend. Make it worth my while.

This is what T-mobile was trying to do in the US last week. They called it: “Customer Delight Day” and they got PR from a number of sources including this mention in CrunchGear. Now, I love the idea of Customer delight but in this case I think the marketing team was getting high on their own supply. Here are some of the comments on the CrunchGear post:

“I stopped by a T-Mobile store today (original, not a reseller) — the rep didn’t know anything about the promotion so couldn’t offer anything. It was in in the Washington DC metro area.” 

“During these rainy days in Seattle this is one of the few bright spots to look forward too. Thank you TMobile for making my day more enjoyable. I’ll just go to your downtown store to be delighted. Oh wait it is closed. F U BASTARDS” 

“Sort of smart, given the absolute customer satisfaction peril the telecom industry is in. But still quite misguided – a wham-bam-thank-you-m’am stunt like that is sure to get some PR value (heck, here we are talking about it) but doesn’t exactly foster a long-term relationship with even those customers who do stop by to collect their “delight.” Missing the “step beyond” factor.” 

How about making customers delight day every day of the year? Or every week? Instead of a get $10 free calls how about making every Monday a mummy makeover day? That’s what Kidspot social, the social place for mums are doing and it’s a great example of how to grow a community of passionate users.

Here’s what this weeks winner sent to Kidspot:

Mum mum mum I want some fun
Always about the
Kids
Everyday is the same
Outrage at Mum saying No
Violent Tantrums they can throw
Endless nappies to be changed
Round the clock I hear MUM!!

Makeover Monday my only hope
One day for me me me
New hair for a yummy mummy
Daddy (husband) will think I’m a MILF
Attractive & Alive
Yes this will make me want to give you a HI-5

You’ll notice the first letters make the words: Makeover Monday. How’s this for some brand loving? Please compare with the comments on the T-mobile promotion. Here’s the big difference: The Makeover Monday is a small treat but hey, it’s going to make the chosen mum KICK ASS. The T-mobile promotion doesn’t make me kick ass. Is your marketing helping your users to kick ass?  (Thank you Kathy Sierra - wish you were still blogging).

Tamir’s not that happy with MTV, but he likes change…..hmmmmmmmmm. Perhaps this MTV Networks International’s Global Climate Change Campaign will restore his faith:

Cool, heh? Or should I say warm? The online component, MTV Switch, uses tag lines like ‘Go Lo Carb’ and animated characters known as ‘Environmentors’ to to educate users (probably Gen Y and younger) about simple things individuals and households can do to reduce carbon emissions. The Environmentors are adorable - Treehugger is my favourite and I have a soft spot for Mother Nature - she reminds me of my Grandma.

The first post I’ve written on FRANK thoughts was about change. Now everything is changing. The environment, the economy, the technology, the politics. In dramatic times of change there is no point in going “business as usual”. We cant just sit on the fence and see where this is going. In every change situation, especially in a downturn, there’s an opportunity. We just need to find it. A few thoughts on how to start:

1. Obama won because of the web - how can you do it? it’s not about investing more money. It’s about investing what you have in a different way. Twitter costs nothing. Can you spare 10 minutes per day to make your clients feel better? How about getting all your employees to send photos to flickr? video on youtube? it’s all there and all free.

2.  Make your users lives better - How can you help your customers? Instead of another advertising campaign talking about how you re-branded (changed your package and added a green overlay to your logo), why not spend the money on revolutionize the way packaging works (see how Amazon did it!) ? This is also called Marketing as a service. If done right it’s a word of mouth investment that can have enormous ROI.

3.  Use the wisdom of crowds - you don’t need an expansive and expensive survey to get some feedback. A time of change is a great excuse to “clean your closet”. Create a small (5 question) survey and email it to your clients. Ask for real feedback and do something about it! If you want to go the extra mile why not ask your customers to be part of your business. Starbucks did it. Want to do it too? you can use UserVoice.

4. Start reading blogs - blogs are a great source of information. More than that they are great source of inspiration. Start reading some and figure out how to use RSS (If you haven’t already, it’s easy). Another 20 minutes per day reading blogs can lead you to some extremely valuable ideas.

5.  Look for the people who know and ask for advice- there are plenty of us now. People who know how to use online tools and will be happy to answer questions, provide links, recommend colleagues and give away ideas.

What can you add to this? what did you do to find the opportunity in changing times?

Well, MTV Music online had a brilliant week until…. they locked more then 50% of their content to people outside the US. This is just annoying. Can’t you guys find some way to engage with your audience online? The music industry is now struggling for more than 3 years and the best they can come out with is punishing, restricting access and losing money. Take a look at Myspace solution with MTV content with a company called Auditude. So, it works with (M)TV content. Why can’t it work with music? All I want is to get physical, so can you please put an itunes “buy it now” button on the video and get this over with?

Olivia Newton-John |MTV Music

Last week I’ve found out that Australia is going to be the third country in the world getting an electric car network! The company behind this initiative is called “better place” and they’re now collaborating with AGL and Macquarie bank to establish a network of electric cars, charge spots and battery exchange stations. Better place goals are sustainable transportation, global energy independence and freedom from oil. I like what they’re doing on their site especially a nifty little idea called: “10 word manifesto”, where you can tell the world the reason why you think we must end our addiction to oil. You can also ebbed and share yours on your blog!
I can’t wait to drive one of these cars myself. I just wish their cars would look as sexy as Tesla’s:

I hate being told that something is not possible. Here is another small example that proves impossible is only a temporary state of mind.

Thanks IDEO.

Well, it finally happened. MTV is joining the next generation by putting all it’s music videos ONLINE. No more silly time spent trying to find your favorite music video on youtube but a simple, friendly site that will bring back all these great memories. (usually dancing with girls that were way taller than me).

More memory lane material include me bartending and VJing at the “Cats” bar in Tel-Aviv with VHS tapes recorded from MTV and shown via a projector on a big screen. This is how we did it back then: I used to watch MTV at home for hours trying to catch the right spot when songs start and recording them into a VHS tape. After having about 3 hours of music videos on tape, I used to write (on paper) a “song menu” with the name of the song, the artist, a comment about it and the exact time on the tape this song starts. Then, when I came to work at around 7pm, I would spend an hour building my “set” by fast forwarding and rewinding until the video I wanted was in place, ready to be shown later to our pundits.

Ok, back to MTV. A quick look at the most viewed all time will reveal pearls like the first video I’ve seen on MTV: Dire Straits “Money For Nothing”, My most anticipated video: Guns N’ Roses “November Rain” and my all time favorite: Take On Me By a-ha. Now, there are so many brilliant finds there but I’ll leave it to you. More good news? every video is embeddable, commentable and rateable. Here’s one of my favorite videos, bit of a summer opener. Welcome MTV, I missed you. (thanks to Lau Ardelean from threeminds).

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince |MTV Music

 We, the consumer, are having to pay artificially high prices for a range of products at the moment. Possibly the worst oligopoly-offenders, in these ‘turmoilic’ times, are the oil companies and supermarkets. The challenge for consumers is to create critical mass in order to effect change. One such opportunity is Aussie Farmers Direct (AFD). I’ve long held the belief that the potential power of communities can be the catalyst for change and here’s a great opportunity. All AFD’s products are 100% Australian owned and made and delivered to your door in esky bags. They go beyond milk to juices, eggs, cheese, cream, bread, bacon, butter, coffee, water plus seasonal fruit and veggies. You can sign up here.

Part of their service includes “Mealopedia.” This help you create your weekly menu & a shopping list that only contains the required amounts of ingredients you’ll need.

As i wandered around the busy aisles of Safeway yesterday having injected a dollar into the trolley, queued to pay, pushed said trolley to car, loaded the car, returned the trolley, driven home and unloaded car i wondered about how much i value my budget and my time…not enough me thinks.

I’ve signed up to AFD. It’s a small step but its the accumulative effect of small steps from communities that will effect change for the better.

This week I was stunned to learn that international agencies working for global brands don’t always share their creative ideas, even if they are extremely effective.   Weird.  I know it’s an ego thing and realise that not all executions transcend cultural borders but, big heads aside, if it’s a good idea just roll with it. Being the patriotic Canadian that I am, I thought I’d take a moment to check out some ad campaigns that are currently running in Toronto to see if they may have been influenced by anything I’ve seen here.  No luck.  What I did find was a fantastic McDonald’s billboard advertising their use of ‘freshly cracked eggs’. 

 I also found an American McDonald’s egg sign that proves anything is possible when it comes to outdoor.  The best part is-the egg only ‘cracks’ open from 6.30-10am when eggs are served.  Brilliant!

 If I were an outdoor provider I’d be preparing a quote for McDonalds Australia as we speak.