Lee Dunbar

Jul

31

The Round Up

July 31, 2008

Oh please, I hope this isn’t true. ‘Cocky new female pilot‘ meets a guy who was a cocky pilot 20 years ago in this follow up to Top Gun. Yes, Maverick is rumoured to be making his return in Top Gun II. Poor Goose is turning in his grave.

PC Pro reports that the British Police have started using YouTube to embarrass people who use the emergency 999 service (their version of 911) for anything other than emergencies. “It’s important people realise that what could seem a harmless joke could result in a serious criminal conviction or endanger someone’s life,” says chief superintendent Dave Hayler. “We want to send out a warning that we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour and positive action will be taken.”

Robert M. McDowell makes the case for keeping the Internet open and free. Let the engineers solve the problem — not politicians.

Nate Anderson does good job tearing DRM apart in his article DRM still sucks: Yahoo Music going dark, taking keys with it.

To encourage New Yorkers to explore their own city instead of traveling elsewhere, the City of New York is closing streets for pedestrian use only for three Saturday mornings in August. The town I live in does this one Saturday a summer and there are many, including myself, who think it should be done every Saturday to allow our farmers market and other vendors to set-up. It would be a great for locals and a good tourism draw as well.

 

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jul

23

The Round-Up

July 23, 2008

Well, here’s today’s collection of things that caught my eye …

Gizmodo gets an exclusive tour of the Lego factory. See video showing the entire manufacturing process of the Lego bricks. Kinda like learning the Caramilk secret.

An article in Computerworld outlines how web 2.0 can facilitate development 2.0, facilitating better software quality and a more efficient process.

Isn’t it ironic? From the fossil fuel capital of the US, the state of Texas Approves a $4.93 Billion Wind-Power Project.

Can product piracy be a good thing?

Wired reports that, seeking to make money from mistyped website names, some of the United States’ largest ISPs instead created a massive security hole that allowed hackers to use web addresses owned by eBay, PayPal, Google and Yahoo, and virtually any other large site.

It’s reported that Tesla Motors is starting to deliver their production electric cars. Here are the stats: 220 miles per charge, 125/mph top speed, 248hp peak, 3.5 hour charge time and 0-60 in 4 seconds! That’s a serious entry in the green car market. While you’re at it, take a look around their website. Great use of blog software to build community around their brand.

Are computer manufacturers really bowing to the RIAA’s demand to disable stereo sound on computers?

I love this idea of “crowd-sourcing”. Reuters has an article about “eCars – Now!”, a Finnish Internet community seeking to apply the collective approach to start converting used petrol-fuelled cars to electric ones, with the first roll-out due this year.

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Business Stuff, Community Stuff, Design Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jul

15

The Capo d’Astro Bar

July 15, 2008

When I was in college one of my profs gave us a paper with the following story, and suggested that if we only learn one thing from him, he’d like it to be the lesson learned from the story of a copywriter, a piano and a Capo d’astro bar.

The story is as follows:

Back in the sixties, I was hired by an ad agency to write copy on the Aeolian Piano Company account. My first assignment was an ad to be placed in The New York Times for one of their grand pianos.

The only background information I received was some previous ads a few faded close-up shots . . . and of course, the due date.

The Account Executive was slightly put out by my request for additional information and his response to my suggestion that I sit down with the client was, “Are you one of those? Can’t you just create something? We’re up against a closing date!”

I acknowledged his perception that I was one of those, which got us an immediate audience with the head of the agency.

I volunteered that I couldn’t even play a piano let alone write about why anyone should spend $5,000 for this piano, especially when they could purchase a Baldwin or Steinway for the same amount.

Both allowed the fact they would gladly resign the Aeolian business for either of the others, however, while waiting for that call, suppose the deadline was attended to.

I persisted and, reluctantly, a tour of the Aeolian factory in upstate New York was arranged. I was assured that “we don’t do this with all of clients” and my knowledge as to the value of company time was greatly reinforced.

The tour of the plant lasted two days and although the care and construction appeared meticulous, $5,000 still seemed to be a lot of money.

Just before leaving, I was escorted into the showroom by the National Sales Manager. In an elegant setting sat their piano alongside the comparably priced Steinway and Baldwin.

“They sure do look alike,” I commented.

“They sure do. About the only real difference is the shipping weight-ours is heavier.”

“Heavier?” I asked. “What makes yours heavier?”

“The Capo d’astro bar.”

“What’s a Capo d’astro bar?”

“Here, I’ll show you. Get down on your knees.”

Once under the piano he pointed to a metallic bar fixed across the harp and bearing down on the highest octaves. “It takes 50 years before the harp in the piano warps. That’s when the Capo d’astro bar goes to work. It prevents that warping.”

I left the National Sales Manager under his piano and dove under the Baldwin to find a Tinkertoy Cap d’astro bar at best. Same with Steinway.

“You mean the Capo d’astro bar really doesn’t go to work for 50 years?” I asked.

“Well, there’s got to be some reason why the Met uses it,” he casually added.

I froze. “Are you telling me that the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City uses this piano?”

“Sure. And their Capo d’astro bar should be working by now.”

Upstate New York looks nothing like the front of the Metropolitan Opera House where I met the legendary Carmen Rise Stevens. She was now in charge of moving the Metropolitan Opera House to the Lincoln Center.

Ms. Stevens told me, “About the only thing the Met is taking with them is their piano.”

That quote was the headline of our first ad.

The result created a six year wait between order and delivery.

My point is this. No matter what the product or service, I promise you, the Capo d’astro bar is there.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff
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Jul

9

When you speak of control measures, the benefits to the customer are often overlooked. In actual fact, people are continuously looking for visual queues – and providing direction can facilitate a positive experience for your customers while avoiding confusion, anger, and even serious incident.

Last summer, my family traveled to the Eastern region of Quebec to go on a whale-watching cruise. To book your spot on the ship, it is recommended that you book through one of their partner sites (physical site), as there is very little parking at the dock. Once you arrive at the pick-up destination – in our case a restaurant – you receive your tickets and then a shuttle bus picks you up and brings you to the dock.

Once we arrived, we saw that there were two companies that shared the dock on the St. Lawrence River. One company had very clear signage, an area fenced-off to form a line and a person was staffed to answer any questions, control the line and provide information. The other company, the one we purchased ticket with, had – a dock.

Once we figured out where we were to go (with the help of the staff member from the other company) we stood near the dock entrance and people kind of wandered up and stood in line so we followed suit. Others followed and soon the line grew kind of haphazardly along a fence. After about 20 minutes in line, the cruise ship approached the dock. Staff disembarked and started taking tickets – and of course a whole group of people budded in line with no interference from the staff.

“Excuse me, there’s a line here,” a young man that was behind us said. “I don’t care,” was the response.

So we finally board and off we go through the St. Lawrence for what was a pretty amazing experience viewing whales. I was actually quite surprised with how many we saw and how close we were to them.

And now back to the dock. We disembark and again – complete confusion. There were no signs as to where you should stand to meet your shuttle bus and nobody was around to offer any information. We stood there with a group of people waiting for the bus. When it arrived – absolute madness ensued. People budding, jumping in front of each other and from where we were lined-up only one family that was actually in line got on the bus.

It actually took three missed buses and witnessing one argument between a ‘line-ee’ and a ‘bud-ee’ to finally get on – and that’s only because we (my family and another family that was waiting with us in the original line) specifically asked the driver to meet us at the far side of the parking lot away from the crowd.

It was a frustrating experience. No direction. No information. A lot of rude people.

We will go on another whale watching cruise, but I’ll tell you, it will be with the other company.

It would have been so simple to avoid all of the resentment, frustration and arguments that we witnessed on the dock. Simple control measures such as signage and a designated area to form a line – for the ship and for the shuttles. Such control measures would have contributed to an overall positive experience rather than the absence tainting what could have been one of the most amazing experiences of someone’s life.

Are there control measures that you could take to improve your customer experience?

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Experience Design Stuff
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Jul

4

My family has been going to the same drive-in theatre five or six times a summer since we discovered it about four years ago. Last season new owners took over and at the end of the season they renovated their concession building so it would be ready for this year.

On the surface not much has changed. They removed part of the counter so that it is straight instead of a ‘T’ shape, and they removed an antique projector that sat in the corner of the concession lobby. One apparently small change they made has greatly affected the guest experience as a whole.

They removed three drink coolers that the previous owners used in favour of a self-service fountain machine. This of course would likely triple if not quadruple their margin on drink sales. However, this may not equate to more profit for them.

This seemingly small change has slowed service to an absolute crawl. Under the old owner’s system, guests would go to the fridges off to the side of the concession lobby and once they chose their drinks, they would join the line to pay and grab any other snack they may have wanted. Smooth, simple and efficient.

Under the new system everyone gets in a single line which first runs perpendicular, and then turns parallel to the new, straight counter. First there is the coffee station where you pour it yourself from a typical household coffee maker, and don’t forget to add your cream and sugar. Next stop, the popcorn rack where some of the best popcorn you’ll ever taste sits pre-bagged, warm and fresh. Right beside is the self-serve butter and popcorn salt. Next stop is the small counter-sized beverage fridge that holds bottled water and a small selection of juice. Next, the drink fountain machine, where two people at most take about forty seconds to one minute each to fill-up their drinks. Next we have a jar of pickled eggs and another of pickled wieners, dig those hands in there and pick the one you want! Next we have a small selection of candies and chocolate bars. And finally stands the cashier, where you pay for the stuff you picked, and you also place your order for hot food such as fries, hot dogs and burgers that you then stand in another line to pick-up on the other end of the counter.

The new system is terribly inefficient. I watched the cashier as I stood in line and I would estimate that about 60% of her time was wasted because of the log-jam at the fountain machine — and to a lesser extent the other self-service stations. As a result the line is long and slow, and the people in the line-up frustrated. Some, like me, gave up entirely. We now bring our own food and drinks.

And that’s my point. This is absolutely poor customer service. The new owners were thinking of margin, and their convenience rather than the customer’s experience. At the end of the season, when sales are tallied they just might find better margins on their fountain drinks, but I suspect that they just might find that a number of people are forgoing the concession stand for their own thermos of coffee, cooler of drinks, and bag of snacks. The concession food is a lot more expensive, and with their new system a lot of people won’t have the patience to wait for their snacks while they miss the movie.

Anything you do in business needs to follow a design process — and the most important aspect of any design — is the experience you create for your guests. You do this successfully and the profit will come.

Clearly, the new owners didn’t think about the implications of their new design. Hopefully they will do something about it — and while they are at it, they can improve the situation with their bathrooms, but that’s a story for another day.

Tags: Customer Service Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Retail Stuff
Comments: 1 Comment

 

Jul

3

It’s Thursday night and you’re presenting a campaign to your client Friday morning. You’ve got nothing. Your gut is twisting. The sweat pours from your brow. You’ve drank a few pots of coffee. You’ve typed, scribbled and doodled to no avail.

Don’t worry, here are ten no-fail ways to come up with an iron clad creative campaign that your client will love.

1. The Game Show. Turn your ad into a game show parody. If you’re really clever, you will turn your product into the answer to the question. This great strategy has been used by government organizations, retailers and even car manufacturers. Bing! What is ad strategy number one Alex?

2. The Retail Rap. Have the owner of the store, an employee or even better yet, the boss’ daughter sing on a broadcast commercial. Better yet, an American Idol-inspired contest. Hey — it worked for Pepto Bismol. What’s better than a dancing pink Pepto Bismol bottle singing? A bunch of people on a stage doing their own version of course! Indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Gah!

3. Include the Family. Have the clients family members —  no matter how horrible they are —  voice the spots or appear in the ads. Especially if they are cute young kids. You likely won’t understand what they are saying and the production value is horrendous, but boy are they cute and your client can brag at the next wedding reception.

4. The Inside Joke. You’ve got that inside joke about Martha in sales? Bill in accounting? A commercial is a great time to share this with the general public. Your customers won’t know what’s going on, but you can have a good chuckle with their families’ at the next company picnic.

5. The Lazy, Stupid Male. Yep, make fun of Dad. There is no better ad strategy than to make fun of the idiot of the family. Show him breaking something, falling, building some really ugly dog house or getting caught in a fib. Nothing makes a product more appealing than a dumb man.

6. The ‘New’ Bimbo. This is the new 21 Century Bimbo we’re talking about here. Women making fun of women. Not only are ad agencies using the same creative strategy — they are even using the same actresses! That’s right, you too can use the same bimbo women popularized in commercials by Special K and Kraft Cheese — jalapeno (gel-ap-eno) in your shredded cheese anyone?

7. The Cornucopia. The oldie-but-goody rears its ugly head. Nothing more cliche than the good ‘ole cornucopia of savings.

8. The Popular movie Rip-Off. Take an expression or line from a movie and drive it into the ground. I still get queezy when I hear anything to do with “show me the money” from Gerry McGuire. I think every variation was used for years — show me the savings! Show me the coupons. Show me the buffet! Show me the exit. Ugh!

9. The Stupid Intern. No better way to make the client look good than to pair him or her with a dumb intern. The dumber the intern the better.

10. This deal is so good I have to run away from the cops. Ah yes, even heavy weights like Pontiac and IKEA have used this one. Show a customer who has just left with a product that was such a great deal that they think they will be arrested. Delightful!

Bonus Strategies

11. The Super Hero. Fighting gingivitis? Need someone to fight high prices? Along comes the super hero to save the day!

12. Insult your most important customer. I recently heard a commercial for a building materials supplier that essentially tells the man of the house to leave the woman of the house at home because they don’t have fancy cappuccino machines or nice decor. That’s right, ignore the fact that woman account for 80% of building material purchases and go right ahead and insult the ‘little lady’. I am sure the grizzled contractors coming into the store will have a chuckle with you, but I guarantee the woman sending them wouldn’t.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Just Stuff
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