Brand Autopsy

Carnival of Marketing

Following the lead from the well-read Carnival of Capitalists (COTC), Noah Kagan has started the CARNIVAL OF MARKETING. Brand Autopsy is hosting it next week and on Monday (Dec. 4), I’ll be posting links to a variety of recent ultra-worthy marketing blog postings from a diverse cadre of marketers.

I’m looking for submissions so send me an email [john (at) brandautopsy.com] to alert me of a whiz-bang marketing-related post you’ve written recently.

Submissions are due by Sunday afternoon (Dec. 3).

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Past CARNIVAL OF MARKETING postings include:

WEEK ONE | okdork.com | Nov. 13

WEEK TWO | entrepreneurs.about.com | Nov. 21

WEEK THREE | pc4media.com | Nov. 27

LEARN MORE |okdork.com

Becoming More Similar than Dissimilar?

Back in the day at Starbucks, we used to laugh at how people would try to say 'Starbucks is the McDonald’s of coffee.' However these days, Starbucks and McDonald’s seem to becoming more similar than dissimilar. (Reckon this has something to do with the “Excess of Access.”)

BusinessWeek has an interesting take on how Starbucks is becoming more McDonald’s-like and how McDonald’s is becoming more Starbucks-like …

[SOURCE: BusinessWeek | December 5, 2005]

There are two other ways Starbucks is becoming more McDonald’s-like – OPERATIONS and the “McRib Mentality.”

From an operations perspective, Starbucks is going from hand-crafted beverages to machine-prepared beverages. Starbucks is replacing all of its La Marzocco espresso machines with automated espresso machines that dose, tamp, brew, and steam milk with the push of a few buttons. Automated espresso machines make beverage prep so much easier and so much faster for Starbucks Baristas … similar to the systems McDonald’s uses to make hamburger prep easier and faster for its front-line employees.

Starbucks has adopted the “McRib Mentality” by introducing more limited-time only beverages such as Pumpkin Spice Latte, Toffee Nut Latte, etc. These promotional beverages usually bring a higher price point and add some zest to the same-old menu board for customers. The higher price points and added zest of these "McRib" beverages translates into driving higher year-over-year sales at Starbucks.

So ... what else would you add/delete/modify to this Starbucks is becoming McDonald’s as McDonald’s is becoming Starbucks comparison?

milliondollarhomepage.com

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UPDATED | March 28, 2006 ... I’ve closed comments to this post because of the derivative comments from people plugging their copycat version of the milliondollarhomepage. Since nothing worthwhile was being added to the conversation, I’ve elected to close comments. Sorry. I hope you understand.

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Alex Tew brings new meaning to CPP (cost per pixel) and new relevancy to the Law of Remarkability. At milliondollarhomepage.com, Tew sells advertising by the pixel. He divides a computer display screen in 10,000 squares selling advertising by the pixel at $1 per pixel (100 pixel minimum).

Launched in late August 2005, Tew has sold $712,000+ in advertising and milliondollarhomepage.com gets anywhere from 600,000 to 700,000 hits per month. For more on the remarkability of Alex Tew’s idea, read this Wall Street Journal article.

Lowest Common Coffee Denominator

Last year, I had some thoughts about the Fast Company web-exclusive article on Dunkin’ Donuts (DD) be faster and be cheaper business strategy to siphon customers away from Starbucks. And recently I shared some more thoughts with Stephen Rodrick, writer from NEW YORK MAGAZINE, on DD’s push into New York City.

In his “Average Joe” article, Stephen writes about DD's lowest common coffee denominator approach …

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“At Starbucks, your coffee is lovingly prepared by that eager, bright-eyed barista, cup by custom-made cup. At the second Dunkin’ stop, a pencil-thin store at 43rd and Second, the Dunkin’ Eight watched approvingly as a nameless staffer took three orders in a minute, hitting a red button for two sugars and a green one for a dash of milk. Customers came and went as if on an invisible conveyor belt. “See how quickly we move them through?” said one of the Dunkin’ ocho. “In and out, in and out.”

What I was witnessing, of course, is the McDonaldization of coffee. Following the model of the Golden Arches, Dunkin’ prizes speed and sameness above all else (Dunkin’ is owned by Pernod Ricard, a French conglomerate, but its stores are all franchised). In addition to its state-of-the-art push-button standard-coffee machines, each Dunkin’ store has an $8,000 espresso-and-latte machine. The goal is simply for every cup to taste identical, whether you’re in midtown or Park Slope. It may not be the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had, but you can rely on its predictability. And, again copying the McDonald’s model, it will be there instantly.”

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SOURCE: New York Magazine | “Average Joe” | Stephen Rodrick

Home Depot’s Parking Lot Advertising

During brainstorm/ideation sessions, any thoughts that are off-topic, off-base, or need future follow-up get written down in a proverbial parking lot. Well, some marketing ideas are best left on parking lots in conference rooms -- not in parking lots of retail shopping centers. Case in point ... a Home Depot parking lot in Austin, TX.

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Who are the ad creeps behind this ad creep? Parking Stripe Advertising are the creeps.

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Forget RSS, We Got Bigger Issues

According to this Wall Street Journal online poll, 62% of voters do not read blogs. [Ouch.] And, only 17% read more than five blogs. [Double Ouch!] Seems to me we need to get folks to read blogs before we worry about whether or not they use RSS.

Whattaya say we all agree to tell five people this week about a few blogs we like. Then after we get these five new folks hooked on blogs, let’s agree to tell them how to use RSS to make reading blogs easier. Deal?

RadioShack’s Holiday Irrelevance

This Holiday season expect to see a lot of RadioShack advertising. Kieran Hannon, RadioShack’s vp of marketing and brand communication, had the following to say regarding RadioShack’s heavy-up Holiday advertising blitz …

“We want to entertain [consumers] and make RadioShack relevant and exciting again for people to shop at. We have high awareness, but not high relevance. People don’t realize the depth and breadth of products we have.” [SOURCE: Adweek | Nov. 7 | pg.6]

Hmm, I’m not sure RadioShack gets it. It being … it’s not what you do during the 6-weeks leading up to Christmas that makes a business relevant. It’s what you do during the 46-weeks leading up to the Holidays that makes a business relevant.

If you are expecting a multi-million/multi-dimensional Holiday advertising blitz to make a brand relevant, then you should expect to fail. Businesses and brands are not made with heavy-up Holiday advertising. They are made with all the everyday marketing and business activities done in the many months before Christmas comes.

RSS Needs to Come With the Cup

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a follow-up to my earlier post about RSS …

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What if the only way you could get a cup of Starbucks coffee was to bring your own cup? Sure, we could do that and some of us would. But the majority would of us find it too difficult to always bring a cup with us to get our coffee.

That’s how I see this RSS thing.

I still have to bring my own cup in order to get it filled with website/blog updates. I don’t mind bringing my own cup. But for RSS to go beyond reaching the few and into the many, we cannot expect others will be cool with bringing their own cup. RSS needs to come with the cup. Dig?

The Wrongview of the RSS Worldview

A wise marketer once said, "Don’t try to change someone’s worldview is the strategy smart marketers follow." But this same wise marketer (Seth Godin) is trying, for a second time, to change the majority of his blog readers’ worldview.

In a recent blog entry, Seth points out that the percentage of his blog readership from RSS feeds is “scary-low.” Seth then goes on to simply explain what RSS is and how to subscribe to his blog using an RSS feeder. This is the second time Seth has tried to get his readers to do something they either don’t care to do or still don’t know how to do. Or maybe most people don’t want to have an RSS reader.

The only way RSS is going to work is if we don’t know its there. RSS needs to be 100% invisible. RSS needs to be baked inside every program on everyone’s computer. RSS must be seamless to reach the masses. We shouldn’t have to use an add-on program and copy/paste geeky code to use it. It has to be simpler. It has to fit our worldview like so many other computer applications of being super easy to use, we don’t even know we are using it.

Yes … RSS is not for nerds anymore. However, RSS is still too geeky for the rest of us.

Interview with Anne Saunders, Starbucks marketing svp

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UPDATED (May 2007) | Anne Saunders has left Starbucks to become a "Brand and Advertising Executive" with Bank of America. For more, read the press release announcement.

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From the folks behind Reveries “Cool News of the Day,” comes THE HUB, a bi-monthly online magazine designed for senior-lever marketers. The latest issue of THE HUB has just been posted online and it includes a Q&A with Anne Saunders, Starbucks senior vice-president of marketing.

Given my insider knowledge of Starbucks, I found the article interesting and I think you will as well. Below are a few snippets and quick Brand Autopsy take on one of Anne Saunders’ comments.

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Anne Saunders on how Starbucks goes about “marketing”…
”It really is about connecting with someone in a more intimate, experiential way that we think will have longer lasting ability to build affinity than a 30-second TV commercial or an ad. Yes, we do some advertising, and we see value in that as well. But I have a team of people who, given our product line, are focused on what we are going to do in the stores, and how we communicate that.”

Anne Saunders on Starbucks & traditional advertising …
”The thing I’ve learned since I’ve come to Starbucks is that advertising isn’t the only way. You can be extraordinarily successful as a business using what people would call non-traditional means. It’s really
expanded my view of how one creates awareness and builds loyalty and affinity among customers. It’s expanded my notion of how important experience versus information or one-way communication can be.”

Anne Saunders on communicating with in-store Starbucks customers …
”The average customer is in our store six times a month. If I look at our heaviest 20 percent of customers, they’re in our stores an average 16 times per month. So I have this great opportunity to have those people have an experience and a relationship with us that in many, many businesses you don’t. So, part of that gives me the luxury to think about marketing in a different way.”

Anne Saunders on the Hear Music CD-burning stations …
”We’re doing awesome with the music venture overall but we are definitely still in test mode with the burning stations. I don’t agree with the thesis that it’s not going very well. It’s been a really strong and healthy part of our business, and we’ll keep at getting the digital piece right. It’s new. No one else is doing it. We really want to make sure we learn and get it right.”

BRAND AUTOPSY TAKE >> Hmm … reading between the lines here, I surmise the Starbucks CD-burning station project is on hold … indefinite hold. If you recall in a Fast Company cover story (June 2004), Starbucks announced plans to roll-out the CD-burning stations to 1,000 locations by this time. However, less than 50 stores have been outfitted with the CD-burning device. I live in Austin, TX, one of the test markets for the CD-burning venture, and haven’t seen anyone burn a CD in months.

Anne is spot-on when she says Starbucks is still trying to solve for getting the digital piece right as users of the music kiosk can only burn tracks to a CD and not download tracks to an MP3 player. Big miss. However, by having a digital pipeline in-store, it opens up lots of future opportunities for Starbucks to take advantage of.

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Click here to access the full interview (.pdf file) with Anne Saunders in THE HUB

For vintage Brand Autopsy comments on the Starbucks CD-Burning kiosks click here and here.

Ideas versus Opinions

Dustin Staiger on the differences between IDEAS and OPINIONS.

>> LINK <<

Smart thinking, eh?

Starbucks Holiday Red Cup

Paul Williams, Brand Autopsy alum and current Idea-Sandbox guy, is sharing some behind-the-scenes stories on what it’s like to manage a Holiday retail promotion at Starbucks. (Paul should know … he managed three of them during his time at Starbucks.)

In Paul’s first entry, he points us to the online campaign Starbucks is running this year – www.theredcup.com. Enjoy.

Getting Back in the Box

“… if you always have to think outside the box, maybe it’s the box that needs fixing.”

That’s one of my favorite quotes (albeit paraphrased slightly) from Malcolm Gladwell [source article link].

And now, the forward-thinking Douglas Rushkoff has written a business book seemingly riffing off that profound line.

Over the next few weeks, Rushkoff will be posting short excerpts on his blog from his to-be-published book -- GET BACK IN THE BOX: Innovation from the Inside Out. Sure, Rushkoff is preaching to this choir of one … but that’s cool … cause what he is preaching sure is tasty. Here’s an excerpted excerpt:

American companies are obsessed with window dressing because they’re reluctant, no, afraid, to look at whatever it is they really do and evaluate it from the inside out. When things are down, CEO’s look to consultants and marketers to rethink, rebrand or repackage whatever it is they are selling, when they should be getting back on the factory floor, into the stores, or out to the research labs where their product is actually made, sold, or conceived. Instead of making their communications less [Saatchi & Saatchi] and more [Craigslist], they should be reinventing their core enterprise. >>MORE

If You Want to Lead, Blog

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REQUIRED READING:

If You Want to Lead, Blog | Harvard Business Journal | Jonathan Schwartz

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As the COO/President of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz is one of the more prominent c-level blogging execs. (Wander over to his blog and I’m sure you’ll be impressed with his candor and easy-going blogging style.)

Throughout the recently held BLOGGING ENTERPRISE conference, Jonathan’s blog was mentioned as a benchmark blog for c-level execs. And whattaya know … in the November issue of Harvard Business Review (HBR), Jonathan has written a must-read article for any business wrestling with the idea of starting a company blog.

Because HBR is super-vigilant about copying/posting/distributing their articles, I’m not comfortable setting this article free. (Take a look at the terms & conditions I had to agree to in order to access the article online.)

Since I can’t free the article, I’ll share some key highlights…

Many Sun Microsystems top-level execs blog. In their blogs, they talk about business strategy, company values, products in the pipeline, successes, and failures. Sun realizes this may seem risky but Sun believes it is riskier not to blog. Sun wants to be a part of the conversation that will go on whether or not Sun participates.

By participating in the blogging conversation, Sun is able to communicate its corporate culture to not only customers but also to current and future Sun employees.

For companies interested in blogging but not knowing where to start, Jonathan recommends first reading Sun’s blogging strategy and guidelines document. He goes on to make more recommendations for blogging companies …
** use an honest, humorous, and open voice
** show respect for the audience
** don’t treat blogging like advertising
** don’t micromange … communicate the guidelines and let company bloggers loose
** revisit and modify your company’s blogging policy if need be
** listen to feedback
** respond to legitimate feedback
** “Authenticity is paramount.”

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This was only an abstract of the worthy read article. My advice is go to your local bookstore, open up the November issue of Harvard Business Review to page 30, and read the entire one-page article. Good stuff.

Blogging Enterprise Follow-Up

I’m way tardy in posting takeaways from THE BLOGGING ENTERPRISE Conference. Alexander Muse and Scott Allen have provided full coverage and links to others covering all the goings-on from the conference so I'll refrain from regurgitating what's already been gurgitated.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was on a panel discussing using blogs/blogging to position a company as a thought leader. Joel Greenberg from GSD&M superbly moderated the discussion which also included Charles Bess (EDS), Scott Rehling (Lava Studios/UT Football Vlog), and Todd Watson (IBM).

During the panel discussion, I shared the following thoughts:

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Blogs help small companies look bigger and allows big companies to get smaller.

When it comes to blogging, business size doesn’t matter. Since we are all using the same tools to blog, the playing field is level. Thus, small businesses can look bigger in the minds of customers by having a blog presence. And big businesses can get smaller by carrying on conversations with customers on a blog.

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It’s less what you say and more how you say it

One barrier businesses face when deciding whether or not to blog is the issue of “what” should they blog about. That’s the wrong question to ask. It doesn’t really matter what a company says in its blog because customers are starving for any information that goes beyond a sound-bite from a commercial or a blurb of copy from an ad. What matters more is HOW a company says what it says. A company blog should be written in a genuine, forthcoming voice that shows personality and doesn’t succumb to hubris-heavy marketing speak. Think tonality, tonality, tonality.

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Have a take and don’t suck

That’s the Jim Rome philosophy to good sports talk radio. This approach also applies to blogging, especially for individual bloggers wanting to get their message heard amongst the millions of other blogs competing for people’s attention. Having a take is about being interesting to get people interested. Not sucking is about being passionate and compelling. Wanna position yourself as a thought-leader? Then, have a take and don’t suck . Dig?

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Brand Autopsy Reader Mail

Jeff Johnson writes …

John, good job at the blogging enterprise meeting. I'm a branding guy too, and was the one that asked the question about weighing the risks of content control versus uncensored blogs. As one who has spent a career creating brands, I still struggle with the idea that if I create a blog, anyone in my company can add to it, and anyone outside can too.

One of the presenters at the meeting said that the old communication paradigm was that companies had the same message in brochures, Press releases, Web, etc., and this paradigm is dead. But what about the time-tested technique that "repetition builds retention." A blog post is a moment in time. How can you build a brand using point in time, one-off comments?

Jeff

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Hmm … lots to chew on here Jeff. I’ll start, but I’m sure others will chime in and offer their perspectives.

First, a blog post is one moment in time. But a series of blog posts are many moments spread across time. By consistently writing compelling blog posts, it makes relevant the old school technique of “repetition builds retention.”

Now, when the speaker mentioned something about companies putting the same message in all its marketing collateral pieces, my takeaway was the speaker was referring to the highly refined and superficial language that many companies put in their brochures, press releases, etc… The best blogs reject superficial language for real words with real meaning. It’s less formal writing but more meaningful reading. Customers today are becoming more immune to super glossy marketing copy and many are appreciative when companies eschew hype for realness.

As far as struggling with the idea of giving up top-down marketing control so that anyone anywhere can change/modify/add-on to it from the bottom-up … I must quote from BRAND HIJACK:

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“Marketing managers aren’t in charge anymore. Consumers are. Across the globe, millions of insightful, passionate, and creative people are helping optimize and endorse breakthrough products and services – sometimes without the companies’ buy-in. What exactly is going on? Let’s call it brand hijacking.

Brand hijacking is about letting customers (and other stakeholders) to shape brand meaning and endorse the brand to others. It’s a way to establish true loyalty, as opposed to mere retention. We’re not talking about creating hype here. We’re talking about a new template for going to market. We’re talking about a complex orchestration o many carefully though-out activities. An above all else, we’re talking about being willing to collaborate with a group of people you’re not use to collaborating with: consumers.”

[Source: BRAND HIJACK | Alex Wipperfürth | pg. 6]

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