my 2 cents

Other Voices: Rush to Technology Outpaces Need to Use Intelligence

Other Voices

This guest post is by Kenneth J. Weiss, director of e-commerce for Hoover.  Ken has a new book out titled Slightware -- The Next Great Threat to Brands.  You can download the first chapter free at www.slightware.com.

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Companies are turning up the use of technology for marketing and operations.  Unfortunately, the rush to do it is outpacing the need to do it intelligently.  Last month, the brand hits kept on coming and, remarkably, companies thought they could shrug off brand damage with a carefully constructed press release.  Some examples...

App Absurdity

A few months ago, Apple took a huge PR hit when it released a "Shake the Baby" game in its App Store.  When the animated baby started to cry, the user needed to shake the iPhone until the baby stopped.  After a huge backlash, Apple simply removed the app and offered the typical "Sorry" press release.  Not to be outdone as the leading classless iPhone app, Pepsi launched one in October to help users "Score with women."  Enter the type of woman in question and the app would offer ways to make her feel bubbly.  The app got plenty of coverage, but nearly all of it was negative.

PhotoSchlock

The fashion industry has been hammered repeatedly for settinn impossible standards of "thinness" for women.  So how does Ralph Lauren respond?  By Photoshopping a model to non-human, stick-thin proportions and then firing her when she complained.  The story broke in mid-October when Fillipa Hamilton was fired for being overweight.  Ironically, the Photoshopped ad showing Fillipa was supposedly approved by Ralph Lauren himself.  The company claims the ad was only intended to run in Japan.  Somehow, an internationally known model and brand would be immune to the dynamics of the "World Wide Web," right?

Lose Data - Lose Customers

T-Mobile and Facebook are supposed to be brands that are good with technology.  Well... both suffered massive data problems last month.  T-Mobile experienced a glitch that compromised personal data and information for thousands of users.  The company eventually came clean and said "most" of the data had been recovered.  "Most?"  How well is the company perceived if you are one of the people not part of "most?"

Facebook took a page from the corner-crack-dealer playbook.  First it gets people addicted to checking their Facebook page with relentless emails, and then it blocks 150,000 people for nearl;y a week.  How bad do they want it now?  Some want it more and others have happily decided to go cold-turkey.

Banks You Can Trust - Technology You Can't

No industry has more trouble with consumer trust than banking.  October started with Rocky Mountain Bank attempting to explain why it sent confidential information of more than 1,000 customers to an unauthorized Gmail account.  Next, TD Bank, which bills itself as "the most convenient bank in America," had a technical problem that prevented deposits from showing up in people's accounts.  Convenience quickly turned to panic when paychecks were vaporized.  Bank of America followed with a glitch that stopped people from making ATM withdrawals.  The problem then expanded to drive-ins and tellers.  In all instances, competitive banks reported an increase in new customers.

The drive to do business faster and cheaper will continue to fuel the rush to technology, and mistakes are likely to continue.  Brands need to realize that an apology may make the brand people feel better, but the consumer will feel differently once they've been burned by the brand.

A note from David Reich:  Ken's piece points up the need to think things through carefully by trying to put yourself into the mind of customers and non-customers.  Had that been done, it's hard to imagine the examples of Ken's "App Absurdity" section would have advanced beyond the brainstorming session.

Embrace new technology, for sure.  But don't forget to use good old common sense as well.

Communications Revolution

A world-changing communications revolution began on this date 165 years ago.  I'd venture to say it had a greater impact on the world at the time than the introduction of Twitter in today's world.

In 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse successfully sent a message by wire from Washington to Baltimore using a series of long and short electrical impulses -- dots and dashes -- that became known as the Morse Code.  His dots and dashes comprised the alphabet and enabled words and numbers and other symbols to be sent by telegraph wherever copper wire could stretch.  Before the advent of wireless, or radio, telegraph cables were strung nationwide and even under the oceans, making virtually instant communications possible.  No longer did it take days or weeks for news to travel from place to place.

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By the mid-1930s, Western Union was sending more than 230 million telegrams a year, using Morse Code as the language.

The telephone marked the eventual end of the line for the telegram, and the internet and email sealed its fate.  Western Union sent its last telegram in 2006.

Morse Code still lives on, though.  Some commercial ships still use it for communications.  Ham radio operators still communicate with it as well.

I learned Morse Code when I was in Boy Scouts.  And then, as a teenager, I used it to talk with people literally around the world when I was a ham radio operator.  Although my equipment had the capability to transmit by voice, I enjoyed the challenge of communicating by Morse Code.

I still remember Morse Code, even though I haven't used it for almost 40 years.  Now if only I could remember my high school Spanish as well.

Other Voices: A new Generation Gap

We give this space over periodically to marketers who are not bloggers, in order to bring other voices into the mix and possibly encourage the guest writers to participate in the blogosphere.

Today's guest blogger is Hank Goldman, whose Goldman Advertising in New York serves a variety of retail clients.  Hank is not against or fearful of new technology; he's been a ham radio buff for more than 40 years.

A new Generation Gap

Back in "my day", the Sixties, we young folks baffled the existing "establishment," which included our parents, by listening to music 'they' didn't understand, wearing tie-dye tops and bell bottom jeans and ingesting chemical substances that did more than cure a headache.

I imagine this "Gap" has been going on from generation to generation, for as long as Homo Sapiens have inhabited the planet Earth.

For the current Technology Age, we 'Baby Boomers' were a BRIDGE generation.
Our parents' generation witnessed the advent of air travel (Wright Brothers first flight 1903, the creation of the automobile (Henry Ford's Model 'T', 1908), and a new communications device, the telephone (turn of the last century).

It took 40 or so years for these to come into their own in the modern era...  easy enough to be accessible to the average person.  Even then, a "long distance" call meant silence in the household while it took place.  In the early days of trans-continental flight, men wore jackets and ties and women wore their best to fly.  It was special.

So what is happening now? Cell phones and other devices allow easy access to the world in the Palm of your hand--- Literally! The biggest slow-down to jet travel (besides the weather) is the security line at the airport ---and getting there to begin with!

We have come a LONG way!

So how is this blazingly fast and increasingly reliable service being used by our sophisticated contemporary civilization?

That's the point of my rant.   ALL that technological know-how, all that potential for connectivity. Where has it led us?  I'll tell you my version.

Its being taken advantage of. From my perspective in New York's midtown business area I see people of every economic and social stripe using hand-held devices while walking, crossing against the red, blocking crosswalks while lost in their thoughts; driving a car; working out at the gym (which is frowned at at most gyms); in the office, roaming the office building halls, in the men's room (and I'm sure women's as well!)!

In fact the folks who go out of their office buildings to smoke (a whole other oddity; clean air INDOORS, and smoke OUTDOORS!) and use cell phones are often seen waving their arms to express themselves while chatting...  Who is seeing the gesticulating hand gestures? If the phone is held to the ear of the gesticulator, I assume its merely for their own benefit.

So there you have it.

My Current Blog Complaint is: The new technology allows one to do SO MUCH! Why misuse it by texting or talking while driving or walking, talking so loudly on the commuter train (METRO NORTH riders be aware!) and revealing PUBLICLY your friends' phone numbers? And your bank password? And your once-private secrets?

If I were a "phisher" I'd love to steal your data--- but please remember;  You are NOT Talking in a Vacuum!

-- Hank Goldman

No Wii addiction for me

I'm going to date myself now, but I was an Atari addict years ago.  After playing Pong on a friend's Atari, we bought a unit and hooked it up to the TV in the bedroom. 

Bad move.

I became an addict.  I'd come home and put the game on to play a few rounds of Pong or Space Invaders before dinner.  Then, after watching the 11 O'Clock News, I'd fire up the Atari for some Space Invaders and, before I knew it, it was 1:30 or 2 a.m. or sometimes later.  (Oh, that game did wonders for our sex life. Not.)

When we got the more advanced Nintendo games for our son, I saw myself getting hooked on Super Mario Brothers.  But I quickly got discouraged when my son would beat the pants off me.  And, unlike me, he never even bothered to read the instructions.  It was then that I realized it's a generational thing.

With all the fuss over the new Wii games, I've remained totally disinterested.  Until I was at Bernie's house the other night.  He got a Wii for his grandchildren... or so he says.  He admits that he's been playing it a lot.  Practicing so he can keep up with the kids, he says.

So we played a few games of bowling on Wii.  I used to be a decent bowler, but I got the lowest score for both games.  Even my wife, who at the bowling alley would never even come close to 100, beat me.  In my second game, I barely broke 90.

I realized that bowling on Wii is not like real bowling.  It's not about keeping your eye on the pins on the screen, but about lining your avatar up properly.
The only thing that's like real bowling, I found out, is that you can hurt yourself playing Wii.  As I "released" the ball, I must have twisted the wrong way.  Now I have an occasional pulling pain in my upper left thigh.  I've read how chiropractors are seeing more Wii-related sports injuries.  I can't believe I'm one of those geezers who got a Wii injury.

Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting addicted to Wii.  It ain't gonna happen.

So what's a marketer to do?

If you're a mass marketer, it's getting harder to use the tried & true methods of reaching the masses.

Just as the network upfront presentations are set next week to introduce the networks' new programs and fall schedules to advertisers and their agencies here in New York, a new study just released by DoubleClick shows what many have been thinking for some time -- DVR owners tend to ignore commercials.

The study found that only 35% of DVR owners pay attention to ads even occasionally when watching programs they've recorded.  More than half say they always fast-forward through the commercials.

Even fewer of viewers who watch TV programming online pay attention to the ads -- a measly 9%.  The answer is not online banner and search ads, since the study shows only 3% pay attention to those ads.

So what's a marketer to do?  Look for other platforms to carry your message, where it might be harder to be ignored.  How about a good placement in newspapers and magazines?  Or radio, if you can get a guarantee that yours will be the first spot in the commercial pod.  Out-of-home offers lots of opportunities for impactful and innovative advertising.  Maybe establish or up the p.r. budget.

As household DVR penetration rises, the TV spot will get less viewing.  There's talk of the networks using technology to prevent zapping, much the way online video has ad in a pre-roll that often can't be fast-forwarded.  Heavy-handed for sure, but if I were paying a few hundred thou for a network spot, I'd want some assurance it will be seen.

As a consumer, if the fast-forward option were to be disabled for ads, I might DVR it and then record it on my old VCR, where I'd still be able to fast-forward.  Or probably, like so many TV viewers have been doing for decades, I'd use the commercial break to go to the bathroom, hit the refrigerator, make a quick call or take the dog out.

Thus, the question remains... what's a marketer to do?

Feature Creep

"Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently.  But too often it seems to make things harder."

So begins a piece in this week's New Yorker about something called "feature creep," the spiraling complexity of product features, which frustrate consumers and waste their time while costing business untold millions.

Product returns in the U.S., the article says, cost a hundred billion dollars a year.  A study by Philips Electronics found that more than half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. The problem, instead, is with the features and/or the difficulty in accessing and using those features.

For more, see my post over at MarketingProfs Daily Fix.  To make it easier for my fellow Luddites to get there, I've added a handy feature to my 2 cents, called a link.  To use it, you can download the 32-page instruction manual. 

Or... click here.