Music to my ears from Brand Autopsy:
Advertising Age recommends NOT ADVERTISING

Yep, you read that header right — Advertising Age recommends NOT ADVERTISING. A recent editorial in Ad Age shared HMOs (hot marketing opinions) about JetBlue’s current advertising campaign. The gist is this …

Last night, I popped a new, refilled ink cartridge into my printer to find it wouldn't work. I called the Walgreen's technical service number on the cartridge and was greeted with a thick, but delightful female British accent. I began by explaining my problem, telling the lady my printer type, etc. but was soundly cut off with "Just a minute, love, I'll ask the questions." And then she proceeded to ask my name, address, telephone and email address. I could hardly keep laughing as I dutifully answered her questions before she told me that a technical services person would call me back shortly.

They didn't call back last night, and hadn't as of early this morning. Nevertheless, it was an interesting example of bad service that left me with a smile on my face. She was entertaining and I didn't expect to get a good answer anyway. I guess that's what happens when you go in with low expectations.

Sybil Stershic - of Quality Service Marketing sent me this killer little book, and I dig it. (She wrote it, by the way, which is probably why it is so good.)

WOMMA's Word Of Mouth Marketing Summit is kicking off in Vegas this week, and let me just say that I'm a bit bummed about not being there.

Nicole Sampson and Patrick Rooney sending me emails from the Rio's pool isn't helping, by the way. (But keep sending me updates anyway. It's all good.) ;D

Today's bit of Marketing, Customer Experience, Design & Product Development advice comes from the archives of Kathy Sierra's blog:

"Your job is to anticipate... To give them what they want and/or what they need just before they have to "ask" for it - to be surprising yet self-evident at the same time. If you are too far behind, or too far ahead of them, you create problems, but if you are right with them, leading them ever so slightly, the flow of events feels natural and exciting at the same time."

- Walter Murch
To read the rest of this post, go here.

I finally started using twitter today, and I am pretty psyched about it.

If you're one of the 6% of adult internet users currently microblogging (using twitter) to keep tabs on your friends and colleagues, put your seemingly time-wasting hobby to good use - or at least come up with a better justification for your twitter habit at work:

You - "Twitter? Yeah! I use it all the time! It's a great research tool!"
Your boss - "Really? A research tool?"
You - "Suuuuuure! One can find out all sorts of things thanks to twitter, if they are so inclined."

Time for your weekly brandbuilder reality check. There are only two types of businesses: The ones you know are the best in their category, and... everyone else. Advertising and marketing are nice, but too many "also in" businesses waste money on marketing and advertising when they should instead revamp one or two elements of their business that would help them actually gain market share. (The most pleasant and efficient customer service experience in your industry, a perfectly designed user interface, a 100% uptime guarantee, stunning design, impeccable ergonomics, remarkable flavor, etc.)

Why David Armano (of Logic + Emotion) rocks, and why his blog is one of my very favorite among favorites:

"We’re focused on relevant, groundbreaking solutions that fuse style and substance—insight driven creative, supported by technology, which ultimately leads to measurable results. Not merely flashy creative or fleeting viral campaigns, but rather, applications that shift consumer behavior, brand experiences that deepen customer relationships and game-changing strategies that meaningfully impact the bottom line."

Via AdPulp by way of the Yeti.

Your turn: What's your elevator pitch?

Brand Central Station's Mike Bawden posted a great piece about the connection between innovation and brands on his blog last September, which I found again by accident yesterday. Here are some of my favorite passages:

Tom Asacker brings us another priceless bit of insight about building brands in these chaotic times:

Brand ownership isn't easy. In fact, its very difficult because we've all been taught to suppress our natural creativity. The only time we take our eyes off the bottom line is when we wrap our hands around what Hugh McLeod calls business porn - the stories of great brands, great businesses and great lives in the pages of Fast Company, In Search of Excellence, and others - dreaming of immersing ourselves in the self-satisfaction of a good brand, an invigorating work environment and or job that doesn't make us puke.

"So I was wondering, what is that exact point where a company stops caring? Stops paying attention to their customers? Stops with the phenomenal customer service? Is it when they reach a certain sales figure? A certain number of employees?"

The best comment about the SuperBowl's chronically lame half time show I've read yet (from From: johnnynotsid on Buzznet):

Subject: HOW BAD WAS THE SUPERBOWL HALFTIME SHOW?

Don't get me wrong, I like Tom Petty but good GOD. DO SOMETHING!

WHIP YOUR GUITAR AROUND! HEAD BANG! BREAK YOUR HIP! Do SOMETHING!

Worse even than Macca did. I thought after Prince we'd be doing better but no...... We're so worried about another bare titty on a Sunday afternoon that we have to get young Santa Claus.

Why do we get the inspiration for innovation? I think it may be part of the human condition - that we're always trying to make things better. Sometimes it's a personal challenge to see if we can outdo what's been "done" before. Other times, it's a more practical reaction to a need expressed by someone we care for ... a customer, a co-worker, a family member.

My concern, however, is that

fathersday 2pm
Originally uploaded by benbarren So, coz we're agile, and all 2.0 downunder, we like a bit of wiki as much as the next index carder. But the annoyance of the wiki market (since google acquired jotspot which we'd been using and put it into deep google apps.goffice r+d) is the cheap/free products dont work (literally, or u need to be a programmer to use) and u get no customer service, aagh why cant I login.

Call me a language fascist, but surely if you're planning on adopting a CRM strategy you'd employ someone who can write with at least a modicum of eloquence to manage the communication?

Homecall+ clearly don't agree. I received this email from them today:

Hi there,

I'm Ayesha the Sales Manager here at HomeCall+, and this is your 1st weekly Newsletter from myself.

As a valued customer of ours already I feel that it would be beneficial to you to recieve my weeekly Newsletter and be kept up to date on all our exciting products & services.

Therefore over the next couple of weeks I will be emailing you our informative weekly Newsletter showing you what other service's we do, introducing you to the team here at HomeCall+ and more importantly how we can save you money.

"The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow."

- William Pollard.

That's worth framing and hanging in every meeting room from Portland to Tahiti (via Paris).

Also, via Tom Asacker:

Awesome post from Chris Brogan today:

I believe we’re going to shift back to thinking customer service and community management are the core and not the fringe. I believe we’re going to move our communications practices back in-house for lots of what is currently pushed out to agencies and organizations. I believe that integrity, reputation, skills, and personality are going to trump some of our previous measures of professional ability. I believe the web and our devices will continue to move into tighter friendships, and that we will continue to train our devices to interpret more of the world around us on our behalf.

Read the rest here.

Prologue: The Heelys Guestapo Incident

Heelys-haters beware: If you would rather spend your energy sniffing out Heelys-wearing kids and reprimanding their parents for letting them wear the devil's rollershoes in your stores than being cordial and professional, maybe you're missing the point of what your job is supposed to be in the first place. (Whatever it is, it isn't playing detective Dickhead from the Heely Police.)

So, this weekend, the family and I decide to have lunch at a local Asian fusion restaurant, and because I have a cold, I order some green tea with my meal.

As the tea arrives, I pour myself a cup and notice that a strange greasy substance is beading all across the surface. A strange... bright yellow greasy substance. Kind of like... chicken grease, only thicker and shinier. Hmmm. Weird.

Again from Seth Godin, here's a great little post on Marketing. (It's good to hear it from the horse's mouth:)

image by ilisu
Something Seth wrote quite a while back that still resonates with me today:

"As soon as they start using the tactics of the other guys, playing the game they play, they become them. As soon as they decide that they can buy (not earn) attention, it all changes."
Chances are that you've forgotten what made your company or services or products so different. So unique. So good.

Chances are that your success has driven you away from those early days, when being different from everyone else, when being better was what it was all about.

Back when taking care of every new customer was like going out on a first date.

Chances are that you're more focused on aligning your pricing to that of your competitors now than you ever were.

Let's travel back to 2005, when Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) hadn't yet been hijacked by clueless and myopic marketers looking to make a quick buck off the promise of this strange but powerful thing called authenticity:

From a two-year-old post by John Moore on his Brand Autopsy blog:

In no other business, in my humble opinion, is brand more clearly defined as a reputation than in the auto repair business.

That's a sensitive subject today because I took our 2000 Town and Country Van in for an oil change and a brake inspection and found out that I need new brakes. If I really do need brakes, it's better to know now than as we roll down a mountain in Colorado next week. If I don't really need brakes, it's par for the course for an industry that carries plenty of dubious baggage.

Me and blee - Self Portrait Thursday

From the very awesome Advergirl Blog - hat tip to Dave Armano's fierce Twittering:

Question: What blogs and books do I read to stay on top of trends?

Well, I should say that 'staying on top of trends' is a pretty relative term these days. But, to stay somewhat aware of the cool stuff in my tiny area of addiction/interest, here are my top picks:

Blogs: