Truth in Advertising???

Has to be the most truthful adverting I have seen for a while…..

Now you start to understand my sense of humor …..

KQED the last word?

It’s interesting how much I enjoy the programming of NPR and how much I abhor the commercial / process side of what has become a large, impersonal, disconnected corporation.

I keep ‘making allowances’ and finding excuses on KQED’s behalf, and then they work extra hard to show that they are totally disconnected. This is my last, last, last post on the KQED topic.

So, my last word? Just after I got the last communication from KQED (which said to check my credit card statement for a refund, despite the fact that a check was included), I got another letter. This one (received at the end of November) said, in part and paraphrased, ‘Thank you for your pledge of February 23rd……. due to a problem charging your credit card….’

I rolled my eyes, sighed and then burst out laughing – laughing in that belly laugh way that happens just once in a while.

The letter writer’s title? “Total Quality Control Coordinator.”

Back to sighing and shaking my head.

Bad Customer Service, Brand, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Marketing, Media, media, User Experience, WOM

KQED The Final Frontier…..

Once again, life shows how good people make the difference. Compare and contrast as the marketing exams used to say….

Those of you following the KQED saga will know that I spent most of this year trying to get our local PBS station to pay attention. The steps in the saga are listed earlier in this blog if you don’t recall…..
I posted my previous post and it actually struck a chord! I got a comment to the blog post that said:

“Hi. I just ran across your posts. I run Internet group for KQED. I’m sorry you are having a bad experience with KQED customer service. I’d be glad to help, send me an email at xxxxxx [at] kqed dot org and I’ll see what I can do to help or send me your phone number and I’ll give you a call.”

Turns out that this is the interactive director for KQED and from our email exchanges, seems very aware of modern techniques and how to go about engaging and turning and audience into participants (and I hope, donors). I hope he succeeds….

The email I sent as a result of his interventions show how big a task he has in front of him:

“Hi XXXXXX the miracle worker!
You have done what no one else can do, and sparked KQED into action. But oh boy, even when complying your organization reinforces my points wonderfully!

I got a letter that stated ‘Your card has been credited with $48′. That was about it.

I hope you make progress in getting KQED to indulge in dialog, and if you ever need professional support in doing so, please let me know.

Cheers and thanks”

So out of a huge organization, it looks like the ID is the only one who ‘gets it’. I hope he sticks in there and makes progress. The problem in my experience is, that the organization often grinds down the new thinker, – the one who gets it – and eventually they become brainwashed or leave.

That’s the danger we need to watch out for, that new blood, the fresh ideas, the ‘outsider’ needs to be given room to bring the organization to a new, better, more customer focussed place….

What does your organization do?

{Customer Service, Marketing, media, WOM}

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Tracks Are Dangerous!!!

I’m a fan of Michael Robertson – I subscribe to his ‘Michael’s Minute‘ and admire his drive to break the status quo and agree with many of his articles. Interestingly, as I realize when writing this, I have subscribed to only a few of his companies services and not stuck with them, why is that? I shall ponder and pontificate in a later blog perhaps.

I got Michael’s latest missive and his premise is that you should buy a CD from them, AnywhereCD and get not only the CD, but also the MP3 as a download. Now that appeals to me! But……

The reason I like this idea is that when I try to buy a track from the local classical radio station KDFC (Get this music right now!!!) – I have to place an order for a CD and it takes whatever time to ship to me. In contrast, I can go to Apple and download it in an instant. Hmmmmmm, let me think…….

Now, along comes Michael with the perfect combination – get an MP3 online and get the CD as well. Fantastic! But, oh the user experience. The top selling album still (and I waited a couple of weeks before posting this) still has Track 01, Track 02 in the listings for the album. There are many in classical like that. And of the THREE opera recordings available (yes I do mean that there are only THREE) each and every one has the same problem.

To be balanced, in Rock and Pop there is a much wider selection and better tagged, though even there Mark Knopfler’s One Take Radio Sessions suffer the same fate.

So, in short I love the idea but execution is sadly lacking. Sorry, Michael

{WOM, Brand, Marketing, media, Product Management}

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KQED: Non Profit update…..

It did cross my mind to wonder if I had been a little harsh on KQED in my earlier post. I decided not, and resolved to grovel if I got a response from their General Manager….

Well, I got something, but not what I was hoping…… Last week a letter arrived stating that they hadn’t heard from me, and enclosing the same text as the last letter, (translation – ‘you haven’t sent any money’), which is patently untrue, I sent a detailed letter. To which I have had no response.

It seems to me that this cycle illustrates the points I was making much more eloquently than I did in my post. KQED writes, I reply and they write telling me that they haven’t heard from me. It reinforces that there is no conversation, I’m not looked upon as a ‘member’, but as a revenue source plain and simple.

Make it so, stop pretending that I am a member.

{WOM, Brand, Customer Service, Marketing, media}

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Advertising in the 21st Century

I was listening – well sort off, I tuned it out mostly – to more gnashing of teeth and wailing from the media industry about how we viewers were avoiding their ads. The latest “ruse” they have employed is to get actors to speak about products as part of the script….

Jay Rosen talks in ‘People Formerly Known as the Audience‘ about the shift in power and that once control is ceded to ‘the masses’ it cannot be regained. I guess the power of the many, enabled by communication, over the few.

This, and a few other teasers, got me thinking – a rare and dangerous thing – about advertising. The regular stuff, the ads that we see on TV all the time. Turns out, I’m not as unique as I was hoping – many of us watch ads that are appealing, and will even seek them out. This was reinforced by a friend (a senior at USC) who has just passed his driving test. After getting over his shock that I not only knew about YouTube, but could show him fun stuff there, he showed me the new VW ads. ‘Unpimp Your Auto‘ is a series of three (search for tags pimp, auto and VW) ads that his generation are seeking out. Yup, that is that they go online and watch them, show them to friends, talk about them. Now THAT’s an advert.

Ditto for the Apple Mac ads are interesting in and of themselves. But the spoofs (for all of them search for tag truenuff) ALSO build credibility for the Mac too. Apple could pay for such ads, but this way they garner huge credibility on the back of someone else’s dollar. That’s RoI!

Now to some of the challenges. Talk a look at Cubicle Wars. Do it now, then read on.

What was the product? I had to go back and look twice. Compelling, funny and a great piece of work – but I can’t remember the product even now. All I can recall is that it’s a report writer. So compelling ads are not enough – there needs to be some good hook.

Also, in the Mac spoof noted above, the company Truenuff included a link along with all the spoof ads. Only problem is, that the link generates an error 404. Whoops. Even a link to the main domain didn’t work. Today, there is a redirect to a blog on Myspace.

So what’s my point? That good, innovative, compelling ads can be produced and we, the customer, will actively seek them out. Smart marketers will will stop trying to force advertising upon us and learn to have us seek it!

Oh, and execution (especially around the whole user (customer) experience) is still all!

Great customer experiences to us all.

Tags: Advertising, Media, WOM

{advertising, Brand, customers, media}

[composed and posted with ecto]

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