mount pinatubo erupts shooting ashes several kilometers high, then floating to blanket many other towns hundreds of kilometers away
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
cebu pacific's dancing flight stewardess youtube video - opportunity for a new brandsell advertising
this youtube video as of this writing has gotten 6 million hits at youtube since it was posted. that makes the video a viral success. but it is an unintended success for cebu pacific as they had nothing to do with its posting, an airline passenger posted it there.
cebu pacific is now top of mind. it is the kind of awareness that brand managers dream about - it's impact wide, it's fun and its free publicity. will it generate business for cebu pacific? it should, but we do not know how much it would be. it also helps that its key competitor, Philippine Airlines is having problems with their own flight attendants who are threatening to go on strike.
actually this video getting so much attention is hurting PAL as much as it is helping cebu pacific. the cebu pacific flight attendant being as fun and engaging is an extreme contrast to the PAL flight attendant who appears to be embattled and combative.
what is the next step? we were thinking this is an excellent time for cebu pacific to air a new tv brandsell advertising featuring the same flight attendant who is featured in the video doing exactly the same dance steps. the flight attendant in that video is very good looking and did an excellent job with her dance, she can be the next commercial model star in philippine advertising.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
mead johnson's brand and corporate image hurt by product recall
the nightmare every product manager wants to avoid just happened to two of mead johnson's milk products - a recall ordered by the FDA due to not meeting fat content standard, saying it is of "inferior" quality.
in the first place, why did mead johnson release a product that does not meet government regulation standards? that is mind boggling and most specially for a company that sells milk products for babies and children. a milk product needs to be perfect specially on the points of view of safety and quality. these are qualities every mother expects a milk product to be. the other benefits, like making your child smart or in the case of a product of mead johnson a promise of giving 100% nutrition are the added benefits that separate the brand from others.
fernandez, a corporate affairs manager at mead johnson gave a weak defense of his company. he said the products they were selling met the FDA standards until the FDA changed them. that does not sound like it's a good excuse. the FDA changed the standards without telling milk companies of the change? is that what fernandez is saying?
we are thinking if standards are changed, the FDA will let the milk companies know about the change ahead of time to give the milk companies time to develop new formulas and to deplete stocks that have already been produced and already in the stores. this change in standards does not appear to be a health risk, so it makes sense for the FDA to allow the milk companies to draw down their stocks.
perhaps someone in mead johnson forgot the deadline for the switch over to the new stamdard? maybe there are still stocks of the mead johnson products still in the market that were sold before that got caught in the deadline and were found by the FDA in the shelves. we do not know the protocol the FDA follows in the their checks but it is very possible that the FDA would pick up products from the stores to analyze them.
we think this forgetful mead johnson employee is the real reason for this problem. fernandez in his statement says they are about to release a re-formulated product that meets the regulation. that to us means someone in mead johnson is very forgetful with the reformulation coming in too late.
this can mean the products in question will be out of the market for sometime as they will still need to reformulate, get approval on the new formula and produce the product.
this will hurt mead johnson's market share for these products. they are hoping this will not hurt the other mead johnson brands in the market. it's a tough situation to be in, mead johnson will need to do some damage repair on its brands and the company. this is not a good thing to happen for brands and a company that sells milk products to children. let's see what they do after this event.
in the first place, why did mead johnson release a product that does not meet government regulation standards? that is mind boggling and most specially for a company that sells milk products for babies and children. a milk product needs to be perfect specially on the points of view of safety and quality. these are qualities every mother expects a milk product to be. the other benefits, like making your child smart or in the case of a product of mead johnson a promise of giving 100% nutrition are the added benefits that separate the brand from others.
fernandez, a corporate affairs manager at mead johnson gave a weak defense of his company. he said the products they were selling met the FDA standards until the FDA changed them. that does not sound like it's a good excuse. the FDA changed the standards without telling milk companies of the change? is that what fernandez is saying?
we are thinking if standards are changed, the FDA will let the milk companies know about the change ahead of time to give the milk companies time to develop new formulas and to deplete stocks that have already been produced and already in the stores. this change in standards does not appear to be a health risk, so it makes sense for the FDA to allow the milk companies to draw down their stocks.
perhaps someone in mead johnson forgot the deadline for the switch over to the new stamdard? maybe there are still stocks of the mead johnson products still in the market that were sold before that got caught in the deadline and were found by the FDA in the shelves. we do not know the protocol the FDA follows in the their checks but it is very possible that the FDA would pick up products from the stores to analyze them.
we think this forgetful mead johnson employee is the real reason for this problem. fernandez in his statement says they are about to release a re-formulated product that meets the regulation. that to us means someone in mead johnson is very forgetful with the reformulation coming in too late.
this can mean the products in question will be out of the market for sometime as they will still need to reformulate, get approval on the new formula and produce the product.
this will hurt mead johnson's market share for these products. they are hoping this will not hurt the other mead johnson brands in the market. it's a tough situation to be in, mead johnson will need to do some damage repair on its brands and the company. this is not a good thing to happen for brands and a company that sells milk products to children. let's see what they do after this event.
FDA recalls 2 Mead Johnson milk products
MANILA, Philippines—The Food and Drug Administration has ordered the recall from store shelves of two milk products for supposedly deficient fat level content, failing to comply with the standards.
In an order, FDA Director Nazarita Tacandong said Sustagen Junior Milk Drink Powder Vanilla Flavor and Alactagrow Bibo Trio Milk Supplement were being recalled because both failed to comply with the standard fat level content per 100 calories set by the agency.
The two milk products are manufactured by Mead Johnson Nutrition Philippines.
Under FDA standards, the required fat content for milk supplements must be between three and six grams per 100 calories.
An evaluation showed that the fat contents of Sustagen and Alactagrow were only 1.5 grams and 1.34 grams per 100 calories, respectively, "thus indisputably making the same non-compliant to the standard of inferior quality," Tacandong said.
She also advised consumers who have purchased the products to return them to the manufacturer or any of its licensed distributors.
Continuous distribution of the milk products would present "gross deception" to consumers and may "present risk and injury to young children," said the FDA order.
Reached for comment, Janryll Fernandez, Mead Johnson Nutrition Philippines corporate affairs manager, maintained that all its products sold in the country, including Alactagrow and Sustagen Junior, have passed stringent FDA health and safety requirements.
"They remain perfectly safe to consume, contrary to the language used in the order," Fernandez told the Inquirer in a phone interview Tuesday.
Fernandez noted that the FDA issued a "Class III order," the lowest level or recall order used for products that have "technical compliance issues" but do not likely to cause adverse health consequences.
In a statement, Paul Richards, the company's president and general manager, said, "safety is Mead Johnson's highest priority and the company spares no effort to comply with the laws of all of the countries in which it operates."
Fernandez added that the fat content of the two milk products were in compliance with FDA standards before it recently adopted additional Codex regulations for follow-up milk formulas.
He added that the company was already taking steps to meet the new FDA
requirements.
"Mead Johnson is releasing a reformulated version of the milk products that meet the new regulatory requirements," said Fernandez.
Friday, September 3, 2010
case study : how not to do a televised political debate
news reports describe this as "painful to watch", yes we agree it is. it looked like this arizona governor had a major mental block during the debate. there was a short mental blackout at the start of her statement, she recovered a bit but a much longer blackout occured a few seconds later.
we do not have an idea why these things happen and more importantly we do not know how to fix it during the time it is happening. we have encountered situations where during a presentation we can't find a particular data or paper and what we do is we pretend to have found it and say out loud an invented data or number hoping it is close to the actual one. of the times we did that, it passed.
this is a much different case as on this one she was totally blank. we think that after she stumbled the first time, she could not let the blunder go in her mind. she could not block it our of her mind, possible that she got extremely nervous knowing she screwed up and started to blame herself for the blunder. she became so agitated by the error and the intense self blame she dished out on herself that another blackout, a much longer one occured a few seconds after.
the next question - will arizona voters ignore the twin blackouts and elect her just the same?
Friday, July 16, 2010
toyota's biggest savings promo turn into a customer's biggest satisfaction failure
we have been seeing this print ad for toyota. nothing really special about the print ad, it's a typical promo print ad from the genre of barker, hyper type of promo ads. we have also seen a tv ad for this promo and from what we remember, the tv ad looks like the print ad, also unremarkable. based on just our own observation, it appears toyota has spent the most ad money among all the car manufacturers. most are on promos like these.
the ad we have here is the ad for the extension of the promo, the promo ran in june and this ad announces its extension until july. they could have come up with a different version for the extension of the ad for better impact and awareness. this extension print ad is different from the first version only with an announcement of the extension on the upper right hand corner of the ad.
promos are a good thing or so at least in paper. they are meant to build business. the idea of a promo is that during the time it is ran, the promo will generate incremental business for the brand/company. what happens when a promo turns into a big customer dissatisfaction? here is one example:
http://wawam.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/toyotas-biggesr-savings-turn-to-customers-biggest-customer-satisfaction-failure/
the ad we have here is the ad for the extension of the promo, the promo ran in june and this ad announces its extension until july. they could have come up with a different version for the extension of the ad for better impact and awareness. this extension print ad is different from the first version only with an announcement of the extension on the upper right hand corner of the ad.
promos are a good thing or so at least in paper. they are meant to build business. the idea of a promo is that during the time it is ran, the promo will generate incremental business for the brand/company. what happens when a promo turns into a big customer dissatisfaction? here is one example:
http://wawam.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/toyotas-biggesr-savings-turn-to-customers-biggest-customer-satisfaction-failure/
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
advertising greed is bad for your brand health
here is one more practice of marketers and ad agencies that i honestly could not understand. we don't even have to go back to advertising principles, we just have to apply common sense.
we call it advertising greed.
globe handyphone customer service telephone hotline - when you call their telephone hotline, they don't immediately connect you to the menu of services you want to know about nor to the customer service agent who is supposed to help you with your problems. what you hear instead is this audio spiel that advertises their latest service offering or promotion. if it is the first time for you to call this number, you need to listen to the whole spiel before you get connected to the person you want to talk to. that is, if by the time the spiel ends there is already a customer service agent who is already free to handle your call. if not, you will here some irritating music on the line.
we really don't get that. the whole idea behind putting up a telephone hotline is to provide customer service efficiently and QUICKLY. during the days before the invention of the term "customer satisfaction" and call centers, it tool a long time to get anything done to help customers on their complaints on the service or get information. the telephone and call center is supposed to eliminate that problem of decades ago.
running that audio spiel violates that very principle of "quick and efficient" customer service hotline. it actually delays it rather than quicken it.
we like advertising but we do not think this is a smart thing to do. the customer hotline is one area where we think it is counter-productive to out an ad in. most people call these numbers to complain about a service or to fix a service problem. it is to the interest of globe and the the appreciation of customers that these are quickly resolved.
we have been watching the FIFA world cup on tv at balls cable tv. what gets us is that when they cut to the showing of ads, the ad break is very long, at least 5 minutes worth of ads. and this is what kills us - some of the tv ads are shown not once, not twice but often times more than 5 times!
what is the point of showing the same ad for more than once? they forgot that you are supposed to develop ads that work even when seen only once by the audience. there is not advantage in showing the same ad to the same audience in the same commercial break for more than 5 times.
it is stupid to expect that the audience will actually watch the same ad 5 times in a row! didn't the ad agency, client and the cable tv operator know all tv sets now come with a remote control unit? it's easy to expect that the audience will click the remote and watch another tv channel while the ads are running. many tv sets have the picture in picture feature, the audience who switches channels during the long commercial break will not miss a thing when the game is put back on.
why do clients and ad agencies do these things? what is the point of advertising greed when the audience has the power not to view the repeated ads with the remote control? or when an ad is forcibly broadcast to the audience who is in no mood to listen to an ad from the service provider?
advertising greed does not make a sale, nor does it build brand equity, all it does is annoy the audience and a definite WAWAM!
we call it advertising greed.
globe handyphone customer service telephone hotline - when you call their telephone hotline, they don't immediately connect you to the menu of services you want to know about nor to the customer service agent who is supposed to help you with your problems. what you hear instead is this audio spiel that advertises their latest service offering or promotion. if it is the first time for you to call this number, you need to listen to the whole spiel before you get connected to the person you want to talk to. that is, if by the time the spiel ends there is already a customer service agent who is already free to handle your call. if not, you will here some irritating music on the line.
we really don't get that. the whole idea behind putting up a telephone hotline is to provide customer service efficiently and QUICKLY. during the days before the invention of the term "customer satisfaction" and call centers, it tool a long time to get anything done to help customers on their complaints on the service or get information. the telephone and call center is supposed to eliminate that problem of decades ago.
running that audio spiel violates that very principle of "quick and efficient" customer service hotline. it actually delays it rather than quicken it.
we like advertising but we do not think this is a smart thing to do. the customer hotline is one area where we think it is counter-productive to out an ad in. most people call these numbers to complain about a service or to fix a service problem. it is to the interest of globe and the the appreciation of customers that these are quickly resolved.
we have been watching the FIFA world cup on tv at balls cable tv. what gets us is that when they cut to the showing of ads, the ad break is very long, at least 5 minutes worth of ads. and this is what kills us - some of the tv ads are shown not once, not twice but often times more than 5 times!
what is the point of showing the same ad for more than once? they forgot that you are supposed to develop ads that work even when seen only once by the audience. there is not advantage in showing the same ad to the same audience in the same commercial break for more than 5 times.
it is stupid to expect that the audience will actually watch the same ad 5 times in a row! didn't the ad agency, client and the cable tv operator know all tv sets now come with a remote control unit? it's easy to expect that the audience will click the remote and watch another tv channel while the ads are running. many tv sets have the picture in picture feature, the audience who switches channels during the long commercial break will not miss a thing when the game is put back on.
why do clients and ad agencies do these things? what is the point of advertising greed when the audience has the power not to view the repeated ads with the remote control? or when an ad is forcibly broadcast to the audience who is in no mood to listen to an ad from the service provider?
advertising greed does not make a sale, nor does it build brand equity, all it does is annoy the audience and a definite WAWAM!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
babes in orange mini dress arrested for ambush marketing in 2010 world cup
wow! this is shocking - we did not know ambush marketing can get you arrested! marketers can be criminals after all.
dutch bavaria beer sent a few dozen babes in orange mini dress to watch the dutch games at the world cup in south africa. the beer company paid for the airfare for the babes to watch the game and obviously the orange mini dress. the girls entered the stadium in regular clothes and at a specific time they all remove their clothes to reveal the orange mini dress.
then the girls started the whoopi. how often do you see that many babes in mini dress doing the whoopi in the way they did it? so they got a lot of attention, cell phone cameras took the video, the men around them whooped it up, too. they did not complain, they just enjoyed all of it,
however, there were those who complained - the men at the other of the stadium who were too far to see eye to eye with the babes in orange dress. the other complaint was from fifa who had them arrested.
well, fifa did not have them arrested and charged in court for the mini dresses but for violating the sponsorship and marketing deals for the games. apparently bavaria was not a sponsor of the games. the babes in mini dress were accomplices for the alleged crime.
fifa are such party poopers!
this we think is excellent ambush marketing. not only because the babes wore mini dresses but the whole idea of ambushing such an event. bavaria obviously got what they wanted - they got the attention of every dutch male in the audience and at home, plus the global audience and everyone else who went to this blog. i bet bavaria beer's brand awareness and likability scores went up the roof after the game.
it made me thirsty for bavaria beer. will get some tonight.
dutch bavaria beer sent a few dozen babes in orange mini dress to watch the dutch games at the world cup in south africa. the beer company paid for the airfare for the babes to watch the game and obviously the orange mini dress. the girls entered the stadium in regular clothes and at a specific time they all remove their clothes to reveal the orange mini dress.
then the girls started the whoopi. how often do you see that many babes in mini dress doing the whoopi in the way they did it? so they got a lot of attention, cell phone cameras took the video, the men around them whooped it up, too. they did not complain, they just enjoyed all of it,
however, there were those who complained - the men at the other of the stadium who were too far to see eye to eye with the babes in orange dress. the other complaint was from fifa who had them arrested.
well, fifa did not have them arrested and charged in court for the mini dresses but for violating the sponsorship and marketing deals for the games. apparently bavaria was not a sponsor of the games. the babes in mini dress were accomplices for the alleged crime.
fifa are such party poopers!
read here:
http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Two-Dutch-mini-dress-models-arrested-after-defyi?urn=sow,248867
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article506153.ece/Fans-in-minis-bust-in-undies
this we think is excellent ambush marketing. not only because the babes wore mini dresses but the whole idea of ambushing such an event. bavaria obviously got what they wanted - they got the attention of every dutch male in the audience and at home, plus the global audience and everyone else who went to this blog. i bet bavaria beer's brand awareness and likability scores went up the roof after the game.
it made me thirsty for bavaria beer. will get some tonight.
Monday, June 14, 2010
the magic of magicJack in the philippines
if you are in the US, for sure you have heard of magicJack, it's heavily advertised and widely available in the supermarkets. magicJack is a VOIP telephone service where you connect this magicJack gadget into your computer USB and then connect your telephone to the mahicJack. the driver will load and you are ready to call anyone in the US and canada for free.
well, not entirely free but almost free - the magicJack costs $39.95 for the first year, included shipping and for succeeding years you pay $19.95 per year. you can make all the calls you want, in the philippine context you can make unlimited calls to any number in the US and Canada at no cost.
the good news - this works in the philippines, too!we have been using the magicJack in the philippines to call folks in the US on a regular basis. it's used often - an hour or so almost every day and it works just fine. the voice quality is very clear. at times it gets garbled and with an echo but it rarely happens. if that happens, just hang up and call again. it's recommended that no other computer uses the DSL connection when you are using the magicJack as there is at times some interference.
these are really very minor problems. the amount of hours we have been spending using the magicJack to call the US is very much worth the annual fee and the occasional problems.
the magicJack is actually available locally. there is a local company that sells the unit but it is not worth buying from them as it is more than double the cost of getting it from the US while the annual fee is more than triple the cost in the US.
what is the go around on this horrendous local cost? ask your friends and relatives from the US to buy the magicJack in the US and ask them to have the unit shipped to you in the philippines. once it arrives to your philippine home by courier, you can immediately use it. of course your friend in the US will need to shoulder the initial cost of it. you will probably need a credit card to continue the service after the first year.
a marketing note : the local company selling the magicJack in the philippines unfortunately is just like many other local companies in the philippines - they are terribly profit hungry. just like many other local companies that engage in services or products from the US, this company is too greedy in pricing the product and service twice to three times the cost in the US. but that is another topic.
well, not entirely free but almost free - the magicJack costs $39.95 for the first year, included shipping and for succeeding years you pay $19.95 per year. you can make all the calls you want, in the philippine context you can make unlimited calls to any number in the US and Canada at no cost.
the good news - this works in the philippines, too!we have been using the magicJack in the philippines to call folks in the US on a regular basis. it's used often - an hour or so almost every day and it works just fine. the voice quality is very clear. at times it gets garbled and with an echo but it rarely happens. if that happens, just hang up and call again. it's recommended that no other computer uses the DSL connection when you are using the magicJack as there is at times some interference.
these are really very minor problems. the amount of hours we have been spending using the magicJack to call the US is very much worth the annual fee and the occasional problems.
the magicJack is actually available locally. there is a local company that sells the unit but it is not worth buying from them as it is more than double the cost of getting it from the US while the annual fee is more than triple the cost in the US.
what is the go around on this horrendous local cost? ask your friends and relatives from the US to buy the magicJack in the US and ask them to have the unit shipped to you in the philippines. once it arrives to your philippine home by courier, you can immediately use it. of course your friend in the US will need to shoulder the initial cost of it. you will probably need a credit card to continue the service after the first year.
a marketing note : the local company selling the magicJack in the philippines unfortunately is just like many other local companies in the philippines - they are terribly profit hungry. just like many other local companies that engage in services or products from the US, this company is too greedy in pricing the product and service twice to three times the cost in the US. but that is another topic.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
apple's new iPhone 4 and iPad - a second chance to market leadership for globe telecoms
we read in an internet posting globe telecoms has slid to 3rd in total number of subscribers recently and have been overtaken by sun cellular. we will not discuss that now here as we still need to verify the numbers but that is a very sad state of affairs for globe.
sun is a crappy service. the only thing going for it is its unlimited calls and text but the service is pretty bad - texts take a long time to reach the other party if it reaches it at all and voice calls are very often choppy and garbled, not to mention frequent dropped calls and "service is unavailable" error messages. we can't even call the sun cell service as good value, nothing much is good about it and its value questionable. "cheap" is the only appropriate word to use for it.
with that profile, you can understand why it is a sad state of affairs that sun is able to overtake globe in number of subscribers. in many ways, it hurts less if the brand that overtakes your brand is superior than yours but for an inferior brand to achieve it, that hurts pretty bad.
BUT apple's latest - the iPhone 4 and iPad is here. globe is the exclusive partner of apple in the philippine market for the iPhone. we assume it will continue to be so for apples newest toys.
the iPhone 4 by all measures, that means the tech reviewers are going crazy over the latest version. it will have a new OS (iOS4) and has new and really great features. to name a few - a great display, longer battery life, a gyroscope and 2 cameras (back and front facing). almost all the tech reviewers this new iPhone is apple's best and a sure winner for consumers.
the other is the iPad which has taken the market by storm. before launch, it was a product nobody could place. people were excited about it. almost any new apple product excited people but this one was hard to place where it can be in the tech market. apple launched it and it was an instant success. it has sold 2 million units in just 2 months and it continue to escalate. by all accounts, the only barrier for further growth in unit sales for the iPad is the speed by which apple's factories can manufacture the gadget.
what this means is that apple has 2 excellent products that globe can use to spring it's subscriber base up. but the question is- has globe learned it's lesson the first time it launched the iPhone in the market?
the launch of the original iPhone was also an instant hit in the US market and in most markets it was sold. it was first sold in the US and apple stores had long lines of consumers waiting outside apple stores to get their hands on it. almost all of these consumers who lined up were there from the previous night, all of them camping out during the night just so they are able to get their hands on the iphone.
no such crazy adulation occurred in the philippines when globe launched it here. we have previously written about it before here and we said the reason for the absence of excitement for the iphone was the pricing strategy that globe adapted for the iphone. globe bevame greedy - they over-priced it so much so that very few could afford the iphone,
we also wrote that globe could have used the iphone as key marketing tool to get leadership away from smart. globe then was second to smart.
with the iphone 4 and the ipad appearing to be a real winner technologically and by techies acclaim, perhaps globe will be smart enough to bring back the sun into their subscriber base by doing the right thing the second time around. (pun intended)
sun is a crappy service. the only thing going for it is its unlimited calls and text but the service is pretty bad - texts take a long time to reach the other party if it reaches it at all and voice calls are very often choppy and garbled, not to mention frequent dropped calls and "service is unavailable" error messages. we can't even call the sun cell service as good value, nothing much is good about it and its value questionable. "cheap" is the only appropriate word to use for it.
with that profile, you can understand why it is a sad state of affairs that sun is able to overtake globe in number of subscribers. in many ways, it hurts less if the brand that overtakes your brand is superior than yours but for an inferior brand to achieve it, that hurts pretty bad.
BUT apple's latest - the iPhone 4 and iPad is here. globe is the exclusive partner of apple in the philippine market for the iPhone. we assume it will continue to be so for apples newest toys.
the iPhone 4 by all measures, that means the tech reviewers are going crazy over the latest version. it will have a new OS (iOS4) and has new and really great features. to name a few - a great display, longer battery life, a gyroscope and 2 cameras (back and front facing). almost all the tech reviewers this new iPhone is apple's best and a sure winner for consumers.
the other is the iPad which has taken the market by storm. before launch, it was a product nobody could place. people were excited about it. almost any new apple product excited people but this one was hard to place where it can be in the tech market. apple launched it and it was an instant success. it has sold 2 million units in just 2 months and it continue to escalate. by all accounts, the only barrier for further growth in unit sales for the iPad is the speed by which apple's factories can manufacture the gadget.
what this means is that apple has 2 excellent products that globe can use to spring it's subscriber base up. but the question is- has globe learned it's lesson the first time it launched the iPhone in the market?
the launch of the original iPhone was also an instant hit in the US market and in most markets it was sold. it was first sold in the US and apple stores had long lines of consumers waiting outside apple stores to get their hands on it. almost all of these consumers who lined up were there from the previous night, all of them camping out during the night just so they are able to get their hands on the iphone.
no such crazy adulation occurred in the philippines when globe launched it here. we have previously written about it before here and we said the reason for the absence of excitement for the iphone was the pricing strategy that globe adapted for the iphone. globe bevame greedy - they over-priced it so much so that very few could afford the iphone,
we also wrote that globe could have used the iphone as key marketing tool to get leadership away from smart. globe then was second to smart.
with the iphone 4 and the ipad appearing to be a real winner technologically and by techies acclaim, perhaps globe will be smart enough to bring back the sun into their subscriber base by doing the right thing the second time around. (pun intended)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
creating a string of successes through timing - the iPhone and the iPad
in this week's news, steve jobs said they started to developed the iPad ahead of the iPhone but they decided to launch the iPhone first and shelved the iPad work in the meantime.
it is hindsight but we think it was a brilliant move.
the iPad competes in the tablet sub segment of the computer market and during that time many tablet brands have failed. apple may very well have failed too if they launched the iPad then.
launching the iPhone ahead of the iPad was a good move as the iPhone was unique in the market it was getting launched into, its success in the market place was easier and more assured. there were no other cellphones during that time that had the features that the iPhone had. uniqueness is one of the key success factors in the launch of any new product.
the iPhone also prepared and in many ways built a lot of anticipation and excitement on the iPad. by the time the iPad launched, consumers have become familiar with the new touch technology that the iPhone had. apple also was already hugely successful with the iTunes and the app store. these were critical partners to the success of the iPhone. with consumers already knowing the success of the iPhone iTunes and the app store, the iPad became a very easu sell to consumers.
the sales numbers on the iPad are impressive - it has sold its 1 million unit much faster than the iPhone did and many analysts are now revising their sales projections on the iPad, more units than previous estimates.
launch timing in this one helped the success of a new product launch.
it is hindsight but we think it was a brilliant move.
the iPad competes in the tablet sub segment of the computer market and during that time many tablet brands have failed. apple may very well have failed too if they launched the iPad then.
launching the iPhone ahead of the iPad was a good move as the iPhone was unique in the market it was getting launched into, its success in the market place was easier and more assured. there were no other cellphones during that time that had the features that the iPhone had. uniqueness is one of the key success factors in the launch of any new product.
the iPhone also prepared and in many ways built a lot of anticipation and excitement on the iPad. by the time the iPad launched, consumers have become familiar with the new touch technology that the iPhone had. apple also was already hugely successful with the iTunes and the app store. these were critical partners to the success of the iPhone. with consumers already knowing the success of the iPhone iTunes and the app store, the iPad became a very easu sell to consumers.
the sales numbers on the iPad are impressive - it has sold its 1 million unit much faster than the iPhone did and many analysts are now revising their sales projections on the iPad, more units than previous estimates.
launch timing in this one helped the success of a new product launch.
Monday, April 19, 2010
the disloyalty that globe handyphone's loyalty and rewards program creates
marketing 101 says loyalty and rewards programs are very effective tools in keeping subscribers happy with your service and more importantly to stay loyal. that means loyalty and rewards programs are meant to prevent existing subscribers from cutting off their subscription with the company and switch to a competitor.
it is also much more cost effective to keep customers loyal than to look for new subscribers. marketing and acquisition costs for new customers is much higher and much more difficult for companies.
what makes all of these critical is that the mobile phone service industry is probably the most competitive mass consumer market in the country. we know this with the unending and heavy advertising and promotions launched by the top three competing companies – sun, globe and smart.
the three competing companies offer unique plans and a full range of options for the consumers to choose from. many of these are value packed, offering very low cash outlay and monthly fees. when the market already competes on price, you know that the market is reaching maturity and is already near saturation point.
the market is also reaching near-saturation point where a large part of the demographics, in practically all segments already own a cell phone and already subscribe to a mobile service provider.
what this tells you is that a mobile phone service provider’s way to market share and revenue growth is to (1st) keep your current customers loyal; (2nd) increase usage of loyal customers through more value added services and (3rd) gain new users.
what is the point then that globe has kept it’s loyalty and rewards program secret from it’s subscribers?
we have been getting some feedback from a yahoogroup we are a member of. members are saying the loyalty/rewards program of globe has been there for a long time, it’s just that they don’t tell their subscribers about it. you only get to know about it by accident – from friends or when you call their hotline number and accidentally ask about it.
apparently, smart is less secretive about their loyalty/rewards program. smart puts it in fine print on your cell phone bill to let you know about it. it is in fine print but at least you are told about it. globe does not put it anywhere in your bill and they don’t tell you about it when you call them. you get to know about it only when you ask them about it.
for me, keeping the loyalty/rewards program a secret from subscribers indicates insincerity. why would you develop a rewards/loyalty program when you don’t intend to let your customers know about it? keeping it a secret from subscribers is very much equivalent to not having one.
we are familiar with rewards/loyalty programs - the SM group has one, mercury drugstore and national bookstore as well. these stores publicize it with posters and their cashiers ask you if you have one. if you don’t , they will ask you if you want to get one. to these stores, it’s not a secret they actively recruit members to it.
the most obvious negative effect of keeping it a secret from subscribers is that the program is not being used as a tool the way it is intended to be used. not having a lot of subscribers using it also says the program is not achieving it’s objectives.
there is a feedback given in the yahoogroup we are a member of - this subscriber has been with globe for a long time, since year 1 of globe operations in 1996. she accidentally found out about globe’s loyalty/reward program from a friend. she calls the hotline number to inquire about it and globe did not even apologize for not letting her know about its existence. disappointed, she closed her globe account and switched to smart. since she moved over to smart, she has gotten 2 new cell phones as her reward and is very happy with smart.
in that incident, the loyalty/reward program that was kept a secret actually caused disloyalty from a subscriber. it achieved the exact opposite of what it is supposed to achieve.
we know that smart telecoms monitors their churn numbers on a daily basis. churn is the result of subtracting the number of subscribers dropping the service versus the number of new subscribers joining the service. having a positive churn means the total number of subscribers is increasing while a negative churn means the number of subscribers is shrinking. a positive churn means increasing market share of number of users while a negative churn is a decrease in market share.
to smart telecoms, it’s important that they continue to grow in market share. a negative churn turns them into a panic and will immediately launch new programs to entice new users or keep existing ones.
that is the kind of marketing that smart does and it shows as smart continue to be the dominant mobile service provider in the country.
smart has an interesting history. smart actually built their market through very aggressive marketing.
smart was not the market leader when they started in the market. piltel which was still owned by pldt and separate from smart was the market leader. globe entered the market and took leadership away from piltel. through aggressive marketing, smart over took both piltel and globe and since that time, smart has not only sustained it’s leadership, it has achieved dominance.
in case globe is wondering why they are unable to get switchers from smart subscribers, perhaps the answer can be deduced from this incident – smart does not keep their loyalty/rewards program secret from their subscribers, they tell them about it. smart users are loyal subscribers because they are hooked by their loyalty/rewards program.
on the other side, in case globe is wondering why they keep losing their post-paid clients to smart – it is probably because they have kept their loyalty/rewards program a secret from their subscribers.
posted here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/globe-telecoms-secret-loyalty-and-rewards-program-that-creates-disloyalty/
Sunday, April 18, 2010
the globe handyphone experience - when customer service turns into a disservice
we will be starting a series of articles on the customer service and call center experience in the philippines. this is the first one, with globe handyphone, first posted here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/when-customer-relations-hotline-service-is-not-hot-and-a-disservice/
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there was a time not long ago getting some customer service was very difficult. if something goes wrong with the telephone service you subscribe to, it was not easy to get it resolved. first you might not know what number to call. if you get connected to someone, that might not be the person who can help you. if you talk to somebody, it will take a long time to get it resolved.
a silver bullet called customer relations service was invented. companies have set up these with the thinking it is best from a business standpoint to satisfy an existing customer and prevent that customer from dropping your service or product and move to competition. studies show that it is much more costly and much more difficult for a company to get new users or customers than keeping an existing one. the thinking is that you do your best to prevent your customers from dropping your service to move to other companies. this is much easier to services like a mobile service than products like toothpaste or shampoo. service companies have the luxury of talking directly to their customers, making customer retention an easier task.
modern marketing is also a very competitive one. two to three competing companies are fighting for the same customer. when a current customer is already using your product/service, it will be much easier to convince that customer to stay on since he/she already has experience with your product/service. converting a new customer puts you on stage 1 of the product preference cycle not to mention your competitors are most likely also going after the same customer.
pair the idea of customer relations with another emerging trend called the call center makes it even more potent. with call centers, dispensing customer relations will be much more efficient, makes it standard and more importantly very quick. this pair builds more loyal customers.
or at least so goes the theory.
that is the theory part because in practice, in this case with globe handyphone in particular, that might not be true at all and has the effect of the exact opposite.
we have been experiencing globe handyphone’s customer service hotline in the past weeks and this is where we are:
the first call we made to globe handyphone’s hotline service was on march 20. it has been unresolved as of this writing – now 30 days.
since march 20, to follow-up, we have made a call to the hotline number at least 14 days out of the 30 days for an average of 1 call every other day. since april 1, this was more frequent with calls almost on a daily basis. the average will go much higher if you subtract 4 days from the total because of the holy week period when there was no work.
we have accumulated a total of 6 reference numbers on the same topic and complaint
we have on file the names of at least 16 call center agents and 4 supervisors (with their corresponding ID numbers), in total at least 20 who we have talked to on the phone
we have talked to 3 supervisors who promised me they will call me back within the day to tell me when someone will call me but he/she never did
obviously, the globe handyphone customer service hot line is a failure in my case. i have been calling them for the same problem for 30 days now and it continue to be unresolved. some observations:
i don’t understand why they need to give me a separate reference number every time i call when it is exactly the same topic. towards the end, i refused to accept a new reference number as having a new one gives it a more recent time stamp and just delays the call back time aside from the fact that it is just confusing.
every time i called them, they will tell me someone will call me within 3 to 5 working days.
first, i don’t understand why it will take them 3 to 5 working days. taking a full work week i think is just too long. that is extremely slow service specially when it is to resolove a problem. it will take half a day to stop subscription and move to another mobile company.
saying each time someone will call you in 3 to 5 working days just extends the period. they actually never called back. it has been 12 working days since april 1 and no one has called me back yet. it has been 11 working days since april 2 and no one has called me back either. the list goes on.
the call center agents keep asking me for my number where they can call me back. this question kills me and is most irritating. i am a subscriber to their cell phone service why will they not know how to call me? is my cell phone number not in their record? i have also given them my landline number a long time ago, they did not keep that on file?
that is the same problem with my email address. one of the agents asked for my email address. i gave it to them but 5 days after, talking to another call center agent, she asks me again for my email address. that means the first person who asked me the info did not file it in their system.
what is the point of asking a customers for their contact numbers and email address when they don’t bother to save it in their system?
they also have this habit of asking for the past history of the calls when these are supposed to be recorded in their system. we would be asked when and with whom we have talked to during previous calla.
instead of answering, we asked them – do you have my file open on your monitor? a few would say yes. most will ask for 30 seconds to open my record on their computer. i don’t understand this – why would they not open my record at the start of the call?
then i ask another question – can you not see the history of my calls on your computer screen? the answer is yes sir, it’s here. so we ask – why are you asking that question when you will know the answer just by looking at your computer screen? no reply. then change topic.
customer relations dispensed through call centers is supposed to make customer servicing much more efficient and quicker. my experience so far with globe handyphone is it is mostly inefficient and very much slow. the whole system simply does not work nor is it giving globe the speed and efficiency they were supposed to get in investing in computer systems and hiring or outsourcing call center services.
neither are their customers happier and more satisfied with their service. if at all this customer is angrier and more disappointed at the kind of service they were giving us. we have been a globe handyphone customer for the past 11 years and never missed paying a single monthly bill. this is my first major call to them that is service related. we have made no more than 4 calls within that 11 year period. globe is making a lot of money out of my subscription to their service – monthly bills paid on time for 11 years and with only 5 calls made to their call center. we are not a bother to them and we pay them good money.
the systems they have put in place, the customer service and call center facility is meant to make things easier and faster for customers, our experience with them so far is anything but fats and efficient.
the above customer service experience is just on the first level in resolving the issue we have brought to them. apparently there is another department who is in charge of resolving the issue. unfortunately it is this other department that has been very unresponsive.
all the call center agents and supervisors we have talked to have said they have sent urgent requests to have my issue resolved by that other department. it is also the other department who is supposed to call me about my problem. it looks like the continuing problems i have been encountering with them is being caused by that other department.
the name of the department — the Loyalty Group or the Customer Relations Management.
we think it is the ultimate irony that the department who has been unresponsive to a customer relations complaint is the one in charge of “loyalty” and “customer relations”.
the experience so far, for the past 30 days is one that does not inspire loyalty to globe handyphone on our side nor do we think their non-action and unresponsiveness is good “customer relations”. for sure the mission of the department is to “build loyalty” among current customers and to “ensure good customer relations” among subscribers.
with this performance and the way they have set up their system – what then is the point of putting up a “loyalty group” and a “customer relations group”?
tomorrow will be 31 days of unresolved loyalty and customer relations for us.
------------
there was a time not long ago getting some customer service was very difficult. if something goes wrong with the telephone service you subscribe to, it was not easy to get it resolved. first you might not know what number to call. if you get connected to someone, that might not be the person who can help you. if you talk to somebody, it will take a long time to get it resolved.
a silver bullet called customer relations service was invented. companies have set up these with the thinking it is best from a business standpoint to satisfy an existing customer and prevent that customer from dropping your service or product and move to competition. studies show that it is much more costly and much more difficult for a company to get new users or customers than keeping an existing one. the thinking is that you do your best to prevent your customers from dropping your service to move to other companies. this is much easier to services like a mobile service than products like toothpaste or shampoo. service companies have the luxury of talking directly to their customers, making customer retention an easier task.
modern marketing is also a very competitive one. two to three competing companies are fighting for the same customer. when a current customer is already using your product/service, it will be much easier to convince that customer to stay on since he/she already has experience with your product/service. converting a new customer puts you on stage 1 of the product preference cycle not to mention your competitors are most likely also going after the same customer.
pair the idea of customer relations with another emerging trend called the call center makes it even more potent. with call centers, dispensing customer relations will be much more efficient, makes it standard and more importantly very quick. this pair builds more loyal customers.
or at least so goes the theory.
that is the theory part because in practice, in this case with globe handyphone in particular, that might not be true at all and has the effect of the exact opposite.
we have been experiencing globe handyphone’s customer service hotline in the past weeks and this is where we are:
the first call we made to globe handyphone’s hotline service was on march 20. it has been unresolved as of this writing – now 30 days.
since march 20, to follow-up, we have made a call to the hotline number at least 14 days out of the 30 days for an average of 1 call every other day. since april 1, this was more frequent with calls almost on a daily basis. the average will go much higher if you subtract 4 days from the total because of the holy week period when there was no work.
we have accumulated a total of 6 reference numbers on the same topic and complaint
we have on file the names of at least 16 call center agents and 4 supervisors (with their corresponding ID numbers), in total at least 20 who we have talked to on the phone
we have talked to 3 supervisors who promised me they will call me back within the day to tell me when someone will call me but he/she never did
obviously, the globe handyphone customer service hot line is a failure in my case. i have been calling them for the same problem for 30 days now and it continue to be unresolved. some observations:
i don’t understand why they need to give me a separate reference number every time i call when it is exactly the same topic. towards the end, i refused to accept a new reference number as having a new one gives it a more recent time stamp and just delays the call back time aside from the fact that it is just confusing.
every time i called them, they will tell me someone will call me within 3 to 5 working days.
first, i don’t understand why it will take them 3 to 5 working days. taking a full work week i think is just too long. that is extremely slow service specially when it is to resolove a problem. it will take half a day to stop subscription and move to another mobile company.
saying each time someone will call you in 3 to 5 working days just extends the period. they actually never called back. it has been 12 working days since april 1 and no one has called me back yet. it has been 11 working days since april 2 and no one has called me back either. the list goes on.
the call center agents keep asking me for my number where they can call me back. this question kills me and is most irritating. i am a subscriber to their cell phone service why will they not know how to call me? is my cell phone number not in their record? i have also given them my landline number a long time ago, they did not keep that on file?
that is the same problem with my email address. one of the agents asked for my email address. i gave it to them but 5 days after, talking to another call center agent, she asks me again for my email address. that means the first person who asked me the info did not file it in their system.
what is the point of asking a customers for their contact numbers and email address when they don’t bother to save it in their system?
they also have this habit of asking for the past history of the calls when these are supposed to be recorded in their system. we would be asked when and with whom we have talked to during previous calla.
instead of answering, we asked them – do you have my file open on your monitor? a few would say yes. most will ask for 30 seconds to open my record on their computer. i don’t understand this – why would they not open my record at the start of the call?
then i ask another question – can you not see the history of my calls on your computer screen? the answer is yes sir, it’s here. so we ask – why are you asking that question when you will know the answer just by looking at your computer screen? no reply. then change topic.
customer relations dispensed through call centers is supposed to make customer servicing much more efficient and quicker. my experience so far with globe handyphone is it is mostly inefficient and very much slow. the whole system simply does not work nor is it giving globe the speed and efficiency they were supposed to get in investing in computer systems and hiring or outsourcing call center services.
neither are their customers happier and more satisfied with their service. if at all this customer is angrier and more disappointed at the kind of service they were giving us. we have been a globe handyphone customer for the past 11 years and never missed paying a single monthly bill. this is my first major call to them that is service related. we have made no more than 4 calls within that 11 year period. globe is making a lot of money out of my subscription to their service – monthly bills paid on time for 11 years and with only 5 calls made to their call center. we are not a bother to them and we pay them good money.
the systems they have put in place, the customer service and call center facility is meant to make things easier and faster for customers, our experience with them so far is anything but fats and efficient.
the above customer service experience is just on the first level in resolving the issue we have brought to them. apparently there is another department who is in charge of resolving the issue. unfortunately it is this other department that has been very unresponsive.
all the call center agents and supervisors we have talked to have said they have sent urgent requests to have my issue resolved by that other department. it is also the other department who is supposed to call me about my problem. it looks like the continuing problems i have been encountering with them is being caused by that other department.
the name of the department — the Loyalty Group or the Customer Relations Management.
we think it is the ultimate irony that the department who has been unresponsive to a customer relations complaint is the one in charge of “loyalty” and “customer relations”.
the experience so far, for the past 30 days is one that does not inspire loyalty to globe handyphone on our side nor do we think their non-action and unresponsiveness is good “customer relations”. for sure the mission of the department is to “build loyalty” among current customers and to “ensure good customer relations” among subscribers.
with this performance and the way they have set up their system – what then is the point of putting up a “loyalty group” and a “customer relations group”?
tomorrow will be 31 days of unresolved loyalty and customer relations for us.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
apple ipad's intro tv ad - the magic is in simplicity
one of the reasons we love apple products is its simplicity in almost everything in physical design, application and getting the most out of what we buy from them like i-tunes and the app store.
apple's tablet the ipad is no different. i do not think you can be more simpler than it is a large ipod touch. it is a disappointment that it is just a large ipod touch, we were hoping it was going to be a smaller or at least lighter and thinner macbook. we were saving mega bucks to get one of those just in case it will be a small, lighter and thinner macbook but it did not happen that way.
so we now have some cash saved up that we don't plan to allow apple to get at them for now. we bought apple stocks instead, which by the way has reached an all time high price of $219.08 as of yesterday's closing.
the ad like the product is a simple tv ad. it simply shows what you can do with it, mostly staying on the gestures you need to do to make it work just like you would in an ipod touch or iphone but in what at certain times felt like an awkward size - way to big. (if i hear a clink, it's my ipod touch falling on the floor but on this own it will be "thud" or a breaking glass.)
that's it? yes, that's it.
steve jobs describes the product as "magic". the ad did not show it. look, magic is something you have not seen before or something amazing. both was not shown the ipad has. so i guess, we will need to wait for the magic to appear in the future. sooner than later, i hope.
before we end this piece, we did see magic - it was on the nasdaq when AAPL reached it's all time high price last night. that is truly magical! we are looking forward to something like $300 within the year.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
mcdonald's "tweens" tv ad sizzles with tween consumer insight
relevance is a word written all over this mcdonald's ad for tweens. the story told in this ad is one that every tween and yes, every parent of a tween understand, has experienced and can agree with.
this ad makes mcdonald's as the fast food chain for real people, making it look very much a part of pinoy life. they have been coming out with great ads very similar to this one. we applaud them and hope they will not stop coming up with ads like these.
one of the key barriers for patronage of mcdonald's in this market is it is less pinoy than jollibee. ads like this chips away on that barrier. in fact the recent ads of mcdonald's shows it is successfully shedding that barrier.
this ad is 5 stars!
this ad makes mcdonald's as the fast food chain for real people, making it look very much a part of pinoy life. they have been coming out with great ads very similar to this one. we applaud them and hope they will not stop coming up with ads like these.
one of the key barriers for patronage of mcdonald's in this market is it is less pinoy than jollibee. ads like this chips away on that barrier. in fact the recent ads of mcdonald's shows it is successfully shedding that barrier.
this ad is 5 stars!
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