Monthly Archives: October 2014

October 17, 2014 · 8:37 am

Everything Is A Special

Foodie Friday Fun this week begins with a chalkboard.  I went out for dinner last night and the place I went was small.  After having been seated, one might expect the server to produce a menu.  He didn’t.  Instead he pointed to a chalkboard hanging on wall next to the open kitchen.  “Tonight’s menu is there” he said.  There were no specials – everything was a special.

The menu was small.  A few different types of crostini, two different types of pasta, a fish, a lamb dish, a beef dish, a duck dish and dessert.  Only three.  Everything was based on the ingredients available locally that day.  Having researched the place prior to going, I’d seen an assortment of previous menus.  One or two of the dishes popped up several times but the menus really varied from day-to-day.  They reflected the philosophy of the owners: fresh seasonal ingredients prepared simply.  Which of course got me thinking.

Many businesses try to be all things to all people.  They produce products in response to a competitor’s success.  Brand and line extensions are one way to leverage all of the brand equity we’ve built up.  The reality is that if the “larger menu” isn’t done as well as the array of choices that built that equity in the first place, we end up diluting what we’ve built up in the consumer’s mind.

The local ingredients had another advantage – much lower costs since they weren’t being shipped from around the world.  The prices at this place were reasonable.  They didn’t serve wine or liquor although you could bring your own (and they didn’t charge corkage!).  Again, maintaining a wine list was a distraction for them.  No inventory can go bad when you don’t have any.

I think this place’s philosophy is a good one for businesses to emulate.  Do a few things well.  Make everything special.  Make your products with the best “ingredients” you can find, where they be the people who provide your services or the materials from which your products are made.  Quality over quantity?  Maybe, although I think quantity comes from quality.  What do you think?

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October 16, 2014 · 10:09 am

What’s Missing?

Big headline this morning on eMarketer.  It reads:

Good News: Publishers and Media Buyers Both Like Native Ads

I don’t know about you but I feel so much better that native advertising is here to stay.  For those of you unfamiliar with the subject, native advertising is ad content that presents itself as editorial.  Maybe you’re reading the website of a popular magazine and there is an article on what to look for when buying sunscreen.  Maybe you don’t notice that it’s written by the head of marketing from a sunscreen manufacturer.  If you know that, does it call into question any of the information you’re reading?  It does in my mind if that information recommends that you look for certain things on the label (you can bet they’re on HIS product’s label), etc.

This piece over at copyblogger can show you more examples.  My guess is that you had no idea that some of what you’ll see is advertising.  That’s the issue I have with the headline.  Publishers are represented.  So are advertisers through their media buyers.  What’s missing?

You are.  We are.  Consumers are.  They may like it but do you?  I don’t.  And this does not make me feel any better about it:

In a June 2014 study by Mixpo, nearly three-quarters of US publishers said having a native advertising offering was important. And they were taking action. The majority of respondents offered a native advertising solution, and an additional one-fifth planned to do so within the next few years at most.

I don’t want to have to wonder if anything I’m reading is editorial or advertising.  I don’t want to be researching my research to ascertain if it’s unbiased or quietly (some might say sneakily) advocating a brand.  I don’t like native ads unless they are clearly labeled as “advertising” and I’m sad that what I think (or what you think) doesn’t seem to be part of the equation that’s formulated about its future.

What’s your take?

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October 15, 2014 · 8:27 am

Brand Actions And Words

I’ve mentioned in this space before that brands have a lot less – if any – control over how they are perceived by consumers due to the rise of connectivity among those very same consumers.  That contention is supported by some research from The Society For New Communications Research which conducted a study on the topic of Social Media and Societal Good.  Main conclusion?

The reputation of a company is no longer defined by what they “report” or what they “say” they stand for. Instead, they are increasingly defined by the shared opinions and experiences of socially-connected consumers.

You can read the study here.  It’s interesting although not particularly surprising.  While the vast majority of people still rank the quality of products and services are the most important reason behind how they form impressions about a brand, some other traditional factors are ranked way down the list in importance.  Only 43% say that a company’s ads are either mildly or very important in forming impressions while  76% cite family and friends that way.  While many brands are obsessive about their social media presence, only 28% of consumers use that to form impressions.  Interestingly, since 78% mention the customer care program as important, perhaps the social media emphasis needs to be more about caring and less about sharing.

So while word of mouth matters, so too does how a company behaves in the world as a whole.  We don’t yet seem to be at a place where consumers research a company’s social and societal impact before doing business.  However, when a company’s behavior comes to their attention – maybe through a news story, maybe through a friend – news of the negative societal impact of a company has impact and more so with women than with men:

When quality and price are largely equal in a purchase decision, nearly three in five people report a moderate to strong positive impact on likelihood to purchase when they discover information on the positive societal impact of a company. 61% report a moderate to strong negative impact on likelihood to purchase when hearing news on the negative societal impact of a company.

So let’s behave, people.  We are what we do, not what we say we are or will do.  Our customers are paying attention.  Are you?

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