Monthly Archives: April 2017

April 7, 2017 · 11:57 am

Sweets Trolley

It’s Foodie Friday, and this week I’m already looking forward to next week and the Passover and Easter holidays. As you might expect, it’s because of the food. There are a few things that seem only to make an appearance around this time – Easter Pie (pizza rustica) and bilkies (like a knish without a crust) being two of my favorites. Most of these foods, however, are desserts. Macaroons, cakes made with ground nuts instead of flour, Simnel cakes, hot cross buns, and yes, even Peeps are sweets that are now eaten year-round but were originally only eaten around Passover or Easter. That’s why desserts are on my mind.

Desserts began as a “thing” in the 17th century. As a host, you were expected to leave your guests filled to the brim. The word “dessert” comes from Old French “desservir,” “cleaning the table,” and that’s what it did—it filled people up to the brim. I look at it as the “something extra” that takes a good meal and makes it special. If you’ve dined in some restaurants (or are a Harry Potter fan), then you’re aware of the sweets trolley – the cart that comes around after the meal with the desserts. It always makes me feel the way that the sound of the Good Humor truck did as it came around when I was a kid.

So my question for you this Foodie Friday is what’s on your sweets trolley? What desserts have you created to complement and enhance your main meal? How are you filling your customers to the brim? Is your product great but your customer service the dessert? Is your online experience first-rate but the experience of unboxing what you send an added joy? What are you doing that goes above and beyond?

I’m actually not a dessert person – I avoid sweets. This week is one exception because the desserts are so unique and wonderful. What are you doing to entice people who might avoid you to change their mind?

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April 6, 2017 · 11:45 am

Clear Headed

I’ve been MIA from this space for a few days (hopefully you’ve noticed). I caught some kind of a bug and it pretty much laid me out for a few days. Body aches, a little congestion, and a foggy brain. I had zero energy and just wanted to sleep. More importantly, I couldn’t really focus my thinking on anything.

This may come as a shock to you but I do put a fair amount of what I hope is clear-headed thought into the screed. While I might have been able to force myself to spend a lot of extra time to write something, I thought it a better course of (in)action just to give it a rest. I’m a big believer in doing nothing when one’s head is foggy and let me explain why.

“Foggy” to me just doesn’t mean the state I’ve been in over the last few days. Foggy is when things are unclear at all. It may be because you’re distracted or it may be because the information you need to make a decision is incomplete, unclear, or inadequate. Jason Day, for example, withdrew from a golf tournament a couple of weeks ago because he was distracted by the fact that his mom was having surgery (she’s fine) and he couldn’t focus. Rather than making bad decisions on the course, he made a great one and left it.

Each of us needs to think along the same lines. Sure, sometimes fuzzy logic is called for because we can’t get enough information. In and of itself, that’s a clear-headed decision you make. Oftentimes, however, anything from a cold to a hangover to a family matter to office politics can reduce or eliminate your ability to focus. Those are the times when we need more time because I don’t concur that a bad decision is always better than no decision.

What do you think?

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April 3, 2017 · 11:26 am

New Isn’t Synonymous With Good

A decade or more ago (2003, actually), there was an early attempt at a VR world called “Second Life.” It’s still in existence although in my mind it reached its PR peak way back when. Many sports and entertainment properties rushed to set up virtual home bases in the virtual world. If memory serves, MLB built a stadium and the NBA built an arena.

I was running the NHL’s digital stuff at the time and as you might expect, the Second Life folks came to us to participate. You should also know that sports leagues keep an eye on one another (duh) and so the fact that the other leagues were there had some folks internally asking why we weren’t. I had a pretty simple answer for them: we weren’t because it made absolutely no business sense. Back then, Second Life’s business was almost a real estate play. We would have had to have bought “land” on which to construct our presence as well as to build and maintain whatever we build. The audience numbers weren’t all that great when compared with other options. When we put all the numbers together the cost was well into six figures and the potential return was pretty nebulous at best. I explained all this to my management and said that if they wanted to be involved from a marketing perspective (and pay for it out of that budget) we’d proceed but if they were asking if it was a smart business deal the answer was no.

The Second Life folks were way ahead of their time (VR is just starting to take off) but the lesson from that is just as relevant today. Look at the rush of sponsors to new platforms, whether they’re the latest hot app or a new type of programmatic buying. There is no vetting. Many of these things lack any form of third-party verification or transparency. Frankly, my guess is that many of the folks involved don’t even know what questions to ask since ad tech has become incredibly complex. Add in the controversy about rebates driving placements and investment in much of this new stuff might make a visible splash but bellyflop as a business decision.

Good strategy is timeless. Yes, we need to push forward with respect to how we display our messages and engage with our consumers. No, we don’t need to rush off a technological cliff as we try to do that in the name of being cutting edge. Newness for newness’ sake is not synonymous with good. You agree?

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