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    Cloudy Futures.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday about the cloud. He’s at a technology company in the backup business. Backup is a simple concept that insures that data on corporate networks is recoverable in the event of disaster.  Backup is good. (I recently learned that Jewish religious scholarship is passed on orally over 7 years of study, known as the Daf Yomi, which is a form of backup. Just sayin’.)

    Does cloud computing make the need for backup less important? Of course not, for cloud providers it’s requisite. But for tech companies that provide back-up solutions to corporations, does backup in the cloud become a competitor? Most certainly.  

    This cloud thing, done well, will chance the tech landscape by amazing proportion.  And redistribute crazy wealth.  Recently, it was reported in The New York Times that a company spending $1M with Amazon’s cloud service to host and process its data would have had to pay $5M for all the servers and surround. Como se no brainer?  And more importantly, as we bury all the complexity in the cloud and organically move toward more open systems, will not technology become less confusing? Less elitist?  I think so. 

    When that happens, out engineers will be able to start solving energy problems, space exploration, and healthcare delivery. Now whose head is in the clouds?  Peace! 

    Movie Theater Marketing.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    A long-time friend of mine is a big macher in the movie theater business. He offered up some interesting facts and market movers last week. 

    The movie exhibition business – the business of the movie house, not the film business – is a crucible of marketing. It’s retail, it’s venue-marketing, it’s entertainment and it is quite competitive…not only with other movie exhibitors but with in-home entertainment centers – e.g., flatties, cable, video on demand in the den.

    That said, a night at the theater is still quite an affordable night on the town.

    What are marketers doing to push one theater over another?  Lots: IMAX, Wi-Fi, line-busting, reserved seating, food to the seat, new projectors, hi-def shimmering sound and loyalty programs. And they are testing live projection experiences: college sports, opera, etc. 

    Theaters, like airline carriers and hotels are in the load management business; they need to put fannies in seats. They are also in the fast food business where they’re trying to get the average ticket price up (not the cost of the theater ticket but the cost of all theater purchases.)

    This is a dog fight, no doubt, but my pal is getting it done.   Last year was the best year in 10. And the first quarter was the best in the last 7 years. Of course, the films are important.  In one man’s opinion the movies are getting more expensive to make yet offer less in the way of plot, cinematography and acting. Frankly, some of the best new entertainment now is on cable and there’s not much of that.

    But like a meal at a great restaurant, you may remember the dish, but it’s the venue you return to. It’s the venue you give your money to.  It’s the brand you share with friends and family.  Building the experience from all angles is what makes a great theater chain. For tyro brand planners, the crucible of theater marketing is a formative one. For marketers anywhere it is a laboratory we should all pay attention to. Peace!

    Packaged Imagination.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Meg Whitman has one of the toughest jobs in America. She runs HP and has spent the past year attempting to fix what is broken or stale.  The HP brand, known by all, owned by all, is experiencing stasis during one of the most exciting times in all of tech-dom.

    The HP “Is-Does” is clouded; covered with a glauchoma-ed gauze. Amazingly, a couple of years ago, in the years following Carly Fiorina’s ouster, the company was humming along.  

    The last great brand idea HP had was “Invent.”  Don’t get me wrong, they’ve had lots of great ads over the years and many excellent agencies, but not much with brand ballast.  Invent was actually developed under Ms. Fiorina’s watch, however ended up being little more than an idea.  The company did not truly invest in or operationalize it, not the way Apple did. Or Google. Or the media socialists.

    Stanford, MIT, Harvard and their dropouts don’t wake up aroused in the middle of the night thinking about working at HP.

    27,000 layoffs in today’s flat world is not news to an up-and coming engineer – not the way the next gigatron device is.  HP has to marry the future with the current. We do need printers and tablets and PCs, but what will take back the hearts and minds of consumers and the next gen of consumers is packaged imagination. HP has work to do. Peace!   

    Judging a Pop Marketing Fantasy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Many moons ago there was a fairly famous advertising campaign that asked the question “What in the world isn’t chemical?” The question sticks with me and as a marketing consultant, and I often ask myself “What in the business world isn’t marketing?” 

    In many companies, marketing is a silo. “Marketing is sales support,” some say. Well it’s that. To others, marketing is “material.” Things to distribute to customers, e.g., collateral, samples. That too. And these days marketing is heavy online – the web, social media, search and data collection. Yes, yes, yes and yes.

    Best Buy is tanking.  Until May of this year, its CMO Barry Judge, was famous for his oft-quoted stance “customers own the brand.”  A big early proponent of social media, he advocated ceding control of the brand to customers.   And he was not alone in this belief; in fact, he created a lot of pop marketing fantasies. Though while spreading this nonsense, the rest of his marketing kingdom seemed unattended. 

    Marketing is everything. Distribution (Amazon), pricing (Amazon, Wal-Mart), promotion (Target), and product (retail CRM, store experience, data).  I would never suggest listening to customers is a bad thing. It’s not. It’s called research. But customers do not own the brand. Marketing does. Not sales, not finance, not the product managers and certainly not customers.

    Mr. Judge has learned an amazing lesson. As the center of gravity for the social media in marketing movement, I suspect no one has learned more about its effects on all the Ps (of marketing).  Now he needs to take that learning and share it with the rest of us.  I smell a book.  This is America and we are all about turn around stories. I’ll buy one. On Amazon. Peace!     

    PS. Mr Judge, if you’d like to disabuse me of these observations, please weigh in.

    Indispensable Facebook.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Facebook is going to be fine.  So long as the monetization and product people stay out of the way and don’t spam the product up too much.

    My friend Frenchie and I like to hike on the Appalachian Trail.  Or at least we used to did (Steve-ism). At the end of every hike we’d give an award for the stupidest thing we carried.  The stupid algorithm was impacted by the thing’s size, bulk, weight and the degree to which we used it.  The reason I know Facebook will live on is because kids and, to a less extent, adults still like to check their statuses a lot.  Go to a concert with a teen or twenty somth and when the music slows or they get bored they mobile up to Facebook.  Take that behavior and extend it to college classes, business meetings, Mets game, etc. and you get the idea the Facebook is an anecdote for a bored world. It’s communications crack.  

    A la the hiking story, imagine paying $85.00 for a ticket to a concert and spending a quarter of your time at the event on Facebook. It’s indicative of the platform’s power. Facebook, for many is an indispensable part of their life. It’s getting used all the time in that metaphoric backpack. Don’t worry about the stock. Mr. Zuckerberg — worry about the ham-handed business people who are likely to gunk up your product. Peace.

    Brand Plan First.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Last year, I did some consulting for a really smart athletic wear company. The CEO grew up in a niche, understood the market opening and built a company to fill that opening. Focus is a critical component of marketing and this CEO had it. Brand planners and brand experience consultants are always on the lookout for focus.  

    Marketers sometimes fall into a trap to expand that focus beyond what they know (and love) which can be the beginning of the end.  Line extensions – endemic line extensions, that is – are okay, but things like sales growth numbers and market growth data can intoxicate a leader.

    During this consulting gig the company owner brought me in to help create an “insanely great” retail shopping experience.  Since the owner already had the focus down, this “ask” was a brilliant next step. As brand experts Megan Kent and David Kessler would tell you, building a strong brand is not about just about the creative, it’s about the total experience.  And that’s execution.  That’s deeds not messages.  

    One is most likely to build an insanely great retail brand experience if s/he follows the brand idea. Go generic, e.g., customer care above and beyond, and you have no muscle memory.  Or you are compared to Nordstrom.

    Of course, production and pricing must also come in to play but they, too, are decisions informed by the brand plan.  Peace.

    Brooklyn Nets, the brand.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

     

    I actually just typed NJ Nets into the headline, that’s how powerful is that muscle memory. From a global standpoint — on the planet today — Brooklyn is a bigger brand than New Jersey.  Jay-Z is a bigger brand than Shawn Carter. Barclay’s Bank and Barclay’s Center are bigger than Bruce Ratner and Mikhail Prokhorov. Messrs. Ratner and Prokhorov, though well-known in certain global circles, are building something truly amazing from the ground up that will transcend Deron Williams, Joe Smith and Dwight Howard.

    By allowing Mr. Carter, aka Jay-Z, who happens to own one fifteenth of one percent of the Nets to be brand manager and face of the franchise, Mr. Ratner and Mr. Prokhorov have insured not only success but brand cachet. This isn’t some Robert Moses shizz anymore, knocking down brownstones, this is music. And sports. And rebirth.  This is an overdog story turned into an underdog story. Thanks to Jay-Z, the attachment rate of coolness to the Brooklyn Nets brand is como se rich.

    It is all good right now.  (The NY Knicks could steal a page.) Jay-Z is smiling and respected. His empire fits nicely into all of this. But the moment disrespect rears its ugly little head – as power and influence begins to change – there may be trouble.  Let’s not go there. All the players have done too much right. Celebrate. Brooklyn. Where my people are from. Peace!

    Be original.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Originals are what non-originals are compared too.  If an original is good enough to be parroted, it must have had impact.  Originality stimulates.  It’s lightning in a bottle.  But while marketing companies are all about replicating consistency in product delivery, marketing departments must strive for originality in communications and packaging. Sadly, they often don’t. When “epic” becomes the word for a certain demographic, it’s too late to use it in ads. Stride gum, for instance, “epic” in its tagline and as the maypole idea for new commercials.

    Parrots are a novelty, but you can’t keep them in your living room.  Batman 2 will always be compared to Batman 1. The remake of True Grit will always lie in the shadow of The John Wayne version. And in advertising and marketing, being first and original is what creative people live for. Approvers aren’t comfortable with originality and that’s a shame.

    Original beauty. Original music. Original design are what capture attention. So go forth (Levi’s) and capture. Peace.   

    Price Mobility.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Variable pricing is a brand’s worst friend.  Pricing, one of the 4 Ps of marketing, is something that shouldn’t be messed with.  Typically, brands are categorized by consumers as value, competitive or pricey. Brands can drop their prices for things like trial and loyalty – but a price strategy that consumers can’t grok over time is not helpful.  Catalina and a few other marketing companies are helping brands and retailers use variable pricing on hand-help devices in stores – and it’s a shiny new thing. If you tend to like healthy foods, your store visit might push a special price to you in the cereal aisle. That price might be $1.00 less than your neighbor in the same aisle.  Part loyalty, part promotion, the insight driving this tactic is really the 80-20 rule.  80% of a product is purchased by 20% of the consumers.  So finding more repeaters is a smart goal. Just not sure this is the way to do it.

    If variable pricing takes off and product costs changes weekly, it will have a negative impact on brand loyalty. It will create complexity where none is needed. There are much better things to do with mobile devices me thinks. Peace. 

    NY Mets and Customer Service.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I was at a Met Game last night and fairly normal looking couple, perhaps in their 50-60s, were sitting in front of me. Our aisle seats were 9 rows from the field, 50 feet from 1st base. Midway through the game a suited young man with a badge around his neck came up to the gentlemen, took a knee and chatted him up. The youngish man smacked of customer service, but also seemed a friend.  I couldn’t hear what they were saying but the customer care person did not at all seem solicitous. On the back of patron’s ball cap was an understated logo for Chevrolet, so I assumed he was a return customer.

    Later, I saw a nice looking women, similarly badged, walking up the aisle in a dark skirt suit – presumably another customer service person.

    The Mets/Citifield experience is really quite good. Especially for the corporate customers. High-end ticket owners are spending money and they are taken care of. Not smothered – but recognized and assisted. The wins and losses are not always controllable; the experience should be.  (Now, if they could just get that waiter to stop asking everyone if he could take their order every 2 minutes. )

    The Mets and Wilpons are building a customer relationship experience that is laudable.  No scrimping there. Peace!

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