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Micky-soft. One view forward.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Microsoft just announces its first ever quarterly loss; the function of an accounting move to write down the purchase of aQuantive, an ad serving company for which it overpaid and, perhaps, mismanaged.  But the story of the quarterly report points out a larger financial issue which one might debate is of questionable strategy.  In order to keep current PC sales moving, Microsoft has agreed to allow every new purchaser of a PC with Windows 7 a $14.99 upgrade to the soon-to-be released Windows 8 – an exciting new operating systems that will change the way PC users navigate their machines. Windows 8 is much more touchscreen-like and tile operated.

I understand that their relations with PC manufacturers is important, but I’ve never approved of this sort of pricing approach.  Before new model years, car sales do slow. You have to plan for that. As I’ve written before, Windows 8 should have been renamed Tiles and this mad break with the past celebrated. Like when Windows 3 was launched. Microsoft’s brand diaspora and product diaspora, has slowed growth.  This is one time, however, when the company should make a sharp cut and move on. Windows 8 is a very cool product.  Even the techie “grouchos” aren’t killing it. It’s time to take back the news cycle and move on from Windows.  Peace!  

Yahoo! And Yippee.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I half disagree with Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!’s new CEO,  about Yahoo’s challenge.  When asked the question “Does Yahoo needs to define whether it is a technology company or a media company?” she responded “It’s not the right questions.  The most important thing is to give end users something valuable, inspiring and delightful that makes them want to come to Yahoo! every day.”  With that part of her answer I completely agree. But the way to get there — is to become content-focused.  In the NYT article Ms. Mayer’s quote came from, an eMarketer analyst suggested that Yahoo doesn’t own the operating system or the device and that there may not be enough room in the market for a 4th mobile platform. (I hate the “P” word, you can drive a truck through it.) Whatever he meant by platform, my take is there will certainly be enough room in the mobile world for a great content provider.

Ms. Mayer accurately feels that mobile is a growth zone for Yahoo!. If she provides content that is mobile ready, not technology ready – she will grow. Technology-enabled (other people’s technology) content is her north star. Any apps or start-ups that result are gravy.

This gem just needs a little cleaning off. 700 million people can’t be wrong. Peace!

 

HP. Where’s your tagline?

By
Steve Poppe
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0

“Make it matter” is the new tagline for HP.  I posted about it in June when the line broke.  Creating value in a commodity market is tricky. It can’t be done haphazardly.  Finding hard and fast value planks are the key – then they must be banged home.  Not with just one ad, with many.  Over long periods of time and for the foreseeable future.  It’s easy to go off piste with a value program, however.

HP’s Make it Matter campaign appears to be a create value campaign, yet today I read a promotional ad “Buy 2 ink cartridges get one free” and that is not a great expression of making it matter.  Not that saving money isn’t important.  The ad does not include the new tagline.  It does have a highlighted call to action with the URL hp.com/getmore.

Retail and image together are hard to do well. Retail is about how many sales hit the ledge on a given day. It’s shark time.  Image on the other hand is about changing attitudes that predispose people to buy. Done well, and image ad can create action, though it tends to be long haul stuff.

HP has enough money to have two campaigns. But I’m just not feeling it. I’m feeling uncertainty here. Once the snow globe gets a good shake – there are lots of things new at HP and its agency – all will settle down. Knock-knock. Peace!  

 

 

 

 

Phones, Tabs and Pads.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Whoever coined the term “on-size-fits-all” got a lot of mileage out of that phrase.  Must have been an ad guy.  In this age of specialization, one size does not fit all, has actually gotten a lot more traction.  And as I read about Apple’s decision to come out with a smaller version of the iPad – a 7 inch version – it makes me wonder when the form factor of the tablet is going to settle down.  What will be the most useful and used size?  The Samsung Galaxy family is certainly larger than most mobile phones, but not a business-ready typing device.  Even the iPad, who just about every tech-forward person owns, is not the right size for vigorous typing.  Many iPad users tote along spiral notebooks to meetings.

The Microsoft Surface when released will goes bigger (but not too big), yet its felt-like typing surface seems to be an interesting breakthrough and may be a market changer. Especially for those who want to retire the pen and pencil.  

The ergonomics of the tablets, pads and large format phones have not yet found their level. Must they fit in a woman’s bag? A man’s back or front product?  It’s not the wild west, it’s just the wide open west. And most companies in the space are trying to find the right place to settle.  Apple, it seems, is continuing to experiment. Should be interesting to watch. Peace.

The Farewell Idea.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

“Farewell, My Queen” is a movie I really want to see.  I love historical pieces with great attention to detail.  It’s transporting and a great way to learn.  The movie focuses on three days during the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution, from the point of view of those in Versailles, specifically Marie Antoinette.

If you have ever been to Versailles, you know it alone is worth a movie.  Add the French Revolution, the amazingly complicated, interpreted and storied Marie Antoinette and you have a golden opportunity.  But cast Lea Seydoux in the lead and make us dive into what it must be like to know a country is coming for you, and you have drama in capital letters.

This movie was based upon a book, but the idea at the heart of it was quite simple: What must it have been like for Marie Antoinette during the storming of the Bastille? Every great piece of art and selling idea with ballast is born of an idea. What is your idea?  Peace.

Extract This…About Naming.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

So yesterday I suggested that Starbuck’s misnamed its new fruit flavored iced coffee product Refreshers, jumping straight to the benefit in the name, and not necessarily an uncommon benefit at that. Starbucks missed an opportunity.  Here is link to the video explaining how Refreshers are made. Green coffee extract is the secret to the new product.  Three words that together don’t particularly make the mouth water.  No wonder they called them Refreshers.

Here are a couple ideas and words that may have been overlooked in the naming meeting. Words that don’t deliver the benefit, but work to explain the new product.  The  Is of the Is-Does, as it were.

-Pre-roasted

– Natural state beans

– Pure caffeine

– Arabica beans

-Young, you get the idea.

Naming is hard.  Think Apple.  Brand are empty vessels into which marketers pour meaning. But consumers extract meaning from brands and the first experience in the name. Make it a good one. Peace. 

Starbucks Refreshers Poorly Named.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Refreshers is the brand name of a clear, cool new summer drink being offered up by Starbucks.  The two flavors are Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus.  Were I the type to leave the office mid-afternoon and drive for a cool drink I’d def try one. The drinks are colorful and contain real pieces of fruit. Since they come from Starbucks they’ are “refreshers” and not at all to be confused with tea.  Just like Dunkin Donut’s Coolatas (am I spelling that right?).

What makes these tea or ade look-alikes uniquely Starbucks is they contain “natural energy from green coffee extract.”  Very interesting.  If you’d like to try one, free 12 oz. samples will be offered this Friday between the hours of noon and 3 P.M. at Starbucks stores. (In NY, but most likely nationwide.)

The print ads look nice. And the energy thing makes a smart point, but the name is pretty goofy. If this product launch is an attempt to open up a new category – and I think it is – it really needs a product name that better reflects the “Is” not the “Does.”   Naming is an art. I’m betting this product will be a modest success, but the name will be a hindrance.  Some words in advertising and marketing are radioactive in their ability to turn off consumers. Radioactive in their ability to create consumer passivity. Unless you are Coca Cola, refresh is one such. Peace.   

 

An interesting sales training technique.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

A friend of mine has been in the car business all her life. As a teen, then a showroom manager and, finally an owner. The economy and “the life” caused her to change careers recently. She is now selling insurance for a large company.  Once a salesperson, always a salesperson I guess.  She passed her insurance tests, learned the products and services, contacted a lot of friends and rolodex contacts and is now onto what she believes a demeaning chapter in this job evolution.  She goes to malls, sets up a table, blows up balloons and fingerprints children as a service to parents. “May I have a smaller balloon… and this time yellow? And can you make it so my hair stands up?”

I’m sure she is going through the 5 stages of grief.

I’m not sure how common mall sales training lessona are in the insurance business, but with the right mindset, I bet it’s great a learning ground. You have to engage customers who otherwise don’t want to be engaged, for starters.  Then you must undertake meaningful conversation about something about which customer cares deeply — their child.  Then introduce a negative concept into the selling process…child danger. And then talk about mortality on the off chance someone might be ready to buy life insurance.  “Balloon anyone?”

If you can learn from all this activity, even if you don’t sell a policy, I bet you will emerge a stronger sales person. Peace! 

 

Indispensable.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

According to the Radicati Group market research firm, in 2010, 107 trillion e-mails were sent. Today there are 3.1 billion active email accounts and corporate employees send and receive 105 million e-mails a day. When we don’t have anything to do, rather than smelling roses, we check our cellies. They have become indispensable.  Or have they?

One of the goals I have for my company is to make its website an indispensable source of content for the K12 education community. Indispensable is a very high goal.  The thought is, if teachers and school administrators could visit only one website each day to get some good .edu nuggets, whose would it be? Not a nice place to visit. Or a valuable and meaningful website.  An indispensable site. That’s a strategy. 

Many view their sites as places to share product and service information.  Good idea. Others see them as a way to cut down customer inquiry. Others yet view their sites as places to sell.  Or places to get prospects ready to buy.  All good goals.  For me “indispensable” is where it’s at.  It is a constant strategic motivator.  Try it. Peace.

Stones. Stone. And Stoners.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Oliver Stone goes big.  He pushes the truth and sometimes creates his own truth. In his review of Mr. Stone’s “Savages” today A.O. Scott called Stone’s body of work “sumptuous.”  Rich cinematography, larger than life characters and just plain juicy film-making. I am on a Don Winslow (writer of Savages) jag now, and readers might even see a tiny bit of influence in this blog. I’m also a Blake Lively fan. (Not dead yet.) It’s a trifecta for me.

Marketers and ad peeps should study Mr. Stone.  He finds topics that have gravitational pull, he used great images and sounds to capture them, and he steeps the content in sumptuousness.  Even the Times’A.O. Scott digs this kind of film making.  Go see Savages. It will beat your average Vampire vamp and scare-fest. Oliver it up. Peace!

 

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