my idea: Order Starbucks from Twitter!
July 24, 2009
Click on the image to enlarge
Here’s a very raw idea of ordering Starbucks from Twitter! I wish this happens in reality. Similar concept can be carried forward to other mobile interfaces like on iPhone, G1, Palm, etc. Will love to hear your feedback. See more ideas @ my idea lab.
Month long break comes to an end…
June 20, 2009
Since my last post on 20th May, I’ve not be able to add new posts. Reason being my month long refreshing trip to India. After sixty awesome weeks at VCU Brandcenter, I had a wonderful time here in India!
Now that I will be back in a week, I will again start sharing my thoughts & laernings from the digital branding world.
Life at Brandcenter & now…
May 14, 2009
Here’s a visual representation of my life & thoughts during those amazing sixty weeks I spent at VCU Brandcenter & now (I am graduating on May 16, 2009).
Make your customer happy in 5 minutes!
February 10, 2009
Before:
A blogger posts negative comments about recent communication by Hallmark.
Next Day:
With a new post, his negative comments turn to positive. Infact he advocates the Brand
why?
He receives a personal response from the Public Affairs at Hallmark.
Great Job! Ms. Deidre Mize! I am sure it must have taken her less than 5 minutes to check the feed & reply to this dissatisfied consumer. Controlling consumer reaction on digital medium becomes very difficult. But, tools & technologies are in place to make things easier for brand manager & the PR personnel. Even free services like ‘Google Alert’ are a hand stretch away… only if one cares about customer satisfaction. According to me, a brand has to continously interact with their consumer at various touch points. Their reaction is the best Key Performance Indicator one can ask for.
Once again great job Ms. Mize & great job Hallmark! This post has been a great learning for me, especially because it tells me how a small amount of investment can make a customer happy. A small email made such a difference! These are small things that we can keep in mind, but we somehow tend to forget, ignore or jut don’t understand. Afterall, a ‘life time value’ of a smiling customer will be way higher than and hence very essential for a brand manager to keep them happy. This lesson learned will remain with me for long.
“Things turn out best for the people who (brands that) make the best out of the way things turn out.”
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Domino’s CEO bakes Subway’s letter….. What a viral warefare!!!!
February 6, 2009
In December, Domino’s launched a taste-test campaign that claimed customers preferred Domino’s subs over those served up at Subway 2:1. As much as I hate the old-fashioned, forgettable, dumb execution (the need to explain what is 2-1 was unnecessary) of the commercial…
Subway responded quickly, voicing their concern over how those results were obtained and the fairness of their product comparison. The master stroke was hit by the Domino’s! Domino’s only refused to pull the work, but responded by launching a new TV spot featuring Chairman and CEO David A. Brandon playfully burning up Subway’s letter in one of the 450-degree ovens used to bake its victorious sandwiches.
The ad has since gone viral. The video is available on Domino’s website & already has 101,826 clicks till 7.30pm ET today.
I love the part after the video wheree you can bake your own letter.
If you think this is it, check this out… Domino’s Pizza is taking a swipe at Subway and its famous ad spokesman in a promotion that will award a free Oven Baked Sandwich to consumers named Jared. The first 1,000 consumers with that name who contact the chain at www.pr@dominos.com will receive a gift certificate for the sandwich.
I believe this is simply great! Kudos to Domino’s for this very interesting leverage of the situation. From the beginning I was a great fan of Domino’s strategic decision to enter the Sandwich business, it may look different… but it is so much in sync with their core competency in terms of raw material, process & distribution. One of my friends has become a great fan of Domino’s pizza sandwich, why? because it is Oven-Baked!
Now I am eagerly waiting for Subway to reply and make this Food-Fight an interesting battle ground. One advice to Subway, take off your legal hat & wear as many creative hats for a grand comeback.
Drink Tap Water!
February 3, 2009
Recently came across an article in Business Week titled, “Bottled Waters Lose Their Effervescence” it was great reading that article because just a month ago, I along with a team of talented Brandcenter students had worked on a brand campaign for SIGG Water Bottle. Here’s the presentation to induce people to drink tap water & make SIGG a stylish environmental commitment…
Brand Campaign for SIGG Water Bottle
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7 Characteristics of a Perfect Brand Manager
January 30, 2009
I was browsing through internet when I stumbled upon a post on ‘7 characteristics of a perfect brand manager by Garland Pollard’ while I feel that no brand manager can be perfect in a market with ever changing consumer behaviors. I do believe that these are certainly important characteristics of a brand manager.
What makes a good Brand Manager?
1. He sees the full history of the brand. He keeps voluminous files of the usage and history of the brands, and has a little storage room shelf where all the packaging and products produced under the brand name are stored for reference.
2. He consults with the old retired guard of the company regularly, to make sure that whatever good is in the brand is preserved.
3. He guards the brand against folks who would put the name on incompatible goods, yet is not afraid to add new uses to the brand so that it can survive if its original market is disappearing or dying.
4. Often, he publishes histories and catalogs of the brand; ideally if there is a corporate archivist he educates that archivist on the history, or vice versa.
5. He is in touch directly with consumers of the brand, and listens to them without filtering from consultants, admen or research firms. He insures that the company website puts out this history, and allows consumers to interact with it in “user content” and add their lore and stories. Regularly, he contacts teens and college students, to know how the brand is perceived in those settings, and ensures that these groups know and appreciate the brands.
6. He consults directly with management, and has a direct line to the board on all of these issues so that other folks in the company cannot undercut him if they fail in sales or development and blame it on the brand.
7. Above all, he realizes that when a brand is out in the public, it is no longer his – it belongs to the public, and the company and he become servants, caretakers and protectors.
Apple – Netflix Smackdown continues: Netflix on TiVo now!
November 26, 2008
Early this year:
(a) DVD-by-mail service Netflix Inc. announced that it will begin delivering movies and other programming directly to televisions later this year through a set-top box.
(b) Apple introduced iTunes Movie Rentals, a new feature of the iTunes Store that enables users to download movies and watch them for a short time rather than having to buy them.
I will definitely prefer Netflix… Netflix player & Apple TV rivalry is a old news now, but I just learned that Netflix will be available on TiVo too! It seems Netflix is leaving no stone unturned to save its hard fought battle ground from the onslaught from Apple! (movie rentals on iTunes + Apple TV)
Netflix goes all out!
Netflix, the largest U.S. movie-rental service via mail, has been trying to boost subscribers by augmenting its by-mail offering with an expanded inventory of titles through its streaming service and partnering with component makers to allow the streamed content to be accessed directly from TV sets.
Netflix introduced its own set-top box called the Roku in May of this year, a $99 device that could stream content from subscribers’ accounts to the TV. The price is astonishingly affordable compared to similar options (the Apple TV still costs more than $200, for example). But my question here… Are people ready to add yet another box to their entertainment systems. The same question applies to the LG BD300 Blu-ray player with Netflix capabilities.
Post its marriage with Microsoft Xbox 360 sometime in July 08. Netflix on Oct 30, 2008 reached an agreement with TiVo allowing owners of TiVo digital video recorders to stream Netflix’s movies and TV episodes directly to their TVs, marking Netflix’s continued efforts to make its digital content available to TV watchers through various electronics components. The company (Netflix) has also announced agreements to carry video-streaming content from Liberty Media’s Starz movie channel, Walt Disney’s Disney Channel and CBS.
Netflix and TiVo, which first agreed to work together on content distribution four years ago, but today Netflix subscribers who own the TiVo Series3, HD, or HD XL will be able to stream over 12,000 movies and TV shows through Netflix’s online streaming service.
This is how Netflix provides entertainment at your fingertips
This is great, post advancements in internet technology will be much more meaningful & entertaining! Great move by Netflix. TiVo & Netflix marriage finally!
On Apple-Netflix Rivalry (can Netflix win?) Here’s an excerpt from an article published on July 24, 2008 read full article here
…I’ve now learned that the accurate number of units sold is closer to 100,000. Considering the price point ($99) and the fact that the product’s marketing is very focused to a targeted audience, Roku’s penetration rate would be higher than the average product that has only been on the market for eight weeks. Plus, once you have the Roku box, the content is free.
At this rate, it will not take too long for the Roku box to outsell Apple (AAPL) TV. Apple TV has been on sale for 20 months now and based on published reports, has sold a bit less than 400,000 units. Roku has sold nearly a quarter of that in only 2 months time…
@ anishvshah
