SparkBlog by The Hartman Group

Weekly Six: online memorials and virtual assistants

Here is the week that was, interesting finds and online items abuzz:

New services promise online life after death

The Shopping List Is Making A Comeback

New Earthmate packing doubles as a CFL recycling kit

BillMyParents Launches Online Payment System for Teens, Parents

Recession? No Better Time To Hire A Virtual Assistant

Organic Dairies Watch the Good Times Turn Bad

Enjoy!

Starbucks social networking campaign goes awry

Example #6,438 of why brands should quit thinking that Twitter is a great way to connect with their customers:

Starbucks recently announced a major ad campaign designed to recruit online fans. In addition to large-format posters touting the chain’s coffee quality in six major cities, the clever marketing team decided to harness the power of online social networking sites by challenging their customers to hunt for the posters and be the first to post a photo of the poster on Twitter. In addition to the fact that there is nothing remotely interesting about the challenge, it never dawned on the powers that be that they were opening themselves up for a landslide of user-generated criticism and parody.

Case in point: Filmmaker Robert Greenwald was releasing a documentary that criticized Starbucks anti-union labor policies on the same day as the campaign. He thought to himself, “Why not invite fans of my position to play at the same game?”  So he simply tossed out a blog post on one of the many anti-Starbucks web sites encouraging people to take pictures in front of Starbucks stores holding signs that criticized the company’s “anti-labor practices.” Then he invited users to upload the photos onto Twitter and tweet them out to followers with the same hashtags Starbucks designated for their own campaign:  #top3percent and #starbucks.

Within hours many dozens of photos of Starbucks haters with their signs started to flow through Twitter from all around the country.

While we certainly do not share Mr. Greenwald's political views, we can’t help but applaud his efforts to expose the naïve thinking that characterizes most marketers responses to social networking technology.

The world is a most dangerous place.

Or, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for…

Weekly Six: Billboards, tastecasting, crowdfunding and chicken trends

Here is the week that was, interesting finds and online items abuzz:

Bank spreads the love
FirstBank gives giant ads to tiny businesses

Tastecasting
Test-tasting social media groups chat up local eateries

Crowdfunding
A new business model in which the customers are investors

Black Garlic
Sweet meets savory with this new ingredient trend

Star Trek Innovation
10 innovations inspired by Star Trek...boldly go where no man has gone before

Backyard chickens no longer a trend...
The Slate Trends Curmudgeon slays the mighty backyard chicken trend...

Enjoy!

Branding work from the bottom up

As an example of "bottoms up" branding work, this Southwest flight attendant, David Holmes, became an online sensation and was dubbed the "rhythmic ambassador" of the airline at a recent shareholders' meeting.

Want customer smiles like these? Before any brand experience can resonate with the consumer, it must first appear credible and authentic to the team members. After all, if your team members can't take the brand seriously, there is little chance your customer will.

And in order to get critical buy-in from your team members, they, in turn, must truly believe they are part of something "real," "meaningful" or "larger." This belief can't be ordered or scripted from the top down - via a pep talks or a mission statements - but must arise as an indigenous impulse. Our research identifies two critical components to this impulse.

First, in order for your team members to believe they are part of something "real," the brand must have attained some level of cultural legitimacy in the larger social world. What we mean by this is the brand (or brand experience) must reside within the indigenous collective conscience, within the set of options that are seen as authentic or real, and not necessarily a by-product of the artificial, impersonal, homogenous nature of capitalism. That may sound complicated, but think about it. Southwest has already established itself as an airline that is more approachable, more relevant and with a sense of humor to boot (think: "You are now free to move about the country.") As the rapping flight attendant says, "You will not get that on United Airlines, I guarantee you."

In the retail world, no matter what Albertsons does, until they address the fact that they are not viewed (by most consumers) as a relevant, interesting feature of contemporary collective life, Albertsons cannot lay claim to any degree of cultural legitimacy. By contrast, when you talk to consumers about Trader Joe's, you'll notice their eyes alight with a twinkle. Never mind that Trader Joe's may be every bit as concerned with turning a profit as Albertsons, there is still something unique and personally compelling about the Trader Joe's experience such that it achieves a certain legitimacy in our contemporary culture. Put simply, Trader Joe's is currently "culturally meaningful," interesting and salient in a way that Albertsons is not.

Secondly, in order for team members to find meaning and "authenticity," in the brand, they must first respect the organizational structure of power. Again, this may sound complicated but in reality it is a pretty simple proposition. Devout followers - brand evangelists—will only "legitimate" or "respect," authority structures that appear natural and justified. Traditional top-down authority structures appear arbitrary and capricious, the product of mindless bureaucratic logics strikingly similar to much-maligned parenting techniques ("you'll do this because I said so, after all, I am the boss"). While the high-five at the end of the Southwest shareholders' meeting may have been utterly awkward, David Holmes continues to steal the show.

By contrast, many successful brands, especially in retail, have taken the unusual step of letting lower-level team members play an active role in management—both of the everyday workloads as well as the assorted elements of the retail or brand experience (product sets, promotional campaigns, etc.). By opening up the authority structure and encouraging active participation by all, your team members will respond as if they are engaged in something, well, real. Similarly, flexible, horizontal organizations with few layers of authority also foster the perception, if not the reality, that task at hand is less anonymous and ever more meaningful.

We believe that the successful brand designers of today (and tomorrow) will increasingly recognize that good brand management is as much about understanding how to organizationally manage their brand as it is how to deploy the products and services themselves.

Does dissing yourself make you more attractive?

Hey, can I help the fact that I’m a bald, aging hipster who needs glasses to drive at night?

From the hallowed halls of academia we find another case of evolutionary psychology—which is all the rage these days—proving what most of us have intuitively understood all along.

The use of self-deprecating humor—basically insulting one’s self—makes one appear significantly more attractive, so long as your status is high enough.

“Self-deprecratory humor seems to be a form of 'costly signaling'—displaying an obvious handicap, like a peacock’s tail that requires strength to lift—that can demonstrate your overall robustness,” according to Gil Greengross and Geoffrey Miller at the University of New Mexico.

And, as one might expect, they also found that such tactics don’t work nearly so well for folks with poor self-images and low self-esteem.

So if you’re a putz like me, don’t go around admitting so. But if your George Clooney, the best thing you can do is make fun of the fact that you are George Clooney.

Hey Russell Crowe..are you listening?

Permissible indulgence taken too literally...

Mars Inc. has launched their first new chocolate bar in over 20 years. It is called “Fling” and  is being promoted as decidedly anti-monogamy.

The following is a promotional postcard for the candy bar aimed at the adult female segment:

And no, this is not a joke.

The possible URL confusion seems to be causing quite a stir as well. Gotta check those URLS!

Weekly Six: (pop)cornucopia and bottom feeders

Here is the week that was, interesting finds and online items abuzz:

Image: 479popcorn.com

(Pop)cornucopia: Organic flavored popcorn
With flavors like: alderwood smoked sea salt, Vietnamese cinnamon sugar, and black truffle and white cheddar, this will have Orville Redenbacher's bow tie spinning.

Soy salt
Under the banner of "Why didn't someone do this sooner," these neat new soy sauce flakes are leading the way in Japanese food trends.

Still tasty after all these years
So, how long is that jar of mustard in the back of the refrigerator good for? StillTasty is your ultimate shelf life guide.

Lunchboxes: now green on the inside
We've got the reusable grocery bag, why not the reusable sandwich bag? ReUsies makes the green lunchbox complete.

Bottom feeders
While it has a bit of an "Eeeww!" factor to it, the recession has created a boom in the cloth-diaper business—even for used diapers.

Rusty flies high at Jason's Deli
For those who desire an organic deli devoid of any toxic ingredients such as MSG or corn syrup

Enjoy!

Street food has officially gone mainstream

There are often those watershed, “tipping point” moments when it’s safe to say the “emerging trend” is now a fully articulated movement.

This is one of those instances:

The fairly famous indie rock band, The Shins, recently kicked most of the band out of the band, including their way too cute drummer Jesse Sandoval. So what does the former rock star with a gold record under his belt do? Open a recording studio? Start a new band? Become a producer?

Heck no, he does what any self-respecting indie rocker does…he moves to Portland and opens a taco truck. Read on:

After being unfairly kicked to the curb by frontman James Mercer—an "aesthetic decision," whatever that means—former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval has started a new venture: taco cart! The only thing more Portland-centric than indie rock is a food cart, and Sandoval's will be located at 3rd and SW Stark under the name Nuevo Mexico. (I assume that is named in honor of his home state, New Mexico.) The End Hits' Burrito Review Team will be out in full force for next week's opening with all the gooey, melty details.

Read more recent posts about street food.

Amazon.com—if nothing else, always a good read

Further evidence that nobody really understands the internet the way they think they do…

Two different legitimate sellers on Amazon.com are offering to sell a gallon of private label milk for $2500. In response, over 1000 consumers have penned quite detailed, imagined product reviews about the product—many over 250 words!. To give you some idea for comparison Dyson’s best selling upright vacuum cleaner has only generated 115 legitimate user reviews.

In fact, a recent communications study found that the upper 50% of products in terms of overall volume of user reviews on Amazon.com were instances in which users began spontaneously reviewing the product for the sake of play, sarcasm, art, etc. rather than taking seriously the task of reviewing the product. Put another way, the majority of user reviews on Amazon.com have little to do with product opinions or experiences and much more to do with creating witty, sarcastic or mocking stories about the products and brands.

And here’s an example—Bic Pens—in which every single review is a sarcastic comedy piece rather than a serious review. In the end Bic ends up looking like a comedians tool rather than a preferred brand:

And, of course, nobody could resist letting Gillette off the hook when they had the unfortunate audacity to release a “limited edition gamer” version of their Power Fusion razor:

My favorite review:

I tried to buy the Gillette Razor Power, Fusion Gamer(tm) from Best Circuit Shack, but one of the beflippered gnomes who toil there refused to sell it to me.

When I approached the counter to purchase this clearly superior shaving wand, "Doug" began to hammer me with questions. "What's your favorite game? What are the other names of Jenova? How many alts do you have in WoW? Have you ever run a CS server?" Flustered, I could only stammer out thin excuses. "Doug" grew suspicious and hustled me into the back. There he strapped me down to an Ultimate Game Chair(tm) and poured Mountain Dew Game Fuel(tm) into my ears until I confessed I only owned a second-hand Dreamcast.

They kicked me out, taunting me as I left defeated. However, once in the car, I managed to drive at twice the speed of Twitter and bought a Gillette Razor Power, Fusion Gamer(tm) from Target, cleverly bookending it with a bag of Cheetos(tm) and a copy of "Puru Puru Ne Sho Ma Machinehead Samurai Kitty". The unsophisticated checkout girl never thought to ask, and she practically smiled at me.

I went home and shaved. My chin is now hairless.

In summary, the Gillette Razor Power, Fusion Gamer(tm) is a good razor, but it is prejudiced against non-power gamers. 3 stars.

 

Pet luxury takes to the skies

With our nations airlines in trouble, a new airline, Pet Airways, is launching in July for pets only. Instead of relegating cats and dogs to the cargo hold, this airline seats its "pawsengers" in the main cabin, fitted specifically for animals featuring with pet attendants and calming essences.

So, who's going to pay $149 each way for their pet to fly First Class?

Seeking objects on which to lavish attention, single and married but childless people are continuing to turn to their pets.

And we see this trend that's been evolving for some years now touching everything from pet boutiques to what they eat. But, Fido isn't getting mere table scraps as his "people food" anymore. "Mom" and "Dad" are often buying food for him at the same places they shop for themselves – and not in the pet aisle. Accelerated by the melamine scare of two years ago, Fido enjoys eating a BARF (Biologically Approved Raw Foods or Bones and Raw Foods) diet, vigorously munching away at raw meats and organic vegetables, that his owners spend quite a bit of time preparing every day.  If Fido is lucky, he may get treats from the doggie bakery, or if he is a very good boy, he'll get a visit to the doggie day spa, for a trim and a massage.

Locations for Fido to get the royal treatment continue to pop up, and we see growth in the number of specialized pet retail boutiques and pet service establishments, even in the current economic climate.