When it comes to April Fools’ Day, most of us think of a kid’s game, or a great opportunity for co-workers to take revenge on their colleagues. This April Fools’ Day, I haven’t been tricked by any friends or co-workers, but by some companies on Twitter and Facebook. I am amazed with how many businesses are making April Fools’ Day a part of their marketing plan. Most of the time, the tricks take the form of astonishing new services or products launched via one or a series of advertising. In the past two to three years, those marketing campaigns have mostly used social media platforms. It is brilliant because some will become viral. The online exposure can get great word-of-mouth with easy sharing options customers have with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. On the other hand, companies show their humor during this friendly day and gain customers’ acceptance/ popularity.

Why companies should spend money on April Fools’? The goal may be brand awareness, website traffic increase, getting new followers on Twitter or Facebook, differentiation, etc. A brilliant and well executed April Fools’ campaign can even do all that, serving as a multipurpose strategy.  

Last year, West Jet used Social Media for their “Child-free Cabins” advertising. With 739,649 views on YouTube, it was quite a success!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4SkoJy3D0M

The year before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKfGeLoJKg0

This year the airline company announced that they would be easing the restriction on pets as part of their “furry family” program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQv0VwwVwKU

The BBC campaign in 2008:  their ad was one of the most amazing one – and it has been seen by more than 3.5 million viewers. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dfWzp7rYR4

So what’s your April Fools’ Day strategy for next year? Think about it now, great and funny tricks can sometimes take time to create! Good luck.

The other day, I was chatting with my co-worker about my last dental appointment; to my surprise, my co-worker asked me: 

My coworker’s comment didn’t surprise me at all. It was such a coincidence since two days earlier, I was telling my fiance how great Dr. Knight is with customer service. My colleague reinforced my opinion and inspired me for my blog!  
 
Back to the Basics: How is Your Customer Service?
Why is Dr. Knight`s customer service so good? Well, let’s describe it this way: (1) Simple; (2) Efficient; (3) Committed to by all employees; (4) Consistent. 

During my very first visit, Dr. Knight took a picture of my face, smiling. Of course, he told me that the picture was important to see the progress of my dental hygiene and long term teeth care. As a good client, I agreed since I want to see if over ten years my teeth are deteriorating or improving. I discovered that each time I have a dental appointment, my face pops-up on the receptionist screen. It allows the receptionist to remember what I look like, and more importantly, if I have a new haircut, glasses, etc. The receptionist will then make a comment on my new haircut. This is the best example of great client focus. 

During my appointment, Dr. Knight’s team will ask me all kinds of questions. Of course, they take notes about everything I share with them: where I went on vacation, if I have a new job, when I moved in my house, what crazy sports I do, etc. Dr. Knight won’t use that information for selling it to telemarketers, but as a starting point for my next appointment. When I will go back for my bi-annual teeth cleaning, the team will ask me how was my trip to Brazil; if I like my new job; how was my friends’ wedding in Hawaii, etc. Of course, Dr. Knight is also sharing details about his life, which is great: he is from South Africa; he did a two years sailing trip with his kids around the world; he uses his clinic to display his photos in the waiting room, etc. He his good at building long-term customer relationship.

Here are some more details about Dr. Knight’s clinic: the Receptionists, the Dental Hygienists and Dr. Knight will always greet their clients by their first name. They are always smiling and make you fell more than welcome. It’s obvious that all members on the team like their job, and their work environment. They seem to have fun working as a team and they appreciate their clients. The clinic is clean, offers free coffee, the daily newspapers, T.V., a playground for kids, and a huge aquarium with all the Nemo characters!  

As a dentist, Dr. Knight is good at what he is doing, but he is also very good with client follow-ups! Dr. Knight calls all of his clients for their birthday, and he will follow-up after each appointment to be sure the treatments he offered were good. His success is based on all the small details that make clients feel special.  

The Power of Customer Service
Customer service helps improve marketing efforts by enhancing the experience, and affect the feeling about a business. I’ve seen so many mid-size companies not believing in aligning marketing and customer service, and completely forgetting how important their Business Development Representatives are to customers. In fact, Dr. Knight’s customer service should be applied  to small businesses and multinationals. In every business, marketing and customer service should work together. 

How to Manage Customer Service? 
Every business develops a yearly business plan or marketing plan, but it’s rare that the business plan includes a section for customer service. I think the following topics should be included: (1) Training for customer service staff; (2) complaint resolution; (3) staff work-life balance/ employee’s satisfaction/ career development; (4) budget allowance. I want to insist on the “Staff Work-Life Balance” subject. Customer service is obviously affected by the mood.

…And Your Clients will Spread the Word
A great thing about giving a great customer service is that your clients will remember your name and even in a big company, they will request to deal with you specifically. It even creates great word-of-mouth and gives an extraordinary social media support. As an example of social media support, if a dental clinic is on Facebook and a client received an excellent service, it won’t be rare to see a post saying: “Thanks to Dr. Knight, today, he repaired my tooth without any pain!”   

Remember, customer service doesn’t apply only to B-2-C but as well to B-2-B. It can be complex, but it needs to be part of the plan. What do you do to keep and improve your own customer service? Did you have recently a meeting with your staff to ensure they always give the best that they can to their customers? Please share!

Customer Buying Process
When buying a product, we go through different phases to evaluate the quality, pricing, attributes, and functions. I won’t go through all the buying process, but customers try to manage the risks as much as they can, as they want to buy something that matches their needs the most. When we stand in front of a thousand similar products, such as in a Liquor Store, the buying process is more difficult than when there are only three to four choices.

Have you ever seen yourself walking through the hallways and looking at a specific bottle of wine that has a different shape or is more transparent than all the others? Stopping and picking up that bottle even if what you really wanted was a Merlo and not a Pinot Noir? Of course you did because even if you haven’t tasted the final product yet, the bottle/packaging reassured your choice. When the bottle looks fancier, you think the wine will taste good.

Once Again, It’s All About Marketing…
As for any other product, wine producers should think about their marketing strategies and more specifically, their wine packaging. The wine quality is important for sure, but since wine availability is huge, it’s hard to remember all the previous choices we made before. Having an easy to remember package/ bottle/ brand can ensure not only attraction but also customer retention and loyalty.

I strongly believe that wine packaging plays a role in consumers’ expectations and final decision. I’m not the only marketer to think that way since more and more research is exploring the theory of wine packaging and its effect on pricing, buyers’ preferences, etc.

Just for your entertainment, these are some interesting wine bottles or brand that captured my attention – please note that it’s not a wine recommendation but packaging examples :  The Design of Wine and Stunning Wine Packaging.

I could stop here, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention a couple of other things…

1. Let’s face it, the interest around wine is not just for the taste. A lot of the decision process of buying a wine bottle and which one is also heavily influenced by the anticipation of alcohol consumption. There is a reason why grape juice tasting is not as popular…
2. The vast majority of consumers haves a very limited ability to discern wine aromas. Every other rational and emotional factor plays a huge role in the decision process. We can through in there the organic type, how much it stains the teeth and lips, the sulfite content, the deposits at the bottom, the celebrity who puts his name on the product, the type of cap, the placement on the shelf, the country of origin, etc.
3.  We (North Americans) were trained from our youngest age to make choices between virtually identical things. As a result, we often give way too much importance to insignificant choices we make.  I sometimes wonder what is the record for the amount of time someone spent in front of a wine shelf. The surprising thing is that some cultures are totally different because they traditionally didn’t have any choice. Put a bottle of Pepsi, Coke, 7Up, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew and RC cola on a meeting table where there are North Americans and Eastern Europeans attending. When they exit the room, ask each person individually what the choice of beverages on the table was.  North Americans will name most brand names.  Eastern Europeans will most likely say:”There were no choices; it was just pop.” We are sometimes blinded by the illusion of choice!

I had the best laugh ever the other day when I was opening a toilet paper package made by Procter & Gamble (P&G) – Charmin. If you understand French well enough, you will probably have the same reaction; if you don’t, don’t worry, I’ll explain. This is what is on the package:

English: “New! Roll fit Guarantee”
It’s a great idea to offer this new guarantee…Who hasn’t had a day ruined by a roll too big for the holder! In French, it gets better:

French: “Garantie convenable de nouveau! petit pain” (after correcting the two P&G typos)
Which translates to: “Expedient guarantee of a fresh bun”
I didn’t know P&G was in the fresh bun business, and that they liked to advertise it on their toilet paper package!

Google Translate is a fantastic tool, and it can be helpful when someone needs to understand the meaning of a foreign text but when it comes to product packaging, hiring a translation service company before involving the graphic artist remains the best option – especially for a multinational company such a Procter & Gamble.

Cross Cultural Marketing
The biggest translation project I worked on was a marketing survey that was distributed in China. I wrote my original survey in French – as it’s my first language – and I had it translated by a native Chinese, who has a background in Marketing. Since I didn’t have the skills to read Chinese well enough to verify the meaning of my survey, I hired another independent Chinese translator to perform a back-translation. Obviously, P&G could have at least used a francophone to re-read the whole toilet paper package before manufacturing. I think 10 of my University friends work for P&G…

We live in Canada, which is a bilingual country. Before putting a name or a tag line for a product, company or services, it’s always safe to Google that name and check if there is another signification for it. As an example, close to my office, downtown Calgary, there is a restaurant called Gastro House. For a francophone, I’ll never go to that restaurant since it mean gastroenteritis in French (being sick like a dog)! I can understand a business owner, native Anglophone, not knowing that and making the mistake in a bilingual country to call his restaurant Gastro.  However, I still can’t believe nobody within P&G’s bilingual team read the whole thing (all 6 faces of the package) before sending it to print and putting it on their toilet paper package.

I already bought two packages from P&G with this bad translation within two months. I wonder how long it will take for Procter & Gamble, after seeing this post, to correct their mistake and have the right translation in our Calgary Superstore?

Another funny translation
When debit cards came out many decades ago, someone clever gave it a PIN (Personal Identification Number). Very good idea.  Soon after, a proud francophone (who obviously was totally useless in English) thought it was unacceptable to use PIN in French, and that it needed to be translated immediately. That genius translated it to Numéro d’Identification Personnel and didn’t think twice before coming up with …  you guessed it… NIP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two years ago, my fiance moved to Alberta and had to renew his credit card. He went to BMO at the counter and seriously said to the lady: ”Good morning, how are you doing? I would like to get a NIP for my new credit card please.” It took two clerks and a few minutes to understand the situation and realize that my fiance was not the absolute pervert that they thought he was. He just had been calling it a NIP all is life. I am, however, pretty sure he is still being referred to as “the nip guy” at that branch. Since his credit card is still in French, when he uses it and the machine displays: ”SVP entrer votre NIP” (please enter your PIN), some people think their machine is broken.

The summer Olympics 2012 are on their way in London, followed by the Paralympics. I’ve never been a big fan of the Paralympics until a close member of my family had an accident and became quadriplegic. The Canadian Paralympics Organization launched recently their new marketing campaign that I would qualify as fantastic.  Today, I want to share that campaign with my readers since I think the concept is brilliant, the message inspiring and the execution really well done.

I hope this campaign will move you as much as it moved me.

Canadian Paralympic Committee: Running (Unstoppable) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUYUvY6quE0

Are You Getting Ready?
Stampede or not, hosting a corporate event needs to be planned in advance; did I just say there is only 59 days left before the beginning of the centennial of the greatest outdoor show on earth. Some of you may think “59 days” is long enough to contemplate booking your venue and starting to invite your guests. Guess what: available venues are getting scarce and invitations are being distributed across the city. I even met with the representative of a “promotional items” company last week who told me they are out of many western gadgets.  Since some organizations started planning a year ago, if you are not ready, you are late.

Create, Be Different, Be a Cowboy.
Isn’t it fun to be a marketer and having to plan and organize a great Stampede event which involved dressing like a cowboy? Look at this dress code advertising for the Stampede: A city that dresses together stays together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43rNvQtVE14

Finding the right outfit is easy, but if you really want to impress your guests for the centennial, you also have to think about your Stampede decoration, your venue, your employee dress code, the design for your invitations, your promotional items, etc. Try to have ideas that stand out from your competitors or what you have seen before. You probably won’t be surprised if I tell you the event I am organizing this year will be a stylish and unique. How? Sorry, I can’t reveal that for now, but you will be informed for sure.

However, I can mention that I found some very interesting western ideas/products that could help color up your venue. Imagine some “Steak House Horns” that are 6’6” wide to put above the entrance of your tent for example:  Stampede Horns.  Of course, this is only one example; it’s the centennial so be inspired and impress.

Happy Stampede everyone and please, don’t forget to invite me to your corporate/friend events!

It Started With A Great Product
I remember my very first marketing class: one of the lines that my professor wrote on the board was about the Marketing Mix (4 P’s), which was about Pricing, Product, Promotion, Place (Distribution). The Marketing mix is certainly a very simple concept even if it doesn’t include every aspect of today’ needs.

The Go Pro company is a perfect example of a company that manages successfully the product aspect of their marketing mix. On top of understanding new online/sport trends, Go Pro was able to create a complete product, offering it at a great price for the targeted segment, and markets it perfectly. As a result, Go Pro is being listed on every sport product reviews as the camera of the year (all markets put together).

…and I’m Going Pro!
The Go Pro managers were visionaries. They understood and saw these following trends :
(1) an increase in popularity in video sharing via social media platforms;
(2) videos are better tools to transmit emotions and experiences;
(3) the intense popularity of extreme sports since 1990 and the sharing of these  videos via Youtube.

Taking into consideration these trends, Go Pro identified precisely the functionalities they needed to put into the perfect camera using off the shelf technologies.  The camera needed to be small, durable, waterproof, “crash-proof”, mountable on anything, focusing on videos, image quality, panoramic view, accessories for sports, simplicity of use, etc. They didn’t reinvent the camera or try to design one that would be used by professional photographers; instead, they probably asked Sony to sell them the internal organs of a basic compact digital camera and they focused on everything else.  Of course GoPro didn’t consider developing a camera from scratch, they just wanted to better package a stripped down version of the digital cameras readily available.

As a result, all sport practitioners want a HD Hero 2, and once they get it, most of them share their joy on Facebook telling their friends they can’t wait to post their very first extreme video. Camera owners also share their videos on Youtube, Facebook or other social media platforms. As the name of the brand says, extreme sports fans all want to be a hero, hoping that their next crash will become viral.

This Post Isn’t A Product Review…
it’s only an example of a company that was able to address a niche segment’s needs. The niche just happens to be big.  Congratulations to Go Pro: you rock and made the filming of sports of all kinds a lot more accessible.

Just for fun, here is my very first SnowKiting video. I hope you will enjoy and share it with other extreme sports fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj19PfBhO5g

And by the way, the best videos are often taken by beginners, not by pros, because they (we) crash hard and often, so don’t think “I should wait until I am good” if you want to make good videos.

Managing a brand is a complex task, and companies often underestimate the value of it as well as the necessary time and effort it takes to build brand equity.  Allowing the right amount of time for brand management isn’t a waste of time since it can position a company to be the leader in their industry.

One of my favorite brands is unquestionably Red Bull even if I drink a Red Bull less than once a year. I still identify myself with that sporty person who likes to push his limit to the extreme and who would love to be the next superstar in his challenging sport competitions. Consumers are attracted to organizations that support their values, such as me who is attracted to Red Bull.

Maelstorm Kiteboarding: Case Study
Examples of leading companies with branding issues aren’t hard to find and some of them will manage the situation fast enough to remain leaders in their industry. Making small branding changes will sometimes help but for other cases, re-branding the company remains the costly but only solution.

Maelstorm, a traction kite (power kite) company that sells products online, is a perfect example of a branding trap. A maelstrom is a large whirlpool with significant downdraft that can even sink a ship.  I find it cleaver to name a traction kiting business Maelstorm (read well…Mael-storm); it merges the water power with the wind power, I suppose the domain name and trade mark were available.  It was all good, and that is how the business started.  There were some problems that were either minimized or not anticipated: people read the name Maelstorm, but they see Maelstrom. Unless you hear someone pronounce the name correctly, you are very likely to think the name of the business is Maelstrom.  FYI maelstrom.com is the website of a virtual reality business. Even if you got the name right, don’t google maelstorm because The Google will kindly suggest that you correct it to maelstrom. If you ignored google’s suggestion, I doubt the ranking was good.

The Maelstorm people didn’t minimize the problem when they saw it and they took action right away.  Maelstorm asked their clients and suppliers their opinion about their branding issue; as part of their strategy, they chose to change their name to: Maelstorm Gear. It is obviously a small compromise and we could debate whether it is the best solution or not but I think it is a good first step. Since the name isn’t completely changed, the notoriety of the brand is mostly kept, but the name is different enough from maelstrom making it easier to have an online strategy (website easier to find).

Of course, some companies have more complex branding issues but this clear example shows how important branding strategies are.  Having the right person and putting the necessary time and budget can save lots of trouble (and time and money).

Do you know any other company facing important branding issues? Please share your story.