Flagged For Follow Up

Zappos: Bridging The Customer Experience Gap

Ian Sohn — 2012-02-04T08:06:19-05:00

I was looking for a pair of shoes. Something fairly particular. After a bit of searching I came across a brand I liked. No reason to name names.

I scoured their website, found the pair I liked and decided I needed to try them on before ordering.

Only problem is I couldn't find a retail locator on their site. So I found their Twitter handle and asked very politely, twice, if someone could help me find a retailer in Chicago.

Crickets.

Then I sent an email asking the same thing.

Crickets.

Finally I walked Michigan Avenue and found a department store that carried the brand. They had the shoe, but not my size. But no big deal - I had confirmed my choice.

So I did what I always do - ordered them from Zappos. Came the next day. As sure of a sure bet out there.

I love the shoes. Would probably buy another pair. This, despite having a pretty poor experience with the brand (really, no experience at all).

The moral here is that a lot of companies have Zappos to thank for bridging the customer experience gap. I hope they realize that. Both Zappos and the brands they sell.

False Scarcity, Scare Tactics, Handshakes

Ian Sohn — 2012-01-22T15:21:03-05:00

Via ndh

I'm not a traditional sales guy. Not really a sales guy at all. Rather than being pushy I take a more consultative approach, whether I'm working with an existing client or trying to win a new piece of business.

Something I just don't get is when salespeople use false scarcity and/or scare tactics to make a sale. I see it all the time ...

Only 2 remaining!

Limited time offer!

I've got people banging down my door for this widget. Don't miss your chance.

If you don't get on Twitter right away someone is going to high-jack your reputation.

I'm actually in the market for a fairly big ticket item right now. There are plenty of these widgets in the marketplace, some worth more than others based on their condition. I recently met a guy selling one of these widgets that I'd rate on the higher end of the quality spectrum; but not so high that I can't find it somewhere else with a little bit of looking.

So this guy threw a line at me: Oh man, I've got like 15 potential buyers. If you are interested you should move fast.

False scarcity AND scare tactics.

Because what he's really saying is: My item is so unique that everyone wants it, and you'd be a fool to miss the chance to have it.

Really? Then why haven't you sold it yet? And why would I waste my time competing with the other 15 buyers when I can go find another widget? And how do you know I'm ready to buy?

Rather than kid a kidder, a much better tactic would have been to ask me a few questions to understand my mindset. How knowledgeable am I about the widget market? How urgent is my need? What anxieties do I have about pulling the trigger?

If he listened intently he might have picked up on something to use on me. Or maybe he'd realize I'm not buying this widget, but he's got another one arriving soon that would be perfect for me.

But no, he missed that chance.

Oh, and the handshake part of this post title ... Man, woman. Young, old. Get a grip. Literally. I'd much rather buy from someone with a solid handshake.

Random Acts of Subversion

Ian Sohn — 2012-01-18T08:27:47-05:00

If you're even remotely associated with the marketing profession you've sat in a meeting in the last 24 months where someone suggested an idea based on "random acts of kindness." Like ...

Let's hand out candy canes to people in front of Grand Central.

Let's leave $10 gift cards in New York City taxis.

I'm just as guilty as the next person. No judgement here. But it got me thinking.

Yesterday I Tweeted that Small and harmless acts of subversion are good for the soul.

Is there a brand that could own this? What would it look like? Could it be pulled off in a tounge-in-cheek way so to amuse but not anger?

Like what if CB2 gave a 10% discount on office furniture to anyone who showed a picture of them sitting in their boss' chair; 20% if your feet are on the desk?

Or what if a hat company gave a discount to anyone who tweeted a picture of themselves performing a photo-bomb (wearing the hat, of course)?

That's all I've got. Need some ideas.

Conversation Chasm, Take 2

Ian Sohn — 2012-01-10T17:45:32-05:00

Over on the Ogilvy blog I wrote an updated and better articulated version of a post that originally appeared here.

Link to Conversation Chasm post.

Accompanying graphic below.

Take The Fight To Your Enemy

Ian Sohn — 2011-12-18T09:04:08-05:00

Besides just making me laugh, I appreciate that Samsung has the guts to take it to Apple. Marketers could learn a thing or two about taking the fight to their enemy.

I haven't a clue about Samsung's product or what impact (if any) this campaign is having. But I look forward to more of these videos.

On Crowdsourcing

Ian Sohn — 2011-12-16T07:58:25-05:00

Some stream-of-consciousness thinking before the sun comes up today.

I haven't given all that much thought to crowdsourcing, which may be odd given my line of work.

I haven't given all that much thought to Louis CK, which may be odd given my age and comedic sensibility.

I was listening to Louis CK on Bill Simmons' most excellent podcast, and without meaning to they touched on an interesting point about the wisdom of the many versus the wisdom of the few.

As I understand it, Louis has a very successful show on FX. What's interesting about it is that the network has zero control over it. They wire him $200K per episode, and from that he creates the entire thing (including taking out his salary).

This autonomy is very rare. It's also a relatively paltry sum for an actor as successful as Louis.

But the show is hit, and growing an audience with every episode.

So why is it working?

Louis' position is this (paraphrasing):

The more people involved in making decisions (particularly creative ones) the more watered down an idea gets. In essence, consensus-building breeds mediocrity.

By the time Bob from legal, Mary from finance, John from ad sales and Lisa from PR have all given their input, the essence of the idea is lost. And this is nothing against Bob, Mary, John and Lisa - I'm sure they are good at what they do. But they are not comedians.

So you've hired an incredibly successful creative (in this case Louis) for his talent but essentially said to him, "we only trust your sensibility to a certain point."

The disconnect is that by the time Bob, Mary, John and Lisa have stamped the idea, it's not Louis' sensibility any more. So why hire him in the first place?

Bringing it back to my world, I do have to wonder out loud: Is the wisdom of the crowd all that wise, or is the real value that it make us (me, you, brands, agencies) feel safer about any given decision simply because it's based on consensus? And as a result, are we breeding mediocrity? What constitutes authority on any given topic - deep knowledge, a proven track record and passion? Or simply a point-of-view, no matter how uniformed or unformed, and an Internet connection?

I genuinely don't know.

But I think of some of the great creative and marketing talents of our time, and how they would view the wisdom of the crowd. Three immediately come to mind. Clive Davis - he didn't do any market research before signing a scrawny young singer who eventually became Whitney Houston. Steve Jobs once famously said, "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." And finally, Alex Bogusky (always a polarizing character) - Crispin is (in)famous for retaining creative control over their clients' work. And love or hate the agency, you can't deny they've had a pretty killer run.

That's all for now.

Crossing The Conversation Chasm

Ian Sohn — 2011-12-10T09:55:37-05:00

I was talking to my newest colleague (and likeminded thinker) Alan Kercinik the other day about the missed communications opportunities between when new products are announced and they are actually available for purchase.

I call it the Conversation Chasm. And yes, I'm sure I'm not the first person to use the phrase.

Just thinking out loud over morning coffee ...

In my own very crude way, I tried to chart it out below.

The X axis is time:

Pre-sell: Where very early meetings take place between manufacturer and retailer. Usually a dark period for manufacturer due to competitive fears.
Launch: A moment in time. A press conference. A stunt. A trade show. Hope is to make a big splash with buyers, media and consumers.
Road to sales: More sell-in to retail, but not much focus on the consumer if we're being honest. All the big $ is chambered for ...
Sales start: Another big splash moment. Where media kicks in and everyone tries to out-scream the competition.
Sell-through: Focused on getting products off the shelves.

The Y axis is marcom effectiveness. I haven't given much thought to what that means for the purposes of this post. But essentially it's just how well you are doing against your goals. UPDATE: After thinking more about it, the Y axis should be "Conversations."

The purple line represents the way many industries - consumer electronics jumps to mind - approach things. Big launch splash - timing usually pegged to an industry trade show or a reaction to a competitor. This activity is usually led by communications. Followed by a pretty dark period where the marketing folks ready the campaign. Then sales start - boom! And finally, sell-through which normally falls to shopper marketing teams.

The green line is a more optimal way of approaching it. The big difference being the relative plateau (rather than huge valley) between the launch moment and sales start. I have to think that's the period where social media can shine like no other channel. And because there's more conversation happening during the road to sales, I'd propose your media dollars will be even more effective once sales do start (since you haven't lost touch with people over the last few months).

The space between the purple and green is missed opportunity ... the Conversation Chasm.

Why is the purple way of doing things so common? Three things come to mind ...

Communications and marketing still operate in silos. Communications normally handles product announcements; marketing kicks in for actual sales start. At times very different messages. Very different agendas. Not ideal. How to solve it? CMO builds a bridge and everyone gets over it.
Retail dependence. To me the real genius of Apple Stores is not the design and experience control the company has; but rather the timing control. They don't need to sell in. They are on their own timeline. They can avoid the Chasm altogether by virtually eliminating the road to sales phase. Apple is like Ali compared to everyone else's George Foreman.
Old school thinking. Paradigms are paradigms because thinking otherwise is threatening and scary. I wrote about the descructivness of this behavior a few days ago. That's how I feel.

That's as far as I can take it this Saturday morning. Feel free to chime in.

Sonic Editions + Impossible Cool (Alt: All I Want For XMas)

Ian Sohn — 2011-12-03T07:42:01-05:00

There's nothing I like more than a smart collaboration. The one I came across this morning combines two of my favorite things: The Impossible Cool and Sonic Editions.

Curator Sean Sullivan has gathered 18 well, impossibly cool images from icons like Ali, Bardot, Miles Davis, Jagger, Hemingway and more.

It looks like they are limiting sales to 50 each. All prints are framed/numbered/certified.

Two of my favorites below. The first one I love because Bardot is Bardot - enough said. The second one because I'm a sucker for any images of a young G.O.A.T.

Smart Dialogue About The Internet And Marketing

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-30T06:07:10-05:00

If you're looking for some good reading ...

I came across a blog this morning from a guy called Andrew Weissman.

Specifically I read Andrew's post called The Golden Age Of Internet Marketing? in which he poses questions and offers opinions on things every good marketer (Internet or not) should be considering.

Read it yourself - I won't do it justice. But I will highlight a quote I expect to use a lot in future presentations (emphasis mine)

These new emerging revenues streams will be native monetization models that are consistent with the fabric of the product, that run with the grain of how users interact with and use the service. Google ads are the perfect, and prototypical, example, because they deliver a unit in a manner consistent with the way the user is using the product to search for information. These units generally work because they align the interest of the three interested parties in a search: users, marketers and publishers. Users get what they are looking for; marketers' get performance on their spend because they buy against the search action itself; and finally publishers generate traffic from the content.

Noah Brier, using Andrew's post as a springboard , wrote Going Native. Again, read it for yourself - worth the five minutes. And again, a quote. I love the use of the word "respect" here - it feels so non-marketing-jargonish to me. I'm definitely going to steal that. Thanks Noah.

I actually think there are a lot of startups that think brands are stupid, which seems crazy to me considering most of them are ad funded. What I’m trying to say is that building a native marketing unit requires respecting your customer (the brand) as well as your users (the consumer). At the end of the day what truly separates Google’s search ads from other marketing units is that it’s respectful: It believes the user is smart and the brand knows what it wants.

Tim Tebow And The Downfall of Record Labels

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-29T20:22:09-05:00

I had a half-formed thought this morning that I've tried to spit out below in a stream of consciousness. After reading it all the way through, I recognize it rambles. But I kind of like it for some reason.

Tim Tebow. Record Labels.

One is a God-fearing southpaw who can't hit the side of a barn on a 10 yard out pattern. Yet all he's done is win at every level.

The other used to be THE central means by which we discovered music. Despite years of domination in the larger machine known as the music industry, record companies are in ruins.

So what on earth do they have in common?

The failure for their respective thought-leaders - football pundits and record executives - to acknowledge, embrace and explore paradigm shifts impacting their business.

I remember someone saying to me as a young buck at Sony Music in 1999 or 2000, around when Napster first hit the scene: What incentive does a 50 year old, wealthy record executive have to change their entire business model at this point in their career? None!

All these years later that's stuck with me. It speaks to fear. To motivation. To ego. To how and why people do or don't make decisions. It was an industry fully committed to a model that we all see now was deeply flawed. An industry run by legends like Tommy Mottola, Donnie Ienner and Clive Davis - guys with golden ears, but who ruled with an iron fist (no one dared question their decisions - they were scary dudes).

Their dogma - their refusal to see what was right in front of them - caused financial ruin, changed lives and has altered the music landscape forever.

Now, Tebow. The guy is a phenomenon right now. Blogs pay homage to him (kind of). Non-sports fans know his name. And pundits can't stop talking about him. But I've noticed something odd. Despite a 5-1 record as a starter - and his teammates rallying around him like I've never seen before - the "experts" can't accept his style of play (relentless running, little passing, ball control) as worthy of the great NFL. They say it's a temporary thing - that opposing teams will eventually figure it out. They say his success is less to do with talent than adrenaline. They say he's doesn't have the right "tools" to be a big-time NFL quarterback.

The guy was a college football legend and has an 83% win rate at the pro level. Tell me again what tools he doesn't have?

I say to all the Sunday morning studio crews: talk to Tommy Mottola about holding on to long-held beliefs out of fear, ego or total failure of imagination.

The NFL won't crumble like the record labels; but if Tebow pans out there will be a lot of pundit careers left in ruins.

Photo: Dogma by Antje Blumenstein.

Handle Stressful Situations (From A Con Man)

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-29T07:28:39-05:00

I enjoyed this article on how to handle unfamiliar or stressful situations, with commentary from con-man extraordinaire, Frank Abagnale.

It's a lighthearted read, but actually has some useful advice (emphasis mine) ...

"As Abagnale discovered, people are far less observant and attentive than you’d think; folks aren’t tuned in to looking for differences, absences, and discrepancies." Totally agree - we train ourselves to think the eyes of the world are on us, when in fact everyone is thinking about their own predicament.

"Abagnale found that there was great power in an uniform. This was back in the day when flying was quite glamorous, and wherever he went in his Pan Am pilot’s get-up, people instantly afforded him trust, respect, and admiration." I've been advocating uniforms for years. No, not real uniforms. Just that everyone should have a consistent and recognizable style. I think it helps us focus on more important things; and helps others feel comfortable with us. Unfortunately I can't find many people who agree with me on this. I must not explain it very well.

"If you’ve been thrown into a situation where you don’t have the skills or knowledge to perform up to par, then you’re going to need to play catch-up every spare second you get." Nothing to add here.

"The best thing you can do when you’re in a situation where you’re out of your depth is to be extremely conservative with both your actions and your words. Say little and listen a lot." Probably the most important lesson in life - shut up and listen.

Some rights reserved by willislim

Storytelling

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-27T09:28:00-05:00

My heart is with Ford, a client I've had the honor of working with and a company I respect massively.

That said, I couldn't help but get choked up a bit at this great spot from Chevy. Really nice storytelling. Well done, from a Ford fan.

Spec Of Dust

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-26T19:02:01-05:00

According to the BBC I'm the 77,978,234,961th person to have ever lived, which reinforces a few beliefs that have been running through my head ...

1// That I am writing this and you are reading it is a MASSIVE coincidence. What are the odds? Begs a lot of questions about why people aren't more kind to their follow man. Also begs the question: why the hell are you wasting your time reading this blog??

2// Many came before me (but not the dinosaurs, according to Sarah Palin - we lived in harmony with them), and many will come after. My time here is not even a blip on the radar. Might as well enjoy it. That extra glass of wine? Why not? Extra bacon, please. Friday hooky with my kiddos? Sign me up. Weekend getaway with my wife? Done deal!

3// Dogma is a foolish game. There are no absolutes. No black and white. No conventional wisdom. No single way of doing things. Who are we to say what's right and wrong? The universe is far (far, far, far) bigger than us.

Zenfully yours,

Ian

Some rights reserved by Kaptain Kobold

Braille For Touchscreen Tablets

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-23T07:25:58-05:00

"Instead of having fingers find the buttons, we have buttons that find the fingers."

A remarkably simple insight for an extraordinary idea.

Via Springwise.

Out of Orbit

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-21T18:48:52-05:00

Image: Randy Willis "It's All About Me" May 27, 2011 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution

Nearly every day I hear something along the lines of ...

"I'm just as nice to receptionists as I am to CEOs."

or

"Why was that barista so stressed out? For God's sake, he makes coffee for a living."

or

"I'm only a focus group of one, but I think [fill in idea the person speaking thought of] makes total sense."

It's the sure sign of someone who puts themselves at the center of the universe, with everyone else in their orbit. Don't get me wrong - I find myself doing it sometimes. And I force myself to snap out of it. This is not about finger pointing (and even if it is, when you point a finger at someone you are pointing three at yourself).

Some perspective I often remind myself of ...

There's fundamentally no difference between a CEO and receptionist, so to brag about how nice you are to both of them means nothing (except to show you pity the receptionist).

And you think the PowerPoint deck you have to write is any more stressful than someone screaming at you because there's too much foam in their skinny latte?

And just because you think something's a good idea doesn't mean anyone else will. And it certainly doesn't mean everyone else will. Steve Jobs was an anomaly.

No one orbits anyone. We're a big, mashed-up collection of people who are essentially no better or worse than anyone else (the Mother Theresas are cancelled out by the Ted Bundys). And we're all here together for about a pinhead's worth of time compared to what's come before us and what's to follow.

No major point here. Just thoughts.

38 Essential Chicago Restaurants

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-20T11:17:21-05:00

I get asked all the time for restaurant recommendations in Chicago. A friend at work forwarded me this list. And since I've always used this blog to save things I want to refer back to at some point ...

Full list here

All That Inspires Me (Guest Post)

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-18T12:09:19-05:00

I threw down a guest post over on Keith Stoeckeler's excellent blog about inspiration.

I'd rather drive traffic to Keith's blog, so I won't cross-post it here.

Perhaps not what you'd normally expect from me. But here's a taste ...

I watched the sun rise over Lake Michigan in Chicago. I had no idea what time it was, and not for a second did I worry about where I had to be. And it was pretty remarkable.

Read the full post here.

Bowling v Pinball

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-18T07:30:50-05:00

Nice point made yesterday at a private event thrown by Facebook to support their Facebook Studio initiative. Paraphrasing a speaker from Facebook (and adding a bit of my own take) ...

Traditionally, marketers have played a game of bowling: Take a heavy, well-crafted message and throw it as hard as you can down the media lane, with the goal of knocking over as many customers as possible.

But today's marketer needs to think more like a pinball wizard: You take a slightly lighter projectile, and still thrust it in the field of play. But unlike bowling, in pinball the message stays in the play-of-field much longer, taking twists, turns and lucky bounces as it goes. There's a flow. A continuity. A viral element that never existed at scale.

I like the imagery. And let's be real ... do you really want to be like this guy?

7 Deadly Sins of Marketing

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-16T22:17:00-05:00

Truth In Advertising

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-16T06:15:30-05:00

A buddy at work sent this to me. Appears to be a decade+ old. A bit long, but very, very funny. NSFW.

A Meeting With Steve Jobs

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-13T19:24:00-05:00

A nice, quick read by a woman called Christine Comaford on how many years ago she convinced Steve Jobs to take a meeting with her - one that clearly had a huge impact on her life and career.

"Forty five minutes later Steve released me. Sitting in my overheated car in the sunny Redwood City parking lot, my head bursting with the remarkable, complex, complete vision of Steve Jobs in my head, I made a commitment.

I would no longer see barricades. Stumbling blocks would now be seen as stepping stones to something better, or something to crawl over or walk around. Previous limitations would now be a mere triviality, at worst a slight inconvenience. There were insanely great things to create and we were here to create them and that’s all there was to it. All thoughts to the contrary were irrelevant."

There's some practical tips at the end about getting meetings with VIPs. They are good. I just caution you to think about the line between aggressive and annoying.

Catvertising

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-13T07:11:21-05:00

"You think sometimes you're going to run out of material with cats, but you never do. You come in on Monday and go 'Oh my God, trombone cat.'"

This parody video was done by an agency in Toronto called John St. Not only is it a really funny idea, but the execution is superb (as was last year's hysterical Pink Pony Case Study video). The production quality, the acting and writing - all done in a way befitting of an agency trying to show off their creative chops.

71K views and counting ...

My Four Takeaways from The Steve Jobs Bio

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-10T08:36:04-05:00

I'm sure volumes have been written about Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs bio, analyzing it from every which angle. Such a timely release, and such a compelling subject. Frankly, I haven't sought it out anyone else's opinion - wanted to read it without bias.

After getting through it, four takeaways are burned in my mind:

Great does not equal Good. Jobs was a great mind and businessman, but not a good person. I'm not sure if it's a decision he made, or just who we was. But you have to ask yourself (and it's a very personal question): at the end of the day, would you rather be great at what you do, or good to the people you do it with?
Not all human beings are wired to envision the impossible. Much is made in the book of Jobs' nearly Yoda-esq ability to distort others' reality, virtually willing them to do the impossible. Very few of us have truly explored the fringes of our abilities. Jobs was a man who helped those around him achieve what most considered impossible. That's a beautiful thing.
God (aka Mother Nature, aka biology) isn't susceptible to distorted reality. Jobs may have been able to will software engineers to do the impossible, but his ignorance (I'd consider it arrogance) around his initial cancer diagnosis was some combination of naive, egotistical and frankly, selfish.
Sell! Sell! Sell! Here's one thing I feel pretty sure about - if you own Apple stock and have an investment horizon beyond about 5 years, sell it now. Jobs - for all his personality flaws - was Apple. Not Ives. Not Cook. Not any of them. Jobs. It's not that every good idea was his. Rather, that none of the good ideas would have turned out as great as they did without his embrace of doing the impossible. I can think of no compelling argument why Apple will be the brilliant company it currently is without Jobs at the helm.

Read the book, it's pretty compelling.

Seth's Blog: When "minimal viable product" doesn't work

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-05T18:36:33-04:00

Interesting post from Seth Godin (the same Seth Godin who may or may not have cribbed a blog post from yours truly).

The second point in his post makes me think of Quora, Google+ and a host of other hyped launches.

There's a burst of energy and attention and effort that accompanies a launch, even a minimally viable one. If there's a delay in pick up from the community, though (see #1) it's easy to move on to the next thing, the next launch, the next hoopla, as opposed to doing the insanely hard work of sticking with that thing you already launched.

From Seth's Blog: When "minimal viable product" doesn't work

Best Global Brands 2011

Ian Sohn — 2011-11-04T17:09:53-04:00

via issuu.com

Always one of my favorite reads of the year.