mikecorak's posterous

pretty clever contest from gobot : CASTING CALL - GOGOBOT TRAVEL DOCUMENTARY

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:10:34 -0800

From: Gogobot <Casting@gogobot.com>
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2012 6:01 AM
Subject: CASTING CALL - GOGOBOT TRAVEL DOCUMENTARY

Dear Mike,

It's Time for your 15 minutes of fame!

Would you like a chance to travel the world on Gogobot's dime, while getting your 15 minutes of fame?! We are looking for a person who is passionate about travel and loves using Gogobot to star in our first ever travel documentary. This video will be viewed around the world. Apply by February 8, 2012 and you might soon be on your way to a six day all expenses paid adventure as we film your trip to several amazing destinations.

Here's how you apply:

First of all, you must meet the following requirements:

Must be at least 21 years old
Must have a valid U.S.A. or E.U. Passport
Must be completely free to travel domestically and internationally from 20-27 February.
Must be able to handle rigors of extended travel including strenuous activity.
Must be able to work well in stressful situations and in new environments with new people.
Must be a registered Gogobot user with over 10 original reviews of hotels, restaurants, and great sites you have visited.

Next, it is important that you follow these instructions:

Submit a link (on youtube or vimeo) of a one-minute video explaining why you should be selected. Email this link to: casting@gogobot.com.
Fill in this form no later than February 8, 2012.

If you have made the short list you will be contacted by February 11, 2012.

Have any questions? Send us an email to casting@gogobot.com. We look forward to seeing your entry.

Happy Travels!
Gogobot

To change which emails you receive, update your email notifications here.
Gogobot, Inc. | 883 Santa Cruz Ave. Ste. 204, Menlo Park, CA 94025

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Great Bob Lefsetz email on Netflix

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:51:00 -0800

From: "Bob Lefsetz" <bob@lefsetz.com>
Subject: Netflix

Just because someone yells, that doesn't mean you should listen.
Netflix gained 610,000 subscribers in the U.S. last quarter. The company is just shy of its all time high, it's now got 24.4 million subscribers, it had 24.59 million at its peak.
In other words, the only thing Reed Hastings did wrong was react to the outcry. He should have shut up and gone on his merry way. But America's become a nation of apologists. If you do something one person doesn't like you've got to crucify yourself, sacrifice your backbone to appease the rabble-rouser. When oftentimes if you just doubled-down on your message, if you chose to react at all, you'd have won.
Reed Hastings was trying to push his customers into the future, as opposed to the content industries who are all about holding users back in the past. And it turns out he's right. 21.7 million people have Netflix's streaming service, whereas only 11.2 million have the DVD by mail service.
And Netflix has no plans to advertise the DVD by mail business. It's a losing proposition, the costs are high, people are burning out on discs and the movie and TV producers are putting so many restrictions on availability that the consumer is dazed and confused...and pissed. How many months do I have to wait after the DVD has been released to get it on Netflix? And exactly why? So you can preserve an old model while the statistics tell us streaming has won the war?
Don't change course based on the vocal minority. They've got a voice online and the mainstream media loves a fight, hell, that's what the Republican nomination process is all about. They don't care who wins, just as long as it gets ratings.
Reed Hastings got in trouble for telling the truth. That people want streaming and DVD by mail costs too much and those who want to use it have to pay for it.
Americans abhor sacrifice. You can't take my job! Even if it's making buggy whips, I can't go down a notch in lifestyle! Meanwhile, the public embraces a better system and the whole business changes.
If only there were a Reed Hastings in the music business. A visionary delivering what the public wants with enough cash to stand up and compete with the usual suspect content providers.
Steve Jobs made inroads, but track sales were never the way out of the economic mess.
The Spotify guys have come up with streaming for music and they've been excoriated. Explain to me again why people love Netflix and hate Spotify? Sure, Spotify's free at first, but Netflix gives a month free too! That's how you sell anything new and addictive in this world, via a free trial.
In other words, the entire Netflix brouhaha was a waste of time. There was no problem. Just a vocal minority pissed that they have to pay more for what costs more.
But the stock was hammered, plummeting from $300 to below $100.
But it's regained 30% of its value since.
The public is not as backwards as you think. The public loves new technology. Hell, it's hard to be a dummy and pirate. You triumph by giving people what they want before they know they want it. That's what Netflix streaming was. Just a side benefit that turned into the main course.
The same thing is going to happen in music. MP3s are going to give way to streaming. The public, contrary to the prognosticators, will want it.
Don't listen to the screaming meemees. They're self-interested and ignorant. Jump into the future and wait for the people to come to you.

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - Bank of America presentation notes - #spny

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:15:00 -0800

Bank of America - Jim McComb, SVP, Finance

“the best way to predict the future is to create it.” - Abraham Lincoln

how winners win

- redefine success and find new ways to achieve it

o do something that has never been done in the past

o serve your customers and prospects in a way that no one in your industry ever has

o revise your value proposition so that it delivers real, live value

o actually live your org’s core values

o define a sustainable competitive advantage

o identify the metrics that drive your org’s success, yet are not included among your current key performance indicators

o re-awaken your stakeholders by crafting an org vision that is bold, compelling, unique, and inline with your definition of success

o be aware that true success is achieved by realizing an org vision that is bold, compelling, unique and driven by your core values

- anticipate the future, and don’t rely on extrapolating the past

- they understand that success is often less about product and more about delivery

- they remain true to their corporate vision

YOUR VISION IS YOUR DIFFERENTIATOR! IT MUST BE UNIQUE

Anticipating the future – winners anticipate and prepare for wild cards (read Out of the Blue) – 9/11, iPad, Katrina, etc – breakthrough in energy at some point down the road

Understanding success – build a bear, amazon kindle, itunes, apple, redbox, onstar

Vision must be at the top of the list for every company

Winners have the capacity for certain success:

- #1 thing we all offer our customers – value – this is the single most important thing we do

- What are the unique competencies of your org and people?

Understand your stakeholders

- do you recognize the faces of your stakeholders?

- Do you know what is on the minds of your stakeholders? Their dreams, aspirations, core values, etc.

The one thing that drives all change:

The residual impact of the movement of stakeholder thoughts on your organization’s success drivers relative to the Value (vision) that you create, produce and deliver.

Mission – purpose

Vision – how you fulfill that vision

Steps in leveraging the one thing

- every employee assists in monitoring and maintaining constant contact with all stakeholders

- make marketing, finance and strategic planning inseparable

- ask all stakeholders about how their values, dreams, fears, aspirations, and confidence in the future are changing and why

- observe those you can’t ask

- monitor ongoing change

- monitor shifts in core values

- proactively respond to evolving needs and to changing patterns in the product usage

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - HP presentation notes - #spny

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:08:00 -0800

Christian Verstraete – CTO, HP

5 key megatrends

1 - demographics

- Urbanization

- Increased middle class

- Aging population

- Health awareness

2 – becoming global

- Brands

- Markets

- Competition

- Partners

- Suppliers

3 – Social Media

- Client interactions

- Referencing

- Advise

- Advertising

4 – mobility

5 - sustainability

other element – time is shrinking – speed in business is increasing dramatically

companies look for

- increased responsiveness

- increased agility

- while maintaining low cost operations

what people want from technology - always connected, information at your fingertips, increased IT flexibility

2 key disruptive technologies

- cloud – infrastructure as a service, and concept of a service

- social media – use of web based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue, whether you like it or not, your customer talks about you and your product

THINK ABOUT IDEATION DRIVEN PRODUCT DESIGN APPLIED TO OUR SERVICES

Using technologies can help us differentiate.

Social media to understand your market

- active and integrative involvement of consumers in the design, development, and engineering phase

- creation of product structure, partner ecosystem and business model to enable app-store type of value creation

- the consumer becomes a prosumer

- the supplier becomes a partner

- the car becomes a platform

Mining data and technology to analyze unstructed data – example, HP warranty management

- social media

- dealer reports and repair logs

- customer forums

- warranty claims

- Output – recall operations, manufacturing and suppliers, engineering

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - Societe Generale presentation notes - #spny

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:00:00 -0800

Jeremy Hill – COO – Societe Generale

Focus on the Incentives

Part 1 – forecasting as a risk management technique

- clarity of mission – what is the current economic environment? Don’t drive at dusk without headlights. Strategy as the map of future GROWTH!

Clarity of mission

- how far into the past/future do we need to look?

- Should we consider the macro environment?

- Expand even in a down market?

Business strategy that reflects models that are realistic is a must

Current economic environment – what are the risks (upside/downside)?

- high potential for political difficulties

- hard landing

- euro scenario

China – wage growth coming

Part 2 – incentives as the driver

Choice architecture – use it to replace persuasion and coercion

Think about your goal and plans as a utility and maximization product. Think about utility maximization problems. If you’re the consumer, how do you get the most bang for the buck (that’s how to think about incentives and how touse them as part of org planning)

Incentives need to be transparent. Top down, management sets the tone and everyone knows.

Incentives – bleed them through:

Core strategy (bonus, visibiiyt)

Cecondary – soft (treats), social (institutional standing)

Execution plan – negative incentives, midterm incentives

Bleed the through II

Resources – wage happiness – intellectual satisfaction

Execution paths – masterpeice v. good enough – pr

Something else

Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures.

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - Skype presentation notes - #spny

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:52:00 -0800

Roland Pan – Head of Strategy - Skype

Disruption

HOW CAN WE DISRUPT THE MARKET!?

Read “clay christensen” –

Companies tend to innovate faster than customer needs change

Shape, Adapt, Reserve the right to play

Social stack:

Activity

Content

Relationships

Identity

Skype partnered with Facebook to be the video platform to earn the right to play since they weren’t in the entire stack

If you’re trying to be a shaper in TV, need four things – vision, acts and assets, platform and ecosystem players

Practical organizational factors

Common objections:

- This doesn’t have enough ROI

- Where’s the reseach, customers aren’t asking

- Canabilize existing services

Is strat team playing the right roles:

1 – thought leadership

2 – project leadership

3 – process leadership (planning process)

My opinion of ethology: strat does 1 now and some of 2. We don’t do 3 all the way through.

Key takeaways

- Know what you mean by disruption

- Identify disruptions in your immediate contexts

- Have a posture towards them

- You don’t have to nor can you always be a shaper

- If you are a shaper, consider how you can leverage the ecosystem

- Creating support can be difficult, position your strategy team in the organization

Team (small team)

1 person goes after new stuff

another works with product teams

another is an analyst

Buzz words: disruptive, social, mobile, ecosystem

Need to have part of an ongoing and changing process

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - USAA presentation notes - #spny

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:03:00 -0800

USAA’s Member-Centric, Mission Driven Strategy – Craig Hopkins – USAA CSO

Challenge – make sure USAA is around for the next 90 years

Strategy

- Build lifelong relationships with our members by knowing them better and caring about them more than any other company.

o Go from a transactional company to a relationship company

Secret sauce – extraordinary members, employees who care, solid financial foundation

Doing business your way - must allow customers to do business the way they want to – everywhere strategy for exceptional experiences

External recognition – test strategies by seeing if they’re award winning

Strategy may be king, but culture eats strategy for breakfast. Need to bake strategy in the organizational structure and culture.

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - Plantronics presentation notes - #spny

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:30:00 -0800

Smart Strategies for the Connected World – Barry Margerum, CSO at Plantronics

3 qualities for a strategist:

1. Vision

2. Insights - understanding opportunities, pain points, disruptions

3. Passion – drive through the organization for change

Case study presentation

Challenge: get beyond hardware/software to solutions

Leader in headsets for office, contact center, and mobile business lines

As a company, have had the right products, but need to integrate with phone providers

Barriers traditionally were interfacing with proprietary phone creators. Were the only providers and business grew.

Looking toward the future has been very important. Devices, connectivity, applications, social media, and the cloud are all changing the game.

- work topologies within the office are changing. Need areas where people can concentrate, collaborate, contemplate, and communicate. Plantronics is changing its internal environment as a result to best connect.

Tools, locations and audio requirements are changing

Assessing opportunities

- seek and explore

o big spaces

o disruptive technologies

o emerging trends

o displacement opportunities – close or far from the core business

- pivotal assumptions

o age of conceptualization - we’re in the information era, moving to the conceptual area (up game due to abundance, automation, and Asia – the 3 A’s) – need to differentiate on user experience like Apple

o Importance of voice – the value of voice has never been more important (face to face/video/tone/body language are all very important)

o The power of context – Context-enriched services

- Smart headset simplifies mobile and pc communications

“If people told Henry Ford what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”

You can’t just ask customers what they want and give it to them. By the time you get it build they will want something else – Steve Jobs

Strive for pain points, user experience, and get to market faster and better than the competition

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - Innovation Panel - notes - #spny

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:45:00 -0800

Panel Session: Driving Innovation in Large Organizations

Moderator: Michael Marchand, Director, Strategy, Consumer & Small Medium Sized Business, Dell

Panel:

Lauren Kramer-Dover, Exec Director Strategy, Consumer & small Medium Sized Business, Dell

Craig Hopkins, CSO, USAA

Imtiaz Patel, VP, Strategic Planning, Dow Jones & Company

Antoine Walthour, Head, Strategic Planning, ING Americas

Highlights:

From Craig Hopkins – role of the strategist:

· Get challenge down to something actionable – decomposing of strategy down to tangible chunks

· Create opportunity to go after opportunities – strategist creates structure

· Culture of innovation – do you create the opportunities for people to speak up – strategists don’t come up with strategies themselves, they enable the organization

Tom Peters quote – innovation comes from the fundamental frustration that someone gets from the status quo

Good quotes captured by attendees:

How do you come up with the great ideas:

Antoine– 16 week innovation process, starts with Chairman presenting issue, new products or processes, culture allows for all to come up with ideas and participate.

Lauren – having a defined process is the place to start, create process. Must also be open to disruptive occurrences in the organization (allowing for the disruption of your process). Allow for people to be entrepreneurs in the organization.

Imtiaz – don’t have a process, need to innovate to survive and it’s constant.

Craig – must find the balance between process and innovation. Any innovation is a good innovation if it helps the member. Mission – help members. Next question, can employees support it. Last, can they make money, save money, etc – is there a tangible benefit. Then decide to prioritize (no, not now, or maybe). In the organization - no idea is a bad idea, but not every idea is going to get done.

Other comments:

Lauren – Dell uses Idea Storm to garner info (salesforce product) from customers via social media. Digesting and synthesizing the content is the critical.

Having decision makers/senior sponsor support is key

Financial incentives help make innovation a reality

Imtiaz – company reorganizes every 18-24 months. Keeps ideas/company fresh. Culturally they’ve accepted that change is part of the deal and that it’s never going to stop. Every year goals and expectations increase and part of the cultures expectation. Giving people credit at the end is a big part.

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Chief Strategy Officer Summit - USCellular's John Coyle - Belief Project - #spny

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:19:00 -0800

Great presentation on USCellular's Belief Project - industry's first loyalty program and a real game changer, very intersting. Here are the notes:

John Coyle: Senior Director, Innovation & Strategy - US Cellular (created first industry rewards program). Steps to developing the program:

1. Understand your environment

2. Get beyond the rational – understand the customer realities of your business: how they feel

a. Man cries over cell phone – look at YouTube

3. Develop Your Strategy…& Your Story – defining metaphor: replace the traditional model of contracts and the penalty of early termination fees with the incentive of rewards (PV=nRT)

4. Prove the Rational Case by Measuring Irrational Behavior – Don’t ask them to say what they’ll do, watch what they actually do

5. Create the Rational Case for Rational Behavior

6. Create the Irrational case for irrational behavior (ie belief)– the case for change exercise – the case for not changing was riskier than the gamble to change the game (v. being swallowed or going away)

a. What’s broken about wireless today?

b. What are the competition talking about? Price phones, all the things that aren’t broken

c. What’s actually broken? Customer’s view – lots of $, hit hard when make a mistake new customers get treated better than existing, long waits to phone upgrades, contract to stay with a company been with for a long time, feel powerless against rules of the game

d. Solution: the belief project – free replacement for non-working phone, up to $100 credit for lost, simplified pricing, rewards program to trade points for phones, overages, ringtones, etc, eliminate contracts – ALL VERY BIG RISK, but brave enough to change the industry

i. Follow-up results:

1. Top in customer satisfaction

2. 11 JD Power network awards in a row

3. avg revenue is up across consumer base (challenge – awareness is still low – need to get the word out!)

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Tempe Festival of Lights!

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:36:54 -0800

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Good email from Bob Lefsetz about our friends at Vail: EpicMix Redux

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 08:13:00 -0700

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bob Lefsetz" <bob@lefsetz.com>
Date: November 4, 2011 11:12:08 PM PDT
To: mikecorak@gmail.com
Subject: EpicMix Redux

We all want to participate, we all want to play. Life is a game, it's the essence of social. Something that the music business doesn't understand. The music business holds its audience in contempt. It's the fans who are stealing, who are taking money from the artists' pockets, you've got to be wary of fans, they'll screw you any way they can.

Huh?

Vail is the largest ski resort in the U.S. Put it together with its sister mountains under the umbrella of Vail Resorts and it's the Live Nation of the ski industry. You'd think people would hate Vail, say it's too impersonal and all about the money. How did Vail combat this perception?

By playing to its fans. By going social.

First and foremost, Vail dropped the price of entry. By issuing the Epic Pass. You can ride all season for under $700. Talk about brand loyalty, owners of said pass take vacations at Vail resorts, because they've already paid. Somehow, saving a few bucks on lift tickets trumps the cost of flying and lodging... People like a deal.

But you don't have to buy an Epic Pass to play. EpicMix is available to everyone.

Imagine if someone lassoed the entire music world, made everybody feel good, and sold them products they wanted to own..

That's what Vail is doing.

We all love music. How come there isn't a music club? Instead, we're all squabbling, hating each other. When really, what we have in common is the pleasure of sound, that sweet elixir in the air.

So everybody gets a membership card. And when you go to the gig, when you listen to a song, when you do anything related to music, you get points. And pins.

How about a pin for listening to the entire Lou Reed catalog on Spotify? How about a pin for listening to the Lou Reed/Metallica album from start to finish. Mmm...what do we call it, the World War III pin? With a picture of a helmeted soldier with his fingers in his ears?

This is doable. This is not complicated. Instead, the music industry gives power to Facebook, which doesn't share the same interests.

Think about this. How long would it take for a free music site to take hold?

And here's the silver lining, you sell members stuff they want to buy.

You earn the virtual pin, if you want to buy a physical version, it costs $3.50 or five bucks for a patch. Maybe we even sell a jacket whereupon you can sew and display all your patch, show what a fan you are.

I want you to go to this page:

http://bit.ly/rX2jD6

This is Rob Katz's personal dashboard on EpicMix.

Rob Katz is CEO of Vail Resorts. I found this link on Twitter.

The CEOs in the music business are so busy chasing financial titans they don't realize you make money by being honest and accessible.

EpicMix members can prevent their stats from being public, but in this case, Mr. Katz has not.

Now I want you to click on this link:

http://bit.ly/sn8cxM

These are pics of Rob Katz skiing at Keystone today.

And they're free! Yup, there are roving photographers on the mountain, they shoot pics and they're beamed to your account.

And you can see them on your dashboard.

But if you'd like a high quality version... Hi-res for framing, that costs. No pressure, it's your option.

Imagine high quality photos at the gig! They're free to see, but if you want a hi-res take, you pay. And it's all beamed to you automatically, because you've got a chip in your pass, you're registered, we know who you are!

And from there...

Give Vail credit, they don't overmarket. But I know the music industry can't hold back. Those who go to a lot of shows can be sent food discounts, and free tickets when the act papers the gig.

It's about knowing who your customers are and loading them up with so much free stuff that they end up giving you their money.

It's really simple.

But everybody in the music business is so busy looking to see if his wallet is being stolen that opportunities go wasted.

Vail didn't make a deal with Foursquare, it decided to do it itself. Which gave it control. And by investing money, Vail is now making money.

That's how you do it in the modern world.

I wanna see what shows my friends go to, without having to go on Facebook and being subjected to ads and navigating unfathomable privacy controls. I want trust. I wanna play.

And so does everybody else.

P.S. Look at this pic, Rob Katz with Keystone's mascot:

http://bit.ly/vovf58

Every building should have a mascot, a greeter like at Wal-Mart, but hipper. A friendly face that people will want to have their picture taken with. It's not about tying in with corporations, trying to squeeze hatable brands to fatten your bottom line, it's about nurturing an honest relationship with your fans. That's enough. They'll be glad to give you tons of money. But you must understand, in the modern world, you load them up with free stuff first, and then they buy. The music business has always been the opposite. But it's gotta change, it's gotta get with it.

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Interesting cross-promotion from Klout - Fw: You've got a Klout perk!

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 05:06:23 -0700

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Klout <notifications@klout.com>
To:
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 11:53 AM
Subject: You've got a Klout perk!

Hi MikeCorak!

You have received a Perk!

The Roxy & Klout have teamed up to give influencers free entry (+1) at the brand new Roxy Lounge in Scottsdale, Arizona!

Claim your Perk now!

Thanks!

— Team Klout

Copyright © 2011 Klout, All rights reserved. This email was sent by: Klout 77 Stillman San Francisco, CA, 94107, US
Email Preferences \| View as Webpage

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Goodbye Borders

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 06:20:00 -0700

A Fond Farewell... Thank You for Shopping at Borders

Wow, rare email indeed - I guess I'll keep this for email marketing reference (and hope I never need to refer to it)

Your friend thought you might be interested in this email from Borders.
If you would like to sign up to receive email from Borders in the future, click here.

DP536X2563D6

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Screaming Guy in my mouth - www.screamingguys.com

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:42:00 -0700

My first screaming guy photo. Can't wait to take Tito on vacation and get some great shots for upload. Nice work www.screamingguys.com!

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Oh yeah: Congrats, "Digital Marketing Strategy - Digital Marketing Planning - Strategic Planning - Online Marketing Summit Phoenix-June 2011-ethology-mike corak" is hot on LinkedIn this hour

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:17:00 -0700

Preso from today going viral

----Forwarded Message----

Sent: Thu Jun 16th, 2011 10:10 PM MST
Subject: Congrats, "Digital Marketing Strategy - Digital Marketing Planning - Strategic Planning - Online Marketing Summit Phoenix-June 2011-ethology-mike corak" is hot on LinkedIn this hour

"Digital Marketing Strategy - Digital Marketing Planning - Strategic Planning - Online Marketing Summit Phoenix-June 2011-ethology-mike corak" is being talked about on LinkedIn more than anything else on SlideShare right now. So we've put it on the homepage of SlideShare.net (in the "Hot on LinkedIn" section).

Well done!

- SlideShare Team

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Raw Notes #MTS2011 - Brand Delusion: Who Really Owns Your Brand - Michael Kurz

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:57:13 -0700

Mountain Travel Symposium 2011, 4/6 – Brand Delusion: Who Owns Your Brand
Presenter: Michael Kurz – President/Creative Director at Kurz Strategic Marketing, Inc

Brand

old definition – your mark
Brand Value/Branding – not the mark, does it move a mind from where it was to where you want it to be
- A brand is a relationship

Perfect marketing relationship

USP (Unique Selling Relationship – the unique is important, no one else looks and sounds like this) + DBM (Dominant Buying Motive – what is your product going to solve for me – need statements that sell) = Commerce

How do we converge the two?

Identity (recognition and relevance)
Positioning
Brand Attributes (Salient Features and Benefits)
Positioning
Customer/Client Interface (sales and Service)
Positioning
Brand Satisfaction (Use Frequency & Loyalty)
Positioning

State of the Brand – need to find where you are in the mix

Harmony, Dissonance, Discord (disconnect), Disaffection, Defeat

The perfect Marketing Relationship

The better your USP matches the DBM, the more biz
Because – you don’t own your brand, the customer owns your brand

What do do?

Who affects your customers’ / clients’ relationships with your brand

Public Faces
- Point of Sale - sales, remote service, repair/installation/service technicians, hosts/servers/bartenders/bussers), Delivery (UPS.FedEx too)
Private Faces (WOM)
- Management/ownership, HR department, Stock/Industry Analysts, Employee Family/Friends, Vendors
Social/Mass Media Authors
- Benign, vicious, trade media, traditional media

Corporation has to live the brand

understand what you’re selling
understand who’s buying what you’re selling and why
understand your positioning (differentiation)
educate!
deliver on your brand promise – over promise and over deliver!
create brand missionaries at all levels of the enterprise, who will testify – it’s about the passion
cut bait on losing propositions

Ask About the Love

Where are we in the relationship
Is it good for your?
Encourage and facilitate direct communication
Engage your customers/clients
help them “experience” your brand
Don’t lie!
Personalize your brand – make it personal to someone
Do something meaningful

How It’s Done

Hard Metrics - qualitative
Subjective Assessment – what did you like about what you bought? What didn’t you like?
Competitive Reviews
Watch for Web Warning Flags – more competition, negative messaging, all signs of trouble – Google your company, product, yourself every few weeks and see what you find
Anticipate Issues
Set and Achieve High Standards – review your standards, see if you can raise them and then achieve them

More How it’s done

Intercepts
Web Polls/Surveys
Consumer Panels
Employee Questionnaires – look for trends
In-Market Studies
Drop Surveys – why are you no-longer with us?
Post-Purchase/Post-Service Interviews – send a letter with a handwritten envelope

Jack Trout – “Somewhere along the way, customer satisfaction has become a given, not a differentiator”

The Point is Comprehension

Know your customers/partners
Make sure they know you
Keep it coming
Be wary of brand extension
Watch your span of control (don’t lose it!)
Don’t delude yourself – as much as you do and as well as you do it, your customer is always in control of your brand

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Raw Notes: #MTS2011 - LivingSocial - Social Commerce, and Google travel / mobile

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:33:31 -0700

Mountain Travel Symposium – 4/6 2011 - New Media, Social Buying and Travel Marketing – LivingSocial, and Mobile/Travel by Google (lots of ex-Expedia guys!)

LivingSocial

Born Digital – Over 50% of the human race is under 39 and they’ve never known life without the internet

One third of women 18-34 check facebook in the morning, even before going to the bathroom

Year over year PC growth is currently 2.7%, smartphones have +80% growth

But, does social media mean we’re less social? Using digital to discover, buy and share REAL experiences

For travel – people want to experience life and travel, and use social to do that – LivingSocial Escapes

LivingSocial adds surprise to every calendar with deals on handpicked experiences to share with friends

Social Commerce Points – and way LivingSocial is approaching social for travel

makes online brand storytelling possible – cutting through the clutter with story telling
Creates travel demand v. reacting to existing demand – allows the travelers themselves become your affiliates
Social commerce is measured in transactions
Travelers are early adopting Lo/So/Mo (Local+Social+Mobile) - LivingSocial Instant is a new product that gives you deals as you’re walking around based on where you are
Travelers are out-in-front on social as a tool to get life experiences

Google – travel/mobile

29.7M will research travel by 2012
34% of US Smartphone users research travel from a mobile device
23% of international travelers have used mobile check-in
74$ growth in mobile bookers from 2010 to 2012
eMarketer (Crap I’m using this study too tomorrow!)

Digital life and physical life are converging with mobile

5 stages of travel

dreaming – constant connectivity, increased dreaming – great Westin mobile ad example – mobile ad shows to anyone in 30 degree or below weather and shows an add for the beach and then to site for booking
researching
- mobile is material – 19.5% of hotel queries come from mobile devices
- be there, be compelling show exactly what people need as you don’t have the room to do much else (examples – heavenly and ski report mobile presences)
- Stand out from the rest – Ski Vermont – get a free lift by installing their ring tone for 30 days
booking
- Meet the traveler’s needs – if you’re allowing booking on your site, you better offer it in mobile – good one is booking.com, liftopia’s is great
experiencing
- Mobile makes the travel experience easier – supper shuttle (see where your car is in route), American Airlines (boarding pass – check-in, should replace paper in 5 years)
- Hotel check-in with your phone, go right to your room
- Mobile makes the travel experience robust – apps translate maps guides reviews (trip advisor using Google Street View showing augmented reality real time)
Sharing
- Travel is a Social Pursuit – people loading videos from the top of a run (gets their friends also dreaming and ready to go)

5 Things You Can Do Now in Mobile Search

Build – mobile specific assets
Think local
Generate bookings via the phone
Promote mobile offers
Drive app downloads – have to promote the heck out of apps if you want them to succeed – need to have a real reason to build an app before doing it. Promote through email, advertising, etc, all channels – have to support and continually improve

Stats

1/3 of all mobile inquiries have a local intent
Click to call is a huge opportunity – 15% to 30% better click through rates for those who use click to call v. those who don’t

Google Places will continue to expand – rates and availability is coming now. Will become central to what Google does

Build mobile enabled sites (HTML 5) before apps

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Raw Notes from #MTS2011 - 4/6/11 - "What Really Matters" panel - Perspectives from Leaders of the Pack

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:24:44 -0700

Mountain Travel Symposium – What Really Matters, Perspectives from Leaders of the Pack – April 6, 2011, Beaver Creek, CO
Panelists: Jon Garnsey, Dave Hilfman, Mike Kaplan, Steve Rice

United Airlines

Average price to fly one mil – 1969 - $.34, 2010 - $.14
challenges – taxes and fees, fragmentation, volatile cost structure, product commoditization (people think all seats are the same across carriers)
Airline business has never made money!
- 2010 - $16B profit
- 2011 was projected for profit, factors hurting it and bringing it maybe down to nothing – world instability, natural disasters, oil spike
Every $1 increase in fuel bill adds $100M in annual expense!
- 25% of industry cost is fuel
Strategy for economic recovery – product unbundling, product enhancements (upgrades, preferred coach, premium booze, petsafe, high quality food for purchase)
Merger update – too many seats for too few butts
- United + Continental helps us all

Vail

What we’re selling – the emotional promise – set of expectations, gift of time, an experience
Have to deliver the hype across the board by thousands of individuals
Bran promise – identifies what consumers should expect across all interactions with the brand (name, logo. Tab lines, etc – but really it’s operations delivering it)
COOKIE TIME! Vail has cookie time every day, and we experienced it at the presentation

Aspen

Awesome sustainability talk – involve locals, help internationally, amazing work for the environment, local and global communities!
What really matters - Skiing offers renewal, life changing experiences – that’s what we’re offering. If we take a different approach to providing it, we can make it last into future generations

CNL Lifestyle Properties

Ups and downs in skier visits have more to do with snow quality than economy (visits have increased during recession)
profits are rising
Ski industry beats NBA, NFL, airlines, Vegas, Orlando, etc
Labor costs are dropping too
revenue going up
CRM, text alerts, social media, strategic alliances, advertising
Great operational case studies on smart spending and programs that allowed the best resorts to maintain profits without raising costs

------ End of Forwarded Message

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I'm not a fan of forwarding emails, but this must be shared, happy Friday..

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:48:00 -0700

>
> Dear Noah,
> We could have sworn you said the ark wasn't leaving till 5.
> Sincerely,
> Unicorns
>

> Dear Twilight fans,
> Please realize that because vampires are dead and have no blood pumping through them, they can never get an erection.
> Enjoy fantasizing about that.
> Sincerely,
> Logic
>
>
> Dear Icebergs,
> Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma's a bitch.
> Sincerely,
> The Titanic
>
>
> Dear America,
> You produced Miley Cyrus. Bieber is your punishment.
> Sincerely,
> Canada
>
>
> Dear Yahoo,
> I've never heard anyone say, "I don't know, let's Yahoo! it..." just saying...
> Sincerely,
> Google
>
>
> Dear 2010,
> So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black? WTF happened?!
> Sincerely,
> 1985
>
>
> Dear Windshield Wipers,
> Can't touch this.
> Sincerely,
> That Little Triangle
>
>
> Dear girls who have been dumped,
> There are plenty of fish in the sea... Just kidding! They're all dead.
> Sincerely,
> BP
>
> Dear Fox News,
> So far, no news about foxes.
> Sincerely,
> Unimpressed
>
>
> Dear jf;ldsfa/kvsmmklnn,
> Please lknvfdmv.xvn.
> Sincerely, Stevie Wonder
>
>
> Dear Nickleback,
> That's enough.
> Sincerely, The World
>
>
> Dear Scissors,
> I feel your pain.....no one wants to run with me either.
> Sincerely, Sarah Palin
>
> Dear Osama Bin Laden,
> Marco....
> Sincerely, United States
>
>
> Dear World of Warcraft,
> Thank you for ensuring my son's virginity.
> Sincerely, Parents Everywhere
>
>
> Dear Batman,
> What was your power again?
> Sincerely, Superman
>
>
> Dear Global Warming,
> You're the best imaginary friend ever!
> Sincerely, Al Gore
>
>
> Dear Ugly People,
> You're welcome.
> Sincerely, Alcohol
>
>
> Dear World,
> Please stop freaking out about 2012. Our calendars ends there because some Spanish d-bags invaded our country and we got a little busy ok?
> Sincerely,
> The Mayans
>
>
> Dear iPhone,
> Please stop spellchecking all of my rude words into nice words. You piece of shut.
> Sincerely,
> Every iPhone User
>
>
> Dear Giant Spider on the Wall,
> Please die. Please die. Please die. Please die. CRAP! Where did you go?
> Sincerely,
> Terrified
>
>
> Dear Trash,
> At least you get picked up...
> Sincerely,
> The Girls of Jersey Shore
>
>
> Dear Man,
> It's cute, but can you pick up peanuts with it?
> Sincerely,
> Elephant
>
>
> Dear Dr. Phil,
> Look man, there's only room for one fake doctor in this world and I was here first.
> Sincerely,
> Dr. Pepper
>
>
>

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