AMEC plc (AMEC) is an international project management and services company. It supplies significant consultancy, engineering and project management services to the global energy, power and process industries. Further it also designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers. The company principally operates in the U.K. and North America. It is headquartered in London, U.K. During 2008, the company acquired Slovak specialist nuclear services company AllDeco, s.r.o. that is engaged in nuclear decommissioning and reactor services. In October 2008, AMEC divested its UKWind Development businesses, through an agreement with Swedish company Vattenfall.
AMEC plc – Clean Technology – Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.
Scope
- Provides key company information for business intelligence needs
- Gives information on the company’s major recent financial deals including Mergers and Acquisitions, asset transactions, PE/VC deals, equity offerings, debt offerings and partnerships.
- Data is supplemented with details on the company’s history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available company statement.
To know more about this report kindly visit: http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/AMEC-plc-Clean-Technology-Deals-and-Alliances-Profile-22886.html
So, the MN Product Camp happening this weekend has kept me a bit more than occupied. To the point, unfortunately, that I haven’t been able to post articles that I have formed in my mind, but have had no time to write.
So, I simply and updating my “rules” page. This is a tab on my site here where I will list the rules I believe are worth following for product managers and product marketers. The rules are not necessarily mine – and I will attribute when I quote directly. But, they are foundational in nature.
If you have any rules that feel should be included, please comment. The list is intended to grow with the product professional community.
Looking in from the outside, there are building blocks we all should master before tackling the harder stuff up the ladder. Only then, when we remember the rules of the game, can we achieve and succeed.
Oooli Beverages is the company that my group and I are going to work with for the next four months. This is the real deal. Acting as marketing consultants for a company. I’m quite excited and scared at the same time.
Do I have enough knowledge and can I really apply what I learned at BCIT to this project to my fullest potential?
This is a test. This is not only a test to see how well I can apply my knowledge, but also a test to see if I can actually work in a professional environment as a marketing consultant or whatever I become in the future.
Ideas are running through my head. But are they good enough? I know these thoughts seem pretty pessimistic, but to someone as young as me about to put myself out there in the real, professional world, I’m kind of scared. Will I be up to par with everyone else out there about to graduate who are much older than I? I bet if employers ever knew my age, they would be a little hesitant to hire me…or they might be excited to see and train a newcomer.
I think I’m more excited than scared right now. I have the help from my lovely group members. I’m sure we will do fine. And our faculty advisor is really helpful.
I also have to think of a few companies that I am interested in that I may what to know more about. A mentor interview to know how that certain industry professional got to where they are today. I am interested in looking at interior designers in the lower mainland. Nancy Riesco and Tanya Schoenroth both have designers in their company that have graduated from Kwantlen’s Interior Design program. Curious to hear their stories.
Another thing I must keep in mind is my practicum coming up in March. I’m really looking into doing the Marketing Internship at Vancouver Magazine. They are always taking in interns on an on-going basis. And I think it would be really good because I’m in the tourism option and it would really help me build more knowledge of my hometown as I grow older and start looking for a career.
I honestly don’t know if you can market to a generation.
Stereotypes aside, we are all different. Gen Y is a product of their environment growing up. Moral teachings and how to view the world, entitlement and pop culture shaped Generation Y. So how do you reach the masses?
Brand recognition.
To this day, I know the Oscar Mayer commercial songs by heart. I associate food on the go with the brand because of Lunchables. It’s about owning the space that your brand is about – so if the topic comes up, your brand is the first one that comes to mind.
Not everyone can be Kodak, Amazon or Rainbow Brite – which have a built in audience already. Smaller corporations have to utilize the space – social or not – to determine who their consumers are. Demographics are shifting. Approaches are different. A blanket approach to generations just won’t work.
Grass roots marketing is an approach that should be integrated in the social scheme for brand recognition. Find your brand ambassadors – the ones who will talk about the product, their experience, and showcase it. Build up that foundation so others are curious about what the brand is up to.
So, how can you relate that back to brand recognition? Generation Y in itself trusts their friends and those around them. They crowdsource on social media sites to see what’s best. They turn to Yelp for restaurant recommendations. A grass roots social approach will help brand recognition and effectively market to those consumers that you want to hit.
So what do you think? Is it possible to market to a generation? How do you define demographics? Is brand recognition the true way to go?
Ingenuity and accommodation should be the words for VTR/VPR marketers in the coming years. Digital holds the future and any linear product has to be designed to support it flexibly… and affordably. Hard disk, optical and memory cards are the preferred formats, with disk drives getting the most attention these days. Analog devices that can interface well with nonlinear equipment, in a variety of formats and resolutions will be the components of choice during all facility upgrades.
This is just part of the findings from Broadcast/Pro Video Tape Recorders/Players (VTRs/VPRs) Report . The full report provides quantitative data, based on extensive annual primary research surveys (since 1984) of broadcast and pro video facilities in each of the following end-user vertical markets: broadcast television stations, cable television stations, post production facilities (video and film), video production and multimedia facilities, corporate and institutional video facilities (government, educational, medical).
Quantitative data tables for 2006, 2007 & 2008 show total number of end-user facilities, total number and percentage purchasing by year , total dollars spent purchasing, total units purchased, average number of units purchased per end-user facility, and average price per unit. This data is displayed for each of the six vertical end-user markets as well as for the total across the board broadcast / pro video marketplace.
In addition, charts and tables show total units by format, by price range and by market share of the leading brands.
The approximately 10 page report commences with a detailed written report of the total category as well as of each individual vertical end-user market, bringing the quantitative data tables and charts to life with insightful analysis and forecasts. The written alaysis is followed by the quantitative data tables and charts
For more information please visit:http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Broadcast-Pro-Video-Tape-Recorders-Players-VTRs-VPRs-Report-2137.html
Deskripsi : Bank Perkreditan Rakyat Bahtera Masyarakat adalah sebuah Bank yang sedang berkembang dan membuka kesempatan bagi anda yang ingin bergabung dan mengembangkan karir di Bidang Perbankan.
PT. Bank Perkreditan Rakyat BAHTERA MASYARAKAT
Alamat : Jln. Batu Tulis Raya No. 8, Jakarta Pusat
No Telp : 3841006, 3521343
Lowongan untuk :
1. Kepala Kantor Kas (KKK)
2. Supervisor Marketing / CMO (Motor / Mobil ) (spv)
3. Credit Marketing Officer ( Motor / Mobil) (CMO)
4. Funding Officer (FO)
5. Verifikator (Vf)
6. Accounting (Acc)
7. Customer Service Officer (CSO)
8. Collector Khusus (Ck)
Lokasi Kerja di : Jakarta, Serpong, Cikupa, Jurangmangu,Cikarang
Persyaratan : Diutamakan Memiliki :
Kendaraan sendiri ( 1,2,3,4,5,8)
Pengalaman di bidang funding perbankkan (4)
Pengalaman di marketing kredit min 2 thn (1) min 1 thn (2)
Pengalaman memimpin tim marketing kredit/collection (1,2)
Pengalaman dalam surveyor, pernah menjadi cmo (5)
Pengalaman dalam bidang Accounting BPR (6)
Menguasai wilayah jabodetabek, tegas (8)
Khusus Wanita, penampilan menarik, pandai berkomunikasi (7)
Alamat Surat, dsb : Kirimkan lamaran dan CV lengkap langsung ke :
HRD. PT. BPR BANK BAHTERA MASYARAKAT
Jl. Batu Tulis Raya No. 8
Jakarta Pusat
Atau via email ke : hrd_bankbahtera@yahoo.com
via online : http://www.bankbahtera.co.id/career.php
(Cantumkan no Telp/HP yang bisa dihubungi dan Kode pada Subyek Email)
Thought I’d share an excerpt from an FHWA Innovator newsletter article featuring our Mn/DOT boss, Commissioner Tom Sorel.
The interview mentions my office at Mn/DOT: Policy Analysis, Research and Innovation, which is headed up by Nick Thompson (of UPA and MnPass project management fame) and Phil Barnes (the new-ish Mn/DOT Risk Management guy), and employs a whole bunch of really good, smart people and interesting, important functions within it, such as research and market research, risk management, library, eWorkPlace, ADA, and other stuff like flying cars and friendly but emotionally unstable robots.
While I don’t know Tom that well personally, I have met him a few times, and I do get the impression that he genuinely cares about two things that I’m very passionate about: innovation and marketing.
On the flip side, he did bump me off one of the state airplanes back in October, forcing me to drive to Duluth – and, as we all know, Duluth is one of the places where everywhere you go is, quite literally, uphill, both ways, in the snow. I doubt I’ll ever be powerful enough to give him any kind of payback for that one.
Sidenote: Before you get all wound up about the expense of flying to Duluth, it can be cheaper than driving if we fill up the plane – we even have people and a program to calculate the savings and everything, so relax.
I find it interesting that Tom calls marketing “marketing”, as it seems to be an unwritten rule that, in government, we don’t call it marketing. We call it communication(s), or public relations, or outreach, or technology transfer.
I don’t agree with that approach, however, as I believe that we in government need to be driven by the same forces that drive private industry: money and (ideally) customer service. We may not be making money, but we can save it and spend it wisely. We can focus on providing better customer service and servant leadership. We can market our services and value. To me, that’s what marketing is: trying to show that a good or service you provide has intrinsic and/or monetary value (hopefully both).
One note about Tom’s interview:
Tom mentions a project we did based on the IBM Innovation Jam model, which we ended up calling an E-Magination Jam, or E-Jam. I was lucky enough to be part of the cross-departmental team that helped execute the project.
We ended up using an online service called Uservoice. If you email or call Daniel Kan at Uservoice, they were offering a government discount of 100% (read FREE) for the first 12 months if you use it for gathering public input (like Seattle, WA, and Austin, TX), and a 50% discount for whatever else you might use it for.
And, if you tell Daniel I sent you, I get…badadadadadadada…nothing! That’s right, zilch! Since I work for the government, I can’t accept any kickbacks. The upside for you is that I really must like it if I’m endorsing it for free – the downside for you is that you and some guy Googling “forbidden brown jam” are probably the only ones who will ever read this post.
Since the E-Jam I have used Uservoice for one other internal project designed to increase transparency and collaboration during our annual research project selection and funding process. While Uservoice isn’t perfect, and isn’t as customizable as I would like, it is a very good introduction to the world of online transparency, jamming, collaboration, customer feedback, or whatever you care to call it.
- Jake
Read the full interview here: Q&A With Tom Sorel: Tapping the Power of Innovation
Why is now such a critical time for the highway community to innovate?
If there ever was a time to look at innovation, now is that time. We just published our transportation plan, and we identified a $50 billion funding gap over a 20–year period. I’m asked all the time how we’re going to close that gap. Recently, I did a media event at which I was asked that very question. I said we’ve got to look at different kinds of funding mechanisms, and innovation goes hand in hand with that. If we can be innovative in areas like contracting, financing, new materials and congestion mitigation techniques, I think we can close that gap.
What progress do you see the highway community making in becoming more innovative?
For many years we didn’t have the funding challenges we have today, so there wasn’t strong motivation to look at innovative practices. But that’s changing. When you look at transportation organizations today, you see that organizational structures and skill sets are changing to reflect an innovative approach. But it’s not something that can happen overnight. Because they have been around for a long time, many transportation organizations are big ships to move. It’s just the nature of our business.
I think the key to moving forward is respecting the past. I say that over and over again here in Minnesota. If we can respect the past and the people who have done a great job getting us to where we are today, then change and innovation become more acceptable. You don’t want to discount the past because a lot of creative and innovative people preceded us.
Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel. Photo credit: Minnesota DOT
Why did you launch a new Minnesota DOT office—Policy Analysis, Research and Innovation—with innovation as a key responsibility?
Shortly after I got here, I decided we needed a strategic vision that reflects the future. A key element of that vision is innovation. We’ve identified it as one of the strategic directions of the department. I felt we needed some element of the organization that could support that, so we created this office as the focal point for jump-starting innovation. That doesn’t mean innovation is not occurring throughout the department, but this office helps us create an innovative culture.
The other thing we did within that office was create an external partnering group to work on relationships with the stakeholders Mn/DOT deals with, such as city and county officials, contractors and consultants. Within that group we established a marketing component that serves as a focal point for external marketing for the department.
How important is marketing to your agency’s success?
I am a big believer in marketing and always have been, so when I came to Mn/DOT I wanted to see that we had the marketing element the organization needs. We’ve always had marketing research activities and good marketing in certain areas, such as our snow and ice control area. I wanted to expand that.
We have since been using marketing and market research for other things, such as our urban partnership agreements. We’ve been using marketing techniques in discussions we’re having on rail and on our TIGER [Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery] grant applications.I see a big role for marketing in gaining an understanding of public values and being responsive to public needs. We’re now developing a marketing plan for the entire department. We’re ratcheting up what we’ve done in the past and trying to develop a mindset of thinking like marketers. It’s something I talk about to employees all the time. It’s not just the marketing staff who’s responsible. We’re all responsible. We need to understand what our customers value and what kinds of services they’re looking for.
What else are you doing to jump–start innovation?
There is one thing we’re in the middle of now that I’m pretty excited about. Several years ago, I was looking at how private sector organizations stimulate innovation. I came across an IBM program called Innovation Jam. They pick a topic, and for several days people get online and throw out ideas. Other people join the conversation, and they just keep building on it. In the end, they have some new and innovative ideas for products and services.
When I came to Mn/DOT, I thought, “Why can’t we do something like that?” So as we speak we’re in the middle of an E-magination Jam. It’s going on online for this entire week. Employees are throwing out ideas and then jamming on these ideas. If you don’t have an idea, you go online and vote for other people’s ideas.
We’re trying to focus employees on our strategic directions—safety, mobility, innovation, leadership and transparency. So the ideas they put up there should fit into one of those strategic directions. But they have the capability of throwing anything up there. It has been a really creative process. We’ve set aside a little bit of the Destination Innovation fund to fund some of the ideas, and we’ll fund other ideas other ways.
Read the full interview here: Q&A With Tom Sorel: Tapping the Power of Innovation
Hey Minnesota, how about hosting a Minnesota x.0 Live Innovation Jam like Vermont 3.0? At least it’s not Delaware 3.0…
Coming back from our holiday two Christmas presents were in the mail.
The first one was Alyson Stanfield’s famous book “I’d Rather Be In The Studio!”, which I just started to read today and the second was the long-awaited DVD “Encaustic with a textile sensibility” from Daniella Woolf.
Two hours of Encaustic fun!
It’s hard to decide what to do first, read the book or watch the DVD…I’ve done a bit of both today.
The best thing is I have signed up for Daniella’s workshop at the Conference. Hopefully I will get in!
I just don’t get it. Companies spend a great deal of money and time to put on a successful presence at an important trade show and they don’t follow up with their leads from the show. Studies have shown that over 75% of leads taken at a show by exhibitors are never followed up. I’ve seen it as well. Many times it is a disconnect between marketing and sales. Marketing spends a great deal of time on the show but often don’t work with sales before, during and after the show to get the most benefit from the show. Given the company’s investment in events like a major trade show, this is unbelievable.
It has been proven that contacts made at a trade show are some of the best contacts possible for a company. Individuals who attend trade shows are usually there for a reason, often looking for solutions to their problems. They are taking the time and effort to investigate their options. Usually they are ready to purchase a solution within the next year from the date of the show. Therefore these show attendees should be contacted and courted, quickly and efficiently.
Here is what needs to be done after any trade show event:
A. Finalize the event cost spreadsheet and write an after show report. In this report mention the total cost and state key information from the show especially any successes and failures including:
what could be improved for the next time such as additional items to pack
customers met
attendance of event
what competitors were there
# of prospects
key relationships established
any trends at the show
B. Enter all leads into your prospect tracking system or customer relationship management (CRM) application such as Salesforce, Act or Goldmine. At a minimum get them into a spreadsheet. If any information is missing such as a contact’s phone number then do a web search to get the missing information. If appropriate have a post show meeting with those involved to gather information that might be beneficial to the company.
C. Promote your attendance at the show. Write a blog post or article about what happened at the show including trends seen and highlights from the show. Include your company’s highlights from the show but discuss other companies as well. Send this show article to customers and prospects that could not attend the show. This is a touch point that many will appreciate. A blog post or article will key your company’s name, products and/or services into the top of mine of those that went to the show.
D. All leads should be immediately responded to by visit, mail, overnight delivery, email, and/or phone. Highly recommended that a follow-up package to key show leads be sent immediately. All contacts should hear from the company within 5 days of the show. Email is probably the easiest to do this with a thanks for attending. Prepare the email to send before the show so that it is not rushed. Assign every contact made at the show to a specific sales representative or upper management person and have them call the contact within 10 days of the show. After 10 days check with them and find out their progress. All information gathered during the call should be entered into the CRM package. Segment contacts into different groups so that the marketing can be tailored to them. Groups could include the following:
existing customers that visited the booth
prospects that visited the booth
other contacts such as vendors, potential partners, potential employees, etc. that visited the booth or your company had meetings with at the show
anyone else that attended the show
Of course, booth visitors get a thank you for visiting your booth and the marketing piece is personalized. Show attendees that did not visit your booth gets information about your company. An incentive to learn more should be included in the contact. Marketing can create a marketing campaign to the prospects and these prospects should be included in future campaigns.
E. Decide a go/no-go to attend this event the next year. And, if they vote go, make sure the show staff know your interest in attending next year and start planning for next year’s show. Many of the same attendees from this year’s show will probably be attendees at next year’s show.
Trade shows are an important part of a company’s marketing plan, as well one of the most expensive items. What is done after a trade show is just as important as what happens during the show. Maximize your effort after the show and follow up with those engaged. If you do this you will be ahead of your competition.
Microspheres add flavors, vitamins, fragrance and cooling agents to foods.
Have you ever overcooked a frozen pizza and wished the pizza could have told you it was ready a few minutes earlier? It’s not impossible. The pizza maker merely has to manufacture the pizza to emit a specific flavor when it’s ready, using something called microspheres.
Just a few microns in diameter, microspheres are hollow spheres made of polymers, starches or waxes that can contain a large variety of materials such as flavors, vitamins, fragrance and cooling agents. Almost every major company in the food and cosmetics industry, including firms like Hershey’s ( HSY – news – people ), Procter & Gamble ( PG – news – people ) and Estee Lauder, is using or looking into using microspheres. They’re also being used increasingly in ceramic and glass form to make better grinding machines and to make road paint more reflective.
One popular application for microspheres is for adding vitamins and minerals to foods, as consumers become more intent on better living. Nutrients such as Vitamin C and iron will lose their potency when exposed to air for long periods of time. So energy bar manufacturers are using microspheres to keep nutrients fresh. According to foodprocessing.com, a few examples of energy bars using microspheres are the Ohmama Bar and Hershey’s controlled-release SmartZone energy bar.
Microspheres are also being used to add heart-healthy but smelly fish oil to bread. Several bakers, including Wegmans Food Markets of Rochester, N.Y., use micro-encapsulated fish oil so they can mask the odor but still be able to bake breads containing them. Microspheres used in food must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and are made of complex carbohydrates (like certain starches) or other natural materials that could be found in your kitchen.
Microspheres can change function easily just by changing the composition of the outer shell. Microspheres with water-soluble shells could be used inside baby diapers to release a pleasant fragrance when the baby has just peed. P&G already has several patents granted that use microspheres inside diapers in creative ways. Here is a 1998 patent that talks about microspheres that crack open and release perfume when removing the diaper from the baby.
Unilever about a year ago launched a version of its Persil fabric conditioner containing microcapsules that latch onto clothing and burst open to release their fragrance by the friction of movement by the wearer
Salvona, a privately held specialty ingredients manufacturer that is a supplier to companies such as P&G and Estee Lauder, has seen its sales increase 30% over the last year. It manufactures and sells microspheres for about $40-$60 per pound that go into such things as frozen pizza to release flavored ingredients when cooked.
What you can encapsulate inside a microsphere is limited only by your imagination and purpose. A class of microspheres that reacts to a change in acidity could be used to create stomach-friendly drinks for people who would normally have to take anti-acid tablets. The microspheres in the drink would do the job by releasing anti-acid before the stomach ache even happens.
Liquor companies could invent some pretty entertaining drinks. A fun idea would be to use acid-activated microspheres in a line of “Magic Cocktails.” When you add lemon to a Magic Cocktail, you could get a completely different flavor along with a surprising color. (Salvona confirmed that both the anti-acid and the Magic Cocktail idea are technically possible.)
Kimberly-Clark ( KMB – news – people ) makes Huggies wipes that consumers are using for more then just cleaning, but also for cooling and refreshing their skin. Here is a patent Kimberly-Clark was issued in 2008 that talks about wet wipes with microspheres containing heating or cooling agents.
A more far-fetched idea could be a spray with heat-sensitive microcapsules containing a skin-friendly liquid that evaporated quickly. If this was possible, these capsules would instantly cool the body (through evaporation) and potentially prevent people from sweating in unfavorable times.
A newer class of microspheres can now offer multiple effects. Sam Shefer, chief executive of Salvona, had me try a surprising prototype lip balm that his team developed. It tastes orange at first, but after a few moments gives a cooling minty sensation. How it works is simple. Microspheres containing the orange flavor also contain nanospheres that give the cooling sensation. Salvona can manufacture ones that contain up to five distinct ingredients giving different sensations and effects.
Salvona sees the greatest potential in skin care. They can manufacture microspheres that first exfoliate (remove dead skin) and then release nanospheres with salicylic acid to prevent acne. What is great about this idea is that conventional products containing salicylic acid dry out your skin. But with this technology, the microspheres containing the salicylic acid only react with an enzyme that is produced on the acne. So the salicylic acid is delivered only to the acne and nowhere else.
In a time where consumers are asking for organic and unadulterated products, the idea of engineered intelligent foods and cosmetics may be a tough sell. Unlike a few years ago, it is extremely difficult to find any public information on efforts to develop engineered foods. In the early 2000s, Kraft was part of a large consortium called Nanotek set up to explore the applications of nanotechnology. Kraft had announced its efforts to develop customizable foods, including a drink for which the taste could be customized by the consumer using microwaves and nanospheres. Kraft pulled its support of nanotech in foods in 2004 after public outcry.
Salvona says it has not seen a drop in demand. On the contrary, it has seen a greater demand in recent years from the food industry. Consumers have the last say on what products will dominate our future, and manufacturers are listening closely. It is certain that consumers are craving healthier foods that will improve their well-being and the microsphere industry definitely has a lot to offer in creating products that will make our lives easier, healthier and more fun.
Osman Can Ozcanli was the head researcher of Inventables, helping companies such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Herman Miller innovate. He is now an independent designer who invents consumer productsfor multi-national companies. Contact him at osmancan@gmail.com.
Search engine optimization (SEO) start with a best keyword research and counting their popularity to rank any website in search engines. Most of the today Seo services provider are annoyed and always in a rush to rank websites. This reserved them revising their services attempts and wastage of time and traffic on site. Keyword research and SEO work to rank a website need lots of patience and intelligence. You need to use major tools provided by the search engines like Google, yahoo and msn. It will help in strapping search engine optimization.
You can use tools provided by Google like different keyword tools and Google suggestions and insight. You can also go for Google web master tools to receive better number of traffic and searches on your website every day. In term of Off page optimization you can use the powerful tool article writing on a live website page. It gives benefit to your site so much because search engine crawlers and users both like to visit the pages that have good and unique contents.
If you are going for on page optimization then you should keep in mind then crawler crawls easily html web pages so your html page should be optimized and having the content that crawler can read easily. You can put best title for your site, keyword and description according to site niche.
SEO based content writing is the best element on a live web page. Both, search engine crawlers and human beings love to read original and effective content filled with useful information. However; there has to be an efficient use of SEO content writing techniques as well. It will help the website to get crawled quickly by the search engines with in few days that emphasizes the expected ranking of the website.
Dymocks bookstores doesn’t share a mission statement on their website. They do however have a page describing their history and approach and the statement below is, to me, roughly a vision statement.
“As a family owned business and the oldest Australian-owned bookstore, Dymocks prides itself on meeting the leisure, learning and gift needs of all booklovers by offering superior customer service and an enhanced book buying experience.”
Borders Australia, has a mission statement:
“To be the best-loved provider of books, music, video, and other entertainment and informational products and services. To be the world leader in selection, service, innovation, ambiance, and community involvement. We recognize people to be the cornerstone of the Borders experience by building internal and external relationships, one person at a time.”
But after a recent experience, I would suggest that only one of these retailers is living up to their mission statement.
A consumer’s mistake
My father bought my wife a book for Christmas. It’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” the first of a highly successful trilogy of crime novels by Stieg Larsson.
My wife already has this book so we asked my father if he had kept the receipt so that we could change it. Unfortunately, he had not kept the receipt but he told us that he bought it from Dymocks.
I looked at the book and saw that it had the sticker still on it. So we headed over to a local Dymocks store to try to exchange it. We wanted to simply swap this book for the second book in the series which is sold for the same retail price.
However, after we asked Dymocks if we could exchange without a receipt we were told quite sternly “Absolutely not. No receipt. No exchange.”
A bizarre policy
This seems ridiculous to me. Lets look at the underlying transaction happening here. Essentially, one book in perfect condition that can be sold on is swapped for another book of the same value from the same store. There is no loss of revenue for the store and it’s quite a standard practice for stores to offer exhange. Fair enough, having the receipt would provide some validation that the book was bought there. But people do make mistakes and lose receipts. The book still had the Dymocks tag on it after all! Other than not having the receipt, what else was different?
Lets say we had the receipt. The book would have been swapped immediately. The unwanted book placed back on the shelf and sold at a later date – and we’d go home happy and pleased that we were given the second book.
I didn’t give up – but recognising that the store manager wasn’t going to budge I headed over to another Dymocks. Once again we had the same stern refusal. This now really irritated me.
What was the logic behind this? I’m not asking for cash! I just want to swap the book? Why do you need the receipt? Can an exception not be made to support your supposed goal of “superior customer service and an enhanced book buying experience” Clearly not.
A better experience
I recalled the year that I spent living on student exchange in the United States while at university. Customer service always seems much better over there than here so I decided to try a tactic that worked for me there a few times.
I went to the nearby Borders store here in Sydney (Borders being a U.S. firm) and explained the situation to the customer service rep. I showed her the book and she saw it was unused, in perfect condition. I said that all I wanted to do was swap it for book two of the series.
The clerk immediately told me that this would be absolutely fine. She helped me find the second book in the series in the store and processed the transaction. Borders received the unwanted book and I walked out with the desired one. I’m happy. My wife was happy. Borders was obviously happy.
Small things make a big impact
I can’t say that I will never shop in Dymocks again. I may leave buying a gift too late or need a book in a hurry and Dymocks may be the only available option. But given a choice I will certainly select Borders over Dymocks.
I think this is an example of how overly strict rules around customer service can create a negative result for businesses. Here I am ranting about how irritated I was by Dymocks’ hard line, and simultaneously praising Borders for their comparably outstanding customer focus. For practically no effort, and for no negative financial impact, Borders has won me over.
This is the first of my crowd sourced blog entry ideas as suggested by Christopher Hewitt Chris wanted to know whether providing services Pro Bono was a good idea for startups.
In a word Yes.
More important than the answer are the reasons. It says something about us as people or an organisation. It starts the brand personification process.
It says we give before we expect.
It says we have confidence in our knowledge and our skills.
It says we trust you not to take advantage of us.
It says we are prepared to a resource before we expect you to become one.
In all it creates an environment where reciprocity is likely becuase of how humans work. In addition, it’s the best way of providing a sample, when providing a small bottle of shampoo or a taste test isn’t possible.
TRANSIT takes note of the marketing efforts undertaken by the Los Angeles Metro company, which is responsible for subway (MRT), light-rail, Bus-rapid transit and bus service in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Those familiar with Los Angeles in California, USA, would probably think first of Hollywood, then perhaps expressways and traffic congestion. Los Angeles is also one of the first cities where the phenomenon of ’smog’ (ground level air pollution caused by industrial and car exhaust) was first really noticed, reported and studied.
But you may not know that at one time the Los Angeles area had one of the largest public transport systems in the entire United States!
And you may not know that the past few years have seen significant investment and improvements to public transport in LA, including the expansion of the subway (MRT) and light-rail systems.
But there is another crucial component to getting car users out of their cars and onto public transport, and that is creative and effective marketing of public transport to the ‘choice’ users (as opposed to the ‘dependent’ user).
As you know here in Malaysia, most public transport agencies focus on the ‘dependent’ user much more than the ‘choice’ user.
Perhaps there is something to learn for us.
From Transit Agencies Need to Invest in Marketing: A Lesson from Los Angeles at The City Fix blog.
“The key to putting together the group,” Mr Raymond said, referring to the in-house ad agency known as Creative Services, “was that we wanted to make public transportation cool.”
Making buses appear as an attractive alternative to cars is an ambitious goal for any transit agency, but it’s especially ambitious in a place like Los Angeles where image and the automobile are everything. Yet, traveling around LA it’s hard not to feel the presence of Metro. It’s fleet of colorful buses are ubiquitous on every major city street. And unlike standard city buses, these buses aren’t dreary and dull. They boast vibrant colors like California poppy from a color palette inspired by the city. Metro also has a number of playful ads on billboards encouraging Angelinos to leave their cars at home and take the bus, rail or carpool.
A humourous way to promote public transport. Image courtesy of Metro & The City Fix.
Two different perspectives on public transport. Have you seen ads like the one on the left in KL? Which one do you identify with? Image courtesy of The City Fix.
TRANSIT Says:
As always, your thoughts on the ‘image’ of public transport are welcome.
The Register has an amusing account of a TechCrunch interview with Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that he is a prophet.
Surprisingly, Zuckerberg is not referring to foreseeing the rise of social networking, but rather the lapse of concern over privacy.
Zuckerberg said that he saw the coming of an age where people would want to share everything, and he aimed his business at that market.
“That social norm is something that evolved over time and we followed.”
But is it really a social norm? Or is it something that people are beginning to accept because the companies driving social networking have finally found a way to make money?
Social networking sink-hole
John Norton of The Guardian posted an interesting article last month about how social networking can not make money.
“The truth is that investing in social networking represents the triumph of hope over experience. The optimism comes from a feeling that it’s impossible to gather, say, 350 million people in one place and not somehow make money.” he says.
The number is not random. It is in fact the user count of Facebook as of last week – a population greater than that of America. And yet Facebook is still running at a loss. Twitter, according to Norton, has not made a cent.
These networks can not charge membership – for then people will just not sign-up. Advertising, which has worked so well for Google, does not work so well in other cases – with click-through dropping as low as 8% according to Norton.
Is investing in social media, therefore a waste of time?
Fun and games
Facebook has come under fire recently for its privacy policy updates that, by default, share your information with everyone, including Google.
According to PrivCom.gc.ca, social networking is part of a revolution in marketing. It allows companies to openly harvest personal information about people and target products directly at them.
Dennis Yu, CEO of advertising/marketing firm BlitzLocal, came clean to TechCrunch recently, in an article about just that.
“People on Facebook won’t pay for anything. They don’t have credit cards, they don’t want credit cards, and they are not interested in shopping. But you can trick them”
He explained how applications developed for Facebook can go viral, and users are all too willing to give over their personal information, “Users in one click gave the game permission to access their profile data and they didn’t think twice about it.”
This data includes who they are, where they’re from, what they like and most importantly email and phone numbers, which can be sold to advertisers.
A number of court cases, including the recent class action suit against Zynga and Facebook, are attempting to defend users against such scams, but how much good will the suits do if people are so willing to give away their personal information?
The information age
As I mentioned in my previous post, we’re in an age now where people want to get to know each other online, and this requires sharing of information. On that much Zuckerberg and I agree. However, Zuckerberg implies that a willingness to share automatically means people are no longer concerned about privacy.
The dawn of social networking brought about the creation of a new ecosystem, where in order for the environment (the sites) to survive, the sharks (the scammers) have to survive too. The people who frequent these social networks may not be aware of the danger, they my make silly mistakes like offering a limb to a great white (Farmville springs to mind), but this doesn’t mean that they no longer care if they’re eaten.
When it comes to privacy I believe there’s a very fine line. People may be more willing to share what their favourite food is, but that doesn’t mean that they want to be harassed in their own homes by telesales people trying to sell it to them.
Last Sunday, Pastor John Buchanan (Fourth Presbyterian Church Chicago) gave a terrific sermon on the rite of baptism. Earlier he had performed the sacrament on two babies. And so later spoke of names, identities and how they relate to God’s plan for us. Interesting stuff. Especially for a borderline agnostic like me.
While there was much to glean from his sermon, I want to focus on one thing in particular. Buchanan referenced a book he’d read by Sister Joan Chittister (The Gift of Years) that struck a nerve with him. It did the same for me. I think many of you will relate to it as well…
We define ourselves by our work. It becomes the Who, What, Where, How and Why of our lives. Can you deny it?
In our society, introductions to people almost always include asking what the other person does for a living. I do it all the time: “So, Phil, what do you do?” Big deal. It’s a good way to find common ground.
But what happens, the pastor asked, when ‘what we do’ is over with or, worse yet, taken from us as in layoffs or job eliminations? Do we lose our identities? Do we become nobodies in the eyes of our peers and ourselves? Buchanon suggested living by such a self-absorbed credo devalues us as human beings, often causing serious anxiety and depression. In America, our identities are inextricably tied to ‘what we do’ versus who we are or what we believe in. Take away that and we’re left with…what exactly? Given the current recession and myriad job losses, his sermon was especially poignant. Yet, even in good times the ‘what we do’ credo is troubling. For one thing: what happens when we retire?
Uh oh.
I have always unabashedly identified myself as a writer, be it copy, editorial or fiction. To wit I wrote and edited my high school newspaper (The Lane Tech Warrior). I did the same for both student papers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (The Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald), not to mention scribing for an independent publication, The Madcity Music Mirror. I started my career as a copywriter at Leo Burnett and continue to do so at Euro RSCG in Chicago. I’ve written three novels and dozens of short stories, some of which have been published. I write and maintain Gods of Advertising as well as The Rogue’s Gallery, which, as some of you know, was originally intended to be a forum for copywriters to showcase their writing.
So, yeah, for me it’s all about the writing. The point I’m building to: What happens when all that ends, as one day it surely must? I get paid to write and creative direct copy. This also gives my blog credibility (hopefully). Take away my job and then what do I do? Relax? I can barely do that now. How am I supposed to do it 24/7?
According to Buchanan, if we are spiritually fit we are more content and serene, regardless of our employment status. But getting fit means letting go of personal ambitions. Self-centeredness must slip away. Easier said…
To me writing is a very selfish act, even if for clients. It has a narcotic effect. I not only get off on doing it; I can’t stop. There is always another brief, another story, another presentation. Writing takes me away from my family, friends and other obligations. Buchanan suggests it also takes me away from God.
His point isn’t that writing is a despicable act (even ad copy!) but that putting it before others and God potentially is. Similar counseling is given to alcoholics: ‘Get outside of your head,’ they are told. ‘Think of someone other than yourself!’
I promise…just as soon as I rewrite that body copy.
The two new C’s beating the P and the G in Gillette or now called the ex-Folgers sanitary brand coy has failed to deploy the safety parachute as campaigns from Coke are likely soon flooding the market for this year’s numero uno position in Asia. Esp. with the Asian challenge fading for Coke as it is firmly established in China as well, In India it has further cemented the gold rush for the heat with a new mega celebrity , budgeted in Indian rupees campaign with cinekhiladi Akshay. Last seen in the Colors resurgence on the Indian terra firma, Akshay may still be out first export from Bollywood for non Indian audiences or diaspora with 2010 establishing a second decade for innoarket aware vative Coke marketing and most of it corresponding to the Indian desi heady rush without the Ramesh Chauhan fights early on.
Also, the second C that got the gall of the razor was Canon which beat doomsday prediction for the recession friendly retail industry with a 35% uptick in budgeted targets for cross RS 1000 crores or $400 million this year riding a new market aware Xerox and Photograhy products campaign. Here’s to the new Cs..there are enough jobless students out there to absorb a lot of additional Cs in the marketing software.
If you want more Financials and related stuff, double back to http://advantages.us. Adage has the revolution for now and we are on Ad age.
I was reading a blog by Gail Kurpgeweit entitled What My Dad Taught Me About Marketing to Women and it really got me thinking. How well do marketing and market research agencies anticipate their clients’ needs and how flexible are they in meeting them? From my experience, I would have to say not very well, particularly in today’s economy.
From my experience working on both the agency and the client sides, I have seen both the client and the agency miss the boat. In the past, traditional agencies have focused on being the expert/authority on a subject and could spew out the generalities that come from such a position. That said, what was and is now needed are partnerships in which both parties come to the table with expertise and knowledge to build the relationship and collaboratively construct an answer that is “right” for today. And, to be successful, marketing and market research companies will need to know how to work with each of their clients and their clients’ senior management to build workable strategies and solutions based on today’s needs, which can be real moving targets.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the clients and agencies aren’t going into their relationships assuming that they are building a partnership. It’s just that neither party seems to put enough effort into building an answer that is appropriate for today’s dynamic business environment. I think this lack of an active partnership comes from a few important factors:
Yesterday’s business dynamic was that a business person hired a “marketing expert” because marketing was outside of his/her core competency and that “expert” was assumed to have the answers immediately. Clients got used to immediate answers and agency folks became enamored of their unquestioned authority stature and all was good… until, the business environment became highly dynamic and today’s perfect answer became an abysmal flop tomorrow. There aren’t any easy, pat answers anymore.
The need to actually talk about business situations is compounded by the fact that clients and agencies are just too busy to effectively communicate
Clients don’t inform their agencies about what is going on in their industry and agencies don’t communicate that they know just enough about their client’s industry to use the right buzz words and be dangerous.
Agencies are so focused on getting new clients on the books, they aren’t taking adequate time to get to know and understand the unique needs each client has. They can’t assume that all insurance companies have the same needs and pain points, just as they can’t assume that all CPG (consumer package goods) companies have the same needs and pain points.
Environments/industries are changing at light speed, and agencies just can’t keep up and know all of the answers from square one!
So what does this mean for today’s marketing and market research companies? To retain their base and perhaps grow in these uncertain times, they need to:
1) Focus on the partnership. The relationships that marketing and market research companies have with their clients have to strengthen in order to make them mutually valuable.
2) Be a real expert. It’s not okay to spew the industry buzz-words and lack substantive assistance. Agencies have to make a meaningful difference to each client. Sometimes an agency has to ask the tough questions and force folks to recognize the elephant in the room.
3) Visit more. If time is money, than relationship meetings are worth their weight in gold. It’s during these in office visits that you will learn the most about what is going on in your client’s world.
4) Be more nimble/flexible. Agencies need to be better at coming up with answers on the fly. They also need to test their comfort zone boundaries when it comes to strategy development. You can’t rely on the same old, same old.
5) Really listen. Clients usually articulate their needs/pain points if you listen hard enough.
6) Ask more questions. Don’t assume the client has thought their needs all the way through. And clients, ask your agencies for help. Don’t think you know it all either!
Will client relationships evolve to the point where the marketing or market research company operates as a true extension of their client’s team? If they don’t, the deterioration rate for agency/client relationships – which has been in a downward spiral for over ten years – will continue to take this potentially valuable relationship out of the business norm. In the end, it’s up to all of us!
I love it when people break through the walls of jargon usually used in an attempt to mystify.
With brands facing increasing consumer demand for transparency, the people in organisations who can lead this change is the marketing department. However, if marketers won’t let go of their jargon, they can’t hope to connect with people who aren’t like them, which let’s face it, most of target consumers wouldn’t be.
That’s what makes this presentation cool…jargon free social media tips. The stats are old now, but the theory is still relevant.
Look up Mark’s other presentations on Slideshare or check out his blog
Check out this little gem arrived in my inbox this week:
Dear Sir/Ma,
Happy New Year!.
I would like to intimate you on the possibility of your company partaking in the
on going Tender bid for the Supply of your product to Iraq.
The product are to be supplied in large quantities, to 18 Iraq Government
Protectorates (Provinces).
I will be acting as your middle man in Iraq to submit your Company
biding information’s to the Task Force Command Office in Iraq.
I am currently on board of the contracting command Office for Economic
Development in Iraq and with my connection, I am quite
Confident of securing approval for you to supply your product.
I want you to note the issue of different financial regulations between
Iraq and your country. As such you will be paid 100% through the Iraqi
Ministry of Finance upon the approval of your quotation and Invoices before
you commence supplies.
When you’ve received the payment, we would be expecting a monthly supply,
as the sum budgeted for this Tenders is quite enormous as to outstrip your
capacity And capability to supply. A consideration also is that your quotation must
be CIF Port of Umm Qasr (or the Jordanian Port of Aqaba).
I will reveal more procedural information to you upon your receiving the
acknowledgment of this proposal from you.
N-as putea crede intr-o mie de ani ca acesta este epilogul acestei povesti. Sint convinsa ca urmeaza ca domnul Mindruta, dupa ce s-a expus cu buna stiinta pe postul national cerindu-si iertare nevestei intr-o “problema” care nu interesa pe nimeni, va aparea sa ne explice adevaratul motiv al acestei povesti: as intui ca e vorba de o campanie menita sa atraga atentia unui public foarte numeros interesat de birfe si cancanuri, care sa fie sensibilizat pentru stringerea de fonduri pentru copiii bolnavi, de pilda. E un instrument de marketing inedit, dar foarte bine gindit si care cu siguranta va avea feedback-ul scontat.
Domnule Lucian Mindruta, ati generat interes prin valurile desigur, magistral create. Asteptam sa vedem ce faceti cu el, cu interesul adica.
Earlier this week there were a variety of posts about how Nokia is filing all kinds of injunctions against Apple to prevent them from importing anything that is remotely tied to the mobile phone business, including everything from the iPhone and iPods to the MacBook (read more). This seems to be the norm in the tech world these days. However, I have to ask, instead of wasting a bunch of money on lawyers and lawsuits, wouldn’t Nokia be better served by actually trying to take on Apple by creating superior products and services?
We’ve seen this same scenario playing out between Verizon and AT&T as of late. Both companies were suing one another and launching a barrage of expensive television commercials discussing their competitor’s problems, while neither company did much to actually make a difference in their customers’ lives.
So here’s the deal Nokia. Instead of copying the iPhone like every other company has done, why not pull your talented research and marketing team together and actually listen to what mobile phone users want. There are opportunities to create better products. I am a loyal fan of Apple and the iPhone; however, I will also admit that neither the company or phone is perfect.
It’s easy to sue. It’s also expensive, but hey, you can pass those costs on to your consumers. Resentment will build, as will a complete lack of loyalty. What we really want is great products and service, but this is a lot to ask for – it’s where the hard work is required.
I’ve always agreed that in order for products, or indeed services to establish super brand status they must establish the same ideology as those wishing to maintain or increase the number of religious followers. After all, it is the strong belief in something that ensures a followers (consumer) complete loyalty.
The three principles of religious ideology are identified as ABC, Assure, Believe and Convert. The same is true when wishing to create a brand’s identity, maintain a brand’s perception and grow a brand’s awareness and understanding amongst its target audience.
One super brand ideally placed to compare to that of religion would be the super brand created by a dyslexic farm boy called Ingvar Kampard back in 1930s, we know it as IKEA. What started off as regional belief by Swedish consumers, who would spend a day travelling to their nearest store, has now become an international icon – a ritual if you will, where millions of people spend their weekend travelling to their nearest store buying what the store is selling! Kampard even produced a furniture dealer’s testament, which at the heart lay a reiteration of the IKEA spirit. (Acknowledgement: Matt Haig, Brand Royalty)
I’m not claiming that people will kill others for their belief in the IKEA Spirit, but the belief and continued faith of consumers (followers) has to be strong to maintain their trust in a product, service – or even a name!
So it begs the question, are marketers and communication practitioners brand guardians or actually spiritual communicators? Or am I just over egging the whole process for word count reasons…you decide.
In todays post, I would like to cover two specific advertisements to mention two points – the first one talks about the need for adapting advertisements to different media and the second one will talk about brand building based on customer perception.
1. Ponds Charmis has been running an ad campaign with the song “Googly, Woogly Woosh” (ad here) for sometime now. I recognize the tune and LOVE it, seriously! However, I recently heard (repeatedly) the same tune on radio, without a mention of the product name or any words to indicate what it was about. Left me wondering….with the visuals, the tune in the background adds a lot of value, without the visuals one would need some amount of audio (apart from the really catchy tune) to build your brand on the radio. Else, aren’t we talking about wasted airtime?
2. Spar Hypermarket is running a major campaign on Bangalore FM with the tagline “If it is not spaaaaaaaaaaaar fresh, it is just not fresh”. Again, I love the tagline, it is fantastic and the ads are innovative too. However, one of the major reasons I go to Spar in Bangalore (a really long drive from my home) is because it has one of the largest ranges of groceries and the store is always well stocked. One might argue that there is always “Big Bazaar”. I would say that by limiting the scope of what they offer, Spar has been able to offer a reasonable depth in what they offer and do so in a format that doesn’t feel over-crowded or messy. If they are trying to reach out to the people on a weak spot and build a brand around this specific fact of “freshness”, it might be a good strategy. But if this is how they are trying to build their brand, they might want to ask their customers why they choose to come to Spar vs. other options and build a story around that.
Throughout our marketing effort, we’ve been fortunate to have seen the effects that keywords can have.
Currently, we have 39 blog posts each about a variety of different topics. We’ve mentioned books that we’ve read, movies that we thought we interesting, and topics about our own games.
With the relatively large sample of topics to choose from, you’d think that we’d get some interestesting results when people do searches…
So, would you care to guess which search terms bring us the most traffic?
Well, the results of what we find are NOT suprising. The search terms that are bringing us the most traffic are:
1. John Carmack (our article on John Carmack)
2. Merry Gear Solid (our mention of Merry Gear Solid 2)
Both are video game terms. With John Carmack we specifically mentioned him in the title (I’m not actually sure that matters or not), and I think that with Merry Gear Solid, we just beat the crowd (or people are not that interested).
Unfortunately, we can’t seem to think of a way to effectively come up with marketing keywords. Our plan is literally to keep doing what we’re doing: speaking honestly, and trying to help people as much as possible.
I have a feeling that once The Good Apprentice is finished, we’ll see a huge amount of traffic on this blog. Hopefully, we’ll be able to gain a lot of information that will be useful to you guys that we can share!
****************
As a side note, we’ll be re updating the website AGAIN. We’ve been thinking about going in this direction for a while, so check out the site for our new look:
So, the MN Product Camp happening this weekend has kept me a bit more than occupied. To the point, unfortunately, that I haven’t been able to post articles that I have formed in my mind, but have had no time to write.
by Matt Cheuvront on 01/26/2010
Search engine optimization (SEO) start with a best keyword research and counting their popularity to rank any website in search engines. Most of the today Seo services provider are annoyed and always in a rush to rank websites. This reserved them revising their services attempts and wastage of time and traffic on site. Keyword research and SEO work to rank a website need lots of patience and intelligence. You need to use major tools provided by the search engines like Google, yahoo and msn. It will help in strapping search engine optimization.
The Register has an amusing account of a TechCrunch interview with Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that he is a prophet.
According to PrivCom.gc.ca, social networking is part of a revolution in marketing. It allows companies to openly harvest personal information about people and target products directly at them.
permission to access their profile data and they didn’t think twice about it.”
Earlier this week there were a variety of posts about how Nokia is filing all kinds of injunctions against Apple to prevent them from importing anything that is remotely tied to the mobile phone business, including everything from the iPhone and iPods to the MacBook (read more). This seems to be the norm in the tech world these days. However, I have to ask, instead of wasting a bunch of money on lawyers and lawsuits, wouldn’t Nokia be better served by actually trying to take on Apple by creating superior products and services?