Lawrence Gee | Marketing, Internet, Creativity, Strategy

Gatorade Tiger Commercial Update

Following up on my posting of a Creative Brief for Gatorade Tiger, this is what Gatorade did for its first commercial.  I’m not a big fan of the sci-fi slant and slight hokeyness of the commercial.  I think Gatorade would have been better served focusing on the winning aspects of Tiger much like the “Be Like Mike” Nike campaigns of the early 1990s.

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The Customer Service Cycle

I came across a great article today on ClickZ on how Zappos is using customer service to create Word of Mouth advertising.  The main idea is that by creating great service, customers are happy.  Happy customers become evangelists for your company and products.  Evangelists tell their friends about how great your company or product is, which in turn creates new customers.  Your new customers also become happy through your great service and the cycle continues on and on.

The benefits of creating great interaction points with your consumers is not only repeat business but the ability to spend less on advertising and other promotions to gain awareness or trial. The premise is simple but many companies overlook how important being customer focused is in all aspects of their business.  It’s not only about having a great service staff but also having the customer focused attitude and beliefs throughout your organization.

My former company, Aplia, did a great job of using customer service to its full advantage.  We believed in giving 24/7 support for our professors (customers) and students (users).  Our internal goal was to reply to each support email within 1 hour. Often we replied back to our users within minutes. It wasn’t only our support teams that had our customers in mind.  Our product development process was always customer focused.  Our goal wasn’t just to produce a great product but how we could support the needs of our users better.  We spent alot of time using customer feedback, usability studies, and sales force intelligence to gain insight.  We took the time to listen and our customers loved us for it.  We always overdelivered as an organization and it became a competitive advantage for us. 

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Spy Hunter Revisited

Great nostalgic commercial for Pontiac’s new G8.  Pontiac used the popular 1980s game Spy Hunter as the theme of the advertisement.  It’s definitely something that I played as a kid.  Here’s why I like it:

1. The music and imagery is unmistakable.  If you hear or see the ad playing, it’s engaging and attracts immediate attention. 
2. Spy Hunter hits the target market of the Pontiac G8. People in their late 20s and early 30s will remember playing it and recognize it immediately.
3. It creates positive associations for the Pontiac G8.  Most people will probably remember Spy Hunter as being fun and cool.  It is also reminiscent of their youth.  These all create emotions that is positive for an emotitional decision like purchasing a vehicle.
4. The advertising shows off the Pontiac G8’s handling, power, and styling.
5. The commercial broke through the clutter.  I was engaged enough to look up the car and the commercial.  I would not have even put the car in my consideration set before.

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Southwest Airlines - PR Mess or Opportunity?

Announced today, Southwest Airlines (SWA) is voluntarily grounding 44 of its planes to determine if they need further safety inspections.  This comes on the heels of news that SWA flew nearly 60,000 flights between June 2006 and March 2007, while failing to comply with an FAA directive that required inspections to detect fatigue cracking.  Even after SWA found out they were out of compliance they still flew 1,451 additional flights in March 2007.  It was later found out that 6 out of their 46 planes indeed had fatigue cracks on the fuselage area which could be potentially put flights at risk.

Obviously for an airline, safety issues immediately raise many questions in people’s mind during their purchase decisions.  The troubling part of this public relations nightmare for SWA is how they can rebuild trust in the mind of consumers.  Trust and safety are most likely #1 in the aircraft passengers priorities.  I want to know that I will get from Point A to Point B safely.  Being on time, better food, comfortable seats are much less important if I have to question if I will make it to a destination.  How much damage will this safety violations cause SWA in their bottomline?  Only time will tell.

Voluntary grounding of their planes is a good first step in rebuilding trust in the market.  They’ve also put three employees on administrative leave and have made public apologies and declarations that safety is of utmost importance.  Much like the many recalls in history - Tylenol’s scare in the 1980s to Mattel’s lead paint issues just last year - the fervor will die down.  Southwest has never had any flight catastrophe and will most likely bounce back.  However it does open up opportunities for other players to steal market share.  One that immediately comes to mind is Virgin America.

Virgin America, is a new low cost carrier, that emphasizes the experience of fun and chicness.  Currently it has limited flights but it does share the popular LAX-SFO and SFO-LAS routes with Southwest Airlines.  Virgin’s marketing has recently revolved around price but with SWA’s recent troubles has an opportunity to really induce trial and hopefully convert them into lifelong customers.

Virgin America can ramp up marketing efforts to be top of mind for consumers who normally would have always flown Southwest.  Some big ideas for major themes or emphasis points that Virgin America could wrap around marketing, could include:

• A New Airlines Means New Planes
• Low-Fares doesn’t mean skimping on quality (emphasis on the unique Virgin America flight experience)
• Taking pride in taking care of you before, during, and after the flight (experience the Virgin Difference)
• Putting Richard Branson (or another face) squarely in the minds of consumers.  Show that Virgin is more than just a business.  A humanization aspect could enhance feelings of safety and build trust.

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This Blog Post Will Live In The Internet Forever

Society is in a transition stage when it comes to information.  Technology has enhanced not only the speed in which people access information but also the breadth of it.  This leads to less anonymity and cases like one that I came across about a Ryerson University freshman who is fighting 147 charges of academic misconduct because he was helping run a chemistry study group on Facebook. I’m not saying that the student wasn’t in the wrong here but he shouldn’t be at risk for expulsion either.  Comparing answers, discussing problems, and helping other students out is a part of academia and whether it was done in person or online shouldn’t matter.  In the end, it’s student education and the learning process that should be the focal point here.   

As part of the learning process, everyone, especially younger generations, needs to understand that anything that is posted on the web is probably able to be found with enough searching.  Again, it goes back to the breadth of information and speed to which you can access it.  There are many tools like Wink.com which can search social networks, blogs, websites, and more and give you back results based on search criteria such as last name, location, school, interests, etc. 

Students are not the only ones who are naive about the drunken photos they post on their social networks.  Last July, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was discovered to have anonymously posted negative forum posts against his company’s competitor, Wild Oats Markets from 1999 to 2006. With so much data being stored and tracked, you can find out almost anything these days. 

Society needs to be more sensitive to these issues and should be conscious about what they do online.  I understand that my blog, my social networking profiles, pictures that I and other people post, etc. are all potentially accessible by anyone.  But, I’m also quite vigilant in monitoring what is out there and accessing the risk when I put content out there myself.

That being said, I’m sure that I’m in the minority of those who strongly considers how they interact with the Internet.  There are new rules of conduct that are taking shape in this digital world today and it’ll take time for the adjustments to take place.  I believe that society should be more forgiving towards conflicts that arise and issues like the one at Ryerson University. 

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