Product
A Predictable Failure: Kimberly-Clark Offering Kleenex Hand Towels
Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=124023&nid=112103
“Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex brand is offering an at-home version of a product that people take for granted in public restrooms: disposable hand towels. The new Kleenex Hand Towels are intended to address consumers’ growing concern with hand hygiene.
The product is on sale now with a retail price of about $3 for a box of 60 towels, per the company.
The Kleenex Hand Towels come in box packaging, with pop-up delivery. The product is intended to complement bathroom décor and space limitations — i.e., it can go on a towel bar or countertop.
Kleenex Hand Towels performed well in preliminary testing with consumers, the company says: Approximately two-thirds said they would use Kleenex Hand Towels as a substitute for cloth towels, and more than 90% reacted favorably to how the product and package design looked in their bathrooms.”
They used FOCUS GROUPS! And 2/3 said they would use! But think about it: $3 a box versus cloth towels I already have at home. At home, I don’t use disposable hand towels and at home I am not concerned about “hand hygiene” as I am in a public bathroom.
Windows only: Free application Tableau Public creates beautiful visualizations from your data and lets you publish them to the web, where users can interact with your charts and graphs with live updates.
The video above provides a great overview of how the tool works. Essentially, you import your data into the desktop Windows application, then play around with different charts, graphs, or other options until you find the visualization or visualizations that best fit your data. When you’re happy with what you’ve put together, you can save the outcome to the web, which uploads the charts to the Tableau Public servers. From there you can embed it on any web page YouTube-style), and users can drill down into the data to their heart’s content.
Here’s an example of Tableau Public in action from a post on the Wall Street Journal:
Dashboard at 570
Tableau Public is a free download for Windows, and looks like a great tool to try out next time you’re looking to make your otherwise boring data come to life. Update: Somehow I managed to miss the fact that Tableau Public is only free on a trial basis; its actual price tag is extremely hefty. (Though if you’re a student you can get it for as little as $69.)
Double Update: Actually, looks like Tableau Public is free after all! Straight from the horse’s mouth:
“People can download the free tool and publish their visualizations of their data for free. Tableau Public includes a free desktop product that you can download and use to publish interactive data visualizations to the web. The Tableau Public desktop saves work to the Tableau Public web servers – nothing is saved locally on your computer. All data saved to Tableau Public will be accessible by everyone on the internet, so be sure to work only with [publicly] available (and appropriate) data.
When people want to analyze their private or confidential data (particularly data in data warehouses and other large databases), then they may want to consider our commercial products.”
Apple vs Microsoft vs Sony [Graphs]
The core of any long-standing technology company is research and development. Here’s how Apple, Microsoft and Sony’s last decade of spending stack up.
Note that the first graph shows research and development as a percentage of revenue (to scale the spending by company, since revenues differ so greatly). This next graphic can help you conceptualize the revenue and R&D gap:
A Few Interesting Notes:
• Now, Microsoft spends about 17% of their revenue on R&D. Sony spends about 8%. Apple spends less than 4%.
• If you were to break down the amount of R&D that goes purely to physical (non-software) products sold by Apple and Sony, Sony would spend about $11.5 million per product while Apple would spend about $78.5 million per product. (Of course, that’s rolling the cost OS X and iPhone OS development into Macs and the iPhone, which could be seen as inflating their per product spending.)
• Microsoft just spends a lot of money in R&D, period—about $9 billion last year in generalized research (that often doesn’t lead to specific products). In terms of percentage growth over the last decade, Apple’s R&D has grown the most (nearly quadrupled) while Sony’s has grown the least (not quite doubled).
In light of these bare numbers, is it any surprise that Sony is struggling the most to capture the hearts and minds of a public hungry for gadgets?
Sources:
Apple
Apple Public Relations
Apple Investor Relations
Apple Insider 2004
Apple Insider 2005
Apple Insider 2006
Apple Insider 2008
Mac Observer
Microsoft
Microsoft Investor Relations
Sony
Sony Investor Relations
Research by David Chaid
WTF Is Google Doing? [Google]
I don’t understand Google Shopper. Not because the function—searching for books, CDs, DVDs and more by using the cover art or barcode—is confusing. But because they already have a visual search app built into new Android phones, Goggles.
Goggles does the same thing: You take a picture of something, like a book cover, and it searches for it. I get that Shopper is slightly different, with more of a direct Amazon-competitive slant, since you can bookmark products to buy them later (presumably through Google Checkout).
But why not just integrate that into Goggles? Why the hell does this separate other product exist? Like Fake Steve says, WTF is going on over there? Android and Chrome OS? Wave and Buzz? (Okay, Buzz and Wave aren’t an entirely fair comparison, though try explaining them to a normal person.) Now Goggles and Shopper? Am I just missing something? [Google]
The Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing
The Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing
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Thou shalt not target customers with messages they don’t want.
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Thou shalt be truthful.
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Thou shalt respect your customers.
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Thou shalt make it easy for people to find you.
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Thou shalt be useful.
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Thou shalt make it easy for people to pass along.
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Thou shalt measure and optimize.
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Thou shalt listen to customers.
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Thou shalt remove any organizational barriers to speedy, collaborative innovation.
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Thou shalt not do brand-ing.
Thanks for all the retweets!
WSI_ComandixI’m not Moses, but here’s The Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing http://ow.ly/TQuh
iamdanmoriartyThis is awesome – the 10 commandments of modern marketing http://bit.ly/7l8aBw – All very true, but especially #9!
tombutlin10 Commandments of modern marketing http://bit.ly/8MNo8g by @acfou. It doesn’t get clearer than this.
SuzzicksRT @AnnaMariaVirzi: How true, @acfou! Online marketing commandment no. 5: Thou shalt be useful http://www.clickz.com/3636027
acfouThou Shalt Not Target Customers (even with #BehavioralTargeting): Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing #marketing – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
matt_mcgowanRT @AnnaMariaVirzi: How true, @acfou! Online marketing commandment no. 5: Thou shalt be useful http://www.clickz.com/3636027
indie_preneurThe 10 commandments of modern marketing — are you playing nicely? http://www.clickz.com/3636027 /via @AnnaMariaVirzi
pedrogomezGreat read: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing: http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
AnnaMariaVirziHow true, @acfou! Online marketing commandment no. 5: Thou shalt be useful http://www.clickz.com/3636027
horacemitchell10 commandments of modern marketing http://short.to/12npj
fonstuinstra10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ http://ow.ly/TOgq (h/t Jan van den Bergh)
GetPushingRT @GranerCreative: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://tinyurl.com/y8mahr5 #marketing
MarComNetworkRT @GranerCreative: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://tinyurl.com/y8mahr5 #marketing
GranerCreative10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://tinyurl.com/y8mahr5 #marketing
jevedebe10 Commandments of Modern Marketing. http://tr.im/JJ1A
TemplateZonepretty solid guidelines – maybe someone should carve them into stone tablets! http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
theviragomedia10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ http://bit.ly/7HKYGI
GreeneMarketRT @acfou: Thou Shalt Not Do Brand-ing: Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing #marketing #whatwereyouthinking – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
MoniqueElwellexcellent reading: Augustine Fou Thou Shalt Not Do Brand-ing: Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing #marketing http://htxt.it/E3ut
PeteHealyAugustine Fou’s “10 Commandments of Modern Marketing” @acfou http://j.mp/5MWrLr #in
jessweissAll communications must be relevant, respectful, etc. @sarahebourne @andylarrimore The 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://ow.ly/TLCI
sarahebourneTrue! RT @andylarrimore I think I will revise these slightly to the 10 Commandments of Web Content – http://ow.ly/TI0V
blakeandwhite10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – from @ClickZ. Great list, @acfou! http://bit.ly/5MWrLr
TachmanRT @PDMAffiliates 10 Modern Marketing Commandments: http://bit.ly/5MWrLr #advertising
TdF_ConsultantsRT @berteloot: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
DecorcatsRT @berteloot: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
BrandojoRT @acfou: Thou Shalt Not Do Brand-ing: Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing #marketing #whatwereyouthinking – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
acfouThou Shalt Not Do Brand-ing: Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing #marketing #whatwereyouthinking – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
berteloot10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
pamdyerColumn: Modern marketing must focus on today’s consumers http://bit.ly/8g3EGJ 10 commandments for marketing in 2010
TaiKolenkoAn awesome article on Modern Marketing! I like the comment, “the sun is setting on the era of big “push” advertising.” http://bit.ly/5MWrLr
KFinneganThe 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – http://bit.ly/90GhVq
DistribionDMRT @AdLocal: Reading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
AnteroDiasCommandments of Modern Marketing – A list of the 10 rules every marketer should follow to meet consumer needs in 2010: http://bit.ly/5MWrLr
AdLocalReading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
patriciahader#Measure and optimize on the 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing list http://bit.ly/8vQ1w6 via ClickZ
_Vanessa_V10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
HamiltonWallaceRT @acfou: Ten Commandments to help “marketing sinners” become saints – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
seewhatcouldbe10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 via @addthis
winsell10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 via @addthis
mnm8312Reading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
andylarrimoreI think I will revise these slightly to the 10 Commandments of Web Content – http://ow.ly/TI0V
PedroBravoNada de hacer branding y otros 9 mandamientos de marketing moderno http://www.clickz.com/3636027
davidamoore10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ http://bit.ly/5MWrLr
shannonholatoRT @cmo4hire: Read 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing, #10 No Brand-ing 
http://www.clickz.com/3636027
everyspoon10 Commandments of Modern Marketing. Learn them. Love them. Live them. Especially #5: Thou shalt be useful. http://www.clickz.com/3636027
zapalaFZKReading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
joshua_dthou shall be useful & truthful – RT @gerardodada: Reading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027 – all true
MMG_Works10 Commandments of Modern Marketinghttp://bit.ly/8UVG1J
gerardodadaReading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027 – all true
PDMAffiliates10 Modern Marketing Commandments: http://bit.ly/5MWrLr #affiliate #advertising
BizIncubationRT @mediatrustpete 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 by @acfou chief digital officer
mediatrustpeteMust Read for Marketers : 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 by @acfou chief digital officer
MetaResponse10 Marketing Tips; http://bit.ly/5MWrLr
shiraadattoBrilliant as always! RT @acfou Ten Commandments to help “marketing sinners” become saints – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
raysmannaTen Commandments to help “marketing sinners” become saints RT@acfou http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
acfouTen Commandments to help “marketing sinners” become saints – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
gmcdanielGood #marketing advice. Thanks for sharing! RT @Intouchsol: The 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing- from @ClickZ http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
ChurchChair10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 via @addthis
IntouchsolThe 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing- from @ClickZ http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
delpierreReading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
AdsMitchell#Marketing | 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
Datadude09Reading 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://www.clickz.com/3636027 Nothing we don’t already know but still interesting.
debbieswiderLove this from the ClickZ crew: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing! http://bit.ly/6f3F5d
cmo4hireRead 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing, #10 No Brand-ing http://www.clickz.com/3636027
CollinsCompany10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 via @addthis
susanjspauldingRT @RoyMorejon: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – http://zi.ma/86997a
pablorazziRT @gnewell: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/4RC4K1
gnewell10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/4RC4K1
glenngabe10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/75GhEK -great post by @acfou. I found myself nodding in agreement through most of it.
RoyMorejon10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – http://zi.ma/86997a
acfouHappy 2010! Ten Commandments to help “marketing sinners” become saints – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
Sharon_Higbee10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/6khoUG
thenameshopnz10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 via @addthis
Spunky_PR10 Commandments of Modern Marketing: http://www.clickz.com/3636027 http://bit.ly/8B5DZ7
jenkins123110 Commandments of Modern Marketing: On the other hand Sweetriot came out of nowhere, used no paid advertising .. http://bit.ly/5yKvpX
jenkins123110 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/5yKvpX
Jeff_Scarpo10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/5yKvpX
beeyourfriend10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: Some people start the new year with resolutions. I thought, why not … http://bit.ly/5hjQZJ
friendfollower10 Commandments of Modern Marketing – ClickZ: Some people start the new year with resolutions. I thought, why not … http://bit.ly/5hjQZJ
2koolsales10 Commandments of Modern Marketing: With digital tools, devices, and channels data and feedback can be obtaine.. http://bit.ly/5yKvpX
col250401RT @sponsordiddy: 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/8uC7up
2adproshop10 Commandments of Modern Marketing: http://bit.ly/5GVRTl
EnterSuccess10 Commandments of Modern Marketing: On the other hand Sweetriot came out of nowhere, used no paid advertising of … http://bit.ly/6HLwmZ
jamieohler10 Commandments of Modern Marketing: On the other hand Sweetriot came out of nowhere, used no paid advertising of … http://bit.ly/4B39X4
marketingbot“10 Commandments of Modern Marketing” http://tinyurl.com/y8mahr5
GINFrank10 Commandments of Modern Marketing http://bit.ly/8dJM9l
HartHootonMarketing and #SocialMedia tips from Augustine Fou | RT @acfou: Ten Commandments of Modern Marketing #marketing – http://bit.ly/8U3iI6
Even Major Sites are Not Yet Benefiting From the Full Power of Search
@glenngabe’s post on FaceYahoogle – The Impact of Facebook, Yahoo, and Google on Website Traffic inspired me to also look at the search terms driving traffic. Most sites, even major ones have their own brand terms driving traffic. This is OK, but it is taking significantly less advantage of the full power of search.A more ideal scenario for sites is that they have a large number of non-brand terms driving traffic — i.e. the keywords they want to be known for are driving traffic to them. The premise is that if the user already knew the brand or brand name, it would be redundant for the advertiser to spend awareness ad dollars on them. The advertiser wants to get users to their site who do not already know their brand name. This is especially true for pharma drug websites, as you will see in the following examples.
GENERAL SITES
These sites have such a diverse set of products, services, or topics, we don’t expect the top search terms driving traffic to be anything other than their brand terms. But they should have a long tail of thousands of keywords driving traffic (and they are, in the following examples).
NYTimes.com
LinkedIn.com
Weather.com
CATEGORY SPECIFIC SITES
These sites focus on specific product categories, so one would expect that they should have keywords around their product category driving traffic — e.g. clothing, chocolate, wine, etc. But as you can see, most don’t and the total number of keywords driving traffic could be larger than it is now (implying more long tail keywords).
JCrew.com – clothing
Apple.com – computers, consumer electronics, iPod, music
Godiva.com – chocolate
AnnTaylor.com – clothing, women’s
SINGLE NICHE SITES
Such sites should be all over search terms that surround the topic areas that they want to be known for. But as you see from the analytics, most don’t. Instead, the top terms driving traffic are their own brand name. Again, if the user already knew the brand, additional advertising would be wasted on them. The sites need to make efforts to “own” additional keywords (or at least “show up at the party”) so people who don’t know the brand name might still have a chance finding them when they type in other keywords surrounding the specific niche.
Sutent (Pfizer) – cancer drug
Nucynta (J0hnson & Johnson) – pain drug
Spiriva (Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer) – COPD drug
NOTE: This is the best of the bunch of drug sites. COPD, the disease area they want to be known for, does actually show up in the first 5 search terms driving traffic, along with emphysema and their product name handihaler. Also, notice they have nearly 10 times the number of keywords driving traffic compared to the other 2 drugs cited (65 vs 7 or 8 )
Net Promoter Score (NPS) – A Metrics “Sacred Cow” That Should be Slaughtered?
My main issues with the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is that it doesn’t tell me anything new, is based on flawed math, the number cannot stand alone, and is not actionable (does not tell marketers what to go do).
Read More about Net Promoter Score Challenges
Thanks for all the retweets!
ZebraBites@adamferrier Another one for the NPS collection; http://www.clickz.com/3635696 (via @jhenning and @acfou)
acfouIt’s an “it is what it is” metric (which isn’t actionable) – #netpromoterscore #netpromoter #NPS - http://bit.ly/6EYyc
spiralsThought provoking Net Promoter article http://www.clickz.com/3635696 -Good idea to use search as an indicator of customer satisfaction
VirtualMRRT @berniemalinoff: RT @JHenning @acfou: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3
seangibRT @glenngabe: What’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://bit.ly/84Jh2P via @acfou on ClickZ – some interesting comments as usual w …
glenngabeWhat’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://bit.ly/84Jh2P via @acfou on ClickZ – some interesting comments as usual w/Dr. Fou.
MetriclyWhat’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score - http://bit.ly/8U3VVD
christinet6dOh snap… RT @lizapost What’s the value of the Net Promoter score? According to @acfou, not much. ‘http://bit.ly/6EYyc
lizapostWhat’s the value of the Net Promoter score? According to @acfou, not much. ‘What’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score’http://bit.ly/6EYyc
berniemalinoffRT @JHenning @acfou: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3 || healthy debate pros/cons of #NPS
contactjrFrom @acfou: What’s wrong with the Net Promoter Score? http://bit.ly/17ahJC
Noakesi@holycow RT @jonnylongden: RT @rj_berg: Great article on some of the problems with Net Promoter Score (NPS) http://bit.ly/2h5jot#measure
acfouNet Promoter Score (NPS) like brand sentiment scores are oversimplified averages that are not actionable - http://bit.ly/6EYyc
ju2ltdRT @jonnylongden: RT @rj_berg: Great article on some of the problems with Net Promoter Score (NPS) http://bit.ly/2h5jot #measure
jonnylongdenRT @rj_berg: Great article on some of the problems with Net Promoter Score (NPS) http://bit.ly/2h5jot #measure #retail – why use this?
Adtraction_RAJ_What’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://bit.ly/17ahJC (mmm)
KarmaMediaLabs#NetPromoterScore not all it’s cracked up to be? Decide for yourself: http://bit.ly/17ahJC
EricheadRT @rj_berg: Great article on some of the problems with Net Promoter Score (NPS) http://bit.ly/2h5jot #measure #retail – why use this?
PeteHealyNet Promoter Score = useless; replace w/ search volume. Augustine Fou @acfou http://www.clickz.com/3635696 Your thoughts? #in
helena_chariRT @mrnews: #NPS ‘tells you the obvious, isn’t predictive, doesn’t answer the “So what?” question.’ http://bit.ly/1DqmgD (via @DavidPenn …
makingcjcAn it is what it is” metric…debate on the Net Promoter score. http://www.clickz.com/3635696
DannyGavinRT @EstherSteinfeld Interesting read: “What’s Wrong with the Net Promoter Score?” @acfou says, “So many things.”http://bit.ly/1ojkfk
ZaliciousRT @kevinertell: This is an excellent article on ClickZ: What’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://www.clickz.com/3635696
hellosmalldogArticle about NPS is interesting – thanks to @mjayliebs for CCing us! We’re reading it now. (via @acfou, @wimrampen)http://tr.im/Fgv3
bigmacherRT @kevinertell: This is an excellent article on ClickZ: What’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://www.clickz.com/3635696
DavashRT @rj_berg: Gr8 article: problems w/Net Promoter Score (#NPS) (http://bit.ly/2h5jot ) #measure [A grad of stats 101 could see all of this]
BobbleHeadGuruRT @rj_berg: Gr8 article: problems w/Net Promoter Score (#NPS) (http://bit.ly/2h5jot ) #measure [A grad of stats 101 could see all of this]
EstherSteinfeldInteresting read: “What’s Wrong with the Net Promoter Score?” @acfou says, “So many things.” http://bit.ly/1ojkfk
kevinertellThis is an excellent article on ClickZ: What’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://www.clickz.com/3635696
rj_bergGreat article on some of the problems with Net Promoter Score (NPS) http://bit.ly/2h5jot #measure #retail
mjayliebsRT @wimrampen: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3 (cc @hellosmalldog)
jestodcWhat’s Wrong With the Net Promoter Score http://www.clickz.com/3635696
jonathanmendez“NPS is what I call an “it is what it is” metric — it tells you the obvious” http://bit.ly/6EYyc
mrnews#NPS ‘tells you the obvious, isn’t predictive, doesn’t answer the “So what?” question.’ http://bit.ly/1DqmgD (via @DavidPenn1@jhenning)
DavidPenn1RT @jhenning RT @acfou: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3 Maybe we need to take it less literally?
wimrampenRT @JHenning: RT @acfou: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3
NicoPeruzziPhDRT @JHenning: RT @acfou: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3 – the emperor has no clothes…
JHenningRT @acfou: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” http://tr.im/Fgv3 Builds on my criticisms with some of his own.
acfouNet Promoter Score (NPS) is synonymous with “useless” (is based on bad math, is not actionable) – what say you? http://bit.ly/6EYyc
The Grand Unified Theory of Marketing(tm) – Digital String Theory
Just as physicists and mathematicians have been searching for the grand unified theory of the universe, I have been looking for a way to tie together the disparate disciplines of marketing and advertising, a way to correlate metrics from different industries that interrelate with marketing (e.g. market research, Nielsen, etc.), a way to put all past theories in context and perspective (Michael Porter’s Five Forces, Net Promoter, etc.), and a way to explain marketing successes and failures — all in one.
My method is the scientific method – which is simply put doing experiments and making observations that either support or refute hypotheses.
A grand unified theory will also need to be able to take into account phenomena such as social networks, etc. What are the organizing principles of such; what is the value? Why now?
Using digital tools — such as search volume trends — we can start to correlate marketing spend effectiveness across different forms of media and also different advertising and marketing techniques. The example below compares eTrade and Drobo. What is most embarrassing is that eTrade, a well known brand from the first dot-com heyday, spent lots of money creating and airing TV ads which it hoped would go viral. They even paid for Superbowl ads for the last 2 years to promote the “eTrade talking babies” as you see from the 2 spikes in search volume during February of 2008 and 2009. However, when compared to Drobo (a startup company that developed a very easily upgradeable back up hard drive array), it is shocking to note that Drobo spent NOTHING on advertising and relied entirely on word of mouth and an awesome product. And their search volume is not only larger than eTrade but also sustainably larger despite zero advertising and media cost. The “totals” even suggest that the volume under the curve of Drobo is 8X (EIGHT TIMES) that of eTrade.
So if you consider that eTrade spent millions of dollars to create the TV ads and even more millions of dollars to air them on TV in order to drive interest, demand, and hopefully new customers, then Drobo can be considered to have gotten the equivalent of 8X more dollars in advertising and media – for FREE using techniques and channels other than TV advertising. So what does that say about the relative value of TV advertising compared to these other, newer techniques?
godaddy vs megan fox
Behold, the power of a scary-sounding letter from a lawyer! Paul dropped his Kindle 2 and it broke. Amazon wanted $200 to replace it. Instead, they replaced it and gave him an additional $200. Damn, son!
Seriously, how badass is this letter he sent to Amazon?
Paul Gowder
[Address omitted]August 12, 2009
Amazon.com Inc.
Legal Department
1200 12th Avenue South
Suite 1200
Seattle, WA 98144-2734Dear Sir or Madam:
On June 21, 2009, I purchased an Kindle 2 e-book reader from the Amazon.com website. I purchased this device based, in substantial part, on the expectation that it would be reasonably durable. In particular, I expected that it would be approximately as durable as is ordinary in the consumer electronics market.
Amazon.com advertises the Kindle 2 on the basis of its durability. Notably, Amazon.com displays a “drop test” video on the web page for this product. That video displays the device being dropped twice from thirty inches onto what appears to be tile. That video displays a fall with sufficient force that the device visibly bounces, and deliberately creates the impression that the device will function after impacts similar to that sequence of drops.
Despite those representations, the Kindle 2 is far less durable. On July 26, 2009, I dropped a messenger bag containing the device onto the sidewalk, from approximately two feet above the ground. It was dropped only once, and the messenger bag absorbed enough of the shock that nothing else in the bag, including a Macbook laptop, suffered an! y damage whatsoever. (Unlike the drop displayed in Amazon.com’s video, for example, nothing actually bounced.) Moreover, there was no visible damage on the exterior of the Kindle 2. Nonetheless, the Kindle 2 became completely unusable, with over 50% of its screen no longer able to display any text.
I called Amazon.com support and was told that, because of the accidental drop, you would not be willing to supply a replacement device under warranty. You did, however, offer to sell a new device at a discount, for $200.00. I took advantage of that offer under protest, and explicitly reserved my rights to bring a claim against you based on the unreasonable fragility of the device and the misrepresentations in your advertising. It is that claim that forms the subject of this letter.
I am prepared to offer an immediate settlement of my claims against Amazon.com for a payment of $400.00. That sum represents the $200.00 replacement fee I paid plus $200.00 to compensate me for the diminution of utility and value of the device as well as of the e-books I have purchased for that device, in light of the fact that the replacement device, too, can be expected to be far more fragile than advertised and prone to destruction under the slightest stress. This offer expires thirty days from your receipt of this letter. If you do not accept this offer, I intend to bring suit either individually, or, if I decide it is warranted, as representative for a class of similarly situated plaintiffs. At that time, I will seek the amount noted above, plus punitive damages under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civil Code §1750 et. seq., costs, fees, and such other monetary damages as provided for by law, including without limitation Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §17200 et. seq., the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and other relevant law.
Also, you have demanded the return of the broken device as a condition to the unreasonable discounted replacement offer which I accept! ed under protest. Your agent has informed me that you will charge my credit card for the full price if the broken device is not returned to you. I am considering seeking a protective order placing that device in the custody of the Court pending litigation. However, should I instead return the device, you are hereby notified that it is evidence in the anticipated litigation to which this letter refers. Should you modify, destroy, or resell the broken device, I will ask the Court to treat that as deliberate spoliation of evidence and make adverse inferences as appropriate.
Very truly yours,
Paul Gowder
And here’s Amazon’s response:
Pretty awesome. Just goes to show that if you put your somewhat-unreasonable request in an official-looking form and also threaten to sue, big companies will be happy to toss a token amount of money your way to make you go away. [Consumerist]
Two viral campaigns – one drove sales, the other probably didn’t
Samsung’s extreme sheep LED art video went viral and was definitely passed along as the bit.ly stats show below, but whether it drove sales for Samsung, or whether people even knew what it meant (Samsung makes LED lit LCD TVs), no one will really know.
Whereas JetBlue’s All-You-Can-Jet Pass also went viral (similar order of magnitude of shares, again by way of the bit.ly stats) and it led straight to the page about the All-You-Can-Jet Pass where users could then go on to buy it.
In the case of Samsung, the video was cool, entertaining, and unexpected and went viral. But the link to sales was tenuous at best. In the case of JetBlue, the product itself went viral and the link to sales was direct.
Hmm… which had a larger business impact? you tell me.
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