Last week I got to see innovation in action.
I got invited to learn about how some of my new friends and clients are making some money selling their friends on signing up with a new gas company.
I know what you are thinking… none of that makes much sense.
There is an exercise that I take clients through during brainstorming and ideation sessions called “Dogma and Heresy.” It is an exercise that I passionately refer to as “Dog Poop and Hair Spray.”
As part of this exercise I have clients list out the Dogma strategy of the competition and the category. Dogma being the stuff that many of the clients are saying and doing over and over and over again.
For example, how many natural gas ads have you seen that feature that flickering flame and talk about natural gas as the clean energy source?
Next in the exercise, I have clients come up with ideas and strategies that their boss would label as heresy… a challenge of conventional truth.
Some of the client groups I have facilitated have difficulty doing this. Many participants are either afraid that their co-workers will think they are stupid; others go so far as to think they may even get fired if the ideas are too way out there.
This gas company I learned about is actually expanding from Texas to the state of Georgia.
Now the Dogma of this category is one where you probably figure it is mandatory to get on television with brand awareness ads so that people remember your name when they go to select their gas utility company.
How many people that you know can name their energy provider and at least one or two of their other options of choice?
Perhaps part of that is a left over from the public ownership days where most of the organizations were really not that accountable for advertising return because not many of the gas providers had much of a competitive marketplace.
With deregulation, times have changed… but the thinking set of most marketers remains the same.
And let me state right here that this scenario I am sharing today is not unique just to utility companies. It is true across most consumer product categories among many of what I term as the “MBA Leadership Breed.”
So what is this Texas gas provider doing to enter the marketplace and compete?
How are they spreading word about their brand and getting competitive gas customers to switch?
They are getting friends to call friends – ten of them to be exact – and asking them to switch and in doing so, making some cash along the way.
And if some of their friends find it interesting enough to go and convert over ten more of their friends, they make even more cash.
Some call it a pyramid scheme other call it “Tier Marketing”.
Others see it as just a new way to make some extra bucks. Some folks get so wrapped up in it that they believe they can cash in quickly like playing the lottery with a little more luck!
This type of making money is not much of a match with me, but I must admit I am damn impressed by the innovation of a utility company using it to gain market presence and market share.
This utility company has even branded their product around the sell-in method. The company is branded as Stream Energy and their sales team is branded as Ignite.
You may not get too excited pyramid selling.., and that’s okay because its not the tactic that matters, it is the heresy of even considering it that does.
If an energy company can use a heretical approach… just think what it can do for a CPG brand… a restaurant brand… a healthcare brand… a travel/tourism brand…
I know that this goes against what gas companies deliver, but is this cool or what!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Reality Of The Consumer -- You Can Bank On It!
I ended up having to start the day doing something that I absolutely hate doing.
Talking with my bank.
Why did I have to talk with them?
Because they did something absolutely stupid and I thought I had it resolved, but it wasn’t.
The bank where our business account is housed is Wachovia.
A friend of mine who also has a small business asked me where we had our company account and when I said Wachovia, he replied… “Oh, that is where my business accounts were at…the bank Walk-all-over-ya!”
My friend runs a successful small business.
About a year ago, Wachovia decided to stop offering small businesses business credit card services and transferred all the accounts to Bank of America.
The bank I had to call this morning was Bank of America.
I wish someone would come up with a new way of saying “Bank of America” that also translates into something more descriptive like “Walk-all-over-ya.”
What did Bank of America do?
They had a guy we let go a year ago that was an hourly clerical assistant listed on our corporate Visa account as the owner of the company.
I found out about this when I had questions concerning some charges on the account and was told that there was nothing I could do. Only the person that they had listed as the owner of the company could ask questions like I was asking.
When I told them I was the sole owner and the guy listed was laid-off more than a year ago, I was then told that I had to fill out forms and send them in with a witness also confirming me as the owner of the company.
I am not making this up.
After filling out the forms and getting the letters and witness confirmation all sent in two weeks ago, I received yet another set of forms in the mail yesterday.
I called the Bank of America 1-800 Customer Service and ended up getting a guy on the other end of the phone that proceeded to essentially lecture me and “help me understand” how business issues are handled and corrected.
When I further explained how stupid…and costly a mistake had taken place…he asked me not to be “negative” and “confrontational.”
Our call did not last much longer.
When I tried to call the local Bank of America offices yesterday afternoon, I got routed back to the same 24/7 service number I had called earlier.
I later found out that the banks close down at 4:00pm. I guess the “9-to-5” jobs are history in the banking industry.
This morning, I did get through to a person in the local Athens office who listened and went on to say that she would get back with me later in the morning after she found out more details about the account.
I never heard back from the woman I spoke to this morning and it is now almost 8pm.
Why am I telling this story about the bank?
Tonight on the CBS Evening News, one of the featured stories was all about Bank of America.
What was the focus of the story?
A bank customer who tried repeatedly to get Bank of America to respond to questions and issues concerning her credit card and checking accounts, finally got so exasperated that she told her story in a video that she posted on YouTube.
Within days, more than 256,000 people watched the video and then posted similar Bank of America stories.
Here is the link to the story… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGC1mCS4OVo
Her commentary also got pushed through Facebook and Twitter postings.
In fact, the stories raised so many responses that Bank of America…along with some of the other large banks, finally responded back by changing some of the stupid things that they had been doing to customers.
The older I get, I realize that there are not too many things I can change, but then along comes stories like this that says…”Yes You Can!”
And while I personally feel refueled in the ability to correct stupid stuff, the learnings demonstrate further the importance, value and power of the consumer voice.
As I tell clients… what you define and market may appear to be reality, but it isn’t … and what consumers perceive and believe, how ever different from what you define, is reality.
Hello… And welcome to 2010!
Talking with my bank.
Why did I have to talk with them?
Because they did something absolutely stupid and I thought I had it resolved, but it wasn’t.
The bank where our business account is housed is Wachovia.
A friend of mine who also has a small business asked me where we had our company account and when I said Wachovia, he replied… “Oh, that is where my business accounts were at…the bank Walk-all-over-ya!”
My friend runs a successful small business.
About a year ago, Wachovia decided to stop offering small businesses business credit card services and transferred all the accounts to Bank of America.
The bank I had to call this morning was Bank of America.
I wish someone would come up with a new way of saying “Bank of America” that also translates into something more descriptive like “Walk-all-over-ya.”
What did Bank of America do?
They had a guy we let go a year ago that was an hourly clerical assistant listed on our corporate Visa account as the owner of the company.
I found out about this when I had questions concerning some charges on the account and was told that there was nothing I could do. Only the person that they had listed as the owner of the company could ask questions like I was asking.
When I told them I was the sole owner and the guy listed was laid-off more than a year ago, I was then told that I had to fill out forms and send them in with a witness also confirming me as the owner of the company.
I am not making this up.
After filling out the forms and getting the letters and witness confirmation all sent in two weeks ago, I received yet another set of forms in the mail yesterday.
I called the Bank of America 1-800 Customer Service and ended up getting a guy on the other end of the phone that proceeded to essentially lecture me and “help me understand” how business issues are handled and corrected.
When I further explained how stupid…and costly a mistake had taken place…he asked me not to be “negative” and “confrontational.”
Our call did not last much longer.
When I tried to call the local Bank of America offices yesterday afternoon, I got routed back to the same 24/7 service number I had called earlier.
I later found out that the banks close down at 4:00pm. I guess the “9-to-5” jobs are history in the banking industry.
This morning, I did get through to a person in the local Athens office who listened and went on to say that she would get back with me later in the morning after she found out more details about the account.
I never heard back from the woman I spoke to this morning and it is now almost 8pm.
Why am I telling this story about the bank?
Tonight on the CBS Evening News, one of the featured stories was all about Bank of America.
What was the focus of the story?
A bank customer who tried repeatedly to get Bank of America to respond to questions and issues concerning her credit card and checking accounts, finally got so exasperated that she told her story in a video that she posted on YouTube.
Within days, more than 256,000 people watched the video and then posted similar Bank of America stories.
Here is the link to the story… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGC1mCS4OVo
Her commentary also got pushed through Facebook and Twitter postings.
In fact, the stories raised so many responses that Bank of America…along with some of the other large banks, finally responded back by changing some of the stupid things that they had been doing to customers.
The older I get, I realize that there are not too many things I can change, but then along comes stories like this that says…”Yes You Can!”
And while I personally feel refueled in the ability to correct stupid stuff, the learnings demonstrate further the importance, value and power of the consumer voice.
As I tell clients… what you define and market may appear to be reality, but it isn’t … and what consumers perceive and believe, how ever different from what you define, is reality.
Hello… And welcome to 2010!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The New Model Of Local Store Marketing
It’s hard for Big Boys to learn how to do things differently.
In some ways, I might even be a best-case scenario. Although, I am not sure I would call BrandVenture one of the Big Boys.
For a long time, I was one of those focus group addicts. Recruitment had to be just so…the facility had to be just so.
No question about it, those market research professors had drilled the proper way of doing statistical research in my headset.
But after doing nearly 300 of them across the globe in just one year, it dawned on me that maybe there was a better forum and a better way to get people talking.
Long story short … I found a different, less expensive, more effective way to get people sharing their deepest thoughts and perceptions. That’s what we call Coffee House and Pub Chats.
Trust me. Whether it is caffeine or a good cold brewsky, it gets folks chatting!
The showcase brand in this Blog-logue is Macy’s,
Macy’s is featured in the current issue of Business Week.
To survive in the current economic times Macy’s consolidated its seven regional offices for its 811 stores in one location. Along the way, it cut 5,600 jobs that altogether has saved the company $500 million in the last two years.
Sounds on paper that the mass market department store just became more centralized and Big Boy to me.
But…as the article quotes Macy’s CEO, Terry Lundgren as saying… “We can’t wait around for the environment to improve…you have to do something different.”
(Wonder if Terry carries a MacBook Pro?)
As the articles goes on…
“For Lundgren, this means catering to the local tastes of shoppers…with a new initiative called My Macy’s.”
“How?”
“He’s stocking extra swimsuits in stores near water parks and more size 11 shoes in Chicago.”
So this Big Boy is learning how to say good-bye to the mass market, mass delivered department model and hello to what I will call the old school way retail used to work.
Will be interesting to see if Macy’s can extend “catering to local tastes” beyond the operational inventory and stocking mix to actually localize all touch-points of the brand experience to the local audience groups.
Perhaps you have to get more grass-roots than Big Boy corporate management to fully heed the calling.
This morning I attended a breakfast meeting of several QSR franchise owners. The topic of discussion was social media and how it can work on the Local Store Marketing level.
I give these guys (and gal) a bunch of credit. While only one of the guys regularly hit Facebook, nearly all saw social media as a great chance to build better customer service and better customer relationships.
The guy that serves as the facilitator of the group…also a franchise owner…talked about how his trade areas varied by store and how social media can be customized based on which market groups each store services.
Now how cool is that?
(And how cool are these Franchise owners?!!!)
The title of the section where the article is running in Business Week is called “Managing Forward.”
No question that forward thinking is our calling.
But it is interesting just how much of the forward thinking comes back to the past fundamentals of true personalized (versus mass) marketing!
In some ways, I might even be a best-case scenario. Although, I am not sure I would call BrandVenture one of the Big Boys.
For a long time, I was one of those focus group addicts. Recruitment had to be just so…the facility had to be just so.
No question about it, those market research professors had drilled the proper way of doing statistical research in my headset.
But after doing nearly 300 of them across the globe in just one year, it dawned on me that maybe there was a better forum and a better way to get people talking.
Long story short … I found a different, less expensive, more effective way to get people sharing their deepest thoughts and perceptions. That’s what we call Coffee House and Pub Chats.
Trust me. Whether it is caffeine or a good cold brewsky, it gets folks chatting!
The showcase brand in this Blog-logue is Macy’s,
Macy’s is featured in the current issue of Business Week.
To survive in the current economic times Macy’s consolidated its seven regional offices for its 811 stores in one location. Along the way, it cut 5,600 jobs that altogether has saved the company $500 million in the last two years.
Sounds on paper that the mass market department store just became more centralized and Big Boy to me.
But…as the article quotes Macy’s CEO, Terry Lundgren as saying… “We can’t wait around for the environment to improve…you have to do something different.”
(Wonder if Terry carries a MacBook Pro?)
As the articles goes on…
“For Lundgren, this means catering to the local tastes of shoppers…with a new initiative called My Macy’s.”
“How?”
“He’s stocking extra swimsuits in stores near water parks and more size 11 shoes in Chicago.”
So this Big Boy is learning how to say good-bye to the mass market, mass delivered department model and hello to what I will call the old school way retail used to work.
Will be interesting to see if Macy’s can extend “catering to local tastes” beyond the operational inventory and stocking mix to actually localize all touch-points of the brand experience to the local audience groups.
Perhaps you have to get more grass-roots than Big Boy corporate management to fully heed the calling.
This morning I attended a breakfast meeting of several QSR franchise owners. The topic of discussion was social media and how it can work on the Local Store Marketing level.
I give these guys (and gal) a bunch of credit. While only one of the guys regularly hit Facebook, nearly all saw social media as a great chance to build better customer service and better customer relationships.
The guy that serves as the facilitator of the group…also a franchise owner…talked about how his trade areas varied by store and how social media can be customized based on which market groups each store services.
Now how cool is that?
(And how cool are these Franchise owners?!!!)
The title of the section where the article is running in Business Week is called “Managing Forward.”
No question that forward thinking is our calling.
But it is interesting just how much of the forward thinking comes back to the past fundamentals of true personalized (versus mass) marketing!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Why Television Needs Heretics!
In about an hour from now, I am going to be meeting with a group that recently purchased a television station.
They are not a network affiliate. And in some ways, that’s cool.
I am not sure that if I won the Lottery this week that I would take the dollars and invest in a television station.
Don’t get me wrong… folks today still enjoy watching programming.
Shoot, it could be on their television, their PC, their portable video player, their iPhone or even a panel on their dashboard.
It could be transmitted live or playing from some source of stored programming.
No joke… I actually spend many a primetime viewing hour cruising through YouTube and with an average of 55,000 new videos launched on the site launch just that day. Needless to say, the choice is rather diverse.
Yesterday, I had an interesting discussion with my cable provider.
When I had called about why the monthly fee was going up, the rep I was speaking to quickly told me that in about three months, they will be offering their customers the option to select any 10 or 20 stations of choice for a reduced monthly fee.
That’s cool. Will be interesting to see how this new form of packaging will affect how the ratings will be calculated and how the advertising will be sold.
And while I am really not sure if I will include any of the original three nets (ABC, NBC & CBS) in my selected set of stations of choice, the main focus of this week’s blog-logue actually evolves around these three nets.
I strongly encourage any one reading this to take a day off from the work routine and turn on the tube around 11am and watch the programming through the afternoon.
While the programming is certainly an anthropological window into a culture set… the advertising is even better yet.
Something tells me that there’s a large inventory of daytime television that the ad reps have to unload. There’s a whole set of the ads you will see that I would wager to bet were scripted and filmed by the station affiliate.
There’s another set of ads in which the ad director and/or the media rep purchased one of those cost-savings/extra value frequency schedules. That terminology is actually fancy wording for what’s really called ROS… or run of station.
The best commercials are the ones that are truly targeting the regular audience groups that actually watch the daytime programming.
There’s a set of ads promoting the lawyers. Their copy lines are rather similar. They also all showcase a picture of the lawyers in the spots. It’s odd, but nearly all of the lawyers are men.
There’s a set of ads promoting places where you can go and get cash for your car title. It’s interesting how so many of the people in the ads who cash in their car titles are really wearing nice clothes. Maybe it’s that belief that seems to float among advertising agencies that lots of people aspire to be better looking than they really are.
There’s a bunch of ads for old people things. Things like wheel chairs, hearing aids, reading glasses, diabetes monitors, inconsonance padding and emergency alert devices. Now I know that there are others using these that may not be old, but so many of the folks in the ads are old.
Yes…there are pharmaceutical ads too, but from what I saw, there just didn’t seem to be as many as you see during the 6pm news. Maybe the ad agency for those pharma's has insight that most of those older folks watching the news at night are in the midst of taking there afternoon nap during daytime programming.
From my perspective of working with some of the cable nets, there's always a desire among the programmers to work on prime time programming.
Yet… there is actually three times as much of a time block to fill with daytime programming as there is with prime time programming.
When you look at the ratings numbers, these daytime programs don't generate the high double-digit ratings…but then again, very few shows in prime time generate double digit rating any more.
I did go into our mostly recently released Nielsen numbers along with our lifestyle groups and it looks like daytime network television is still popular with groups bearing the nicknames of “Country Music & Car Seats,” “Traditional Seniors,” “Main Street Patriots” and “Struggling Elders.”
Maybe the advertisers running the ads are actually right on target.
The interesting aspect is that I also flipped through the dial (how Boomer is that phrase?!) and watched some of the programming on ESPN2, HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network.
First of all… the programming on the cable nets wasn’t all too different from the same programming that airs during prime time at night
Second…I didn’t see many…actually if any…of those same advertisers running the ads on the nets…on the cable stations.
(Break… now have to go to the meeting… but will pick back up afterwards with the blog-logue)
I was very enlightened from our meeting with the television station team with whom we met.
They have a vision in their mindset of who they ultimately want to be. I must say that it is progressive, but interesting.
The journey of getting there may not be easy.
There is no question that if they do some things that need to be done, some of their colleagues will label them as industry heretics.
I remember when I started in the business; there was a guy down in Atlanta who just started up a cable network that was the talk of the town.
Many thought he was a nut case.
Later in my career, I actually had the opportunity to work for this guy. One day in a meeting he started talking about doing something I though was a very crazy thing to do.
I learned quickly that he was right on target with his thinking when I thought about it later that afternoon.
The guy starting that network was Ted Turner.
The network was CNN.
Some still think he is a crazy man. And they may actually be right.
But it is that type of thinking that generated what the three core networks have become today and what launched the cable nets that make up my top 10.
They are not a network affiliate. And in some ways, that’s cool.
I am not sure that if I won the Lottery this week that I would take the dollars and invest in a television station.
Don’t get me wrong… folks today still enjoy watching programming.
Shoot, it could be on their television, their PC, their portable video player, their iPhone or even a panel on their dashboard.
It could be transmitted live or playing from some source of stored programming.
No joke… I actually spend many a primetime viewing hour cruising through YouTube and with an average of 55,000 new videos launched on the site launch just that day. Needless to say, the choice is rather diverse.
Yesterday, I had an interesting discussion with my cable provider.
When I had called about why the monthly fee was going up, the rep I was speaking to quickly told me that in about three months, they will be offering their customers the option to select any 10 or 20 stations of choice for a reduced monthly fee.
That’s cool. Will be interesting to see how this new form of packaging will affect how the ratings will be calculated and how the advertising will be sold.
And while I am really not sure if I will include any of the original three nets (ABC, NBC & CBS) in my selected set of stations of choice, the main focus of this week’s blog-logue actually evolves around these three nets.
I strongly encourage any one reading this to take a day off from the work routine and turn on the tube around 11am and watch the programming through the afternoon.
While the programming is certainly an anthropological window into a culture set… the advertising is even better yet.
Something tells me that there’s a large inventory of daytime television that the ad reps have to unload. There’s a whole set of the ads you will see that I would wager to bet were scripted and filmed by the station affiliate.
There’s another set of ads in which the ad director and/or the media rep purchased one of those cost-savings/extra value frequency schedules. That terminology is actually fancy wording for what’s really called ROS… or run of station.
The best commercials are the ones that are truly targeting the regular audience groups that actually watch the daytime programming.
There’s a set of ads promoting the lawyers. Their copy lines are rather similar. They also all showcase a picture of the lawyers in the spots. It’s odd, but nearly all of the lawyers are men.
There’s a set of ads promoting places where you can go and get cash for your car title. It’s interesting how so many of the people in the ads who cash in their car titles are really wearing nice clothes. Maybe it’s that belief that seems to float among advertising agencies that lots of people aspire to be better looking than they really are.
There’s a bunch of ads for old people things. Things like wheel chairs, hearing aids, reading glasses, diabetes monitors, inconsonance padding and emergency alert devices. Now I know that there are others using these that may not be old, but so many of the folks in the ads are old.
Yes…there are pharmaceutical ads too, but from what I saw, there just didn’t seem to be as many as you see during the 6pm news. Maybe the ad agency for those pharma's has insight that most of those older folks watching the news at night are in the midst of taking there afternoon nap during daytime programming.
From my perspective of working with some of the cable nets, there's always a desire among the programmers to work on prime time programming.
Yet… there is actually three times as much of a time block to fill with daytime programming as there is with prime time programming.
When you look at the ratings numbers, these daytime programs don't generate the high double-digit ratings…but then again, very few shows in prime time generate double digit rating any more.
I did go into our mostly recently released Nielsen numbers along with our lifestyle groups and it looks like daytime network television is still popular with groups bearing the nicknames of “Country Music & Car Seats,” “Traditional Seniors,” “Main Street Patriots” and “Struggling Elders.”
Maybe the advertisers running the ads are actually right on target.
The interesting aspect is that I also flipped through the dial (how Boomer is that phrase?!) and watched some of the programming on ESPN2, HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network.
First of all… the programming on the cable nets wasn’t all too different from the same programming that airs during prime time at night
Second…I didn’t see many…actually if any…of those same advertisers running the ads on the nets…on the cable stations.
(Break… now have to go to the meeting… but will pick back up afterwards with the blog-logue)
I was very enlightened from our meeting with the television station team with whom we met.
They have a vision in their mindset of who they ultimately want to be. I must say that it is progressive, but interesting.
The journey of getting there may not be easy.
There is no question that if they do some things that need to be done, some of their colleagues will label them as industry heretics.
I remember when I started in the business; there was a guy down in Atlanta who just started up a cable network that was the talk of the town.
Many thought he was a nut case.
Later in my career, I actually had the opportunity to work for this guy. One day in a meeting he started talking about doing something I though was a very crazy thing to do.
I learned quickly that he was right on target with his thinking when I thought about it later that afternoon.
The guy starting that network was Ted Turner.
The network was CNN.
Some still think he is a crazy man. And they may actually be right.
But it is that type of thinking that generated what the three core networks have become today and what launched the cable nets that make up my top 10.
Monday, August 24, 2009
The BrandVenture Trendcast Is Right Again!
Too bad there wasn’t a cash bet riding on the predictions.
Really.
I’d be cashing in like I had just won the lottery.
Two of my predictions were right on target… right smack on target.
One was part of my 2007 BrandVenture Trendcast.
It was titled “Home Repo. You Can Do It, We Don’t Care.”
It was a prediction that the real estate market would not be down long and the driver of the rebound would be the Millennials who were shortly entering into the first time home-buyers market.
The current issue of Business Week has an article running titled “A Trickle Of Hope For Housing.”
And early on it says… “For the first time since 2004, sales of existing homes have risen for three straight months and at the same time, the inventory of unsold homes has decreased.”
It then showcases Angie Hunter and her husband Craig. They are both in their early 30s and Craig is on active duty with the air force based out of Las Vegas.
As first time homebuyers, the two snatched up a 4-bedroom ranch in a gated community. They got it for $204,000 – nearly half of the $400,000 the previous owners paid for it back in 2005.
Have builders gotten smart yet? … Well I can’t say too much about the locals and the small independent builders.
Case in point… this past weekend, the Athens daily rag newspaper (Athens Banner-Herald) showcased in their Sunday real estate magazine, a planned real estate development that would have a shopping area, a work-from-home office community, coffeehouses and restaurants and a clubhouse complete with pool and tennis courts.
The houses were probably initially listed in the $400K+ range.
Sound familiar?
Our Athens daily rag set off the story with a tight-cropped picture of the three cluster houses and a second tight-cropped picture of an historic estate home.
Problem is those houses were the only ones built and standing in a vast acreage of vacant lots complete with tall weeds.
Oh and as far as the shopping, offices and country club are concerned; something tells me that it may be a looooonnnnggg time before those enter the amenities experience… if ever.
Hard to believe, but KB Homes has gotten smart.
As the Business Week article states: “To cut its construction costs and make its homes affordable to a broader pool of buyers, KB reengineered how it builds.”
A major share of the homes is built pre-fab and they have revised the floor plans to be smaller and more adapted to flexible use of the Millennial Mindset.
Get this… The company reported a 60% increase in new home orders in second quarter of this year and has orders now for 3,800 homes.
It’s the Millennials folks… and actually just the very first wave of it!
Wachovia is both my personal bank and also the bank for BrandVenture. Bank of America is the Bank that holds both of my homes’ mortgage loans. Both of those banks are barely breathing through the rising waters of foreclosures.
Hard to believe, but a credit union in North Carolina called the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union has gotten smart.
The Credit Union execs are expected to write a record $2.5 billion in new mortgages this year. Oh yeah… here’s a stat for you to catch… only 0.5% of the loans the Credit Union has written to date are more than 90 days past due.
How are they doing it?
They are meeting in person with every one who applies for a mortgage loan and “painstakingly build a household budget that determines what the borrower can really afford.”
And if the homeowner falls behind on payments, they grant brief 30-day extensions and also send out a loan rep to help the borrower put together a new budget.
In some ways, they take on the role of the parent.
I think that Credit Union understands what personal banking and what the new Millennial Generation first time homebuyer is all about.
So by now, you are probably wondering what was the second prediction that was right on target… right?
Well… back last summer I talked about how the Democrats were cashing in at the moment on the new Millennial voter block. Also in that Blog-logue, I said that the loyalty – or better put – the interest level – would not last.
Why? Not because they would debate the issues, but more basically, the Millennials are well known to be ADHD (remember that they are the ones that birthed the whole Ritalin craze of the 90s).
Simple terms… in a couple months, something else would be grabbing their attention and Obama would be “old news.”
As Cal Thomas who writes for USA Today noted in an editorial on Sunday…
“Obama’s people thought the youthful enthusiasm of the presidential campaign could be transformed into an army that would roll over opposition to its policy initiatives. So far, that army has been AWOL.”
So much so AMOL, just look around and ask how many folks in their 20s have you seen recently at any of the Healthcare rallies – pro or con?
I am not kidding one bit when I tell you this past week I saw some UGA freshmen replacing their Obama stickers with Wii stickers.
Now your probably asking … while this is all interesting, what does this have to do with my job to sell our brand and generate sales… I don’t work in the housing industry nor the banking industry nor do I work for Wii.
And that answer is simple.
The Millennials are no longer coming…they are here… BIG TIME.
And the models of the past in terms of how people think, how they view reality, what they perceive as reality and how you grab their attention and build equity has all changed.
A couple of brands are getting it.
And a few of the trend folks too!
Get ready… because the BrandVenture 2010 Trendcast is getting posted on our Website on September 28, 2009.
Call me at 404.245.9378 and book a presentation for your brand team!
Hey... we are sometimes telling you something that is right on target...
Really.
I’d be cashing in like I had just won the lottery.
Two of my predictions were right on target… right smack on target.
One was part of my 2007 BrandVenture Trendcast.
It was titled “Home Repo. You Can Do It, We Don’t Care.”
It was a prediction that the real estate market would not be down long and the driver of the rebound would be the Millennials who were shortly entering into the first time home-buyers market.
The current issue of Business Week has an article running titled “A Trickle Of Hope For Housing.”
And early on it says… “For the first time since 2004, sales of existing homes have risen for three straight months and at the same time, the inventory of unsold homes has decreased.”
It then showcases Angie Hunter and her husband Craig. They are both in their early 30s and Craig is on active duty with the air force based out of Las Vegas.
As first time homebuyers, the two snatched up a 4-bedroom ranch in a gated community. They got it for $204,000 – nearly half of the $400,000 the previous owners paid for it back in 2005.
Have builders gotten smart yet? … Well I can’t say too much about the locals and the small independent builders.
Case in point… this past weekend, the Athens daily rag newspaper (Athens Banner-Herald) showcased in their Sunday real estate magazine, a planned real estate development that would have a shopping area, a work-from-home office community, coffeehouses and restaurants and a clubhouse complete with pool and tennis courts.
The houses were probably initially listed in the $400K+ range.
Sound familiar?
Our Athens daily rag set off the story with a tight-cropped picture of the three cluster houses and a second tight-cropped picture of an historic estate home.
Problem is those houses were the only ones built and standing in a vast acreage of vacant lots complete with tall weeds.
Oh and as far as the shopping, offices and country club are concerned; something tells me that it may be a looooonnnnggg time before those enter the amenities experience… if ever.
Hard to believe, but KB Homes has gotten smart.
As the Business Week article states: “To cut its construction costs and make its homes affordable to a broader pool of buyers, KB reengineered how it builds.”
A major share of the homes is built pre-fab and they have revised the floor plans to be smaller and more adapted to flexible use of the Millennial Mindset.
Get this… The company reported a 60% increase in new home orders in second quarter of this year and has orders now for 3,800 homes.
It’s the Millennials folks… and actually just the very first wave of it!
Wachovia is both my personal bank and also the bank for BrandVenture. Bank of America is the Bank that holds both of my homes’ mortgage loans. Both of those banks are barely breathing through the rising waters of foreclosures.
Hard to believe, but a credit union in North Carolina called the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union has gotten smart.
The Credit Union execs are expected to write a record $2.5 billion in new mortgages this year. Oh yeah… here’s a stat for you to catch… only 0.5% of the loans the Credit Union has written to date are more than 90 days past due.
How are they doing it?
They are meeting in person with every one who applies for a mortgage loan and “painstakingly build a household budget that determines what the borrower can really afford.”
And if the homeowner falls behind on payments, they grant brief 30-day extensions and also send out a loan rep to help the borrower put together a new budget.
In some ways, they take on the role of the parent.
I think that Credit Union understands what personal banking and what the new Millennial Generation first time homebuyer is all about.
So by now, you are probably wondering what was the second prediction that was right on target… right?
Well… back last summer I talked about how the Democrats were cashing in at the moment on the new Millennial voter block. Also in that Blog-logue, I said that the loyalty – or better put – the interest level – would not last.
Why? Not because they would debate the issues, but more basically, the Millennials are well known to be ADHD (remember that they are the ones that birthed the whole Ritalin craze of the 90s).
Simple terms… in a couple months, something else would be grabbing their attention and Obama would be “old news.”
As Cal Thomas who writes for USA Today noted in an editorial on Sunday…
“Obama’s people thought the youthful enthusiasm of the presidential campaign could be transformed into an army that would roll over opposition to its policy initiatives. So far, that army has been AWOL.”
So much so AMOL, just look around and ask how many folks in their 20s have you seen recently at any of the Healthcare rallies – pro or con?
I am not kidding one bit when I tell you this past week I saw some UGA freshmen replacing their Obama stickers with Wii stickers.
Now your probably asking … while this is all interesting, what does this have to do with my job to sell our brand and generate sales… I don’t work in the housing industry nor the banking industry nor do I work for Wii.
And that answer is simple.
The Millennials are no longer coming…they are here… BIG TIME.
And the models of the past in terms of how people think, how they view reality, what they perceive as reality and how you grab their attention and build equity has all changed.
A couple of brands are getting it.
And a few of the trend folks too!
Get ready… because the BrandVenture 2010 Trendcast is getting posted on our Website on September 28, 2009.
Call me at 404.245.9378 and book a presentation for your brand team!
Hey... we are sometimes telling you something that is right on target...
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Maternal Co-Dependency and Man Space
Maybe I came out of a more “independent” family, but my mother did not live with me nor was involved in everything I did once I turned say…twelve.
She had her stuff that she did and my father had his stuff that he did that left me with a rather independent life to live on my own.
That’s not to say that there weren’t curfew hours and rules about what I had to do and what I couldn’t do, but it wasn’t like my parents – my mother in particular – was living my day-to-day life with me.
I started seeing the shift with these Generation X parents about five years ago when we did some Coffee House Chats among moms and their elementary school kids.
The moms talked about how they went to school with their kid and sat in the classroom with their kid when the kid had study work to complete.
Then about two years ago, we did a website and a series of television spots for one of the universities in Georgia.
The website was fashioned just for parents. The link to the parent site was right below the link the kids hit to learn more about the school. The television spots highlighted the mom and dad’s perspective of college life.
This past weekend here in Athens, the dorms opened back up and the parents along with the students took over the local Target, Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot buying up everything from futons to towels to floor lamps.
While a few fathers could be seen…the moms were out in force!
Last night on HGTV, there was a mom that insisted that her recent college-graduate daughter could not move into her own home because her mother said that the two were inseparable. (no joke!)
Then I saw one of those Free-Standing Insert ads in the Sunday paper that I thought probably hit right into the core of it all.
The ad was marketing Philips Norelco shavers.
The headline read: “I Can Make You The Happiest Mom In The World” and the pictorial featured a comparative line graph of “Mom’s Happiness” compared to “Frequency of Trimming.”
Are the same words going through your mind that went through mine?
“Co-dependency”
“Uncut umbilical cord”
“Virgin Mary”
“Weird”
“Kinky”
Okay… I will stop there.
No question that these GenXers came out of the highest divorce rate ever posted among parents. Some of the population statistics say that nearly 50% of GenXers were raised as kids by divorced parents.
There’s also a second trend that is tied to this maternal dependency.
It’s the increasing popularity of what is called “Man Space.”
There’s even a show on HGTV called “Man Land” all about men taking back space in the house that they can call there own.
Gone are the “Family Rooms” and in now are the “Man Rooms.”
It’s the Home Pub, the Vintage Theatre, the Home Office Space, the Game Room, the Car Repair Shop, the Gardening Shed and the Garage Workshop.
When you Google “Man Space,” there’s a book that comes up on Amazon.com titled “Manspace. A Primal Guide To Marking Your Territory.”
The psychologist side of me truly does believe that the GenXer Mother’s are co-dependent with their kids and the guys are into the tribal call of individuality and same-gender bonding.
While the Norelco FSI doesn’t appeal much to me, I would still give them a creative award for at least digging into what seems to be happening out there right now.
The BIG questions are where all else can these Gen X mindset and relationship dynamics empower brands next? Real Estate? Automotive? Apparel? Furniture? Quick Service Restaurants? (Taco Bell and Quizno’s might already be on it!)
Over the years, I have worked with several hospital clients on the development of a Women’s Health Services venture. These range from specific disease programs like Cancer treatment to whole hospitals dedicated solely to women and women’s health.
My bet is that we are going to see both of these trends start to impact healthcare.
A mother-daughter team may soon replace the wife-husband team in the delivery room. We may even see a special family center developed just for mothers in the sports medicine and treatment section of the hospital.
Is the all male hospital next featuring cardiac care, orthopedics, sports medicine, diabetes and prostate cancer screening…maybe even special wings of the hospital sponsored by a brand like Viagra…the next big trend in healthcare facilities?
If women can have a whole specialty service sector…even customized hospitals, then why can’t men?
Something tells me as I type this blog that we will see more of both of these observations in our 2010 Trendcast that will hit the news wires in about 60 days.
She had her stuff that she did and my father had his stuff that he did that left me with a rather independent life to live on my own.
That’s not to say that there weren’t curfew hours and rules about what I had to do and what I couldn’t do, but it wasn’t like my parents – my mother in particular – was living my day-to-day life with me.
I started seeing the shift with these Generation X parents about five years ago when we did some Coffee House Chats among moms and their elementary school kids.
The moms talked about how they went to school with their kid and sat in the classroom with their kid when the kid had study work to complete.
Then about two years ago, we did a website and a series of television spots for one of the universities in Georgia.
The website was fashioned just for parents. The link to the parent site was right below the link the kids hit to learn more about the school. The television spots highlighted the mom and dad’s perspective of college life.
This past weekend here in Athens, the dorms opened back up and the parents along with the students took over the local Target, Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot buying up everything from futons to towels to floor lamps.
While a few fathers could be seen…the moms were out in force!
Last night on HGTV, there was a mom that insisted that her recent college-graduate daughter could not move into her own home because her mother said that the two were inseparable. (no joke!)
Then I saw one of those Free-Standing Insert ads in the Sunday paper that I thought probably hit right into the core of it all.
The ad was marketing Philips Norelco shavers.
The headline read: “I Can Make You The Happiest Mom In The World” and the pictorial featured a comparative line graph of “Mom’s Happiness” compared to “Frequency of Trimming.”
Are the same words going through your mind that went through mine?
“Co-dependency”
“Uncut umbilical cord”
“Virgin Mary”
“Weird”
“Kinky”
Okay… I will stop there.
No question that these GenXers came out of the highest divorce rate ever posted among parents. Some of the population statistics say that nearly 50% of GenXers were raised as kids by divorced parents.
There’s also a second trend that is tied to this maternal dependency.
It’s the increasing popularity of what is called “Man Space.”
There’s even a show on HGTV called “Man Land” all about men taking back space in the house that they can call there own.
Gone are the “Family Rooms” and in now are the “Man Rooms.”
It’s the Home Pub, the Vintage Theatre, the Home Office Space, the Game Room, the Car Repair Shop, the Gardening Shed and the Garage Workshop.
When you Google “Man Space,” there’s a book that comes up on Amazon.com titled “Manspace. A Primal Guide To Marking Your Territory.”
The psychologist side of me truly does believe that the GenXer Mother’s are co-dependent with their kids and the guys are into the tribal call of individuality and same-gender bonding.
While the Norelco FSI doesn’t appeal much to me, I would still give them a creative award for at least digging into what seems to be happening out there right now.
The BIG questions are where all else can these Gen X mindset and relationship dynamics empower brands next? Real Estate? Automotive? Apparel? Furniture? Quick Service Restaurants? (Taco Bell and Quizno’s might already be on it!)
Over the years, I have worked with several hospital clients on the development of a Women’s Health Services venture. These range from specific disease programs like Cancer treatment to whole hospitals dedicated solely to women and women’s health.
My bet is that we are going to see both of these trends start to impact healthcare.
A mother-daughter team may soon replace the wife-husband team in the delivery room. We may even see a special family center developed just for mothers in the sports medicine and treatment section of the hospital.
Is the all male hospital next featuring cardiac care, orthopedics, sports medicine, diabetes and prostate cancer screening…maybe even special wings of the hospital sponsored by a brand like Viagra…the next big trend in healthcare facilities?
If women can have a whole specialty service sector…even customized hospitals, then why can’t men?
Something tells me as I type this blog that we will see more of both of these observations in our 2010 Trendcast that will hit the news wires in about 60 days.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Confirmation Of What's Hot And What's Not
I got confirmation yesterday evening that I did the right thing moving from the city of Atlanta to the cool town of Athens.
That’s not to say that Atlanta isn’t a nice place. And that’s not to say that Athens is the ideal.
But it was a smart move at just the right time!
On Saturday, I received the new 8/17 issue of Business Week. There were two articles that grabbed my attention and believe it or not, I sat back on the couch and read each one word-for-word.
One of the articles is titled “Capitalism, No. Free Enterprise, Yes.”
Turns out that the US Chamber of Commerce conducted a series of focus groups among Obama voters, McCain voters and small business owners. All three groups responded similar: “capitalism” was associated from the top down and government and “free enterprise” was associated from the grass roots up.
“Capitalism” was bad. “Free Enterprise” and “Entrepreneur” were good.
The second article is about Howard Schultz and Starbucks.
The subtitle captures it all: “He’s facing the fact that the once free-spirited Starbucks is now a multibillion-dollar machine that embraces more conventional management.”
In 1987, Schultz purchased six stores in Seattle.
Today, after recently cutting costs by $500 million, closing down 800 stores in the U.S. and laying off more than 4,000 employees, Schultz is still faced with the management of more than 16,000 stores in 50 countries globally.
Why am I sharing these stories in the context of the move of BrandVenture from Atlanta to Athens?
The confirmation experience last night took place at a restaurant/pub here in Athens called “The Globe.”
I doubt that The Globe will ever be featured in the high fashion magazines like Metropolitan Home, but it draws a pretty good representation of who all dwells here in this place called Athens.
One of the waiters at the bar taught religion for five years at the University of Georgia and now works at The Globe as well as records, produces and launches music from local artists in the Asian East.
Another group of guys sitting on the couches were talking about ways they could generate more fuel from corn than the processing model that is currently being used.
There was a couple that came and sat at the bar that was from Philadelphia. He taught Shakespearean Literature at one of the small private colleges outside of Philly. He and I got into a discussion about how Twitter could be used to get students to read articles and blogs rather than the textbooks that many avoided unless they had the Cliff Notes version.
Both the couple and another guy across the bar used their iPhones to text message friends while sipping on the brew.
There was nearly an equal mix of Millennials and aging Boomers. The two groups mix well. If any GenXers were there, they were the DINK version (Dual Income No Kids).
A table of age 60+ Boomers sat and discussed their concerns about the government taking over healthcare and alternative ways that they might modify what is currently out there to work more efficiently.
Along with a good drink, I also ordered two of the special small homemade burgers. I thought that I was about to get something similar to the ones that Burger King is currently promoting.
Instead I got two really great homemade, hand-shaped burgers with fresh lettuce and mayo.
Who says that High Touch and High Tech cannot co-exist?
To be honest, this is what Free Enterprise is all about.
This is what drives creative thinking and innovation. This is what got Howard Schultz convinced that he needed to purchase those first six coffee houses and bring them to life for others to also experience the same thing that he enjoyed about them.
The advertising community in Atlanta is a very inbred lot of very similar “Integrated Marketing Communication” companies. Not only did we not fit, I cannot easily see how creativity and innovation can function in a community of “sameness.”
And here is one last refreshing experience to share. A few hours ago, when I got to about here in writing this blog, I had to take a break and go visit a bank called Athens First.
The banking officer is a nice Millennial guy probably in his early-to-mid 20s. He told me that in a couple of weeks he would be starting classes in the MBA program at the University of Georgia.
At first I thought MBA? Oh well, this is a bank after all and banks are slow to change.
But then he told me that over the weekend, he attended a session that was hosted by Chris Hank. Chris is an entrepreneurial leader and has recently been added as a guest faculty member to the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
This guy from the bank went on to say that he cannot wait to take the courses that Chris Hanks teaches and that he really wants to be an entrepreneur.
Now that is refreshing!
And moving the company from Atlanta to Athens was the right move to make!
That’s not to say that Atlanta isn’t a nice place. And that’s not to say that Athens is the ideal.
But it was a smart move at just the right time!
On Saturday, I received the new 8/17 issue of Business Week. There were two articles that grabbed my attention and believe it or not, I sat back on the couch and read each one word-for-word.
One of the articles is titled “Capitalism, No. Free Enterprise, Yes.”
Turns out that the US Chamber of Commerce conducted a series of focus groups among Obama voters, McCain voters and small business owners. All three groups responded similar: “capitalism” was associated from the top down and government and “free enterprise” was associated from the grass roots up.
“Capitalism” was bad. “Free Enterprise” and “Entrepreneur” were good.
The second article is about Howard Schultz and Starbucks.
The subtitle captures it all: “He’s facing the fact that the once free-spirited Starbucks is now a multibillion-dollar machine that embraces more conventional management.”
In 1987, Schultz purchased six stores in Seattle.
Today, after recently cutting costs by $500 million, closing down 800 stores in the U.S. and laying off more than 4,000 employees, Schultz is still faced with the management of more than 16,000 stores in 50 countries globally.
Why am I sharing these stories in the context of the move of BrandVenture from Atlanta to Athens?
The confirmation experience last night took place at a restaurant/pub here in Athens called “The Globe.”
I doubt that The Globe will ever be featured in the high fashion magazines like Metropolitan Home, but it draws a pretty good representation of who all dwells here in this place called Athens.
One of the waiters at the bar taught religion for five years at the University of Georgia and now works at The Globe as well as records, produces and launches music from local artists in the Asian East.
Another group of guys sitting on the couches were talking about ways they could generate more fuel from corn than the processing model that is currently being used.
There was a couple that came and sat at the bar that was from Philadelphia. He taught Shakespearean Literature at one of the small private colleges outside of Philly. He and I got into a discussion about how Twitter could be used to get students to read articles and blogs rather than the textbooks that many avoided unless they had the Cliff Notes version.
Both the couple and another guy across the bar used their iPhones to text message friends while sipping on the brew.
There was nearly an equal mix of Millennials and aging Boomers. The two groups mix well. If any GenXers were there, they were the DINK version (Dual Income No Kids).
A table of age 60+ Boomers sat and discussed their concerns about the government taking over healthcare and alternative ways that they might modify what is currently out there to work more efficiently.
Along with a good drink, I also ordered two of the special small homemade burgers. I thought that I was about to get something similar to the ones that Burger King is currently promoting.
Instead I got two really great homemade, hand-shaped burgers with fresh lettuce and mayo.
Who says that High Touch and High Tech cannot co-exist?
To be honest, this is what Free Enterprise is all about.
This is what drives creative thinking and innovation. This is what got Howard Schultz convinced that he needed to purchase those first six coffee houses and bring them to life for others to also experience the same thing that he enjoyed about them.
The advertising community in Atlanta is a very inbred lot of very similar “Integrated Marketing Communication” companies. Not only did we not fit, I cannot easily see how creativity and innovation can function in a community of “sameness.”
And here is one last refreshing experience to share. A few hours ago, when I got to about here in writing this blog, I had to take a break and go visit a bank called Athens First.
The banking officer is a nice Millennial guy probably in his early-to-mid 20s. He told me that in a couple of weeks he would be starting classes in the MBA program at the University of Georgia.
At first I thought MBA? Oh well, this is a bank after all and banks are slow to change.
But then he told me that over the weekend, he attended a session that was hosted by Chris Hank. Chris is an entrepreneurial leader and has recently been added as a guest faculty member to the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
This guy from the bank went on to say that he cannot wait to take the courses that Chris Hanks teaches and that he really wants to be an entrepreneur.
Now that is refreshing!
And moving the company from Atlanta to Athens was the right move to make!
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