Caffe Coffee Day, Costa Coffee, Barista........when it means coffee it reminds us those three coffee retail stores. I’m trying to remember certain associations with those three coffee shops. Tried to think a lot about those stores.............didn’t get any significant association to remember apart from coffee. A coffee shop is about coffee and will remain all about coffee. So how to differentiate? And how to build the brand, when there is no loyalty to your menue.
In todays competetive edge the differentiation between Coffee Shops could not be established based on significant product offerings. It’s the experience while having a cup of coffee in a store that could make the difference. A coffee shop is all about coffee and so a consumer will drop inside with the expectation of having good coffee only. Now the point of winning a customer is less significant than turning the customer into a loyal customer. Winning customer is easier and it depends on the presence and visiblity of your stores at strategic location. But the challenge is to make things possible such that one customer makes your store as the most preferred place. in the building of retail brands, you have to create awareness and attract peoples favorable attention. You need opinion leaders who naturally endorse your product.
Consider the story of Starbucks and compare it with Cafe Coffee Day, or Costa Coffee. StarBucks has a customer base which is loyal to the brand and some times drive through their way to office only to get a coffee. Its a religion for few people. What is the secret behind star bucks that people are responding. Why is Starbucks, and similar cafes strike a chord in so many disparate places? What need Starbucks was fulfilling? Why do somany customers willingly wait in the long lines at Starbucks stores and not in front of Cafe Coffee Day or Costa Coffee?
The success of StarBucks could be attributed something more than coffee.........its something more psychological and described by Howard Schultz, C.E.O, Starbucks in the following words(Excerpt from Pour Your Heart Into It) :
A taste of romance. At Starbucks stores, people get a five-or-ten minute break that takes them far from the routine of their daily lives. Where else can you go to get a whiff of Sumatra or Kenya or Costa Rica? Where else can you get a taste Verona or Milan? Just having the chance to order a drink as exotic as an espresso macchiato adds a spark of romance to an otherwise unremarkable day.
An affordable luxury. In a Starbucks Store you may see a policeman or a utility worker standing in line in front of a wealthy surgeon. The blue-collar man may not be able to afford a Mercedes the Surgeon just drove up in, but he can order the same cappuccino. They are both giving themselves a reward and enjoying something world class.
An oasis. In an increasingly fractured society, Starbucks stores offer a qucuiet moment to gather your thoughts and center yourself. Starbucks people smile at you, serve you quickly. A visit to Starbucks can be small escape during a day when so many other things are beating you down. Satrbucks is considered by its customers as breath of fresh air.
Casual social interaction. One of the advertising agencies that pitched for Starbucks, interviewed Los Angeles- area customers in focus groups. The common thread among its consumers was this comment: “Starbucks is so social. We go to Starbucks stores because of a social feeling.”
Its indeed the most significant brand values probaly missed by Coffe Shops in India. A Coffe Shop could be the integral component of Indian social scene in part because they fulfilled the need for a non threatening gathering spot, a “third place” outside of work and home.
Sociologist Professor, Ray Oldenburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Oldenburg ) described in his book, The Great Good Place, the significance of a gathering sport, or a “third place”. Oldenburg’s thesis is that people need informal public places where they can gather, put aside the concerns of work and home, relax and talk. Germany’s beer gardens, Englands pubs, Delhi’s Delhi Haat or a food court of Metropolitan Mall, Viennese Cafes created this outlet in people’s lives, providing a neutral ground where all are equal and conversation is the main activity. Without such places, the urban area fails to nourish the kinds of relationships and the diversity of human contact that are the essence of the city. Deprived of these settings, people remain lonely within their crowds.
This is the gist of this blog. Coffee Shops should emphasize the design of consumer experience inside their store while making it a “third place” just like Ray Oldenburg’s thesis. You cant be only coffee.........you need to be more than coffee.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
What to do When your Company Engulfed in a PR Crisis
The PR crisis that crippled OC Commonwealth Games makes me wonder whether big organisations like OC are supported by the right kind of PR professionals.
Consider for example the Commonwealth Games where 30,000 Crores spent. Only Rs.1600 crores was the budget of OC. Few days ago the media started splashing that large scale corruption happened in Commonwealth Games with DDA,MCD and other bodies under scanner. Just the time when the media intensifying the story about the corruptions by civic authorities Times Now, a leading TV channel in India came out with an alleged money laundering between OC and a company called AM Films. The amount was Rs.3 Crores. To make matters worse the Chairperson of OC came out in open in a press conference with an allegedly forged letter saying that his team members are right and he is going to sue the TV Channel Times Now. The rest is history. The world witnessed the media lynching OC over an amount of Rs.3 Crores while all attention shifted towards OC. The alleged corruption amount was Rs.3 Crores, but the media did not stop its analysis. One TV channel made other TV channels get in the same way to lynch OC while ignoring other stake holders in order to get the right TRP.
It compels any PR person to ask the following questions:
1. Why the media attention shifted from big scale corruption issues to a small scale corruption worth of Rs.3 Crores.
2. Why instead of chasing behind authorities like MCD,DDA, and other civic authorities with a bigger budget the media preferred to chase OC with a budget of only Rs.1600 Crores.(The total budget for the Games was Rs.30,000 Crores)
My answer: a very wrong PR crisis management style by OC, especially those persons who are in the advisory level to the Chairperson. How can a chair person with an Organisation representing the image of a country come out in public with a letter, without going through its authenticity, and on record in camera threaten to sue a TV Channel, while ignoring the rat within the Organisation.
There are many scales of PR Crisis over the years, where some companies turned a crisis in favour of them while some sank like a Titanic under the crisis due to the lack of PR management.
Consider for example Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, went into hiding and sent American CEO Jim Lentz to make apologies. Meanwhile, he let serious product quality issues spiral out of control by understating safety risks and product problems. This left the media, politicians, and consumers to dictate the conversation, while Toyota fumbled the responses. Disingenuous quasi-apologies and disjointed plans for resolution have been Toyota's substitute for crisis response. As accounts pour in about declining quality, the company parades out relatively unknown mid-level managers to quell the firestorm.
So if you are the Chairperson of the company, and you are the face of the company then what you should or should not do at the face of a PR crisis. Going through the OC case I have the following suggestions:
1. Always have a crisis management team with the right authority should be in your team. The team should have the right people with the right PR knowledge such that quick decisions can be taken. Make sure your crisis management team has the authority to access the resources. In OC case I doubt there were any Crisis Management team at all or any right PR advisor with the Chairperson.
2. At the instance of negative news popping into media the first thing the crisis management team should find out the authenticity of the report. Remember if the report is not authentic then the battle is on your side, but the problem starts when the negative reports are true. What you will do matters on how true you are for the cause of the reputation of your enterprise.
3. If the problem lies with your organization, the people in it or the products then first acknowledge it. Accept the flaws because by accepting you are sending the message that you are accountable for the flaws, errors, or whatever be the cause of the negative news. When you accept it you will give the media less ammunition to lynch your Organization. The best example is Tylenol.
4. Rectify the errors. Go back to the source of the problem and eliminate it. Then announce it in the media, first apologize for the mistakes that your Organization did, then announce the rectification. Remember that being naïve won’t solve the purpose, because no one would like to listen to you if you say you are too naïve to know that things will happen this way. Announce the world what actionable steps that you as the head of the organization taking to ensure that same mistakes won’t happen. If there is a flaw in the products then bring it back….if any damage happened to customers compensate it or replace the products. In other words do whatever it takes to eradicate the problem. The best example is the Tylenol crisis in the 80s. When terrorists laced Tylenol capsules with cyanide in the mid-1980s, Johnson & Johnson CEO Jim Burke understood his company credo challenged him to put the needs of customers first. Although J&J was not responsible for these problems, Burke nevertheless recalled every Tylenol product from the market.
5. Never create a communication gap. When the media breaks out a negative news about your company the countdown clock starts clicking in the opposite direction. Every second matters. Your call of action or the time when you meet the media with all the actions makes or break the brand. Remember that if you make delaying meeting the media and clarifying then you are making information vacuum which the media is going to fill up with their side of the story. And that’s where you lose the control over the situation. The best example is the Tiger Woods scandal. Once the scandal broke up Mr. Tiger Woods preferred to go into oblivion, never taking the courage to meet the media and clarifying the wrong doing. He preferred to be silent and went underground for a month. So the information vacuum which was created filled with all kinds of stories. The media was in control of the situation. After one month Mr. Tiger Woods called for a press conference and started reading a note which seemed to the world like that he is not apologetic about anything, indeed he was acting like an actor of a play. Probably the worst kind of PR crisis management.
This is a challenging menu, and this crisis is the true test of a leader’s leadership. As a leader are you up to these challenges? I believe if you want to make your company a great company then its better to be ready for this challenge and accept my menu
Consider for example the Commonwealth Games where 30,000 Crores spent. Only Rs.1600 crores was the budget of OC. Few days ago the media started splashing that large scale corruption happened in Commonwealth Games with DDA,MCD and other bodies under scanner. Just the time when the media intensifying the story about the corruptions by civic authorities Times Now, a leading TV channel in India came out with an alleged money laundering between OC and a company called AM Films. The amount was Rs.3 Crores. To make matters worse the Chairperson of OC came out in open in a press conference with an allegedly forged letter saying that his team members are right and he is going to sue the TV Channel Times Now. The rest is history. The world witnessed the media lynching OC over an amount of Rs.3 Crores while all attention shifted towards OC. The alleged corruption amount was Rs.3 Crores, but the media did not stop its analysis. One TV channel made other TV channels get in the same way to lynch OC while ignoring other stake holders in order to get the right TRP.
It compels any PR person to ask the following questions:
1. Why the media attention shifted from big scale corruption issues to a small scale corruption worth of Rs.3 Crores.
2. Why instead of chasing behind authorities like MCD,DDA, and other civic authorities with a bigger budget the media preferred to chase OC with a budget of only Rs.1600 Crores.(The total budget for the Games was Rs.30,000 Crores)
My answer: a very wrong PR crisis management style by OC, especially those persons who are in the advisory level to the Chairperson. How can a chair person with an Organisation representing the image of a country come out in public with a letter, without going through its authenticity, and on record in camera threaten to sue a TV Channel, while ignoring the rat within the Organisation.
There are many scales of PR Crisis over the years, where some companies turned a crisis in favour of them while some sank like a Titanic under the crisis due to the lack of PR management.
Consider for example Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, went into hiding and sent American CEO Jim Lentz to make apologies. Meanwhile, he let serious product quality issues spiral out of control by understating safety risks and product problems. This left the media, politicians, and consumers to dictate the conversation, while Toyota fumbled the responses. Disingenuous quasi-apologies and disjointed plans for resolution have been Toyota's substitute for crisis response. As accounts pour in about declining quality, the company parades out relatively unknown mid-level managers to quell the firestorm.
So if you are the Chairperson of the company, and you are the face of the company then what you should or should not do at the face of a PR crisis. Going through the OC case I have the following suggestions:
1. Always have a crisis management team with the right authority should be in your team. The team should have the right people with the right PR knowledge such that quick decisions can be taken. Make sure your crisis management team has the authority to access the resources. In OC case I doubt there were any Crisis Management team at all or any right PR advisor with the Chairperson.
2. At the instance of negative news popping into media the first thing the crisis management team should find out the authenticity of the report. Remember if the report is not authentic then the battle is on your side, but the problem starts when the negative reports are true. What you will do matters on how true you are for the cause of the reputation of your enterprise.
3. If the problem lies with your organization, the people in it or the products then first acknowledge it. Accept the flaws because by accepting you are sending the message that you are accountable for the flaws, errors, or whatever be the cause of the negative news. When you accept it you will give the media less ammunition to lynch your Organization. The best example is Tylenol.
4. Rectify the errors. Go back to the source of the problem and eliminate it. Then announce it in the media, first apologize for the mistakes that your Organization did, then announce the rectification. Remember that being naïve won’t solve the purpose, because no one would like to listen to you if you say you are too naïve to know that things will happen this way. Announce the world what actionable steps that you as the head of the organization taking to ensure that same mistakes won’t happen. If there is a flaw in the products then bring it back….if any damage happened to customers compensate it or replace the products. In other words do whatever it takes to eradicate the problem. The best example is the Tylenol crisis in the 80s. When terrorists laced Tylenol capsules with cyanide in the mid-1980s, Johnson & Johnson CEO Jim Burke understood his company credo challenged him to put the needs of customers first. Although J&J was not responsible for these problems, Burke nevertheless recalled every Tylenol product from the market.
5. Never create a communication gap. When the media breaks out a negative news about your company the countdown clock starts clicking in the opposite direction. Every second matters. Your call of action or the time when you meet the media with all the actions makes or break the brand. Remember that if you make delaying meeting the media and clarifying then you are making information vacuum which the media is going to fill up with their side of the story. And that’s where you lose the control over the situation. The best example is the Tiger Woods scandal. Once the scandal broke up Mr. Tiger Woods preferred to go into oblivion, never taking the courage to meet the media and clarifying the wrong doing. He preferred to be silent and went underground for a month. So the information vacuum which was created filled with all kinds of stories. The media was in control of the situation. After one month Mr. Tiger Woods called for a press conference and started reading a note which seemed to the world like that he is not apologetic about anything, indeed he was acting like an actor of a play. Probably the worst kind of PR crisis management.
This is a challenging menu, and this crisis is the true test of a leader’s leadership. As a leader are you up to these challenges? I believe if you want to make your company a great company then its better to be ready for this challenge and accept my menu
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Next Retail Differentiation; Space Branding
Last Sunday, I took some time off to visit some of the retail stores including, Reliance Fresh, and Big Bazaar. I just wanted to know what are the key factors which makes or breaks the retail brand. My experience at those stores gives me the following insight:
Lack of Space and lack of knowledge about 3d space branding: In a mission to increase the presence what really missed by the two giants are the space available within the stores. I guess both Reliance Fresh, and Big Bazaar took 3D Branding in the back seat. It was so crowded and to even to move the trolley from one place to other was herculian task for me. It felt like a Mandi to me.
3Dimensional Branding, is one of the most important part of the 360 Degree Brand concept. In the present circumstances I believe that if there is a new player which wants to compete either with Reliance Fresh, or BigBazzar then it should take 3d Space branding as the differentiator.
Retailer's should think if the brand will be their home then what it would look like. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHERE YOUR BRAND SHOULD LIVE. Start thinking about how to get people to live your brand. Marketer's should begin by creating spaces where consumers feel just as happy to stop by as to buy. Where the point of sale has a point of view. Where the purchase path actually gives people a reason to walk in.
I know what I'm writing here contradicts the belief of Mr.Kishore Biyani, who once said Indian customers love to do shopping in an environment which is crowded. A crowded place gives the middle class Indian customer a sense of belongingness .
I really dont think so. I believe that the real brand strategy is to challenge this belief and make the behavior pattern of the middle class customers change.
Lack of Space and lack of knowledge about 3d space branding: In a mission to increase the presence what really missed by the two giants are the space available within the stores. I guess both Reliance Fresh, and Big Bazaar took 3D Branding in the back seat. It was so crowded and to even to move the trolley from one place to other was herculian task for me. It felt like a Mandi to me.
3Dimensional Branding, is one of the most important part of the 360 Degree Brand concept. In the present circumstances I believe that if there is a new player which wants to compete either with Reliance Fresh, or BigBazzar then it should take 3d Space branding as the differentiator.
Retailer's should think if the brand will be their home then what it would look like. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHERE YOUR BRAND SHOULD LIVE. Start thinking about how to get people to live your brand. Marketer's should begin by creating spaces where consumers feel just as happy to stop by as to buy. Where the point of sale has a point of view. Where the purchase path actually gives people a reason to walk in.
I know what I'm writing here contradicts the belief of Mr.Kishore Biyani, who once said Indian customers love to do shopping in an environment which is crowded. A crowded place gives the middle class Indian customer a sense of belongingness .
I really dont think so. I believe that the real brand strategy is to challenge this belief and make the behavior pattern of the middle class customers change.
New Media for Fashion Marketers:The Down Turn Survival Strategy
What does the capability and skill-set to appropriately embrace "new media" look like in our country; how does it successfully function in the marketing organization and, above all, how can marketers be both practical and efficient about building one?" How can fashion and lifestyle brands/retailers actually go about adopting new media to push their businesses further. What would be the 10-15 fold path for them to successfully enable themselves with new media to grant just that momentum in a sluggish market that is witnessing the emergence of a new breed of 'new media' shoppers........
The capability and skill-set of new media is quite immense in India. This is due to the clutter in the market with an availability of many thousands of communication vehicles significantly overlapping each other makes the marketer opt for the most efficient media vehicle and digital marketing to a large extent helping them. Consider for example an educated middle class young lady as a typical buyer for high-end watch which serves her aspiration to need to look wealthier than she is. A closer study of her life style will reveal that she spends larger span of her daily life with her cell phone or with internet. It also reveals that she spends less time watching TV. Now doesn’t it make sense to engage her through the most appropriate medium that is the new media?
The future is more brighter than ever before as the government is on the verge of allowing 3G in telecommunication. It will open up for branded content and innovation in digital marketing.
There is no doubt that new-media or digital marketing is in the primary stage. But in a marketer’s perspective new media strategy always revolves around converting it to a viral marketing campaign. Buzz is very important. If you are creating a website and still you are unable to drive audience to it then probably the purpose is not solved.
For fashion and life style media the evolution of new media opened up new innovative platforms for communicating the brand message while engaging their target audience. Remember that engaging your target audience is the challenge in the new media platform. Example-fashion shows on the net. Or inviting your target audience to join in second life where you are organizing a fashion show. The more creative you are, the more is the chances of success to create the buzz.
Remember that in a recessionary market when every one goes on spending less on marketing and expecting more in terms of ROI then new-media is possibly the best media where you could quantify your ROI. With tools like google-analytics even small retailers are getting the benefit. They get an idea who are the real customers and how to spend most effectively.
The Indian Fashion Consumer & New Media:
Fashion consumers in India are to a large extent New Media savvy and the figures are growing. But the buying pattern of the fashion consumers are not related with new media, and still experiential marketing is what influences the purchase decision.
Business owners of fashion brands are using new media to use as a vehicle to create.
· Brand Awareness.
· Information sharing.
As already stated new media is on the edge over traditional media in terms of its penetration and it is very useful for targeted marketing effort. In a down-turn market where each penny spent upon marketing matters for its effectiveness and brand managers will be held accountable for the efficacy of their investment plans on media, new media is the only hope to bring accountability in the board room.
Tools for an Interactive Site
There are many tools available for making the site more interactive. A marketer can use any combination of the following for a best use of their website.
Blogs: Blogs are used to make a community speak about the product or brand. But remember to have a blog space in your website with a moderator as chances of spamming and hate males are there.
Pod Cast : A podcast is a series of audio or video digital-media files which is distributed over the Internet by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers. This is a one way of communication where information can be provided by the marketer to the information seeking customers.
Web Cast: web cast are web-broad casts where streaming media files(audio or video) can be viewed live or on-demand. Fashion marketers can web-cast a fashion shows for users to have a glimpse on it if they missed it..
Webinar: Webinar is a web conference. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based application where the attendees will simply enter a URL (website address) to enter the conference.
RSS Feed: RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format..
Example of new media use for brand building activities:
1. Victoria’s Secret: Conducted a webcast of its fashion show.
2. Burger King: Burger king used its mascot on its website which will answer any question that you ask by acting in a comic way.
3. Chevy Tahoe: Chevy Tahoe has made a remarkable campaign which used site visitors to create a TV commercial in its website. This is the first ever advertising in the world that was created on the website.
SEO and PR:
A new way to integrate PR initiative with new media is to SEO the PR. This is evolving in a greater way.....
The capability and skill-set of new media is quite immense in India. This is due to the clutter in the market with an availability of many thousands of communication vehicles significantly overlapping each other makes the marketer opt for the most efficient media vehicle and digital marketing to a large extent helping them. Consider for example an educated middle class young lady as a typical buyer for high-end watch which serves her aspiration to need to look wealthier than she is. A closer study of her life style will reveal that she spends larger span of her daily life with her cell phone or with internet. It also reveals that she spends less time watching TV. Now doesn’t it make sense to engage her through the most appropriate medium that is the new media?
The future is more brighter than ever before as the government is on the verge of allowing 3G in telecommunication. It will open up for branded content and innovation in digital marketing.
There is no doubt that new-media or digital marketing is in the primary stage. But in a marketer’s perspective new media strategy always revolves around converting it to a viral marketing campaign. Buzz is very important. If you are creating a website and still you are unable to drive audience to it then probably the purpose is not solved.
For fashion and life style media the evolution of new media opened up new innovative platforms for communicating the brand message while engaging their target audience. Remember that engaging your target audience is the challenge in the new media platform. Example-fashion shows on the net. Or inviting your target audience to join in second life where you are organizing a fashion show. The more creative you are, the more is the chances of success to create the buzz.
Remember that in a recessionary market when every one goes on spending less on marketing and expecting more in terms of ROI then new-media is possibly the best media where you could quantify your ROI. With tools like google-analytics even small retailers are getting the benefit. They get an idea who are the real customers and how to spend most effectively.
The Indian Fashion Consumer & New Media:
Fashion consumers in India are to a large extent New Media savvy and the figures are growing. But the buying pattern of the fashion consumers are not related with new media, and still experiential marketing is what influences the purchase decision.
Business owners of fashion brands are using new media to use as a vehicle to create.
· Brand Awareness.
· Information sharing.
As already stated new media is on the edge over traditional media in terms of its penetration and it is very useful for targeted marketing effort. In a down-turn market where each penny spent upon marketing matters for its effectiveness and brand managers will be held accountable for the efficacy of their investment plans on media, new media is the only hope to bring accountability in the board room.
Tools for an Interactive Site
There are many tools available for making the site more interactive. A marketer can use any combination of the following for a best use of their website.
Blogs: Blogs are used to make a community speak about the product or brand. But remember to have a blog space in your website with a moderator as chances of spamming and hate males are there.
Pod Cast : A podcast is a series of audio or video digital-media files which is distributed over the Internet by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers. This is a one way of communication where information can be provided by the marketer to the information seeking customers.
Web Cast: web cast are web-broad casts where streaming media files(audio or video) can be viewed live or on-demand. Fashion marketers can web-cast a fashion shows for users to have a glimpse on it if they missed it..
Webinar: Webinar is a web conference. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based application where the attendees will simply enter a URL (website address) to enter the conference.
RSS Feed: RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format..
Example of new media use for brand building activities:
1. Victoria’s Secret: Conducted a webcast of its fashion show.
2. Burger King: Burger king used its mascot on its website which will answer any question that you ask by acting in a comic way.
3. Chevy Tahoe: Chevy Tahoe has made a remarkable campaign which used site visitors to create a TV commercial in its website. This is the first ever advertising in the world that was created on the website.
SEO and PR:
A new way to integrate PR initiative with new media is to SEO the PR. This is evolving in a greater way.....
Branding Insights from BrandAnthem: Multiplex+Sanitary Napkin=Increased Brand Value
Branding Insights from BrandAnthem: Multiplex+Sanitary Napkin=Increased Brand Value: "Today I went to a newly opened Multiplex to watch a bollywood flick. I am surprised to find out the offerings of the Multiplex. In the toile..."
Multiplex+Sanitary Napkin=Increased Brand Value
Today I went to a newly opened Multiplex to watch a bollywood flick. I am surprised to find out the offerings of the Multiplex. In the toilet there is an advertisement by the multiplex claiming that it has all the offerings which some one may require in urgency....which includes sanitary napkin,diapers, band aid etc.
A good strategy by the multiplex to go an extra mile.
A good strategy by the multiplex to go an extra mile.
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