American University has a new advertising campaign around wonkiness. I'm assuming it's an effort to transform the university's image from "rich kids party school" to "serious institute of higher learning." One of the taglines for AU's campaign is "Wonk spelled...
Sometimes it's the little things that represent your brand the best. Like these prescription bottles from Target. Notice the brand colors and the red rubber rim collars that evoke the company's logo. The little bottle with the whimsical triangular design. Don't they...
Minnesota Public Radio has a fascinating article on Best Buy at a crossroads. At one point, a Best Buy worker tells the interviewer: "Executives ... focus on issues that are not crucial to Best Buy's competitiveness or survival. For instance, he argues Best Buy has...
IBM has a female CEO. IBM sponsors the Masters, an event held at Augusta National, a private club that does not allow women to be members. Which means Virginia Rometty can't join the club that her company pays to prop up. This isn't a new story (or a new controversy)....
Sometimes the best customer experiences happen by serendipity. I recently pooled my Amazon gift cards to purchase the complete 5-DVD collection of the Best TV Show Ever. When it arrived, I put disk one into the DVD player I rarely use with huge anticipation. Then....
Saying you've done nothing wrong when your customers are angry may not be the smartest response. Calling customers "confused"--really? My friend Zane Safrit pointed me to this story about Kellogg's Kashi brand. Apparently some of the soy used in its cereals comes from...
I've been trying to get "free" checks from PNC Bank for six weeks. Free, apparently, is a very relative term. PNC Bank has lost a lot. Here's a brief chronology of what happened: 1. Mid-March: Call 800 number to order more checks. On hold, on hold, on hold, automated...
This is what I found when I popped over to Google the other day. Obviously not every company can customize its logo for its customers. But what about: Sending a "happy birthday" postcard (as did one of my doctors)? E-mailing a "happy birthday" greeting (race...
We talk a lot about connecting with customers (and clients, prospects, and so forth)--but are they feeling the love? In other words, are they connecting with us? These are not the same thing. What a Two-Way Connection Looks Like I've always highly valued my University...
I've talked before about how brand loyalty isn't eroding (we're just saving our loyalty for where we feel valued). Today I'm doing to share four lessons from an organization that just doesn't get it: The Shakespeare Theatre. Lesson #1: People are more likely to donate...