Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Corona Virus, Creativity, Culture, Customer Service, Differentiation, Experience, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Service
One thing that actually angered me throughout COVID was the attitude supermarkets adopted over the Christmas break.
Don’t get me wrong, they did an amazing job to ensure food supplies were maintained but they also did it because they were making incredible profits at the same time.
I’m cool with that.
I’m less cool with how some still lobbied for government benefits, made whole departments unemployed – looking at you Sainsbury’s – failed to use the Christmas period as a time to ‘give back’ to essential workers [ie: their own staff] and just ran bog-standard ads [even though they were generally pretty poor] … all the while claiming they were a version of ‘ one of us’.
Which is why this little gesture by the Co-op made an impression on me.
It’s very nice.
Not bombastic. Not chest beating. If anything, it’s almost silent.
But it’s impact for those suffering from isolation could be huge.
I really like this. Not just because it more needed than many think, but because I can imagine there are a lot of possible implications on their business should their customers take them up on it.
I have no idea how many customers Co-op delivers to each day, but if each customer just wanted a 5 minute chat, that means the subsequent deliveries will be 5 minutes late.
The more customers, the more deliveries get impacted in terms of time.
That can add up to something significant and potentially make other customers frustrated.
Maybe they’ve put on more delivery drivers to off-set this.
Maybe they’re only going to offer this for a limited time.
Maybe no one will actually take them up on any of this.
But even then, I can see a lot of reasons why a lot of companies would say no to this idea.
The cost.
The impact.
The potential for logistical nightmares.
Which is exactly why I think the Co-op have done something pretty great in doing it.
Because while words, money and countless bloody ‘purpose statements’ may make a company feel they’re doing valuable stuff for the community, its actual acts of action that proves to the community you actually care.
It’s not that hard to make a difference. If you actually want to make a difference.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Cars, Comment, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Fulfillment, Insight, Management, Resonance, Service, Standards, Technology
So I have an Audi.
I know … I know … what a wanker.
Well as we all know, German cars are well known for their quality of engineering, but recently I saw something that showed me it’s not just engineering where they pay attention to detail.
Have a look at this …
Can you see?
It’s the colour of the screws.
Where most cars have 4 yellow screws in each corner of the rear number plate, Audi have used 2 – one black, one yellow – placed in the middle of the number plate and designed to make sure they perfectly match with the area they’re screwing into.
Black to match the colour of the letter of the registration number.
Yellow to match the background of the rear registration number.
It’s an incredibly small thing, but if they care about that, you can be sure they care about every detail in the car.
Which helps reinforce why German manufacturing is so highly revered.
Or said another way, why craft is proved by the small things, not just the big.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Business, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Differentiation, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Honesty, Insight, Management, Marketing, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Service
When I was in Sydney at Christmas, I fell ill.
I know you may feel that is karma, but it was pretty shitty.
So after going to the doctors, I went to the local chemist and it is there I saw this …
Proud To Be Cheap.
Words you don’t hear very often.
Either because everyone is trying to come across as ‘aspirational and premium’ or they’re repositioning price to mean ‘smart and discerning’.
And yet, not only did those 4 words stand out from everything else, they made me smile.
It owned its truth.
It said exactly what it was.
It was, quite literally, proud to be cheap.
There is something incredibly refreshing about that.
But more than that, there is something incredibly valuable about that.
Not just because – as I mentioned earlier – it stands out.
Nor is it because it allows them to minimize their investment in store experience.
[Though, the service I got was brilliant, and not just because I was expecting shite]
And not even because by saying it, they rob the competition from trying to diss them for it.
The reason I think it’s valuable is because it immediately feels more inclusive and approachable than so many of the ego brands out there and so attracts a certain sort of customer rather than trying to constantly chase or seduce them.
It’s a bit like Dolly Parton [yes, I’m going there].
She is very self depreciating …
When she said, “It takes a lot of money to be this cheap”, she was proudly owning who she was and accepting her tastes were not what society likes.
OK, so she was talking about her cheapens from the sense she has a lot of money whereas this chemist is talking about themselves from the perspective they don’t cost a lot of money … but owning their truth has immediately separated themselves from the sea of competition.
Years ago I wrote about an approach to strategy that I had which I called unplanning.
I’ve talked about this a lot – from James Blunt to Eminem – but really this about authenticity.
Knowing who you are.
Being true to who you are.
Living by the values that shaped who you are.
And accepting that in a World where brands are often shaped more by what the competition force you to do than what you want to do, by being yourself you will be different.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Culture, Experience, Hotels, Management, Marketing, Relevance, Resonance, Service
One of the places I find most hysterical in the World is San Francisco.
Yes … the entire place.
I find it hysterical because it’s often referred to as a liberal, hippy paradise when the reality is it’s one of the most expensive, exclusive and divisive places on earth.
Of course it wasn’t always this way, but the rise of tech has seen so much money coming into the place, that not only is everything hideously expensive, but the service industry – something America was once famous for – has seemingly given up making any effort whatsoever, safe in the knowledge they’re going to get people giving them money for stuff regardless.
No where is this attitude more prevalent than the hotel industry.
Because there are so many people coming into the place – hotels are almost always full.
What that’s resulted in, is even crappy hotels charging rates plush places in LA would balk at.
Case in point, the hotel I stayed in – The Taj – cost more for 1 night than the 2 nights I stayed at the Ritz Carlton at Marina Del Rey.
Which had a water view.
And breakfast included.
What I got at the Taj, was this …
Now I used to have Taj Hotels as a client.
I know their history and the way they approach their business.
Thanks to the Silicon Valley goldrush … the Taj San Fran doesn’t embody any of them.
In fact, I would say the only thing it’s suitable for, is a Martin Parr photo assignment.
For those who don’t know the brilliant Mr P, he is a photographer who specialises in brilliantly capturing the utterly mundane … usually in Britain.
With that in mind, I’ve written him a letter, dedicated to the experience I had at the Taj SF.
Dear Martin Parr.
If you’re looking for inspiration on what – and where – your next photo project could be, may I suggest The Taj Hotel in San Fran.
Not only does it have the depressingly bland interior design qualities of 1980’s middle England that I know you love love, but it comes with the price tag of a modern of Russian Oligarch.
Even when I came back to the room at 2:30am – after a long day at the office – I was reluctant to sleep there, for fear the rundown averageness of the place would do me irreparable damage in the night.
It is a photo exhibition waiting to happen.
Possibly your finest ever.
I even have a name for the shot … Expensive Beige.
You’re welcome.
Rob