the nba online store and the customer uncaring

one month ago, i posted a comment about the poor performance of the online nba store.
i purchased a lakers jersey for my nephew and some days later having placed the order, the customer uncaring office politely informed me that i should have find another xmas gift.
after a rather complaining mail of mine, on dec. 16th i got a lady writing to me:

I truly apologize for the frustration this has caused you. You should
have been notified immediately when we realized the item was no longer
available. I have requested a $25.00 gift card to be emailed to you. We
hope to hear from you again in the near future.

Please let us know if we can assist you further. Thank you for visiting
the NBA and WNBA Store.

Sincerely,
Kirsten
Customer Service

today, i haven't got any mail with the gift card.
nor that i have any will to purchase anything from them, but still they did not perform this task, too.

all i got is this mail, dated jan 12!!!

Greetings from NBA and WNBA Store.
We are writing to confirm that we have processed your refund in the
amount of $76.98 for your Order # xxxxxxxxxxxx

This refund is for the following item(s):
Item: Lakers NBA Men's Replica Home Jersey ( sz. S, Gold : Bryant, Kobe : Lakers )
Reason for refund: Account adjustment
Your refund is being credited as follows:

Credit Card : $76.98

Total refund for this order: $76.98
Thank you for shopping at NBA and WNBA Store.
Sincerely,

Customer Service
store.nba.com

this means:

1. you did not send the jersey and put me in trouble
2. you did not send the gift card
3. you debited my credit card immediately
4. you retain my money for one month

you suck!

Technorati Tags: nba, nba online store, customer care, customer uncaring, marketing, rubbish

parla come mangi

the sentence above, typical italian sentence, calls for a way to speak plain, unpretentious, accessible to everyone.

we do hear, from time to time, people pretending to speak cute italian, as well as english and any other language, and fail miserably in using the correct word.

a brilliant article from tod bishop highlights the completely different approach to the keynote in the late speach given from steve jobs, bill gates and michael dell.

jobs' approach: short sentence, few well choosen words, accessible to everyone. this is the coo approach, that has a vision and implement it in person


gates and dell: wider word selection, tech language, more marketing oriented gates. this is the language of the big boss no longer on the field but great to sell the concept

more confused dell, reflecting the current situation of his company. this is the language of the skipper looking around to get the wind

what can we learn:

1. the way you speak is the way you are
2. do not pretend to be someone else cause your words will betray you
3. keep it simple
4. make people understand you
5. world is complicated enough to give confused keynote
6. parla come mangi

Technorati Tags: steve jobs, 2007 macworld conference and expo, bill gates, michael dell, 2007 international consumer electronics show, iphone, vista

rome barcamp is here

the rome barcamp is here.
next saturday, at the linux club, via libetta 15, 00154, rome.
starting time: 10 am

what i do expect from the barcamp?
to meet the blogger italian community, to know simone morgagni who has a great blog, to better understand the future of the web 2.0 in our market.
there are 109 participants, so it's going to a great event.

i'll report from my blog. so stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: barcamp, rome barcamp, simone morgagni, web 2.0

iphone: is that a phone? or is that far more than a phone?

reading david pogue article about iphone i got to a rather unexpected point.
are we talking about a phone or have we all been shortsighted?
yesterday the debate was about the price, the cool factor, steve jobs' dressed in brown and not in black, apple no longer a computer company, etc.
but today, out of the noise, looking at all the tech specification this is not a phone. it far more than this: it's a mobile information, connectivity and entertainment center.
you can browse internet looking at the real web page appearance, it concentrate all the apple tech in one single portable device.
there are some grey area as stated by david but they will be probably fixed before the launch: at least we hope so.
so what?
apple demonstrate another time that it's a different company.
like or not, they are 10 years in advance to any other company and make the microsoft zune a prehistoric device: nice, but we did it three years ago!

for more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/technology/11pogue.html?ref=technology

Technorati Tags: iphone, macworld, apple, new york times, david pogue, marketing, zune

apple, a ..... company

as darren herman correctly report apple is no longer a computer company.
http://www.darrenherman.com/2007/01/09/
apple-inc-no-longer-apple-computer/

but where i do not agree with him is about the timing of the event.
he reports the event which took place yesterday, during steve jobs' presentation, when the word computer disappeared from the screen. apple computer became apple inc.
yes but this is the facade only.
i believe that since the ipod launch apple stopped to be a computer company to become an entertainment and communication company.

1. a mac is an entertainment center with built-in webcam
   
2. the ipod is apparently isolating people but it’s about music and concepts ( through podcast) sharing
3. i-tunes allows sharing users’ compilation
4. .mac allows you to enter in a community
5. iweb allows you to create websites and blogs in minutes and share them
6. it was the first company with successfully sold music and let's about tv programs and movies
   
7. and let alone pixar as for the entertainment
8. iphone will allow to complete the entire process with a wider screen than ipod
   

and it all started three years ago.
by the way, santa brought to me a brand new macbook pro 15": as you can see from my face, it's a dream machine.

disclosure: i do not work for apple, i'm not a stockholder even if i should be entitled to have some of them for having financed largely the company buying its products since 1995 ;-)

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, ipod, steve jobs, macworld, marketing, bizandbuzz, pixar, iweb, itunes

the fine strategy: how to fool an entire community

we should admit that time mag fooled us. we claim to be fine strategic people, smart consultant, etc. but they fooled us.
few weeks ago, time mag claimed that the person of the year is you, with a reflecting cover to mirror ourself in all our vanity.
thousands of comments flocked around the blogosphere, some full of selfishness, some angry, but no one got the point: time was promoting itself, it was doing its job in a smart way.

why this post?
because Time magazine today is again reinventing itself online, this time by revamping its site to emphasize breaking news and blogs.

chapeau to time editors.

for more:
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=53478&Nid=
26326&p=117792

Technorati Tags: time magazine, time, marketing, blogs, feed, news aggregator, bizandbuzz

a reason to get a bike, a reason to get an alfa romeo?

lately we all have been following masiguy (aka tim jackson) odissey with his car.
to summerize his saturn decided to stop its service and apparently the customer care and the dealer were not able to fix it but get some money anyway.
tim, who is known for being a very nice person, got rather upset, to say the least.
and he is right.
few time ago i posted this comment about car dealers and the poor follow up to sales
http://bizandbuzz.blogspot.com/2006/10/have-you-ever-thought-at-
car-retailer.html#links

while i give all my support to tim and cross my fingers not to face such a nigthmare, i got this article from financial times talking about this issue.
sergio marchionne, the very successful ceo of fiat, the man who brought back fiat from hell and gave a boost to the whole company, gave the new brief about the relaunch of alfa romeo and the key issue of the dealers after sales support.
the process started in uk, where apparently the situation is more challenging and then will be extended to other european countries and to us.
alfa romeo is one of the most renowned brand in automotive market across the world. in the past they produced cars such as the duetto, the stylish spider. its brand is linked to fast sport cars, to the race. see the brera coupè.

why this is so crucial from an italian point of view?

1. fiat is the real last big industrial company in our country
2. it has a long history of being technically a failure
3. it appeared to be oriented to cash as soon as possible than to invest in r&d
4. did not market some great tech innnovation born there ( the common rail diesel was a fiat patent)
5. this approach marks a real turnaround in the italian mentality

if this process is successful and is extended to the other brands, fiat may become the new toyota.


am i too optimistic?

Technorati Tags: bizandbuzz, marketing, customer care, automotive, car dealer, fiat, sergio marchionne, alfa romeo, financial times, masiguy, saturn

youtube and the lost of innocence

“No, it is not only our fate but our business to lose innocence, and once we have lost that, it is futile to attempt a picnic in Eden” Elizabeth Bowen



this quote from Elizabeth Bowen does recall what's going on with youtube or, better, gootube.

do you remember the good ol' days when creative people was posting videos, generating buzz, expressing themselves?
do you remind when we all look at this small but fast growing company and asking what will be its future?
well, now we know: youtube has gone corporate.
frankly speaking no one can imagine that google would have spent so much money for philanthropic purpose but it took only few weeks to turn the site into a moneymaker machine.
is it still a social network? how long will it take before the youtube we used to know no longer exists?
the average quality level of the video is embarassing, apparently there is no censorship but the legal disclaimer said the opposite.
and in the meantime, lot of people (the young by the way) are leaving youtube for more free and less adv polluted area such as stickam, dailymotion.

is gootube* still a great place to be?

*copyright by blog maverick, see: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/12/27/ripping-on-gootube-again2/

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, google, youtube, gootube

are we looking from the correct angle?

this morning i was reading an inspiring post from darren herman.
he tells the story of how a friday evening with his girlfriend's nieces make him thinking on some topics: where ugc is created? and how important is the world off line? youtube and myspace creativity is mostly coming from offline?
the article is amazing because we often forget to look at simple things and forget that there is a whole world outside the screen of our computers.
and it's amazing because it does remind me of a lesson that my nephew (at that time 6 y.o.) teached to me. he was playing tetris at his own computer and i try to explain him the rules and that hiw way was the wrong one. his answer was : look at what a beautiful figures we can draw!

http://www.darrenherman.com/2007/01/01/
creating-content%e2%80%a6-the-traditional-or-non-traditional-way/

Technorati Tags: marketing, content creation, user generated content, creativity

saddam and the marketing trap

no one, who's not really dumb, could really believe that saddam murder video would have remain secret or censored.
and thousands of people flocked to see the last minutes of life of one of the most brutal dictator in history.
but not me. i'm not going to see the video. i'm not falling in the trap of generating traffic and advertising revenue on google or you tube to see the video.
and please do not bother me telling that this is journalism. speculating on a man's death is not journalism.
it's probably because i'm european and do not believe in the death penalty. it's probably because i feel very annoyed when looking at pinochet funeral with military parade and the church blessing.

how many times we are trapped by ethically poor brands who sell their products through sex or violence? how many times advertising agencies with poor creative approach choose tricky execution to get some publicity for low quality products?

Technorati Tags: saddam, marketing, advertising, youtube, google

the new year challenge: #1

#1: set up a definition of the freedom of speech and contents which fit with an agreed and shared vision of ethic.

in the last months there were several issues of videos, uploaded on you tube and others, reporting violence, pornography, etc.
the discussion was raised about the limit or the limitlessness of internet as far is concerning the above topics.
there are people ready to fight to keep internet a land of absolute freedom without boundaries and people who believe it's time to fix some basic rules to keep it a safe place.

old style remedies just don't work, censorship is not the answer.
there are too much money around, too much hungry people and the net is far too complex to think to control it.
let's give a look to this new york times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/technology/02net.html?ex=157680000&en=
a84f6cc6c00e25af&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink


in my personal opinion internet is a media and this means that it's not good or bad in itself.
it something upon us and it's probably something more offline than online.
what do you think?
have you any remedy ready, yet?

Technorati Tags: internet, marketing, youtube, stickam, dailymotion

friend of gavin

this is the second time that i feel the power of the community.
a friend is in trouble and the community of fellow bloggers is moving quickly.
we did not meet in person, but our minds did it.
so spread the voice and feel it.
for details: http://www.noeldavies.com/?p=31
for donation: http://www.chaosscenario.com/friends_of_gavin/
to encourage them to recover: http://www.noeldavies.com/?page_id=9

let's get lost

i'm back from two days trip to my parents'home.
it's a 1.100 km round trip. i have to cross tuscany, driving through maremma and close to florence and the chiantishire, then the hills of the appennini, and the pianura padana.
when going south back to my home i take another motorways which pass along the sea until rome. if you have seen the movie "il sorpasso" directed by dino risi, with vittorio gassman and trintignant, well that's the road i mean.

these are two of the most important motorways and people is driving back and forth going north to the mountains and going south to the sea.
every italian was on these road al least once a year.

but this time i was impressed by the number of cars with gps device. it seemed as all the drivers we met did never drive on these motorways before, nor there was clear indication of cities and direction. thousands and thousands metallic voices telling you when to turn left or right, how many meters before your next way out, which way to get home.
all of a sudden we discover ourself lost in our own way to get around, scared by the unknown streets bringing us at home.

and it looked to me as a metaphor of how we have lost or shift control of our lives.
we delegate too much to tech device or other people for what?
these commodities should deliver to us the advantage of spending time reading, chatting with friends, sharing ideas, enriching our lives.
but is it really so?

Technorati Tags: marketing, car navigation system, gps

the z-list bloggers

this meme is getting better and better.

this is the great list of the z-list bloggers.
by the way i'm in it, somewhere.

copy the list and post it in your blog.
tons of happy bloggers will flow in your blog.

enjoy.

http://blog.creativethink.com/
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman's Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That's Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman’s Blog About Surprise
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
darrenbarefoot.com
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew's Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

Technorati Tags: the viral garden, marketing, Z Listers

happy whatever you believe in

no matter what you believe in, my best wishes for great seasons' holidays.
take care of you and your families.
and do not forget about the less lucky people and animals.

g., alessandra, zen, clone

Technorati Tags: xmas, seasons' greetings

piergiorgio welby, a modern hero for the civil rights-part 2

this morning Piergiorgio Welby died.
the nature did what the men were not able to decide for.
the weird thing is that just yesterday the chairman of governative commission said he was not in critical condition: shame on you, mr. franco cuccurullo, shame on you.

this was my post early this morning.


Now I have to apologise with mr. cuccurullo.
in a press conference of late this morning, the radical party claimed to have applied euthanasia to Piergiorgio.
the md who follow the process was a friend of mine, who work in my hometown hospital.

Technorati Tags: piergiorgio welby, euthanasia

dear amazon.com

Da: store-news@amazon.com
Oggetto: Amazon.com: Send Me "Lucky"
Data: 20 dicembre 2006 13:09:46 GMT+01:00
A: gianandrea@mac.com

Hello from Amazon.com,
Thanks to the recent purchase(s) you made in the Beauty, Apparel, or Shoes stores at Amazon, you are eligible to receive a one-year subscription to the special Amazon edition of "Lucky" magazine, a $12 value. This special edition is available only to Amazon customers, and includes a special supplement, "Lucky SHOPS Amazon," which features every month a set of must-have products at Amazon as selected by the editors at "Lucky."


from: gianandrea@mac.com
to: store-news@amazon.com
re: Amazon.com: Send Me "Lucky"

dear amazon.com,
as you should know, i did not make any made any qualifying purchase in your beauty, apparel and shoes store in the last two weeks not i did it before.
i understand that my name may be in some way misleading but i can confirm to you that i'm a male, straight, and the free subscription to lucky is rather out of target.
another reason for this, is that i should live in the states to be eligible, while i do live in rome, italy, europe.
i wish to confirm to you that i'm a barnes and noble client and, after having seen this mail, i will remain their client. at least, up today, i received my books and not shoes, heels or whatever.
anyway my best season greetings to you and to your customer care.
sincerely, g.

Technorati Tags: marketing, email, amazon, e-commerce

50th and would like something different

this is my post #50!!!!
and i would liked to post something different that this story about sony flog.

but i came to read this astonishing comment:

After coming clean about the blog, Sony decided to ban further comments on the blog, no doubt in anticipation of a stream of angry complaints from readers. But at least one comment did make it past censors, coming from a person claiming to be an executive with Zipatoni, the agency that worked with Sony to create alliwantforxmasisapsp.com.

"Please know that we approached the client initially with this scenario and they said 'who cares if people find out? As long as it is funny, we do this stuff all of the time,'" the commenter wrote.

just to summarize:

1. you try to fool us
2. you were caught
3. you try to censor the net and the blogosphere
4. you don't give a damn about prospects and bloggers
5. you try to fool santa claus

shame on you!
refer to:
http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/12/15/
sony-admits-launching-fake-blog-blocks-comments/

Technorati Tags: psp, alliwantforxmasisapsp.com, sony, flogs, marketing, advertising, web 2.0, ethic

piergiorgio welby, a modern hero for the civil rights

this post as nothing to do with marketing.
this post as a lot to do with marketing, ethic, civil rights.
piergiorgio welby is an italian citizen affected by an impairing and deadly disease: muscular dystrophy.
he now fights for the right to end his life and his pain.
euthanasia is not in the provision of the italian law.
my opinion is that it should be a right for persons affected by deadly diseases.
this is his video sent to giorgio napolitano, the president of our republic.
it's in italian but disease does speak the same language everywhere in the world.
for more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6174603.stm
http://www.lucacoscioni.it/piergiorgio_welby_scrive_al_presidente_della_repubblica

Technorati Tags: marketing, ethic, civil rights, muscular dystrophy, euthanasia

customer care

my beloved nephew, giacomo, 12 y.o., plays basketball and is a huge fan of kobe.
on the 10th of december, i placed on order on the nba online store: the home jersey of the lakers with the kobe name and number. cool. the original jersey from the states!
i received two mail of confirmation and a bill of 76 usd.
today i got a mail from the store which say:

Dear Gianandrea,
We were unable to ship the item(s) below from order 12656967 due
to a lack of availability from the manufacturer. We apologize for
any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any
questions, please feel free to contact us at 1-866-746-7622 or
internationally at 1-715-261-9588.

Sincerely,
NBA/WNBA Store Customer Service

that's it?
dear NBA/WNBA Store Customer Service
get some suggestions:

a) you may offer another version of the lakers jersey (you sell six different version)
b) you may offer another item of the lakers selection of the same cost
c) you may offer other items at a discount
d) you may be quicker in checking your availability ( 6 days seems quite a long time)
e) try not to run out of stock at least on xmas

i was a first time customer and now i'm a never again customer.
sincerely,g.

Technorati Tags: customer care, shopping, christmas, online store, nba, kobe bryant

save the date: jan.20th barcamp in rome

on jan.20, 2007, there is a barcamp in rome.
for me it's a great opportunity to meet the rome and the italian bloggers community.

for more info:http://barcamp.org/RomeCamp

Technorati Tags: communication, web 2.0, rome, barcamp, social network, blogging, net economy

again and again and again....

this time the super hype psp by sony decide to tackle wall-mart. how? with a fake blog.
yes, a fake blog.
through the ad agency zipatoni (ok, you may laugh about the name) sony produced a brilliant blog named All I Want For Christmas is a PSP. the bloggers are two assholes trying to sell that they do speak a hip hop slang. i'm not mother tongue, i do live in italy, but i'm rather confident that hip hop slang is not that one. read this: "yo where all u hatas com from... juz cuz you aint feelin the flow of PSP dun mean its sum mad faek website or summ... youall be trippin."
they pretend so much that eventually got discovered. a blogger (Chris Heuer) traced the whois of the blog, reporting:

Domain Name: alliwantforxmasisapsp.com

Created on..............: Tue, Nov 14, 2006
Expires on..............: Wed, Nov 14, 2007
Record last updated on..: Tue, Nov 14, 2006

Registrant:
the ZIPATONI co.
Gregory Meyerkord
555 Washington Ave. 3rd Floor
St. Louis, MO 63101
US
Email: greg.meyerkord@zipatoni.com

come on, you pretend to be tech dudes and get caught in such a stupid way.
and by the way, the good old greg is one of the two bloggers!

for more: Adrants » Sony Takes It Up the Ass For Fake Blog

Technorati Tags: sony psp, flog, marketing, advertising, womma

tags, people, commitments

several things happened during these last days that made me think. some sad, some rewarding, some happy.
when i start posting comments at the dailyfix, lewis green was from the very first moment ome of my favourite contributor. sharp and straight on the concept with a strong sense of the business ethic. i commented on dailyfix and on his own blog. during the week end his mum died. 91 years old: not bad. but what i found really touching was how he described his relation with her. straight on the concept:

And as her only son, I remember rages and beatings and personal attacks. It was the only way she knew to teach me values. It took me 30 years to get over the pain, but the values stuck.

In these words you read only the love that a son can conceive for his mother.
the sadness in his words remind me of a blues song.
god bless your mum, lewis.
http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/2006/12/
where_has_the_t.html#comments

yesterday i've entered into second life. i wrote something about it, few weeks ago. not necessarily favourable to it. but if i want to understand it and make my mind about, damn it, i have to try sl.
there are good friends already in, ck, tim jackson, maybe other than i still do not know. the first half an hour was pure fun: try make a yourself in the virtual world. well mine virtual myself is definitely not resembling the real myself: too hairs, beautiful nose, etc.
but on january 11, there is a call for a seminar on dailyfix about sl.
yes, i know that this will help me in getting a clear idea of what sl is and how it can contribute to my business and to the business of my clients.

and last, ann handley in a today post does mention me.
this is a real reward. i start this blog few weeks ago, sometimes is good and sometimes sucks. it remind me of how the virtual myself ( Gianandrea Ra ) stroll in sl: to make it through a door i walk against the wall at least three or four times.
i'm on my way learning a lot from experienced marketers from around the world and hope this will reflect sooner or later from my blog.
thanks ann.
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2006/12/closer_to_home.html

Technorati Tags: lewis green, second life, ck, tim jackson, ann handley, dailyfix

rock the kitchen, issue #2

as the season's holidays are approaching, the weekly dinners are more and more frequent.
so be prepared for an overload of food and wine (and beer).
on wednedsday, we have a friend for dinner ( hannibal the cannibal, i suppose).
fabiana is a very good friend of us, used to work with me and two years ago went to london to be part of the starcom staff on p&g account.

entrèe king prawns on toast
main course chicken breast with mixt vegetable wok fried

entrèe take two king prawns for each person and leave the skin and the head. marinate them with a vinaigrette of oil and curry ( three table spoon olive oil and a tea spoon of curry for 8 king prawns). cut 8 slice of french bread and toast them. squeeze a tomato on the bread. in the meantime grill the king prawns for two minutes. then put a king prawn for each slice of bread, add some other vinaigrette, salt and pepper.

main course put 800 gramms of chicken breast, chopped, in the wok with a table spoon of olive oil. brown it. take away and in the same wok add another table spoon of olive oil. add the minced vegetables ( 1 red and 1 yellow pepperone, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 1 celery stalk, 1 carrot and 1 courgette). cook them for 5 minutes, then cover with beef bouillon and let cook for 20 minutes. add the chicken and allow another 10 minutes. serve with basmati rice.

offer mexican beers or aromatic white wine ( traminer)

Technorati Tags: cooking, advertising

bookworm : the new cool

ck, the most charming and coolest mind blogger in town, has developped another amazing project with Marketing Profs: the Marketing Profs Book Club.
what's that? a book club in the virtual kingdom?
yes and it's a cool idea.
get more info here:
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2006/12/move_over_oprah_we_marketers_h.html

or here:
http://www.ck-blog.com/cks_blog/marketingprofs_book_club_hosted_by_ck_1/index.html

ps: the title is copyrighted by ck

Technorati Tags: Bookworm Rule!, CK, Christina Kerley, Marketing Profs, Citizen Marketers, Book club, MarketingProfs Book Club, Marketing Book Club

why we could not live without Wal-mart

I'm always amazed to see how companies can act weirdly with their work force.
the latest example is again our friend at Wal-mart.
the company came out with a new program to say thank you to its workers.
The store manager will meet a group of 10 workers every week and the store crew will get an additional 10% extra discount for the holidays purchase.
The program includes several new perks “as a way of saying thank you” to workers, like a special polo shirt after 20 years of service and a “premium holiday,” when Wal-Mart pays a portion of health insurance premiums for covered employees.
wow, 20 years at Wal-mart and i get a brand new polo!

for more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/business/04walmart.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, wal-mart

internet, the UN and the freedom issue

the ITU, the UN agency which is the global arbiter of radio frequencies and standards, has a new boss, Hamadoun Tourè from Mali.
at his first conference he said: “I wouldn’t want to see the I.T.U. trying to take over Internet governance,”.
he stated that the ITU is the only nonpolitical place in the UN, where eventually Syria and US sign the same document.
this seem to be a good start.
this week in Honk Kong there is the ITU Telecom World, with expected attendace of 70.000 people.
for more :http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/technology/04telecom.html?ref=technology

Technorati Tags: ITU, internet, web 2.0, United Nations, telecom, ITU Telecom World

media agency, part 4

a recent article from the NYT claims that UK is the new hometown for the internet advertising money. UK is outscoring US with an amazing 10,5% share on the overall adv investment vs a 5,6%. and a lot of expectation soared that online may top tv investment in 3/4 years.
but, as always there is a but, there is an expectation of a reduction of investment as online is cheaper than traditional mass media and web 2.0 communication formats are still less expensive than mass media format.
less investment can't cope anyway with the current remuneration structure (a fee, a percentage on the total investment) but should drive agency, media and creative, and clients to negotiate new solutions.
manhours could be ok but, from a client point of view, is difficult to check it.
paid for results could be better but leave the agency in a weakness position because they do no control all the process and performance may be affected by weakness out of their control.
and from a financial point of view, with quarterly report due, this is a hell of a prediction to do: how much i'll be paid next year?

any suggestion?

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, media agency, creative agency, web 2.0, mass media

the lap dancer

yes, the milan subway is not as the new york one, nor paris or london. three lines, 50 stops and that's it.
but in the last days, it's a hot place to be for a great urban legend.
several witnesses claim they saw a girl getting into the train, removing her raincot and lap dancing in a catsuit.
the newspaper website which gave first the news almost get out of service for the click (200.000 in 12 hours) and several bloggers are spreading the virus around.
nice virus, indeed.
why a lot of marketers doesn't catch how simple is to build a hype?

Technorati Tags: subway, viral, bloggers, lap dancer

passions make us free

my good friend tim jackson posted a great article on his blog about how he races (bike race). what's great into it is that you feel the river of the passion flowing across his words.
passions make us free.
i'm 47 but i started to snowboarding one year ago and bought a kona freeride bike.
when i'm skyrocketing down a hill or a white road, that's the perfect moment.
the moment when our inner part shows at its best.
but it's the passion that i feel when i talk about wine or art.
too many, you may say, not so much i would argue.
and passion is the real added value we can put on the table on our day by day life, to mark the difference in doing a job or in living it. and that's something that the discerning clients and customers clearly perceive.
live you passions.

http://masiguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/why-do-i-race.html

Technorati Tags: passion, snowboard, freeride, bike

psiphon yourself

do you live in a country where internet is seen as a kick in the ass? where wikipedia is a monster enemy? where the information is under control?
well a first answer to get out of this madness is on its way.
psiphon.
it comes from the university of toronto and is going to be released on dec.1.
how it works?
if living in a country without censorship, you download the application and turn your pc into an access point. the unlucky guys living in restricted access countries, log on with an encrypted connection and surf freely.
it can work for circle of people and it won't be easy to spread it around but at least it works.

Technorati Tags: internet, web 2.0, censorship, psiphon

this ad rocks!

get linked here and enjoy!
sorry madams, men only.
anyway this is a great, cool way to go viral and get engaged!

http://www.lynxblow.com/

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, viral marketing, web 2.0

the beauty of seeming effortless

i went through this seth godin post and i cannot agree on his conclusion.
it may be correct the perfect companies do not exist, that perfect place to work does not exist, but it's clearly part of a marketing effort to look better and effortless.
i believe that no one can really think that apple do no struggle to keep its place in the market, and so it is the same for starbuck, etc.
perfection comes at a cost but it reward a lot more than ugliness.
the effort of any company should be to seem effortless and creative, even if they sell tyres.
and tell me, frankly, if you have to choose to work for a leader what will be your choice, then? wall-mart?

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/6965560

Technorati Tags: marketing, advertising, apple, starbucks, wall-mart

why do always bother you?

is marketing sometime boring? do we read too much bs around?
i decided to open a weekly window on something more funny: the dinner of the week.
i'm rather good at cooking (it means that up today none of my guests went to the hospital or died for :-))) and at least once a week a invite some friends for a dinner.
tonight: all meat (sad for vegetarian, but next week i'll find something for you too)

entreè paella of chick peas and sausage
main course fillet in crosta of dried tomatos and almonds
wine 2003 pinot noir from chanson pere et fils (burgundy)

entreè coarse chop the sausage and brown it without any dressing. take it away from the pan. put in the same pan some olive oil and onion, red pepperone and a tomato (all the three minced). when start to brown add the rice and make it lightly toasted. then add some beef bouillon, wine, paprika and saffron. let it cook for 15 minutes, covered. then add chick peas and the sausage and adjust salt and pepper. let it cook for an additional 10 minutes. when ready serve it in small quantity with minced parsley.

main course prepare a puree with dried tomatos and add the minced almonds. cover the higher side of the fillet. put in the oven warmed up at 220° for 15 minutes. serve with romana lettuce.

what you need to feed four people:
the entreè 250 g of sausage, one onion, one red pepperone, one tomato, 280 g of rice, paprika, beef bouillon, saffron, one glass of white wine, 250 g of chick peas, parsley, olive oil, pepper and salt

the main course 4 fillet of 200 g each, 4 table spoon of dried tomatos and 4 of almonds, salt and pepper, romana lettuce.


enjoy!

Technorati Tags: cooking, advertising, marketing

is copyright the killer app to user generated content websites?

part 2:
maybe not if the majors acknowledge that they have to learn to swim in the digital stream.

at the Future of Television Forum at New York University's Stern School of Business, David Poltrack, CBS's chief research officer, said that "If they're [consumers] going to steal it, give it to them anyway," he said. "But also make it easier to access and present it better than YouTube or BitTorrent or anywhere else."
adage reports
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=113262

Technorati Tags: you tube, digital world, bittorrent, ipod, itunes, high definition tv

best clients?

these are my two dogs, zen and clone. both recovered from the streets. solid companions went through several changes in my life. they are always pushing me to get up early in the morning, to get out of home no matter the weather, to walk and run five minutes more than the previous day, to explore and be curious, to know other dogs and owners, to talk and share knowledge and information, to spread the information about dogs' food, veterinary, etc.
they do reward me with friendship, loyalty, caring. a rather high remuneration, isn't it?
do our client pay the right money for all the above?

any client like this one?

" i spent a really sad afternoon with a model with a glazed face, trying to push some life into her. after that it was totally worthless and i was totally disappointed." this is a letter that henry matisse wrote to a friend on june 1941.
how many times you felt like this after a presentation or a meeting with clients and/or partner advertising agencies?
how many time you had the feeling that the audience around the table just cannot get the point and were wasting your time?

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, audience

is copyright the killer app to user generated content websites?

since the world has learned that my space and you tube and these sites were not on line for a cultural purpose but to make money (ie since a big company with deep pocket bought it), their staff more under pressure are the legals.
the majors, music and movie majors, got into the playground to close a deal with them or to sue them.
what i found great is that the latest legal action against my space, which came from universal, is considered by the major as a test to provision of the federal laws.
marketing vox reported:
http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/11/20/universal_music_sues_myspace_for_copyright_infringement/index.php

did news corp or google get into the user generated content arena too late?
did they pay too much money now that they have to share advertising revenue with all other majors?

Technorati Tags: my space, you tube, copyright, money, advertising

google, you tube and the corporate responsibilities

few days ago, a blogger found on google video a clip with some students beating up a young with the down syndrome.
after that, google removed the video and the story went into a court and the students were detected and kicked out from the school.
on la repubblica, the major italian daily, vittorio zambardino, a journalist and blogger, posted in his blog titled scene digitali (the digital scene) a very interesting article on tuesday, 14 november, and one of saturday, 18 november. the both generated more than 200 comments (really a lot) with some interesting results:

- there is a certain confusion about the medium and the message.
some people say that if google did not displayed the video no one would have known it. other say that they should have call the police
- internet is a free land without boundaries and with no rules and censorship
- some people do not get the point that google, as most of the companies on line, are there to make money
- internet is no longer a place where you may hide yourself. you can be tracked in all you time spent online
- there is a call for a civil reaction
- schools are in danger to become a land with no rules
- technology is amplifying everything as never before
- the user generated content business model calls for a higher control from the companies to avoid illegal contents to hit the net

http://zambardino.blogautore.repubblica.it/

it's all in italian but worth to give a look.
i'm available for support in traslation.

Technorati Tags: google video, google, you tube, internet, web 2.0

the beauty system claims another victim

a 21 y.o. model from brazil, ana carolina reston died for anorexia in san paulo.
she was working for some of the most important model agencies, like ford, elite and equipe. at the moment of her decease, her weight was 88 for a 5,8 height.
r.i.p.

Technorati Tags: beauty system, fashion system, anorexia

and they call it summer

this is a special post for masiguy.
mid august at les deux alpes.

Technorati Tags: mountain biking, freeride, les deux alpes

media agency part 3

the crucial question coming from part 2 is: would not be possible to structure the business in a wiser way?
you invest on people and resources and infrastructure and then the client leave and you have to shut premises and loose talents and money.
the entire process involving media agency is in three main steps:

- strategy
- planning (delivering media plan)
- buying

- strategy must remain in house as it is the core of the business
- buying could be appointed to a buying center common for more than one agency (let's consider that today the big players do own at least two media agency each) to exploit any volume benefit, where available
- planning activity could be deployed to separated companies as for the buying.

what if omd built a company for buying and one for planning for all their media agencies?

groups of buyers and of planners, that you can shift from one account to another if you loose a client. on such big numbers of clients, the chance to fire people is definitely lower and this approach makes easier to retain and invest on them.

the other advantage is to change the remuneration structure with a cost per each service and eventually a higher recognition for the most valuable service, such as strategy.

too complicated? or too simple?

Technorati Tags: media agency, advertising, marketing

media agency, part 2

i come back on the media agency world.
recent clients' move has highlighted another of the key weakness of the current structure of the media agency (as well of the adv and marketing agency overall).
many local branches are open to serve a major client only. you know the big clients ask for an office in borat's country, too.
but when they shift the account into other agency, local branch do normally close the premise and fire the employees: elvis has left the building.
and then?
don't you think that it may be possible to strucure the business in a wiser way?

Technorati Tags: media agency, advertising, marketing, borat

an ipsos mori reasearch run in europe on 2.200 interviews provided some interesting results.

- 90% of the french say they are familiar with blogs
- 58% of the italians, 55% of the germans and 51% of the spanish claim familiarity with online diaries
- britons are at 50%
- about a third of the europeans inteviewed said they has been put off making a purchase after negative comments on blogs, while 52% said they bought something after positive reviews.

as trusted information source:

newspaper 30%
blogs 24%
tv adv 17%
emailing 14%

for some more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061111/wr_nm/britain_blogs_dc

Tags: blog, advertising, information, newspapers, tv, email marketing

a couple of days ago, ann handley in the blog daily fix posted an article dogged by dodgy ads. some mail systems do use tune-up that match advertising with email content. this sometimes proves to generate mismatch and weird effect.
most of the readers and bloggers complained about the poor screening capability from supposed cutting edge sites.
today on la repubblica, the major italian newspaper, there is an article about a problem on google video.
under the category funny video an asshole posted a video in which some others assholes are beating a poor boy with the down syndrome in a classroom.
fact is the no one in google take care of what happened until three days ago someone got the video to a judge who order to remove it immediately.
now, several hundreds persons downloaded the video before anyone took an action.
how it can happen?
no one in google video is running some screening about what it is posted?
the association of the parents of down kids has sued google.

Tags: daily fix, google video, down syndrome

the italian minister for the politic about youths, giovanna melandri, has taken action against the catwalk displaying models too thin.
she asked to the fashion companies to collaborate and to not have anorexic models on the catwalk.
she pointed out that she doesn't want to force anybody right now but only asked for cooperation.
any further action could be taken after the next fashion shows in february.

Tags: eating disorder, marketing, obesity

internet has played a big role in the us mid term election.
the two parties anyway approached the medium in very different way in terms of planning and tone of the communication.
rimm-kaufman group released a study on this.
even if in italy internet is not so spread as in the us and the politic parties seems rather illiterate on the matter, this is a topic than will become more and more important in the next polls. so give a look and try to learn something.

http://rimmkaufman.com/articles/election06/index.html

Tags: internet, political election, mid term election, polls

ooops. since youtube has become part of google empire, traffic flattened.
according to alexa and the related graph.
reason why:
- young people do not like much big corporation?
- the copyright infringement that force to take away a bunch of funny clips (eg comedy central)?
- the feeling that youtube is no longer a playground but a business area?
- the feeling of being betrayed in a free trade zone?

any suggestion?

today starts the euroblog 2007 research for practitioner in pr and communication.
fill up the form.
and, by the way, give a look at the 2006 results in the pdf

http://www.unipark.de/uc/euroblog2007/

womma has put under review edelman's membership for a trial period of 90 days.
adage reports.
from my point of view, this move could be fair if it really helps in making clear the rules are written to be followed.
i do believe that edelman is smart enough to avoid other mismatch (hope so).

http://adage.com/article?article_id=112947

i don't know if you have may same feeling when approaching a client or looking at strategies implemented to launch products.
i feel around a lot of fear. people is scared by the danger of failure or loosing the job.
when you work with subsidiaries, there is a shift of responsibility bottom up: if the hq decided so why i should challenge them (even if i know they are wrong!).
everybody looks at the competitors and what they have done ready to replicate it.
i'm afraid that doing so companies are loosing a lot of opportunity and a lot of talented people who rather prefer to focus on an honorable career than on setting milestones in the business.
what about you?

today i went through a post from lewis green about how movie market is not investing in internet.

http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/2006/11/thick_as_a_bric.html#comment-24936145

some interesting data

If the MPAA has it right, those under 30 are far more likely to be frequent moviegoers than are those 30 and older, and nearly half of all 18-to-20-year-olds saw one or more movies per month in 2005. eMarketer says that 73.7% of 12-to-17-year-olds in the US currently use the Internet, and projects that 83.9% will by 2010.

italy is still far from this penetration but how it happens that the movie launch is still going through tv campaign at high coverage ( and i do mean high coverage, not high target coverage), outdoor in the main cities, some radio and a little bit of internet?
why it is so hard to have these people to change their mind and try something different?
this should be the world of dream, right?
this should be the world of imagination, right?
this should be the world where creative people works to sell us fantastic stories, right?
why they sell them as fmcg?

womma has published the ethical blogger contact guidelines.
for reference see:

http://www.womma.org/blogger/read/

it's more than a need for everybody in the market to get guidelines so that in the future no on can say i did not know it.

do you remind of the ck post about beauty and marketers'responsibility and all the comments?
i found this great ad. what do you think about?

if this story of false blogs should proliferate, in a short time we may see a new professional profile arise: the flogbusters!!!
flogbusters united.

oops, they did it again!
apparently another big company has been found flogging.
the consumerist reports that something strange with mcdmillionwinner and 4railroads.
adrants is quoting the news too.

here it is the link:

http://www.adrants.com/2006/10/following-walmart-mcdonalds-caught-with-f.php