Can you give your customers away?

This of all relationships was the most personal and close to home – my entire financial data and life – was simply passed on to someone I didn’t know – and I was told after the event. … I got a (very) strangely written form letter – it didn’t say so, but I got the impression that they were being obliged to close down by Ford – which said that there were two alternative Ford dealers close by.

Smart Marketing Bose

They are a nice device and work well on aeroplanes (I got them after leaving TWO pairs of in ear noise-reduction headsets on aircraft inadvertently – never to be seen again).

…And it is clear that if you can get customers to try – especially when corralled for a long time in a perfect trial environment – they will buy.

Renault in Los Angeles

I was in the UK this week – I’m always fascinated to watch the TV ads and see the differences in approach between the UK and the US. One ad that really grated was a Renault car ad – it will become clear why! The premise of that ad is a tour bus taking visitors…

Just Lucky?

On the subject of brands, and especially the change (or abandonment) of a brand identity and the adoption of a new persona. I’m struck by the difference in approaches between two recent prominent examples. In California, Albertsons bought out Lucky stores and merged them all under their own name. Recently however, they have changed back…

Exceptional Customer Focus

I tried out Filemaker’s new personal database, Bento, and am not only delighted with the $49 product, but also the service and support. All this in spite of some really, really horrible messups that would usually be reported here in much stronger terms. The story: I downloaded the preview version and was impressed enough to…

Respect!

I’ve been an admirer and customer of Nordstrom for many years and have always loved the service. I’ve bought Faconnable clothes there and at the Faconnable flagship store in New York. I’d always suspected a strong connection between the two, as the receipts form the NY store (which is exclusively Faconnable) carried the Nordstrom name….

With good grace….

Happy New Year (singular, I am after all, a Brit. and we celebrate the singular not the plural!) Subway has some great commercials around, and as part of my sensible eating regime (It IS a New Year) I have been walking from my office to the local Subway and back and buying the ‘Sub of…

KQED the last word?

It’s interesting how much I enjoy the programming of NPR and how much I abhor the commercial / process side of what has become a large, impersonal, disconnected corporation. I keep ‘making allowances’ and finding excuses on KQED’s behalf, and then they work extra hard to show that they are totally disconnected. This is my…

It’s hard to believe….

It’s hard to believe that I am still having issues with KQED, but I am! They started billing my (dormant, which brings plenty of additional issues with it) credit card again! I fought my way through a horrible voicemail system (‘If these menu options haven’t helped, please call back later’, huh?) to a real person…

Discount or not?

Peet’s has a great system for its coffee card; when you put at least $20 credit on it, you get a $1 discount. Not much, but a token that, at least for me, is a good way of saying ‘Thanks’. However, adding credit at the same time as buying coffee seems fraught! I’m not sure…