Bussroot Blog

Way back in April 2010, when the Olympics still seemed to be a distant date in the future, I posted a blog about the financial penalities for the use of Ambush Marketing. Recent updates have brought into focus just how stringent the control for unauthorised advertising will be. 

Hands up anyone who is working on a marketing strategy to capitalise on the 2012 Olympic Games? Ah ha! Are you one of the 86% of companies who aren’t aware of the Government bill prohibiting adverts linked by association of words to the Games? The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has passed legislation supposedly with the intention of safeguarding the official sponsors’ financial investment and protecting the Olympic brand. So no use will be allowed of the words medal, gold, games, London, summer, silver or bronze in conjunction with 2012, two thousand and twelve or twenty twelve. The Olympic motto is also protected with the restriction on the use of Citius, Altius, Fortius/Faster, Higher, Stronger. Have you reached for the Tippex yet? 

They say that there will still be opportunities for UK business to benefit, but apparently this has to be ‘behind closed doors’! Even that is restricted, as any company contracted to work on an Olympic project will have to sign a confidentiality agreement and internal communication with staff will be limited. Perhaps we should prepare to be creative with code words, Operation O etc. Breaches to the bill are threatened with a fine of £20,000 with unlimited fines for more serious cases, presumably with the intention of dissuading companies who stand to profit more from the advertising campaign than they would lose in a fine. With official partners British Airways and BP having committed 700 million pounds to secure official partnerships, a £20,000 fine for using a ‘billboard body’ may appear to be a bargain. It’s estimated that 4 billion viewers will tune into the broadcasted events, which equates to two thirds of the world’s entire population. However, before you prepare to strip off for the good of your brand and run naked with your company website written across your chest, (or entice someone to do it for you), the rules are currently with the unelected Upper House of Lords, with proposals to impose a jail sentence for lawbreakers. Maybe not such a good idea? 

Ambush, or gorilla marketing has been used effectively during major sporting events in the past. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Kodak sponsored the TV coverage on the games and the US Track event team, while Fuji was the official sponsor. Fuji had their revenge when they ambushed Kodak’s sponsorship of the 1988 Games in Seoul. It may not be strictly ethical to jump onto the bandwagon but is it fair that goliath-sized multi-national brands have the advantage over small businesses with limited budgets? Don’t work on a strategy to turn up at the Games with your staff wearing Company logo’d t-shirts, hoping to be caught on camera, that’s not permitted either. Leave the branded hats and umbrellas behind, or you risk having them confiscated. 

We’re told that the intention of the Bill is to prevent businesses unfairly cashing in on the Olympics by implying they have some form of association or link with the Games. This follows the example in Sydney when they hosted the 2000 Olympics. The Government says they want to adopt a proportionate common sense approach. No problem there then!

It might be wise to be wary if you plan to feature your key staff as 2012 ‘Gold medal’ winners. You may just get a knock on the door from the Sponsor police. They need to recoup at least some of the £400,000 spent on the design of the Olympic logo!

In this digital age that we’re now living in, have we lost the art of verbal communication? When was the last time you had the full attention of the person you were talking to without being interrupted by chirping text alerts, or the tapping of outgoing messages? 

Without a doubt, technology is harming our basic ability to listen. We’re easily distracted, burying our heads in laptops and iPads, mobiles and on social media sites. There was a discussion running recently on whether dinner party hosts should be offended if a guest chatted on the phone during the meal. It’s concerning that we may even consider it to be acceptable…but it happens. I’m talking about social chat, not the urgent call that may come from the babysitter or from a neighbour warning that the house is on fire! Presumably we believe that talking into a tiny hand-held device is discreet enough to be acceptable. Would we feel as comfortable if we were holding a mobile phone the size of a brick with an aerial long enough to poke our dinner companion in the eye? 

In business, we may well be losing the emotional connection, invaluable in cementing a long term working relationship. We email when we could easily pick up a telephone and avoid personal meetings by communicating via Skype and MSN, using the excuse that we’re saving valuable time. We panic when the internet goes down or our mobile service fails to provide us with a strong signal. A recent university study in Tel Aviv determined that excessive use of the internet and associated applications has similarities with other obsessive behaviour, including sex addiction, compulsive gambling or kleptomania. 

If we allow it to, technology can easily get in the way of our relationships and leave both friends and business associates believing that we have little interest in them. Ikea, who are no doubt familiar with couples showing a lack of communication when walking around their stores together, carried out a recent study on technetronics in the bedroom, concluding that a high percentage of couples continue to use their laptops after they get into bed. Amazingly Facebook now figures high in the reasons given for divorce with one in five citing the social media site for the major cause of the marriage breakdown. I know of one couple who communicate by computer during the evening sitting in different rooms, while the teenage son sends orders by text for snacks to be delivered upstairs. Will the next generation lose the ability and the inclination to engage in personal conversation, preferring to interact remotely through the internet?

We may or may not be forgiven anti-social behaviour within our family, but when it comes to communicating in business we’re led to believe that 55% is down to body language, 38% in the tone of voice and only 7% in the words we use. If this is the case, the less we meet face to face with our clients, the weaker the message we’re hoping to deliver will be.  We need to find the time to talk in person and to avoid outside interruptions while we do so. In the words of the 18^th Century theologian  Joseph Priestly, “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate”. Surely the least we can give someone is the gift of our attention. Let’s talk.

I had a wrestling match in the kitchen this morning, but not I might add with someone resembling the Incredible Hulk. I was grappling with a plastic carton which was proving to be impossible to open. Optimistically, I had attempted to prise it apart with my fingers, followed by a futile attempt at frenzied stabbing with a pair of scissors and then hacking into it with a carving knife. This carton just wasn’t going to give up its contents. Does this sound familiar? 

Is it my imagination or are we having to pit ourselves against an increasing amount of impenetrable packaging? The Australian state of Victoria hosts the Golden Dump Award for the most excessive use of packaging material. Dump by the way stands for ‘Dangerous and Useless Materials in Packaging’. My complaint isn’t just about the over use of plastic, it’s as much about the irritation of having to battle to get into it. Short, slippery pull tabs that are impossible to grab hold of, bottles hermetically sealed that even your multi-purpose Swiss army knife wouldn’t open and boxes that are virtually bullet proof. Useless packaging must be high on the causes of the increase in consumers stress levels. 

Have you noticed how deceiving packaging can be? Giant size plastic containers in supermarkets hide mini portions for a premium price, that wouldn’t satisfy the hunger of a mouse. Easter eggs housed in enormous boxes usually contain a few mouthfuls of chocolate and leave us feeling cheated. Graphics on packaging are often guilty of faking proportions, leading us to believe we’ll get value for money when the reality is quite different. Surely design concepts should be developed with the end user in mind and in making the consumer feel good about buying the product. Designers should take into account that someone will actually need to open the package. We’re frustrated by packaging which doesn’t meet our needs and statistics show that 67% of consumers will choose the product with the least packaging when given a choice. Personally I don’t want to see an apple encased in a giant plastic bubble. It doesn’t need to be given room to breathe! Britain uses more packaging than anywhere else in Europe. In Switzerland and Germany customers have the option of leaving the unwanted packaging behind at the checkout, to be returned to the manufacturers. The only snag may be in removing the packaging without holding the queue up for half and hour or so! 

Apart from the fact that the environment pays dearly for all this over-packaging, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of breaking and entering. Could we please have packets in proportion and that don’t take the skills of Houdini to open?

How many times do you feel you’ve been mislead and let down in an advertisement, especially when ordering from the internet? This may well become less frequent  now that the digital world has come under the remit of the Advertising Standards Authority with strict new codes, bringing it in line with off-line advertising. 

This is good news for the consumer but is something of a wake up call for companies to ensure that websites are ASA compliant. The new regulations call for all online retailing, advertising, sales promotions and direct marketing to be accurate and honest about a product or service. Claims that promise to double your income, are risk free, or advertise schemes that will deliver overnight results are outlawed. A guaranteed delivery assurance has to show clearly under what conditions this may not be met. Bait and switch offers where an advertised product is no longer available and a higher priced item substituted will contravene the new code. If the special offer is no longer valid it should be removed from the website. The ASA by the way, doesn’t differentiate between marketing which sets out to deceive you from that which unintentionally fails to reflect the true facts and leaves the consumer with the wrong impression.   

The regulations state that a company should avoid exaggerating statements and must hold documentary evidence supporting claims of how much a consumer can save by purchasing a product or service. So called ‘testimonials’ displayed on a web page will be closely scrutinised for validity. Viewing a new website recently for a local care home which isn’t due to open for another month, showed testimonials from a ‘relative’ enthusing on how well Dad is being looked after, and another on how friendly and welcoming the staff are on every visit. As the home isn’t yet operational and has no residents, this is an obvious contravention of the ASA code. Customer reviews and testimonials have to be supported with written evidence of the recommendation and the name and address of the person supplying the testimonial must be available on request. 

Now we come to the social media platforms! The new regulations for online marketing also includes all unpaid advertising and marketing communication through networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube or Linkedin which is under your control. You are now longer free to post derogatory comments about a competitor (as if you would)! The code states “Marketers must not unfairly portray or refer to anyone in an adverse or offensive way unless that person has given the marketer written permission to allow it”. That’s unlikely to happen then!

 Where does it leave those of us with a website? The regulations came into force earlier this year on March 1st and companies have been given 6 months from this date to comply or face being named and shamed, have their paid-for search advertising removed and the ASA may place advertisements online highlighting an advertiser’s non-compliance. Essentially this would mean that if your company name was typed into one of the Search Engines the warning about your false or misleading marketing would come up first. Bear in mind that Google have donated considerable seed funding to the implementation of the new regulations. 

It’s essential that you read through the code  thoroughly and then review your website copy ensuring you’re able to back-up all of your claims. Remove anything which you can’t substantiate or which you believe falls into a grey area, or for peace of mind have a professional health-check carried out on all of your website copy.

Honesty will definitely be the best policy!

We all love special offers don’t we? How often though can we trust them to live up to their promise? There’s a very wise piece of advice that if something appears to be too good to be true, it probably is. Nothing causes loss of confidence in a company or a brand more than when they fail to deliver on their word. 

A promotion which falls flat on its public face is often referred to now as the Hoover effect. In 1992 the British Division of Hoover when faced with the predicament of how to reduce the surplus stock of washing machines and vacuum cleaners in their warehouse, came up with a marketing plan to offer a free pair of round trip tickets for flights to Europe for every sale over £100. The response was completely underestimated and to add to the fiasco, Hoover were unaware of the looming disaster and proceeded to enhance the offer by introducing a second promotion offering return flights to the USA. The company were immediately flooded with applications to redeem coupons and it became impossible to keep up with the demand. It cost Hoover close to 50 million pounds and involved a lengthy court case, spearheaded by the Hoover Holidays Pressure Group.

 You may be curious as to why I’ve resurrected the 20 year old account of a failed marketing campaign. I’ve used it as an example of how, if a company fails to calculate the consumer’s positive or negative response to a special offer, the cost in both damage to the brand reputation and loss of profits can be immeasurable. The promotion currently running in a national tabloid newspaper is a prime example. The launch of a new ‘rewards club’ requires readers to purchase the weekend editions over a number of weeks, register membership online and send in a series of coupon codes for a variety of £5 gift vouchers to be redeemed in supermarkets, petrol stations, restaurants etc. It sounds fairly simple doesn’t it? Apart for the fact that the marketing team presumably underestimated the number of uptakes, with launch vouchers still sitting in the warehouse after several weeks due to an ‘unexpected level of demand’. Another fatal error when you’re offering your customer a good deal is to fail to make it clear what the terms and conditions are. If you try to wriggle out of what the consumer believes to be a perfectly legitimate claim, it’s hardly going to put the company in a good light. In a number of newspapers the coupons were missing. An instruction advised readers to call a designated number ‘today’ for a coupon code (at the callers own cost), with no date. If you didn’t read your magazine supplement until a day or two later you’d have missed the deadline for claiming the missing code, with just a pre-recorded message telling you ‘today’ referred to Sunday only. Their mistake, your loss. Admittedly not likely to result in a court claim, but aggrieved readers on mass may well reduce sales. 

A special offer as with any product or service has to live up to the brand promise or your consumers will feel they’ve been hoodwinked. Your market audience may not come baying for your blood, but they may well lose confidence and take their business elsewhere. Now has anyone got that missing voucher code?

I came across a discussion recently on whether business cards are a thing of the past and should join the obsolete items along with telex machines and comptometers. Anyone remember them?  Or hand-written personal letters. You don’t see many of those now either, apart from the thankyou letter you may send your granny when she’s knitted you a balaclava or a pair of gloves during a cold snap. That’s called ‘good manners’. Although these days Granny may now be too busy surfing the net!

 If business cards were banned, (I’m asking you to use your imagination here), would you miss them? I can guess that many of you will claim that technology has replaced the need to hand out cards when the contact details can be scanned into an iphone, blue tooth etc. This leaves me out in the cold then with my basic mobile phone, an ancient Nokia that I’m as comfortable with as an old pair of slippers. So for those of us who can’t scan or input and download, how professional are we going to appear if we scribble our details down on a scrap of paper or the back of a cigarette packet? Thinking about it, there aren’t many cigarette packets around now to scribble on either! 

The visiting card began its life in 15^th Century China and arrived in Europe in the 17^th Century in the form of trade cards, usually with a map showing directions to the business address due to the fact that buildings generally weren’t numbered. The Japanese still treat business cards with time-honoured respect and consider them to be a sign of professional credibility. If Japan is seen as one of the most advanced in modern technology, maybe it’s significant that the Japanese never attend a meeting without them. They accept the card you’ve offered them with both hands, ceremonially. You’ll never see them scribble on it, flip it across the table or fiddle and fidget with it while they’re talking to you. If you stuff the card they’ve given you into your back pocket it’s considered the equivalent of sitting on them. This card represents their standing within the company. Disrespect the card and you disrespect them. 

I believe that we’re missing an important point when we talk about business cards being redundant. Above all, I believe they should be treated as a valuable marketing tool and an extension of the brand message. If we trust the law of seven touches or points of contact before a brand is registered subconsciously for future recognition, then surely the business card must play an important part, together with emails, direct mail, other advertising mediums and social media etc. This is assuming the design is appealing and clearly says what you do and who you are, giving all points of reference. Is your card memorable and does it stand out from the rest? 

I’m a tactile person. I like to hold the card I’ve been given and refer to it when I’m back in the office. If the design on the card is distinctive, I can instantly recall the meeting, when it was given to me and who it belonged to. If you leave me with your business card I’ll treat it with respect and although the collection may be growing rapidly, I promise it won’t end up in the bin. You don’t even have to be Japanese!

The scepticism surrounding networking which frequently surfaces makes me smile. We hold a relaxed business get together once a month for local people on Twitter who want to meet up face to face and we call it ‘Cruddle’. It’s held in a quaint country pub where the regulars are understandably protective of their territory and wary of outsiders. A conversation overheard at a recent meeting went something like this; “Who are that lot over there?”. The whispered response, “N.e.t.w.o.r.k.e.r.s”, resulted in a knowing look, a nodding of the head and an equally low-toned reply of “Ah! Networkers!”, firmly setting us aside as something more than a little ‘strange’. 

Now I have to confess I’m a networking devotee. As someone who dreaded cold calling, it has aided my escape from being confronted by a Rottweiler or similar deterrent guarding the door to the decision maker preventing any likelihood of making contact. Networking events are (usually) Rottweiler-free and even if your ideal client doesn’t attend the same meeting as you, there’s a fair chance that someone in your group is able to give you an introduction and referral. It’s not always about the business done and dusted on the day, but more about the potential of being put in touch with the right people at the right time. Generally speaking fellow networkers don’t bite. 

However, if you want to get the most out of networking, you need to be generous. That doesn’t mean offering the people sitting at your table a share of your breakfast, or buying a round of drinks at the bar. It’s about being on receive and not only using the transmit button when you’re engaging in conversation. There’s nothing more irritating when you’re given a designated 10 minute slot to chat with someone, only to find they use the entire time to sell you a service or product without asking a single question about your business. Admittedly it takes conscious effort to develop good listening skills in the same way in which there’s an art to being a good speaker. I love the William Jennings Bryant quotation; ‘Two people in a conversation amount to four people talking. The four are what one person says, what he really wanted to say, what his listener heard, and what he thought he heard.’ Although establishing business relationships within a group takes time to build an element of trust, this inevitably results in a network of ambassadors who will essentially help you to expand your business contacts, while you in turn help them to expand theirs. 

These observations should in no way be perceived as discrimination against Rottweilers, some of whom I’m sure are the gentlest of dogs. It should also be noted that although networkers may not bite, even friendly ‘puppy dogs’ are known to bark aggressively if you’ve caught them on a particularly stressful day. In this case, it may actually be wise to share your breakfast or offer them a drink. Give and take. That’s what good networking’s about isn’t it?

By sheer co-incidence the subject of cross-selling came up several times this week, along with a discussion on ‘opportunity’ during a networking breakfast, which prompted me into giving both more thought. As one would expect when companies are experiencing challenging times within their niche business, some reach outwards in an attempt to capture a larger share of the market. 

It’s becoming increasingly common to see businesses making the most of an existing service by offering add-on compatible services and products, enhancing the value of the brand. Recently we’ve seen a local florist open a café integral with the shop and a pet store with an on-site veterinary practitioner. This is by no means a new concept. During the recession in the late 1980’s and the early 1990’s, when retail sales were depressed, the Garden Centre industry in particular seized the opportunity to branch out into a wider area of retailing. Previously known in the main for simply selling plants and plant products many became an attractive venue to spend leisure time, with an in-store restaurant, gift department, special events and gardening seminars delivered by experts. The introduction of cross-selling of new products and innovative services gave them an advantage over the increasing competition from supermarket and DIY chains who had also moved into the market by opening plant areas within their stores. Plant nurseries, often owned by second or third generation family growers, became astute retailers, adapting to the needs of their customers, offering a one-stop shop for the leisure market. 

The horticultural industry is a prime example of how by branching out and seizing an opportunity and giving the customer what they need, rather than simply what we want to sell them, secures repeat custom and enhances the value of our core business. This doesn’t have to be limited to retail. Bussroot has been approached by so many clients asking for tips on how to get up and running on Twitter that we now offer one-to-one mini tutorials on joining the Twitterati and starting to tweet.

 It’s not simply about the shoe shop selling polish when you buy a new pair of shoes. You’d be happy for them to offer you a cup of coffee while you’re waiting wouldn’t you? To quote the Greek orator and statesman Demosthenes; “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises”.

Reading a report the other day about the demise of Britain’s High Street retail stores triggered a thought that we may be moving full circle in our shopping habits. The French have a saying which sums it up well; ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, or ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same’. When I was growing up (not all that long ago of course!) the self-service supermarket was a new and exciting concept imported from America. In 1951, the first supermarket under the Premier brand opened in Streatham in South London, taking £1,000 at the tills in the first week, when the average weekly revenue for a grocery story would have been £98! 

Until then, shoppers relied on local suppliers, selling fresh and often locally sourced produce and hardware stores with a myriad of miscellany and DIY fixtures and fittings. Offering a personal service, butchers, fishmongers and bakers delivered daily. Hot Cross buns arrived at the door still warm from the oven on Good Friday morning and we visited local nurseries to pick our own tomatoes straight from the vine or a nearby farm for eggs laid that day. Our milkman delivered bottled milk to our doorsteps as regular as clockwork. We didn’t need ‘Sell by dates’ and these weren’t phased in until 1980 and ‘use by dates’ were only introduced in 1990. Relatively few families owned a car. 

With the growth of the superstore, we began to shop as a herd. In through the automatic doors, tracking our way around the aisles with the crowd filling our trolleys with food we’ll probably never eat before it exceeds it’s expiry date and then queuing impatiently at tills displaying signs with ‘basket only’, 10 items of fewer, self-scan only, or even more frustrating ‘this check-out is now closing’. We’ve probably used up half a tank of fuel to make the return journey. 

The latest statistics show that 15% of shops throughout the UK are now empty. For those who can’t face the parking, the traffic congestion and the uninspiring experience of High Street or out-of-town superstore shopping, the internet with the convenience of buying online from the comfort of the home has provided a solution. Fully functional e-commerce websites have been and without a doubt will continue to be the saviour of both the large corporate retailers and those with a niche product.

However, if the writing is on the wall for the end of the High Street CD or book stores, this promises to be the ideal opportunity for ‘old style’ retailing and a re-birth of the butcher, the baker and even the candlestick maker and for home delivery. The style of retailing and advertising is changing and for anyone with the ability to spot new trends and to provide an appealing place to shop that’s different, innovative and tailored to the customer’s needs, the future’s rosy. I’d give up my reward points for a taste of nostalgia. Wouldn’t you?

One of my favourite poems ‘How They Brought The Good News From Ghent to Aix’,  written in 1838 by Robert Browning, begins with the line “I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three”. The fictitious incident telling of the news which alone could save Aix in Flanders from its fate came into my mind when I decided to put down a few thoughts on customer complaints. 

Way back in Browning’s time all news; both good and bad took an age to reach the intended audience. Now, with no need to saddle up, the message travels at a lightening speed, by email, internet and the viral medium of the social media sites.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon has said that if you make six customers unhappy, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make six customers unhappy who have access to the internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends globally. It makes sense that if the complainers had been offered support for the problem when it occurred it’s unlikely they would have felt the need to tell the world about how unsatisfied they are. Poor customer service is like a smoldering fire waiting to ignite and spread out of control if it’s not checked. Statistically it’s said that you only need two or three negative comments to change a consumer’s mind about your service or product. 

Staff who may not be directly involved in selling still need to be aware of the value they can add when engaging with the customer. Exceptional service begins at the first touch point, often with a telephone call. If the initial response is offhand or brusque, the caller is likely to assume that this is an indication of the poor level of service throughout the company. Many years ago I had an office junior who when asked if anyone had called the office, replied. “No. Apart from a man”. When I asked for his name, her response was simply “Just a man”. I’d guess that not a lot of communication went on there then! It still pains me to recall it today, imagining that it may have potentially been our very best customer ever in the history of the business. 

I try to make an effort to be polite and friendly to all callers. They may be attempting to sell me something today from a call centre in a faraway land, but tomorrow the same person may be a corporate CEO and a dream client. The last thing you want to read on Twitter or other social media sites is how poor a response someone has experienced when dealing with your company. If they’ve been unable to get through to you they may well find that complaining over the internet saves them from having to sit on hold waiting to speak to someone, or even worse, listening to an impersonal answer phone message. If that happens, you’ll not be pacifying just one dissatisfied customer, but potentially hundreds if not thousands who now have a negative view of your business. Get it right however, by creating a good experience at all levels and points of contact and the positive message will spread far and wide. 

By the way, has anyone tried riding the 95 or so miles from Ghent to Aix at gallop speed on one horse with no rest breaks to deliver a message? Now that’s what I’d call good customer service.