John Winsor

Huh?

I walked into one of my favorite stores in Boulder, Soundtrack, today and noticed that it is now Ultimate Electronics. While I still like the vibe inside the store, I don't get their new branding campaign, "Technologize Responsibly." Huh?

Going to the Ultimate Electronics web site, I noticed another graphic:

OK. Intechxicated = Intoxicated and Technologize Responsibly = Drink Responsibly. But, it took way too much effort. And, even when I did get what Ultimate was trying to say, it still doesn't make a lot of sense.

If you're going to try to be witty when with your marketing make sure that people get it without a lot of effort.

A New Design

As you might have noticed today, I've been working on changing the blog around. Not only have I redesigned it. I've renamed it. You can still get here using the Beyond the Brand link. Now, you can also get here by using my URL, www.johnwinsor.com.

I hope you enjoy the evolving nature of the blog. Email me and let me know what you think.

Kids Need to be Kids

In a culture where success can be more important than anything else, where people will do anything to win and professional athletes take performance enhancing drugs to compete, the news of AdvoCare making athletic performance products for kids is disturbing.

One of the company's sports drinks, Spark, is recommended for 4 to 11 year olds and contains the same amount of caffiene as a cup and a half of coffee. I can't imagine giving, Harry and Charlie, my two 4-year-olds anything like this.

Kids don't need to be high-performance athletes, as the company calls their customers. They need to be kids!

Feelin' Good!

Lance and the IZZE crew are cranking away doing great work, showing what can be done with a cool relevant brand, IZZE, with a lot of good ideas and a small budget. Here's the gig:

This fall, the Volkswagen Force of Good Tour will be spreading goodness across the country. New Beetles, driven by New Beetle Ambassadors, will be traveling from coast to coast, doing good things for unwitting strangers—things like paying tolls, feeding parking meters, buying coffee and newspapers, and, best of all, handing out free ice-cold IZZE!

Read more about it on the IZZE site.

Thanks, Lance. Keep inspiring us!

Get Down!

With Bow Wow staring in the new movie, Roll Bounce, get ready to see roller skating back on the streets, 70's style.

Harley-Davidson

I had a chance to spend a few hours at Harley-Davidson headquarters last week. What a great experience!

What really caught my eye was the classic old Harley in the reception area. As someone who has spent a lot more time on a bicycle than a motorcycle, it sure would be cool if Harley would reproduce some of these classics. I'd trade in a few of my bikes!

American Airlines Put to the Test

Check out Jake's contest regarding American Airlines and their service.

Customer Service

Have you ever had one of those customer service experiences that leave you feeling hopeless?

I came back from a trip late on Tuesday and thought I'd stop off at Wild Oats near my house to pick up a salad. I threw a few things in a salad bowl and went to pay. To my surprise the salad cost $19.50! The teller looked at me and said, "That seems too expensive, but that's what the scale says."

Being too tired to react, I walked away thinking less of Wild Oats. I probably had loaded too many heavy beets in my salad, but still twenty bucks for a salad! It would have been nice to have a more proactive teller instead, saying something like, "Geez, that seems too expensive for that salad. Let's adjust the price to, say, $15.00." While $15 dollars still seems like a lot for a salad I would have felt much better knowing that someone at Wild Oats cared about me as a customer. I'm sure the profit on a $15.00 salad is still quite a lot.

The reality is that people have a lot of choices when it comes to salads here in Boulder.  When it comes to a brand, it's all of the little things that make people connect.

The next time I'm in the mood for a salad there's a higher likelihood of driving a bit further to Whole Foods.

Nike ID

I finally got around to customizing a pair of shoes on the Nike ID site. What a cool experience! I went with the Nike FREE 5.0s, which I've been running in lately with great success. The only thing I'd change is my choice in colors.

Do you let people customize the products they buy from you? If not, you might be behind the wave and have to paddle hard to keep up.

Spark, Installment #6

It has been a while since I've added anything here about my new book, Spark. The book is now up on both Amazon and BN.com. I'm also starting to get some nice reviews.

In Chapter 13 of Spark, Build a Community , I interviewed Jake McKee from LEGO. Jake's ideas about building a realtionship are important:

What we really have here – when I talk about the relationship that I have with the fan groups (customers) and they have with me – is a dating relationship. If you show up on a date and you’re absolutely perfect, the person doesn’t think, ‘Wow, this is so great – he’s perfect!’

They think, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’ Their defenses immediately go up and they assume you’re hiding something. When companies do that same thing you immediately think they’re just spinning it, that it’s just marketing crap and you don’t need to pay attention to it. But when you actually start to have an interaction with them, that back and forth, then you have a relationship.

Sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it’s good, but at the end of the day, as long as it’s more positive than negative, that’s what it’s all about. That’s what people really believe; that you’re not just messing with them, trying to get them to buy something.