The Best and Worst Marketing of 2007

I love this week. From a marketing perspective, we no longer have to fear turning on our televisions without the TiVo control velcroed to our hip so we can avoid the barrage of Christmas ads. AND all of the Year In Review shows start airing.

It’s nice closure. A cleansing of sorts.

So I offer my year-in-review of the best and worst marketing moments:

Old Marketing (aka the worst)

The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. I’ve been reluctant to poke fun at this because I know that several credit unions sponsor sports. And in some markets I do believe it makes sense. They are very local and very small events that rely on sponsorship. Not to say this bowl game is huge but it’s certainly big enough to be televised.

Which is why it made my list. I think the Mental Floss blog sums it up nicely:

“If you’re like me, you were probably sitting around last Thursday night mulling the logistics of a hypothetical move to San Diego. If I took a county job, where would I do my banking? I couldn’t have been alone in this conundrum. The entire nation was wondering, and if they’d been watching the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, they would have known. Does a local credit union really need the national exposure of sponsoring a bowl game? If you’ve got a more efficient idea for letting people in Vermont know about the 4.00% APY they could be earning with an average daily balance over $100,000 in the credit union’s Money Market Max account, I’d like to hear it.”

Worst marketing also goes to Sun State Credit Union’s attempt to offer “lower rates on loans” by charging crazy fees. This member’s experience made the local paper not once, but twice.

Brand is your reputation. Not your name, logo, or tag line. Sun State has a tough road ahead, in my opinion, to overcome this negative image. CUES Nexus has a great blog post today relating to this issue as well.

and…….drum roll please.

The worst I-still-cannot-believe-credit unions-are-doing-this marketing goes to anyone who still uses pre-fab direct mail pieces. I don’t care if they are free. You get what you pay for - and it looks like you don’t care. There I said it - again.

Now for the best Modern Marketing examples of 2007:

Any credit union that paid an extraordinary dividend this year. (applause, applause). I cannot think of a better example of “how we are different than banks” than this.

One such credit union shared a letter from a member that received her dividend. Her closing statement was this: “When I look at my account and see the heading ‘extraordinary dividend’ I will be thinking ‘extraordinary credit union.’ I sincerely thank you and your staff for your generosity and I look forward to many more years as a member of this fine institution.” That’s good stuff.

To all those pioneering credit unions that have a blog. For jumping into this new and scary territory and taking a chance. To William Azaroff for showing us the way.

To any credit union that asked their members the ultimate question in 2007. “How likely are you to recommend your credit union to a friend, family member or co-worker?” aka Net Promoter Score. Word of mouth is modern marketing. It always has been and always will be the best and most effective tool we have.

Happy New Year!

Is nothing sacred?

I’m still amazed at the amount of local advertising I see on television these days. With the number of TiVos and DVRs sold - KNOWING that 98% of the owners of these devices are invoking the “no commercial” feature. With over 200 channels available, how DOES one decide the media buy? Which 30 seconds in a 24 hour day, seven day week on those 200 do you purchase?

Last night I checked into a hotel in Kansas City. It was late. I’m watching the Craig Ferguson Show hoping that when they cut to a commercial, I will drop off into sleep. Not this time. Somehow this jingle seeped into my brain and will probably be there for the foreseeable future….are you ready? Sing it along with me: (in a soft and chipper sounding male voice):

“Midwest Hemorrhoid Treatment Center………don’t suffer in silence.”

Wow. If you’re a singer, and your agent gets you that gig - I mean how bad do you want to work? How do you get through it without busting out laughing. Who wrote those lyrics, pitched them to the client without wetting themselves?

I mean, don’t get me wrong. The “hemmys” are a drag (so I’ve heard). But, seriously?

I called my husband to help me finish their campaign. (He used to be in marketing - now he’s a CFO). Here’s his take……”If you have soft tissue issues, call us at 1-800-GOT-RHOIDS.”

Is that modern marketing?

The Modern Marketing Customer Service Hall of Fame Inductees 2007

It’s rare in today’s society to have a customer service experience that makes you say, “WOW!” You know, the kind that makes you want to blog about them. Tell your friends. Create a slide in your next presentation. Light a few candles and build a shrine?

Here are my WOW customer service experience hall of fame inductees (in no particular order).

1. Genoa restaurant in Portland, Oregon. This is a very small intimate expensive seven course Northern Italian experience. I went there with a dear friend and foodie. We loved it. So much we lingered. I think a bit too long. So rather than use body language to tell us to move on they simply and elegantly said, “Would you ladies like to continue your conversation in our private parlor with a complimentary glass of port?” Who wouldn’t? And it was just that. A beautifully appointed room in the back of the restaurant for hangers-on. An exquisite way to “turn a table.”

2. In-N-Out Burger. On the extreme opposite end of the culinary perspective. I was urged by a client to “experience” this fast food first hand before flying out to my next gig. (note: they are only in the Southwest). I ordered my surprisingly affordable cheeseburger from the speaker at the menu board and was asked the most amazing question. “Will you be eating that burger in the car?” Wow. I’m in a car. And I’ve just ordered food. Chances are pretty good I’ll eat it in here. “Yes,” I replied. And when I drove forward, they presented me my gorgeous, fresh delicious $1.80 cheeseburger in a cardboard tray with the wrapper already peeled back so I could easily eat it while I drove. Brilliant.

3. Amelia Island, Florida Ritz Carlton. To be fair, their culture has won awards, received numerous mentions in the greatest of books and probably already has shrines built to it. I mean Ritz Carlton’s are great. But I guess you have to appreciate that great doesn’t JUST HAPPEN!!! Someone has to say, “HEY, let’s be great.” And then the staff says, “OKAY!” and actually does it. I was a speaker there last week. It was a good sized hotel and as I was dragging my wheely briefcase to the conference section of the place a very pleasant looking woman in a hotel uniform was just standing there smiling. Right next to the list of meetings and room names. You guessed it, her sole purpose was to guide people to the proper rooms. Subtle. Service. Wow.

Please feel free to add your own.

I Reserve the Right to Get Smarter

I’ve added that phrase to all of my consulting contracts this year. Thanks to social media and some great new friends I’ve met, I am getting smarter every day. Way smarter.

Case in point.

When I first read about ZOPA (in Business 2.0 magazine)

Here’s a little excerpt if you don’t want to click on over:

“Scott Anthony, a managing director of Clayton Christensen’s consulting firm, Innosight, is intrigued by the disruptive potential of peer-to-peer lending. ‘Are there ways to loan amounts that banks won’t lend because they’re too small,’ he asks, ‘or to serve customers who would otherwise never be served?’”

I was shocked that there was no comparison between the ZOPA model and the original credit union model. So shocked that I asked Wade Lagrone, VP US Marketing ZOPA, if he’d have lunch with me. That’s when I first found out that Wade was looking to US credit unions as partners for their American launch.

I’ll admit, I was a bit concerned. I was afraid it would turn into another indirect lending/source-o-funds/can’t market to these folks cuz they don’t know who you are craze. I was wrong. Or at least I think I’m going to be wrong.

ZOPA announced this week their US launch with some amazing credit union partners. This is the next generation credit union! Now that it’s up and running it makes perfect sense! This morning on my google alerts I found this little nugget.

I hope you’ll all take time to read it, and respond in defense of credit union values and heritage. We’re back baby!!!!

Exotic and Sub-prime examples our values have gone to hell

Yesterday the US Treasury Secretary said he was confident that he could talk the big banks into freezing interest rates on high-risk sub-prime loans.

What would Lewis Black say about this? I think it would go something like this:

Let’s say that these “exotic” loans are pot. And the big banks are pot dealers. Oh, and pot is legal.

These dealers were practically giving away the pot. People who never thought they’d try it were lured in.

And now we have a bunch of people stoned out of their minds, not able to make their house payments to the tune of billions of dollars and we realize that we need to rehabilitate. We got these folks addicted it’s going to be darned hard to kick that habit.

Should we make pot illegal? We don’t want big government telling us what we can smoke.

Nope, let’s buy them a seven year supply of Doritos and see what happens…….