Friday, November 17, 2006
Why Apple is making me take a second look at PCs
I'm doing something that's against my standards (normally) - but doing it is going to make me feel sooo much better afterwards. I'm blogging from inside the Apple store to demonstrate the powerful negative impact a bad brand experience can have.
I switched from PCs to Macs about 4 years ago and since then I've gone completely Mac - 2 Powerbooks, an iPod, and an iMac - not to mention countless supplies and peripherals, and conversions of at least 3 of my friends and family to Macs - the complete brand loyalist profile.
Today, I am seriously considering getting a PC for my next laptop. Why? The Genius Bar is killing Apple. I firmly believe this. If you've ever had the displeasure of standing in line at one - a simple thing, maybe you dropped in to replace a powercord or ask a quick question - and ended up in line with other disgruntled users - you know what I mean. In the loooong line is where I've heard about iPod problems, operating system incompatibility, and overall bad service from reps who think only they can possibly understand the complex workings of a Mac. (And I thought they were democratizing computing..? ) But it's also here that I've been forced to wait forEVER to get my questions answered, leaving me feeling unempowered and unappreciated by a brand I once pledged my loyalty to. Where is their loyalty to me? Apparently buried in the reams of customer requests they tell me they need to sort through before they can get my damn powercord.
It's a combination of the stuff breaking (my last iPod after one year with a simple shrug of the rep's shoulders and a flip "this happens all the time") to the letdown of thinking the Genius Bar is going to (a) be accessible and (b) help - that finally got me. I'm SAD about this - I hate feeling like I was wrong about a brand...but my time and self respect is too precious to give this brand another chance. I'll stay with what I've got for now, but when I'm in the market again, I will positively look at PCs. They have gotten a little cooler...haven't they?
You've heard me say this before and this time I'm screaming it: brands need to keep the promises they make ...and the great ones overdeliver. Apple, I'm afraid, has sorely and gravely underdelivered on high brand expectations.
The biggest and most passionate brand enemies were once brand loyalists.
I feel better. Thanks for indulging me.
Has anyone else been letdown by their favorite brand? I want to hear. We're all in this together.
-Stacy
I'm doing something that's against my standards (normally) - but doing it is going to make me feel sooo much better afterwards. I'm blogging from inside the Apple store to demonstrate the powerful negative impact a bad brand experience can have.
I switched from PCs to Macs about 4 years ago and since then I've gone completely Mac - 2 Powerbooks, an iPod, and an iMac - not to mention countless supplies and peripherals, and conversions of at least 3 of my friends and family to Macs - the complete brand loyalist profile.
Today, I am seriously considering getting a PC for my next laptop. Why? The Genius Bar is killing Apple. I firmly believe this. If you've ever had the displeasure of standing in line at one - a simple thing, maybe you dropped in to replace a powercord or ask a quick question - and ended up in line with other disgruntled users - you know what I mean. In the loooong line is where I've heard about iPod problems, operating system incompatibility, and overall bad service from reps who think only they can possibly understand the complex workings of a Mac. (And I thought they were democratizing computing..? ) But it's also here that I've been forced to wait forEVER to get my questions answered, leaving me feeling unempowered and unappreciated by a brand I once pledged my loyalty to. Where is their loyalty to me? Apparently buried in the reams of customer requests they tell me they need to sort through before they can get my damn powercord.
It's a combination of the stuff breaking (my last iPod after one year with a simple shrug of the rep's shoulders and a flip "this happens all the time") to the letdown of thinking the Genius Bar is going to (a) be accessible and (b) help - that finally got me. I'm SAD about this - I hate feeling like I was wrong about a brand...but my time and self respect is too precious to give this brand another chance. I'll stay with what I've got for now, but when I'm in the market again, I will positively look at PCs. They have gotten a little cooler...haven't they?
You've heard me say this before and this time I'm screaming it: brands need to keep the promises they make ...and the great ones overdeliver. Apple, I'm afraid, has sorely and gravely underdelivered on high brand expectations.
The biggest and most passionate brand enemies were once brand loyalists.
I feel better. Thanks for indulging me.
Has anyone else been letdown by their favorite brand? I want to hear. We're all in this together.
-Stacy
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Thanks for the good time in Baltimore...hope to see you all again soon!
Stacy & Faith
Monday, November 06, 2006
InsightGrrls in Baltimore!
We'll be in Baltimore on Wednesday November 8th talking to a group of Second Wind members about account planning. If you haven't made your reservations, go to Second Wind's website to do so now, or register at the door.
Hope to see you there!
We'll be in Baltimore on Wednesday November 8th talking to a group of Second Wind members about account planning. If you haven't made your reservations, go to Second Wind's website to do so now, or register at the door.
Hope to see you there!
Top US agencies according to the international community
Believe it or not, some of the agencies we've talked with recently employ creative people who don't know much about top-tier US agencies or their work. We think this is a pretty serious issue: you wouldn't recommend to your clients that they ignore the companies in their field that are bringing best practices to their industry. Or tell them ignore their competitors...right? Why then would you consciously ignore a great source of learning?
We hope these folks are just anomalies and that most of you embrace each and every opportunity to learn from the best by reading about them, talking to them, and generally doing what you can to get smart like them..? That's what we thought.
To help you in this quest, we've committed ourselves to regularly bringing you news about WHO,WHAT, WHERE, WHY and WHEN (or some combination thereof).
First, read the coverage of the 21st London International Awards. Crispin Porter, Saatchi, and DDB topped the charts in American agencies at the show held tonight. Then, go explore these shops on your own to see what kind of agencies create great work. Then, tell us what you think makes you as good - or better - than them...or what things you can do to become a great agency yourself.
Believe it or not, some of the agencies we've talked with recently employ creative people who don't know much about top-tier US agencies or their work. We think this is a pretty serious issue: you wouldn't recommend to your clients that they ignore the companies in their field that are bringing best practices to their industry. Or tell them ignore their competitors...right? Why then would you consciously ignore a great source of learning?
We hope these folks are just anomalies and that most of you embrace each and every opportunity to learn from the best by reading about them, talking to them, and generally doing what you can to get smart like them..? That's what we thought.
To help you in this quest, we've committed ourselves to regularly bringing you news about WHO,WHAT, WHERE, WHY and WHEN (or some combination thereof).
First, read the coverage of the 21st London International Awards. Crispin Porter, Saatchi, and DDB topped the charts in American agencies at the show held tonight. Then, go explore these shops on your own to see what kind of agencies create great work. Then, tell us what you think makes you as good - or better - than them...or what things you can do to become a great agency yourself.
Big ideas from the Idea conference
Alex Bogusky from Crispin Porter. Ann Saunders from Starbucks. And the guy that built Second Life...they were all there to exchange ideas and "ideate" further at AdAge and Creativity Magazine's first ever Idea Conference.
AdAge has a list of the 18 Big Ideas to come out of the conference, and curiously #2 and 17 conflict just a tad. One of the big ideas to come out, which we hear every, say month or so (and do believe in, incidentally) is to "trust your gut and not research." What we believe about this is that great advertising resonates the most with the people who create it - and many times those creators are not inspired by a research deck, charts, and graphs, etc. - but by a human truth that resonates among the team creating it. Great ideas are met with a collective "ah-ha!" and typically applauded for their simplicity. Ever seen a brilliant ad execution ("Got Milk" kind of a thing) and said to yourself, "that's so simple - I could have thought of it?" That is a brilliant idea formed by the team's knowledge of human truths. And was it "tested" with consumers? No! Because brilliant ideas don't need to be validated - they just are. So on one hand we agree wholeheartedly with the notion that a team must trust its gut.
But number 17 on the Big Ideas list illustrates how a designer working on IKEA found inspiration by following a child around for a day and observing life from his vantage point. This led to fresh, eye-opening insights that had a direct impact on new product development. THAT, my friends, is research - not the kind of statistically-based research our clients often think of because their reference point is their quantitatively-driven marketing analytics department - but the kind of research that leads us to human truths that make emotional connections between people and advertising, and people and products.
So when your client objects to doing consumer research, citing a silly reference like "96.8% of statistics are made up" - be sure to point out that research takes all forms - and that the insights we look for in advertising - human truths - have at their core the desire to find the "ah-ha" moment that resonates with us all. Trusting our guts is positively always a good thing - but sometimes we need to be inspired with new ideas and insights to elicit the desired reaction.
Alex Bogusky from Crispin Porter. Ann Saunders from Starbucks. And the guy that built Second Life...they were all there to exchange ideas and "ideate" further at AdAge and Creativity Magazine's first ever Idea Conference.
AdAge has a list of the 18 Big Ideas to come out of the conference, and curiously #2 and 17 conflict just a tad. One of the big ideas to come out, which we hear every, say month or so (and do believe in, incidentally) is to "trust your gut and not research." What we believe about this is that great advertising resonates the most with the people who create it - and many times those creators are not inspired by a research deck, charts, and graphs, etc. - but by a human truth that resonates among the team creating it. Great ideas are met with a collective "ah-ha!" and typically applauded for their simplicity. Ever seen a brilliant ad execution ("Got Milk" kind of a thing) and said to yourself, "that's so simple - I could have thought of it?" That is a brilliant idea formed by the team's knowledge of human truths. And was it "tested" with consumers? No! Because brilliant ideas don't need to be validated - they just are. So on one hand we agree wholeheartedly with the notion that a team must trust its gut.
But number 17 on the Big Ideas list illustrates how a designer working on IKEA found inspiration by following a child around for a day and observing life from his vantage point. This led to fresh, eye-opening insights that had a direct impact on new product development. THAT, my friends, is research - not the kind of statistically-based research our clients often think of because their reference point is their quantitatively-driven marketing analytics department - but the kind of research that leads us to human truths that make emotional connections between people and advertising, and people and products.
So when your client objects to doing consumer research, citing a silly reference like "96.8% of statistics are made up" - be sure to point out that research takes all forms - and that the insights we look for in advertising - human truths - have at their core the desire to find the "ah-ha" moment that resonates with us all. Trusting our guts is positively always a good thing - but sometimes we need to be inspired with new ideas and insights to elicit the desired reaction.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Follow-up to previous post: McDonald's today selected AKQA's interactive division for global brand responsibilities...wonder how much their China office helped..?!!
