Catch more flies. Make more money.

October 9, 2015

Filed under: Customer Service, Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field, This is Cool, Branding Strategies, Effective Communication — @ 9:02 am

A small restaurant in Denver, CO shows the world that when it comes to establishing your business philosophy, honey trumps vinegar hands down.

Picture this: You’re starving. You’re weary after a long day. You want to shed your troubles with good company, some laughs, delicious food, and certainly a cocktail or two. And as you step up to the host stand, your request for a table is answered with the single most annoying phrase on the planet:

“For a party of two, the wait time is currently around one hour and 45 minutes.”

If you’re the restaurant owner, what’s the fallout from this scenario?

The MOMENT people enter your restaurant, they’re hit with something negative.
Most people will just leave and go elsewhere.
While they may not actively HATE you, they feel disappointment and frustration.
If it happens more than once, many people will stop trying.

Most importantly, you lose the opportunity to form a relationship with people who are just ripe for the picking. They’ve sought you out and made the effort to land on your doorstep. And now you have to turn them away? This chronic problem of busy restaurants makes owners (and their marketing folks) weep.

But the smart, cheerful, positive thinkers who run Work & Class are shedding no tears over this issue.

On a recent visit to Denver, I was greeted at their host stand with that same annoying phrase. I glanced at the teeny-tiny, jam-packed bar and said to the two hostesses, “Rats. We are only in town tonight and were dying to try this place, but that’s just too long to wait. Oh well.”

The hostesses could have simply said, “Oh, sorry…come see us again on your next visit!” And had they done so, that would have been the end of my relationship with Work & Class.

Instead, they said, “hold on a minute.” And the two of them scanned the wait list, craned their necks to look at the locations of patrons at the bar, and whispered conspiratorially to each other. Then one of them leaned in and said to me, “See those people sitting at the far side of the bar? In around 20 minutes, I’m going to seat them. If you want to wait right here at the host stand, I’ll take you with me when I go to tell them their table is ready, and you can grab their seats and eat at the bar. And I could bring cocktails here to you while you’re waiting.”

Who could say no to that? Especially since they both had huge smiles on their faces and were clearly delighted to be making my friend and me happy. We said yes. A champagne and a whiskey appeared momentarily, and then the best part happened: we had a 20-minute front row seat to watch the magic of the Work & Class host stand in action. Here’s what goes down:

The hostesses are not robots…they display empathy for each and every person’s plight with the wait time, and they remained genuinely cheerful and positive despite delivering unwelcome news.
Because the bar area is so small, the restaurant formed a relationship with the bar across the street to funnel patrons there for 10% off their entire bar tab while awaiting their “table is ready” call.
If you choose to stay and wait, there’s a $4 “wait drink.” (brilliant move)
The hostesses never – not once – let anyone walk away after hearing the wait time without ALSO hearing another solution… bar across the street, try us earlier or later, join us on Wednesday, come back for dessert, sit at the communal table outside… and the solutions were never the same. They were based on what each particular diner needed/wanted.

The pounce-on-the-barstool strategy worked beautifully, and as the night unfolded, we learned that the hostesses were not alone in fostering the positive attitude that permeates Work & Class. Bartenders, bussers, waitstaff, owner… they are ALL just ridiculously happy people.

And the tone of the restaurant fosters that same attitude in the patrons. The “House Rules” are displayed on huge signs, and they’re written so adorably that you are inspired to follow them:

You can also read a more detailed version of the House Rules on their website.

Cost-conscious restaurant owners may read this and say, “Are you nuts? Why would I send people to my competitor, much less pay to have cards printed to send them there? Why would I discount a ‘wait drink’ when people who decide to wait would end up buying them at full price? I’ll never get my hostesses to be that personable, and besides that, if they have to spend extra time with each individual person at the host stand, I’ll require more hosts per shift.”

And to them I say… everyone who visits Work & Class is put in a good mood, even if they decide not to wait. And Work & Class is packed to the rafters every single night. You do the math.

So if you are visiting Denver, you must eat here. The delicious food is just a bonus…the infusion of joy is the real daily special.

Eat more lamb, Larry Bird.

January 12, 2015

Filed under: Observations From the Field, This is Cool, Branding Strategies, Effective Communication, Uncategorized — @ 1:52 pm

We humans are an unruly lot…we are busy and distracted, and frankly, we just don’t like being told what to do. This means that informative and useful signage is often overlooked as white noise competing for our attention amidst a barrage of sensory input.

Savvy businesses know a fool-proof cure for this: unexpected humor that seduces people into reading the otherwise-boring sign. It’s a brilliant strategy. Not only do people read it…they get the message AND they are left with an impression of a business, company, or brand with a groovy personality. Behold:

Bennett’s Store in coastal Maine could say “No Parking” or it could say…

Wood ‘n Hart Farm at the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market in Nova Scotia could say “Lamb for Sale” or it could say…

The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in NYC could say “Don’t Drink and Drive” or it could say…

An airport in Fort Lauderdale could say “Pardon Our Construction” or it could say…

The Weylin B. Seymour’s glamorous event space in Brooklyn could say “Wheelchair Accessible Bathroom” or it could say…

These signs have stopped countless people in their tracks…and quite possibly prompted them to snap a picture just like I did. Mission accomplished.

So, the next time you have something important – but boring – to communicate, take a few minutes to answer the question: how can I make this message interesting?

Need more inspiration? See what the Inn at Manchester did with their housekeeping tip envelope. Seriously…if they can make THAT fun, anything’s possible.

Branding lessons from the deli counter.

February 26, 2014

Filed under: Observations From the Field, Branding Strategies — @ 11:16 am

An unlikely pair of status symbols?

A few weeks ago, I met a “Grey Goose girl” and a “Maker’s guy” at the chic penthouse bar at The Standard in NYC. And while I was skeptical that the claims of these two early-twenty-somethings could withstand a blindfold taste test, I wasn’t surprised. Liquor companies have made an art form out of branding, which means that specifying your liquor to a bartender is like defining who you are to the world around you.

But who knew deli meats held the same power?

This past weekend, I met an “EverRoast® Man” at the deli counter of my local grocery store. He was the third hipster twenty-something to order EverRoast by name while I was standing there waiting for my own (non-branded) order to be fulfilled. This shot my marketing radar up to high alert, so I asked him… why ask specifically for EverRoast and not just a half-pound of chicken breast? Is it better than “regular” chicken breast? His answer: “Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve just always been an EverRoast Man.”

Poor guy. I’m sure he never expected me to investigate this intriguing proclamation. But I did a bit of research later and learned that Boar’s Head EverRoast Oven Roasted Chicken Breast debuted in 2009. And since he certainly looked older than five to me, his claim was in tatters.

So why the fib? Because branding WORKS. People use brands – whether claiming to love them or hate them – to shape their own image. From cars and clothes to liquor, sunglasses, watches, sporting goods, music, coffee, deli meats (!), and more…we gravitate toward brands that we feel accurately portray the image we want projected to our audiences. In short: it’s like co-op marketing. Who needs a personal marketing budget when you can bask in the halo effect created by brands that have already spent billions of dollars defining the image you aspire to have?

Successful branding takes time, consistency, and…yes…money. A brand needs to be clearly defined and have a point of view, and then stand up to scrutiny over and over and over again before it becomes powerful enough for people to identify with it. But when it’s done right…damn, it sure does work.

So, marketing professionals…the next time you get resistance to spending money on branding, send your boss to the local supermarket deli counter. One chat with an EverRoast Man or an Ovengold® Girl and they’ll change their tune faster than you can make a sandwich.

Footnote: For more branding giggles (and perhaps a new lunch suggestion), check out the online Boar’s Head Digicatessen®. For my next career, I think I want to name deli meats. It seems like a fun job.

Why this tiny little Fiat won my big marketing heart.

January 25, 2013

Filed under: Customer Service, Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field, Branding Strategies — @ 9:32 am

If I could give this car a hug, I would.

When I stepped up to the Alamo car rental counter last week to pick up a car for a weekend trip, I could have won a gold medal if “Multitasking” were an Olympic sport. I was schlepping bags, answering emails, planning what to eat for lunch, remembering things I forgot to pack, and just generally unfocused on the task at hand. I rent cars all the time, and I know the drill, so basically, I put that part of my brain on autopilot – license, credit card, initials in a zillion places, give blood and your first born, and so on.

But when the service agent said these words, all distractions disappeared instantly and I snapped to attention like a guard dog on command: “You’re in that tiny little Fiat outside. Would you like to upgrade to something a bit safer?”

Did I snap to attention because I was worried about my safety? Absolutely not. (Mom, if you’re reading this…sorry.) What happened was…the marketer in me became fiercely indignant on behalf of the Fiat brand. All distractions were banished by these thoughts:

Why would a car rental company want to imply that it rents ANY cars that are unsafe?
Do the Fiat sales and marketing executives – who are probably hopeful that people who rent their car could be hooked into buying one – know that their car is being portrayed as “unsafe” at the car rental counter?
Does Alamo script their service agents with this language to scare people into upgrading to a more expensive car? If so…shame on them. If not…perhaps they need a better training program to educate their team how to “sell up” without “putting down.”

As all these thoughts crowded my brain in the span of 10 seconds, I realized that I was staring at the service agent like she had just committed a heinous crime. And perhaps she did, from a branding perspective. But I know that making a fuss about it would probably cast me as an unbalanced lunatic, so I just looked her squarely in the eye and said, “The Fiat is absolutely perfect. I’ll take it.”

Clearly, nothing wins my allegiance faster than a marketing underdog. Fiat, if you’re ever looking for a PR firm in the US, give Redpoint a call. 🙂

Ooops. You broke the spell.

October 26, 2012

Filed under: Observations From the Field, Branding Strategies — @ 7:30 am

Recently, I had a spectacular dining experience at Talula’s Garden in Philadelphia. And I mean…spectacular. From the thoughtful design details – both in the outdoor garden and the main restaurant/bar areas – to the creativity of the menu, each touchpoint makes you feel as if you’ve been transported to a chic urban farmhouse.

The depth of authenticity was impressive, especially to a marketer like me, who can spot a “staged authentic experience” from a mile away. By the time the second course arrived, I had completely turned off my branding radar and lost myself in the enjoyment of the evening. It was heaven…until I went to the bathroom.

Inside each adorable little stall, on the wall behind the toilet, I found this:

…and POP! went the bubble of authenticity. The farmhouse hand towel is a pleasing design detail. The black plastic Please Do Not Remove label…not so much. I felt a little like Dorothy when she went behind the curtain and discovered that the “Great and Powerful Oz” was just an average little man.

What’s the lesson here? If you have to provide instructions for guests in order to maintain your image of authenticity, you’re just breaking the spell. Find another way to achieve your objective that doesn’t undermine the effective branding investment you’ve made elsewhere.

But don’t let this stop you from dining at Talula’s Garden the next time you’re in Philly. You will completely excuse the hand towel label in favor of the absolutely delicious cuisine. And do yourself a favor: order the Dark Chocolate Bacon S’mores. You won’t regret it.

Our motto at Redpoint? Everything is better with bacon. Especially if chocolate is involved too. 🙂

Cyber Monday 2011 proves: brand it, and they will come.

November 29, 2011

Filed under: Marketing Strategies, The Power of Persuasion, Media Relations, Branding Strategies — @ 3:17 pm

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and now Small Business Saturday. Can you say “baaa baaa?”

Ever heard of Small Business Saturday? No? Don’t worry. Within the next two years, not only will you know about it, but you will feel magnetically drawn to shop at small, independent retailers on the Saturday after U.S. Thanksgiving.

This past November 26th was only the 2nd Annual occurence of this made-up-by-retailers holiday (in this case, American Express), and yet, its Facebook page already has nearly 3 million “Likes.” Impressive, considering that’s the equivalent of the entire population of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Watching the evolution of retail consumer behavior patterns tied to the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend is a fascinating lesson in branding and the combined power of internet-and-the-media.

Just look at Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday:

The term “Black Friday” first officially emerged as a moniker for the Friday-after-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy in the 1960’s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990’s that it gained widespread consumer awareness and participation. And in fact, it wasn’t until 2002 that it became the season’s biggest shopping day each year, as confirmed by market research firm ShopperTrak. That’s nearly 40 years from launch to goal line.

In stark contrast: Cyber Monday was launched in 2005 by a group called Shop.org as a way to boost online sales and encourage tech-shy consumers to become more comfortable with online spending. (Note: those were “prehistoric times”…high-speed internet was more readily available at businesses than residences…hence, the Monday strategy). By 2006, online spend-tracking firm comScore Inc. reported Cyber Monday as the 12th biggest online spending day of the year. Care to guess when it scored the top spot? 2010. Just five years from launch to goal line.

This acceleration of consumer acquiescence bodes well for Small Business Saturday. It is worth noting that Black Friday didn’t have the power of the internet at its inception, and Cyber Monday (while it obviously had the internet) didn’t have the power of social media or “apps” at ITS inception. But Small Business Saturday has all of these lightening-speed marketing tools in its debut arsenal, and with that, I give you…nearly 3 million Facebook fans and counting in just its second year.

So, how does knowing about this acceleration pattern help your OWN business? Three ways:

Branding something – an annual sale, event, festival, start-of-season opportunity – turns it into a “rallying point” to create excitement, secure partners, and get consumer and media attention. You can do this with ANYTHING, from planting your annual tulip bulbs to the day the first sand castle of the season is erected on your beach. Brand it, create deals and events around it, promote it online and through email blasts, and soon…people will be trained to anticipate it. It provides a “reason to buy.”
Harness the internet to spread the word: post it on calendars, optimize search terms, get partners to extend your email/website/social media audience, do some strategic online advertising, blog about it, send press releases to online media, and more. What used to take decades to gain traction now can take mere months, or even weeks, and with far fewer marketing dollars than ever before.
Ride the coat tails of this massive Thanksgiving weekend shopping power: do you have a deal for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or (perhaps?) Small Business Saturday? Don’t let all that marketing equity (built on someone else’s dime) go to waste. Be ready to join in the frenzy next year.

Of course, you may not have the marketing clout – and budget – of American Express behind you like Small Business Saturday does, but with a bit of focus and a dash of creativity, you can make an impact in your own way. Think that’s not possible? Redpoint made a business-building opportunity out of mud for the New England Inns and Resorts Association. And if money can be made out of mud, surely it can be made out of anything.

Yeah…sometimes, we PR people play dirty.

Note: Lots of research was done to gather information for this blog post, but special thanks goes to Time and the Columbus Dispatch for their very clear and succinct historical articles on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

A hilarious lesson in brand integrity…and manners.

June 9, 2011

Filed under: This is Cool, Branding Strategies — @ 7:25 am

How does a cheeky brand deal with complaining, abusive customers? They give it right back to them.

Here at Redpoint, we are frequently tasked with helping our clients “maintain their brand integrity.” Sounds fancy, huh? But what does it really mean?

It means you don’t just “talk the talk”…you “walk the walk.” Spending the extra money to have a renowned fashion designer create your staff uniforms when you tout your brand as hip and stylish…hiring that additional staff person to man the otherwise-self-serve afternoon tea station in the lobby when you tout your brand as offering gracious and personalized service…offering unusual, provocative, and unexpected amenities when you tout your brand as being “cool.”

Many companies have trouble doing this. They know what they WANT to be…but they miss the mark on committing to the execution of that vision day in and day out.

Not the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in Austin, TX.

They SAY that they believe in protecting the moviegoers’ enjoyment of the cinema experience, and they are quite cheeky in the way they present this point of view. Basically…if you text or talk on your phone during the movie, you get kicked out. And they mean it. Indeed, they actually do it.

Now, given this upstart and frisky personality they’ve defined for themselves, when someone gets kicked out and complains, do you think they’re going to take it lying down? No way. This brand is no shrinking violet, and they are fiercely passionate about this policy.

So what do they do? They turn the complainer’s voicemail into a hilarious – and highly effective – “commercial,” that they now show before every movie, warning others to beware of the same fate.

Read the story and watch the commercial here, to have a good laugh.

Now THAT’S walking the walk.

What your brand says about you when you’re not “branding”…

November 29, 2010

Filed under: Observations From the Field, Branding Strategies — @ 9:51 pm

Last week on the subway, I saw a guy listening to a Sony Walkman. Like…with a cassette tape in it. (note to blog subscribers 21 and under…ask your parents what a cassette tape is)

Not an iPod…or even a Discman. A Walkman. And he wasn’t studying it like it was an exciting artifact. He was just sitting with it in his lap, listening to the music, and bopping his head along with the beat in the carefree way that long-time subway riders often do.

It intrigued me. And as a marketer, something seemed odd to me…out of place. Everything about this guy screamed young, modern, SoHo sophisticate with money. Designer glasses, Swiss Army backpack, messily-stylish haircut. Trendy…but not vintage. He definitely wasn’t going for a “defiant throwback” look. But he clearly LOVED music, and it seemed that any moment, he might start to boogie down in spontaneous performance.

So…what gives with the Walkman? Why did this guy not have the latest version of iPod?

I confess. The branding disconnect overwhelmed my curiosity. And I had to know the story of the Walkman. So I asked him about it.

The answer? So simple. He helped his parents move the weekend prior and while packing up his room, he found his old Walkman and some of the “Gary’s Groovy Mix” tapes he made in high school. So he was just reminiscing. And then he showed me the zillion gigabyte iPod he normally uses. Mystery solved, and my raised eyebrow returned to its usual position.

This got me thinking about the way a brand projects itself. People form an impression with just a single point of contact, and sometimes they catch you at a moment when you’re not in “branding mode.” Like when you continue to use leftover collateral material with your old logo/tagline on it to delay spending money on the new stuff. Or when your hotel has two simultaneous wedding receptions, so your regular dining room guests “will just have to understand” that service will be a little slow that night.

Or when you know that your website’s home page is a mess…but you just don’t have time to deal with it right now.

Or when you didn’t spend the money on just the right photo shoot…so your marketing materials never quite do your brand justice.

In that one second that you relaxed your brand standards, someone formed an impression of you…and it probably wasn’t the one you wanted. Upholding a brand’s image is a 24/7 job, and while limited resources often force us to make less-than-desirable choices, we’ve got to be fierce about protecting our brands. Those first-impression disconnects can turn people away before we ever get them engaged, and not everyone is curious (nosy?) enough to ask the your-brand version of… “Dude, what gives with the Walkman?”…and give you a chance to explain.

So…learn a lesson from Gary. You may be inadvertently sabotaging your own brand image. And while it didn’t matter to Gary what I thought of him during that three-stop subway ride (seriously…a boogie down was imminent), I’ll bet my brand new iPod that first impressions matter to YOUR brand…and your bottom line.