RIP Forth & Towne: I wish we knew you better

I have never shopped at Forth & Towne, the store concept targeting women over the age 35 that that Gap company launched 18 months ago.  And yet, I feel a certain sense of sadness over Gap’s announcement this week that they would shutter the chain by summer.

Why?

I think Forth & Towne had it right.  I think Gap had stumbled upon (and I say stumbled upon deliberately because right now it seems that the Gap leadership doesn’t know how to do anything right - the good stuff must be accidental) a powerful model for customer service that had the potential to redefine brick and mortal retail operations everywhere. 

Forth & Towne was designed to cater to a certain group of female consumer, described by the Seattle Times as “women who have outgrown Banana Republic but aren’t ready for Talbots.”  Each location is equipped with (at least one) style consultant, trained to recommend pieces in the most flattering silhouettes and to point out styles and products that an average shopper might not otherwise be aware of.  At the center of each store is a circular fitting salon that helps focus the energy of the shopper on their fitting experience, and simultaneously receive total focus from the store’s associates.  The whole goal was to create a shopping experience for moms, and similar, that was unique and tailored to their lifestyle - allow them to “shop without fear of running into their babysitters in the dressing room” as the Washington Post wrote.

The average American is exposed to about 5,000 advertising and promotional messages per day,   Those pushing products, services and ideas hope that their message is one of the few that actually resonates with a target individual, resulting in a purchase, a donation, or really any commitment of energy or focus.  The chances are pretty slim.  I don’t think most marketers fully understand the increasing difficulty that people have making choices.  Instead of supporting the natural process that people must go through each day to make choices, marketers continue to bombard us all with options.  Rather than help to guide a person towards a decision, most marketers overwhelm us until we become paralyzed by the choices.

Forth & Towne distinguished itself with good customer service - their concept recognized that certain audience experiences need to be different, and that clothes shopping is at the top of that list.  Organizations typically offer every conceivable option for an experience hoping each target group will find something small that is personal or meaningful to them and that will keep them coming back. The focus at Forth & Towne was the exact opposite, looking instead to customize the experience so that each woman felt they had a meaningful and personal experience they couldn’t find anywhere else.

It would have worked, it should have worked… Gap couldn’t figure it out, but I hope other retailers (and organizations of all stripes) do.  In the meantime, women aged 35 and up will have to without, returning to the cramped dressing rooms and uni-styling that most chains (Gap included) provide.

links for 2007-02-27

• NBA and YouTube will work together
  The NBA on Monday unveiled plans to cooperate with YouTube.com on a partnership that will encourage fans to post online videos of their best real-world basketball moves.

Public Media 2007

I spoke on a panel Friday morning at Public Media 2007, the Interactive Media Association’s annual conference.  The conference brings together the folks from the public broadcasting (radio and TV) communities who are focused on interactive (read: online) communications.  While the public broadcasting community has been an innovator in many ways online, the conference was appropriately focused on figuring out how NPR, PBS, and all their member stations and partner groups could make the leap from being public broadcasters who have operations online to being leaders in the broader public media space, and leveraging technology to do that.

Here is a quick excerpt from the conference overview on what was driving this discussion:

For one thing, all media is taking a digital form and “public service publishing” has expanded dramatically–if you extend the definition of public media to any individual or organization creating and distributing media “in the public interest.”  Technical advances and innovations have eliminated barriers to entry. The cost of audio and video production has spiraled downward. Podcasting and media aggregation sites, where you don’t need a license to distribute audio and video, now reach millions of desktops and iPods.  With ubiquitous blogging software, everybody can be a journalist, a critic, a pundit at a cost of no more than $20 a month. 

The speed of this change has been nothing short of revolutionary.

I sat on a panel entitled “Leveraging Social Networks” which promised to answer the burning question: “How can public broadcasting stations can leverage social networks to increase engagement and build audience?”  The panel was moderated by Vinay Bhagat, the Founder and Chief Strategist of Convio and featured Dick McPherson, a consultant to the public broadcasting community, Heather Holdridge from Care2 and David Woodrow from Gather.com.

I was generally disappointed with how the conversation was framed.  The easy way to think about social networks is to look at the existing technologies in the field and figure out how to use them.  In other words, since MySpace has more than 50 million users, they must be a place we can go looking to engage our audience.  Or, since more than 65,000 videos are uploaded to YouTube every day, we should be uploading our shows because that’s where the marketplace is headed.  There is not enough consideration about why these properties may or may not be valuable and not enough thought about what makes online social networking function successfully.

I kicked things off with a presentation (here is my iMA Presentation) that framed social networking and new media in a broader format.  My point was simply that social interaction online, and social networking more specifically, has been happening for a long time in many different formats — and innovations in technology will only expand on that.  Successful communities are built and fostered online not because of the technology that facilitates the interaction, but rather its the content and experience that people create and share that drives interest.   Public media organizations need to think strategically and creatively about what they produce, how if they want to truly engage their target audience.  I think I resonated with the audience, but honestly am not sure.

Dick McPherson followed me and challenging the audience to focus on specific goals they wanted to achieve online (i.e. build community and membership, not raise money) and broadly about how to creatively execute on those efforts.  Heather and David offered case studies about what works within their networks. 

Now, I do not mean to disrespect either Care2 or Gather.com, both of which I think are terrific organizations and both of whom were well represented by my fellow panelists, but they are only two of the dozens of options currently available to consider.  I am not a big fan of presenting personal case studies on panels because it should be obvious that I would biased towards the things that I have done.  That was the case with both Gather.com and Care2, who have been working with public broadcasting groups to build out social networking efforts.  It just seemed to me that the message of the panel was too much about how public media groups could use those two platforms and succeed.  Maybe they are the best two networks for public media.  Or, maybe the public radio community should be looking at more examples, and more opportunities.  I don’t know, but most people probably left that room thinking about launching Gather.com groups or launching petitions through Care2 and not enough of them were considering all the other venues available to them.

I did make one point at the end that was good, and I think resonated.  A woman in the audience asked for our opinions on how many social networks should a station target and what kinds of resources should they put into the effort.  A good question.  However, in asking the question, she referenced ‘us’ (meaning the station) and ‘them’ (referring to the audience members who would be part of the community).  After everyone else had offered specific answers to her questions, I jumped in, adding something to the effect of: Its very important for you as an organization, for your staff, your talent, whoever, to see themselves as a part of these communities.  You are not separate.  It cannot be us vs. them.  Most likely, the reason that your audience might be intererested in joining and contributing to a community that you organiz is the same reason that you, as a staff person at one of those stations, work so hard to make it successful.  Its about the content, its about the experience, its about your contribution to our society.  If you see yourself as separate from that community instead of as a part of it, you are missing the boat.

I got a lot of nods, and a pat on the back from one of my fellow panelists for making the point.  I probably sounded a little righteous, but maybe that helped get the point across more effectively.  I enjoyed being on the panel and would love to help the public media conversation move forward to where it desperately needs to be, but I am not sure I was able to broaden the perspectives of anyone in attendance with respect to the framing of a conversation about social networking.

Thank you to Teri Lamitie of WGBH in Boston for the invitation.  I very much enjoyed the conversation and I hope that I was able to contribute some interesting thoughts to the discussion.  Please invite me back to do it again.

links for 2007-02-24

• Colleges Go Online to Calm the Admissions Jitters
  Colleges are monitoring and contributing to online message boards to help take away some of the mystery, correct misinformation here and there, crack some jokes and, occasionally, talk students off the ledge.
• Diaper Demographic
  43 percent of babies younger than 1 watch television every day, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

links for 2007-02-23

• Political bloggers fear publicists will infiltrate sites
  With big corporations now hiring public relations firms to pay fake bloggers to plant favorable opinions of the businesses online, many political bloggers are concerned that candidates, too, will hire people to pretend to be grass-roots citizens expressin
• Style, not circuitry, is becoming the key factor in cellphone sales
  While handset makers have always paid attention to style, consumer tastes are transforming electronics companies used to competing based on technology into fashion houses.
• Study Finds Spectacular Print Ads Get Spectacular Recall
  Spectacular magazine ads–including multi-page spreads, three-dimensional pop-ups, scented ads and ads with an audio component–produce a big bump in measures like brand recall and the number of readers that read ad copy, according to a new study from GfK

Why Jet Blue’s Apology Works

I am a JetBlue customer.  I am also a fan.  But, I admit that when the airline initially fumbled the customer service and public relations challenges that followed the snow/ice storm that whacked the East coat on Valentines Day (is it cliche to call it a ‘Valentines Day Massacre?’), I thought the airline was doomed.  You see it all the time — a company screws-up, the press jumps all over them, customers start gravitating to a competitor — and a few months later a little notice appears in the media saying that the company filed for bankrupty.

This won’t kill JetBlue.  In fact, I think the airline will come back even stronger than before and their response to this communications disaster will drive significant changes in the entire airline industry. 

What worked?  First, the very same issue that led to JetBlue’s troubles during the storm — their small size, and relatively thin management structure — played a key role in their recovery.  If JetBlue had acted like most companies and issued a press statement or used a PR firm to offer an apology to customers, it would have fallen flat.  When David Neeleman, JetBlue’s Founder and CEO, went on a personal apology tour through the media and talked directly to customers online (through the JetBlue website and even on YouTube) it came across as genuine, sincere, and personal.  Watch the video - it is obvious that Mr. Neeleman hasn’t slept in days, is taking the responsibility and stress of the crisis very personally.  Nobody wants the man to suffer, but it is nice to know that a CEO isn’t shielding himself from tough times when customers are up in arms.

Second, they took swift and decisive action.  Lots of companies promise to fix problems when a crisis hits.  Usually the investigation into what went wrong takes a few months.  Then a few more months pass before any real changes are announced.  The public forgets what really caused the problem and the impact that the changes a company makes are hardly noticeable.  Not at JetBlue — their new Customer Bill of Rights was issued within days of the crisis, while emotions were still high over the delays and inconveniences.  In today’s fast-moving media environment, where news travels very quickly and the attention-span of the average person is very short, JetBlue was able to put into place a plan for real change while their audience was still paying attention.

The way JetBlue responded to this crisis — in the media, to their customers, online, by making the necessary changes to their structure and policies quickly — probably saved the airline.  We all know that weather will always cause problems for airline companies.   But while I think we all gave up on most of the major airlines long ago when it comes to supporting us as customers when these situations hit, JetBlue has earned itself at least one more chance to prove that its model, and customer-focused philosophy, can and does work.  I think it does work and I look forward to flying JetBlue again (in March, I am heading down to Austin, TX — a direct flight from Boston!) so I can show my support.

links for 2007-02-21

• Content Will Always Be King - WSJ.com
  The studios don’t need to kowtow to the Internet evangelizers, because there are significant differences between audio and video distribution.

links for 2007-02-20

• Videos show Iraq war through troops’ eyes
  Soldiers and others in Iraq have been sending the war home by way of digital video on the Internet, sharing their views with the world, uncensored and unfiltered.
• Google class debuts at the UW
  The class is aimed at creating programming prodigies and revamping the way colleges teach computer science.

Citizen Media’s Breakthrough Moment(s)

When we look back and try to identify the breakthrough moment(s) when citizen generated media found its way into the American consciousness, the credentialing of bloggers to cover the perjury trial of Scooter Libby, and the subsequent recognition by traditional media of their efforts, should be right near the top of the list. 

The New York Times profiled the bloggers at firedoglake, the liberal collective that has been providing online coverage of the trial since it began in today’s paper.  There is actually nothing new about bloggers covering trials – there was terrific newspaper blogging of the Enron trials by the Houston Chronicle for example – but the independence of these bloggers has made it very different.  The firedoglake bloggers, and their conservative counterparts, are introducing a whole new perspective and new energy to otherwise traditional coverage. From the article:

Even as they exploit the newest technologies, the Libby trial bloggers are a throwback to a journalistic style of decades ago, when many reporters made no pretense of political neutrality. Compared with the sober, neutral drudges of the establishment press, the bloggers are class clowns and crusaders, satirists and scolds.

“They’re putting in a lot more opinion and a lot more color than the traditional reporters,” said Mr. Cox, adding that the bloggers were challenging “the theory of objective journalism.”

While I think that including independent bloggers in the coverage of federal trials is a tremendous step forward — and a necessary one — for both the legal and news industries, I worry that critics will seize on the fact that the bloggers are partisan (or worse, in the case of firedoglake, liberal) to diminish their contribution.   I also worry that all citizen media will be framed by this one, high-profile situation and that the non-traditional conventions of the contributors to firedoglake (such as nicknaming Vice President Cheney “Shooter”) will give other organization pause when considering granting bloggers full access to cover events in the future.  Everyone, most importantly the traditional media folks (newspapers, TV, radio, and established online journalism sites) should fight these stereotypes with all their energy.

There is such tremendous opportunity for citizen media practitioners (read: people) to provide perspective and color to the coverage of all sorts of events that furthers the cause of journalism and helps to inform society.  The work that firedoglake and others are doing at the Libby trial is just one example of how this can work, but its a great model and a huge step forward for the cause of citizen media.

Dwayne Wade - Digital Marketing Genius?

This weekend the best and brightest of the NBA (and thousands of fans, agents, marketers, corporate flunkies and hanger-on-ers) will converge on Las Vegas for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.  Perhaps the brightest of all the stars shining on Sin City will be the Miami Heat’s wunderguard, Dwayne Wade.  You are probably familiar with Wade’s greatness on the court - he is a three-time all star (having spent only four years in the league) and led the Heat to the NBA championship last season.  He has endorsement contracts with everyone from Converse, Gatorade and Topps to Lincoln, Staples, and T-Mobile (disclosure: T-Mobile is a client).

But did you know that Dwayne Wade is also working to revolutionize the way sports marketing is done online?  So says BusinessWeek:

The next week, in Chicago, Google reps preached moving beyond “independent sites” such as Wade’s. Those sites, along with charity appearances, TV ads, and video games, make for an “episodic” relationship between the athlete and fans. But digital media allow for brands to be built daily or hourly—what Google calls “dialogue” marketing.

Wade, a Google user himself, liked that concept. So Team Wade gave Google the go-ahead to develop a plan that would make Dwyanewade.com an integral part of fans’ daily digital lives. Wade’s camp and Google are in talks that they hope to conclude by the end of March. The goal? A fully interactive site built by Google with Google Search functions embedded. Fans would get a customized mix of e-mail, sports news feeds, flash games, and promotional messages. Hundreds of Wade basketball videos exist on Google and YouTube, and Stroth wants to link them to Wade’s site. “This notion of user-generated content is unbelievable,” Stroth says. “We want to fuel that.”

Such a Digital Age strategy, Wade figures, will put him a step ahead of rivals such as James and Anthony in the race to be the next Jordan. Talking about brand-building in Miami’s arena, his Sidekick in one hand and a basketball in the other, he shows a flash of the ferocity he brings to late-game heroics. “No question about it,” says D-Wade. “I want to be the No. 1 guy.”

Google couldn’t be more right about the concept of the ‘dialogue’ with online users and Wade couldn’t be smarter than to tap into this concept.  The sports marketing world, though it talks a big game, is painfully behind most of the corporate and entertainment world when it comes to the effective use of new media.  Everyone is struggling with how to give up some control to the user and the NBA (as well as Major League Baseball, the NFL, and to a lesser extend the NHL) are struggling more than most it seems.  The leagues, and the teams, are building glossy websites and stocking them full of blogs and social networking tools.  But few are taking full advantage of the social web.  Nobody, except maybe Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, feels comfortable putting themselves out into the digital space personally to have an unstructured, unfiltered conversation with the fans (where is the virtual equivalent of the late Lamar Hunt shaking hands with fans on opening day of each seaons?).  Rights deals limit, or prohibit, the flow of game broadcasts across the internet (so you aren’t likely to see a really creative mashup of dunks - the modern day mixtape if you will - appear on YouTube anytime soon).   And good luck finding more than a smattering of citizen journalists in the sports arena.

Why not?  The leagues, teams, owners, and players haven’t figured out how to make money from the free flow of information and experiences across the internet.  I’m not sure anyone has, but I can assure you that locking down the rights to everything and controlling how people interact with your sport with such a heavy hand is not likely to win you many friends online.  There are countless other benefits to letting the passion of sports and the experience that people have with player personalities as well as the teams (and the leagues generally) that are monetizable  — and will be through incremental opportunities going forward.  First step for all involved should be to watch and learn from what Dwayne Wade and the folks from Google are trying to do — and then get on the stick and change the way they participate in how sports are marketed and experienced.