Attending to the big picture within business environments is my specialty - Where is everyone headed? What is the trend? As interesting as these questions are, and their implication for strategic goalmaking, my thoughts are often pulled towards ideational negative space. Where is everyone abandoning? What is being ignored? This focuses attention on opportunities, and my head loves thinking about new possibilities.
In my cluttered office I have a few fun items. A tchotchke here, a branded squishy ball there. But none more fun than a simple piece of paper curled around to form a funnel. Or an upside down dunce cap, if you are so inclined to envision it. A year ago I was thinking about where the consumer telecommunications industry players were moving and the notion popped that I should create a visual representation both to consolidate my thinking and help with explaining my thoughts to others. I drew vertical lines down the insight of the funnel and used the lines to divide the funnel into three equal sections. Then I put labels on each of the sections. It actually is rather difficult to write on the inside of a steep funnel I discovered, regardless of hand used (I'm ambidextrous). So when I had finished this I had sections labled "Best Price", "Best Network" and "Best Product". Then I played pin the tail with Verizon, Boost, Sprint, ATT, T-mobile, MetroPCS and Cricket. I left out the regional players and the resellers. I placed them first by section - from their public communications where were they headed? What did they want to be known for and what were they known for being? Verizon has firmly camped itself in the "best network" category, both for aspiration and media spend "can you ear me now?" But Verizon was also attempting to move a bit towards best product, though without success. ATT had managed to bridge the gap between "best network" and "best product". By running commercials challenging verizon for the title of biggest network, they had successfully diluted the leadership position in that category. And then ATT had the uppercut of iPhone success. Bam! Best product ownership. Metro, Cricket, Boost all went into the space between "Best price" and "best network". Depending on which commercials they were running, the message was either price driven or nation-wide coverage driven. This left Sprint and T-mobile circling. And if you're circling, then you don't belong to any category. No brand category is bad. You're not the best price, nor the best product nor the best network. Ouch. To make matters worse, the other competitors are moving higher up towards the rim of the funnel, solidifying their hold on their category niche. Circling trying to make it stick that your best network, now your least expensive, etc where competitors have a firmer hold on that particular space makes it impossible to hold any position. The only way Sprint and Tmobile were heading was down, and they do not want to hit the hole at the bottom of the funnel. That is brand death, when you're not known for anything.
The funnel, when I looked it over after drawing all the competitor positions in, had a curious empty spot. The intersection between Best Price and Best Product stood unguarded. Carriers are notorious for overlooking Best Product. Their product, when they think about it, is the network itself. They own the towers, or access to the towers and provide the service. They're not deep thinkers about the devices or the applications on those devices - that's for other specialists to consider. And there lies an opportunity. Why should the non-carriers have all the revenue? There is no reason a carrier cannot develop an innovative product to carry on its network. Product in the physical sense and in the application sense; either will do, or both. At that time, I hadn't thought about the coupon phone. I hadn't thought about tablets or android phones or other devices because the telecom game was all about cellular phones. But that is where the cone of strategy led. A single piece of paper sparks the wonder. Builds into a business proposal, gathers steam as people are engaged, enlightened and inspired. Becomes an operational movement within the organization. And now, one year later I have on my desk a paper cone and a coupon phone.
Now lately, I've been thinking about a box...
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Something for everyone in mobile marketing
Mobile marketing works if you have engaged eyeballs, sated advertisers, and incented clicking behavior. Everyone in the relationship desires some immediate or sustained. Through the launch today of the AirFire Mobile site airfiremobile.com, we've accomplished this.
The customer receives deals, discounts and coupons right to their phone at the click of a button and further receives their mobile phone for only $35 per month including unlimited talk, text, web and picture messaging. We've wrapped in the fees, so the customer only pays the sales tax. The coupon phone concpet makes the phone the lowest in the nation rate plan for this group of unlimited services. And the purchase of the phone is inexpensive as well. Most customers get out the door with a phone for under $100.
The adverstisers receive attention to their product/brand, and more customers. Advertisers can target the ads to specific audiences. With every customer completing a survey of demographic information, likes/dislikes and other preferences, we've cut down on the potential for spam and made the deals, discounts and coupons useful. By targeting local retailers rather than national advertisers, we're also adding relevance - local people shopping the local economy through local retailers. And the retailers receive insight in additional detail than they do through traditional advertising. The click through rates on coupons, the advertiser receipts we receive back from customers through our incentives, these all contribute to a view of how well the advertiser's offer is being received through mobile marketing.
A few words on incenting coupon clicking and redemption behavior. This is the grail of mobile advertising. Our company has developed methods for incenting customers to click on the coupons, and for them to redeem the coupons. Here is where the innovation comes in, for we need to contstantly introduce new and exciting reasons for customers to click. Every month we need to roll out applications, mobile products and offers that drive our customers to use their coupons. I am looking forward to the next few weeks to have results from these efforts on profitability and usage.
The customer receives deals, discounts and coupons right to their phone at the click of a button and further receives their mobile phone for only $35 per month including unlimited talk, text, web and picture messaging. We've wrapped in the fees, so the customer only pays the sales tax. The coupon phone concpet makes the phone the lowest in the nation rate plan for this group of unlimited services. And the purchase of the phone is inexpensive as well. Most customers get out the door with a phone for under $100.
The adverstisers receive attention to their product/brand, and more customers. Advertisers can target the ads to specific audiences. With every customer completing a survey of demographic information, likes/dislikes and other preferences, we've cut down on the potential for spam and made the deals, discounts and coupons useful. By targeting local retailers rather than national advertisers, we're also adding relevance - local people shopping the local economy through local retailers. And the retailers receive insight in additional detail than they do through traditional advertising. The click through rates on coupons, the advertiser receipts we receive back from customers through our incentives, these all contribute to a view of how well the advertiser's offer is being received through mobile marketing.
A few words on incenting coupon clicking and redemption behavior. This is the grail of mobile advertising. Our company has developed methods for incenting customers to click on the coupons, and for them to redeem the coupons. Here is where the innovation comes in, for we need to contstantly introduce new and exciting reasons for customers to click. Every month we need to roll out applications, mobile products and offers that drive our customers to use their coupons. I am looking forward to the next few weeks to have results from these efforts on profitability and usage.
Friday, June 4, 2010
The deep blue sea
When good synergy exists between ad agency and client, the back and forth quick-witted exchange of ideas is empowering. Cool builds on excitement, mediocre concepts turn brilliant. Both camps dream of working in this manner. Side by side they marry creative genius with retail pragmatism. It is a dream.
Today, my reality is working from the client side. Specifically, I am the client. And while I once dreamed of an advertising agency partner, my concept's birth pangs are all pain without straight line gain. Yes, we have our working concept, but I am vacillating on how best to promote my product and the ad agency isn't helping. They're redrawing, reconfiguring, running loops on how the story line transpires. They're regurgitating my ideas, confirming my concerns as their own, pulling the concept back and forth across the creative focus. In short, they are doing what I desire least. I am become what I fear - the client for whom naught is right, and filled with the sense that I'm smarter than they are and that anyone with a mushy grey matter can create better advertising than this.
The real challenge is that the good folks at the agency won't stand up to me. They'd find success if only a principled line had been drawn and defended. But they don't. I wonder if it is a Midwest cultural thing or if I've scared them with my dose of financial reality [launch this product right or my business goes elsewhere]. The ad team owes me some good pictures of our new coupon phone concept. I am personally invested in my product. Financially, emotionally, historically; the coupon phone is part of my being. Only the best for my baby.
If I were to go back in time and launch the iPhone, but only do the advertising by radio, would it have been a success? I can tell prospective customers all about this great product, how cool it is, how it changes everything, how there's nothing like it in the cell phone world. But would it have worked? I doubt it. The iPhone is one of those products that has an education component; people have to see it work with the finger moving the screen in cool ways with windows expanding and contracting, sliding and scrolling. It only takes a few seconds to see all this, but in those seconds prospects get excited and become customers.
The coupon phone is the same way. A prospect has to see the button being pushed and all the cool deals, discounts and coupons come flying out, ready to procure the "living a smart deal lifestyle" that the product promises customers. When the ad agency pitched heavy radio and static facebook ads, I balked. I need people to see this product work. I need a real thumb clicking a real button on a real phone. Animation can carry the multiples of coupons flying out. But the customer's excitement depends on their "getting" the button.
Concepting is a revolutionary process, and then an evolutionary one. A direction is chosen, then elaborated and carried in different views. Some are dead ends, and others show promise, only to be shot down later when they dead end. In total, I will get what I want. But is that what the coupon phone needs?
Customer feedback has been very positive at point of sale. My last two days have been spent at a 3rd party exclusive agent kiosk in a small mall in Fond du Lac, where I demonstrated the new coupon phone. Based on the feedback I will meet with the agency account team on Monday to discuss adding an option to the concept. The introduction of a new unlimited price point, a new company name and a new coupon phone feature is a lot to shove down the attention pipe of prospects and current customers alike. It'll take time to drive these ideas home and get sales strictly based on the coupon functionality. There's some magical combination of price and coupon phone idea that must prevail. I am glad we are launching the facebook/myspace ads on Monday with two different concepts - one that prioritizes price point with unlimited talk/text/web/picture mail, and the other that prioritizes the coupone phone with sub messages for price point. I'll feel better about a macro direction for the month's long campaign when the test starts to show which is driving the big click throughs. In one version, the coupon phone can be given the iPhone treatment. In the other, I ask customers to come for the price point but stay for the coupons. This bifurcated decision approach is exciting, maddening, elating, infuriating, awe-inspiring and terrifying. In short, there is no roadmap for the creative process. I am in the deep sea. I am happy.
Today, my reality is working from the client side. Specifically, I am the client. And while I once dreamed of an advertising agency partner, my concept's birth pangs are all pain without straight line gain. Yes, we have our working concept, but I am vacillating on how best to promote my product and the ad agency isn't helping. They're redrawing, reconfiguring, running loops on how the story line transpires. They're regurgitating my ideas, confirming my concerns as their own, pulling the concept back and forth across the creative focus. In short, they are doing what I desire least. I am become what I fear - the client for whom naught is right, and filled with the sense that I'm smarter than they are and that anyone with a mushy grey matter can create better advertising than this.
The real challenge is that the good folks at the agency won't stand up to me. They'd find success if only a principled line had been drawn and defended. But they don't. I wonder if it is a Midwest cultural thing or if I've scared them with my dose of financial reality [launch this product right or my business goes elsewhere]. The ad team owes me some good pictures of our new coupon phone concept. I am personally invested in my product. Financially, emotionally, historically; the coupon phone is part of my being. Only the best for my baby.
If I were to go back in time and launch the iPhone, but only do the advertising by radio, would it have been a success? I can tell prospective customers all about this great product, how cool it is, how it changes everything, how there's nothing like it in the cell phone world. But would it have worked? I doubt it. The iPhone is one of those products that has an education component; people have to see it work with the finger moving the screen in cool ways with windows expanding and contracting, sliding and scrolling. It only takes a few seconds to see all this, but in those seconds prospects get excited and become customers.
The coupon phone is the same way. A prospect has to see the button being pushed and all the cool deals, discounts and coupons come flying out, ready to procure the "living a smart deal lifestyle" that the product promises customers. When the ad agency pitched heavy radio and static facebook ads, I balked. I need people to see this product work. I need a real thumb clicking a real button on a real phone. Animation can carry the multiples of coupons flying out. But the customer's excitement depends on their "getting" the button.
Concepting is a revolutionary process, and then an evolutionary one. A direction is chosen, then elaborated and carried in different views. Some are dead ends, and others show promise, only to be shot down later when they dead end. In total, I will get what I want. But is that what the coupon phone needs?
Customer feedback has been very positive at point of sale. My last two days have been spent at a 3rd party exclusive agent kiosk in a small mall in Fond du Lac, where I demonstrated the new coupon phone. Based on the feedback I will meet with the agency account team on Monday to discuss adding an option to the concept. The introduction of a new unlimited price point, a new company name and a new coupon phone feature is a lot to shove down the attention pipe of prospects and current customers alike. It'll take time to drive these ideas home and get sales strictly based on the coupon functionality. There's some magical combination of price and coupon phone idea that must prevail. I am glad we are launching the facebook/myspace ads on Monday with two different concepts - one that prioritizes price point with unlimited talk/text/web/picture mail, and the other that prioritizes the coupone phone with sub messages for price point. I'll feel better about a macro direction for the month's long campaign when the test starts to show which is driving the big click throughs. In one version, the coupon phone can be given the iPhone treatment. In the other, I ask customers to come for the price point but stay for the coupons. This bifurcated decision approach is exciting, maddening, elating, infuriating, awe-inspiring and terrifying. In short, there is no roadmap for the creative process. I am in the deep sea. I am happy.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Long live the coupon phone!
Mohammad had no idea what to expect. When I arrived this morning at his kiosk in the Forest Mall in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, he had all the literature, new branding and codes for activating AirFire Mobile customers onto the new $35 unlimited talk, text and web coupon phone. What he didn't have was a sense of why this was important. He hadn't seen the phone in action, and that's the point of this story - to appreciate the power of this device you have to see it. Just like the first iPhone couldn't have succeeded if the only advertising were to come through radio, the coupon phone requires a 30 second education to see the coupon button on the phone, press the button, see all the coupons you can call up, choose one and then realize all you have to do to redeem the coupon is show it on the phone when you're ready to buy.
Hopefully, the ad agency understands and embraces this aspect of the coupon phone and can drive it through both the conceptulization and operationalization of the media campaign.
Our customers get it. When I showed the coupon function to them at the kiosk they immediately thought it neat and an added value beyond the $35 price point. About half said they'd buy it just for the coupons. And several upgraded their non-web phones to new web-enabled coupon phones, even though they had been voice-only customers prior.
It was gratifying seeing Verizon and US Cellular stores empty all day while our booth stayed consistently busy. Every person who visited volunteered to tell others. Can't buy that sort of product evangelism. We've tapped the zeitgeist. Cool.
Hopefully, the ad agency understands and embraces this aspect of the coupon phone and can drive it through both the conceptulization and operationalization of the media campaign.
Our customers get it. When I showed the coupon function to them at the kiosk they immediately thought it neat and an added value beyond the $35 price point. About half said they'd buy it just for the coupons. And several upgraded their non-web phones to new web-enabled coupon phones, even though they had been voice-only customers prior.
It was gratifying seeing Verizon and US Cellular stores empty all day while our booth stayed consistently busy. Every person who visited volunteered to tell others. Can't buy that sort of product evangelism. We've tapped the zeitgeist. Cool.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Eve of Launch
One year in the making all comes down to tonight. For tomorrow the world gets its first glimse of my creation - the first coupon phone from a United States carrier. But as I sit here with all the launch activity buzzing around the office, with the light fading in the Midwest sky, I am breathing a big exhale and smiling. I have brought this new concept to life. A $35 per month unlimited talk, text and web phone that features local deals, discounts and coupons at the click of a button. Advertisers subsidizing a rate plan so my product can be less expensive than other carriers, leveraging all the strengths of being a carrier, with the localization and innovation strategy to guide our next steps towards increasing value in the product; I'm proud of the outcome.
Word is starting to get out early. The customer care lines are jammed with people trying to opt in to the new plan. The feeling around the company is optimistic - we're going to grow quick.
Word is starting to get out early. The customer care lines are jammed with people trying to opt in to the new plan. The feeling around the company is optimistic - we're going to grow quick.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Trip to Madison
Drove two hours south to Madison, Wisconsin through dense fog. Not too many cars on the road at 4:45 am. High potential for accidents on the road leading to Madison (Rt 151), so I was glad to arrive without incident. The photo shoot scheduled for today started right on time at 7:00 am, with set up of the new AirFire Mobile brand planogram easier than I thought. The store staff, the KW2 ad agency personnel and even the Airadigm engineers all played a part to make the shoot smooth and concise. Then, as we are not launching the new brand, new plan and new products until later we took all the posters, banners, literature and what-not down to be stored until launch. Reviewing the raw footage, the agency and I agree that we have the shots needed to create our short story suitable for our website, facebook, linked in, myspace, and other critical sources of communication. I am starting to feel good about launch.
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