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Archives for June 2008

Tesco: chickening out of publicity

Chicken Out
Chicken Out

Tesco have received some very bad press over the last few days, over a shareholder request to submit a motion to their AGM.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (chef and campaigner) as spokesman for a group of over 100 Tesco shareholders, wanted to put forward a motion at the AGM, urging Tesco to ensure that chickens purchased for sale by them are produced in systems capable of providing the Five Freedoms:

1. freedom from hunger and thirst
2. freedom from discomfort
3. freedom from pain, injury or disease
4. freedom to express normal behaviour
5. freedom from fear and distress.

Whatever you think about this issue, it is clear that shareholders have the right to put forward motions for discussion at the AGM.
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Raising the Retail Sector’s Sustainability Bar

“Oh, that’s just perfectly normal paranoia,” said Slartibartfast breezily. “Everyone in the universe suffers from that.”

It’s always good to know that the architects of the Earth, as depicted in Douglas Adams’ “The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy”, were aware of the fundamentals of life.

Nevertheless, it can be disconcerting to find these theories being borne out in real life.

For instance: I always had a sneaking suspicion that some smaller country was quietly getting on with sustainability without getting hung up over principle, cost or advantage.

That country, I’m starting to conclude, is Portugal. It appears to be a hotbed of Social Entrepreneurship, a centre for positive news reporting and, now, the home of the sustainable shopping centre.
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Retailers Embrace Media Responsibility By Being Proactive

The largest retail giant in the United States has learned the secret to offsetting any negative perception about its practices in the media. Working closely with their corporate executives and high-profile key media personnel, Wal-Mart is seeking to establish a new identity. Since perception is everything, their goal is to create a new way of thinking, a sort of “re-branding” of itself, and is using media relations to accomplish that goal.

The negative air that surrounds the retail giant is due in part to executive decisions to:

1) Outsource jobs to other countries, thereby reducing the number of available jobs here in America and,

2) Significantly reduce industry wages, leading to disgruntled, unhappy employees who generally voice their concerns – – to the media!
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One Word Branding

One word branding is not a new concept, I just gave it a name. In short, one word branding is the process of picking one word (or phrase) that your brand owns in the minds of consumers. Here are some examples:

  1. Volvo = safety
  2. Harley Davidson = freedom
  3. Disney = family [Read more…] about One Word Branding

Sites For CEOs

Things have changed in the last 15 years. In the mid-1990s, I remember hearing about a CEO from a major company when he was getting briefed about the Internet, brought his secretary since he did not know how to use a keyboard. Now CEOs are necessarily technology savvy and are increasingly using the internet. A number of surveys confirm this.

Forbes magazine’s survey “Day In The Life of C-Level Executives” (2004) found –

Web Usage

  • The internet continues to be the most influential and important source of information on business for C-Level executives around the world.
  • The Web is a pervasive presence in the lives of C-level executives: 38 percent of C-level respondents said the Web is their single most important source for information on business. The next most prevalent source of information was daily newspapers by 26 percent of respondents.
  • Among large company executives, the reliance on the Web is even greater with 51 percent naming the Web is their most important business information resource, followed by newspapers at 22 percent.
  • C-level executive respondents also stated they are spending less time with other media, including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and industry trade publications as a result of the time they spend online (not including email): 59 percent are spending less time with magazines, 50 percent say they are spending less time with newspapers, 48 percent less time with TV, 46 percent less time with radio and industry trade publications respectively.
  • 26 percent of large firm respondents said they are knowledgeable about Wi-Fi technology and they are reporting some current usage of the technology.

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Branding Creates Expectations – Make Sure You Meet Them

An inherent part of creating a brand is the natural development of expectations that evolve after consumers experience that brand. As a marketer, you must understand what those expectations are, even if they are not the expectations you anticipated.

As consumers become more loyal to a brand, their expectations for it to meet and exceed their needs rise. For example, if I’ve always used Brand X stain remover and one day I use Brand X and a stain doesn’t come out, my expectations have not been met. I am likely to search for a new brand to replace the one that failed to live up to my expectations.

Alternatively, if I use Brand X stain remover then Brand Y comes out with a special ingredient that works better than Brand X, then I’ll expect Brand X to come out with a new version of their product that includes this ingredient (or something even better). If Brand X fails to respond, my expectations won’t be met, and I’ll replace it.

A perfect example of this was provided to me by one of Corporate Eye’s readers in a comment on my post Mozilla’s Firefox as a Relationship Brand last week. The reader told the story of Microsoft and its failure to meet customer expectations as other products such as Firefox and Google products entered the market but Microsoft did not introduce similar, competitive products. Instead, Microsoft users, who had strong expectations from the market leader to create cutting-edge products, were disappointed. With their expectations not met, they moved from Internet Explorer to Firefox and from Microsoft products to Google products, and so on.

The lesson to learn – do your research and understand your customers’ expectations for your brand then work tirelessly to meet and exceed them. Doing so will create satisfied, loyal customers and drive new business as well.

How do you keep track of your customers’ expectations? Share your tips with Corporate Eye readers by leaving a comment.