Is this not the coolest product ever?
Just kidding, it’s not the coolest invention but a really good attempt at one. Who knew that the the USB port would be so versatile?
Pownce Doesn’t Really Pounce
I had a conversation with my friend about Pownce and we both agreed that it kinda pseudo sucks, although I think his dislike for the website was a little stronger than mine. =p Basically it came down to this – he was sending me messages or doing something on the site and I wasn’t aware of it until he confronted me about it days later. Doh! This actually relates to one of my previous posts about interactivity! Pownce is great because it allows you to interact amongst your friends and do a variety of different things. HOWEVER, what’s the point if people won’t know about what kind of activities are occurring when the user won’t know about it until the next time they log on (which could be NEVER)? By that time it’s too late! Geez… I wonder if the people at Pownce intentionally left the notification alerts out, assuming that when a lot of people were to use it that inboxes would be bombarded with emails. Whether or not that was the case, they’re still beta and only people with invites are able to use it – I doubt people will have THAT much email. In the mean time, they should probably add some kind of activity alert system integrated into the site. I’m someone who actually likes Pownce – at least enough to write about it, and even I don’t feel like I have any incentive to login to the site.
OH WELL…
Apparently I’m Weird
It’s not unusual for me to stumble across a news article and form an elaborate thought cloud – I do that once in a while. So when I was talking to a good friend of mine about the bold plan of action that William L. McCombs had for Liz Claiborne, I didn’t think much of it. However, that changed after this friend of mine said I was weird. Yes, WEIRD. I’ll be honest, when I initially heard this, I was caught off guard and confused. Since I was curious as to why something so random came out of his mouth, I simply asked him and he said, “You have all these marketing interests.” The conversation was followed by a brief silent pause. Apparently having marketing interests makes a person weird. That’s cool. I’d much rather be called weird for having an interest in that than having a hobby like collecting stamps (sorry, no offense). =)
In retrospect, I guess my friend was just being observant. For a long while now, I have somehow formed a habit of thinking about pretty much everything from a marketing perspective or at least weave something related to marketing into my conversations. I have definitely caught myself, on numerous occasions, thinking out loud about why Brand X would make the decision to do such and such to Product Z. For instance, I’m talking about walking down the aisle at a checkout line at the grocery store looking at an Altoids box wondering why Altoids would come out with a line of gum or breath strips. It doesn’t make sense to do that. –shrugs- Sometimes I think even big shot CEOs and executives need to be reminded of the fundamental rules of marketing.
Anyway, going back to Liz Claiborne – William L. McCombs is a smart person. I’ve read tons of books and had many conversations about marketing that it still shocks me that smart CEOs and company leaders can lose sight of a company’s primary focus. One of the key problems with Liz Claiborne was product extension – a very very fundamental marketing concept. Liz Claiborne’s founder allowed too many different brands join the parent name and things got out of control. Company objectives weren’t getting uniformly understood by employees, too many layers of managers existed, issues weren’t able to be resolved and the entire organization was turning into a big grey mush. It’s what happens when companies get so large and expand horizontally rather than vertically – it was inevitable. Generally, this happens to big companies because it seems to be the quickest way to bring in immediate dollars. = Fortunately, McCombs made a bold decision to spin-off brands that didn’t fit with his new business model. His strategy is to heavily brand Juicy Couture, Kate Spade and Lucky Brand and have a few key brands drive the company. Sounds like a good plan; however, I question whether Juicy Couture, Kate Spade and Lucky Brand will able to hold enough branding power to do so. I guess we’ll just have to wait to see what happens with that. I just wanted to comment on his plan of action – that’s all.
I like that McCombs calls his strategy “stupid simple” for two reasons 1) I totally agree and 2) I’m a fan of alliteration.
Hello, My Name Is Monica
I finished reading Hello, My Name Is Scott the other day and I think his experience and theory are pretty valid. I’ve worked enough in different retail industries to acknowledge and understand level of impact as something simple as a nametag can have.
I think the most obvious and most recent experience I had with nametags was during the summer before my senior year of college. Having zero restaurant industry experience, I made a conscious decision to work at one to get me through the summer while I took summer school. I’ve heard how insanely rough working as a server could be because of extreme physical, emotional and stress demands the nature of the job requires (I believed them after working at a steakhouse), but it didn’t stop me. At the time I was more interested in understanding how a restaurant operated. Anyway, until about two weeks into the job, every employee in the restaurant was required to wear a spiffy coppery magnetic nametag. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Once in awhile, after I had given my introductory steakhouse spiel, I received “thanks” followed by my name. I didn’t really notice when someone didn’t acknowledge me by my name, but it definitely stood out when they did. I have to admit, like Scott said in his book, it made you feel a little more appreciated – which by the way is a sure approach of getting you extraordinary service from your server. I also noticed that when I had conversations with various customers, most likely than not, it all started because of my name. I’ve received comments from people singing the Lou Bega’s, Mambo No.5 song to me “…a little bit of Monica in my life” all the way to referring to the Monica Lewinsky ordeal. Surprise, surprise!
Let’s just say I had some pretty interesting conversations. However, by the third week, our managers notified us that we were NOT to wear our nametags anymore because of restaurant policies. I asked why, but no one could give me a satisfying answer. It didn’t take very long to realize that the number of conversations I had with people dropped and when people needed to talk to me, I was referred to as the Asian girl. Eh. Even to this day I’m curious as to why the nametags got abolished. A lot of people took notice to it (and by people I’m referring to customers). Oh well.I think that Scott was right in saying that the nametag acts as a type of social icebreaker and in most situations, that’s all you need to make new friends. Kudos Scott! for being gutsy and so dedicated to your philanthropic steps towards making a friendlier society!
I Depend on Jott
There are only a few (higher level) things I need in life to comfortably pass through my day. I must have a cell phone, a laptop with internet and the newest addition, Jott! You’re probably asking yourself, “What is Jott and why is it so imperative to your life?” Well, it’s a dynamic voice messaging system that helps you organize your schedule! It’s one of the most useful services I have stumbled across in a long time. It lets you call in and leave messages to an individual, a specific group of people or even yourself. Now you’re probably wondering, “What makes Jott different from any other voice mailbox? Well, unlike your ordinary voice mailbox system, Jott transcribes, I mean, accurately transcribes your message and then sends a copy of that transcription to your email inbox along with your actual voice message. It’s a neat combination of features, especially for those who are very to-do list and email inbox oriented.
Let me set up the scenario:
On a typical day, I’m usually running around trying to get as many things done during my waking hours. I could be at the grocery store, at home, at the gym, at the post office or in my car when I think of another item to add to my to-do list. As this happens quite frequently, before Jott was apart of my life, I always carried around a post-it note pad and a pen (yes, I realize how absurd that sounds but it’s how I got things done). This wasn’t dorky as much as frustrating. The old school method of using paper and pen was fine when I wasn’t driving, but when I was (which was usually the case) it probably wasn’t the safest method. I don’t know why it was, but my mind liked to generate new things for me to do while I was in the car and since I don’t trust my memory like I used too, in the moment it was very important for me to write it down. I remember peeling off sheets of the little stickies with one or two words that took up the entire square in writing barely legible. Ha-ha. Those were the days. Now all I do is dial into Jott with my handy dandy cell phone, leave myself a quick voice message and I’ll know I’ll have the little message waiting for me at home in my inbox. It’s really a cool system. No more digging through my purse for a pen and my pad of post-its and no more writing on my steering wheel and accidentally honking the horn. Jott has made my life a lot easier to manage and also a safer driver.
It’s still a public beta, so if you’re at all interested in Jott sign up!
*Edit*
People have asked me why I don’t use Twitter, and my answer is a) it takes longer to text on a phone than using the conventional paper and pen method and b) it’s not any safer texting when you’re driving.