We lost our daily paper paper last July in Ann Arbor. The old Ann Arbor News was replaced by an online product, AnnArbor.com. Like many, I was chagrined. I couldn’t imagine breakfast without ink and newsprint. It just seemed strange to imagine reading the daily news on a laptop across my bowl of fruit. Not getting that dirty ink all over my fingers anymore, that would be good. But spilling coffee on my new paper? That would be bad.
I’m not a total Luddite. I’ve been a heavy online user since the pre-www days of Compuserve and Prodigy. So I’m totally comfortable in the online world. But my daily newspaper? Hmm…
I wasn’t happy about it then. I am happy now. Not with the actual digital replacement product. It’s marginal at best. Maybe because it’s marginal, I have been forced to seek out other sources of local news, information and opinion. What a revelation! I guess I never realized how much filtering was required to reduce an entire community with all of its events, quirks, warts, and diverse personalities into a daily bundle of bird cage liner, packing material and filler for my recycle bin.
Make no mistake, these new sources are not fair and balanced journalism. Most don’t pretend to be. Much is presented as fact that is, in fact, not. Articles and reader comments are often snarky, off topic, offensive, and rude. (I kind of like that part, it takes less energy than polite and politically correct). But you learn pretty quickly who has something interesting to say and who doesn’t.
What used to be twenty pages of news and a quarter page of Letters to the Editor is now snippets of news and screen after screen after screen of Letters to the Editor. I always liked the letters best anyway. The only issue I have with this new order is that the conversation tends to be dominated by an annoying few. Maybe they just have too much time on their hands, or maybe they really do know everything… about everything. You who know it all – and you know who you are – start your own blog.
And then there is the anti-everything crowd. News flash: www.antieverything.com is for sale. And the conspiracy theorists. They think I’m out to get them. (I am, but I’ll blog about that some other time.) There are the mindlessly single-minded. Is that an oxymoron? Or just a moron? Their one pet peeve is somehow relevant no matter the topic. The linkers, they think I really need 100 pages of linked minutiae to learn that the school board spent too much on pencils. And then there those I call the twits. The ones who use that incredibly annoying twitterism of using the @ symbol when replying to another poster.
But, all in all, since I’ve been reading these local blogs, news sites, pseudo news sites, rants, and journals, I certainly feel like I am more informed. I might actually be. It’s hard to tell. It is definitely more fun than the old paper paper. And I haven’t spilled anything on it yet.
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During our 20 or so years of working with Domino’s Pizza we frequently brought up the fact that their product consistently was rated lower than their competitor’s pizza by customers. Interestingly, in blind taste tests it did quite well. Over the years they tinkered with various aspects of the product, the cheese blend, the dough, the ovens that it was baked in. Regardless, it was difficult to change the perception that the pizza itself was not as good as that of their competitors. And at that time, it was difficult to convince the Domino’s Pizza leadership that they needed to seriously address the problem.
The new Domino’s Pizza campaign finally addresses the issue head on. It’s open and transparent strategy resonates well with today’s internet savvy consumers. Tim McIntyre, VP Communication, spoke at the Detroit PRSA Convention yesterday and shared insights into the current campaign along with their successful management of their recent social media crisis. While he could not comment specifically on sales, he did suggest that their recent stock price climb reflected the overall success they were enjoying.
It is interesting to note that a market segment that would appear to be totally saturated and commoditized can still add new competitors who can find ways to differentiate themselves. Marco’s Pizza based in Toledo is experiencing considerable franchise growth. Several of our former Domino’s Pizza clients are helping drive that effort and they are positioning the brand as a superior pizza product. We were recently approached by another young, but rapidly growing franchise whose product is totally organic and very upscale. Like our Ben & Jerry’s client, they have the opportunity to become a “passion brand,” building their position and attracting customers on the basis of their core values as well as the quality of their product.
Our current favorite pizza is right next door, Pizza Pino. They have a distinct advantage in that it takes us about two minutes to pick it up. It doesn’t take years of experience in the category to know that the best pizza is piping hot from the oven. (The premise behind 30 minute delivery.) Pizza Pino actually has a really good pizza product, with probably the best crust I have had in a long time. So for now, until we have another pizza client that commands our loyalty, they are our first choice. I guess that proves that there is indeed room for another great pizza purveyor in the marketplace.
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Tim McIntyre
The excitement about social media for business is at its peak – which leads companies to jump right in “because everyone else is.” Many companies feel that if they are not a part of social media already, they need to rush and get in on it as soon as possible. Even though there should be some sense of urgency, you should make your endeavor worthwhile and make a plan.
First, evaluate where your customers are and how they are using it. Many people are fans of a company on facebook because the company offers deals and information only available to fans. In other words, they have something of value to offer. Don’t just create a fan page just to make one, think about how it can be appealing to your customers.
Then, create a plan for where you’re going to be, who is responsible for maintaining it, and a crisis management policy. You can and should be discriminating about which social media channels where you to maintain a presence. It takes time, so it makes sense to choose fewer channels that you can maintain well rather than try to be everywhere at once. Assign responsibilities for planning content, updating content and checking every day to respond to customer feedback. Choose your representatives wisely – social media involves conversation between companies and customers directly. Make sure you represent yourself well.
Companies are excited because social media is “free.” While there may be no paid media cost, it does have a huge cost in terms of planning and maintenance time – so don’t waste valuable resources by jumping in without a plan.
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Today consumers are bombarded with messages and advertising from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. You radio alarm clock goes off and a commercial is playing. You make your coffee and put it in your branded to-go coffee cup, get in your car and next to the Sirius Radio logo that is permanently part of your dash. I won’t go through the entire day – email campaigns, banner advertising, television commercial, newspaper and magazine ads – because I’m sure you get my point. There’s even a new technology in Canada that delivers restroom visitors at high-end restaurants a 20 second video that is played in the bathroom mirror when it senses the sink is on.
The real challenge for both media and creative people in today’s world is delivering the message in a way that make it stand out and get noticed above all the other advertising “noise”. The key is to make sure you are talking to your target in a way that relates to them in the media that they are already consuming. As I mentioned in another blog post, if they are a pet owner be in the pet blogs, Animal Planet etc. You also have to sometime think outside of the box, this can mean anything from guerilla marketing efforts to a special fold-out or pop-up in your print ad.
Consumers have gotten really good a “tuning out the noise”, the most successful campaigns are the ones that find a way to reach their target in a way and in a medium that makes them louder.
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