Have you ever been so frustrated by the automatic computer generated voices that give you 500 options, then tell you that your call will be answered in five minutes. Which then turns into fifty minutes. And worst of all you are paying for the call.

A Whole New Brand World

The call for the longest call at Zappos lasted for over five hours. The call centre agent became a hero. Can you imagine this happening to the companies you deal with. No, we cant either.

Today Walter and I discuss the narrow minded thinking of business that look at operational efficiency that is busy destroying business’s. And no, this is not going to make things fall apart in the next year or two but definatley in the not so distant future.

From Command Control Tactics To The Boer war

We discuss how marketing has evolved from the command and control strategies and tactics to mobility and organic marketing and look at:

• How customer thinking has changed and the role of business
• Is the chief marketing officer is dead – no role
• Why bad business is run by efficiency experts rather than customer happiness
• Are customers a necessary evil
• Zappos – why they really are such a good example and not just a cliché
• Why your competition is Zappos, Amazon and any other brilliant customer experience
• Your brand is everything and you are good as your worst experience.
• Why big brand companies have a shelf life — and why the boring gurus CEO wont win tomorrows awards
• The customer experience is the new benchmark. It is the new differentiating factor and defines what is possible.

Go here to listen to the podcast.

It’s the eve of the local government elections in South Africa and Walter and I chat the development of the raving loony political party.  This idea was born when we asked the question: If brands behaved like politician’s what would happen to them?

Dirty Politics and Crowdsourcing

There have been many messages from the racist madam who can’t dance, to the debacles about human dignity and open toilets, and … well, you get the idea.

Without becoming a political platform we chat about the behaviour of politicians, the messages they send, the ethics behind it and how people will drive change through their empowered voice.

The idea of crowdsourcing and democracy is compared and Walter shares his thoughts about the impact of Egypt. You can read his latest post on this on his Organic Marketing Blog.

The Future Business Model

We also looked at the business model of the future that does not need advertise.

Bean There Coffee is an inspiring brand. They focus on fair trade; they look after their suppliers in a way that most brands cannot even imagine. Maybe what is most telling is that the staff are really happy and having fun. They also see their customers as a key part of their business rather than a necessary evil.

This is the type of experience will get people talking. And its not the just the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Splatt Feedback

And, please let us know what your experience is with the Splatt Podcast. Is there anything you want to chat about or discuss?

Go Here To listen to the podcast

The Old Spice campaign is a one-night stand. It grabs your attention, flirts with you, gets you all steamed up, gets you to engage and then dumps you like a bunch of rotten tomatoes.

This is certainly not the way you should be talking about the poster child of social media campaigns. Heck, maybe Mustafa will hot tail it on his horse to come and deal with the sacrilege. Or maybe, hopefully he will just have a cool shower and move on.

All joking aside, the question we look at in today’s podcast is the issue of engagement. Why marketers insist on embracing a campaign that spikes like mad and dumps you down with a crash.

Some thoughts that we chat about include:

• Why social media should be social engagement.
• Wonder if the company culture creating a problem for marketers?
• Why your advertising agency can really damage your social media campaign
• Why a like is worse than a cheap suit and is not love.
• Why you need to treat your customer as a first-class citizen.
• Why trial and awareness is not enough anymore.
• Why a coffee shop owner is doing a better social media job than high-end brand managers.
• Your brand is about feelings – create good ones and word of mouth will spread.

What are your thoughts?

You can listen to the podcast here

After a few complaints about trying run a business through the crazy holidays, Walter and I chat about Vodacom – again!

And, no we don’t have a grudge against the Cell Phone providers (as I am sure many people do), but they just have a huge target on their back at the moment.

With Cell C and Vodacom just going through a rebrand and a few spats with the ASA there are a lot of mistakes to learn from. And a lot of things we can talk about.

What is Your Brand Message?

Walters post sparked our conversation: Vodacom. This is what your brand is. Maybe the most important part of the post is that

“Your Brand is what we (Your customers) say it is.”

Of course he also offers the crazy idea of turning the Blue Bulls into the Red Bulls (and making Pretoria see red). His experience also highlights how badly Vodacom planned for the launch of the iPad 2, when they ran out of micro sim’s. (No Vodacom, it’s not just about you).

We also discuss the advertising message. We look at the previous Nando’s ad that played against the Cell C as a backdrop to the chat. We love the ad but the question remains how effective was it? Nando’s has done a superb job as a social satirist and have played the Rebel so well. The question is how do brands like Nando’s evolve their communication – and how do they develop their message?

What are your thoughts?

You can listen to the podcast here.