Archive for August, 2008

One of the great paradoxes of flying is that the plane can’t leave with the bag and no passenger. But it can leave with the passenger and no bag. And so it was that I landed in Auckland last week with no luggage. Given how much I travel I probably should be relieved how infrequently this happens to me.

Air New Zealand is one of my favorite airlines. What’s not to like – lay flat beds, terrific food and wine, brilliant entertainment system, friendly staff. So, as I heard my named summoned to the baggage claims counter I was expecting the best. I pretty much got the reverse.

1. Business class passengers expect business class service. And that includes when you screw-up. In all fairness to Air New Zealand a terrific concierge that was traveling on the plane tried to help – but after ten minutes with a less than interested baggage claims attendant pretty much all was lost.
2. Business travelers are different. A white t/shirt isn’t going to cut it. Instead we get to go to meeting after meeting entertaining our hosts of tales of how incompetent you are as a cunning distraction from our rumpled rags.
3. If you know our bags are on the plane when we aren’t, you surely know when we are on the plane without our bags. Tell us before we land rather than surprise us on the ground.
4. Equip us for the day ahead. The little bag of tricks I was provided with included a razor and toothbrush from the neolithic period, a white t/shirt and, appropriately whitening deodorant (They must have been anticipating a long wait for my bag but not the fact I don’t ware white shirts). Rather than carefully considered, the bag represented some kind of weird assortment of end-of-life cosmetics in mini tubes. At least make your bag of goodies as good as those on the plane and the brand. Anything less is an insult.
5. Over communicate. How hard would it be to text me the status of my bag. Or give me a call to let me know it was on the way. Don’t subject us to a voice response system that doesn’t work and provides no human connection.
6. Make fixing the problem a priority. When I called the next morning my bag had arrived in NZ but nobody was quite sure where it was. Until they told me it had been offloaded from the onward flight due to being excess baggage. Ok, four more hours might not seem like much to the airline but to the passenger running between meetings its plenty enough.
7. Web enable every step of the process. Air New Zealand seems to have fixed the issues most companies have with search by removing the search bar all together from their primary nav. This is about the stupidest, most customer unfriendly thing I’ve ever seen a company do on the web. Drop into site nav and you can get to a search bar – definitely doesn’t pass the “would my mum do that?” test. Lost luggage; lost bags, lost bag – all yield no result. Nuts! Now, to get where you need to go on the site you go to “Before you fly”, then to baggage. Buried in there is a section for “mishandled baggage“. From there you can track it online. Talk about hiding a solution! By the way – “mishandled baggage” also yields no result in their search engine.
8. Just give us the money up front. You’ve already pissed us off. Give us the measly $150 allowance for clothes and other things on the spot. We’re busy enough without having to file more paperwork for a clean pair of underwear. Here’s a thought – how about paying for the cab to the nearest department store as well?

As for any trip involving checked luggage, I chuck a spare t/shirt, socks etc. in my carry-on bag. Did that ever pay off on this trip! Unfortunately my habit of pretty much wearing all black on the road only made more of a comedy of the whitening deodorant.

I’ll still fly Air New Zealand again – they are a terrific airline. But they just dropped a star in my book.

1. Softball is out of the Olympics but ribbon gymnastics and synchronized swimming stays in… for that matter… why Rugby can’t get in… In fact, how could you call anything performed to “Little Birds Jumping and Flying Happily” a sport?
2. Who in Japanese companies actually thinks those advertorials at the front-end of US business magazines are even vaguely effective? Wherever the sales person is that is selling these spots we need to hire them. That anyone could be convinced that all those portrait shots combined with photos of vast industrial complexes are even remotely useful in creating positive perceptions is a miracle. I can only assume vast amounts of whiskey and sake are involved in the decision making process.
3. Why after paying an exorbitant amount for a meal do US hotels and restaurants think it is a good idea to charge $7 for parking. I mean, you’ve already fleeced us on the meal so why not go all out and charge $50 – at least you’ll just be stupid rather than cheap and stupid.

This is my meandering list of things that continue to baffle me…

I’ve long believed that every marketer should go work in a start-up at least once in their career if for no other reason than this. You get a profound and intimate understanding of the relationship between marketing and sales as expressed through the lead. Without a lead, there is nothing.

Carleen draws a line between this and baseball. I really enjoyed “Moneyball,” by Michael Lewis chronicling the successful statistics-driven management of Oakland Athletics General Manager, Billy Beane.

Just as he has applied math to sport, it has an equally important role in marketing and communications.

While the five tips she provides are all good, this one is extremely pertinent…

Trust your data. Even when your intuition suggests otherwise. You have to have the courage and conviction to trust your data, and act on it, Nelson says. If your data says spending money on conferences like CES or Web 2.0 Summit does not convert to sales, don’t go — no matter how important you think it is to be seen at such events.

This is perhaps hardest for communicators to accept. So often we are swayed by the emotions of those around us the data gets lost. We’ve all be subject to the rant by a product marketer about how we are “getting out-PRed…”. Without data you have nothing. Without conviction in your data you are well and truly up the creek without a paddle.

Last month, the SEC announced new guidance in using traditional websites and social media channels as legitimate means for companies listed on US stock exchanges to communicate with investors and others.

Like Neville, I believe that announcement will have a far-reaching impact on how organizations communicate, not only listed companies (he has outlined some reasons why he thinks so).

I agree that this doesn’t spell the end of the press release. In fact, it could make the press release more important as companies seek to differentiate communications.

The SEC also made other moves this week – the recording is available – with SEC Chairman Christopher Cox presenting IDEA, a pretty good acronym for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. During the course of the next three years, IDEA will replace EDGAR, the SEC’s 1980s-era computer system for filing documents electronically.

In a first, anyone with an Internet connection – investors, financial analysts, anyone – will be able to more easily find, analyze and extract data and other financial information about US-listed companies held by the SEC. Neville points to the important underlying message in that this appears to give clear support for XBRL in financial reporting and information analysis

The SEC’s press release has the details and there is plenty of commentary and opinion. Hat tip to Neville for the post…