In the second part of his Politics for Drummies podcast,the chief strategy officer discusses the complexities of British politics and how the ad industry could help revive the category.
Kicking off part two of our Politics for Drummies discussion with Richard Huntington, the chief strategy officer at the ad agency that swept Margaret Thatcher into office 45 years ago, podcast host Alastair Duncan poses the challenging question of which politicians Huntington actually admires.
“Jumping into my head is Shirley Williams,” answers Saatchi & Saatchi’s Huntington, “because of the work that she did around comprehensive education in the 1960s and how close she came to genuinely changing the education system. I’m also currently revisiting Harold Wilson. There’s some slight historical revisionism around Wilson and what he actually achieved. Labour sort of hate him because he wasn’t particularly principled, but look at the dramatic social change that happened in the late 60s and we are still living with that today every day of our lives.”
He goes on: “I am a huge admirer of Keir Starmer for nothing more than the discipline he’s delivering. Divided parties do not win elections and that is what he has fundamentally done in four short years to the point where, you know, it is just chaos over the other side.”
Huntington is an active and vocal advocate of mental health reform in the workplace and talks candidly about how he deals with his own mental health and how he is enabling people within his organization to face mental health challenges together with no shame.
“If you start talking about your poor mental health, you’re really just saying to your employer and your clients, ‘I can’t do it…’ But if somebody who is middle-aged, white, male, heterosexual and with a relatively good career can’t say something about this, then how the fuck is anybody else going to volunteer that information?
“What happened as a result of my saying something about my mental health was that people began getting in contact with me and, privately and personally, we realized it was a serious problem. So many people are just papering over the cracks the entire time to hold it together.”
Compassion, politics and advertising seldom go hand in hand, but Huntington believes we can only become better at what we do if advertising cultures change.
“We’re such a competitive business and, in advertising, everything’s either brilliant or shit – ‘They’re a brilliant agency, they’re a shit agency.’ We haven’t traditionally been particularly kind. Whether we can be kinder and whether we can build kinder cultures is the thing that I just don’t get about our business. It isn’t hard to be hard on the work and easy on the people. But the number of agencies and agency leaders that genuinely do that and don’t accidentally boil over into the other is not, in my experience, universal.”
When you think of your favourite cookie, you might picture a recipe that you’ve had since childhood. It’s tasty, nostalgic and part of its charm is that it hasn’t changed in 20+ years.
But while an unchanging tradition is ideal for your beloved baked goods, it’s a recipe for trouble when it comes to website cookies.
Website cookies aren’t stagnant things that you can set and forget. With changing regulations, consumer sentiment and technological advancements, businesses need to mitigate risk with a regular cookie audit.
While audits are usually no one’s idea of fun, a cookie audit for your business doesn’t have to be complicated.
Here are five steps you can take to execute an effective cookie audit for your business.
1. Identify and categorize the cookies you already have.
First and foremost, know what you’re working with. Catalogue existing cookies on your website (all of them) and separate them by type:
• Necessary cookies: These help your website function. Examples include cookies that remember a user’s login credentials or keep items in a shopping cart.
• Preference or functionality cookies: Enable a website to remember things like language preferences.
• Statistics or performance cookies: Collect information about how users interact with a site anonymously.
• Marketing cookies: Gather identifiable data about users’ online activity for advertising purposes.
As you catalogue, check that they’re all labelled correctly. Lumping them all together as “strictly necessary” won’t give insight into your cookie practices… and could lead to overstepping compliance requirements (just because you might think it’s necessary for your business doesn’t mean privacy laws do).
Cookie consent software is helpful here. They can automate cookie discovery and categorization, making the process faster and easier. (It’s not entirely hands-off, though—you still need to regularly review the results and ensure proper categorization!)
2. Review what data privacy jurisdictions apply to your business.
Once you have an accurate cookie inventory, review which jurisdictions apply to your organization. Remember, ignorance is not absolution from the law.
Different countries and states have wide-ranging consumer privacy requirements for businesses, and these laws have different thresholds and policies for website cookies. Broadly speaking, though:
• Under GDPR’s jurisdiction, users need to opt-in to cookies
• Under the many state-level privacy laws in the United States, users need to opt out of cookies
But, as we said, this is broadly speaking.
For businesses that operate out of or serve clients or customers in Colorado, California, Connecticut and a growing list of other states, regulations require a universal opt-out requirement for cookies (also known as global privacy control).
California’s cookie policies are particularly involved. Under California law, businesses must include a link that says “Do Not Sell/Do Not Share My Personal Information” on the home page (usually done with a link in the footer) or companies can use the Your Privacy Choices icon (don’t forget to use the words and the icon).
3. Reexamine the purpose and efficacy of your cookies.
You’ve categorized your cookies (thanks to Step 1). But have you looked at what information your cookies are collecting?
This evaluation extends beyond noting business purposes. It impacts your jurisdictional privacy obligations. (Refer back to Step 2.) For example, do your cookies collect health data? Are they targeting based on health data? This could pose regulatory concerns regarding HIPAA, the FTC and states like Washington with its new consumer health privacy legislation.
You should also look at where this data goes. What third parties have access to it?
Just as importantly, have you made your consumers aware of this? If it’s not in your privacy notice, get it in there.
4. Build/test/review your cookie consent banner.
Depending on applicable jurisdictions, you may need a cookie consent banner on your website. Even if it isn’t strictly required, cookie consent banners can increase the trust between you and your consumer by creating transparency surrounding your data collection practices.
If you’re building a cookie banner, it needs to make sense. It should be:
• Visible
• Easy to understand
• Accurate
Your cookie banner should also:
• Include proper language that describes the purpose of cookies
• Include options to exercise rights
• Link to your privacy notice
• Be formatted without “dark patterns,” e.g., font/color/box shape discrepancies that push the consumer to “accept” rather than “reject” cookies. These can show up in numerous forms, but they’re uniformly detrimental to exercising privacy rights.
If you’ve got cookie banners in place, that’s great. However, they should also be part of your cookie audit.
Make sure your established cookie banner and cookie consent settings are up to date. If you add or remove cookies from your website, update accordingly (this includes your cookie consent software and your cookie policy, not just your cookie banner).
Test your banner to make sure the tech works correctly. If it says “reject,” does it block cookies from firing? Walk through each step of the process as if you were the consumer. Make sure cookies are getting blocked if the user opts out. If your banner isn’t functioning correctly, troubleshoot the issue to prevent any perception of deceptive business practices.
5. Document everything and review the results with your team.
Throughout your cookie audit, document your findings, issues, solutions and any changes required.
As you make changes to your privacy practices, make sure they are reflected in your privacy policy; your privacy policy should contain an up-to-date description of your data activities that is accurate to your current practices, not aspirational.
Once your cookie audit is complete, create an internal standard and controls for cookie practices. This can be used for a consistent approach for future cookie audits.
Consumer data privacy isn’t a requirement for a single department or team. It often involves teams like legal and compliance, marketing, HR, IT, web development, and, of course, executive leadership. Ensure that anyone who works with consumer data is kept up to date with any changes in your cookie policy and any new requirements they must follow.
Clear and transparent communication between your departments—and between you and the consumer—will help mitigate risk and build trust. It’s just good business.
Jodi Daniels is a privacy consultant and Founder/CEO of Red Clover Advisors, one of the few Women’s Business Enterprises focused on privacy. Read Jodi Daniels’ full executive profile here.
On average, we spend four hours and 25 minutes glued to our phones per day – that’s a whopping 52% increase on the two hours and 54 minutes clocked in 2022. And while social media apps account for a great deal of this usage, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Americans like to use their smartphones when they are out and about as part of their retail and dining experiences.
From scanning QR codes to checking menus, accessing customer loyalty coupons on apps, and scanning reviews online, smartphones are now a vital tool for consumers. According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 37% of Americans use their smartphone to scan a QR code, 27% use their phone to redeem coupons while at checkout, and 24% use their phone to pay for in-store transactions. Not only are these smartphone use cases enhancing the customer experience, but they are also integral to helping retailers and restaurateurs provide a quick and easy checkout process, reduce wait times, and enhance overall efficiency.
Prosper – Smartphone Activities
PROSPER INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS
In this retail and restaurant environment, connectivity becomes a key issue, said Stephen Kowal, Chief Commercial Officer at Nextivity – a provider of intelligent cellular coverage solutions. While Wi-Fi is great at many things, when it comes to delivering the best mobile experiences in-store or in a restaurant, businesses need to look at alternative coverage solutions.
The unstoppable rise of phygital experiences
“A few years ago, it was fashionable to predict the end of brick-and-mortar stores. The internet was thought to out-compete stores both in terms of cost and convenience, and it was only a matter of time before the shutters came down on malls and stores forever,” explained Kowal. “The sentiment was the same for restaurants – why travel out for a meal when a few swipes of an app can bring the meal to you? However, physical stores and restaurants have proved much more resilient.”
Around 63% of Americans do most of their shopping at physical retail outlets, while Americans are spending more than ever on eating out. Yet, the way they shop and dine is changing. The boundary between physical and digital channels is blurring, and many consumers choose to use both at the same time.
The rise of so-called phygital experiences is everywhere to see. Mobile payments at the point of sale are now commonplace (53% of Americans now use digital wallets more frequently than traditional payment methods). Stores and restaurants increasingly use branded apps to anchor their customer loyalty programs, including enabling mobile couponing and ordering. According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 15% of Gen-Z Americans eat at that fast-food restaurant most often due to access to mobile app ordering – an increased preference when compared to Millennials (13%) and Gen-X (11%).
Prosper – Why Eat At That Fast Food Restaurant Most Often
PROSPER INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS
With the rise of these mobile services and countless others, adequate connectivity in stores and restaurants is imperative. Patchy connectivity will leave customers feeling frustrated, increasing the risk of losing them to competitors. This is one challenge that will not be solved by Wi-Fi alone.
Why Can’t We Rely on Wi-Fi?
For Kowal, a key issue with Wi-Fi is around the customer experience: “With Wi-Fi, users have to search for the right network and enter personal information or accept long-winded terms and conditions before being granted access,” he says. “They then need to repeat this process for each store or restaurant they enter. This is not a good customer experience, particularly in large retail and restaurant venues such as malls and food courts.”
Security is also a key issue. As Kowal points out: “More often than not, public Wi-Fi connections are unencrypted, so anyone using the same network can potentially intercept your data. In stores and restaurants, this will include personal information such as passwords, emails, and credit card numbers.”
The security concerns of public Wi-Fi are well known. Indeed, just 23% of people believe public Wi-Fi to be safe. “This perception is a problem in itself,” says Kowal. “It means that consumers may be put off using public Wi-Fi at your store or restaurant, even if you have put in place encryption and tied down the security. This results in you losing out on providing an enhanced customer experience through loyalty apps.”
Boosting cellular coverage to plug connectivity gaps
One alternative solution to the Wi-Fi connectivity challenge is to use cellular signal boosters, devices that harness outdoor cellular networks to bring robust and reliable connectivity into the building.
The choice of a signal booster is key. Legacy distributed antenna systems (DAS) are not suitable for retail or restaurant environments. This is because they primarily address the issue of capacity rather than coverage (so, for example, they would be great for ensuring that a sports stadium can support large numbers of users concurrently). Legacy DAS can also be costly and time-consuming to set up, as they require getting approval from carriers, which can take many months to secure.
“Newer Active DAS Hybrid solutions address these challenges. Active DAS Hybrid technology provides reliable cellular coverage by bringing strong cellular signals from outside the building indoors,” explains Kowal. “They also cost less than legacy solutions and are much faster to set up since they do not require extensive testing and implementation processes. By effectively amplifying cellular signals, they ensure seamless cellular connectivity and enhance the overall customer experience in buildings.”
According to Kowal, cellular signal boosters should be seen as a foundational element of phygital experiences. “These boosters represent an important piece of the puzzle in overcoming the connectivity challenges faced by retailers, restaurants, and their customers, ultimately contributing to the successful digital transformation of the industry,” he says.
Mobile-based phygital experiences are only going to become more common in the years ahead as retailers and restaurants look to streamline their operations, reduce costs, and meet customer demand for richer experiences. Businesses that focus on ensuring reliable network coverage will be best placed to realize the opportunities that come with the phygital revolution including higher sales and sticker customers.
I cover consumer-centric insights and analytics that provide executives with solutions needed to drive strategy. I am the CEO of Prosper Business Development where, for more than 20 years, we have provided market leadership and developed contemporary solutions to help Fortune 500 companies navigate change that impacts their business. I got my start in the radio industry.
Plus, Google reveals plans to unleash Gemini across Workspace to make interpreting long email threads or creating spreadsheets easier.
AI Overviews, the next evolution of Search Generative Experience, will roll out in the U.S. starting May 14 and in more countries soon, Google announced during the Google I/O developer conference at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. Google showed several other changes coming to Google Cloud, Gemini, Workspace and more, including AI actions and summarization that can work across apps — opening up interesting options for small businesses.
Google’s Search will include AI Overviews
AI Overviews is the expansion of Google’s Search Generative Experience, the AI-generated answers that appear at the top of Google searches. You may have seen SGE in action already, as select U.S. users have been able to try it since last October. SGE can also generate images or text. AI Overviews adds AI-generated information to the top of any Google Search Engine results.
With AI Overviews, “Google does the work for you. Instead of piecing together all the information yourself, you can ask your questions” and “get an answer instantly,” said Liz Reid, Google’s vice president of Search, during I/O.
By the end of the year, AI Overviews will be available to over a billion people, Reid said. Google wants to be able to answer “ten questions in one,” linking tasks together so the AI can make accurate connections between information; this is possible through multi-step reasoning. For example, someone could ask not only for the best yoga studios in the area, but also for the distance between the studios and their home and the studios’ introductory offers. All of this information will be listed in convenient columns at the top of the Search results.
Soon, AI Overviews will be able to answer questions about videos provided to it, too.
Availability of AI Overview
AI Overviews is rolling out starting May 14 in the U.S., with availability for everyone in the country expected within the week. Availability in other countries is “coming soon.” Previously, AI Overviews had been available in Search Labs.
Is AI Overviews useful?
Does AI Overviews actually make Google Search more useful? AI Overviews may dilute Search’s usefulness if the AI answers prove incorrect, irrelevant or misleading. Google said it will carefully note which images are AI generated and which come from the web.
Gemini 1.5 Pro gets upgrades, including a 2 million context window for select users
Google is expanding Gemini 1.5 Pro’s context window to 2 million for select Google Cloud customers. To get the wider context window, join the waitlist in Google AI Studio or Vertex AI.
The ultimate goal for the teams working on expanding Google Gemini’s context window is “infinite context,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said.
Google’s large language model Gemini 1.5 Pro is getting quality improvements for the API and a new version, Gemini 1.5 Flash. New features for developers in the Gemini API include video frame extraction, parallel function calling and context caching. Native video frame extraction and parallel function calling are available now; context caching is expected to drop in June.
Available today globally, Gemini 1.5 Flash is a smaller model focused on responding quickly. Users of Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 will be able to input information for the AI to analyse in a 1 million context window.
Gemma 2 comes in 27B parameter size
Google’s small language model, Gemma, will get a major overhaul in June. Gemma 2 will have a 27B parameter model in response to developers requesting a bigger Gemma model that is still small enough to fit inside compact projects. Gemma 2 can run efficiently on a single TPU host in Vertex AI, Google said.
Plus, Google rolled out PaliGemma, a language and vision model for tasks like image captioning and asking questions based on images. PaliGemma is available now in Vertex AI.
Gemini summarization and other features will be attached to Google Workspace
Google Workspace is getting several AI enhancements, which are enabled by Gemini 1.5’s long context window and multimodality. For example, users can ask Gemini to summarize long email threads or Google Meet calls.
Gemini will be available in the Workspace side panel next month on desktop for businesses and consumers who use the Gemini for Workspace add-ons and the Google One AI Premium plan. The Gemini side panel is now available in Workspace Labs and for Gemini for Workspace Alpha users.
Workspace and AI Advanced customers will be able to use some new Gemini features going forward, starting for Labs users this month and generally available in July:
Summarize email threads.
Run a Q&A on your email inbox.
Use longer suggested replies in Smart Reply to draw contextual information from email threads.
Gemini 1.5 can make connections between apps in Workspace, such as Gmail and Docs. Google Vice President and General Manager for Workspace Aparna Pappu demonstrated this by showing how small business owners could use Gemini 1.5 to organize and track their travel receipts in a spreadsheet based on an email. This feature, Data Q&A, is rolling out to Labs users in July.
Next, Google is adding a Virtual Teammate to Workspace. The Virtual Teammate will act like an AI co-worker with an identity, a Workspace account and an objective (but without the need for PTO). Employees can ask the assistant questions about work, and the assistant will hold the “collective memory” of the team it works with.
The virtual teammate has a Workspace account and a profile. Users can set specific objectives for the AI in the profile. Image: Google
Google hasn’t announced a release date for Virtual Teammate yet. The company plans to add third-party capabilities to it going forward. This is just speculative, but Virtual Teammate might be especially useful for business if it connects to CRM applications.
Voice and video capabilities are coming to the Gemini app
Speaking and video capabilities are coming to the Gemini app later this year. Gemini will be able to “see” through your camera and respond in real time.
Users will be able to create “Gems,” customized agents to do things like act as personal writing coaches. The idea is to make Gemini “a true assistant,” which can, for example, plan a trip. Gems are coming to Gemini Advanced this summer.
The addition of multimodality to Gemini comes at an interesting time compared to the demonstration of ChatGPT with GPT-4o earlier this week. Both Gemini and ChatGPT held very natural-sounding conversations. ChatGPT responded to interruption, but mis-read or mis-interpreted some situations.
Imagen 3 improves at generating text
Google announced Imagen 3, the next evolution of its image generation AI. Imagen 3 is intended to be better at rendering text, which has been a major weakness for AI image generators in the past. Select creators can try Imagen 3 in ImageFX at Google Labs today, and Imagine 3 is coming soon for developers in Vertex AI.
Google and DeepMind reveal other creative AI tools
Another creative AI product Google announced was Veo, their next-generation generative video model from DeepMind.Veo created an impressive video of a car driving through a tunnel and onto a city street. Veo is available for select creators starting May 14 in VideoFX, an experimental tool found at labs.google. Google plans to add Veo to YouTube Shorts and other products at an unspecified date.
Other creative types might want to use the Music AI Sandbox, which is a set of generative AI tools for making music. Neither public nor private release dates for Music AI Sandbox have been announced.
Sixth-generation Trillium GPUs boost the power of Google Cloud data centres
Pichai introduced Google’s 6th generation Google Cloud TPUs called Trillium; Google claimed the TPUs show a 4.7X improvement over the previous generation. Trillium TPUs are intended to add greater performance to Google Cloud data centres and compete with NVIDIA’s AI accelerators.
Time on Trillium will be available to Google Cloud customers in late 2024. Plus, NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs will be available in Google Cloud starting in 2025.
Micah Solomon is a customer experience consultant, speaker, and trainer who has worked with grand hotels, auto dealerships, regional banks, credit unions, healthcare organizations, and more. He was termed “the world’s #1 customer service turnaround expert,” by Inc. Magazine and named by the Financial Post “The New Guru of Customer Service Excellence.” His writing is regularly featured in Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Harvard Business Review, Washington Post, and elsewhere.
1. Exceptional customer service keeps companies out of the deadly commodity zone.
I’m going to guide you in creating, delivering, and sustaining exceptional customer service using the same approach I apply professionally to companies in practically every niche in the marketplace. But first, in cold, brutal business terms, why is delivering great customer service so valuable? Why is it worth investment and attention alongside all the other challenges a business faces?
Well, not to go all Eeyore on you, but it’s highly unlikely that your company and what it offers are entirely unique. Most companies hover much closer to the deadly commodity zone than anyone at those companies realizes. Odds are reasonable that this includes your company as well.
The commodity zone is one of the scariest places for a company to find itself. It’s when your business is viewed as more or less interchangeable with the competition, so your current customers are happy to jump ship to one of your competitors for a myriad of minor reasons:
A slightly lower price.
A faster website.
A shinier app.
A slightly more convenient location.
Or, sometimes, for no discernible reason at all. But there is a way you can spare your company from this fate: Build such a reputation for customer service excellence, and such a strong connection with every customer you touch, that your service becomes a point of distinction, a survival lifeline, and a powerful engine for growth.
An exceptional customer experience will create multiple positive results for your business, most centrally, the creation of passionately loyal customers. Loyal customers are:
Less price sensitive.
More likely to be interested in any new products, services, or brand extensions you may roll out.
More understanding when things go sideways. (Once you’ve done so much, so well, for your customers, you achieve a state where the little mistakes—and even the occasional massive blunder—are looked upon in a better, more forgiving light.)
A loyal customer is also your best form of marketing. There is nothing more powerful than the ambassadorship of customers who are so engaged, so activated, that they take on the mission of spreading the good word about your company, sharing their passion with their online connections and real-life contacts.
2. Anticipatory customer service is service at the highest level.
The baseline customer service equation is when a customer asks for something, and you provide it to them. This has value, of course, but it’s not enough to build the loyalty relationship with your customers that will ultimately grow your business.
The secret to getting there is what I call anticipatory customer service. This means getting to where the hockey puck is headed before it gets there. It’s giving the customer what they want before they ask for it—and before they even know they want it.
“Anticipatory customer service involves hearing more than what a customer says out loud.“
Anticipatory customer service occurs when you seek out and take care of desires and needs that a customer has left unexpressed. Customers don’t ask for what they need because, among other reasons, they aren’t knowledgeable enough to realize that they could benefit from some aspect of your product or service, or they don’t even know that you can offer it. Or maybe they aren’t assertive and don’t want to be “too much of a bother,” so to speak.
Anticipatory customer service involves hearing more than what a customer says out loud. Taking care of unspoken needs and wishes and answering unvoiced questions is a master customer service behaviour that will bring your company into a new reality: a destination populated with delighted customers who provide you with the kind of enthusiastic referrals that will help your company grow and prosper for the long term. There is nothing more powerful in the world of business.
3. Practice gold-touch customer service.
Let me tell you a story. Feeling the ever-more insistent tug of nature but not wanting to leave my laptop unattended for even a minute, I asked my server at the Madera restaurant, a Five-Star location in the heart of Silicon Valley, “How comfortable should I feel leaving my laptop on the table while I step out for a minute?”
“Very comfortable,” she answered, “because I will be here with it.” Then, she moved into an arms-crossed, standing guard position like a sentry guarding the Tower of London. And she was still holding that position (with perhaps a bit of humorous exaggeration) when I returned. What my spectacularly well-trained server at this Forbes-rated restaurant was practicing is what I call gold-touch customer service.
Gold-touch customer service comes in two varieties. The first is the do-extra: giving a customer more of your effort than they’ve asked for or could reasonably expect. The second variety of gold-touch is the tell-extra: providing a customer with unexpected, additional value by answering a question with particular thoroughness or by making a connection with a customer on a human, shared passion level.
Here are a few Gold-Touch examples in various industries and contexts. First are some do-extras:
A pet grooming outfit could send their furry customer home with a blue or pink bandana after the poor guy makes it through the grooming ordeal.
An employee at a car dealership could pair a customer’s cell phone before they drive off the lot, rather than allowing them to drive away only to get frustrated (and perhaps even into a fender bender) while trying to handle it themselves down the road.
A hair salon employee could run out and feed the parking meter for an arriving client so they don’t have to fumble around trying to find change.
And here are some examples of tell-extras:
A cashier at the checkout line could admire— sincerely—one of the articles a customer is purchasing. (This one requires nuance. Trader Joe’s is generally great at this, but sometimes they overdo it and don’t seem completely sincere.)
If your company sells a product that new customers sometimes find confusing, you could include helpful, very specific links or even a brief and highly personalized introductory tutorial video.
Now I hear you saying, “Seriously, Micah, how am I expected to find time for this?” But while more elaborate gold touches do take time, if you don’t have time for those yet (and I predict you will start to make time once you see how effective this is), there are still opportunities for gold touches that are ripe for easy plucking, so long as you have a gold-touch mindset and are paying even a smidgeon of attention:
Any time something doesn’t go as well as expected, you have a chance to go the extra mile in a gold-touch sort of way and possibly turn the customer’s day around.
Any time something goes right for a customer is also a great time to gold touch them, whether it’s simply expressing to the customer your happiness at hearing how happy they are or sending them a card congratulating them on their new success.
And any time a customer neglects to ask for something that you, in your professional judgment, know they would benefit from. This could be, for a security company, introducing your customer to the value of installing water leak sensors before they go away on vacation and a leaky disaster occurs in their absence.
4. A sense of purpose is what drives exceptional service.
Let’s focus for a moment on one hypothetical employee: a groundskeeper on the campus of a technology company, starting her workday early in the morning. The functional item that she intends to get done this morning is planting tulip bulbs—two cartons’ worth, 200 bulbs in all.
That is, until she notices a small sinkhole—deep enough to turn an ankle—right in the middle of the gravel path that the company’s clients, vendors, and employees will be walking on later in the day as they make their way between buildings on the company’s campus. At this point, the groundskeeper has two options:
Option 1: She can stay focused on accomplishing her functional, prescribed task by just working on planting those tulip bulbs all morning long.
Or Option 2: Now that she’s discovered this safety risk, she can find some spare soil and start filling in the sinkhole before anybody’s ankle gets turned.
Option 2 sounds great on paper, but is the employee really going to make that choice? Consider: There’s no manager nearby to say okay to her ankle-preserving decision. Therefore, the groundskeeper’s safest option in most organizations, if she doesn’t want to get in trouble, is to stick to planting those bulbs.
However, if she’s a purpose-driven employee working for a purpose-driven organization, she is going to choose to pull herself away from her assigned duties without worrying about the repercussions if she doesn’t get all 200 bulbs into the ground on time.
“Celebrate your employee’s great customer service behaviours and accomplishments when they happen.”
With her sense of purpose prompting her to do so, she’ll be taking care of the comfort and safety of clients, vendors, and her fellow employees—an action that her purpose-driven organization will encourage and applaud. This is the concept of Function Versus Purpose.
Sparking this kind of pro-customer behaviour in your employees requires creating an environment in which every employee understands that “my typical, day-to-day function here may be to [plant tulip bulbs, park cars, answer the phone, schedule appointments, etc.], but my purpose calls on me to do whatever is required, whether it was on my functional to-do list for today or not. Here are two recommendations for how to make this happen:
In both day-to-day training and especially when onboarding new employees, focus on the purpose of the organization and how the employee’s work will figure into it. It’s ideal if you can start talking about purpose right away, yet most companies drown their onboarding programs in legalese and warnings about how you can get fired at your brand-new company.
Celebrate your employee’s great customer service behaviours and accomplishments when they happen.
I suggest you systematize this celebration along the lines of what has worked for decades at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Twice a week, every Ritz-Carlton hotel and resort shares a “wow story” of over-and-above hospitality from one of its more than 100 properties. This works wonders in inspiring all employees to ever-greater heights.
5. None of this works without empowerment.
You’re going to move a lot further, a lot more quickly, toward being an organization where purpose-driven employees contribute their elective efforts if you get serious about employee empowerment.
Exceptional customer service requires room for interpretation with talented, well-trained, fully empowered employees serving as the interpreters—those who decode and manifest what exceptional customer service really looks like in action. If they lack power, they’ll remain hobbled, no matter how good their intentions.
When a leader encourages pro-customer efforts, almost everything else will fall in place, with employees eagerly contributing their elective efforts time and again. Conversely, if a company’s leadership doesn’t provide such encouragement and leeway—if it rules with excessive rigidity—these unyielding ways will blight the organization in the eyes of its customers. An employee cannot fully contribute to an organization and the service of its customers without being empowered.
Implementing any or all of these five principles of customer service excellence isn’t easy, but it would result in the following payoffs: You’ll retain a higher proportion of existing customers, increase per-customer spending, attract new customers, and you’ll do it in a way that is nearly immune to being knocked off by competitors.
“If they lack power, they’ll remain hobbled, no matter how good their intentions.”
If this last claim, “immune to knockoff,” sounds farfetched, I’m making this claim because I have a strong hunch that if you do the work in all the areas I’ve suggested, you can sleep easy knowing that it’s unlikely that your competition will buckle down and do the same. Your competition may copy pricing, mimic innovations, duplicate the feel of your website, and so forth, but they’re unlikely to muster the vision, energy, and follow-through required to replicate the customer-centred organization you’re on the road to building.
I won’t pretend that the fruits of your labour will fall off the vine and into your hands overnight. As a businessperson myself, I know all about the challenges of getting through the grind of making payroll week by week while striving to move forward strategically. But I know it can be done, as I’ve been a part of making it happen time and again. The serious stakes I play for are the growth, the improved profitability, and ultimately, the survival of the companies and business leaders for whom I consult, train, and speak. And now this circle includes you, my kind reader.
To listen to the audio version read by author Micah Solomon, download the Next Big Idea App today:
Was Apple right to apologize for its ‘Crush’ ad? Zappi’s Nataly Kelly thinks so, but she thinks the ad would never have survived testing.
Even Apple’s geniuses can fumble the ball. Last week, the brand apologized for its ‘Crush’ ad after seeing the market’s response. Responses were dramatic to the work which showed a number of creative tools being crushed into the thinnest-ever iPad.
But the real question lingers: why didn’t Apple test the ad beforehand? And I say that with confidence, knowing that any consumer insights professional worth their salt would have advised against its launch – unless, and bear with me here, Apple deliberately sought controversy.
Here’s what the brand said via AdAge. “Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives worldwide. Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Tried and tested
Consumer reactions were unequivocal when we subjected the ‘Crush’ ad to rigorous testing on the Zappi platform. Testing with nationally representative panels in the US and UK, we compared their emotions and reactions with averages compiled from testing over 7,000 ads worldwide. The shock value far exceeded expectations–four times more shocking than the average ad (9.3% compared with 2.57%).
Additionally, it rated exceptionally high on surprise (16% v 10.1% average) and confusion (12% v 4.1% average). When confusion surpasses the norm threefold, it’s clear something is awry. These should have been glaring red flags for Apple had they tested the ad beforehand.
It begs the question: did the brand intentionally cause shock and confusion (believing any publicity is good publicity)? Or had it naively hitched its wagon to AI without foresight? Or had the marketers forgotten the basics of success: listening to the consumer?
Building brand equity is no small feat. It demands years, sometimes decades, of painstaking brand cultivation to achieve the iron-clad reputation Apple enjoys. So, why risk it all with a single misjudged ad?
True success in advertising entails building upon attributes consumers already adore about your brand, not bewildering them with entirely new ones that contradict your brand’s essence. The ad was shocking precisely because it starkly contrasted with the delightful and engaging ads Apple fans have come to expect over the years.
Issuing an apology was a start, but it’s merely a band-aid over a self-inflicted brand wound. If Apple genuinely seeks to rebound from ‘Crush,’ it must honestly introspect how it reached this point.
Here’s the unvarnished truth: within those corporate walls, consumer insights teams serve as the direct conduit to the customer’s vital signs. They immerse themselves in data signals to comprehend how consumers think, feel, and react. They act as proxies for consumers, guiding creative teams toward work that drives significant business impact. Ignore them, and you risk severing ties with the very audience you aim to engage.
Yet, most creatives balk at basing decisions on what they perceive as dull test results and dry metrics. They thrive on pushing boundaries and delivering fresh, provocative, and innovative work. Thus, even when data clearly predicts consumer reactions, creative teams often disregard or sidestep insights and partner findings due to an inherent cultural clash.
I empathize. I hail from a family of artists and musicians.
After pouring my heart and soul into a song, the last thing I’d want is to be told some arbitrary test predicts its failure. Similarly, I can imagine my brother’s reaction if I interrupted him mid-painting with data suggesting his art wouldn’t resonate–he’d dismiss me outright. True artistic endeavours embody a creative vision that isn’t easily swayed mid-course.
There’s also a logistical hurdle. Creatives can’t be told at the eleventh hour to pivot entirely. When deadlines loom, it’s logistically infeasible to backtrack. Yet, in business, ignoring consumer data in the creative process poses substantial risks.
So, how do we avoid the Crush?
It’s time to dismantle the antiquated divide between creatives and data analysts. Integrate consumer insights teams into the creative process early and consistently. View consumer data and insights as creative tools that, when infused into ad development, can yield remarkable outcomes.
Many of the world’s best creative minds need space and time to produce outstanding work. Integrating data into their process may sometimes feel stifling, but discomfort doesn’t negate its necessity. To craft exceptional advertising and products, brands must continually listen to and learn from consumers. Leveraging data and insights embeds the consumer directly into the creative process, making them co-creators.
Instead of shying away from creativity for fear of backlash, harness the power of data and insights to unlock new levels of creativity. When consumer feedback guides us, we forge deeper connections that transcend transactions, fostering enduring brand loyalty and advocacy in today’s fiercely competitive landscape.
Brands ignoring consumer data do so at their peril, while those embracing it will dominate the competition for years to come. If Apple’s not careful, it too could face the crush.
Ben Silverman, Propagate co-CEO and former NBC Entertainment co-chairman, joins ‘Money Movers’ to discuss how Silverman characterizes the round of television upfronts, which streamers the capital will flow to, and much more.
Here’s how to combine offline and online marketing approaches for a better outcome for your business.
The ongoing debate between online and offline marketing strategies has been a topic of discussion for years. According to Statista, both traditional and digital marketing are popular in the global business environment, with approximate annual spending of $306.8 billion and $616 billion, respectively. The question arises: which option is better?
The good news is that you don’t have to choose between online (pay-per-click, online display advertising and social media advertising) and offline (broadcast and newspaper ads, collateral, direct mail and coupon programs) marketing. Depending on your goals and target audience, your strategy can easily have both tactics. In essence, a great marketing plan is an integrated marketing plan.
Think of them not as rivals for your budget but as complementary tools. When used together, they can improve your brand, attract more customers, and enhance your profitability. Many companies are already mixing it up — using social media to promote in-person events and traditional media to direct customers to digital platforms. This kind of synergy makes for a stronger overall marketing strategy, doesn’t it?
Before we discuss integrating two types of marketing channels, let’s examine their advantages.
Online marketing is dynamic and cost-effective. You can target your ads precisely and get instant insights that help you reach more people more efficiently. You can adjust your strategies in real-time for better results, making it a perfect option for any business size. Plus, tracking engagement and conversions online is straightforward, giving you a clear picture of your campaign’s success.
Traditional marketing has a broad reach and can make a lasting impression. Thanks to the extended exposure of print and broadcast ads, it’s excellent for building deep connections with your audience. This approach is superb for enhancing brand awareness, as it communicates your brand’s values and identity effectively beyond the constraints of the short-lived online ad spaces. Here are five rules when blending offline and online marketing tactics.
Rule #1. Set shared objectives
Blend online and offline campaigns with a shared goal to make a strong impact and provide a better experience for your audience. Start by highlighting a common objective, like increasing awareness or driving sales for a specific product. At the same time, run online and offline promotions, ensuring consistency across both channels. For example, if you’re promoting a product, ensure offline ads guide consumers to the same landing pages and QR codes as digital ads. This maintains a cohesive message and allows for easy tracking and comparison of campaign performance, helping you refine your marketing strategy effectively.
Rule #2. Use online engagement results to drive offline campaigns
Boost your brand’s connection with your audience by using your most popular social media image in your upcoming print campaign. This smart move ensures a cohesive brand experience, seamlessly linking online and offline interactions. Choosing an image that already resonates with your target audience strengthens brand recognition and creates a unified identity. Ensure the selected image aligns with your brand’s messaging and values for a consistent visual appeal.
Rule #3. Motivate offline clients to visit your digital page and vice-versa
Build a connection between your physical and online presence that is simple and effective. Encourage in-store customers to join online activities, like surveys or signing up for newsletters and exclusive online promotions. On the flip side, create special in-store offers and highlight them on your website to attract online visitors to your physical store. This two-way strategy motivates customers to engage and quickly integrates both online and offline aspects of your business, providing a better experience for your audience.
Rule #4. Get that all-important user-generated content
Improve audience engagement by blending traditional and digital methods. Make your audience participate in a direct mail campaign by taking selfies and sharing them on social media with specific hashtags. This allows you to track the campaign’s success easily.
Rule #5. Design matters. Period.
Design is a huge factor in shaping and reinforcing brand identity. Whether your ad appears online or offline, consistent design elements like color, font, and placement are essential in conveying a unified brand story. When these design elements align across all channels, it enhances brand recognition and makes a lasting impression. A cohesive design strategy ensures that regardless of where your audience encounters your brand, they receive a consistent visual experience, contributing to better recall and establishing a solid and memorable brand presence.
Finding the right balance between online and offline marketing campaigns can be challenging, but the effort is undoubtedly worthwhile. Integrating online and offline strategies uses insights to build improved customer experiences, ultimately yielding positive results. Combine the strengths of both approaches, and you will create a synergy to make an impactful marketing strategy that resonates with your target audience.
For the upcoming Games, P&G is launching advertising for more than 30 of its brands, more than ever before.
What is missing from the Paris 2024 Olympics? A tear-jerking corporate advertising campaign from Procter & Gamble saluting the mothers of athletes.
The consumer products maker, one of the world’s biggest ad spenders and a sponsor of the Olympics, is instead focusing its marketing at the Games on its individual brands including Pampers diapers, Gillette razors and Ariel detergent.
The move is a step-change for P&G, whose prior Olympics advertising campaigns emphasized the values of the Cincinnati-based company, struck an emotional chord and were among the company’s most successful by sales and views, according to the website of Wieden+Kennedy, the agency that worked on the commercials.
“In the past, we’ve had both a P&G and a brand focus, and this time we just really decided we’re going to go focus, not 100%, but much more prominently, on brands,” said P&G chief brand officer Marc Pritchard. “That’s what consumers that we serve are familiar with.”
Procter & Gamble has reduced its spending on Olympics advertising in the United States by 50% over the last several Games, after previously spending tens of millions of dollars with U.S. broadcaster NBCUniversal, Reuters reported last month.
The company is one of the biggest global marketers of consumer products by revenue, selling roughly $82 billion worth in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.
It spends about $8 billion annually on advertising.
Pritchard said that for the upcoming Games, P&G is launching advertising for more than 30 of its brands, more than ever before.
“Our message really is serving the Olympic and Paralympic athletes, their families and fans around the world,” he said. “There’s a bit of an everyday focus on it.”
For example, P&G marketing at European retailers will emphasize the idea that its products are “everyday champions” in household tasks, according to the company. The company’s biggest marketing push is in Europe because it is the host region for the Games, Pritchard said.
Sponsors of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), including P&G, pay upwards of an estimated $100 million for the right to use the famous Olympic rings in their marketing materials, according to the Reuters report.
P&G launched its first ever corporate advertising campaign highlighting the company rather than the household products it makes for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, according to Wieden+Kennedy.
The global, multi-year campaign, called “Thank you, Mom,” showed the sacrifices mothers around the world make to help their children become Olympic athletes, and the lessons they teach them, like sportsmanship.
Sales of P&G products in the U.S., its biggest market, and Europe have been strong this year even as consumers face record levels of inflation. But lower sales in China have overshadowed those gains.
It’s been called an “unauthorized misappropriation”.
Volkswagen has sparked a design dispute after filing a lawsuit against a car dealership, claiming that its logo is “unauthorised misappropriation”. The Dallas-based dealership named “VDubs Only” has been accused of creating a “bastardised” version of the German manufacturer’s logo that could potentially mislead consumers.
As one of the most recognisable car logos out there, it seems bizarre that Volkswagen feels threatened by a small dealership. It’s by no means the most ridiculous logo design dispute we’ve seen but with Volkswagen claiming infringement and dilution of its identity, it’s clear the car brand is driving for a resolution.
(Image credit: Volkswagen/Vdubs Only)
The centre of the design dispute evolves around the VDubs Only logo, which features a “V” design against a blue background (sounds familiar but I’d say it’s far from a direct ripoff). Alongside the alleged logo infringement, Volkswagen claims that the VDubs name violates its trademark of the word ‘V-Dub’ which has previously been used in campaigns. It’s worth noting that Volkswagen only owns the rights to the hyphenated form of ‘V-Dub’, so technically there’s no foul in that department.
The official lawsuit claims that these alleged infringements will be “likely to cause potential purchasers of Defendants’ products and services, as well as the public at large, to believe that Defendants’ products and services are affiliated with, authorized, sponsored by, or endorsed by VW.” Volkswagen is searching for a permanent injunction to prevent Vdubs Only from allegedly misappropriating its marks.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
For more design debate stories, check out the Michael Jackson logo dispute. If you’re after more car branding controversy take a look at the Mercedes-Benz logo dispute that threatened to oppose a humble microbrewery.
Natalie is Creative Bloq’s staff writer. With an eye for trending topics and a passion for internet culture, she brings you the latest in art and design news. A recent English Literature graduate, Natalie enjoys covering the lighter side of the news and brings a fresh and fun take to her articles. Outside of work (if she’s not glued to her phone), she loves all things music and enjoys singing sweet folky tunes.
