“what has always united us, driven our people… is a set of ideals shared by all people….free to speak our minds, assembly as we choose and worship as we please…. these aspirations…our generation must make our mark on the world….The scale of our challenge is great, the road ahead is long…. we are poeple of improbable hope.”
Obama is winning hearts and minds. Going to Berlin, talking about The Wall and the new walls; race, religion, possessions… However, will Obama’s liberal ideals equate to real action and real change within the world. Will the rhetoric of hope and dream that does inspire, the dream for something better, eventuate?
Obama is a great leader. Obama can help shift the needle of social and world change. However, will the extent of the hope that we are all being sold, be realised? Or will, as most leaders do, Obama become less leader and more accomodating to ensure that some changes can we actualised.
Google search is looking for the next evolution. Arrignton, seems to have a great video that shows us all what Google SERPs will soon be like. Search will personalised, by people.
In essence Google is testing user comments and a rating system to help define what is important to me as an individual and to the community at large.
I think SEO just went up a notch….Or did it become somewhat easier for tail terms? How will Google drive adoption by users? When will this filtering start to impact the SERPs?
I was impressed, really impressed, by the service i received from Apple the other day. I had high expectations and yet these were still exceeded.
The Scenario
One faulty power cable for my Apple MacBook Pro circa six months old.
The Experience
5:41 i enter Apple store and walk up two flights of glass stairs, past a cleaner polishing the metal wall for hand prints!
5:43 (after getting lost in the accessories department for a minute or so) I ask a staff member, a light blue shirt wearer, “who I talk to about a faulty power cable?”. He directs me to an orange staff member, the concierge, who stood in front of the Genius Bar and managed the engeaments between customers and helpers. He told me that they were “fully booked….however, he would see what he could do to fit me in….”.
5:44 I took my seat as directed and waited. No time expectations were set by the orange staffer, however, i had said i will give it 15 minutes.
5:45 The man in orange gets questioned from kids on how to perform specific actions within a game that is running on a Mac down the end of the shop… “excuse me, in that game, how do i jump?”. I chuckle, he responds polietly with “i am not sure, have you tried hitting lots of the buttons?”. Satisfied kid walks away, armed with knowledge.
5:46 Kid returns… “Excuse me, in that game, how do I run?”…. concierge is getting a little frustrated, it must happen all day remember!
5:48 I wait, still no time expectations set, this was the one area for improvement.
5:50 Still waiting, not sure how long this will be, the list of the 12 people who will be next does not include my name.
5:53 I think i have seen the revolving adverts / brand messages about how supperior my faulty machine is about 5 or 6 times by now.
5:54 I get called up to meet Glenn, “who will be with me for the next 15 minutes”
5:55 He takes down more personal details; email, postal, phone number etc… to tie me to my previous purchase.
5:56 reviews power cable, suggests a replacement and goes on the hunt for one.
5:59 returns and contineus filling in paper work, to ensure that the transaction is recorded properly.
6:03 more paper work or at least that is what i was told as Gleen looked deeper into his computer screen.
6:04 I sign said paper work, receive my power cable, thank Glenn for his time in response to him thanking me for my time.
6:05 leave Apple store in just over 20 minutes and am feeling pretty good about the whole experience.
Thoughts:
Great experience, they did what i wanted, replaced my cable.
Glenn was nice and actually helpful
Paper work was a little over the top
Follow up email with 5 key feedback questions that were easy to answer closed the loop for me as a marketer. It was easy to do and after a positive experience I was happy to complete it.
Google trends has recently allowed access to website statistics based on their user information. Interestingly was this query, comparing News.com.au and SMH.com.au over time. News is showing, within Google, that it is pulling away from SMH. Interestingly, i wonder what impact the free Google Trends will have on the paid Hitwise service?
News.com.au in Red - - SMH.com.au in blue
Apple Store Sydney Opening night…. Apple store sydney launched last night. To much fan fare, clapping, high fives, cheers and flashing camera lenses. Interestingly, people lined up. Not for a short while, but a long while. Not to view new or exclusive products, but mass produced flashy apple goodness! The queues were large. The rain fell and people waited. Some lucky ones got a free Apple t-shirt. Which was promptly placed over shirts and ties to fit in, bit like a rock concert!
What was surprising was the excitement and buzz. To say Apple can do PR well is a given.
It got me thinking, cool must-have products across multiple genres makes for a cool (and profitable) brand. Apparently Apple is decently priced, for consumers or investors one has to ask?
What they do, they do well and should be rewarded.
Remember the Sony yellow water proof walkman? Game changing hey. Well maybe Apple has now taken over than role of being the innovative company of the age. Will it continue? Lets hope so!
Facebook could make a great marketing channel. Actually, facebook will make an excellent marketing channel for advertisers. Facebook should enable engagement with a targeted audience in a niche fashion that should lead to above average conversions - right message to the right person at the right time…. right?
The challenge is that Facebook is not there yet.
So when will it get there? What will it take? How can we be sure it will still be relevant by the time it does get there?
I have had two tradesmen come to my house of late. One key trend is that they never clean up. They show you the “finished wok” and all I see is a kitchen covered in silt, dirt and mess.
How can they get away with such bad customer service?
More to the point, how long will they be able to get away with this same bad service?
With the screws on the economy starting to turn, have the good times and high demand lead to this lack of good service that is being experienced? If so then there is an opportunity to turn that lack of service into a competitve advantage. Think of the word of mouth that it alone would generate.
Anyone know a good tradesman?
Do we want all the answers straight away, or is sifting through what makes the journey more fun?
Either way, Universal Search is here, google are making it work and making it more profitable. Now yahoo are in on the act via Yahoo Glue.
It is only in a few categories at the moment, and after testing should roll out across wider genres. For sports fans, here is a good example for Ricky Ponting
lets hope it gets some dollars for Yahoo, to revive the share price post Microsoft bailing and to keep some competition in the marketplace.
In reports out today, MySpace, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay and others have joined a movement called data portability.
Tech Crunch notes some key benefits for consumers such as syncronisation of data eg friends lists or personal data. However, just because i am using Twitter, do i want to know who else is? Maybe, maybe not! Or taken a step further, my eBay auctions do i want my friends to know i buy all my clothes there? Again, maybe, maybe not.
New entrants to the group, how will they protect my data? How long will it take to be updated or removed? Sometimes more is better and in this case I believe it will be great, however, with great changes come lots of areas of concern.
What will be the opportunites that come about? Will more openess allow consumers greater flexibility and power now that their information is not contained within a walled garden? Will it spark even greater transfer of users between products through lowering the real switching costs - time?
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Remember the Sony yellow water proof walkman? Game changing hey. Well maybe Apple has now taken over than role of being the innovative company of the age. Will it continue? Lets hope so!