Consumer Passion

Back to Coffee Bean Basics

Up front, know that I am very, very passionate about coffee.  The bean is a gift from God, both fuel and warm liquid comfort throughout my day.  I could care less if someone smirks when they discover I carry my own grinder, coffee maker and carefully sealed bag of FRESH, oily specialty beans with me when on vacation.  So when I read about the much ballyhooed memo sent by Starbucks Chair and founder Howard Schultz to company CEO Jim Donald earlier this month - first made public at  StarbucksGossip.com - I knew I had to weigh in. 

Schultz discusses the rapid expansion of the coffee chain, ticking off regretful side effects like deployment of automatic espresso machines, bagged coffee replacing "scooped beans", lack of aroma, removal of "romance and theatre", cookie cutter store design, and a lack of coffee-centric merchandise.  He sums up his thoughts: "we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it's time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience."  Amen, Howard, amen. 

Crowdsourcing Vs Crowdcasting

A November, 2006 article in Business 2.0 magazine by Melanie Haiken says it well, that we could  think of crowdsourcing as a "giant, creative rave", and crowdcasting as a "private backstage party you can't get into if you're not on the list."  Think of a company fishing for ideas.  If it wants to tap the creative knowledge of outsiders (consumers), it can fish in the open ocean (crowdsourcing), or it can go to a stocked pond (crowdcasting).

Haiken's article mentions two businesses that are helping the corporate world embrace "open-source innovation", Idea Crossing and  InnoCentive.  I trembled when I first read the article, thinking someone had given birth to my idea (happens to 99% of ideas, doesn't it?).  But time spent at each website helped me realize my plan for a ConsumerPassion community site is different from theirs.  I applaud their entreprenuership and business models, which focus on facilitating crowdcasting competitions and "idea challenges" for corporations like IBM, HIlton Hotels, and Proctor and Gamble.

My focus, however, gravitates more toward crowdsourcing.  And while this blog will cover the rise of both strategies, I think a site that attracts a wide audience, will be attractive to businesses in search of wisdom from a specific crowd. Numerous 'specific crowds' are likely to be found within a larger, diverse group of knowledgeable, innovative, early adopting and passionate consumers.  And if those consumers are willing and enabled to dialogue, then companies can choose to fish the ocean, or fish a particular pond, for ideas and solutions.  I intend to offer the ocean. 

Customize Your Kleenex

So I was trolling company websites, searching for established brands that have something  interesting going on.  I stumbled onto the Kleenex homepage (I've blown through several boxes this winter), and before you bolt for the door, hold your nose and hang with me for a minute. 

It was obvious as I clicked around the site that Kleenex is going whole hog in an attempt to attract the web savvy consumer.  There's a blog, user-generated videos (not every one is a tear jerker), and a site called MyKleenexTissue where you can customize and order oval boxes of tissue for five bucks a pop.   You can even insert your own pictures if you like.  Go ahead and  chuckle, but I know my wife will order these - not with pictures of relatives mind you - but with interesting colors and designs.  She panics when I toss out 'disposable' Kleenex boxes, the ones that coordinate with the lamp, the end table, the little wood bowl with stuff in it. 

I'd like to take the consumer/company conversation one step further.  So Kleenex, if you're listening, I want you to make a line of tissue for men.  Thick, sturdy stuff that doesn't leave little bits behind on my upper lip (I use paper towels for the first blow, due to the PSI and volume typically generated).  Give me a tissue that harkens back to the hanky, without the horror of pocketing a gooey cloth.  Make a small leather case that holds six of these manly tissues (Manex?), and I'll carry it wherever I go.  Make some creative commercials as well, directed at men.  Men, are you with me?

Dove Continues Consumer Generated Ad Trend at Oscars

If you watch the Academy Awards Sunday night, keep an eye out for the Dove Cream Oil Body Wash commercial.  The 30 second ad is a consumer creation, the winner of an online contest that generated some 1000 entries at DoveCreamOil.com.  Go to the site and watch the three finalists.  I did, and while I confess I wasn't blown away by any of them, I'm confident I know which will be the Oscar night pick.  (Hint: it invloves air ... lots of air)

USAToday.com  notes the price tag for a 30 second Oscar ad is $1.7 million, about a million less than a comparable Super Bowl slot.  Several advertisers used the Bowl to showcase amateur spots (Doritos, Chevy, the NFL), knowing pre and post-game commercial buzz would be extra buzzy with a creative consumer angle.  Dove isn't getting the same attention, but the Oscars, with an expected 40 million viewers, offers the second biggest TV ad platform. 

The question has to be asked:  what happens when the novelty of consumer created TV ads wears off?  Content is still King, and there's plenty of great content out there, ready to bubble up from the creative minds of millions of savvy consumers.  Hopefully, advertisers will look beyond the short term bonus buzz of this new marketing pipeline, realize the long-term potential, and start casting a wider net for great ideas and inspiration. 

Dell's IdeaStorm the Right Idea

Dell's launch last week of it's IdeaStorm site (www.dellideastorm.com) was exactly the kind of company/consumer online community launch we need more of.  And it's exactly the kind of news this blog will put it's brightest spotlight on. 

I first read about Dell's new site at TechCrunch.  Marshall Kirkpatrick made some critical - I think spot on - comments about Dell's nod to Digg, and about sensitivity over user generated launches that in any way compare to pioneers like Digg.  Suffice it to say there's absolutely nothing wrong  about a company like Dell, or any company for that matter, inviting people to submit and vote on comments and ideas.  It does strike me as unusual, however, that a company known for its early mastery of the web to reach consumers ... has taken this long to leverage the power of that web to listen 'ears wide open' to those same consumers.

KFC Fishing For Lenten Observers

No word yet from the Vatican on a request for Pope Benedict XVI to bless KFC's new Fish Snacker Sandwich.  I doubt KFC president Gregg Dedrick, who sent a personal letter to the Vatican, will recieve a reply via smoke signals.  Raises the question:  how will McDonald's react if papal approval is bestowed?

The connection between Lent and the fish sandwich escaped me until I caught a story by Paul Clark in the Cincinnati Enquirer (via USA Today) about the man who invented the Filet-O-Fish sandwich for McDonalds.  A long-time fan of the FOF (dry, thanks, sans the overly generous heaping of tartar), I have Lou Groen to thank. 

Survey: Barnes & Noble.com #1 in Customer Satisfaction

BN.com topped the e-commerce category in an annual survey released earlier this week, the third year in a row at number one for the world's largest bookseller.  The American Customer Satisfaction Index, put out by the University of Michigan with partner Forsee Results, talked to 65,000 customers.

Amazon.com ranked second behind Barnes and Noble.  Charles Schwab did well, besting other online brokerages.  Over at traditional Brick and Mortar, Costco led the specialty retailer category, with Lowes dropping year over year, but still favored over Home Depot.  Kohl's was favored in the deparment and discount store category.   

Why Consumer Passion?

This blog was sparked by an article I read in the October 2005 edtion of Business 2.0 Magazine, called Companies Tap Into Consumer Passion.  Since reading that article, I've been consumed by the idea of creating a place for so-called 'product evangelists'.  A place to spotlight life enhancing, enjoyable and innovative products.  A place to celebrate that rare thing known as Great Customer Service.  A place for people who DON'T think advertising and marketing are dirty words, but DO think most companies have yet to tap the most important source of product knowledge ... YOU.

This blog is stage one.  Stage two will be a robust community site, a pipeline where consumers and forward thinking companies connect and benefit from a Web 2.0 relationship.  If a business wants to find engaged customers, my hope is it'll find them here. 

This is not a niche site.  It will cast a wide net for products, marketing trends and companies that just about anyone can relate to.  Honda,  the Swiffer, my HP laptop and Kashi bars are a handful of what I'm passionate about.  What products or companies top your 'can't imagine life without' list? 

Welcome to ConsumerPassion

Jeff