Range Rovers and Cheap Suits Mean Problems for Luxury

Men's Wearhouse wants to purchase Jos. A. Bank

But their $1.5 billion offer was rejected

while a carjacked Range Rover of Dustin Friedland is recovered in Newark

Murder and men's apparel sales are very different situations that bisect at the point where ego meets practicality.

Last Sunday, December 15, 30-year old Dustin Friedland was approached by two gunmen in the parking lot of the upscale Short Hills Mall in New Jersey who then opened fire, killing Friedland in order to carjack his vehicle.  It was later learned that Friedland's car, a Range Rover was a model the killers were specifically targeting.  http://
nydn.us/1g1yyJF

Several high-profile abductions and murders from car-jackings over the past few years in mall parking lots of upscale neighborhoods http://
bit.ly/1hF1dVn  have heightened sensitivities of shoppers and made them more aware of their surroundings in order to stay safe.   People who used to self-park in any available spot in the parking lot now wait to pay and valet their cars.   Mall owners have increased police and security presence around their properties.  And luxury car buyers are re-thinking the value of the 'prestige-factor' which is the cachet achieved when paying the difference between a luxury vehicle and a moderately priced vehicle.  In the mind of wealthy mall-goers everywhere, "If thieves are willing to kill for my car, then I'll get a cheaper alternative to stay safe."

The loss of relevance to the 'prestige factor' is also seen in fashion merchandise.  Although premium men's apparel makers still sell suits for upwards of $2,500 each, retailers including Jos. A Bank promote perpetual discounts and sales with similarly styled products at a fraction of the price compared with the upscale conservative styling of premium brands.   While the market for luxury suitings is limited, Jos. A Bank reported total sales of $247.5 million for the third quarter 2013 up more than six percent from the year-ago period.  The retailer this week rejected a $1.5 billion acquisition offer from Men's Wearhouse with the comment that the offer did not fully recognize the value of the company.http://
bit.ly/1jIYuP0

The downward pressure on luxury is borne out by statistical research.  With continued turmoil in employment markets and uncertainty in personal expenses including healthcare, a July 2013 CNN/ORC International surveyhttp://
cnn.it/19pkieu concluded that two-thirds of respondents say they currently rate the economy as poor and that 44% of Americans say their financial situation is worse today than it was a year ago compared with 36% who say their position has improved over the same timeframe.

With the accumulation of premium and luxury shoppers around the middle ground, affordable luxury fashion brands including Michael Kors and Kate Spade are taking over real estate that once featured only high-end luxury tenants.   bit.ly/1d8AUG7   The increasing market share of these 'bridge' labels are pushing out higher-priced tenants on Rodeo Drive just as they already have on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Everyone should be able to buy everything they want to own without any limitation except budget.
Now this basic rule of capitalism is being challenged by the practical realities of modern living.
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Elon Musk: Many Accomplishments, Yet No Solutions

Elon Musk:  Many Accomplishments, Yet No Solutions

Elon Musk, the 42-year-old investor, inventor and business magnate behind technologies and products including PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City and the new Hyperloop transportation concept has captured the imagination of people around the world who are wealthy enough to take advantage of his impressive accomplishments.

And that raises an important question about Musk himself and his motivation.

PayPal revolutionized online payments and made the internet a viable commercial option facilitating financial transactions.  SpaceX was developed as national governments began to get out of the low earth orbit space business and contract with private companies to do their heavy lifting in no-gravity environments.  Tesla makes electric vehicles with next generation technology including the  infrastructure to support long-range travel.  SolarCity develops and installs power supplies for homes that operate by generating electricity from the sun.  And Hyperloop pods will transport people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes using a combination of air suction, vacuum and electric pulses.
 
The common vision among these businesses and ideas is leading edge technology in service of lifestyle.  There are similarities between Musk and Steve Jobs, however Jobs created completely new categories of consumer products with the ipod and ipad with price points far more accessible to more people compared with Musk's product assortment.

From a marketing perspective, Musk catering to people of means within the First World with expensive products is equally as viable as creating a product within financial reach of and desirable to the majority of the rest of the world. 

The technology Musk refined in online finance, electric car batteries and solar power cells has earned him the #66 ranking on the Forbes 400 list.  He is ranked #61 on the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people.  It will be interesting to see whether Musk uses the word "influential" to define "powerful."

There are 7.1 billion people on the planet.  Elon Musk has the power of opportunity to make a positive difference in the way the developing world travels, communicates and conserves resources.  Several worthwhile programs spearheaded by others already exist.  For example, click here to read about Crosby Menzies and Solar Cookers International.

Let's hope Musk's best work is still ahead of him and that his vision is big enough to benefit the entire planet.

THERE ARE NO BILLBOARDS IN SPACE

THERE ARE NO BILLBOARDS IN SPACE

Last week the Cassini spacecraft beamed photos back to earth speeding 898 million miles away from the surface of our planet.  The spectacular images show the Earth and our moon as tiny specks in the distance beyond Saturn's rings.  Like people around the world, I marveled at the beauty of the pictures and the emotional power of viewing the earth from this new perspective.

But at the same moment, I felt that something was missing from the composition.

Then the answer hit me with a one-two punch of astonishment and embarrassment.  What I wanted to see in that historic photograph was a logo.

Get past your outrage for a moment and consider that our space program embodies desirable qualities sought after by advertisers worldwide.  It represents boldness, audacity, precision, grand ideals, technical excellence, virtuous objectives and has global appeal.  These are all qualities that can be marketed successfully by NASA while maintaining total autonomy for their mission.

Art museums were long thought to be bastions of artistic freedom that shunned corporate dollars for fear of undue influence on artistic decisions.  Today, museums around the world seek out corporate sponsorship as a way to defray costs of blockbuster exhibitions and help secure financing for ongoing operations because public funding is inadequate.  A current trend takes that one step further with corporations creating curated museum shows that are sent to arts institutions around the country at nominal or no cost to the museum in return for appropriate branding opportunities.  Although the fine art/corporate sponsorship relationship has in some ways realized the worst fears of arts purists, overall more quality art that would otherwise never be accessible to the public is able to be seen and appreciated.

Today there are several private commercial firms operating in space like SpaceX handling the now mundane and conventional task of hauling satellites into orbit.  Advertising is certainly a part of their marketing plan.  NASA is different because it concentrates on projects that would otherwise never be commercially viable -- the pure scientific pursuit of knowledge about our planet, our origins and the unknown.  That is an opportunity for the very few global corporations that would compete for the exclusive rights to market certain images with NASA being the direct financial beneficiary.  Click here to start the bidding for these planned future NASA missions.

So you would still be able to see the incredible image we saw last week.  And also another one of the same image with a small Redbull banner protruding from the fuselage in the corner of the picture.  Properly managed, the benefits to our space program would far outweigh any potential cost.

Over and out.

ONE BIG IDEA FOR SUCCESSFUL SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING

ONE BIG IDEA FOR SUCCESSFUL SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING

I was taking a walk around my new neighborhood last Friday when I found myself in the parking lot of the strip mall across the street.  It was around 9:00 p.m. and in my neighborhood, they roll up the sidewalks around an hour earlier.  The mall has two restaurants open at that hour as well as a frozen yogurt shop called The Working Cow. 
The three food establishments are located close together and as I walked towards them I heard music playing outside.  Getting closer, I saw tables and chairs placed all around the restaurant store-fronts and approximately 80 people filling the seats. 
None of them were eating dinner.
The music I heard was live, played by a keyboardist with a decent voice and a good conversational patter between songs he cued up on his laptop.  He was set up beside the yogurt shop and mentioned the entertainment was courtesy of the Working Cow.  Everyone had a cup of yogurt in their hands or on the tables.  There was a line of people outside the door waiting to make a purchase.
The restaurants were empty.
The Working Cow provided a reason for people in the neighborhood to venture out Friday evening to listen to music and to, oh yeah, "let's get some yogurt."
Normally, the restaurants have the room and the furniture to promote themselves with live music.  But compared to the Working Cow, they were just chewing their cuds.
I bought a cup too, in deference to their small business making a risky decision that provides a financial return far greater than their investment.

"DUMB WAYS TO DIE" MAKES RAILWAY SAFETY POPULAR

"DUMB WAYS TO DIE" MAKES RAILWAY SAFETY POPULAR

A few weeks ago I heard a song playing on my ten-year old daughter's iphone from the back seat of the car.  It's my job to determine 'appropriate' content for Shelby.  As soon as I heard the first part of the chorus, with a female voice singing "Dumb Ways to Die" to a catchy upbeat melody, I told her to shut it off.

Shelby told me she heard it first at her friend's house.  "It's funny," she said.  Curious, I asked her to play it again so I could hear the entire song.  When it finished playing, I was smiling too, because I realized the song is a brilliant breakthrough in public service campaign marketing.

Take a look at the first verse of the song:  "Set fire to your hair. Poke a stick at a grizzly bear.  Eat medicine that's out of date, use your private parts as piranha bait."  The rest of the lyrics are equally bizarre.  At the end of the tune, however, the dumb ways to die center around railway safety:  Stand on the edge of a train station platform.  Drive around the boom gates at a level crossing.  Run across the tracks between the platforms.  They may not rhyme but they’re quite possibly... (Chorus) Dumbest ways to die.  After the music ends, there is a tag line.  "Be safe around trains. A message
from Metro."

A little research brought me to the website of http://www.metrotrains.com.au/ Melbourne, Australia's metropolitan train network.  "Dumb Ways to Die" was commissioned by Metro to draw public attention to railway safety issues.  Uploaded to youtube last November, this little public service ripple has grown into a mammoth viral tsunami of awareness with a total of nearly 53,000,000 views to date.  Written by Australian musician Ollie McGill from the band The Cat Empire and performed by Emily Lubitz of Tinpan Orange, Dumb Ways to Die was made available for sale on iTunes and reached the top 10 in the global iTunes chart within 24 hours of its release.   And to follow up, the Dumb Ways to Die game app recently launched:  Dumb Ways to Die iphone app game.

The success of this small campaign is a superlative example of creative problem solving.  Traditional public service pieces concerning safety rely on fear to motivate the public:  stop smoking, don't drink and drive, etc.  Instead in this case the subtle use of humor and music achieves the desired result with powerful and lasting effect.  

Powerful, because youtube doesn't broadcast to everyone.  Almost 53,000,000 people have searched out the song and voluntarily chosen to play it.  It's not background noise in a television commercial or on an outdoor billboard.  Each person is a dedicated viewer and listener for the duration of the song.  Lasting, because many listen several times over a long period, making the shelf life of this campaign almost indefinite.  And industry recognition is building.  The campaign won Direct and PR Grand Prix Awards at Cannes 2013.

The most impressive benchmark for Metro's success is something that was unimaginable ten years ago:  a ten-year old girl riding in a car in the US listens to a popular song commissioned by an Australian train company to inform their local riders about railway safety.

If Metro's trains are as good as their marketing, then all of their seats must be first class.

Listen to the song here:Dumb Ways to Die

 

SUITSUPPLY SHAKES UP MENSWEAR AND POURS A POTENT FASHION COCKTAIL

LIGHT. INVITING. ACCESSIBLE.

VS. THE TRADITIONAL SUIT BUYING EXPERIENCE

SUITSUPPLY BRIGHTENS IT UP

THE SUITSUPPLY NEWSLETTER IN WSJ ISSUES LAST WEEK

SUITSUPPLY SHAKES UP MENSWEAR AND POURS A POTENT FASHION COCKTAIL

Rules for men's dressing change slowly, about as fast as a glacier melts.  So around 20 years ago when the Casual Friday trend started chipping away at the suit and tie office uniform, men raised an eyebrow and they liked what they saw.

Twenty years later, the glacier that was the formal work wardrobe is now a pool of lukewarm water swirling around the drain of sartorial history.   T-shirts, jeans, polo shirts and flip-flops have consumed the male work wardrobe in an effort to appear comfortable and successful, with nary a straight crease in sight.

So obviously now must be the perfect time to open SuitSupply, a Dutch chain of menswear stores  built on a foundation of tailored clothing now open in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington and New York.  But wait a moment before you speed-dial your broker to sell short.

SuitSupply is the brainchild of CEO Fokke de Jong.  His idea is that menswear today is sloppy, not casual and that the original motivation for men dressing casually for work -- to differentiate themselves from conventional wardrobes of their bosses -- has completely shifted.  It's the casual dresser that's conventional today, so SuitSupply provides the outlet for the modern rebellious dresser.

de Jong's philosophy is on display in every aspect of the store design and merchandising, product selection and pricing.  To achieve their goal, SuitSupply examined the antiquated model of suit shopping -- racks packed with navy and gray suits in a corner of the sales floor or stacked three racks high with poor lighting, high prices and disconnected service --  and it has completely destroyed and rebuilt it.

The design and interior architecture of the Atlanta store I visited last week is open, airy, clean and bright.  The suits are presented as dressed-up sportswear, paired with a range of shirts, sweaters and accessories from the brand's complete furnishings and sportswear collection.  There seems to be equal distribution of hanging display space and display space on tables and on mannequins.  Alterations, promised within three days, are performed at the front of the store by a suited employee and in an area that is the focus of attention.  The sales team is knowledgeable, friendly and are the best examples of how to wear the clothes in a work environment -- with confidence and style.  SuitSupply shares knowledge with customers, highlighting the quality and history of fabric mills that supply materials and informing shoppers about the unique construction of their clothes that match the finest craftsmanship in the industry.

Refreshingly, the price point of SuitSupply items approximates the lower end of department store outlets including Nordstrom Rack and Off Fifth.  Suit prices range from $399 to $695.  A cotton/silk suit made from Beste mill fabric is $599. A peak collar two-button wool/linen jacket with fabric from the Fintes mill in Italy runs $399.  Dress shirts run around $129.

So before you call your broker now, check out the SuitSupply newsletter insert that came with every issue of the Wall Street Journal last week for a peek into your sartorial future.  High service.  High style.  Realistic prices.  Clear vision.  That's SuitSupply.  And I'm buying. 

GRADUATING WITH DISHONOR: UNIVERSITIES FAIL ATHLETICS CRISES

GRADUATING WITH DISHONORS:  THE ONE LESSON UNIVERSITIES MUST UNDERSTAND BEFORE DEALING WITH ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT CRISES

Recent crises within the athletic departments at Penn State University and at Rutgers University are a cautionary tale about how carefully crafted reputations developed over generations can be quickly destroyed.   Experts who conduct independent studies into these scandals add to the problems by failing the institutions they serve and the public.  Their reports practically assure similar cases will continue to be mishandled in future because they fail to address a key recommendation that should be the cornerstone of their findings.  

The additional recommendation should be phrased in the form of a question that each school President should ask immediately upon learning of a burgeoning scandal:  "If this issue appears on Twitter and other social media this afternoon, unfiltered, with all video and text records, how would I react?"  By creating a scenario for Presidents that imagines the cat out of the bag, their frame of reference would change from a detrimental secretive and insular point of view into a more realistic scenario that forces consideration of public awareness.   The wheels would be set in motion for a more long-term and constructive strategy of public disclosure that would truly assist in reputation management.

A beneficial byproduct of this rule would be the immediate and pro-active involvement of the university public information officer.  This member of the university's professional staff is in the best position to develop goals and to implement a comprehensive strategy to identify and engage with all affected parties including the media.  The rule would mandate a Board-level position for the media relations officer with the purpose of highlighting opportunities and threats based on all current business before the Board.

It is disappointing but not surprising that the oversight committees and special investigators suffer from the same myopic viewpoint of the administrators they supervise.  Boards and the investigative counsel they hire are made up in many instances of people with similar professional backgrounds in administration, business, finance and law.   Their experience would be augmented by a professional whose day-to-day responsibilities include the potential ramifications of policy on all parties -- parents, students, boosters, media, faculty, administration, government -- and with the skills to set realistic goals and to develop strategy to inform each of them.

With this rule in place, Penn State may have helped heal sooner from the horrible consequences of their inaction.  The fantasy of a few decision-makers that the information they possessed would be contained would have quickly been discounted as folly.  Rutgers University officials viewed a video  last December of their basketball coach assaulting players and spewing homophobic slurs and other verbal abuse.  The advice of any legitimate PR professional would have been swift and unambiguous:  start by taking immediate steps to fire the coach and to contact each player identifiable in the video with support and outreach.

The implementation of this rule would also help to end decision-making paralysis or short-sighted decision making caused by potential legal implications.  Often swayed by legal argument, administrators may hesitate to take disciplinary action against an employee.  The Rutgers coach was suspended and fined initially after the video was viewed by the athletic director and some board members.  A PR professional would help highlight additional points of view -- that of the parents of the student-athletes in the video for example.  Also, if involved at the board level, the public information officer would have pointed out that, if one video exists, then there are probably more, and it may already be in the public domain or will be shortly.

It's almost too late for Rutgers.  The rage and aggression of the Rutgers coach seen abusing the basketball players in the video raises questions about what his behavior is like within his own family unit.  It's too late for Penn State.  The recent appointment last month of Regis Becker as Director of University Ethics and Compliance at Penn State is not the solution for the problem highlighted here.  His skills do not overlap with the public information function.  His position is not at the Board level.  He reports to the Legal and Compliance Committee of the Board of Trustees.  How helpful were that committee's contributions to the Sandusky tragedy?

Expect more troubling announcements from more athletic departments at more universities until they can learn to teach themselves this valuable lesson.

LULU STEPS IN DOODOO: QUALITY CONTROL VS BRAND LOYALTY

LULU STEPS IN DOODOO: QUALITY CONTROL VS BRAND LOYALTY -- Lululemon Athletica achieves what Nike hasn't been able to do in 20 years.  Both companies mix styling and advanced fabrics but lululemon lives and dies by yoga just as Nike did with runners for the inital years of their business until the realities of stock price and global markets expanded their focus.

The Vancouver, BC-based yoga apparel company announced yesterday that they were recalling 17% of bottoms on their sales floors due to a fabric issue that created an excessive "level of sheerness in some of our women's black Luon bottoms that fall short of our very high standards."  Lululemon's stock price plummeted almost six percent Tuesday morning to $62.30.  This situation has long-lasting implications for the reputation of the brand.

Lululemon relies on the devotion of its legions of committed yoga practitioners who are the foundation of the business.  However, according to the Financial Post, this is the fourth quality control issue at Lululemon in the last year.  When quality suffers, customers flee.  Passion is the glue that links a target market to a specific brand.  When Phil Knight was building Nike in the 1970s and created the waffle sole, runners knew Nike was as passionate about making their shoes as serious runners were about running.  That link was the catalyst that created a brand/customer partnership that lasted for decades.

Salespeople at Lululemon are called 'Educators' because they are promoted as people who are as in touch with their bodies and yoga as they are with the product on the shelves.  Although at this moment, Lululemon is looking into the cause of the latest problem, it is clear that a serious quality control issue must be addressed.  The fabric issue apparently went undetected all the way through the manufacturing and distribution process and was first recognized with returns or comments from end-users.

Nike has had controversy as well over product origins and manufacturing, however most of these issues occurred after Nike established itself in the market with it's core constituency of runners.  Nike promoted itself as the 'authentic' shoes for serious runners and the running establishment embraced Nike.  This bond helped to keep the reputation of the company intact for decades.

The problems with Lululemon are different because they come at a time when the firm is still building its reputation and also because these issues are about product quality compared with Nike that had to deal instead with product origin and child labor issues.

To appease their loyal customers, Lululemon must announce immediately the factors that caused the problem and announce new quality control procedures to guarantee future quality of all products.  Product displays in-store to demonstrate the integrity of the pants they produce will also help repair the damage.

Another looming issue - according to the company's annual report, the Luon fabric in question is provided by a single manufacturer in Taiwan.  The explanation from Lululemon should also address the single-source issue and the reasons for the business having too much reliance on a single manufacturer.

This is the moment where Lululemon can take a short-term stock hit and repair long-term customer loyalty with a full, honest and introspective assessment of the entire business with concrete steps to redeem trust.  Otherwise, these Lululemons may not so easily be made into Lululemonade.

WHEN BAD NEWS IS GOOD PUBLICITY

This is a nutty story with a real lesson about how brands capitalize on unanticipated media coverage.

The New York Times Wednesday featured a story that originally broke in the Columbia Daily Spectator, the daily newspaper of Columbia University.  It seems that chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella was disappearing from campus dining rooms at an alarming rate.  Actual figures are sketchy, but the story reports that around 100 pounds of the product are consumed each day at the school.  Eyewitnesses report that students brazenly take jars of the stuff out of the dining halls, deftly hide extra portions in coffee cups and other containers and at times take enough rations out of the cafeteria to last a hungry co-ed an entire day.

When first contacted by The New York Times, Vicki Dunn, the executive director of Dining Services at Columbia refused to comment and became defensive before hanging up on the reporter.  Wow!  If there's one way to get a reporter to keep digging, hang up on them.  Ms. Dunn is an administrator, not a communications professional, but a huge opportunity was lost at that moment to turn an oddball humor story into a positive promotion for the school.

• First, Dining Services introduced Nutella as an additional option at Columbia just last week after receiving requests from students.  That's a chance to dispel common perceptions about school administrators who don't listen or act on student demands.

• Second, the administration was reported to be alarmed at the cost that Nutella was adding to their food expenditures due to unanticipated demand.  What!?  With annual tuition at Columbia reaching $61,500 with room and board last year, enterprising students blogged that the cost of 100 pounds of Nutella at Costco was a paltry sum indeed.  A quick check at Walmart reveals that 100 pounds of Nutella would cost $427.

Yesterday, Columbia seemed to have an emergency meeting and came up with an appropriate response that ran in The New York Times blog.  Finally taking the weight of the academic world off their shoulders, the official school statement said that “media attention to Nutella-gate has cut down on the amount people have been taking in recent days.”  So, the school picked up the ball they dropped and recovered slightly but not completely.

Now, the ball is in the hands of Ferrero USA,  Inc., the US manufacturer of Nutella.  This story is a rare example of unanticipated news coverage, even with it's negative undertone (stealing) becoming a huge opportunity for brand promotion.

• How about Nutella scheduling a press conference with Columbia to announce they are making up the estimated amount of product lost each week through pilferage.  
• Or make it a teaching moment to endow a chair at Columbia Law School concentrating on consumer products, popular culture and law.  
• The students themselves are a great resource for consumer feedback about their preference of Nutella over peanut butter.  
• Can a real-time chart on the Nutella website tracking Nutella consumed against timing of tests and final exams be far behind?

A single day's consumption of Nutella around the world represents over 70 million hazelnuts.
Columbia and Nutella would have to be just as nuts if they let this story die without converting it to their mutual benefit.

MCILROY SHOULD LOOK BEYOND 'HORIZON' FOR PR EXPERTISE

Rory McIlroy, the top-ranked golfer in the world, yesterday withdrew from the Honda Classic tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, halfway through his second round.  

Approached in the parking lot before leaving the golf course, the 23-year old McIlroy told the media that "I'm not in a great place mentally.  I can't really say much, guys. I'm just in a bad place mentally."

Speculation concerning McIlroy's sudden departure is widespread, ranging from problems related to his new Nike golf clubs (as part of his new endorsement deal) to romantic troubles with his girlfriend Caroline Wozniaki, the tenth-ranked women's tennis player in the world, to personality issues.  He must also now contain anger amongst fans who paid handsomely for tickets and were deprived of seeing him play.  TItle sponsor Honda and other advertisers also were left in the cold after their #1 television draw vanished from the scene.

Whatever the reasons for his decision, the blame for the withdrawal belongs with McIlroy.  However the blame for the widening fallout from the episode rests squarely with Conor Ridge and Colin Morrissey, who founded Horizon Sports Management, the Dublin-based company that has represented McIlroy since 2011.

After McIlroy left the course, it was reported that a Horizon spokesperson told the Golf Channel: “He’s not hurt. He’s not sick. And he won’t answer his phone. I don’t know.”  Then, an hour later, the PGA, the organization that runs the tournament, issued a written statement from McIlroy that blamed a toothache for loss of concentration that prompted him to withdraw.

The first rule of celebrity PR is to control the message.  In this regard, Horizon has failed their client miserably.  Controlling the message demands that the message be clear and singular.  Unfortunately, instead of a single message, Horizon is responsible for six separate messages.  

1. First, McIlroy's initial explanation about mental concentration.  
2. Second, the Horizon representative discounting any illness or equipment issue.  
3. Third, the same Horizon representative heightening tension and intrigue by stating he couldn't reach Rory on the phone.  
4. Again, the Horizon rep making a fatal error saying "I don't know."  In any PR professional's lexicon, before digging your own grave by stating 'I don't know,' say 'No comment' instead.
5. Fifth, the seemingly back-pedaling and self-serving statement from the PGA revealing a toothache.  
6. The real reason, which the previous reasons 1-5 make doubtful will ever be known.

Golf's poster-boy for negative publicity, Tiger Woods, said after the incident about McIlroy, "He's just got to be more – just got to think about it a little bit more before you say something or do something."

Unlike McIlroy, Woods is not universally liked.  Although appreciated for his skill, Woods is a polarizing figure. McIlroy enjoys a pristine reputation among golfers and the public.   I would hope that his stellar conduct up to this point in time would provide McIlroy some measure of understanding amongst the media and the public.  Consider that, in a little over a year and a half, McIlroy embarked on a very public romance with Wozniacki, changed agents, relocated to the U.S. and remade his image with the biggest golf-equipment deal of this century with Nike worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  

Not likely.  And unfortunate, since given how events have played out with Horizon in McIlroy's corner, it's more likely the damage to his reputation will take a lot longer to improve than his golf scores.

PR, Fame and Success: The Career of Stan Musial

Awareness Isn't Always the Goal of PR

Stan Musial, the Hall of Fame outfielder and first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-1963, died January 19, 2013 at the age of 92.  In his 3,026-game career, "Stan the Man" won seven National League batting titles.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969, his first year of eligibility.

In his stirring eulogy of Musial, (click below link) broadcaster Bob Costas remarks that, although his statistics rank Musial among the pantheon of the greatest players in our national pastime, his persona never reached the same heights as his peers Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.  Costas comments that other factors besides statistics determined the level of fame or anonymity of Musial and his contemporaries.

First, Musial was non-confrontational.  Considered a 'nice guy' by teammates and opponents alike, Musial never developed any animosity or veered away from his squeaky clean nature.  The media writes about polarizing issues and Musial was universally liked so he never made 'good copy'.  By contrast, Mays breaking down color barriers in baseball, Mantle constantly battling invisible demons and alcohol dependency and DiMaggio with his celebrity marriage to Marilyn Monroe and Hollywood lifestyle, grabbed the majority of headlines.

Further dampening the star-power of Musial, he played his entire career in St. Louis, a town he loved mainly because it was not a big city market like New York.   News from small market towns like St. Louis tended to stay regional and therefore Musial's exploits on the ball field were recognized most within the small geographic market of St. Louis.  Mays, DiMaggio and Mantle played in New York, the center of the baseball universe with several daily newspapers reporting daily on every baseball detail of the city's two famous teams.

Also, Musial just missed out on gaining awareness from a television audience.  He played his last World Series game in 1946, one year before television began regional broadcasting during the 1947 World Series.  So Musial's accomplishments never were widely publicized on a national scale, compared with baseball news from New York which was considered sports news around the country.

The stars were not aligned for Stan Musial because his small market team, good-natured personality and  playing days that pre-dated national television prevented him from realizing the full measure of fame experienced by Mays, DiMaggio and Mantle.  But there is another perspective.

Perhaps Musial understood best that to perform at his peak, he required a calm environment with limited media exposure in a city he loved and called home.  In a culture that celebrates fame for fame's sake, Stan Musial willingly forfeited fame to achieve something more valuable to him:  success.  Hard to believe these days, but they don't always mean the same thing.

Goodbye Stan Musial, Hall of Famer, PR expert.

Bob Costas Eulogizes Stan Musial

THE KEY TO CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

THE KEY TO CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

Customer feedback and the process to analyze and create proactive policies based on it is an important component of business success.  The customer has always been king.  In today's connected and virtual world, the customer has taken on even more significance in making and breaking brand identities.

The shift of corporate resources toward customer relations has come at the expense of internal corporate dialog and communication.  Two recent business decisions outlined below demonstrate how the PR advisory function has eroded to dangerous levels within some prominent corporate decision-making hierarchies.

Maker's Mark whisky COO Rob Samuels emailed a group of brand ambassadors for the spirit on February 9 this year that the recipe of the popular whiskey was changing effective immediately to 84 proof from 90 proof.  The dilution was necessary in order to keep up with unexpected international demand.  The change was fine, he stated, because taste test results showed no difference between the two samples.

On October 6, 2010, GAP, Inc., at the time the world's second largest apparel manufacturer, introduced a new logo which was announced on their corporate web site.  The project was overseen by Marka Hansen, president of GAP brand, North America.  The previous logo had been in use since the 1980's.  The new design was promoted as a "contemporary and current design."

The results in both cases were startlingly similar.  Reaction in social media exploded immediately to the Maker's Mark strategy and GAP graphic design.  The onslaught was so relentless that both decisions were reversed within one week of being announced, despite the time, effort and money invested in planning and implementing them. "We've heard loud and clear that you don't like the new logo," GAP stated on their Facebook page on October 12, 2010.  The original logo was brought back and Hansen was out of the company four months later.  On February 16 this year, Maker's Mark COO Rob Samuels tweeted "You spoke. We listened. And we're sincerely sorry we let you down."  The plan to literally dilute the brand was scrapped.

These cautionary tales illustrate the declining impact of public relations counsel to top-level decision makers in some corporate cultures.  In companies as sophisticated as Maker's Mark and GAP, it is beyond reason to believe their own PR teams did not raise red flags forcefully and immediately to the proposed courses of action.  The degree of projected consumer backlash may understandably have been misjudged at the time, however the anticipated arc of the story could not have been overlooked.  Both these situations could and should have been completely avoided with prudent PR strategy and outreach.

Top management made these decisions over the objections of their own PR advisors because the decision-makers earned their degrees in a business environment that no longer existed.  It's not that they're old.  It's a factor of business fundamentals that are changing at such a rapid pace.  Armed with these outdated philosophies, the GAP and Maker's Mark leaderships believed that consumers were important as components of the larger market as a whole.  They could not understand, even at the insistence of their PR teams, that the reverse is equally true today - that the market is made up of individual customers, each of whom through social media and the internet has the same reach and potential to influence others as any multi-national corporation.

So the one key to successful connection with customers is for key leadership to treat employees as the most knowledgeable of all customers.  Inbound marketing is as much an internal corporate goal as it is an external marketing strategy.  Accept and embrace that in the ever-changing virtual landscape that is today's communications environment, input from the inside cubicles should flow to the corner office with more speed and more relevance than it ever has before.

 For GAP and Maker's Mark, learning that lesson became a sobering reality.

DENTISTS PROTEST SHORTENED NHL SEASON

Hockey is the most beautiful sport because it pits speed and skill against violence better than any other athletic activity. At least, it used to.

And that's the problem with the NHL.  Long considered the 'fourth' sport behind football, basketball and baseball -- or the 'fifth' sport, behind Nascar, hockey languishes in television ratings for many reasons.  This situation was compounded during the recent NHL lockout which started in September 2012 and blew past the scheduled October season start date, finally ending when a shortened season began January 19 running through April.

Game attendance in 1995 fell 20% after the 1994 baseball strike as fans showed their anger by keeping their butts out of seats.  The NHL Players Association, led by Donald Fehr who headed the MLB Players Association in 1994 during the strike -- and the NHL itself, should be doing everything in their power to be conciliatory to fans and also to put on the best possible product on the ice.

I don't believe the players are on the same page as fans and owners.

I attended the Panthers/Capitals game last Tuesday at the BB&T Center where the Caps won the game 6-5 in overtime.  Click here for the game recap.  The poor play from both clubs reminded me of the recent NFL Pro Bowl games where players had a tacit agreement to avoid playing defense in order to avoid potential injury.  The scores of the last two Pro Bowls were 59-41 and 62-35.  It is within the realm of possibility that NHL players have internally agreed to 'go soft' during this shortened season to protect themselves because their conditioning was compromised due to the circumstances of the lockout and they don't want to risk injury and therefore more financial question marks prior to the start of the full 2013-14 season.

With increasing top salaries (none guaranteed in the NFL), limited playing careers and recent sensitization to the risk from accumulated head trauma, commerce and marketing have served to shift the emphasis from 'team' and 'selflessness' to 'me' and 'selfishness'.   In the NBA, the game's most prominent big man Dwight Howard of the LA Lakers was criticized by teammates because, rather than even attempt to play through the pain of his recent shoulder injury, he sat out from January 30 through February 10 during a crucial run to try and make the playoffs.  Factoring into his decision is also the fact that Howard may be playing somewhere else next season and that playing now may prolong the healing process and may affect his desirability from other teams.

So, like the Centers for Disease Control that can track viral epidemics back to the first infected person who contracted the disease, now the NHL is the latest patient in the emergency room, for a different kind of labor problem.

If you're looking for definitive proof that the NHL is slacking off, just ask your dentist.  Look closely at the evidence in the two photos below.  Which player got hit more often, Bobby Clarke in 1976 or Alexander Ovechkin in 2012?  

Case closed.

THE POPE AND THE QUEEN WALK INTO A BAR...

THE POPE AND THE QUEEN WALK INTO A BAR...
The Pope and Queen Elizabeth have similar histories.  Let's review each one separately to see how they have so much in common with each other besides ermin robes.

Today Pope Benedict XVI announced that he was resigning his post at the end of this month due to failing physical and mental health.  The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415.  Although many employers mandate a retirement age, the Catholic Church expects, due to historic precedence as much as any other factor, that their Pope will continue ministering his flock until death.

The response to Benedict's announcement is sure to be immediate and voluminous.  I imagine reaction will fall into one of two camps.  The first argument holds that the Pope, at the moment he undertook his responsibility also took on the obligation to keep his job till the end.  Effectiveness in carrying out his responsibilities is not of paramount concern to this camp.  The Church is top-heavy with advisors and various minions who have for centuries acted on behalf of the Pope in times of incapacitation to protect the Office.  Tradition trumps personal desire.  What Pope Benedict is doing, according to detractors, is standing tradition on its head, virtually burning the Christian doctrine of self-sacrifice at the alter of pragmatism.  He has no right or authority to resign.

The other stream of thought contends that the man has served honorably for seven years.  Traditional values must give way to the heavy personal toll brought about by the realities of the modern papacy.  Benedict is dealing with heavy demands brought about by increased media scrutiny, schisms within the faith, seismic shifts in the geography of Catholicism, internal office intrigue and legal problems.  Remember too that the Pope is managing the global response about the horrible reality of decades of child abuse by the priesthood and cover-up accusations centered on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which the Pope directed as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.    Resigning now provides the Church with the opportunity to inject fresh air and new perspective into the Church.  Ratzinger is practicing self-sacrifice, his supporters say, by making this historic decision which in his mind is designed to save and protect the Catholic faith.

A related dilemma was faced by Queen Elizabeth II in the immediate aftermath of the death of Princess Diana in 1997.  The popularity of the Princess was magnified after her tragic and sudden death to a level that affected the centuries-old traditions of the British monarchy.  Diana, divorced in 1996, was no longer a member of the Royal Family and therefore funeral arrangements were originally planned to be private and at the direction of the Spencer family.  No public announcement was made by Buckingham Palace in the days immediately following the accident.  Public outrage grew along with disillusionment of the monarchy and Queen.  Finally, with counsel of the Prime Minister, the Palace jettisoned centuries of royal protocol and tradition.  Until 1997, the only flag to fly from Buckingham Palace was the Royal Standard, the official flag of the reigning British sovereign.  On the day of Diana's funeral, the Union Flag was flown at half mast over the Palace.  In another departure from centuries of behavior, Diana was given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey with pomp normally bestowed on a member of the royal household.  The Queen made a live television announcement the day prior to the funeral expressing her feelings about protecting and sheltering her grandchildren (Diana's and Charles's sons William and Harry) from the tragedy against the realization that Her subjects demanded that the Queen acknowledge and support their communal grief.

So when the Queen and the Pope head into the bar, they'll raise their glasses to their mutual understanding -- that tradition and preservation are intertwined but separate concepts.  Then they'll return to their palaces and sleep soundly confident that they made the difficult and necessary decisions to preserve their life's work.

COMMUNICATION, TRANSPORTATION AND THE JETSONS

Remember the Jetsons?  That fabulous futuristic family in the television show of the same name that aired from 1962-3?  Well, the future depicted in the program was the year 2062, only 50 years away.
An interesting conclusion about our actual future can be made from the imagined images of the animated show.
The Jetson family -- husband George, wife Jane and children Judy and Elroy -- travel around Orbit City in an aerocar which looks like a cross between a flying saucer and a fishbowl.  Transportation is very advanced in 2062 with roads and highways eliminated as the aerocar travels above ground and enters and leaves buildings from elevated platforms.
Similarly, communication has reached a high level of sophistication with video calls on large screens (see visual) and on computer consoles.
Taking a step back to observe how these two technologies -- transportation and communication -- have evolved over the past 100 years to the present day, it's easy to conclude that these two areas have not developed at the same pace or kept up with each other over the period.
Karl Benz patented his single-cylinder Motorwagen in 1886, creating the first  internal combustion engine. In 1908 the Ford Model T revolutionized automobile production and pricing.  In 1903 the Wright Brothers made the first controlled sustained airflight under power.  In the interim between the turn of the 20th Century and the dawn of the 21st, the foundation of air and ground transportation have remained relatively constant.  From a design perspective, wheels, chassis, wings and fuselage take the same design cues regardless of era.
The same period in communication looks quite different.  In 1900 there were 676,733 Bell telephones in use.  In 1901 Marconi transmitted the first transatlantic wireless signal.  In 1921 the first electronically transmitted photograph was sent by Western Union.  The BBC began broadcasting a television signal in 1936.  In the mid-1950's computers and modems became available to the US military.  Russia launched Sputnik in 1961, the world's first artificial satellite.  Well, you get the picture.
Reviewing the developments in communication and in transportation over the past 100 years as points on a graph, communication has moved up at a faster rate compared with transportation.
Accepting this premise, then the Orbit City of 2062 would look quite different from how it appears in the Jetsons.  The video calls and computer terminals would stay, but the aerocars would go, replaced with more conventional wheeled vehicles traveling on familiar roads and highways.
Taking this observation to its conclusion, the advancement in methods of communication bring people closer to each other and therefore reduces the need for advancements in personal transportation.
So, when the iPhone 10 comes out, we may still be riding around in that old 2012 model year sedan.  And we probably wouldn't look out of place.  Even in Orbit City.

TOY STORE REVELATION

TOY STORE REVELATION

In the CBS television program "Undercover Boss", the CEO of a nationally known brand disguises him/herself and interacts with employees.  The executive learns first-hand how corporate policies are carried out throughout the organization.  The lesson each week is that good policies are thwarted by bad employees and that bad policies frustrate good employees.  The take-away is that when customers are neglected, business suffers.

A surprising experience yesterday at our local toy store had me wishing I could click my heels together and conjure up a visit from Mads Nipper, CMO at Lego (see image below).  My daughter and I were on our way to her friend's birthday party and we walked into the store to purchase a gift.  An employee named Phil -- his name was written on his ID tag pinned to his corporate polo shirt -- was setting up a display of LEGO kits on a table near the door.  He greeted us as we walked by and engaged me in general conversation.  "I'm in a hurry and don't want to talk," I thought.  But Phil was gently insistent about explaining what he was doing.   He said the store was sponsoring a free LEGO workshop in a few weeks to encourage children and parents to play together.  I could see immediately that I was being 'hooked' by Phil with a proposition that I had to learn more about.  

"Most parents think LEGO is too complicated and that children will give up before completing a project, but that's not true," said Phil.  Well, that is exactly what I thought so Phil made me feel validated.  I waited for Phil's follow-up.  He continued to explain that even though some kits have thousands of separate pieces, the assembly was straight-forward and intuitive.  To prove his point, he pointed to a model that he had already assembled on the table and pointed out the simplicity of the design. "It's easier than I thought," I told myself, "but these kits are expensive!"  As if reading my mind, Phil continued to say that there were several price levels for different kits.  The cost of the item must be weighed against the value of extended play with your child to set goals and work together over a period of time to build and complete a project.

What's more remarkable about this customer interaction is that Phil is not a LEGO employee.  He's a store employee with with sales skills so good that he made a $149 LEGO Millenium Falcom kit seem economical.  I came in to the store for a birthday present.  I left with two reservations for the LEGO workshop. 

Thank you Phil.  And Mads, I'll save you the Undercover Boss effort.  Take a meeting with Phil to expand his program to all your points of sale.  Your products will fly off the shelves faster than the Millenium Falcon in hyper-drive.

Repeat Customers Or Loyal Customers – Which Type Do You Want?

What’s better – loyal customers or repeat customers?  Is there a difference?  Every business wants to increase their client base by providing value and service.  In today’s marketplace, you have to do more.  You’ve got to provide value, service and…a bonus.  Consumers feel entitled to high expectations at every retail price point and because of the tools available for comparison shopping, they drive very hard bargains.   A recent Experian study in the UK showed that 10% of consumers use their mobile phone in-store to check the price of goods elsewhere before purchasing.  So, it’s necessary to provide an extra incentive to develop an on-going client relationship.   If you’ve got the lowest price, that’s a start.  But other customer benefits can partially compensate for low price to convert one-time shoppers into repeat customers.  The key is building a bridge between ‘repeat’ and ‘loyal’  customers.  Loyalty programs promote this transition.  Loyalty programs are vital to most businesses but especially to online-only retailers who must shave margins down to the smallest percentage in order to compete effectively.  The high cost to acquire a new customer demands that multiple purchases be made by that customer in order for the site to recoup their investment to acquire the shopper initially. There are many types of loyalty programs.  Choose the one that best suits your business model.