Make them stay

Back in September 2003, I wrote about the Driveway Effect and suggested that story-tellers (marketers) look for ways to engage their customers "just a little bit longer."

I recently had the opportunity to share lunch with a friend at a place in Nashville that takes this concept to the ultimate extreme. My friend invited me to have lunch IN a Harley Davidson dealer's showroom.

Boswell's is one of the oldest Harley shops in the country. The place is packed with gorgeous motorcycles and all the assorted paraphernalia that goes with the Harley lifestyle. What sets them apart is the incredible lunch counter they've shoe-horned into a side room. On any given day, the place is jammed with people waiting for tables. While they wait, friendly sales people engage them in conversation about the bikes.

It is one of the strangest and most organic sales environment I have ever seen. It's different and it just makes sense. I went in expecting a good lunch and came out having spent about 20 minutes talking to a salesman about how cool it would be to own a Harley.

I have no hard evidence, but I'll bet these guys sell bikes to a bunch of first-time owners.

My only suggestion to them would be to find a way to collect names of folks who visit and use that to follow up. They could even hide behind a "Birthday Club" at the lunch counter as a way to establish long-term relationships with potential buyers.

Patriot Act - Chinese Version

From a column in today's (12/30/2005) New York Times:

With more than 100 million users, the Internet is booming in China. The American Web giants Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have all grabbed a piece of the lucrative Chinese market - but only after agreeing to help the government censor speech on the Web.

In providing portals or search engines, all three companies are abiding by the government's censorship of certain ideas and keywords, like "Tiananmen massacre," "Taiwanese independence," "corruption" and "democracy."

Most foreign news sites are blocked. This year, Yahoo even supplied information that helped the government track and convict a political dissident who sent an e-mail message with forbidden thoughts from a Yahoo account; he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. [emphasis added]

Sounds like China's own version of the Patriot Act. Or, is it the other way around?

'scuze me, can I recharge my book in your socket?

Mike Hyatt, the CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers has a gloriously foolish post about the future of publishing, as he sees it.

It's a good read, not necessarily because of the specifics realted to publishing, but as an example of the need to plan for the destruction of your successful present in order to build a successful future.

As you read Mike's post keep in mind that the more precise you are in your prediction of the future, the greater chance you have of being wrong.

Specifics are not the important thing here. I salute him for opening the door to a frank discussion of his industry's tomorrow.

Ooops, I poured Coke in my Starbucks cup

Have you ever made the mistake of thinking you were reaching for a glass of Coke and grabbed the day-old Starbucks instead?

Coca-Cola's latest concept drink marries the two flavors into something they're calling Coca-Cola Blak.

When you need to make a change you can do a different thing OR do a thing differently. Into which of these categories would you place Coca-Cola Blak?

Different thing?
Thing done differently?

Oxymoron

Received a spam email today offering a new "soft" Viagra tablet.

Hmm -

To be, or not to be - secular or religious?

This piece at AdAge.com got me thinking about this paradox of secular vs religious observances of the season we celebrate during December.

Tyson Foods is taking steps to include faith-based messages in it's marketing mix, while others are moving toward a decidedly secular approach.

As those who are charged with understanding the mind of the consumer, marketing folks should know the answer:

Are our customers becoming more or less interested in spirituality?