I received this great thank you note from a client recently. the card and envelope was designed by her young son. How great is that! Talk about a personal touch.

Thank you Karen and Harrison!

In her article Leading Interactive Brands, Betty Southgate illustrates several great examples of how a brand can interact with its customers beyond selling to them or marketing to them. In particular, the transformation of a commodity product that is fizzy drinks into something emotive and personal.

Well worth a read.

(Hi Betty!)

I will be presenting a seminar on Business Blogging at The Western Sydney Business Centre on 28 May 2008.

For further information, please contact:
Mangala Srinivasan
Western Sydney Business Centre
T: 8843 1116
E: mangala.srinivasan@business.nsw.gov.au

I was sitting in a popular dumplings restaurant (under the Paragon shopping centre on Orchard Road) in Singapore. It is obviously popular because we had to get a number and wait to get in. And the place was packed from about 6pm when we arrive to 9:30pm when it shut.

Despite its popularity, several factors made a potentially chaotic and unpleasant situation painless and transparent.

When you ask for a …

The service on Singapore Airlines is impeccable and faultless, even in Cattle Class. It was certainly not your average domestic no-frills flight.

And they know it.

The global airline industry is as competitive as any global business. While American Airlines is struggling with their inability to keep their aircrafts compliant with basic US FAA maintenance regulations, Singapore Airlines seem to be actively leveraging their reputation and record of good …

When Wholefoods’ cash register broke down one day, staff gave groceries away so as not to inconvenience customers.

Is this an exercise in customer care, or sheer business stupidity?

I reckon it is the former. I see it as a great relationship exercise.

The hard core convectional business person would think it is the latter.

The comments are interesting to read.

You can’t please everyone I guess. You can only …

This post on 437signals will come as a surprise to some. The MacBook Air, despite all its lacks, is selling well.

The soft stuff, the emotive stuff, is what matters. A huge part of any purchase decision is emotive and irrational.

From a completely rational viewpoint, the MacBook Air should not be selling so well. After all, many have complained loudly about the lack of various “essential” technical …

It is rare to stumble upon a blog with thoughts that seems to fit so well with mine. This is what happened today when I discovered Emma McCreary’s Joy Ninja.

Reading through Emma’s posts, I suddenly realised why I have always been uncomfortable with conventional marketing and PR.

As I have often said on this blog, conventional business practice seems to assume there is only one “right” …

I got another spam phone call today from an Indian call centre. They had all the usual characteristics:

The one minute delay upfront.
They knew who I was, but did not say who they were.
They talked AT me; with the fake “you are my long lost friend” tone.
The script was very defensive – we are a community organisation, we are incorporated in Australia…

The community organisation part did perk my …

I walked past these two interiors last night.

Similarities:
They are both customer service / retail spaces.
They belong to two large corporations – Telstra (a telco) and MBF (a health insurer).
Their design employed more or less the same materials (stone, glass, wood).
They used the same lighting was (metal halides).
My guess is they probably cost more or less the same to fit out, excluding the cost of the …