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I Opted Out Of AT&T’s Yellow Pages And Still Got Hassled

// November 19th, 2011 // No Comments » // annoying, marketing

Sometime in the past twelve months, I found the opt-out site to tell AT&T that I don’t want to receive their yellow pages phonebook. I immediately filled in my information, feeling rather good about myself, primarily for ridding myself of one more piece of trash that gets left on my doorstep, but also feeling a bit more green, as I was theoretically saving trees by not getting a huge stack of dead ones delivered. The opt-out website makes a big deal out of how much better and earth-friendly the YP.com apps are, and all that jazz.

You can imagine my surprise last week when I received a phone call ON MY CELLPHONE. It was AT&T letting me know that they had recently delivered phonebooks to my area, and wanting to confirm that I indeed, had NOT received one. First off, if you call my personal cellphone and it’s not just to say hi or tell me that something is ready for me to pick up, you’ve hassled me, and you’re now on my bad list. Especially if you’re a business. So, while a bit perturbed that they had actually called me, I was partially impressed that they wanted to make absolute certain they had honored my original request.

This was until I came home that afternoon to find the door hanger below on my doorknob:

There are several things that make this a huge fail in my book:

1. I specifically went out of my way to request that AT&T not leave dead trees on my doorstep. That also includes leaving dead trees on my doorknob to confirm that there were no dead trees left on my doorstep. Yes, I realize that a door hanger is significantly less dead tree than a whole phonebook, but a dead tree is a dead tree, and I have to throw them both away, so they’re equally a hassle.

2. If you’re going to call me to confirm that you didn’t accidentally give me a phonebook, why on earth would you ALSO leave me a door hanger confirming that (with a number on the door hanger to call in case I needed one)? You’ve now hassled me TWICE in response to me asking you not to hassle me once.

3. As an AT&T customer (we have U-verse for our Internet) I’m now slightly annoyed that they’re wasting money. Instead of paying for a single print of the phonebook and one person’s wages to deliver it, they’ve now wasted the printing costs of this door hanger (cardstock paper, multiple colors, two-sided), along with the costs to have one person deliver the door hanger and another person use a computer and a phone line to physically call me.

I realize this is a great example of a first-world problem and all that. I do. But still. Also, I really really really hate door hangers.

My First Klout Perk

// November 17th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // marketing

I don’t remember when I started using Klout. Given that it seems to track everyone’s Twitter account by default, I suppose one never really ‘starts’ using Klout (rather, you simply start using Klout more…). In any case, earlier this year, Klout launched one of the most logical monetization strategies for a company who classifies people into various ‘levels’ of influencers – it sells access to different levels of users to brands. This is in the form of a ‘Klout Perk‘. The naming is ingenious – it makes you feel like it’s an extra that you get as a thanks for using Klout, as opposed to a vehicle for advertisers to reach you. Either way, a Klout Perk can be awarded to you based on your level of influence around a certain topic. Advertisers, such as Axe, may say ‘I want to send a free sample of my new hair gel to males aged 18-34 that talk alot about technology’ and Klout is able to serve those demographics up.

This was an actual Klout Perk, and the first one that I bothered to redeem. Redeeming a Klout Perk is easy – you just click the ‘Claim This Perk’ button and off you go. A few weeks later, the package arrived in the mail:

Not bad, and the card is pleasantly polite. On the back are a list of ‘code of ethics’ that anyone who’s done any sort of brand ambassador work is familiar with:

1. Klout will never sell or give away your contact info

2. Participating (or not participating) will not change your Klout Score

3. You are receiving the product because your are influential and have authority on tipics related to the product. You are welcome to tell the world you love the product, you dislike the product, or say nothing at all.

4. If you decide to talk about the product, we will ask you to disclose that you received a sample (Klout.com/perks/disclosure).

Standard stuff. Overall, not a bad experience, but having done this a few times for Nokia and RadioShack, I immediately notice some room for improvement:

1. The confirmation on Klout.com says I should receive my sample in 1-2 weeks. It took three for me to get my sample. Always under-promise and over-deliver. I would rather be told it will take 3 weeks from the beginning.

2. The package came in a plain white envelope, standard ground. If you’re not going to pony up for faster shipping, at least pony up for some branded packaging. The Klout Perks icon is an orange/red box with a blue inside, so why not use something similar to actually ship the Perks out in?

3. There is absolutely no documentation about the product itself (Axe’s new Hold+Touch ‘spiking glue’ (that’s hairgel). Why is it better, are there any usage tips? If I want more info, what’s the URL? Sure, most of that information is on the tube itself, but a small insert highlighting why it’s so cool would have been a big improvement.

Have you received a Klout Perk yet? What was your experience like?

How Much Do You Trust Your Customers?

// March 28th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // marketing

While watching TV with my wife the other day, I saw an ad for Tempur-Pedic mattresses that really blew me away. I thought it was new, but here’s a version on YouTube that was uploaded about a year ago:

There were two main things that really blew me away about this ad. For starters, it seems as though they’re using real customers. Of course, they could be actors, paid ‘spokespersons’, or whatever, but I don’t see any obvious disclaimers (which are usually required by law). Every marketer’s dream is to have such animated and seemingly passionate customers as we see in this Tempur-Pedic ad.

The second thing that really jumps out at me is the overall message of this ad. The company is blatantly inviting you to ignore their sales people and marketing (ironically, yes) and simply ask anyone you know who has a Tempur-Pedic what they think. That’s some serious trust in your customers, and confidence in your product, too. How many companies do you know or have worked for that would be so brave as to use their entire marketing budget asking consumers to talk to your past customers?

As a marketer, this really hit me, and make me take a step back and look at my business. What can I do to empower the customers that we already have like this, and how can we get more of them? As a consumer, what would I want/expect from a company in order for me to be so passionate about them?

N8 Producers Entry 1: Office Window

// December 6th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // marketing, symbian

Not too long ago, Nokia announced their N8 Producers competition, which I think is fantastic (they also invited me to participate). It took a while, but I finally thought of a few ideas for videos to enter in the contest. The first one is actually something I’ve been thinking of for a while. I’m blessed enough to have a huge window across from my desk, and I’ve been wanting to create a time-lapse video showing the view as it changes throughout the day.

Unfortunately, as you’ll see, the window happened to be quite dirty, and I was frustrated to find that there was not a cloud in the sky today. Normally you can see big puffy clouds floating across the view. In any case, it worked out quite well – I used an app called Lapsed, which took a photo automatically every 60 seconds. The Nokia N8 was able to do this for over six and a half hours on a single battery, which is quite impressive.

Have you come up with any ideas? You’ve got until January 31, 2011 to enter them at the N8 Producers site.

Nokia N8 Producers Competition Is A Win

// December 2nd, 2010 // 4 Comments » // marketing, symbian

Earlier today, Nokia announced its N8 Producers competition, which encourages folks to produce the most creative videos they can using the Nokia N8. The entries will be judged based on their popularity, as well as the opinions of a panel of judges, and winners will get an all-expense-paid trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a cool zero-gravity flight! It’s definitely a cool competition, and even cooler since Nokia’s WOM World asked if I wanted to participate! Of course I agreed (I still had my N8 review unit), so they shipped out a participants pack, which includes a custom-built helmet mount for the N8, a Joby gorillapod tripod, and a handy backpack to carry it all in.

You can read my full review of the N8 here, but basically, it is, hands-down, the best cameraphone I’ve ever used in my life. It’s simply absurd how good photos and videos come out, and the onboard video editor makes things fun, too. Other participants received a wrist-mount for the N8 and a waterproof case (my, could I have had fun with that waterproof case on my recent SCUBA diving trip!), so there’ll be no shortage of awesome videos out of this competition. Indeed, my friend James Burland is also playing along, and he’s guaranteed to produce some awesome stuff.

Unfortunately, I’m having a bit of a creative block coming up with cool things to do with this helmet mount for the N8 – if you have any suggestions, please do leave them in the comments below. I’ll try to pick two or three of the best (and most feasible) ideas and do them, so help me out here.

I really like that Nokia is encouraging people to be creative with the Nokia N8. Nokia’s Nseries brand has always stood for quality content creation, and the N8 is no exception.