Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

Written on 5:14 PM by RadhikaR


There are so many things in our daily lives that we take for granted and it takes some real creativity to get the message across when we have all heard them time and time again. I'm often amazed at how easy it is to switch off from a really serious public announcement message. Cigarette packaging appalled me for about three months, now I am unlikely to even notice the gangrenous limb (in fact the awareness of that fact is slightly disturbing on its own). And I'll be the first to admit that I put on my finest Jim Reeves voice and sing "Everybody knows" walking around the house – the actual message from the TVC was shot into oblivion long ago.

So when an organisation actually does something that makes you sit up and take notice you can't help but be a little impressed.  This campaign is all 'yesterday's news' now but I still think it is a great example of taking an unlikely subject, new media & some innovative creative to support building a brand.

Blogger and health advocate Justin Tamsett was prepared to set aside his well entrenched loyalties to Qantas to blog on a competitor airline instead  and recognised that it certainly takes some innovative thinking to turn a "standard airline safety message" into something that not only passengers sit up and take notice of but manages to go viral.
I agree with JT (not of platinum recording fame), that this once beleaguered airline certainly did do something out of the ordinary and could well have achieved one of the more intimidating challenges of winning back fans.

As a side note on organisational culture, the CEO of this airline (a well preserved example of the corporate elite) in fact features in one of the adverts. All the spokespeople are in fact employees of the airline, and frankly if you can convince employees to do something like this they must be prepared to go the extra mile! You'll see what I mean…!

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“It’s the putting Right that counts”

Written on 7:18 AM by RadhikaR


If you're from the "Windy City" across the ditch (NZ) you'd recognise this catch phrase. From the time television went live over there, this tagline from the store L.V Martin & Sons was heard time and time again. First from Alan Martin, then later on by his son, Neil Martin. It became an institution and was often mimicked whenever an issue was fixed.

This phrase was the first thing that came to mind came to mind for me when I had a not so great experience initially but someone who clearly placed a great deal of their focus on the "customer experience" managed to turn around (full points and achieved entirely by email).

I learned a couple of things from my own experience that got me thinking about really hits home when it comes to a great CE experience:
  • I didn't care WHO dealt with the issue, just so long as someone did. Would I have been more impressed that the MD of the store or another senior member of their business had responded? Very much doubt it.
  • Being kept in the loop – it was a simple formula
Thank you for your message… acknowledges the issue and offer to investigate
Take action … there is an issue and here is what we offer to do…
Does that work for you? … it was nice to be asked whether the solution would help, don't assume that it does
Follow up … this is what we have done as agreed and please let us know for whatever reason whether this meets your needs
Will I go back for my annual excursion to that store now? Yes I will, but what's different this time is that I'll be telling other people like yourselves, why I will.

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Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary


There are so many things in our daily lives that we take for granted and it takes some real creativity to get the message across when we have all heard them time and time again. I'm often amazed at how easy it is to switch off from a really serious public announcement message. Cigarette packaging appalled me for about three months, now I am unlikely to even notice the gangrenous limb (in fact the awareness of that fact is slightly disturbing on its own). And I'll be the first to admit that I put on my finest Jim Reeves voice and sing "Everybody knows" walking around the house – the actual message from the TVC was shot into oblivion long ago.

So when an organisation actually does something that makes you sit up and take notice you can't help but be a little impressed.  This campaign is all 'yesterday's news' now but I still think it is a great example of taking an unlikely subject, new media & some innovative creative to support building a brand.

Blogger and health advocate Justin Tamsett was prepared to set aside his well entrenched loyalties to Qantas to blog on a competitor airline instead  and recognised that it certainly takes some innovative thinking to turn a "standard airline safety message" into something that not only passengers sit up and take notice of but manages to go viral.
I agree with JT (not of platinum recording fame), that this once beleaguered airline certainly did do something out of the ordinary and could well have achieved one of the more intimidating challenges of winning back fans.

As a side note on organisational culture, the CEO of this airline (a well preserved example of the corporate elite) in fact features in one of the adverts. All the spokespeople are in fact employees of the airline, and frankly if you can convince employees to do something like this they must be prepared to go the extra mile! You'll see what I mean…!

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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

“It’s the putting Right that counts”


If you're from the "Windy City" across the ditch (NZ) you'd recognise this catch phrase. From the time television went live over there, this tagline from the store L.V Martin & Sons was heard time and time again. First from Alan Martin, then later on by his son, Neil Martin. It became an institution and was often mimicked whenever an issue was fixed.

This phrase was the first thing that came to mind came to mind for me when I had a not so great experience initially but someone who clearly placed a great deal of their focus on the "customer experience" managed to turn around (full points and achieved entirely by email).

I learned a couple of things from my own experience that got me thinking about really hits home when it comes to a great CE experience:
  • I didn't care WHO dealt with the issue, just so long as someone did. Would I have been more impressed that the MD of the store or another senior member of their business had responded? Very much doubt it.
  • Being kept in the loop – it was a simple formula
Thank you for your message… acknowledges the issue and offer to investigate
Take action … there is an issue and here is what we offer to do…
Does that work for you? … it was nice to be asked whether the solution would help, don't assume that it does
Follow up … this is what we have done as agreed and please let us know for whatever reason whether this meets your needs
Will I go back for my annual excursion to that store now? Yes I will, but what's different this time is that I'll be telling other people like yourselves, why I will.
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