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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – September 2, 2021 – Final Jeopardy
When much-loved host Alex Trebek died of pancreatic cancer last year, the producers of Jeopardy initiated an extensive search for a new host worthy of helming the revered game show.
The contestants for the slot read like a who’s who of entertainment celebrities: everyone from Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper to LeVar Burton and Robin Roberts to all-time Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings.
And the surprise winner…Mike Richards, the executive producer who ran the search. Uh–who?
Choosing yourself for a role is a little unconventional–especially when you made such a spectacle of the succession process. As it turned out, it didn’t last. After reports of previous misogynist, anti-Semitic, and racist comments, Richards stepped down this week–not just from hosting Jeopardy, but also as the executive producer of both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. So the search starts all over again.
We can ask what was Richards thinking, but this happens on a regular basis in less star-studded situations. Employees are told they have input into a decision–only to have senior management unilaterally impose their own option. Customers are told they have a choice of product offerings from a supplier–but when it comes down to it, there’s really only one viable option. Take it or leave it.
Consumers are savvy enough to know when they’ve been duped–and they don’t like it one bit. Better to be clear up front that you’ve made a decision than to pretend the issue is still up for discussion.
Which brings us to a great question for next season’s program…
The clue: Mike Richards
The question: Who is a great example of how not to treat your customers.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday : August 26 2021 – They’re Calling it WHAT?
This week, the FDA gave format approval to the COVID-10 vaccine from Pfizer.
This is big news because it means that individuals and organizations who were holding off on vaccinations (or on requiring them for their employees) now have official notice this is an approved drug.
No sooner had this been made public than Pfizer announced the drug would now be marketed under its new name: Comirnity.
Comirni-what?
There is a logic to how this was put together. The word includes references to COVID, mRNA, immunity and community. OK, there’s login to that, but it doesn’t just roll off the tongue.
It’s not like Pfizer hasn’t been able to come up with a catchy name before. This is the company that sells Viagra, after all. Supposedly, a branding company that calls itself the best in the industry advised Pfizer on this name. Hmm.
The problem is any name that requires that much explanation is sort of defeating the purpose. We can easily remember made-up brand names, like Google, Lyft, Uber, YouTube…even Viagra. But Comirnity? Probably not.
How easy is it for your customers to remember your brands? Are the names of your products and services memorable? Or, are they easily forgotten by busy prospects and customers? Are your competitors’ product names more sticky than yours?
Or, will your customers be saying, “We got that great vaccine. Can’t remember the name though. Maybe it was Moderna?”
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday : August 19, 2021- It’s Deja Vu All over Again
After nearly 20 years, the US is about to finally leave Afghanistan and the result is not pretty.
The photographs are horrific–thousands of people clinging to the sides of military transports, trying to escape the country. American sympathizers executed. Women being forced back into hiding behind heavy cloaked garb. And that’s only week 1.
It appears that the US military knew the government they installed and protected would not be able to withstand the force of the Taliban. It’s just that no one figured the whole structure would crumble in a matter of hours and days, rather than months.
It’s estimated that over the course of the conflict, over 6000 Americans and 164,000 Afghans lost their lives. The total monetary cost is estimated at between $2 and $6 trillion dollars.
And what do we have to show for it? Thousands of desperate people trying to flee an oppressive, misogynist regime. Some of these were employed as translators for the American military–they are now targeted as enemies of the state.
President Biden is bearing the brunt of the criticism for what’s happening in Kabul and surroundings today. But he is the 4th American president to preside over this conflict: What had any of the others done to prevent this debacle?
We could speculate as to what we might have done differently over the last two decades (besides not ever invading to begin with). Now, we have to act to do the right thing today, given the current situation. We need to expedite asylum for those who were connected to the Americans. We need to support refugees fleeing the country in droves. And we have to learn what not to do so this doesn’t happen again.
It’s been 46 years since the fall of Saigon, but it doesn’t look like we’ve learned a darn thing. If we don’t take time to truly understand what’s going on in Kabul now, we’ll be seeing another situation like this one in the near future. It’ll be deja vu all over again.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday : August 12, 2021- Will the Postman Still Knock Twice?
The US Postal Service used to pride itself on delivering the mail anywhere, anytime, under any condition.
Those were the good old days. Over the last several years, postal service has continued to degrade. Yes, there is less paper mail being distributed, but there are plenty of packages–witness how UPS and Fedex are struggling to meet demand.
Instead of looking for ways to introduce more products and services that would be attractive in this day and age, the USPS has made the decision to take its existing services and make them slower and less attractive.
Huh?
Can you imagine your dentist telling you they’ve slowed down the cleaning process, so it will now take 4 hours instead of 20 minutes? What if your oil change took two days instead of an hour? How about if Dominos pizza delivered sometime the next day instead of in 30 minutes or less?
There is no precedent I can think of for an organization making their existing services worse and coming out better for it.
What can the USPS do instead? How about looking for new opportunities to use their existing resources: hundreds of thousands of employees who know their local neighborhoods, plus one of the largest real estate portfolios in the nation.
The possibilities are amazing. But not if the people who run the USPS continue to knock their heads against the wall.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com