Thursday, October 24, 2013

Citibank's New Strategy: Cozy-Up to Customers; A Case Study

citibank-logo2


Thanks in part to the “financial crisis of 2008″…whose after-affects remain resonant in the minds and real lives of millions of people, this iconic brand has been the subject of countless critiques and criticism, including the re-purposing of their corporate name from Citibank to “Sh*%tyBank” by certain fun-loving anti-brand protagonists who believe that major banks care only about their bottom lines, and least of all, the consumers they exploit .


Even this blogger has, up until recently, been in the camp that decries the big banks that rest on the fine print that can’t be deciphered, and does everything to squeeze as much money as they can from the millions who have few alternatives re: credit card services. Until that is, last night, when I had an encounter via phone with a Citibank rep in connection with a notice I received about a credit pending to my account with regard to a Citi-promoted credit protection service I had apparently subscribed to during the 2000-2004 period.


The phone number included in the mailing directed me to a lovely lady who answered with “Hi, I’m Cathy xxx (no need to broadcast her last name here)…”I’m your Citi representative based here in Orlando, Florida and I’m here to help you..”


1. The Citi script was perfect..it provided subliminal comfort by immediately informing me I was speaking with someone here in the US (when one typically finds themselves speaking with an outsourced call center staffer with less-than perfect grasp of English and located in a different hemisphere) and their mission was to help me.


2. Before I could fully pose my query in connection with the notification, “Cathy” had my entire Citi history dispalyed on a screen in front of her, and immediately told me why I was calling and explained that I would be receiving a credit to my account that very evening.


3. After that’ business’ was concluded, Cathy offered to address any other concerns I might have. So, I figured that I should raise the issue of the usurious interest rate that seemed to be stuck to my corporate credit card account for the past 5 years. Cathy placed me on hold for 2 minutes and then came back on line, this time with her associate “Angela (whose last name is not necessary to post on the internet), who introduced herself in the same way Cathy did and told me where she was located (Atlanta).In less than 5 minutes, Angela advised me that she was authorized to reduce my annual interest rate by 30%, a change that if accepted, would be implemented immediately.


I had actually attempted to secure the same type of reduction for each of the past 4 years, with barely a budge in the rate.  Angela made me feel like a VIP and we proceeded to talk about sports teams and the weather in the northeast vs. southeast.  Bottom line? I had 2 different experiences with 2 different Citi employees in 2 different locations, working in 2 different departments. Both of those engagements left me with a warm and cozy feeling and I now tip my hat to Citi for flawless customer service.


 



Citibank's New Strategy: Cozy-Up to Customers; A Case Study

Dept of HHS ACA Website Snarl: PR Crisis Management Report Card: "D" For Just Plain Dumb

The media has convinced us all that Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama’s designated point person re the implementation of the government website to support the Affordable Care Act,  should be fired for failing to have taken a much more intelligent and well-informed approach to manage the design and roll out of the federal government ‘web portal’ intended to be used for signing up millions of Americans who need affordable healthcare.


After all, we all now know the roll-out hasn’t been simply ‘soft’, the snarled software project has increasingly becoming a harbinger of potentially much worse to come: the possible failure to sign up a minimum number of people required to prove the basic economic thesis of ACA.


This writer has been involved in multiple, enterprise-level technology initiatives over the past 20 years. Most have been related to the financial industry or the insurance industry. Mission critical stuff that has been the backbone to $ multi-billion industries.  The most important thing I learned is that software is called software for a reason, and this particular project is particularly complex when considering the the number of  independent federal and state government databases, as well as insurance company exchange member platforms that need to be linked and synced in order to make the platform work.


aca cartoonThat said, when HHS Secretary says “we’re now going to bring in an A-team of technology experts to fix this..”, that’s when heads need to roll, starting with this Secretary–who along the way, has embarrassed herself by appearing on late night comedy talk shows.


Rule #1 re PR Crisis Management: Get out in front of the problem the moment it arises. DO NOT LET THE MEDIA MANIPULATE THE STORY WHILE YOU ARE TOO BUSY HOLDING INTERNAL STAFF MEETINGS DEBATING ON WHAT TO SAY TOMORROW IN RESPONSE TO YESTERDAY’S TWEETS.


Rule #1 re Leadership: DO NOT POINT FINGERS, DO NOT BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND, DO NOT CLAIM TO BE “WAITING ON INTERNAL REPORTS THAT WILL IDENTIFY WHO SCREWED UP”…INSTEAD…YOU NEED TO MAKE AN EXECUTIVE PRO-ACTIVE DECISION AND IMMEDIATELY RECRUIT THE VERY MOST RESPECTED PROBLEM SOLVERS, REGARDLESS OF “ADDITIONAL COST”.


 



Dept of HHS ACA Website Snarl: PR Crisis Management Report Card: "D" For Just Plain Dumb

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Financial Industry Marketing: A Social Media Video Lesson From World-Famous Hedge Fund Manager

Known for being secretive and stealth in the course of managing Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, Ray Dalio has been called many things; we know him for (among other things) being someone who embraces video, and uses this tool to extend a broad assortment of messages…including the one below that targets the universe of investors.


Sight, Sound and Motion…a time-tested tool that makes your message resonate.





Financial Industry Marketing: A Social Media Video Lesson From World-Famous Hedge Fund Manager

How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio

Friday, October 18, 2013

Owning Stock in Pro Athletes & Celebs, Just Like Owning Shares in #GOOG!: Calling All Sponsors!

Calling all sponsorship agents!


As noted in today’s NYT DealBook story, start-up “Fantex Holdings” is a new trading exchange backed by executives from Silicon Valley, Wall Street and the sports world that can enable investors to buy and sell equity interests in professional athletes, and ultimately, entertainment industry celebrities. The vision is that investors can participate in the revenue generated by these individual ‘brands’ by virtue of owning stock in them.


[For those not familiar with the machinations of Wall Street, the inspiration to this concept comes from the 1990's, when a financial industry genius created "Bowie Bonds"--a bond issue that paid interest from current of future revenue of albums from rock star David Bowie..]


The latest iteration from Fantex (whose execs include a former West Point grad-turned megamillionaire after selling a software company for $600 mil, a former partner of VC firm Benchmark Capital, a former Goldman Sachs exec and now partner of hedge fund Glenview Capital  and a former technology wizard from E*Trade), envision Fantex as the ‘hub’ for IPOs and secondary market trading of ‘stocks’ whose underlying value is the revenue generated by the individual ‘brand’ celeb.   Sponsorship gurus will necessarily have an ‘axe’ in the equity value of the athletes, as its the sponsors who will serve as a primary source of revenue to that ‘brand’.


If the whole idea sounds convoluted and potentially subject to ‘gaming’, this “pontificator” says:


1. Brilliant Idea. I’d like to be the agent that is selling stock in those athletes.


2. When will Fantex facilitate selling shares in politicians? Once that happens, it will become a lobbyist’s wet dream.


3. Sounds like the SEC will have one more asset class to monitor. Rots of Ruck


 


 



Owning Stock in Pro Athletes & Celebs, Just Like Owning Shares in #GOOG!: Calling All Sponsors!

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Sales/Marketing 101: Most Important Form of Communication? Listening!

blablahblahYou talk too much…particularly if your conversations find you speaking for more than 50% of the time.


This astute observation, reported in today’s weekend edition of the WSJ  by Rob Lazebnik (also a writer for “The Simpsons”) is courtesy of Dr. Lynn Koegel, Clinical Director of the Koegel Autism Center at the University of California.


However much the article (and Koegel’s view) may be referencing every day, social setting interactions, it provides great insight for road warrior sales execs and marketing “gurus”–the folks who live to dominate a conversation until the audience waves a white flag of submission.


The same article also inspired an ironic smirk on the part of this blogger, who, in the course of providing consulting services to enterprises of different shapes and sizes–makes it a point to include mentoring sessions with respective clients’ “up-and-comers” and interns. Each of the introductory always starts with this talking head posing my audience with this [rhetorical] question: “What is the most important form of communication?”


Invariably, the answers from my ‘students’ include the3-4 pat responses indoctrinated by those top”B-schools”; with the most likely suspect answers being:  ”good eye contact”  ”speak clearly”, “appropriate body language.” As spotlighted by today’s WSJ, I argue those pat answers are wrong; Listening is the Most Important Form of Communication. Period.



Sales/Marketing 101: Most Important Form of Communication? Listening!

Friday, October 04, 2013

#TwitterIPO: #Marketers Battle #Bots; Investors Solicited to Buy Parkay or Margarine?

Today’s WSJ story by Tom Gara, “Twitter Users: Real or Fake?” leads this blogger to suggest that Mr. Gara might have tripped over this blogger’s recent tweets (and posts) that question the viability and integrity of Twitter’s advertising model-the key ingredient for those contemplating investing in the unprofitable company’s upcoming public offering.


Per the WSJ article, “An undetermined millions of Twitter’s 215 million  accounts (which is who advertisers target) are of questionable legitimacy..” The article suggests that 5% of Twitter’s “audience” are so-called “bots” –which are not human eyeballs, but merely artificially-created. We, along with industry experts, believe the real number of ‘fake users’ is upwards of 15%.


What’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is that brand marketers and advertisers are the bread and butter of Twitter’s business model. If many of the targeted audience are not really real people, where’s the beef for the business?


Reminding us of the iconic branding campaign courtesy of Parkay Margarine



#TwitterIPO: #Marketers Battle #Bots; Investors Solicited to Buy Parkay or Margarine?

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Brand Valuation Metric for VCs: Your Start-Up's Social Media Presence

According to the WSJ, start-ups  seeking venture capital should know that the value of your aspiring brand is directly correlated to your presence on Twitter, FaceBook and other social media platforms.


The article included 10 basic rules for start-up marketing gurus, including “Rule #8: It’s better to have a huge following on one platform than to have a mediocre following on several.”


The article caused me to smirk, as the first thought that came to mind while reading the article and and simultaneously thinking about how Twitter and FB are so easily manipulated by robots, was Forrest Gump’s fav: “Stupid is As Stupid Does.”


During the better part of the past 20 years (starting well in advance of the “Internet Bubble”), this blogger has led various start-ups and has worked with a broad universe of VCs and private equity icons in the course evaluating multiple enterprises who sought (and still seek) to disrupt the norm with innovative approaches and cutting-edge technology.   I’ve huddled with prescient grey beards as well as a multitude of B-School geniuses, the latter of whom like to believe they know everything there is to know about..well..everything..And, that latter group is necessarily fixated on current trends and what’s next..often courtesy of their schoolmates who aspire to be the next Mark Zuckerberg.


I’ve also interfaced with more than a few corporate marketing execs who are responsible  for driving brand strategies for their respective companies…many of which are Fortune-level corporations.


For those who don’t know it, when  it comes to investing, the herd mentality (which is what the WSJ article profiled), sheep are influenced by what all of the other sheep are doing.  Because VCs are making bets on companies with significant social media presence (however fleeting that presence actually is), they could easily be using the same capital to day trade commodities..which are much more liquid.


 


 


 


 



Brand Valuation Metric for VCs: Your Start-Up's Social Media Presence