furtherandfaster

call me stupid? - O2's rubbish service

I've been breaking in my new mobile a Noka N95 - clever little thing with GPS, Wifi, bluetooth - exchange server links so I get updates of my emails and contacts every 10 minutes via my wifi network. Only it can't make a full working day on a single charge. A little strange considering the standby time is reported on O2's site up to 240 hours and 4 hours of solid talking. So I call the O2 branded dealer where I bought it - nothing to do with us they say - talk to Nokia. But you're the retailer - then talk to O2 they said. O2 on the phone were adamant that it was down to the dealer in the store. Go down to the store and call us and we'll tell them they have to deal with you.  I used the magic phrase 'trading standards' to no effect . Time for a round robin to try and get some action - where else can I go but trading standards and a letter to the MD. Bizarre that both the dealer and the O2's service person told me that the phone is rubbish and no one can get a full day of charge on it. But still nothing to do with them. This is going to cost O2 money. Foisting off customers by explaining that the product doesn't perform as advertised for any of their customers doesn't make the problem go away.

Is the Content Economy going into depression?

As I walked out of HMV yesterday I had a bit of a jolt - complete works of Yes Minister on sale for £15. Which I didn't snap up because my hands were already full of DVDs. Its not yet Christmas but the stores are panicking and marking down stock to get us to buy. There's talk of an economic recession. But what gave me pause for thought was that we now have a content economy. Back home I have weeks of DVDs to watch - back content on video. And the chance to download or rent online. PPV movies on over a dozen channels on my TV. And last night I watched 2 BBC programmes which I had missed earlier with Iplayer. What happens when I simply lose my appetite for any more? Cost isn't the issue. Most of this content costs virtually nothing to produce and distribute - its all back catalogue. We need to factor in the content economy which is heading for a slump. Will we want ringtones, CDs, books at the same rate constantly - will we respond to brand and promotional push and WOM pull? Not at a constant rate. We've had a credit boom - we're coming to the end of a content boom. And mostly we don't have to pay for it. There's enough content in my friends houses to keep me happy. If I'm worried about money I can always stop - and I won't be going without.

Price ledging

I went to the optician today and was told I had to start wearing glasses. Oh dear - I wore glasses for driving about 15 years ago then found I didn't need them any more. Now I need them for distance and for close up so the opticians were rubbing their hands with glee - trifocals no less.  Of course its a multiple choice decision and every extra costs you extra money. In theory glasses are free on the National Health Service but really they're not.

I watched as they moved me up to flashy designer frames then offered to half the thickness of the lenses. Then insure them. Then I had 3 types of lenses silver gold and platinum. Plus a special antiglare coating. And a spare pair thrown in for nothing unless I wanted to have a trifocal lense in those as well.  If you're trying to get people to spend money you need to keep the rate of climb even. Those with far too much money will go straight to the top of the range so the more even the climb at the higher levels the more easily they will climb. Those without enough money will give up quite quickly - these are just glasses after all. You could sit on them by mistake tomorrow.  The really interesting part was in the upper middle range. I wasn't going to pay top dollar on principle. But then I found that if  I went for the gold lenses plus the coating then for an extra fiver they would throw the thinner lenses in for free. I had beaten the system - so I settled happily for the offer.  Of course what they had done was to put in a pricing ledge where there appeared to be extra benefits. That way I had the psychological benefit of having got a deal. I was still spending a pile of money I hadn't expected to spend.

Pricing ledges are important if the customer is trying to find a place halfway up and doesn't want to get to the top. I might start to waste time going through more options. I might even go away and think about it. I was convinced that the price ledge I had discovered was one where a lot of other people purchased and we were meant to end up there. 

I don't think you wanted to do that....

Last October I was working on a pitch to promote a calf vaccine to farmers.  The client was Merial. We lost. What a relief.

Although I suppose persuading farmers to buy Merial products could become one of the great marketing challenges. If you're from a part of the planet which hasn't heard the story about the biolab which leaked a virus then by all means read it here.

Competition is not about being the same

Thu 12/07/2007 17:46 12072007(002)

Now the free newspapers are handed out in twos. It would be cheaper to bind them together and have one person hand them out.

Orange Coke

Thu 12/07/2007 14:49 12072007

Whatever next ? Fanta with a caffeine hit. Call this brand extension ? Limited edition too! Oh please..