Category Archives: Analog (non tech)

My BestBuy is Better Than Yours

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800px_best_buy_logo_svg

I like BestBuy. I don’t like shopping (food, clothing etc.) but I love going into BestBuy. I equate it to the HomeDepot experience but for the geek in me. When I walk in I feel like there are limitless possibilities on the things I could buy that would improve my life/productivity/entertainment. Sometimes when I am just having a bad day, I like to wander around and see what marked down movies are on the racks (like Delta Force 2 for $5.99!). And I am okay with the fact that they seamed to have crushed most of their competitors, because I REALLY like BestBuy.

So about 8 months ago when they sent me an invite to their new Premier Silver program I was excited. The fact I earned an invite due to amount of money I spent in a 12 month period did nothing to dull the moment. They had a new program, that was more exclusive than their regular one, and I was in! Some of the benefits include being able to buy stuff earlier than other people! I was also able to buy ColdPlay tickets before they went on sale once that was a nice benefit. Pretty, pretty, exclusive stuff! Sometimes when I am checking out at the counter I just like to find a reason to bring up the fact that I am a Premier Silver member. It is more or less my status symbol, my Amex Black Card.

Every so often I get something in the mail. Not like what you get, because I am Premier Silver. Whereas your mailer has product shots and prices, my mailer has lifestyle shots and calls to action!

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BestBuy has worked hard to create a program that is somewhat aspirational to my demographic (non married males, ages 25-35) and it works. It seems like they have put a lot of effort into their messaging and  have certainly worked to design the marketing materials to match. There is just one problem. They went through this entire process to setup a new membership/rewards plan, but right here on the cover they lose me:

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To me it is saying, “To Marc Van Norden our valued customer, or anyone else.”. You expect anything labeled “Current Resident” you expect to be coming from the city, or grocery store. For me it hollows the relationship. If I take the time to give you my information so you can talk to me that is something every business wants. I don’t think there is any reason to add the “Or” in addressing me. It is something small, but sometimes those are the things that are overlooked and can have an impact on the customer/company relationship.

I just thought they liked me better than everyone else……I guess not…….(sniff, sniff)

What do you think?

UPDATED (6/1/09)

I sent my post to Barry Judge, the  CMO over at BestBuy via twitter (his handle is @BestBuyCMO). He was very responsive and receptive to my thoughts. Mr. Judge asked  me to log the idea to BestBuy’s idea exchange website: http://bestbuyideax.com/ for consideration/review.

Earlier today Barry sent me a tweet. He said, “Dug into issue & has to do w/postal regs/costs. Still we should take cost hit to make a more personal impression w/ this group”. Even as I was writing the post I assumed it had something to do with Direct Mail pricing etc. I think this would be a smart spend. Instead of putting out another type of campaign, fix the one they have. We will see.

You know those companies who are to busy to pay any attention to their customers? The CMO at BestBuy is not one of them. His responsiveness and and follow-up go a long way in my book! (Thanks Barry!) I will post an update if I hear anything else, but for right now they are going to look into it, despite the cost to them. Smart move.

You Own This: Pieces of American History

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Dorothea Lange's M̀igrant Mother

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother

“Migrant Mother,” by Dorothea Lange, is the most famous photo in the Library of Congress. This 1936 portrait of Florence Thompson and her children symbolizes both economic hardship and the strength to survive. The Library is honored to preserve Lange’s original camera negative and makes the digitized photo freely available.

The Migrant Mother is one of the most iconic photographs in American history. It was shot during the great depression of the 1930′s. The project, sponsored by the Gvmnt’ under the U.S. Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information and was meant to document the plight of Americans across the country during that time period. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks were all contributors to the project. Because the project was Government sponsored it means they were working for you. Think of it as your grand parents tax dollars hard at work. Most of the pictures under the FSA are rights free and are allowed to be used and duplicated. You can even order prints on line at the Library of Congress.

“Publication and other forms of distribution: Permitted. Most photographs in this collection were taken by photographers working for the U.S. Government. Work by the U.S. Government is not eligible for copyright protection (see page 5 of the Copyright Office’s Circular 1, “Copyright Basics”). However, the FSA occasionally and the OWI frequently bought or otherwise obtained some photographs from other sources. All known information about the source of the images is found in the labels on the photographs. Patrons are advised to check for copyright before publishing or otherwise distributing photographs credited to other sources. Privacy and publicity rights may also apply.”


Doreathea Lange

The library collection was digitized during the mid-90′s (which is  the reason for the lack high quality scans) and have been online and available to the public.  Over the last couple years the LOC has done a great job at expanding access to their  library. The LOC has a Flickr account of which you can subscribe too. They are also on twitter talking about events at the physical Library (in Washington D.C.) as well as the unveiling of newly published photo sets. The latest set called “FSA/OWI Favorites” is one of the best in my opinion.

What the Library of Congress is doing as an organization is smart. Rather than invest a ton of time and money to rebuild it’s own infrastructure it is using the platforms available (like Flickr and Twitter) to reach it’s audience. By adding content on these networks also allows for users to share and spread the content with ease, as these features are built into the platforms.

A Little Break from Cyberspace (well most of it)

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In 6 days it will have been a month since I wrote a post to brown-paper. Not that nothing has been going on it was just good to step a way for a bit. The time without this radiation machine sitting on my legs has allowed the hair to grow back to it’s full glory. I have been trying to enjoy the down time while looking for a new job. Once I do get back into the swing of it, it will be 100% and I will be looking back whistfully wondering why I didn’t better utilize my time to re-energize. Beyond the job search (and some tweets) I have limited the amounted the time I even have my laptop open. It’s been nice! Over the last couple weeks I have been able to replace the computer with the XBOX. Gone are the days when I could stay up till 4 am playing video games. Unfortunately the great hand eye coordination I used to boast about is no longer with me. But I have been having fun getting trounced online playing MLB 2K9, Resident Evil 5, and StreetFighter 4. The StreetFighter Intro is probably one of the most artistic and abstract game intros I have ever seen. Check it out:

Beyond the late nights of geekdom I have been spending my days reading on the beach, golfing, bowling, running and biking. Not having the computer be the center of my interactions has been great. And to my suprise I was still relitively well informed on events (I didn’t give up twitter). The disconnection has also helped to generate new refreshing ideas. Some of these are the tactics from “How To Get Good Ideas” , a very good book written by Jack Foster.

Lastly, one of the things I have been enjoying the most are sunsets. I live pretty close to the beach; everyday I would walk in my door from work and more often than not I would be struck by the late day sun over the water. I have been making it a point to go watch it on the beach. One day I was inspired to bring my camera. Before I get to the pictures, I just want to say it was it nice, but now I am back. If you have the opportunity to change your routine for awhile, it is well worth it. More posts to come very soon (MLB.TV, SXSW, CoolIris and more):

“American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” in Action

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PresidentObamaSince Barrack Obama took office in January I had been following his qeues on the stimulus package. Coming out of the holidays the economy did not look any brighter, and I think real concerns of job loss started to hit home. So I watched and listened even more intently to the daily updates and pundits on what they thought was going to be in it, whether we needed it, who was going to fight it etc. We’ll fast forward to Feb. 12, my fears became reality, I was laid off from work. Three days later Feb. 17th a massive (although some think not massive enough) stimulus bill was passed. What this meant, I had no clue. Even when I called the IRS and Dept. of Education, they didn’t know. It was too early.

Well today one of the other people laidoff shot out an email to the group. In it are the details of how part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is being used to help unemployed Americans. Personally, this helps me out a heck of a lot more than giving anymore money over to AIG! If you are unemployed, or know someone who is recently, please send this information:

On February 17th, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) to help stimulate the US economy.  A major component of this new law created temporary changes in COBRA and the employer’s obligation under COBRA.  I have spoken with Conexis and they are working feverishly to send out instructions for employers.   They should send you something by next week.  The new policies become effective March 1st and plan employers have until April 17th to notify eligible COBRA beneficiaries of the changes.  At this time I wanted to let you know the latest information about this issue:

1) I have written a short summary of the changes on my blog:
http://www.benefitscafe.com/blog/2009/02/economic-stimulas-and-health-insurance.html

2) The US Department of Labor sets policy for COBRA and their guidance info is here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRA.html also, I found the “COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet Helpful.”
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsCOBRApremiumreduction.html

3) The IRS has sent out some guidance on how employers recoup the premium that they pay on behalf of eligible COBRA beneficiaries here:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204708,00.html

All of this is happening very quickly and this impacts every company in the US with 20+ employees. DOL and the IRS are trying to figure out what to tell people in order to comply and how to adjust their automated payroll tax collection system.  The COBRA administrative companies (Conexis, Infinisource, etc.) are trying to figure out what to tell their clients. Payroll companies (ADP, Paychex, etc.) are trying to figure out how to change their systems to integrate the credit on the 941 forms.