My BestBuy is Better Than Yours

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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.

Vendor / Client relationship – In the Real World

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Is your life like this? Are you constantly trying to sell your client on the value that you bring to the table. The same client who was searching for said qualities in the RFQ, RFP, and the 3 rounds of designs and boards!? Good times………I especially like the last 5 seconds, that drove it home! This is true whether it is the Idea (straight advertising creative), or the execution (consulting and services).

Thanks @tbrunelle

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.

SpaceShuttle Commander Tweeting from Space

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Atlantis Take Off

This morning the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched for what is the final mission to the Hubble Telescope (STS-125). With that as the backdrop I wanted to talk about another frontier that NASA is treading in. In June astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Mark Polansky will be heading to the International Space Station for mission STS-127. The mission will be to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Experiment Module. As part of that Mark will be updating the mission live over twitter. He is also putting out an open call for questions to be answered from space. You can view the video below.

You can follow Mark on Twitter at @Astro_127. Yea I know, yet another article hyping twitter, blah, blah blah. That’s not what it’s about though! This is about hyping NASA! When was the last time you were able to speak to an astronaut in space and have him answer your questions? Um, never I think is the right answer. NASA is doing a great job of giving exposure to itself just by broadcasting what it is doing. Now is a great time to be a nerdy science kid, (or a nerdy adult for that matter). Over and out!

Updated – 5/23

This week @Astro_Mike was getting a lot of press from being the first person to tweet from space. Stealing the thunder of Mark Polansky (@Astro_127). @Astro_Mike (or Mike Massimino) was credited for being the 1st person to tweet from space this week when he apparently tweeted, “From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”
But apparently he was not actually tweeting. He was emailing messages back to the Space Center which were then updated on his account by someone else. You can read more about it here at the “Orlando Sentinel”. On the NASA twitter feed they confirm the story.

I have to say I am not all that dissapointed. I think the fact that agencies are trying to communicate and get people involved and engaged is great. And it doesn’t have to be thru the latest social media fad to be exciting. Plus that still gives @Astro_127 a chance to be the 1st!