Author’s note: This is something I started to writing, but couldn’t finish, a few weeks ago. It isn’t quite as timely as I would like it to be, but I still wanted to put this out there. In the interest of full discloser, I do some work for the Saginaw Spirit, the Ontario Hockey League team which Garber  owns and was instrumental in bringing to Saginaw. Even though I do some work for the Spirit and we have exchanged hellos at a couple of games, we have never actually met and I’m sure he doesn’t know who I am.

Author’s Note #2: I did not take the above photo, I found it online and borrowed it.

Anybody living in the Tri-Cities can speak firsthand about the effects of the economic downturn and the rapidly eroding job market. It’s really been pretty brutal in this part of the state. Largely due to a decade-long trend of auto-industry job losses, Saginaw’s unemployment rate is over 20%, which is pretty insane.

We’ve all heard about the federal government’s bailout of the auto industry as well as the cash-for-clunkers program. Love these programs or not, they gave the auto manufacturers a chance to reorganize their business and rethink their business practices. As part of their reorganization, GM decided to eliminate many of its dealerships across the country, which does make some sense. There are markets in the nation with multiple dealerships within just a few miles of one another. The dealership closure was a big part of their plan as GM headed into bankruptcy court. What baffles me is what the criteria were for closing a dealership.

Garber Buick is an icon in Saginaw. Established in 1907 by the Garber family, Garber Buick had survived the Great Depression, two World Wars and several economic downturns throughout its 100-plus year history. At one point early in their history, the Garber family—who have long been very closely associated with GM—helped Buick make its payroll when they were short on cash. Currently, even with the economy in Saginaw being pretty rough for years and years, Garber Buick has remained one of Buick’s top-selling franchises. On top of all of that, they receive consistently very high marks in customer service. In short, Garber Buick is a model franchise.

So when the news came that GM was going to cut Garber Buick from its franchisee list, people in the area got up in arms. Buick was planning on cutting off one of the top performing franchises in the country. How does a move like that make even an ounce of sense? With decisions like this, it’s really easy to see how GM got themselves into their current predicament. Ouija boards could probably produce better results than GM’s bloated-and-out-of-touch management structure.

As I said, people around here got pretty fired up and started a letter-writing campaign to GM and I was one of the many who took the time to write. Even though I don’t know Dick Garber personally, I know a lot about him and the way he runs his business. it doesn’t take a genius to see that this was a stupid decision and I wanted to let GM management know what a bunch of disloyal jackasses they are (I didn’t actually use the word ‘jackasses’ but I did lecture them about loyalty). I don’t know how many people took the time to write, I only know that I was one of many.

Very often, when people see someone who has more than them get taken down a peg, they take a certain amount of satisfaction in it. This schadenfreude (isn’t that a great word?) is a kind of sick spectator sport—taking pleasure in the suffering of others. But that’s not what you saw in this case. What you saw was a community come together and instead of snickering behind his back, they rallied behind him. Even if the letters fell on deaf (and very dumb) ears at GM, the outpouring of support was something special and unique to the Tri-Cities. We do take care of each other and we showed our true colors here.

Congratulations to Dick Garber, all of the employees, friends and relatives who are stakeholders in the Garber organization, and to the community of Saginaw which could ill-afford another gut-punch like this.

Have you seen any of the TV ads or media articles about the SciFi network’s new brand, Syfy?

Just as I did when I wrote about it in March, I still think it’s just rebranding for rebranding’s sake.

I think it’s funny, though, that major media are just now picking up on this. Do a quick Google search and you’ll find articles in the New York Daily News, the UK’s Guardian, UPI, Wired and many more.

The 989 Design blog had the story in March. I scooped them all!

There are four major sports in North America—football, baseball, basketball and hockey. Hockey is, by far, the little fish in the big sports pond, though. For years players, coaches and NHL execs have commented about how they are trying to grow the sport and put it in front of more people.

I believe it when the players and coaches say it, but not so much coming from the NHL. All they really care about is the business of hockey. The problem is, Gary Bettman & Company don’t seem to have a very good business sense. A news report came out today that Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings, are not going to be allowed to run Joe Vision during tonight’s Stanley Cup Finals game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. If you aren’t familiar with Joe Vision, it is much like viewing parties held for other sports teams while their team is playing on the road. For 15 years, Joe Louis Arena has had giant viewing parties at the Joe at different times, especially during the Stanley Cup Finals.

In the case of Joe Vision, there was a nominal entry fee, which was given to charity. Seems like it would be a win-win. The rabid fans get to watch the game at their home stadium, the charity gets some dough, the NHL could turn it into a real feel-good PR campaign or something like that. If we were talking about the NFL, that’s probably what would happen. The NFL is a marketing machine. They don’t miss too many tricks which a big part of why they are far and away the biggest of the four major sports.

In this case, though, we’re talking about the NHL who have proven again and again that they have little marketing savvy (seriously…Versus?). The NHL requested that NBC and CBC not allow teams to run their broadcasts of the game for viewing parties. Some are suggesting that the networks were involved in the decision, but it was really the NHL’s doing.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this decision was made. The networks have already paid for the rights to broadcast the game so there is no lost revenue. Presumably there would be a small dip in ratings in that market during the game (a sold-out Joe Vision game would shave 1 point off the ratings), but ratings are really the concern of the network, not the NHL.

And not only did the NHL pass up an opportunity to create some good PR, all day long I’ve seen articles and commentary about how pissed people are. Lots of badwill directed at the NHL and NBC.

Great move, NHL. Way to alienate your fan base. Clowns.

Edited to add: The Penguins held viewing parties in Pittsburgh for the first two games of the series. Why didn’t the NHL clamp down on Versus, the way the have with NBC & CBC? Or did Versus just show some spine and let the Penguins use the broadcast over the NHL objections?

Think again. 

A lot of businesses have no social media presence on the internet. Ignoring social media is a huge mistake because it carries benefits to all sorts of businesses, both large and small. Whether it’s a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account or something else, the investment in getting it set up is minimal and the potential rewards are large. And if you think that these sites are just for fun, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Take the case of Del Monte, the giant food production company you probably associate with vegetables and canned goods. In addition to the main Del Monte brand and several other giant brands for human consumption, Del Monte foods owns many HUGE pet food brands including Kibbles ‘n Bits, 9 Lives, Pounce, Milk Bone and Snausages.

Del Monte has had a web presence for a long time and had some experience with social media when they created the private “I Love My Dog” site. The site was open by invitation to BIG LEAGUE dog lovers. The site offered an opportunity for people to interact with one another and, perhaps more importantly, to interact with the brand’s marketing research arm.

A question was posed to the community regarding what people’s dogs liked for breakfast. Many members of the community responded and many of the responses included eggs and bacon. 

Members were also asked if a treat or pet food included vitamins or other healthy ingredients, if that would make a difference in a purchase decision. The dog lovers agreed that being able to give their beloved canines something that is good and good for them would be great.

Del Monte wasn’t asking these questions just to ask them. They were using social media as an instant feedback device and rather than sitting on the results, they acted on them very quickly. 

In six weeks, Del Monte posted images of packaging and samples of the new treat, Snausages Breakfast Bites. The treats come in these really cute fried egg and bacon shapes and have added calcium, antioxidants, and Omega 3 and 6 oils. Members loved the idea and, I think, they really responded to the fact that a megaconglomerate company was really listening to what they had to say.

Shortly thereafter, Snausages Breakfast Bites were in stores and the treat is a huge hit. The simple act of creating a site where their core market could interact with one another and share stories and ideas shortened the product creation cycle from years to months. That cost savings alone was more than worth the investment. Add to that the fact that instead of jamming a new product down people’s throats, they took the time to solicit and utilize consumer feedback shows that Del Monte really gets what the true power of social media is.

Congratulations, Del Monte, you win the 989 Design Social Marketer of the Week Award!

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again—your logo is not your brand. Your brand is made up of everything that is a part of your company/organization. I had an experience this week that gives a great example of how everything—the person answering the phone, in this case—affects your brand.

I wanted a pizza for dinner last night. There are many pizza joints to choose from in Bay City, but I have a couple of favorites. I couldn’t find a menu, so I looked them up online and found their website. The website has a menu, but I still had a question about one thing on the menu, so I picked up the phone and dialed.

A young woman answered the phone brightly, with a friendly greeting and the name of the restaurant. This was the high point of the phone call.

My question was pretty straightforward and, having worked in a couple of pizza places in my life, should have been very easy to answer. My question left her baffled…I’m not sure what was so confusing. I repeated my question, but she couldn’t answer it. Instead of informing me that she had to ask someone else, she just put the phone down and started asking a co-worker.

The co-worker then answers the question with this snotty, mocking/condescending tone, as if it were a stupid question. I can hear the whole conversation and I wanted to hang up right there because I was pissed. I let it go and when she gets back to the phone, she repeats what her co-worker said, minus the mocking tone. I tell her what I want and she tells me they have a special on a certain pizza—it isn’t exactly what I wanted, but it sounds fine so I tell her I’ll take it and then try to place my order.

I tell her the size and crust style. She repeats it back to me and gets the crust wrong.

I repeat the crust style and this time she gets it right.

I give her the toppings. She repeats them back to me and gets them wrong.

I repeat the toppings and gets it right.

Then she starts offering side items, which I tell her I don’t need. She tells me that to get the special, I have to get the side items. I tell her that I just want the pizza, but she can’t give me a price.

In the end, I give up.

I wasted several minutes on what should have been a one-minute phone call. The person who answered the phone was uninformed, couldn’t answer simple questions, wasn’t very good at listening, and overall communicated very poorly (outside of the sunny greeting, that it).

I don’t care how great your logo and website are, what people are going to remember long after they forget what your logo looks like is how they are treated. Both on the phone and in person. If I were a first-time customer, I’d never call back a second time. As a repeat customer, I’ve had bad service there a couple of other times, but it’s good pizza. No matter how good the pizza is, though, there comes a point when customers are going to stop coming back. 

The life of any brand can be either shortened or lengthened based on customer interaction. This is why it is crucial to keep in mind that the person answering the phone is as much a representative of your business as your logo and your product. If I know that I am going to have a problem every third time I place an order, why would I bother calling back? There are, as I said above, many pizza joints to choose from. I’ll just go to the next name in the phone book and give them a shot. (HA! I said phone book…how quaint.)