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Jaguar Employees Vote for 4-Day Work Week Instead of Layoffs

The economy is at one of its lowest points in history.  People are losing their jobs as corporate profits tumble.  Companies are asking for and getting bailouts to stay afloat.  What’s a luxury carmaker like Jaguar Land Rover to do?  Ask its employees for help – that’s what.

I’m always talking to any business owner who will listen about how leveraging the strength of employees as brand advocates is one of the most powerful marketing and branding tools a company can have.  Loyal employees are extremely vocal about the companies and brands they work for, and nothing is as powerful as word-of-mouth marketing in terms of retaining customers and finding new ones. [Read more…] about Jaguar Employees Vote for 4-Day Work Week Instead of Layoffs

Economic Crisis — Risks…And Opportunities

First let me share what I think is the seminal quote on the root cause of the current Economic Crisis. This is from Stephen Green, Group Chairman, HSBC, UK, speaking at the Economic Forum at Davos–

This is about values that have developed in the markets in recent years. We have moved from the old cliché ‘my word is bond’ to a culture and atmosphere where ‘if there’s a transaction, if there’s a market for it, and I have a contract, and it’s legal, that’s it; I don’t need to think about the underlying right or wrong, suitability or unsuitability. The Values behind Market Capitalism • Tony Blair • Stephen Green • Indra Nooyi • Shimon Peres • James J. Schiro • Jim Wallis
Moderated by • Maria Ramos Thursday 29 January 2009

Brilliant!

Source: NEOFORMIX

The Chinese Culture has long associated crisis with risks and opportunities and so it is with the current World Economic Crisis. The risks are well known and widely publicized. But, there are opportunities if you are smart enough to look for them.

Business leaders first need to come clean and admit that they failed and then focus  on opportunities. For example GE‘s CEO Jeff Immett in his letter to shareowners says —

Let’s face it: our Company’s reputation was tarnished because we weren’t the “safe and reliable” growth company that is our aspiration. I accept responsibility for this. But, I think this environment presents an opportunity of a lifetime. We get a chance to reset the core of GE and focus on what we do best. We can reset expectations for our performance. And we can participate in the changes required in the broader economy.

… The current crisis offers the challenge of our lifetime. I’ve told our leaders at GE that if they are frightened by this concept, they shouldn’t be here. But if they’re energized, and desire to play a part in transforming the Company for the future, then this is going to be a thrilling time to be a part of GE.

GE’s Board seems to have felt the pain and see the need for change. The need for change must start and be embraced from the top.

In the McKinsey Report The crisis: Mobilizing boards for change —

The solution is to explicitly change the way the board interacts. The chairman should insist that members articulate what they have thought but have not had the confidence to express. These conversations will often be more conceptual than rote, and participants will have to take the risk of “saying something stupid.” Chairmen will need to muster up the courage to drive relentlessly the discussions that will take most boards into deep and frightening waters. Long-cherished assumptions, existing plans, or defined ambitions may go down the drain.

Next, crises open up changes that were not possible in “normal times”. There must be a realization that disruptive changes will be needed —

A crisis is a chance to break ingrained structures and behaviors that sap the productivity and effectiveness of many organizations. Such moves aren’t a short-term crisis response—they often take a year or more to pay dividends—but are valuable in any scenario and could help a company survive if hard times persist. Although employees may dislike this approach, most will understand why management aims to make the organization more effective.

This may, for example, be the time to destroy the vertical organizational structures, retrofitted with ad hoc and matrix overlays, that encumber companies large and small. Such structures can burden professionals with several competing bosses. Internecine battles and unclear decisions are common. Turf wars between product, sales, and geographic managers kill promising projects. Searches for information aren’t productive, and countless hours are wasted on pointless e-mails, telephone calls, and meetings.

Leading through uncertainty

More resources at — The Crisis A new era for management

The Economic Crisis provides an opportunity for companies who aren’t already, to get serious about Ethics. Now is the time for the Board to set the “Tone at the Top” on Ethics, to establish an Ethics Officer and develop an Ethics based Corporate Culture.

Another opportunity is to improve your Corporate Reporting to stakeholders. Companies need to use their websites to maintain or rebuild their reputations — clearly explain your strategy and how you will accomplish it, improve how you display the Board and the Management Team, and clearly show the risks the company is facing and how it will manage them. More on this in a future post.

Smart leaders will find opportunities in the current Economic Crisis to build the way to an improved future.

Social Networking for Senior Citizens?

The demographics of frequent internet surfers vary from region to region and are assumed to be young, college-educated, middle class, suburban living individuals. However, this perceived demographic description fails to address a sect of the population who make a significant impact on online media and social networking. They are fondly referred to as baby-boomers or empty-nesters. The impact that they have on how corporate media and social networks interact with their age group is something well worth taking note of. They are the generation who can make a substantial difference in a company’s bottom line.

Senior citizens are classified as the age group that covers individuals generally from 65-up. The impact of seniors on the media is somewhat significant, but does not get the amount of attention that is justly deserved. Internet usage is at a higher percentage than it was over five years ago. According to SeniorJournal, “the fastest growth in Internet use is being driven by the older age groups, starting at 55.” Senior Journal also performed a study and found information that reports, “in the 80 plus metropolitan markets surveyed regularly by The Media Audit, 61.2 percent of all adults visit the Internet regularly.” (emphasis added)

What sites are these senior citizens visiting? What types of interests do these senior citizens have? What are online companies doing to cater to this type of niche market?

Social Sites for Senior Citizens

Online social networking sites for baby boomers are also steadily increasing and becoming available to these boomers more frequently. Networking sites are taking note of this increase in internet traffic and are offering this niche market a place for information sharing, networking and personal interests. These networks that cater to the market are not catering to them because of who they are but rather what they represent, and that, a significant market share of retail dollars and a consistent resource.

One popular social networking site for senior citizens is the site called Eons.com. They offer pertinent information and sharing for that age group as well as other topics of interest for niche markets. Sites like Eons.com understand what the niche market seeks and take the necessary steps to make the welcome extended to the market. What could other online networks like Facebook or MySpace do to make the baby boomers feel more comfortable? Should they even try? Is there enough of an interest to warrant more sites? According to this article from TGdaily.com, Eons founder, Jeff Taylor doesn’t seem to think that it’s right for the older sect:

Taylor wants Eons to be a practical and friendly place for older people and you won’t see any Myspace-like videos and juvenile commentary.

Does that mean that MySpace isn’t for the mature crowd? There may be a mistake in dismissing the senior citizen crowd when it comes to the online world. They can offer a significant size of marketing dollars as well as significant traffic and their input from experience. Just because they’re not perceived as “hip” or “cool” is not reason enough to dismiss them and assume that they’re out of touch. TGdaily.com also says in their article:

Senior citizens are a lucrative demographic for companies to go after and Metlife recently released a study saying the baby boomer generation has a combine $2 trillion dollar worth of annual spending power. If corporate media chooses to portray the 65-and-over crowd as feeble, they are missing out on a significant portion of the population who make a significant contribution, both in presence and in sales.

What can your online organization do to cater to this market segment? What types of products or services do you have that senior citizens can benefit from?

Thrift and the corporate website

Thrift and the corporate website

Are you really making the most of your corporate material? All of it?

I was with a motion-graphics designer the other day, and he showed me some of his showreels … which included quite a bit of communications presentations, film and Flash work for major companies. You’d have heard of most of these companies, and I’ve visited their websites. Often.

Yet this fantastic work that he’d developed, that was being used for internal conferences or for trade-show backgrounds, wasn’t available on their websites.

I wonder why not?

Internal communications … I can see that there might be something that wasn’t to be communicated outside the company. But how difficult would it be to get that bit edited out?

Trade-show work … that’s already been made available to the public, hasn’t it?

It just seems like such a waste. Not only of these beautiful pieces of work, but of the money and time spent on developing them. A bit of re-use, particularly in these straitened times, can go a long way.

What visual material have you developed in the past that could be re-used on your site, either as it is, or in another form?

Has Skittles Hijacked Social Media?

If you like the Skittles candies, with their strong, sour-and-sweet tastes, colorful and cool colors and the way they melt in your mouth, then you’re going to love this new idea that they’ve done of late.

Or, maybe you won’t.

Now, when you go to the Skittles home page, you will get a Twitter-type page and not your expectant custom site. No, don’t hit the back button. That may be an inconvenience as it will simply take you to the Wikipedia page for the Skittles write-up. Yes, Skittles is everywhere!  Still love it?

While I am just too impressed that they have tapped in to social networking this way, I am also a little taken aback at the way they’ve done it. In other words, I wish I could have been a little more prepared at what I got when I went to their site. I go Twittering every day, so when I went to the Skittles site, I thought I had inadvertently typed in the wrong address. No, I had simply been Skittled.

skittles

So, my next question is, what is their point? Do they want to promote the Twitter brand? Do they want people Twittering…or Skittle-ing? Do they even want traffickers talking about their brand, their site, the makeover or what? I’m sure that I, along with many other of my fellow bloggers, am helping them further their branding efforts and bring even more attention to their site. But, what is their desired end result?

Often in social media, you want to get people simply talking about you. Unlike in many public relations processes, in social media all attention is good attention, whether it’s positive or otherwise. What will happen with this idea is that people will become curious and will go to the site to see what all of the ruckus is about. People will be talking and Twittering/Skittling, linking and connecting. Social networking will be a glorious thing for them. And no doubt that Skittles has maybe hired a few professional online social networkers to get the party started. Whichever way they’ve decided to go with it, things will be buzzing for Skittles.

How do you feel about the new home page for Skittles? Do you think it will last a while or will people tire of it? Or will it ignite and spark the creativity in other companies and perhaps they too will start Twittering bands on their own home pages? Whatever their desired result is, most of it has definitely been achieved today, even with my post. Lots of attention there for them. Good job Skittles!

Skittles Website – Zany or Just Plain Crazy?

Skittles launched a new version of its website that Carole Walker, Skittles vice president of integrated marketing communications calls, “zany,” but just about everyone else calls plain crazy.

What’s the buzz about?  Rather than providing a traditional website that a consumer would expect to find after typing www.skittles.com into their browser search bar, consumers find this…

skittles_website_550px

What the heck is that, you ask?  Well, you’re not the only one. 

If the goal was to stir up a negative online buzz, then the Skittles marketing team succeeded.  If the goal was to meet customer expectations (or exceed them), as every brand’s goal should be, then the Skittles team failed.

You see, the Skittles team is trying to bring interactivity to its website by basically replacing the site with either a Twitter page (like the above version) or a Facebook page or even a Wikipedia page to which visitors can add content. 

So what do you think?  Clever, useful and whimsical as the Skittles team seems to think – or not?  I vote not. 

When a consumer visits your website, they’re looking for information.  They don’t have time to weed through a bunch of cr*p to get to the information they want or need.  Bottom-line, when your website causes consumers to stop and say, “What the h*ll is this?”  it’s not a good thing.  I’m all for adding interactivity to websites and allowing consumers to take control thereby deepening their relationships with a brand, but from the consumer perspective, my feeling is – give me the information I need, and give it to me now, or I’m going to look elsewhere.

My opinion, go back to the drawing board, Skittles. 

Your opinion?