The Big Fat Marketing Blog

It’s hard to take your eyes off the scenes of devastation in Haiti, or to focus on anything beyond the truly horrific suffering: On Monday it was estimated that the death toll might reach as high as 200,000, and that three-quarters of the capital city Port-au-Prince was in need of reconstruction. Shattered infrastructure and the lack of a strong government presence are exacerbating the problems by making it difficult to get rescue teams to those who might still be alive, and needed supplies to the survivors.

But in one way, Haiti has been fortunate: When it comes to financial support, new media—and specifically mobile–have stepped up to provide swift, frictionless new ways for ordinary people to contribute cash to the recovery efforts, deploying channels resources that were not readily available even a few years ago. more

It’s been five days since the 7.7 earthquake left Port-au-Prince in ruins, and governments, individuals and corporations have pledged what they can to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.

Based on press releases, here’s a quick rundown of which corporations have pledged cash, services and people. Also, here’s who’s letting the public know they are giving without coming off like it’s a marketing campaign:

• Crocs: They are donating thousands of pairs of Crocs to Haiti, and they’re using its headquarters as a drop-off point for those who want to donate supplies. But the headline of its press release makes it look like corporate giving is a competition, and that Crocs is in first place. Boasting to the world about being “a leading” anything in a press release is probably also not a good idea.



more

It’s been five days since the 7.7 earthquake left Port-au-Prince in ruins, and governments, individuals and corporations have pledged what they can to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.

Based on press releases, here’s a quick rundown of which corporations have pledged cash, services and people. Also, here’s who’s letting the public know they are giving without coming off like it’s a marketing campaign:

• Crocs: They are donating thousands of pairs of Crocs to Haiti, and they’re using its headquarters as a drop-off point for those who want to donate supplies. But the headline of its press release makes it look like corporate giving is a competition, and that Crocs is in first place. Boasting to the world about being “a leading” anything in a press release is probably also not a good idea.



more

I have been preaching about this for years. Still, in this day and age, I am appalled at the amount of pathetic customer service that goes on. Google, a company I am a huge fan of, is demonstrating their ineptitude with the recent launch of their NexusOne phone (http://bit.ly/8F3YhN).

Here’s two additional, personal examples: Prior to the Christmas holiday my wife ordered from a cataloger we’ve purchased from for years, wwwspikevolleyball.com. She ordered spandex shorts for my youngest daughter. We were told they would arrive December 24th. They did not. A package arrived December 26th and it contained a spots bra, not the spandex. She has called or emailed them four times, always getting an answering machine with instructions to leave a message, which she did several times, no callbacks. No response to the emails she sent, either.

She coaches volleyball and has, every year for the past 7 years or more, ordered 12 to 20 pairs of socks for her teams and has also bought for our kids as well. From Spike Volleyball.

Last week she finally did reach someone and their response was “We have one person handling returns and customer calls. She will get back to you as soon as she can.”

What!?!?!?

As of this writing, no resolution or call back. Do you think we’ll buy from them again?

Then there’s CapitalOne. more

I have been preaching about this for years. Still, in this day and age, I am appalled at the amount of pathetic customer service that goes on. Google, a company I am a huge fan of, is demonstrating their ineptitude with the recent launch of their NexusOne phone (http://bit.ly/8F3YhN).

Here’s two additional, personal examples: Prior to the Christmas holiday my wife ordered from a cataloger we’ve purchased from for years, wwwspikevolleyball.com. She ordered spandex shorts for my youngest daughter. We were told they would arrive December 24th. They did not. A package arrived December 26th and it contained a spots bra, not the spandex. She has called or emailed them four times, always getting an answering machine with instructions to leave a message, which she did several times, no callbacks. No response to the emails she sent, either.

She coaches volleyball and has, every year for the past 7 years or more, ordered 12 to 20 pairs of socks for her teams and has also bought for our kids as well. From Spike Volleyball.

Last week she finally did reach someone and their response was “We have one person handling returns and customer calls. She will get back to you as soon as she can.”

What!?!?!?

As of this writing, no resolution or call back. Do you think we’ll buy from them again?

Then there’s CapitalOne. more

I’m the lonely MCM Awards guy, and I’m waiting for your entries. I kind of feel like Charlie Brown, camped out at the mail box, hoping the Little Red-Haired Girl will send him a Valentine.

Maybe I’m just being wishy-washy. I know there were a lot of great catalogs and e-commerce sites that are worthy of getting Gold or Silver in the 2010 MCM Awards. And I’m sure those merchants are just waiting until the last minute to get their entries done.

Some merchants be afraid to enter, thinking they will have to compete against titans like Orvis, L.L. Bean and Harry & David. But we made some changes in categories that we hope help the Daveys of multichannel retail compete with the Goliaths. more