Customer-bonding through blogging

The blog has arrived as a marketing tool. In the Enterprise column in the March 1, 2005 Wall Street Journal, Riva Richmond offered several examples of small firms that have raised their profiles by hosting a company blog. For some enterprises, a blog makes perfect sense as an outreach tool: San Francisco-based online DVD rental firm GreenCine’s successful blog features film reviews, interviews and festival news. But even firms that don’t at first blush seem like top blog candidates are making it work. Organic dairy product maker Stonyfield Farms has a hit with its popular blog The Bovine Bugle, in which Jonathan Gates, one of Stonyfield’s organic milk suppliers, details life on a family farm. “He doesn’t even talk about Stonyfield, and I couldn’t care less if he does,” said Stonyfield CEO Gary Hirshberg. Perhaps that’s the key: Don’t commit a faux blog. Keep the content real and commercial-free or risk alienating someone who took time from their busy life to seek out your site. A blog is “as intimate and personal as somebody sitting in your kitchen,” Hirshberg said. “It’s a great privilege to be able to have that kind of dialogue.” The conversation comparison is an apt one. For while blogs may not hold the same sale-generating promise as traditional advertising, in an era of media and marketing oversaturation, they stand out as an enticing way to establish and nurture a long-term company/customer relationship from which both sides benefit.

(“Blogs Keep Internet Customers Coming Back,” Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2005) 

John Q. Public as tastemaker

Looking for another way to spread the word about your product or service? Consider BzzAgent, a Boston firm that brings a new meaning to the term viral marketing. The idea behind BzzAgent - enlist consumers to talk up a new product at parties, at work or the local coffeehouse - isn’t new. Depending on your viewpoint it’s either a sign that traditional advertising is growing less effective by the day or an example of how a good idea, creatively executed, can take on a life of its own. The real shocker is how enthusiastic BzzAgent’s 60,000 volunteer guerilla marketers are. While they ostensibly earn points for their buzz-generating efforts, most of them seem to care more about the jolt they get from being one of the hidden persuaders.

(“The Hidden [In Plain Sight] Persuaders,” New York Times Magazine, December 5, 2004)

Can wellness come in a big box?

Minneapolis-based electronics giant Best Buy has opened a store called EQ-life in a Twin Cities mall. The 18,000-square-foot store, which aims to be a health-and-wellness superstore, features a spa, a Caribou coffee shop, and a  pharmacy along with selling iPods, laptops, magazines and cosmetics. A local health clinic will hold seminars in the store and keep educators, dietitians and nurse practitioners on hand to answer customer questions. “In our research, consumers told us they were trying to achieve balance,” said EQ-life president Mike Marolt. “To me, it’s really about bringing together in one place our ideas on how health, wellness and technology can work together to achieve the balance they’re seeking in life.”

(“Wealth in Wellness Beckons Best Buy,” Star Tribune, January 20, 2005)

Apparently clothes don’t make the Boomer

One unforeseen problem as Baby Boomers age: they appear to be less interested in buying clothes. After peaking in 2000 at $175.7 billion, sales of men’s and women’s apparel declined the following three years, according to data from NPD Group. Many Boomers are focused on their impending retirement and are also facing insurance and health care costs. Spas, cosmetics and vacations have replaced shopping as a mood-lifter for some Boomer women. And apparel seems to be losing out to the lure of iPods, flat-screen TVs and other home furnishings. And it’s not just Boomers who feel this way. “Technology is so wearable now - the products are fashion-oriented and cool-looking - you can take them with you. And just like clothes, you can show them off to your friends. The cameras you can wear like an accessory. Even the ring tones on your cell phone say something about you,” said 26-year-old automobile interior designer Gypsy Molina. Families of all stripes have added recurring costs that weren’t prevalent years ago for things such as Internet access, cell phones and cable TV, leaving less money available for apparel purchases. As a result, some clothing makers are branching out into new ventures. Liz Claiborne Inc., for example, is now offering branded bedding, wallpaper and carpeting.

(“As Consumers Find Other Ways to Splurge, Apparel Hits a Snag,” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2005)

Pinot noir: quaffable and ascendant

In the Academy Award-winning movie Sideways, the central character, an incorrigible wine snob named Miles, extols the virtues of pinot noir while dismissing merlot as he and a friend explore the wineries of California's Santa Ynez valley. According to research from ACNielsen, while pinot noir sales have been on the rise for several years, the varietal has, in fact, enjoyed especially strong sales since the movie's release on October 22, 2004. The ACNielsen analysis reveals that pinot noir sales in the U.S. are at record levels, reaching nearly 370,000 cases (one case is equal to nine liters of wine) for the 12 weeks between October 24, 2004 and January 15, 2005 - up nearly 16 percent versus the same period a year earlier. Before the movie came out, pinot noir represented 1.1 percent of all table wine sold in the U.S. through the combined food/drug/liquor store channel. In the four-week period ending January 15, 2005 the varietal had grown to 1.4 percent of all table wine sold. In California, pinot noir had grown by almost a full point to just over 2 percent of total table wine sales. Merlot, despite Miles' disdain, continues to sell well and still ranks as the largest red varietal, ahead of cabernet sauvignon. It represented 11.6 percent of all table wine sold in the U.S. through the combined grocery/drug/liquor store channel prior to the movie's release. For the four weeks ending January 15, 2005, it was up to 12.2 percent.