GM’s Customer Experience Woes

Source: Customer Experience Matters

I read an interesting blog post about the leadership mistakes in the auto industry. It discusses the adversarial relationship between workers and management in the industry. There’s no surprise that the US auto makers are having such a hard time meeting consumers’ needs, given the 4th rule of customer experience: Unengaged Employees Don’t Create Engaged Customers.

PART 1: 50 Youth Marketing Trends for 2009

Source: Slideshare

Part 1 of series on Insights, trends and quotes by author and co-founder of mobileYouth - a global research project that aims to first understand youth and only then how technology fits into their lifestyle. You won't catch us talking about "value chains" and "end users" :)

PART 1: 50 Youth Marketing Trends for 2009 by Graham Brown mobileYouth.org

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: teens kids)

World of Warcraft Themed Restaurant Opens in Beijing

Source: PSFK

If you walk into any Internet bar in China, you are sure to see a large number of the screens filled with scenes from the extremely popular MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW).  The game has attracted over 1 million peak concurrent users in China and makes up more than 90 percent of the earnings for The9, the game’s China licensee.

Godin: Sell To Companies That Get What You Do

Source: PSFK

PSFK found great inspiration from Seth Godin’s latest thought piece that he published on his blog. In “Selling Ideas To A Big Company”, Godin tells us that you’re never going to sell ideas to a company that doesn’t want to or know how to buy them. For success, you must sell to companies that are in the business or buying ideas and they have to trust you. He says:

My micro-community is better than your social network

Source: The Social Networker

In a discussion today in a group chat (that is based around an upcoming conference) it was brought up how to effectively communicate and locate each other when there will be upwards of 8,000 people there, in person.  How do you quickly sort through a large Twitter stream, or how do you build a location awareness service around conference rooms spread across 3 hotels and open areas?  Without making your own tools, it adds a high level of complexity.  Services like Brightkite are not really made for that type of location service, even with the awesome ability to upload pictures.

Student Aid - Refreshing Lotion and Cup Noodles

Stress inducing entrance exam season is just around the corner and it seems that panicked students have become a niche market of their own. Last year we spotted “brain udon” designed to improve memory for the occasion and this we’ve come across these “Ganbare! Students” wonton noodles from Myoujou Foods. “Ganbare” roughly translates to “try your hardest” or “don’t give up.”

Source: Trendbird

Patagonia brand analysis

Source: Slideshows

How Apple, Others Have Cultivated Religious Followings

Have some brands actually managed to create their own religions by, coincidentally or deliberately, adopting triggers and tactics from the world of religion?

Source: Advertising Age

Tampa Am 2008 day 1

Source: Red Bull Skateboarding

Sports Fans Make Great Mobile Targets

Sports fans jump at the chance to keep up with teams via mobile.

Source: eMarketer

Compulsive Gamers Socially Impaired, Not Addicts Says Top Addiction Clinic

Study hints that there may be a bit of exaggeration when it comes to gaming addiction

Source: DailyTech

Car Makers Cut Hispanic Ad Spending

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Auto marketers cut spending on Hispanic media 5.2% during the first eight months of 2008, according to figures from TNS Media Intelligence, but didn't slash ad budgets as deeply as in the general market. For the full year 2007, Hispanic spending on car ads was up 2.7%.

Source: Advertising Age