by Michiel Maandag on August 29, 2010 · 0 comments
I wrote about Jolicloud about a year ago and have been using it since on my netbook. It is simply great because it allows the average consumer to do what a netbook is made for: browsing the web, mail and light weight editing.
Jolicloud 1.0 is a big step forward! The UI is better, almost iPhone like. It’s easy to install apps, move them around and above all use your netbook for what its made for: the Cloud!
I wonder what will happen to market share of operating systems for netbooks. Will people switch from the heavy Windows 7 and not user friendly Ubuntu? Jolicloud is in my view the best alternative… because it is made for netbooks!
by Michiel Maandag on August 11, 2010 · 1 comment
Here is my case: I have about 1TB worth of data I never want to lose! All those thousands of photos, music albums and videos. Most of it is stored on my iMac and then some digitized VHS tapes are stored on external drives. For everything stored on my iMac I do make regular backups to an external drive and utilize an online backup service (Mozy). So, it seems all under control, so what is the problem?
This is where the problem comes in: I am using more computers and other devices at home and would like to have access to my media without having my iMac turned on all the time. So, I am in the market for a home server or network attached storage (NAS). Of course, these will need to have hard disk mirroring (RAID) so that when one drive fails the other takes over and I (in theory) never should lose any data. Here is where the issue comes in: after reading reviews of many many solutions there seem to be none without any issues…. some have data loss(!!), some have other issues. That makes me uncomfortable… I am planning to invest in a storage solution/ home server but basically still need to keep making separate backups ‘just in case’. Wow!
Here is an idea for manufacturers of storage solutions, home servers etc: create a solution that is truly safe of data loss and market it that way. Tap into the feeling of insecurity and provide trust. All in a package designed in an “Apple” way: beautiful and super easy to use. I am sure that with me there are plenty of people willing to pay the premium price!
With a little baby our porridge consumption has gone through the roof these days! We are using organic porridge from Elovena (Raisio).
The porridge comes in a box that according to the manufactorer is new and very easy to use (“Uusi helppo”). I sooo wished the pacakging designers at Elovena would have done some real consumer testing. I do not mean testing in a lab or focus groups but testing with parents who are using this product in the morning. This is a potential scenario: alarm goes off in the morning, parents step half sleepy out of bed, grap a box of Elovena from the closet. Sip coffee, pour oat flakes in the measuring cup and then #%&¤/#”%” oat flakes all over the kitchen table! This is what has happened to me now a couple of times.
It is easy to explain though: take a look at the package. You need to open the lid which completely destroys the stabilility of the package (see the fold in the carton where my hand is).
So when pouring the flakes in the measuring cup you need to balance the pack well in your hand otherwise you simply have flakes all over the place. Another huge downside with this kind of package is that it is very slow to fill the measuring cup with the correct amount.
So please Elovena change your “super easy” organic package to your standard package. It is really much easier to use, especially in those early mornings!
You are of course invited to our home to do real consumer testing, just arrive early 
by Michiel Maandag on July 27, 2010 · 1 comment
It has been a while (understatement…) since my last post! Lots of things happened recently: we got a baby, we moved from New York City back to Finland and I got a new job. So, lot’s of excuses not to post anything but I intend to start ‘talking’ again!
Recently I had the pleasure to drive an Opel Astra station wagon as rental car. “The pleasure?” you might say? Yes! And I was totally surprised by it myself! Opel has had now for years issues in Europe with their sales numbers. To put it simply: the old Opel way of doing simply did not work anymore: the car business (except Opel) had moved on to more stylish cars, more standard equipment, more car for the money. And with that consumers had moved on as well to Peugeot, VW and Ford (1).
I still remember very well the stories of my father when he purchased in 1977 an Opel Ascona B: nothing came with that car as standard equipment… even the passegner door mirror had to be paid for! Eventhough the German quality was admired and respected he was happy to switch in the beginning of the 80′s to a Mitsubishi Galant. The Mitsubishi simply had a-lot of things inside the car standard (interior reading lamp!) and came with a powerful turbo diesel engine. Never since my father returned to Opel and ever since I have seen people around me slowely but surely switching from Opel to another brand.
So, why was I so suprised with the Astra? To put it simply: Opel put a well designed and high equiped product on the market! No wonder the Opel Astra is the European car of the year 2010! Think about it: a rental car (cheapest model!) that comes with color screen for radio, board computer and navigation (you do need a navigation CD), parking assistant, cruise control, electric windows (front only…) all wrapped in a well designed, good looking very very spacious wagon (more spacious than e.g. a Volvo V50!) for less than 20.000EUR! I am impressed and have only one remark that did put me a bit off guard and reminded me of the old Opel: with all those standard features how can you not include electric windows in the back? That simply puzzles me.
Nevertheless, Opel is doing great things these days. Take for example a look at the new Opel Meriva. It has innovative flex doors (rear-hinged rear doors) along with other great innovations. Opel is taking their new brand mantra “Wir leben Autos” serious:
We never stop thinking about new and sustainable ways in which we can positively influence – or energize – people’s lives through every contact with the Opel brand.
Indeed Opel, you got me energized! Thank you! And thank you for showing that the simple rules of “Great Brand = Great Product” and “Better Brand = Better Products than competition” simply keep on working. Of course “Better” being defined by the consumer aka me
AdAge lists the Avis “we try harder” campaign (1963) at #10 in the top 100 advertising campaigns. And for a reason: it was a well executed campaign combined with a well executed total brand experience.
It is still one of the best examples of what repositioning a brand in consumers mind can do. If Hertz is number one, Avis made an asset of being number 2!
I must admit, most of time I did rent with Avis. I kind of liked the idea of dealing with the “underdog” that tries harder. This, even though my New York City Avis experience was always the same: long lines, very slow service (I was thinking that the lines at Hertz must be even longer and slower!) but always I got the car I wanted.
One Sunday we went for a little ride to meet up with friends. While getting something from the trunk I accidentally left the key inside the trunk and closed it. All my daughters things like diapers, pacifiers, spare clothes etc were locked inside the car. Not having any spare keys I called Avis road service. The locksmith arrived after 1.5 hours and was able to open the front door (it was a Sunday but still). When the locksmith opened up the door the alarm of the car went off and the electric mechanism to open the trunk got locked. This happens as prevention. Unfortunately we couldn’t open the trunk from the inside… so, we had to call a second locksmith who was able to copy the key and open the trunk. The whole thing took 5 hours with numerous calls to Avis … I was all the time thinking…. Avis… we try harder? Why did the road service not know that our rental car did not have access to the trunk from inside the car? It would have really made my day when the road service would have told me “normally we would send a normal locksmith but with your car you cannot get to the trunk from the inside, so we send somebody special. And since you have a five month old baby we will make sure we help you super fast. No worries all will be fine”
http://www.mondaytalk.com/wp-content/media/2010/05/AvisWeTryHarder.flv
Oeps… no access to the trunk from inside the car!
After this ‘accident’ I went to Avis’ website and found out that the slogan “We try harder” was actually not linked to their company logo anymore! At least not in the USA. Perhaps it is a good thing. Once your brand promise and messaging does not equal the total product/ brand experience trouble is on the horizon. Brand authenticity will go in decline and people are up for a switch.
Avis.com, no more trying harder
Avis.nl, still trying harder
“We deliver everything but the baby” is the slogan of Diapers.com. A great one! And indeed they do deliver everything but the baby.
We use Diapers.com a lot. We just love the site. The layout is easy, the font is friendly and everything is somewhat playful.
Diapers.com has a smart approach to get you to buy more. Once you have bought things at diapers.com you will get a re-order mail that literally allows to reorder in seconds. How handy is that?
Recently something went wrong with one of our orders, a product was missing. So, I called the service number and had somebody on the line in seconds. The conversation was very friendly and casual. “I am sure the plant manager is very sorry as well for the missing item” (the plant manager…. wow!) “I already have reordered it for you and should be at your home within 2 days”, “again my apologies”. I should perhaps have recorded this call, it was just so casual. So, a couple of days later I called again to see if I got the same experience and yes… their scripts are perfect and so is obviously the training of the people in the call center.
This playfulness and friendly/casual approach can also been seen from their TV ad:
What can I say? When the total brand experience just works…. consumers will love you!
by Michiel Maandag on May 10, 2010 · 1 comment
I really like this BASF commercial. It does an amazing job in connecting something so abstract as chemicals with people and all things in life.
The back cover of the NY Times Out magazine of this week. I was first thinking it was a joke but it turns out to be legitimate.
Yes I love Canon cameras, they are just great! So I am following the Canon brand and see how they can improve themselves.
So yesterday Canon made the long waited firmware update for the Canon 5D Mark II available. The firmware update now allows the camera to record movies in 24p frame rate. This is a huge deal in the movie world because of this frame rate gives a film like experience. So, it is fair to say that pretty much every Canon 5D Mark II owner has been waiting for this update.
So… think about the massive marketing opportunity Canon has in the professional camera market… its huge! And what would now have been better than keeping it simple and calling the firmware simply version 2.0 and not version 2.0.3. It is the second iteration of something that was already great, that is why it is version 2.0. Everybody gets that.
How beautiful would it have been to call the second itteration simply Firware Upgrade 2.0 ?
