Sayonara, So Long, Goodbye!

A short take on how one company killed America's love affair and its decades-long quest to be the best car brand - in just a few short months. Business is business is business. Except that the way companies do business in every country can be vastly different. Yes, even in our "global" marketplace.

Cultural nuances and traditions have a direct impact on management and leadership styles, affecting workforce attitudes and performance, from the top down and bottom up. Toyota's spectacular fall from grace puts the spotlight on how a number of Japanese cultural traits -- things like gokuhi, uchi-soto, gaijin -- helped propel its PR nightmare. In English, these terms roughly translate to secrecy, suspicion of foreignness, pride and insecurity -- none of which are particularly PR friendly or conducive to reputation-building, nor endearing to a nation consumed by transparency and openness.

Our way is not always the right way
One of the first things a marketer is supposed to learn is to know thy customer. Barring its first American flop in 1958, Toyota seemed to know its customers very well. The company pioneered just-in-time manufacturing, became the darling of the auto industry, and was embraced by American consumers wholeheartedly. At the same time, Toyota's reserve and intense pride seemed to reinforce the image (correctly or not) of the Japanese -- always striving for perfection - which up until a few years ago served the carmaker very well.

But alas, that pride -- and arrogance I would add -- is what finally got in the way of Toyota understanding its customers. In an era where customers control so much of the conversation, Toyota forgot the golden rule of know thy customers.

Read the rest on Media Post.

iPad iPad in my hand, who is the fairest tablet in the land?

“Mirror mirror on the wall” now reads “iPad iPad in my hand"... First day pre-orders rounded up to 120,000 for the iPad. Nice... Make that 120,001 with my order.

If the iPhone moved the needle on the smartphone market and mobile advertising, publishers and content pushers will be rubbing their hands with absolute glee. My take is that the iPad will spur the pay-for-content movement –- finally –- and help re-write the playbook on why quality content should not be free.

Now Here's Some Change You Can Believe In

Now Here's Some Change You Can Believe In - Michelle Obama takes on childhood obesity

Overweight and unhealthy kids have been three decades in the making. I know, I was one of them – and that was way back when we still had PE and played on the streets after school and on weekends. TV was a treat and reading was something we did for entertainment - imagine!!! Today, billions of kids are exposed to crappy, unhealthy food, almost zero exercise and a life of online everything. As parents today, most of us are guilty of having too little time to make sure our kids get enough exercise or making sure they're eating the best and most nutritious food we can give them.. I am guilty of this too.

So kudos to Michelle Obama for taking on this cause on behalf of America's children. It's not their fault they are obese when we feed them with rubbish everyday.. It's not their fault they're overweight when schools serve sugary junk food in the cafeterias.

And the best thing is that Congress won't get a chance to screw this up. That you can believe in!!

Sign up to support Let's Move and help American children (and us parents)re-establish a healthy relationship with food, exercise and healthy living again.

What I Had for Lunch

Yes, it’s Saturday, I know. So here are my quick bites before I head out to find some sun down here off the coast of South Florida.

Pitching a product without a product? What an esoteric concept – I’ve been doing that with a footwear retailer for the past year. All I can say is GOOD LUCK CLARINS. (And read the comment by John Baker of Iris London)

Stop the presses!!! Another US airline charges for legroom – Shock, horror, gasp, exclamation mark!!!! Get used to it people, carriers have been doing this in Europe for only about 10 years. It is not a new thing. My view is that mainstream media outlets only fuel “consumer outrage” instead of explaining that the legacy airline model was/is unsustainable and that carriers are only doing what businesses in other industries are doing – charging people for what they use. When US consumers swallow this reality, the skies will be a much less turbulent place.

More on Airlines – Business and Premium Class Travel is on the rise – if there was ever an economic indicator that a recovery was in full swing, this would be it. When execs start traveling to see clients again (instead of having boring conference calls and GoTo Meetings), you know that good times are just around the corner again.

And for the moneyed set in Palm Beach, Florida, it’s “what recession???” – Despite many a fortune in the region being erased by made-off-with-it Madoff, the golfers of Palm Beach County have been teeing off like there’s no 1990 or 2001. Besides, how else do you deal with the stress of watching your fortune vanish? Go hit some balls.

Work at an ad agency? Then you’ll know what BNET’s Jim Edwards has to say about them - Two words… Dante’s Inferno.

More on advertising….Ads that show kids throwing up after a night out of binge-drinking actually ENCOURAGE binge-drinking? – What about showing teens or young adults some of other consequences of binge drinking, like being date-raped, or being “bottled” outside a nightclub? That might work.

Happy weekend, see you Monday!

What I Had for Breakfast

It’s Friday, and that means diet out the window with a triple venti latte, washed down with a sinful Panini loaded with cheese, ham and lots of fat, mmmm! Here’s what else I consumed for breakfast:

Invasion of the body snatchers? – actually they’re just body scanners being installed at 11 airports around the country reports USA Today. Does that mean we now have to check-in 5 hours before flight time? And definitely no more sticking things down your undies!

Everyone loves a winner, especially in the form of an Oscar – not wanting to miss out on any moula from the Hurt Locker’s success, U.S. Army Master Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver thinks the film is about him and wants his cut of the profits – stat! I wonder if he’s heard the Carly Simon song, “You’re So Vain”?

Don’t shop till you get enough! – queue Michael Jackson and let the plastic swiping begin. Tax refund checks mean a payola for the nations retailers – the NRF can rejoice! I guess Americans need so many new TV/gadgets/crap after a year of living without. Savings? Who needs them! Being a frugalista was definitely overated.

Nothing like slamming down those tequila shots after a win on the Le Mans Series – I wonder if Patron will the “presenting sponsor” for the body shots taking place later in the day?

Bananas in Pyjamas…. and now your undies – I have a thing with undies today. My homies down under have created a range of men’s undies made with banana fibre. That certainly gives a new twist to sticking a banana down your pants…

Want to live in a mental home? Hang on, I thought I already did! Fast Company has a great little slide show of mental homes that have been converted into normal, ahem, homes.

Ok, enough of the craziness. Happy Friday all!

What I Had For Lunch Today

Reading the daily newsfeeds over lunch today, I came across the following things I wanted to share with you:
Finding and Promoting Products That Inspire Customer Loyalty – now that’s a concept to get your teeth stuck into. Does it work for PR agencies too?

Mobile commerce and retail has huge play in mobile advertising – Ya think??? Check out what Dan Butcher and the Mobile Marketer crew are doing at NRF’s Mobile Bootcamp in San Francisco this week.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast… - It’s mobile mobile, all the time. DMA’s 2nd Annual Mobile Marketing day is in NYC today, where mobile execs will be disussing the future of digital media, um, mobile.

The 4A’s conference stresses the need for “Marketing Innovation” – When hasn’t that been the case? The ad industry has always been on the cusp of something transformational, redefining its model, yada yada yada. Stop talking people and just do it already.

I knew there was a reason why Google entered the mobile space last year – The Mobile Ad Network race is REALLY hotting up.

RIP Home Video Phone? Seven Reasons Why Home Videophones Are a Terrible Idea from Erik Sherman at BNET - Thank goodness, that’s all I can say. I won’t have to touch up my makeup before you call me anymore.

Well, back to work!

Taming Tiger - from Media Post

After watching Tiger's mea culpa, I sort of wish he hadn't broken his silence -- contrary to what I would advise clients in times of crisis.

Why? Because he broke the spell for me -- and no doubt millions of others. While I've never been a Tiger fanatic, his reputation for prowess, razor-sharp mental focus and determination was what set him apart from other more "human" celebrities and athletes. This was a man who was intensely private -- after all, he was able to hide his extensive philandering for how many years?

We saw this man screw up, literally and figuratively, and descend into a self-imposed recovery period to sort his mess out -- away from the public's insatiable appetite for scandal, idol destruction and celebrity demise. But that's not the problem.

Now, he's brought his life into the open again, into the public domain for its forgiveness and his eventual resurrection. For a guy used to hitting laser-like drives onto fairways, his was definitely an "out of bounds" ball or that almost forbidden word for most golfers ..."a shank."

Tiger's public statement was terrible on any number of counts, but I'll explore only two here.

Greater golfer, lousy speaker

Listening to his "I'm sorry I'm sorry" speech, it became painfully obvious why Tiger's previous statements were posted on his website and not YouTube -- Tiger is one lousy speaker. What that man needs is some media training, not rehab.

Paradoxically, although he's been in the public spotlight for years, he's most definitely not a public speaker - his on-course intensity bled into his public persona. And that was okay before because his controlled and emotionless voice was part of that persona and enmeshed with the rock-solid Tiger brand. But not anymore, not now he's exposing his dirty laundry for the world to see. What we saw unravel before our eyes was a lame, emotionless forgive-me-for-I-have sinned apology which did not gel or feel authentic. Tiger is not sorry for what he's done to me, or to my husband who loves golf -- because he hasn't actually done anything to personally affect or harm us. He's not sorry to you, or the person next to you.

Who Tiger should be sorry to are the sponsors that have invested millions and millions into his brand, his bank account and, of course, his family. So why is a public apology necessary then? To make him feel better, to absolve his actions and shed some of the guilt?

We don't need to hear or see anything that personal or private. Really, we don't. We have enough of that "reality" already.

What resulted from Tiger's statement was a media circus, with news hounds and talk show hosts dissecting every soundbite, adding their own spin or interpretation to it -- a bit like what I'm doing right now. Something to fill a slow news day and little else. In my mind, all that Tiger's apology succeeded in doing was to feed the media beast and prolong our unhealthy obsession with sinners and rehab, not change the public's opinion of him -- which was the intention, I'm sure.

Which brings me to my next point.

Sex addiction? Spare me, please

We all have issues, we all screw up, say sorry and move on. Some of us repeat our mistakes, most of us learn from them. But so many "issues" we seem to have developed over the past three decades have spawned from a need to pigeonhole what is inherently defective human behavior. Can't concentrate? You have ADD. Can't stop yourself from getting sloshed every night? You are a drunk. Can't keep your knickers on? You are a sex addict.

I am certainly not a qualified medical profession (although I slept at a Holiday Inn once) but I don't think Tiger is a sex addict. I don't even know if that is really an addiction -- humans have been grappling with lust and sexual urges since Adam and Eve. It's not even listed in the DSM, the standard diagnostic manual for psychiatric disorders. In my humble opinion, sex addiction has become the exclusive purview of entitled, spoilt rich brats -- and anyone else wanting to avoid a very expensive, I'm-taking-you-to-the-cleaners-for-everything divorce.

Moral and scientific arguments aside, who are we to judge if Tiger has become a better man? Better still, why should we care?

People cheat. People crash cars. Tiger isn't the first golfer/man/human to do it, and he won't be the last.

Taming Tiger is a job left best to his wife, and perhaps his mother, but not the public. Leave us out of your mess, please, and be quiet. Because in Tiger's case, silence really is golden.