Safeway, Part 2
Yes, more adventures, this time at a different store. Exactly the same checkout experience, namely, swipe my Visa card, get prompted by the payment terminal to answer yes or no, did I want to donate to a good cause? Then asked by the cashier all over again at the end, “Would you like to donate […]
Checking out
When it comes to creating great customer experiences, the devil is in the details. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that the details are tricky. It does mean that flawed details in the overall experience can make life momentarily—well, maybe “hellish” is too strong. Take Safeway’s checkout process. I like Safeway; I go there a lot. […]
Facebookin’
Recently we’ve been spending a lot of time on Facebook, riffing and reconnecting. Must be something in the spring air. Here’s a link to check us out in that part of of the world – StealThunder on Facebook.
VOX tops
I’ll admit it; blogging software had me a bit intimidated. Not that the software we’re using here–WordPress–is bad; it’s not at all. Just takes some getting used to. Requires a bit more effort than I’ve been willing to invest. And somehow I’ve always had this lingering feeling that I was forever a keystroke away from […]
Veni, vidi, video…vamoose
Sure, I came, I saw, and I dismissed Google Video back when it first burst on the scene at CES in January. But give anything a couple of months, and opinions can change. It’s not that the “store” aspect of Google Video is stocked and ready to go. That part of the experience is still […]
Beta thoughts
Meanwhile, the Google Video story led us to think more about the “Beta” trend, and especially its deeper implications for branding. Maybe we are witnessing a sea change in the classic art of brand building? It used to be axiomatic that a company’s products had to create definite assurances, and reinforce trust and satisfaction in […]
A store is a store is a store. Except when it’s the Google Video Store.
Why is there so much trash talk about the newest kid in the cyber mall? My first take was that it was because Google had gone ahead and launched a half-baked product, rather than holding off until it was ready for public consumption. It’s an easy impression to get, especially since so many things about […]
Marketing doesn’t matter
That seems to be the predominant sentiment around the Googleplex. Insiders proudly point out they turned Google into a household name and an $8.5 billion dollar brand with hardly a dime spent on marketing. So who needs marketing? It’s an evil; we don’t do evil. Maybe that sentiment played a role in the Larry Page’s […]
