"How can I sell tickets using Twitter?"

Have you ever heard someone ask: "How can I sell tickets using Twitter?" or "I have a lot of Facebook fans but very few seem to buy tickets to my events. I don't think Facebook works for me."

I have puzzled over such statements; I couldn't understand why anyone would measure these social media platforms by their capacity to achieve direct sales  --- whether of tickets or widgets or gadgets.

In my mind, social media were, well, social.

Social means relationships. Social means conversation - mostly consumer to consumer, but also consumer to brand. Social means mutual respect. Social might mean recommendation. Social can mean someone buys something based - at least in part - on a social network interaction. But it all starts with authentic relationships, it's like being friends in the so-called real world.

Off I went looking for organizations using social media in exemplary ways, especially in the performing arts presenting field. This experiment is part of the Value of Presenting Study we have been working on.

The experiment: Interview by Twitter 
The topic: The use of social media and online technology in your performing arts organization.
The interviewees: Two arts presenters (read the transcripts here: Shell Theatre and the National Arts Centre) who use social media in exemplary ways and an agent who does, too.

Key findings:
1. Social media are about building relationships
2. There are other ways to sell tickets
3. Audiences engaged: mostly the 30 to 55 year-old crowd rather than "young people", even though one interviewees said they find Facebook and txt works with a Students Rush tickets program;
4. Hone your authentic voice
5. Experiment to see what works for your organization

It's fun to experiment with trying to help more people see what the strategic potential of social media in the performing arts presenting sector could be, by doing. In this case, it's not in direct sales measured by revenue, but in building relationships measured by quality of relationships, engagement and championship of the brand. It is not an old-style transactional relationship, but one that is mutually enriching, extends beyond attendance, and requires new, timely interactions. And they are a lot more public.

The importance of voice is a fascinating topic in the concise world of social networks. (As these interviews show, short texts can be extremely good at making clear points and sharing salient information.) Voice is a key brand attribute that requires honing and calibration.

I think the adoption of social media shifts an organization's brand into a new realm. As such, an evaluation  of  what an organization stands for and how it is and behaves in its world (in short an evaluation of market relevance), may well be an essential step toward embracing such contemporary marketing methods.

See my earlier post on Social web strategy for the performing arts.

Economics of fear reloaded

Back in early 2009 I was struck by the incessant credit crisis coverage that had been going on since Lehman's Brothers collapse in 2007, and before then if you had been paying attention to the sub-prime mortgage asset-backed securities issue. I thought it had to have impact on how people would behave in terms of consumption choices.

Economics of Fear and Sustainable buying practices

Now it's late 2011, and we have just come through 5+ years of unending credit crisis, recessions and now debt crisis news coverage.

The coverage of "the markets" - those mysterious beyond-human-beings-making-decisions markets - is like a game show or maybe an endless cricket game, just a lot faster:  like hockey where the spectator never quite "sees" the puck but can infer it from the players motions.

The headlines are unhelpful at best to illuminate the issues - headlines are there to "sell papers", or in online vernacular "secure eyeballs." (It's good to remember the motivations each industry has in its activities.)

Yesterday's news of German Bond Auction not selling out is a prime example of disinformation moving faster than light (Neutrino pun intended): How many in the public who consume headlines know what a bond auction is, how it works and who the usual buyers are? If you read beyond the headlines you might learn a few other facts:

They come from the bottom of a Wall Street Journal article headlined: "German Bond Sale Spurs Worries"

• "Germany had never tried to sell a 10-year bond that paid only 2% interest, and the historically low yields appeared to depress appetite among the traditional circle of buyers."
• "Germany sold 3.644 billion Euros at 1.98% average interest."
• "Germany traditionally auctions bonds, rather than operating a syndicate of primary dealers to place them with investors. The Finanzagentur, the government's issuing agent, then gradually feeds the bonds it doesn't sell into the secondary market. This system means that there is no pressure on banks to bid for the bonds or risk their relationship with the sovereign. Moreover, banks across the Continent are trying to reduce their holdings of sovereign bonds, or at least not take on extra exposure, Mr. Krautzberger said."
• Take a moment to check out the interactive feature in the article that shows how German bond yields have declined recently ...

No doubt it sounds like the Finanzagentur miscalculated and underestimated the political sentiments and headlines that could follow if they did not sell out and the concerns they might raise.

Bringing it home I have two questions for you: How much are the headlines affecting news-spectators decision making about their own debt, credit, income, savings and spending? And what is your organization's strategy to adapt as consumer behaviours keep shifting ever more online/mobile which has shifted traditional power away from brands and toward consumers and the platforms they use?

Strategic move lies at heart of value innovation

In Blue Ocean Strategy W. ChanKim and Renee Mauborgne posit that, "the strategic move, and not the company or the industry, is the right unit of analysis for explaining the creation of blue oceans and sustained high performance." They then define a strategic move as "a set of managerial actions and decisions involved in making a major market-creating business offering."

I have started an exploration in the performing arts on this blog this month. I have begun to contemplate the landscape, or as they say the "strategy canvas",  to learn about the skills, expertise, assets of the performing arts that can be leveraged to create new wide-open spaces for high performance. And to explore what elements might need to be added or increased in order to create a new kind of success.

I see my blog traffic has been increasing, so I invite you to become an active participant in this exploration.: comment, add, improve!

(FD: While I do research, strategy and marketing work for organizations in the performing arts and in other sectors, I do not have a client on this broader aspiration at present. I do believe now, in obviously uncertain times, is the right time to contemplate the big questions.)

In the face of uncertainty what's your strategy?

The economic, financial, political and social pressures playing out the world over (Arab Spring, summer and fall, EU sovereign debt, US Congress debt failure) do not mean we all disappear from the face of the earth any time soon.

These massive disruptions simply have become normal.

You do not need to act globally to feel the effects of uncertainty on your business. This is the time for organizations and individuals to re-evaluate their specific situations and build new contingencies, develop new strategies, uncover opportunities for value innovation. Your capacity to analyze, understand and adapt will shape your outcomes.

This is the time for the kind of iterative 360 degree research and strategy process I use in my practice, and others use in theirs. It is by examining internal and external factors and helping people evaluate various dimensions rigorously that together we can shape a powerful direction forward. More than hope it provides pathways for decisive action, grounded in fact and using built-in measures to recognize when course corrections may be necessary.

A few questions
Are your customers particularly stressed due to the financial market turmoil? Which customer segments are more affected and how?

If you are in the B2B sector, are you aware of your business customers current concerns and how you can enhance their opportunities?

As a for-profit or not-for-profit corporation how are you taking account of changes in your environment, in your customer base, among stakeholders? Have you re-examined the assumptions in your 1-, 3- or 5-year business plans, yet?

Are you part of an industry / a sector that has been struggling already to maintain a resilient customer base? Have you accounted for and created strategic responses to the alternatives challenging your products or services in the market today? Have you examined how your products and services are essential - or hard to replace - to your customers? 

How are you perceived in your community? How have you been managing your brand in order to create value and trust? How are you evaluating your impact on your community? 

How have you responded to the massive changes in consumer behaviour due to the internet and now mobile technology? How have you leveraged the new opportunities that come with online and mobile communications and what are the next opportunities?

These are a few of the questions worth considering. It's in part the impetus for the series of thought pieces I have been sharing on value innovation in the performing arts, a sector I care deeply about. The process is the same no matter the sector.

NAC musicians ‘gave up their clothes for their instruments’

Awesome!

That was the Ottawa Citizen headline on the story about a NAC Orchestra Atlantic tour concert in Charlottetown, PEI. CBC radio covered the story repeatedly through the day, even giving top of the news billing.

I wonder, if the Newfoundland ferry had not broken down, stranding instruments and performance clothes, how many Canadians would have been exposed to the NAC Orchestra even being on tour?

This concert sounded like an awesome experience for an appreciative audience. Looking at the performance images on Facebook of energized, passionate musicians in normal clothes, I can't help but think what a great brand builder this could be: The people's orchestra.

In any case, congratulations to the musicians, administrators and managers who handled this logistics adventure with such aplomb and got the media story of the tour in the process.

Competitive factors: Live Performing Arts

The approach to competition and how we understand competitive factors is key to creating uncontested new market spaces. Conventionally, competition is understood to be within a sector: an airline competes against other airlines, a circus competes against other circuses, a hotel chain against other hotels. Each organization tries to differentiate itself in its market space, to build a recognized brand, to establish a value position that avoids lowest price competition. Competitive benchmarking is done against similar organizations, from tracking market share to share of wallet to brand mapping and intent-to-purchase studies.

Importantly, blue oceans - uncontested market spaces - are not found by benchmarking inside that competitive set.

Rather, they are about a leap in value for the customer and the organization. Value innovation. It's not merely about creating value, often incremental, or about pioneering innovation, often on the bleeding edge where others may well reap the greatest rewards. It is a differently grounded strategic mindset that aligns innovation and value.

Competitive factors for the performing arts
Imagine: You are a not-for-profit venue with a 250-seat theatre in Toronto that presents new work and existing work in new ways. How about if you are a commercial 1,200-seat theatre with long runs of well-known shows? Does one compete against the other in a meaningful way?

Imagine: You rent a community hall in rural Saskatchewan and present music acts a few times a year. Or you are an independent (no label behind you) musician with your tracks for sale online, an active YouTube and/or Vimeo channel and you are working the house concert and club circuit to build your fan base? Where does your competition come from?

I've heard references to there being a  "market glut" in the performing arts in Canada. No doubt, there are a lot more theatres, companies and artists making a living - or some of their living - by creating, producing and presenting performing arts. Yet, as long as attendance at performing arts events remains the top indicator for future attendance, I propose that this sector is not a zero sum industry where the ticket purchase is simply shifted from one theatre or one performer to another.

Rather, I propose that many significant competitive factors come from outside the performing arts sector where people can reap similar benefits through a wide variety of activities. Here is a thought piece that considers some of these competitors:

Outside COMPETITORS	Benefits for customer	Performing arts corresponding offer to customers
Movie theatres	Great stories, star-powered, escape to the movies, big sound, big screen, pop culture, celebrity culture	Great stories, live action, connections with live stars, star power, be an insider, behind the scenes, participate in creating the experience
Home entertainment	High quality in comfort of your own home and sound system. Anytime entertainment and discovery.	Live action, social connection, common experience, participation, discover new worlds and ideas
Museums	Hands-on discovery and exploration. We bring the world to you. Learn about who you are and where you come from.	“Times and Life”: Discover your world anew through music; soundscapes of our history, tell stories about who we are and what makes us so
Professional sports	Action, tribal connection, heroes, victory, competition	Get the inside track on peak performance. Access to artists. Backstage tours. Process of creating winning performances. Community connection.
Spas	Pamper yourself. Wellness, stress reduction, spiritual connection, body connection	Come home to the Symphony. Escape to the Symphony. Refresh your mind, body and spirit at your Symphony.
Cosmetic treatment	Improve self-image, de-stress, personal fulfillment, anti-aging	Come as you are – and be changed forever by the music, the show, the experience.
Restaurants	Friends. Food. Social. In crowd.	Socialize. Social capital. See and be seen. Entertain your friends at the symphony. Community making. Mix food, drink and entertainment
Video games, Xbox, PS, Wii	Participate. Action. Play. Social. Relax.	Feel it live. Real-world magic. Participatory arts experiences. Community building.

By no means is this table complete or even "correct". It simply hopes to spark different ways to consider competition.

Today, we also have to content with the fact that a common answer to "if you had a free evening tonight what would you do" has become "sleep."

Election Polling Examined Intelligently

Last May, 12 polling companies were active during the federal election, using more methods to gauge the election intentions of Canadians than ever before. The poll closest to the actual election is the one that determines which pollster is the most accurate. Turns out, those who issued a final poll the weekend before the election were within the margin of error for most if not all parties: basically a tie.

The MRIA Ottawa Chapter organized a unique, intelligent post mortem for September 22 at the National Arts Centre: 8 pollsters are coming together to discuss lessons learned, from methodology questions relating to data gathering to question construction.  This is an important discussion the industry and Canadians need to have: only when election polling is done to the highest standards can it serve the public good. The May election was an awesome social research lab with the seismic shift (Orange Crush anyone?) taking place on the political landscape. Learning from these real-life events, and how researchers fared providing insight for citizens, is crucial in a democracy.

3 days ago, with the Ontario election on - and polling back in the spotlight, too - two staffers at IPSOS Reid,  the largest and most powerful research firm in Canada decided to lash out at everyone else in the entire industry; while it makes for fine pundit fodder the motivations haven't been explained. Luckily, MRIA has issued a lucid response outlining the validity of various methods in polling and marketing research in general and affirming the integrity of Canadian marketing researchers.

MRIA Ottawa stands for intelligent discussion, insightful analysis and open discourse.

October 11, 2011 Update: View the panelists' presentations.

A bold, new arts brand: Ottawa Storytellers

We recently did some research and strategy work with Ottawa Storytellers (OST). Their goal was to further build on their existing audience with a focus on cultivating a younger, more culturally diverse audience.

With storytelling the challenge is two-fold: 1) many people do not think of storytelling as a professional, adult performing art; and 2) event promotion has not built broad-based trust and credibility in organizations producing or presenting storytelling events.

The challenge we faced was that OST needed to build much greater recognition for itself as a credible and trustworthy source of quality performing arts/ storytelling events and for storytelling as a bona fide professional art form with every communication touch point. At the same time, it needed to “sell” storytelling series or individual performances, without being encumbered by organization-level messaging.

Often in event-based marketing - and when marketing budgets are relatively small - there is little leverage or recognition accruing back to the arts presenter, except among the most committed audiences. That in turn creates long-term liabilities like needing to continually invest in one-off marketing of events, rather than being able to benefit over time from a mother brand approach where recognition, trust and credibility reside with the presenter, not only a specific artist/event. Such an approach creates all kinds of benefits such as more easily presenting new artists through reducing box office risk and more effective marketing. It was also important to understand that when growing an audience is the central goal then the strategy cannot rely on largely list-based marketing efforts alone.

Central Strategy: Mother Brand

Web banners for Storytelling series events.
Design by Annette Hegel, Ottawa.

That is why a central part of our strategy called for a new branding approach that would be cohesive, bold, contemporary, intelligent, easily structured and flexible in application, welcoming and inviting to audiences, and give weight to OST (this is where the relationship with the audience gets built) while also giving strong presence to show-specific information (which is where OST fulfills its artistic mission).

In short, OST needed to take its place at the heart of its marketing. It would be the mother brand from which all series and events would flow.

In our analysis, we had found the OST logo and tagline were already strong and we recommended keeping both. We found that many of their marketing and communications tactics including much of their online efforts were well conceived and executed. The visual branding, on the other hand, was less effective, too complex and hard to adapt. Similarly, there was, at times, no clear hierarchy of messages evident in marketing materials and the oft-observed "too much text, which ends up saying very little to anyone" was also sometimes an issue.

Creative Brief: Define Audience Using Psychographics

By defining the audience, we were able to create a target that felt real. We used a psychographic composite (values, beliefs, generation-based experiences), rather than just relying on demographic elements (age, income, etc) which are less meaningful, and certainly much less so in terms of creative direction.

OST has just launched its new web site which features its new branding approach. I think they did an excellent job translating the strategic direction into an effective brand architecture. 

What do you think?

Thank you to OST for agreeing to share the back story on its new strategy initiatives. 

The Value of History

The Value of Presenting Study is  aimed at helping to shape the future for performing arts presentation. We could just look forward to establish that vision. It seems human nature to go from today to tomorrow; maybe that's because we are best suited to use ourselves as the reference point from which to understand the world. However, in my view, a full understanding requires knowing something about the evolution that got us to today. It serves to avoid myopia and to build on where we have come from rather than inadvertently move backwards. (It's possible!)

It's good to understand the genesis of Canada's very own cultural life to help it move forward in the next decade or so. Nation-building, international relations, identity-formation and export are all underlying Canadian cultural policy. Public funding of creative expression also holds all sorts of tension points, from discussions about "what is art" to establishing funding priorities.

One aspect of our team's work has been to collect a historic overview, starting from the earliest times in Canada as we know it today. The document is a work in progress (if you have things to add, please add  comments on the project site); we will update this file over the next few weeks with some of the more recent evolution we have gained in interviews and contributions from people who have been part of the sector for many years.

Working in two languages - at least

One of the interesting aspects of The Value of Presenting work, is that  we are working bilingually in English and French. The site we've built is a single bilingual site, based on WordPress with very extensive bilingual label customization.

I and one of my francophone consulting colleagues co-wrote the literature review; we have just posted the French version. It covers the same territory and we draw on the same sources as the English one but it is not meant to be a translation.

There has been some excellent work in the USA that has not been translated into French; we translate some insights in the French literature review. There has also been some profound reflection in Quebec on the role of performing arts presenting which only exists in French, so that English Canadian presenters are unlikely to have consulted that excellent material. Again, in our English literature we reference that thinking.

By adopting this mode of working, I hope we are helping advance the thinking and working across the two languages for the sector as well. There is so much richness when engaged people come together across languages, cultures and experiences.

www.diffusionartspresenting.ca

Literature review for review

We have posted a concise review of literature on the value and impact of performing arts presentation created to help see the landscape for the Value of Presenting Study.

What we find, to the most part, is that the research is focussed on performing arts in general terms and does not specifically address the function of the performing arts presenter. Still, there is some excellent work in existence that shows the role of the arts in our lives. As this project offers opportunity for public dialogue, anyone interested is invited to participate.

In the document section of that site we have started to collect links to the relevant literature. The value of the arts and their contribution to Canadian economy and society is beyond doubt, even though attacks on the creative, cultural sector persist in some corners.

The Value of Presenting site launched today

With this project, performing arts presenters are embarking on a reflective journey to define their role as part of the creative chain, in communities and in society. Today's launch extends our work  into the digital realm. I hope the site turns into an active dialogue and collaboration space for people who present live performing arts in Canada, everyone they work with and anyone who is interested in the performing arts.

The Value of Presenting Site

This public dialogue has the great potential to advance a vibrant and active performing arts landscape for years to come.

The site wants to be shared: using a highly customized WordPress set up, we have added Twitter and Facebook integration, in particular for account creation but also sharing back to those platforms, a bilingual interface to enhance dialogue across languages, a blog post RSS feed, of course, a Twitter roll - we are using #ArtsPresenting and #DiffusionArts as study specific hash tags. There are a pair of initial discussion topics ready for discussion - come check out the project.

A big thanks to Mike of  Little m Design for his superb and awesomely timely technical implementation of the site.

Encourage or stifling Audience participation

I stumbled upon this worthwhile blog post musing by a mid-western orchestra musician - via Orchestra Canada's Facebook presence. The discussion in the symphonic world continues unresolved.

For some time I have wondered about the desire for audience participation, audience loyalty, audience engagement that does not go beyond what an orchestra/ music director/ musician might want from that audience. That is that it appears as though the concepts of participation, engagement, loyalty are great as long as they are delivered on the orchestra's terms rather than on a give a take between audience and orchestra.

I suspect that the habits, the deference, the stifling of the audience's participation that classical music performance has earned a reputation for are difficult to sell to a savvy, media-enriched and fully empowered, performing arts attending audience of Gen Xers (the oldest Gen Xers are about 45 now). This is an independent generation; they create and engage but not in one-way sort of set up. They are sophisticated consumers as consumers; whether they know much about the classics is not what it's about.

A line from a piece I wrote 5 years ago while assembling generational profiles to inform marketing decisions jumped out at me again: "Gen Xers tend to look to be entertained in a friendly atmosphere rather than simply accepting others authority and doing as they are told without understanding why."

They know they can spend their 24 hours every day in ways they find highly rewarding and appealing without being told when to clap, when to be quiet, when to be in awe, when to engage. What will it take for classical music to break through its well-earned reputation that somehow places the service to the music above the service to the audience?

Studying the Value of Presenting in Canada

Spring often marks new beginnings. This May has proven momentous for Strategic Moves: I am now leading a two-year long, ambitious project to shed new light on Arts Presenting and Presenters in Canada. (Full news release.)

To do this major initiative justice, I have formed a bilingual, bicultural consulting team from Ontario and Quebec. And we have partnered with  EKOS Research for the necessary quantitative surveys.

I had the chance to give a presentation and Q&A session at the national meeting of Regional Presenting Networks organized by the Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA). This is the group we are doing this work for and with. This session was followed by a successful kick-off meeting with the national Advisory Committee on May 5.

Since then, I have been working on all the necessary start up activities from briefing the rest of the team and getting the work underway to researching solutions for a collaborative online space dedicated to this project to building the project schedule for the first year of research and consulting activities.

Canada’s performing arts scene boasts some of the world’s most celebrated musicians, dancers, actors and performers. Yet, the purpose and the work of arts presenters in building Canada’s cultural fabric, preparing the stage for diverse artistic expression and developing engaged audiences are little known or understood. In a rapidly evolving world, arts presenters seek to affirm their role in the creative chain coherently and with purpose.

During the next two years together with the presenting field across Canada and related sectors we will:

• identify, understand and communicate the value and benefits of presenting for Canadians
• envision the presenters’ evolving role in our changing world
• raise awareness of the role of the live performing arts presenter in the creative chain, in communities and in society.

I am excited to work with CAPACOA, the advisory committee and the many outstanding people that work in the arts and in the presenting field in particular.

I plan to occasionally share observations on this blog. Perhaps more important, I will share the url for the project space where presenters and the interested public can check in on - and contribute to - our progress.

Storytellers of Canada Yellowknife conference

Last year, I worked with SC-CC, a national arts service organization, to develop an external communications strategy. This year, I was invited as part of efforts to build capacity and skill to lead a full-day communications workshop at the association's annual conference in Yellowknife.

It's been fascinating to design this custom workshop. Storytellers by definition are communicators. And yet, when turning the attention to communications activities for the purpose of marketing, raising awareness and selling tickets it becomes apparent that there is quite a different skill set at work.

I have been reviewing the workshop design and content with a storyteller who has considerable marketing and communications skills gained through various jobs and initiatives. Together, I think we make a good team to bring  valuable insights, information and experience to this workshop on the 26th of May. An added bonus, I get to go to Yellowknife for a few days and experience part of Canada's North for the first time.

Enriqueta Ulloa - Bolivian superstar delivers awesome performance

While in La Paz, Bolivia last November, we were invited to a concert by Enriqueta Ulloa. We had never heard of her, as her fame hasn't traveled north. We quickly learned, that she is a superstar: whenever we mentioned having been to this concert, Bolivians were so excited and started talking about her music, inspired by the traditional sounds and songs of the regions of Bolivia, as truly important and an important ambassador for Bolivian culture - and they were amazed that we even knew to go.

Two posters in contrast. She's so famous her image is all the
advertising needed.

That night she was celebrating 35 years on stage with back-to-back concerts! I've never seen a crowd so into every moment of a performance. Handkerchiefs twirling, clapping in the right rhythms and singing every song. The energy was incredibly joyous, the connection between artist and audience immediate, the love mutual. We were quickly swept up in this awesome vibe. This evening left me with one of the most powerful performing arts experiences I've had.

The performance included several numbers featuring traditional dance, some highlighting the band and others featuring the singer and of course costume changes and a selection of photos and videos from her long career (with the most awkward production set up but it just didn't matter - these were iconic images to many in the audience). As for the crowd: there were old people and children, there were powerful people and regular folks, there were men and women, there were city people and country people, those descended from Spanish blood and indigenous people - and there was one shared, joyous, Bolivian experience. An amazing moment in a country that feels so much in transition.

We were almost shocked at the cost of tickets: 30 Bolivianos each ($4.50) for 2nd row seats! By North American standards that's incredible - less so by Bolivian standards but still a relatively easy ticket to buy.

Scene before the doors opened.
The house was sold out and the
excitement obvious. 

The Municipal Theatre in La Paz dates to 1845; old,
beautiful, great vibe.

Here are a couple of Youtube videos for diversion and enjoyment.

Do you pay someone so you can buy from them?

Click to enlarge view.

I just bought some tickets to a Melissa Etheridge concert. It should be great - we are excited about seeing here live again.

Because the online ticket seller adds fees like a "convenience fee" - basically a charge for the privilege of buying the tickets - I went to the box office in person.

For me all the "convenience" of buying online disappears when it adds $20 to the ticket price. And that's not all. If I were to buy them online I'd have to choose the delivery method: If I want to be sure to get them delivered, it's another $14.

Sure, I can pick them up at the venue or I can get them by regular mail (i.e. no guaranteed delivery) without additional  charge.  But here the "convenience" of buying online falls apart: I still need to leave my house and walk into a physical venue. Today, there should be a free option to download and print the e-ticket, just like with airlines, and some other ticket sellers.

My actual purchase cost me $197.00. Buying it online would have cost $231.00
(Well, arguably only $217 if I pick them up in person; so I went to buy them and pick them up in person at the same time and leave $20 - or $34 depending how you look at it - in my pocket for another performance.)

Nonetheless, this made me ponder other industries where the customer has to first pay for the pleasure of buying something.  I've come up with:

• Credit cards - even though everyone has a "no fees" option these days, cards with fees are also still very common. 
• CostCo membership - the annual membership fee gives customers access to amazingly low prices on all kinds of goods. 
• Investing in mutual funds. The transaction fees are usually well hidden - OK, there's a total lack of transparency. And there is a thing called MERs and they do cost you, also quite hidden from view. 

Consumers pushed the credit card industry to include no-fee-cards in their portfolios. Given that many credit cards continue to charge around 20% interest on any balance, you'd think that's plenty to profit from.

CostCo on the other hand appears to have found a working formula where the value proposition works really well. The fee represents a fair exchange, and might well keep CostCo in business. The whole business model is fascinating and it has made CostCo one of the largest retailers in the world.

As for mutual fund transaction fees, front-loads, no-loads and MERs - my feeling is transparency should be a given in all financial transactions - and I am amazed this has not been assured as yet.

Where else do you pay in order to make a purchase? And what's the experience like? Does it alienate or bring you closer to the company?

What are they thinking at BlackBerry?

Just last week I used the Canadian edition of the BlackBerry website. It gave me all the information I needed quickly and efficiently in a pleasing, professional interface and I was happy.

This evening I went to the site and saw this as the homepage: a rather static screen trying hard - and failing  in my books - at a lifestyle branding for BlackBerry.

Today BlackBerry is the leader in the smartphone market, but it's obvious that the Android platform and iPhone are growing faster than BlackBerry. To protect their position and keep growing they have to do something.

But static and boring web interface? All I get to do is go left to right or right to left and click on user types like "The Shy Girl" or "The Power Couple" to see what BlackBerry device they should be using.

Apparently if you are The Shy Girl you use the BlackBerry Pearl. I wonder how all the BlackBerry Pearl users out there feel about that. "Hey, you have a BB Pearl, you must be the shy girl who texts a lot." I mean how does that help someone gain status in their social circle? I was looking at getting the BlackBerry Torch, except now I am told that I am apparently broadcasting that I am part of The Power Couple! The truly powerful usually have little need to broadcast such things, they simply are and they act, so where does that leave me?

What are they thinking at BlackBerry? What's the insight at work here?
Have they heard of video and all the really cool things they could do by integrating video into their site - or better yet, why not just keep it clean and professional until you have a great lifestyle brand idea that you can make work online? So many ways to advance a lifestyle brand, so much to learn!

NB: We just saw anther number 1, Nokia, do something about the threats to their leadership position: announcing a strategic partnership with Microsoft, for better or worse. Hope they will open up that platform widely so they can garner the creativity and imaginations of apps developers everywhere.

Logo evolutions

I enjoyed this brief, visual survey of global brand logos. It's fun to see both what has changed radically and what has merely evolved, sometimes subtly, over the decades. The biggest changes in logo design in these examples are driven by shifts in the business or in its context. In that sense branding cuts both ways: brand designs do lead and they do follow trends.

Corporate brands are much more than the corporate name, even as wordmarks remain crucial for many brands and are likely more important the more local a business is. In any case, you will see several logos in that list that have become powerful enough to omit their company names entirely. Few do so because the image is the name, as is the case for Apple or Shell. With others you might wonder about the thinking or the research that led that decision.

Anti-marketing? Real estate issues in Bolivia

To North-American eyes this was a thoroughly surprising message:

"Esta casa NO está en vente" (This house is not for sale.)

Anti-marketing? Why write that on a building?

Turns out the anti-message is rooted in changes taking place in Bolivia under the government of Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president, even though the majority of Bolivians are indigenous. 

Speaking with some of the property-owning locals we learned that it has become increasingly difficult to maintain ownership of anything other than the house they live in. It appears it has become relatively easy for squatters to gain title to unoccupied properties. One person we spoke with, told us they were paying someone to live in a second house they own, in order to protect their ownership. Yes, you read that right. They are paying someone so when they want to use the house in another way in the future they are able to because it is still theirs. 

This also explains some of the other unusual notes scrawled in large letters in properties that weren't in use, such as land without buildings. That message was usually something like "This property belongs to [insert name] and it is not for sale. [phone number]"

This was a good reminder to never assume that our own economic, social or cultural context is some kind of gold standard for how things "should" be and what we expect of others.

This restaurant logo works

Many restaurants take a less than stellar approach to branding. From so-so logos to hard to understand web sites using way too much Flash to the super cool interior design overpowering what the kitchen actually delivers.

This restaurant does a great job putting it all together. Ceviche is a dish - raw fish to be clear - that comes in many forms and is very popular in various South American cuisines. Hot peppers are a feature of many ceviche dishes. The Peruvian version is particularly famous in part because the Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine has been making an international name for itself.

The logo expresses this core offer without any ambiguity and the typography and application are both fun and slightly out of the ordinary.

This restaurant is one of many we have seen that offer awesome Japanese-Peruvian dishes. The commonalities between the two styles of cooking centre on raw fish and the many artful and save ways to prepare it. I never had sushi that was as delicious as this. The service was great, the night was lovely and we sat outside 'til late.

Causa peruana sampler

Warm and cold rolls. Delicious fusion.

A Concept Restaurant

Palermo district in Buenos Aires.

When recessions or economic downturns hit, restaurant owners can turn to creative solutions to survive in such a tough-at-the-best-of-times industry. (You might remember some of this appearing in North America, too.)

I thought this pitch on the sandwich board that otherwise might tell me what the specials of the day are was well done:

"We give you food, drink and good service ...  You pay what you want, without pressure and prejudice... enjoy yourself."

The restaurant looked like a very fine choice for a great dinner out. It also looked like this was no longer a gimmick to keep people coming but an actual business model a la 2011.

Municipal signage encouraging line ups

Buenos Aires

Here's a subtle example of social marketing I noticed at bus stops in Buenos Aires.

Translation: "Build an orderly line without disrupting the pedestrian traffic."

This notice has obviously been around for a while given the shape it's in.

I did experience some pretty odd lining up though: We took the local bus from the international airport in Buenos Aires to downtown. (OK, that wasn't well researched in that it took over 2.5 hours but it did only cost $2 each. Anyways.) As people waited for the bus at the airport they did form a line: a straight line heading half way across the street impeding car traffic potentially.

Communicating on mountain sides

What are those symbols on the side of this mountain? How do they get there? Who puts them there? And why?
We took both of these pictures in Ollantaytambo which is part of the Sacred Valley in Peru.

The Inka's designers and architects modified mountains
to pay tribute to their gods. Ollantaytambo is a settlement
of the Inka's elite from the mid 1500s. Find the
 face in the middle left section of this image. Probably
represents an important god. (The dominant feature in
the middle are storehouses for the harvest)

Signage cut into mountains was a
common sight in Peru. This one
we spotted in the Sacred Valley. They
are usually political in nature and may
 promote political ideas.

In Peru we encountered a variety of symbols cut into the mountain sides. These were often visible from miles away and usually served political purposes: they promoted a political party or candidates for mayor or parliament, for instance.

This form of 'communicating' reaches back a long time in Peru. For instance, even though the Inca Empire lacked a written language, it did not lack in scientific and communicative prowess. It designed its Sacred Valley outside of Cuzco, Peru to mirror religious aspects of the Milky Way as they perceived it. 

Election advertising in Argentina

I saw this poster wall in Buenos Aires, Argentina in January. The current president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, followed her husband into the presidential role when he could not run again due to the country's constitutional limit. He would have been eligible to run again after being out of office for one term (in contrast to the US system, for instance), had he not died in the fall of 2010.

Here the competitive positioning the opposition has chosen is "Thinking always about you" and the candidate's signature. Now, granted I do not keep up much with daily political life in Argentina. But I am intrigued by the implication of this competitive positioning. It is a thoroughly positive line with thoroughly negative implications, thus, possibly portraying a real choice without the personal attacks designed to confuse and obfuscate that have become the mainstay of US and Canadian electioneering.

As an aside, love the light blue tie on white shirt - so easy to wear the Argentine flag and show a bit  of patriotism. 

Pensando en vos siempre. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Palermo district.

Election advertising in Peru

Just as the Canadian parliament was getting back to work this week, the ruling Conservative Party released election ads for a day that were derided as a personal attack on the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and debunked as inaccurate - not to say lies -  on top of that. Of course, there is no election on in Canada  but that hasn't held the governing party back from running ads year round that literally "brand" the competition as "American" and "just visiting". In case you can see the irony in that.

This house is in a remote place called Janca Pampa that

 we visited in October 2010. Alcalde = mayor. 

In any case, it reminded me of something slightly more quaint on the election advertising front:
I was intrigued with a particular form of advertising used widely across Peru and other Latin American countries. People let politicians or political parties paint part of their house in white and then add their political message - for a fee.

Painted houses as we know them in Canada, for instance, are rare in the Peruvian countryside, where most houses are still built using adobe construction. The political messages are usually very simple: mark your "x" in my box. They are also highly visual. In fact, political parties in Peru use highly visual references in their party logos as you can see on that page of regional parties in Ancash province of Peru.

These messages often stay intact for years. How exactly the payment schemes work I don't know, for instance, do they use traffic studies to determine payment, are there per annum flat fees, where does the money come from to pay the local people?

Nonetheless, I hope you'll enjoy this selection of Peruvian election ads. Note: when there was a key message beyond "vote for me" it usually was about "change", "regional power" and "clean hands in government". Pretty simple and tells you a few things about what some of the concerns of the people might be.

Nueva Era is also a regional party.
Here it promotes a
Mayoral candidate

Vote for the team with "clean hands"
ie not corrupt.

Moviemento Independiente  Regional Puro Ancash

Mayoral race marketing. The crossing
out refers to what people are asked to do:
Vote for me!

Global brand in local market

Palermo district, Buenos Aires

Can you see it?

Yes, it's on the municipal street sign. Click on the photo and enlarge it. There it is! Ah, that's ubiquitous advertising.

Claro and Nokia. Claro is a telecomm company, while Nokia continues to be the number 1 mobile phone maker in the world.

Does your city use street signs for corporate brand awareness? This was everywhere in BA.

By the way Claro's tagline is "Es simple. Es claro." Which is a fun play on words. ("Simple" doesn't mean exactly the same as "simple" in English, but is used more in the sense of "plain, simple-minded", even though here I think "simple" does translate well, while "claro" stands for "OK" or "yes" as well as "clear" or "clearly") Not sure what it does for brand equity that "claro" is one of the words we heard most often when people wanted to express agreement with something - That's got to be good for this rather large Telecom operating in various countries in South America.

Nokia uses its "Connecting People" tagline in Argentina in English as it does around the world. I guess "pueblo conectando" - or the German translation of "Menschen verbinden" didn't pass muster with the global brand guardians.

Santa Claus in La Paz

There are many fun parts to travelling. One relevant in this space is how being in a different place changes how we see ads like the one below.

While visiting La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, this past November we came across this Coca-Cola ad using the famous Santa Claus and the wonderful line, "Together we make magic reality."

There are so many interesting layers to this photo:

• A Coca-Cola ad featuring Santa on a snowy, starry night backdrop the Southern hemisphere in November (that's spring heading for summer)
• Santa as spokesperson for Coca-Cola (who else does pull this off?)
• That jolly big man drinking his Coca-Cola
• The Santa image, it is said, has been shaped significantly by Coca-Cola advertising going back to1931
• A Coca-Cola ad in Bolivia where Coca leaves are a large crop some destined for traditional uses and some for let's call it "export"and that doesn't even have anything to do with the Coca-Cola formula
• The statue in the foreground is of Simon Bolivar, Liberator of Bolivia from colonial (Spanish) rule, August 6, 1825.

Health of the Arts

The National Arts Index was released this week. And the news isn't good. The index for 2009 is the lowest in the 12 years of collecting this data. The declines in attendance of visual and performance arts continue, and equally troubling, is a marked decline in commercial arts including Broadway shows, movies and more. See the link for full details.

It's in this context that it's exciting to see the resilience and perseverance of artists. The newspaper headlines have recently been filled with traditional performing arts creating innovative work and collaborating in new and dynamic ways: the English National Opera hires film director Mike Figgis, Calgary Opera premieres The Inventor this week - a new Canadian work, Alberta Ballet creates works based on the music of Elton John and Sarah McLachlan, NAC English Theatre remounts a national Acting Company, England's National Theatre and Russia's Bolshoi Ballet partner with Cineplex to broadcast their productions in HD.

This is an exciting time to work in the arts - the level of creativity and collaboration have never been higher. Will attendance support this level of innovation and accessibility? I've got my tickets. I hope you do too.