Measuring Up

Dinner and a movie redefined

My wife and I took nearly a dozen 11-year olds to the movies this weekend to celebrate our son’s birthday. We  had heard a lot about AMC Movie Theaters’ progressive, new offering "Fork and Screen" which includes actually eating a ‘gourmet’ dinner while watching the movie. Naturally, everyone was wondering how the set-up, food choices and overall experience would change from what had always been the norm. Here’s my own Siskel and Ebert review on the New AMC experience.

For starters, there’s no doubt that this is a true transformative change to the consumer movie experience.
For those who’ve yet to experience those first theaters that have been altered, AMC recreated its lobby to look more like a swanky bar. And, its theater has been completely redone to feel more like a dark lounge where one might come to listen to Robert Goulet or Burt Bacharach perform their singing acts versus watching  an action flick (like the Green Hornet). There is definitely a more positive upbeat vibe about the theater, as well. The seats are much more comfortable leather recliners. Every row has long, black tables in front of them and because they’ve removed probably about forty percent of the seats, there’s enough leg room to make you believe you’re not in a move theater anymore.

Then there’s the menu. That’s the biggest change. Lobster ravioli and steak tips. Fancy drinks and high end beers. And, cheesecakes and mousses for desserts. Of course, they offer run of the mill appetizers (potato skins, wings) and the typical popcorn, candy and soda for everyone who comes to the movies expecting some of the same.

I thought it was all pretty cool.  We never tried any of this new fare, but some of the guests near us commented that it beats the Olive Garden. Of course, that comment could be taken many different ways (for the record, we represent T.G.I Friday’s, a competitor in the marketplace).  Even the overall price of everything combined was appealing. The movie itself now cost $20-$23 per ticket.  That seems awfully expensive. But, it isn’t once you realize that the theater also provides a $10 credit on each ticket for food. Since 11 kids really only ate popcorn, some candy and sodas, I probably saved a little money in the end. My guess is that AMC’s real target here are adults who will eat more substantively and drink numerous alcoholic beverages. That’s probably the money maker for them.

The most bizarre part (because my senses just didn’t expect it) was the waiters delivering pints of beer, margaritas and full entrees throughout the movie to various tables. It didn’t interfere with my movie experience, although I found myself on half a dozen occasions staring at trays, wondering what beverages or foods people were ordering.

The only negative experience we had (and it did take away from the movie) was the service. In the past, it was pretty simple. I bought popcorn and soda in the lobby and then went directly to my seat and started eating during previews and throughout movie. Now, they take your orders when you’re in the seats before the movie starts. First we received our drinks, but that wasn’t until after the previews had ended. Then, everyone was handed popcorn about 10 minutes into the movie. Finally, the kids received their candy approximately 15 minutes after that. Kind of a buzz kill from a desired eating standpoint. And, instead of watching the movie, you’re left staring at the doors wondering when the rest of your food will arrive.

At Peppercom, we’ve started focusing more and more on how our clients’ customers experience their brand and how that may differ from the messages and overall positioning that the client is currently communicating. It’s really fascinating to see how and where break downs typically occur. My guess is that AMC is still in the early stages of tinkering with this new business model. It’s clearly a game changer for the industry.  By understanding the good and bad of these first customer experiences, AMC can clearly create a more consistent, appealing  and successful consumer offering moving forward.  Let’s see if they utilize these comments to improve.

My review so far, two thumbs up.

The leak that roared

Today's guest post is by Peppercommer Matt Purdue.

It is a PR pro's nightmare and a journalist's dream come true.

The leak. 

Leaks are making news at a rate not seen since Deep Throat in the 1970s. Of course, there's WikiLeaks, masterminded by the creepy Julian Assange. Today the media is hot on the story of a Swiss banker who leaked information about rich tax evaders to Assange’s brainchild. But other leaks also abound. Goldman Sachs recently announced that it was going to bar US clients and all employees from investing in Facebook because someone leaked information about the deal to the media. Goldman is rightfully concerned that all the media attention could be construed as a violation of the prohibition against publicly soliciting a private placement deal.

With the economy stagnant and mistrust of our government and financial institutions running high, leaks are bound to happen. Disgruntled individuals with an axe to grind love to spoil a mar/comm executive’s day by leaking classified data.

So what's a PR pro to do to mitigate the risk of leaks and minimize their damage? Here are some tips:

Educate and train: Regularly remind all agency and client stakeholders that anyone caught leaking sensitive information will be disciplined and face legal action.

Password protect sensitive documents: It takes about three seconds in Microsoft Word to password protect a file. That password can then be shared with only folks who need to know it.

Use a document sharing site: Instead of emailing documents, set up a password-protected mini-site (a private version of GoogleDocs) where people can upload, view and download important files. These sites also enable users to track who viewed what files and when.

Pick up the phone: Secret emails and texts have a notorious knack for ending up in the Wall Street Journal. If you don’t want to see it in print, don’t type it. If you have a sensitive issue to discuss, use your voice.

Be your own leak: Happens all the time in politics. If you have super-sensitive info to disseminate, consider setting up an exclusive with a friendly journalist before you blast to the news to the world.

Have a crisis plan: Leaks happen. There is no excuse for lacking a strategy to deal with them. Denial is usually the worst option. But if you act fast with smart messages to key media outlets, you might be able to get out in front of the leak as soon as it occurs. Keep in mind that a leaker usually provides information to only one or a few media outlets. If you go to that outlet’s competition, you may be able to bend their ear. No reporter likes being scooped.

Give me sun, beaches and warm blue skies…

I am sick of winter. Let me restate that differently– I really hate this winter.

In the Northeast, we’re having record snow (and ice) falls. It feels as though the temperature never rises much above 25 degrees. And, I can’t remember the last time the wind wasn’t pushing me a step or two backwards. In my mind, this all adds up to misery.

I’ll be honest. As I’ve gotten older, the cold has become less and less appealing. And, my family just isn’t enthralled with all those things most people do during the winter to have fun. We’re pretty bad skiers (remind me to tell you about the time I broke a rib attempting to ski in the frozen tundra of Canada). We don’t really enjoy skating and, overall, we typically cry bah humbug during each subsequent snow fall that takes place.

Yes. I’d like to be living or at least visiting somewhere warm right about now. But like many, I also have a day job in New York City. And, my kids are tied to their schools in New Jersey. So, what can a guy do?

Not much. Except, I can focus (for the rest of this post) on how so many feel the exact opposite way I do. There are thousands of industries/companies/brands that simply love frozen weather like this. The colder and longer it endures, the happier they become. That’s because they feast on every consumer whim and need to make scores of $$$. It isn’t hard to find them. The smarter companies have found ways to market themselves online, in commercials and just about everywhere else we go or turn to.

In no particular order, here’s  a bunch that exploit my misery in every way:

-    Cough and cold medications – I don’t think there’s one person in the Northeast who hasn’t gotten some cold, cough, flu or stomach bug or some viral ailment that has spread rapidly because of the cold. I went to the drug store yesterday to get a new supply of day and nighttime cold medicine. It might just be my perception, but it looked like there are two or three additional shelves filled with two to three times more products. I just checked some research online. Seems that over the counter cold products have increased their sales by 30 percent over this time last year. Bad winter means great seasonal sales for these companies.
-    Resort vacations – Turn on the TV, or click onto a popular online news site. You can’t miss all the promotions for vacation spots to warm places. Just this morning, I saw ads for: The Breakers, Sandals in Jamaica, Barbados, San Diego, The Keys and the Cayman Islands.
-    Public utilities – Have you looked at your heating bill for December yet? Ouch! It’s about 110 percent higher than it was in November. Sure, it’s supposed to be higher… but that is a gigantic increase. This winter should prove to be one of the most profitable on record for any utility in this neck of the woods.
-    Snow removal products – Ice melting salt, shovels, scrapers, snow blowers, snow throwers, etc….They are all selling like hotcakes. This weekend, I happened to be in a Lowes. A shop person told me that they had to replace these products three times as quickly as normal because the turnover is just so high.
-    Winter apparel manufacturers- By now, one would think that most people have bought their heavy winter coats, gloves, scarves, hats, etc. Not true. Or, maybe they just want to have reinforcements. I actually went looking for a new winter coat the other day. The department in this store was mobbed with many doing just the same.
-    Hot cocoa brands – Kids love hot cocoa during the winter. After a little sledding or fort building, that’s the go-to drink for any kid. I bet Nestle and other category brands are making out like bandits these days.
-    Soup brands – Same goes for soup. A little research shows that the soup industry has unusually high sales of their soup products now. Nothing like a good ol’ bowl of Chunky Chicken Noodle for lunch to warm the bones.
-    Vitamin companies – Vitamins are products that consumers turn to during times when sickness is everywhere. We’re seeing serious sales of vitamin C now. I’d say the overall desire for any pill that can increase the body’s vitality and offer help in warding off colds has risen greatly.

Nothing more than organized gambling…

For those who haven’t figured it out yet, our financial markets are laughable. The last collapse, that began in 2007, scared many away. But, it’s actually the recent rise over the last 4-6 months which has me more concerned. You see, there’s no rhyme or reason as to why the Dow Jones Index and others continue to climb steadily.

Sure, jobs are coming back slowly. And, there seems to be a more optimistic view that our economy will become a tad healthier in 2011. But, none of this was apparent in the third and fourth quarters of 2010 when the Dow Jones Average jumped from a miserly low of 9,500 points to over 11.500 by the end of last year. And, every day we still see plenty of negative indicators largest public companies and state and local governments that all isn’t well from a growth standpoint.

My feeling is that for the average Joe, investing in our financial markets is no different than playing craps or blackjack in a casino.  The only real distinction (and positive) with playing blackjack or craps at a casino is that a player can actually understand what his/her odds are to win (even though those chances might be ever so small). For the average investor, the belief that a level playing field existed used to provide a lot of comfort. Most felt that they would be taken care of in the long run if they invested in fairly safe and conservative bets over their working lives. We all know now that this belief is nothing more than a mirage. The reality is that huge institutional forces can (and will) coerce excess and greed into almost any investment marketplace. Because of this, no one individual investor can ever truly feel confident that his/her portfolio will be safe, or far worse, when the markets might simply crash again.

Yet, it’s pretty ironic that most of continue to operate in a mindless sheep-like fashion. We herd once again in packs to these same stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investments. We all seem to have incredibly short memories because everyone is feeling pretty darn good now. Why not…the markets and our investment portfolio values continue to grow each and every month. So, on paper, everything looks wonderful again.

So, what’s a person supposed to do?  Most working Americans use their 529 and 401k plans as the number one vehicle to save for college and retirement. I’m no financial expert, but it is easy to see that without year to year gains in tax free (or tax deferred) investments in these types of products, it would be almost impossible to save enough money for critical long term needs. Of course, this is a double edged sword because all that money invested may not be worth much of anything in three, five or nine years when the market quite possibly crashes again.

This reality is truly an untenable enigma (at least in my mind). The only seemingly rational move I can think of is to diversify whatever wealth/money one has into a variety of different investments (like real estate and plain old savings accounts) and to become that much wiser to any situation where our markets are rising too quickly for no apparent logical reason. Apart from that, we all need to never forget that anything that looks or feel too good to be true, is just that. So, don’t get hoodwinked again into believing that our financial markets are anything more than organized gambling.

This Apple is bittersweet

The holidays are over. And, it’s back to work as usual.

This holiday season was pretty typical for my family. My kids received lots of gifts. And as usual, they each fell head over heels in love with one specific present that they were longing for. They absolutely adore their new iPod Touchs. In fact, they jumped for joy the second they found theirs under our tree. Then, for the next three hours, my wife moaned and groaned with frustration.

You see, my wife attempted to set up iTunes libraries for each of my kids on our two computers. The problem (which shouldn’t really be one) is that each of us has existing accounts already on our respective computers. What happened next was actually sad. A seemingly routine task of loading up an iPod turned into one that erased some of my files, synched all of our downloaded music/videos over and over again on each other’s accounts, and ultimately, had my wife pulling her own hair out in utter contempt for Apple. Even the Apple Help Desk couldn’t make it work (she actually called on Christmas, but was automatically hung up on twice because no one was working that day). When she went to visit the Apple store at our local mall the next morning, they informed her that this is not their domain. So, it was back to the Apple Help Desk…or some other alternative.

Sometimes, “some other alternative” ends up being the better answer (though) because my wife’s friend Barrie was finally able to explain how each account now has to be operated manually when downloading any new purchases. Although the manual download takes an infinite more time (and patience) than the normal way, it’s critically important to each individual library, or my seven year old son could be stuck listening to Led Zeppelin and watching The Departed. Not good…

I don’t get Apple. On the one hand, this company is simply incredible from an innovation standpoint. It continually leads the market place by developing really cool and amazingly appealing products that consumers and businesses simply don’t want to live without. Then on the other, it baffles customers by creating mind boggling, backwards technology protocols that are so frustrating and completely unfriendly to consumers. It truly makes no sense.

Either Apple is purposely trying to make it difficult for any one computer to have more than one account, or the company simply doesn’t give a damn.  I thought about those theories and then decided to research a few blogs to find out if others are having the same issue and why they believe Apple allows it to happen.  What I found were dozens of posts from many Apple and iPod haters (I actually didn’t realize so many are so disgusted with the company). More to the point of this post, I read through a mish mash of various points of view which educated me some, but didn’t paint an either/or conclusion on why Apple does this. Instead, the truth lies somewhere within both my theories.

According to many, Apple just doesn’t care. It has a monopoly on this category (iPods). And therefore, it knows that these frustrations will not repel the masses from continually buying the next greatest versions when they come out. Others write about the more reasonable business rationale that Apple really doesn’t want its library content to be shared among family and friends (or it will lose money on sales). That’s why it is extremely difficult for families to successfully load more than one account on any given computer.

My guess is that the latter viewpoint is more realistic. But, either way it stinks.  Companies that sell products/technology which aren’t consumer friendly lose market share quickly when true competition begins to heat up in their industry. 2011 should be the year that Apple faces just this. Let’s see what happens…