World Wide Travel Center

I went home today for lunch and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had won two round trip plane tickets to any international airport! The mail came in this very seriously marked tear away package with specific delivery dates and everything. See below:

It also had a 1-800-809-6310 with a corresponding offer # to verify after I call. So, not wanting to waste any time on redeeming my two newly minted tickets, I called in.

The woman that picked up the phone did not identify herself by “US Airlines” as the airline ticket I received in the mail said. She said she was from World Wide Travel. I was confused. She asked me for my “offer number” on the back of the ticket. I gave it and she verified the spelling of my name.

I am not as lucky as you might think. As it turns out it is for a company in Beavercreek, OH called World Wide Travel Center http://worldwidetravelcenter.com

She then started reading (funny how you can tell when people do that on the phone) me her canned pitch. It went something like this:

“Mr. Lewis, this free travel offer is not a timeshare. Also, it is only available for couples who make more than $45,000 per year and have a valid credit card. Do you fit that category? Ok, Great. We would like to invite you into our office for a 90 minute proposal to discuss your travel needs and at the conclusion of that session you will receive your two free tickets to any international airport. Can we schedule you tonight, tomorrow, or Friday at 6PM?”

*CLICK*

Unfortunately this type of “Advertising” goes on all too frequently. I felt like I was in Orlando trying to get free tickets to Disney Land after hearing how I needed to buy an $185,000 time share and how rich it would make me. These, probably bogus, offers are the worst way to develop a client base. It leaves almost everyone your business comes into contact with feeling slighted. Plus, imagine the sharks that would actually come to the travel “appointment” and sit there only to want to get something for free with absolutely no intention of spending a dime. Does that sound like good business?

Have any of you received this same mailing? Would you have gone to the meeting?

Dayton has a new brand name

I believe in the power of Branding. In business to consumer marketing there is little that is more powerful or valuable than your brand name. It is the reason we buy most all of our household items every day. Brand names reduce the perceived risk in purchasing decisions. We all remember when P&G hit it on the head: “Choosy Moms Choose Jiff”.

It also works in a Business to Business situation. GE aircraft engines are fantastic. I could not afford to buy one as one consumer, but airlines want their clients to feel comforted in the quality engines that they do buy. GE reduces the perceived risk of an airline, and by extension the airline passenger, with their strong reputation and brand name.

This does not work with the Government Sector.

I am sure many of you have read the recent Dayton Daily News Article about Dayton’s new Brand Name. Visit the link to the article. To summarize, it cost $95,000 to come up with that title and look. It will cost $50,000 this year for a local marketing firm to manage the brand name.

This is what we got for $145,000.00

The only problem is this: When in the history on man kind has anyone moved a business to a city because of a brand name or slogan? I am not sure how much more plainly I can say this: Never.

If the end goal of this new brand name is to spend tax payers’ money, then I think the project was a success. If they had any other goal in mind, they are going to be once again scratching their heads wondering why the businesses didn’t come flooding in due to our new brand name and slogan.

We all know of places that are growing: Silicon Valley, the “Tech Triangle” in North Carolina and even to use an international example, Dubai. Do you think that they changed their slogan and growth happened? Of course not, that is a ridiculous conclusion.

So, what did they do with their money if not invest it in a catchy slogan? The Tech Triangle courted all of those businesses by offering hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives. What did Dubai do? The same thing. Silicon Valley? You guessed it. Those businesses were courted by tax rebates and incentives galore. The results speak for themselves in these three different situations.

It is out of ignorance that a city like Dayton would be willing to spend $145,000 on a slogan rather than investing in tax incentives (in whatever form they may take) to keep current and court new businesses to the region. States and cities do not need slogans or brands. They need effective policies that manage their current mix of businesses and court new ones on a continuous basis. Each city is in competition with each other city to court these businesses. No business will move to a place unless there is some financial incentive.

To do anything else would be Patently Stupid.

Toyota Prius = Marketing Mastery

It was a month ago that I first read about the Toyota Prius adding solar panels to the top of their sunroof by 2010. At first thought, that is brilliant. As a driver is cruising down the road they can charge their battery even faster and use even less gas. Why didn’t I think of that?

While Toyota expects that the solar panels could increase mileage this is not the reason why they are adding solar panels to the sunroof.

It is obvious that Toyota has done their marketing research. In Japan especially, but also the US and Europe, people like to take naps in their car at lunch time with the air conditioning on full blast. They spend the 40 or so minutes cooling off in their car with the engine running. A waste of fuel? You bet. By watching this behavior and conducting focus groups Toyota recognized a need from the consumer and figured out a way to help these lunch time nappers. As it turns out, the surface area of one Prius sunroof would be just enough electricity to run the air conditioning.

Will this sell more Toyota Priuses? Not immediately. Will this increase customer loyalty? You had better believe it.

Customer loyalty is one of the most important metrics in the auto sales industry. As everyone knows it costs much less to keep a current customer than to go searching for new ones. More to the point, it has been proven that people who buy the same brand and model of car to replace their current brand and model of car are willing to pay about 3% more than a person new to that brand.

So, imagine you have the largest market share of hybrids, which Toyota does, and you have a relatively inexpensive way to “wow” them into only shopping for your cars again by showing you understand their lifestyle. It is a no-brainer. It is all of these little things that the “Big Three” in Detroit are missing. They do not effectively conduct marketing research which leads to products that consumers do not want to buy.

It is easy to see why Prius owners have such a high satisfaction rate with their car. They feel completely understood.

The impact to the Prius customer: 100% satisfaction

The impact to Toyota: 3% higher margins

The Big Three: Discounting SUV’s and Trucks

Ticketstumbler.com

Tickets! Tickets!

Have you ever tried to find the absolute lowest price for an event online?

I bet that you used Stub Hub and weren't sure if you were getting the best deal. Then you went to Great Seats and compared the two. Maybe you were extra ambitious and then used Ticket City and compared all three.

Wouldn't it be nice if you had one place to go to be absolutely sure that you were getting the best deal?

Enter www.Ticketstumbler.com






Like all good web2.0 applications Ticketstumbler is one of those cool new tools to save you time. It allows you to search with all kinds of new found freedom such as: "NFL Cincinnati" or "Detroit Red Wings February" or even just a date like "August 23rd". Ticketstumbler then scans all of the other ticket sites on the internet and gives you results from every one of them. Think of it as a nexus of ticket information.

Although it is a fairly new site it is already as slick as can be. Ticketstumbler is doing to ticket searching what Expedia.com did for travel. I rarely even go to an airline's website anymore.

As it turns out, it looks like I wont be going to any other ticket site anytime soon either.

Enjoy!

Oregon District New Plan - Too little too late?

On July 24th 2008 the Director of planning and development "approved a new strategic plan...designed to better integrate the popular neighborhood with greater downtown and compete with other entertainment destinations"

This, of course, is in reference to the Oregon District. The first thing that will happen is the parking lot next to Gem City Records will be completely redone. If any of you have eaten at Thai9 for lunch recently you don't need me to point out that this is sorely needed.

In the Dayton Daily News article it was stated:

"The five-year plan identifies goals, weakness and opportunities for the Oregon District. Among the goals:

• Create a sophisticated mix of uses to form an "authentic live-work-play" district.

• Connect the district with the region by improving access and image.

• Maintain a vibrant and comfortable urban ambiance."

Some of the weaknesses mentioned were:

• Lack of retail and service uses
  
• Parking shortages (see my article below about The Greene and their parking nightmare)
  
• Parking safety issues
  
• A worn appearance
  
• Saturation of adult bookstores and adult-oriented uses.

I agree with both the positives and negatives.

I view the Oregon District as a more "blue collar" place. Many bikers, lots of tattoos, lots of piercings and the occasional young male involved in a "domestic disturbance". Most of the bars I would frequent have their own uniformed security guard, not a bouncer, at the front door.

Unfortunately it is kind of a culture clash currently. For instance: There was a huge backlash on the smoking ban in Ohio from the Oregon District bar owners. Their claim was that they would lose business due to the number of patrons who smoked. This was basically an isolated opinion that clearly did not represent the rest of the community's opinion. As it turns out the smoking ban has helped. A friend of mine is related to the owner of Oregon Express and their business is doing better than ever.

If they get rid of the safety concerns, improve parking and lighting, and encourage a few new cool bars and restaurants, the Oregon District has a very real chance of competing against The Greene. I am excited to see what they will come up with. Until then I am planning on voting with my dollars and going to places that are safe, clean and fun.

The Greene - No Parking!

It occurred to me some time between when I was driving around in circles trying to park at The Greene and in the middle of my 3 mile run at Urban Active that The Greene has a serious problem. No Parking is available. It is borderline criminal!

The Greene is fantastically popular and it definitely has a share of my wallet. I visit The Bars and Restaurants often and belong to Urban Active. I noticed that it does get insanely busy on the weekends, which is to be expected at a mall, but recently that traffic has bled into the weekday. I can barely find a parking spot to go work out for 45 minutes on a Tuesday night at 8:00PM.

This problem was a long time coming. I first recognized it may be a problem when I compared Easton to The Greene. Easton has a huge multi level parking garage in addition to the surrounding ground parking. Even at Easton it is barely enough. The Greene has fewer stores, and drastically less parking. It only compounds the problem that they are attempting to add a third level onto the parking that is in between Bar Louie and Urban Active and have temporarily closed half of the parking garage.

It is at Urban Active on the second floor where I find my self running on a treadmill watching people endlessly circle half of the parking that is left. I almost start to laugh when I realize that just 15 minutes ago that was me, pulling my hair out, trying to simply get a work out in.

I think the parking will get worse before it gets better, but what a negative perception problem to have. It reminds me of a Yogi Berra quote: “Nobody goes there anymore…it’s too crowded.”

Good grief, hurry up and fix the parking problem!