SMS

I am pumped about the fact that my alma-mattar, McMaster University is hosting a competition aimed at rewarding students who can develop the best Experiential marketing campaign.  The nation wide competition is open to all undergraduate students enrolled in a full time Business program.  In my opinion, the contest is a “Donald Trump’s Apprentice" for Canadian students enrolled in a Business program.  I first heard about this from Mandeep Malik, one of my professors at university.  

Students are being asked to develop an Experiential marketing campaign for the launch of the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer (Mitsubishi is the title sponsor).  Students have to prepare a 10 page plan that includes all the details of solid advertising pitch, including details on the the creative platform, key selling benefits, target market,  campaign execution.  Participants are being asked to consider all elements of an integrated advertising campaign such as print, TV, online, mobile, etc.  The winner gets to pick between a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer or Eclipse and drive it away for free.  This is one of the richest competitions in Canadian university history, as the winner gets to keep the car.  Entries are due on Feb 7th and the winners will be announced on Feb 26th.  McMaster University is hosting an awards presentation on March 19th, where the winner will be honoured and given the keys to their new car.   

I love the fact that students are being given the opportunity to put all the theoretical knowledge that they have learnt to the test.  This competition gives them a chance to experience what it feels like to work in an advertising agency and pitch to clients.  Students will also have the opportunity to meet and network with the people in the Canadian ad industry at a social event being organized by the university.  These networking opportunities are great for any student thinking of a career in advertising.  Strategy Magazine, Media in Canada, BBDO, and OMD are some of the few companies have jumped on board to sponsor this competition. 

I can’t wait to see the pitches put forth by the best and brightest in our universities.  Kudos to the team of volunteers that are organizing this event.  Check out the competition's website for more details. 

More werid happenings, this time from India..

Man, I missed taking part in the first ever multi-day autorickshaw race in India.  For those of you who have not been to India or do not know what an autorickshaw is, check out this link.  Basically it’s a three wheel people mover I that is a very popular mode of transportation in India. 

It seems that a budding entrepreneur from south India (from the state of Tamil Nadu) has put together a multi-day race called the Autorickhsaw Challenge.  I am surprised he was allowed to do this as the Indian authorities as they are trying to ban autorickshaw racing.  Being in an autorickshaw, I can attest to the adrenaline rush that you experience when sitting in one of these machines.  I would have loved to race one of these machines.  What fascinates me the most is that approx 43 drivers from all over the world applied to race and most of them had never driven in India, forget driving an autorickshaw.  From what I can tell, the Autorickshaw Challenge was similar to the Amazing Race.  Participants had to perform a variety of tasks over the 8 day rally that spanned more than 1000 kilometres.  Each driver was awarded points for tasks that they completed successfully.  A British husband and wife duo won the race; man that trophy could have been mine. 

On a serious note, I believe autorickshaw racing could be a huge sport in India.  The Indian government needs to setup a governing body that will develop rules to ensure safe racing.  This association can organize multiple races that will allow people to race autorickshaws in a safe and controlled environment.  This will also provide autorickshaw drivers an avenue to earn some extra money to supplement their income (most of them earn minimal wages).  I also feel that an entertainment based ecosystem will form around this sport that will result in additional money being injected into the local economies.  I am sure local TV channels will want to broadcast these races, local companies will want to sponsor these drivers and people will want to place bets on the multiple races.  This kind of injection of cash will be most beneficial to the rural parts of India.  You never know, I might quit my day job to become an autorickshaw racer, although, I don’t think autorickshaw racers will have groupies following them everywhere :) 

I guess they are in Australia.  I came across an article about a company that is publishing their magazine on a water bottle.  I was reading Air Canada's inflight magazine and stumbled upon this unique method of distributing content.  Australians who want to read the iLove lifestyle magazine have to buy a 600 ml water bottle as the magazine is wrapped around the bottle.  The 32 page magazine is targeted at trendy woman "on the go" and is available in 6 different versions on a monthly basis.  I assume the magazine also encourages its readers to ensure they get their daily dose of water while reading. :) 

Modern Media Concepts (publishers of iLove) claim that they are the first and only magazine on a bottle in the world, a claim that I do not doubt.  I think it is cool marketing technique that will allow the publishers to stand out in a market that is packed with competitors.  The company also won multiple awards for this concept at the Water Bottle Design awards (who knew they had awards for best water bottle designs!).

So is the magazine any good?  Modern Media indicates that they have a minimum weekly circulation of 150,000 bottles.  So, i guess women are thirsty for their does of iLove while gulping down refreshing spring water.  Modern Media certainly has people intrigued with the concept and are taking in online with a decent online presence.  iLove's site seems a little light but does have some interactive components.  The company even has a section on their website on how to read their water bottle magazine.  

I am fascinated by the new and cool ideas people come up with to sell their product and stand out against the competition.  Companies who want to be part of this unique trend can also choose to advertise in the iLove bottle magazine.  Any company wanting to target 16-25 year old women in Australia should take note and might want to contact the folks at iLove. 

I cant wait until someone launches a similar product in Canada. 

This is not the kind of publicity that Nintendo was looking for, but I guess they have a bit of an issue on their hands.  A lady in the US died of water intoxication while trying to win the Nintendo Wii (I didn't even know this was possible until I came across this article).  She took part in a contest organized by her local radio station as she wanted to win a Wii console for her kids.  The contest was designed to see who could consume the most amount of water without going to the washroom.  Although it is an unique idea for a contest, the radio station should have done some due diligence on possible risks associated with their plan.  In addition, I am appalled at the response of the radio station when they learnt about one of their listeners passing away as a result of their contest.  They should have done something for her and her family, maybe even started a trust fund for her kids or in her name.  I guess that is not a high priority on the station's agenda.  They are probably freaked out and in conversations with their legal team to ensure that they don't get sued.  I am also disappointed that Nintendo has not responded and done something for her family.     

Seems like 2006 was a bad year for Sprint Nextel in the US.  The carrier recently released their 2006 year end results and provided revised guidance for 2007.  Sprint has not faired well in 2006 as the integration of Nextel`s iDen network has not been as smooth as it expected.  Sprint has been busy with the integration efforts and I feel this has resulted in them being too internally focused and have thus lost touch with their customers and their needs.  This just goes to show that acquisitions are not always a positive thing for a company.  It is ironic though, that TELUS Mobility has been able to successfully operate 2 networks (CDMA and iDEN) and also boasts one of the lowest churn rates in North America. 

Attached are some of the highlights from the Sprint release:

• Revenues in 2007 will be flat compared to 2006.  Sprint indicates 2007 revenues will be in the $41-t0-$42 billion range.
• ARPU will continue to fall as Sprint will offer unlimited calling as part of a new CDMA based product for Boost customers.
• 2007 will be the year of billing integrations for Sprint and if they do not execute them well, churn will sky rocket.  The folks at Sprint should talk to their friends at Bell Mobility, who had to incur high churn due to botched billing system integrations a few years ago. 
• Sprint lost 306,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2006.  Most of this churn occurred due to issues with their iDen network.  Such high churn will not sit well with the industry pundits as it reflects Sprint's lack of ability to retain its clients and thus recoup any acquisition costs and generate positive cash flow.  I believe this churn will continue as Sprint works to resolve all the issues its faces on its iDen network. 
• Sprint is also planning to lay off 5,000 employees in 2007.  The majority of these lay offs will occur in the first quarter of this year.  This will further impact morale for Sprint employees and will negatively impact clients, thus further adding to churn.
• The capital expenditures are going to be up in 2007 to $8.5 billion
• Sprint will increase their capital expenditure as it spends $300 million on WiMAX in 2007, and that amount is expected to increase in 2008.  In addition, Sprint has indicated that it will spend more money on setting up an additional 4,800 cell sites.  This will result in Sprint maintaining 67,000 cell sites, when compared to 26,00 for Verizon and 45,000 for Cingular.  I hope the majority of this investment in infrastructure is on the iDen side to resolve the numerous issues faced by clients on that network.

I stayed away from piling on about the iPhone over the last few days as everyone was gushing over the device.  I have read quite a few posts on the iPhone, some listing the specs and other talking about the pros and cons of the device.  I thought I would share some of my thoughts with my readers as well. 

I am truly amazed by the iPhone, I think it’s a great example of innovation in the mobile industry and innovation is always good for the consumers.  As a consumer, I also think the release of the iPhone will increase competition between the hardware vendors and consumers will benefit from this increased competition.  I do not want to spend too much time on discussing the specs for the phone but I am really excited about their Visual Voicemail feature.  I believe this feature has been developed in conjunction with Cingular.  Visual Voicemail allows you to point to any voice message and directly listen to it without listening to the preceding ones.  This is really cool.  One of the major issues with PDAs nowadays is the battery life and I am happy to say that the 5 hours of "talk time" on the iPhone is quite impressive.  Now that I am done swooning over the features that I liked, back to what I wanted to talk about in the first place.  

Most of the features of the iPhone already exist in various Windows Mobile devices today, so why all the hype and will this device gain significant traction against the heavy hitters like Motorola, Nokia, etc?  I read a post on Gizmodo comparing the functionality of the iPhone against the functionality of a Windows Mobile device and I think the author touches upon a very key point.  The success of the iPhone depends on the user experience not the amount of technology and functionality that Apple has packed into the device.  People will be willing to adopt the iPhone if it works better than the existing BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices in market.  People are looking for devices that just work and make it simpler to stay in touch with their information and their loved ones.  Is it easier to make a call, read an email, access your voicemail on an iPhone than other devices?  Does the battery life truly last 5 hours (and this is important for us road warriors)?  Is it faster to surf the web and easier to watch movies on this than a Windows Mobile device?  If the answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes, then Apple will have an edge over the competition. 

Based on the functionality of the iPhone, I feel this phone will appeal more to the young consumer segment VS the enterprise segment / business user.  Enterprise users prefer a device that is suited more for core messaging and Personal Information Management (PIM - Calendar, Notes, Task, etc).  The BlackBerry is a great example of this type of device.  It is great at email and has great PIM functionality.  The iPhone is more of multimedia device with which you can access your music, internet, videos, etc, similar to a Windows Mobile device.  

Kids that love to stay connected to all their email, music and media will want this device.  However Apple faces a challenge that mobile phone hardware manufacturers have struggled with for a long time.  How do you sell a $600 device to youths that are on very tight budgets?   I do not believe that a lot of kids can afford a $500-$600 device and I don’t think a lot of parents will be willing to buy their kids a $500-$600 device either.  Young adults will also crave this device but do the ability to pay for it. In addition, companies will not be willing to pay a whopping $500-600 per device per employee.  This is where RIM, Motorola, Nokia and Microsoft have often struggled, how to pack all the functionality without sacrificing user experience and yet making the phone affordable.  Cingular might subsidize the device heavily, but will do so, if they believe that they can recoup the subsidy through higher monthly revenues.  Again, kids and consumers shy away from paying $80-$100/month for their phone plan.  

My gut tells me that this device will be adopted by the masses (consumers in the young adult and teen categories alike) despite the high price point.  The cult following of iPod and Mac users will shell out this kind of money for a mobile phone produced by Apple.  We have seen it happen before with the gaming consoles, why can’t it happen with mobile phones?  Parents and kids are willing to pay $400+ for a Xbox 360, some were even willing to pay upwards of $1500 at launch for an Xbox.  Why?  It’s because of the status associated with the brand and the promise of a great experience associated with that brand.  Apple has built its brand, similar to Xbox and people are willing to pay a premium for it.  Kids will be willing to work an extra few shifts so they can afford to buy the iPhone.  All Apple has to do is ensure it delivers on that brand promise and provide the market with a great device that just works.  Oh and one more thing, Apple should work with the carriers to ensure that carriers provide rate plans that don't cost an arm and a leg.  I think it’s in the best interest of the carriers (and Apple) not to heavily subsidize the device upfront but charge a lower monthly fee. 

One thing is for certain, everyone is keenly awaiting the release of this phone. 

Everyone is betting on what will be the big trends in 2007.  I have seen blog posts predicting the trends in men's fashion to technology and the online space.  I have not come across any posts predicting the trends in the Canadian Wireless industry, so I thought I would create one of my own. 

I think the following will be big trends in the wireless industry in 2007

• Music on your cell phone - this will continue to be big, especially in the first half of 2007.  The much anticipated release of the iTalk from Apple will take downloading and listening to music to your phone to a whole new level.  The iTalk can also be used to watch videos on your cell phone.
• Watching TV and/or video clips on your phone.  Better phones combined with faster networks will make it easier and more affordable for people to watch videos on their cell phone.  This will lead to more people watching TV/video clips on their phone. 
• Social networking which includes podcasting and blogging from your phone should be big as more and more youth enter the realm of social networking on their desktop.  Carriers will have to take notice of the explosive growth of social networking sites and podcasting on the Internet and will want to monetize the trend by allowing consumers to blog/podcast from their very own phone. 
• Mobile Search will be a big area of focus for consumers and carriers alike.  Consumers can now access an ever increasing amount of media (pics, ring tones, music, videos, apps, games, etc) from their cell phone.  They will need a Search engine to find what they are looking for, either on their phone, on their carrier's WAP deck or even the internet.   
• Mobile application powered by Location Based Services such as mobile mapping solutions will start gaining popularity.  Mobile social networking apps overlayed with mobile mapping might also make it to market.
• Cheaper, cooler PDAs and the abundance of mobile email apps will lead to more people accessing email on the cell phones. 
• Mobile advertising, will it or wont it happen in 2007?  I don't think it will be huge in 2007 but I do think it will launch on a small scale in Canada. 
• After much talk and hype, local number portability will finally happen.  This should cause downwards pressure on the price of monthly cell phone plans. 
• The entrance of Amp'd Mobile in the Canadian wireless industry will shake up the dormant MVNO space.  This will also lead to more innovative marketing and bundling of services in the mobile prepaid arena in Canada

Lets see how many of these actually happen.

The folks at BlackBerry Cool are talking about RIM should start engaging the 18-24 year olds.  I agree with them that this is one of the most attractive segments for wireless carriers, yet challenging to engage.  They are also one of the most fickle user segments and will change their tastes at a drop of a dime.  If its no longer in fashion, then they wont be caught dead using the a particular device.  Steve St. Pierre at BlackBerry Cool recommends that RIM needs to abandon traditional advertising and start leveraging cool new marketing tactics to capture mindshare with this segment.  I think it will take a lot more than cool advertising for RIM to engage and start capturing this segment of users. 

People aged 18-24 do not have large disposable incomes and BlackBerry devices are not that cheap.  Once you add the monthly service fees that is required to use your Blackberry, you are way out of the price range of a 18-24 year old.  As Steve points out, a large proportion of these users still rely on their parents to help fund all or part of their existence.  I cannot see any parent that will be willing to shell out money to buy a BlackBerry and then pay for the monthly service fees for their kids. 

If RIM is serious about the capturing a share of the mass consumer market, they need to deploy a 3 pronged strategy; improve device form factor, reduce device cost and reduce monthly service fees.  RIM needs to work on developing more devices like the BlackBerry Pearl that would appeal to the youths of today.  The device needs to be small, sleek and light weight.  This is where RIM can leverage some celebrities to endorse these new cool models and also target the youth with some grass roots marketing campaigns in schools and universities.  Wireless Carriers are laser focused on reducing their cost of acquisition, thus they will not be very keen to offer deep discounts on the various BlackBerry models.  RIM will have to take the first step and offer these devices to the wireless carriers at a cheaper price.  By lowering the cost of the device to the carriers, we should see retail pricing for these devices drop considerably in the marketplace.  Lower device costs will also make a BlackBerry more attractive to the 18-24 year olds and their parents who are footing the bill.  The last component of the strategy will be a lot tougher for RIM to execute on.  Wireless carriers are enjoying the high profit margins resulting from wireless data revenues, especially revenues associated with PDAs such as the BlackBerry.  RIM will have to work very closely with the wireless carriers and convince them to reduce the monthly service fees for BlackBerry users or atleast come up with multiple low tier plans that will fit the tight budgets of 18-24 years olds.  This will be an uphill challenge for RIM as wireless carriers are hesitant to launch low tier plans and initiate a price war that will result in everyone losing revenue.  However, if RIM is successfully in executing on the 3 pronged strategy, the 18-24 market is their's for the taking.  18-24 year olds are hooked on Instant Messaging and SMS'ing, having a BlackBerry just makes it a lot easier. 

RIM is not alone in trying to woo the 18-24 year olds.  Handset manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola,etc are all trying to develop cooler versions of PDAs that will appeal to this target segment.  The Moto Q and the Samsung Blackjack are a testament to this.  Will the youth of today prefer BlackBerry devices or will they prefer PDAs running on the Windows Mobile software?  This remains to be seen. I will say though that if I was an 18-24 year, I would have preferred something like the Audiovox Smartphone, which was is a good blend between phone and PDA.  However, gone are the days when I fit in that age group :)

I came across an interesting article over the holidays on how Canadians are not purchasing as much online as their US counterparts.  The article was published on the Globe and Mail.com and it got me thinking about my recent experience with the Best Buy website.  The article talked about how Canadians are definitely browsing for merchandize online but do not seem to purchase them online.  The article quoted a survey that indicated that two-thirds of all Americans would shop online but only one-third of all Canadians would shop online.  Basically, Canadians like to browse and educate themselves online but then decide to head into a store rather than make the purchase online.  Given our broadband penetration, I thought that Canadians would be more willing to shop online then their counterparts south of the border.  There are numerous reasons listed in the article to explain this trend, major retailers such as Wal-mart do not offer e-commerce on their website, shipping durations are far too long and shipping costs are too high.  However, I think the article has missed a couple of key points on why Canadians are hesitant to shop online. 

I think the user experience while purchasing online is a key factor that has been over looked by the article.  Websites operated by retailers such as Canadian Tire, Best Buy, Future Shop, etc do not make it easy for you to purchase an item.   The process is cumbersome and slow at best.  The sites are not fast, the layout is not user friendly and actually paying for your purchase is the most tedious part of the whole experience.  Retailers have also instituted such strict fraud prevention systems on their Websites that it actually deters people from buying online.  Future Shop and Best Buy have one of the most tiresome fraud prevention systems that I have ever come across.  If your order is flagged by their system, you have to call their call center from the same number that you is entered on your profile.  This makes it impossible for anyone who is traveling or on vacation to successfully buy anything if their order has been flagged.  This happened to me last year when I bought a TV from Future Shop and their customer service rep called me and asked that I call her back from my home number.  I was traveling in the US at that time and was not returning for another 2 weeks.  They kept my order in pending state for 2 weeks and it basically took me close to 4 weeks to receive the TV.  Retailers pay a lot of attention to the client experience in the store and spend hours agonizing on how to merchandize items in the store itself, however they can do much better when it comes to their online presence. 

A great user experience is key to the adoption of any technology not only e-commerce.  Folks in the wireless industry predicted that data revenues would sky rocket as a result of the Internet browsers on your phones (WAP browsers), the launch of SMS and MMS services,etc.  People would be taking tons of pictures and videos and sending them to people through their phones thus generating data revenue.  Wireless carriers have realized that the user experience on a WAP browser pales in comparison to the browser on the desktop, thus people are not willing to use the browser on their phone unless its absolutely necessary.  The phone manufacturers have focused too heavily in the past on integrating MMS technology in the handset but have not spent enough time integrating the functionality on the phone with the carrier's network.  It is easy to take a picture or capture a video clip but it is very cumbersome to try to send it to anyone else using your phone.  Carriers are now focusing heavily on the user experience in its entirety to try to drive up adoption of data services.  Now that I have gone off on a tangent for a bit, let me get back to online e-commerce.   

Selling online allows the retailers to avoid costs related to sales commissions and the operation of their brick and mortar stories.  However, they are not willing to pass these cost savings to online shoppers.  If anything, they are penalizing the folks that are willing to shop online by charging them excessive shipping fees.  Tactics by retailers such as Future Shop during this past holiday season clearly prove my point.  Future Shop started charging shipping fees for any items purchased online during their Boxing day extravaganza.  They generally don't charge for shipping item to a store, however started doing that during this Boxing day sale.  To add insult to injury, they didn't clearly notify customers that they would be charging people shipping fees, when items are being shipped to a store close to them.  This type of activity has resulted in Future Shop being lambasted on communities such as Red Flag Deals.  Costco.ca is another site that has great deals but charges a lot for shipping any items that you have purchased.  If anything, shipping for any items purchased online should always be free and the cost of the item should be lower than the in-store prices.  If Internet based banks such as ICICI, President's Choice and ING can transfer cost savings to their clients in terms of no user fees and higher interest rates for savings accounts, then why cant the retailers pass on the cost savings to online shoppers?  It seems like Canadian retailers and merchants with an e-commerce presence on their site are not serious about attracting Canadians to buy online.   

Companies invest a lot in improving brand perception and raising the profile of their brand.  However, there are times when their brand is questioned by customers due to a poor experience they might have had.  It is at times like this when good customer service and empowering customer facing employees within your organization can help protect your brand, not to mention create good will within your customer base.  I recently had a negative experience at 2001 Audio Video, however their area supervisors were able to rectify the situation and have reinstated my faith in their brand and level of service provided.

Christmas was upon us and after a botched attempt to secure some cool gadgets at Best Buy.ca (read my earlier blog post), I decided to hone in on a 46" LCD Sony Bravia at 2001 Audio Video.  This particular TV is usually $3,500 but was marked down to $2,000.  It was clearly a loss leader and the chain had marked it as a door crasher with limited quantities per store (3 per store).  The same TV at Future Shop cost $500 more.  As there were only 3 per store, I would have to get to the store very early to ensure that I was able to get my hands on one. 

After wrapping up a Christmas dinner that ran very late, I decided to head to the store in Oakville.  I got there for 3.00am in the morning and as per my calculations, I was the first person to line up.  One of my friends who was also in the market for a TV decided to join me by 4.30am.   By the time the store opened at 8.00am, there were approx 200 people in line and at least 20 of them were interested in the same TV.  The store manager at 2001 Audio Video had not laid out a good process to deal with the crowd and this resulted in chaos in the store.  We were asked to approach any sales person, and they would ensure that we got the Sony LCD that we were after.  The sales person that was helping us wrote out the model number of the TV we were after on a piece of paper and asked us to head to the cashier to pay for the TV.  While we were paying for the TV, some of the sales people took other customers to the back of the store and rolled out the TVs we were after and gave it to them.  As a result, we had paid for the TVs but the store did not have TVs to give us and the other customers that had physical possession of the TVs had not paid for them as of yet but refused to give them up as they knew at this price, the TV was a steal.  The time stamp on our credit card receipts also showed that we had paid and thus purchased the TVs before the customers that had physical possession of the TVs.  

The store manager was one of the most incompetent people I have ever met and did not take decisive action.  When I tried to reason with him, he lost his cool and told me that he did not have time to waste with me and he was losing money talking to me.  He asked one of his sales people "to take care of me and get me out of his face".  He also blamed "head quarters" as they had not provided the stores with a process to handle the crowds.  After some healthy discussion, I realized that there was no point in continuing this discussion and I asked the cashier to process a refund on my credit card and left the store.  I did ask for the manager's card and the number for 2001 Audio Video's headquarters.    

A few days later, I called the headquarters of 2001 Audio Video and left a message for the area manager.  It took them 2 days and me leaving 2 messages for them to get back to me.  Here is where the area manager started to turn this very negative experience around for me and started to salvage the image and brand of his company.  The area manager listened to my complaint patiently, took some notes and indicated that I should have been provided the TV as I was first in line and had also paid for the TV.  He let me know that he would speak to the store manager about my complaint and wanted to verify my side of the story.  He did let me know that he would get back to me before the day was over.  True to his word, he called me back and told me that he had spoken to the store manager and Sony about the situation.  He was able to get us two more LCD TVs and would honour the Boxing day price.  We have now paid for the Sony TVs are awaiting delivery.  Although I feel that 2001 Audio Video should have done more to make up for the poor treatment I received in the store and the fact that I have to wait for three weeks to receive a TV, they did fix the core issue I had complained about.  I am now more willing to give 2001 Audio Video another chance and give them future business.  

Even though 2001 Audio Video is a small electronics store when compared to chains such as Best Buy, they have empowered their staff to make decisions and resolve their customer's issues.  This is very different from the treatment we received at Best Buy, where the customer service reps were not willing to fix an issue that resulted from poor planning and execution of their online Boxing day sale.  As mentioned before, Best Buy can afford to provide sub standard customer service as they are one of the biggest electronic retailers but the small chains like 2001 Audio Video have to fight to gain business and thus value it more.    

Being an avid reader of Red Flag Deals I was expecting all the dirt on the best Boxing day deals in town to be on the site.  Needless to say I was not disappointed, the good folks at Red Flag Deals also managed to post previews of most of the flyers before they were actually available in print to the general public.  Best Buy had a great deal on the Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote Control.  This was a web only deal.  The remote control sold for $299 usually and was on sale for $99.  This was not a necessity by any means but at that price, it was a great deal and as one of my colleagues had mentioned, I was on the prowl for a great deal.  :) 

Best Buy had sent out an email to everyone that subscribed to its mailing list letting them know that the Boxing day sale would start on December 24th as 8.00pm EST.  They indicated that the site would be down for a few hours, and would be up at 7.00pm EST for browsing.  They also mentioned that they would clear everyone's shopping carts to ensure no one had an unfair advantage.  At 8.00pm EST, the flood gates would be opened and the bargain hunters could go nuts.  My friend Puneet and I were ready in front of the TV relaxing, with our laptops ready to go shopping for some Logitech remote controls. 

At 8.00pm sharp, we entered the site and needless to say things started going downhill.  The site was barely up a few seconds past 8.00pm before it was overwhelmed by bargain hunters causing a huge spike in traffic to the site.  The site started crashing and would not let me in, fortunately for us Puneet had gotten in and had added a few of the remotes to his shopping cart.  The site crashed while he was checking out and I felt our remote controls slip away.  After multiple attempts, we managed to get in to the site but now we couldn't add the remote controls to the shopping cart.  A few more minutes went by and we tried again, however the remote controls were sold out at this point in time.  I was not surprised as the Best Buy website is always a disaster during the first few hours of their Boxing day sale.  I was disappointed though, as I had hoped Best Buy would have learnt from past mistakes and would have planned for the spike in traffic to their site.  Maybe they did plan for it, but they didn't do a great job at planning or executing as their website was up intermittently for the next 2 hours.   

Not to be deterred by the events of that had taken place on their site, Puneet called up their website support line and asked the rep to honour the deal and provide him with a Logitech remote at $99.  Puneet patiently explained what had happened and the rep acknowledged that the site had been down, yet indicated that he was not empowered to provide him the item at the lower price.  Puneet soon found out that speaking to a supervisor didn't help either. Based on the various posts on Red Flag Deals and various IRC channels, we knew that Best Buy had upset a lot of people.  Best Buy basically refused to help out the hundreds of people that had been disappointed as a result of their poor execution on their website.

Later on that night I reflected on what had happened on the Best Buy website and it got me thinking about the self inflicted damage to the Best Buy brand.  Companies are paying lots of money to attract, engage and delight the influentials and early adopters in their industry.  Companies are not only investing in mass marketing tactics but are also targeting influentials who can be their ambassadors in the market.  These influentials are the focal points of their social circles and people turn to them for advice on everything related to the industry.  The members of Red Flag Deals are exactly that, early adopters and influentials.  They pride themselves at sourcing the best deals and are recognized for it by their network.  If there is a group of people you don't want to upset, its the members of Red Flag Deals.  In addition, early adopters of technology are probably shopping online and Best Buy had also upset this sub segment of the market as well.  To add to this, it is more cost effective for Best Buy to sell items via its website as they don't incur any costs related to sales commissions, which are paid for items sold in the stores.  I understand that websites can be bought down by a huge spike in volume, however the companies that have a good customer support process in place can endure these unfortunate incidents.  It boggles my mind that Best Buy continues to disappoint key sub segments of its target base year after year.  They face a lot of heat from their customers but their level of service does not seem to improve with each passing holiday season.  I guess poor customer service is a luxury they can afford given that they are one of the biggest electronics retailers in the country.  Poor experiences such as this, just adds to the multitude of reasons why I don’t like to shop at Best Buy.

I thought I would continue blogging after I got back from my whirlwind trip to India.  However, that was not the case as I was immersed in office work that had piled up and was swamped until Dec 22nd.  The holidays will be the perfect time to get back into blogging, or so I thought.  Well to make a long story short, I didn't even open up Live Writer once over the holidays as I chose to spend time with family and friends. My laziness also prevented me from blogging :) A lot happened that I wanted to blog about but I never got around to it. 

Its the new year and one of resolutions is to be more disciplined about blogging.  Lets see if it holds up.

I will be presenting on the Pros and Cons of Introducing Blogs to Your Employees at the conference on New Media for Communications tomorrow.  The conference is being held at the Pantages Suites Hotel in Toronto.  The conference is a two day conference and starts tomorrow (Nov 28th).  I will be presenting at 1.00pm and cant wait.  It should be a great experience and I cant wait to see how the audience reacts to the material I present. 

I came across an article on BusinessWeek.com about Vodafone's bullish stance on mobile social networking services.  It will be interesting to see which online social networking service Vodafone partners with in the next few months.  I am glad to see that Vodafone is finally moving into the social networking sphere.  The Online industry experts have often stated that the consumers that are heavy users of such online social networking services are also heavily dependant on their cell phones.  They are addicted to being "connected" to their friends and social networking services accessible via the mobile phone further feeds the addiction.  Mobile social networking solutions will also allow carriers to realize incremental revenues from their installed MMS infrastructure as people love posting and viewing photos, videos, etc on their blogs.  Most online social networking services offer some type of mobile interface, Windows Live Spaces can be accessed via the browser on any phone and I believe MySpace also has a mobile component through their alliance with Hello.  

Arun Sarin, Vodafone's CEO indicates that he expects 10% of their revenue to come from mobile advertising, mobile video and mobile social networking services in the next three to four years.  These are very aggressive forecasts in my opinion, especially given the challenges we face regarding usability of mobile applications.  People thought that mobile email and mobile Instant Messaging would be huge revenue generators, however both these services languished for long periods of time with limited success.  Consumers were disappointed with the user interface and the usability of various mobile email and IM applications.  That was a huge barrier to adoption and establishment of critical mass in regards to these applications.  Heavy investments in developing mobile interfaces for email and IM solutions have lead to significant improvements in the UI and experience on the mobile phone.  This has led to these apps taking off in the last few years and gaining widespread adoption.  I hope the companies that bring mobile social networking services to market with the carriers learn from past mistakes and spend considerable amounts of time developing a very simple UI for the applications.  Multiple companies have a niche carved out for them in the online social networking space on the PC, however the winner on the mobile phone will be the company that delivers the easiest UI for consumers.  The youth, who are heavy users of online social networking services are very picky and have very high standards for usability.  They will discard an application that is not easy and intuitive to use.  I do agree with Arun's comments as he clearly states that there is huge potential for mobile advertising and apps such as mobile social networking or mobile video.  It will be interesting to see if Vodafone joins forces with big names such as Blogger, MySpace and Windows Live Spaces or tries to develop their own proprietary solution. 

I am not a hardcore gamer by any means but I was intrigued by all the hype around the release of the PS3 by Sony.  I have been following the much hyped launch of the PS3 and have also been reading the reviews that its getting.  The much hyped launch of the PS3 was exactly that, way too much hype.  There was no product for consumers to buy or for the retailers to sell.  Most retailers received very few quantities of the PS3 and clearly had signs on their doors, indicating that it was Sony's fault that they didn't have enough quantities.  Retailers loath disappointing customers in their store and not being able to monetize the traffic that is being driven into the stores.  It also paints them in a bad light as consumers might think that the retail store did not plan well and therefore are out of stock.  None of the stores had any demo models on display where consumers could try out the PS3 and experience first hand the gaming experience on the Sony platform.  The Sony store out of all places didn't have a demo model either.  Not to worry though, the large retailers did monetize the traffic that was driven into their stores by all the hype that Sony had created by selling them Xbox 360 consoles.  I personally got two emails from Future Shop advertising a special Xbox bundle with an aggressive price point on it.  Consumers who were resourceful enough to get their hands on a PS3 were probably selling it on eBay for approx $1,200-$2,000.  Good for them, you have to love the free market, everyone can make a buck or two!  I am surprised that being in the business so long Sony does not realize that your manufacturing team has to be in sync with your marketing team and you have to pay close attention to supply chain management, especially during new product launches. 

Shortage of gaming consoles during major launches should not be a surprise to Canadian consumers.  This year was a repeat of what happened in 2005 with the Xbox 360.  Microsoft received a lot of heat from the press and consumers as there were shortages of Xbox 360 consoles during the launch.  The press was all over the Xbox 360 launch, there were images of people lining up to buy a Xbox 360 on the tele and stories about people profiting by selling their Xbox consoles on eBay for 5-10 times what they had paid for it.  That's lot of free publicity that adds to the hype of a gaming console launch.  Was this done intentionally, I don't think so.  I am sure any company would like to cash in on the hype by actually selling consoles by ensuring its major retail partners have enough quantities to sell.  In the end, companies are rewarded on total revenues and profits, not hype or pent up demand for their products.  I think Sony had to make a tough call, further delay the launch of the PS3 and miss out on the 2006 Holiday season or launch with very limited quantities.  Sony made the same call that Microsoft had made in 2005, however the difference this time around was that there was a strong competitive product to the PS3 already in market.  This resulted in Microsoft gaining as a result of Sony's loss on the PS3 launch day.      

Reading Larry Borsato's Blog over the last few days, I feel for the guy. He has been having some bad luck when it comes to customer service.  His recent experience with Air Canada further solidifies my belief that people should try to avoid traveling on that airline whenever possible.  Larry's experience is not an isolated incidence.  Everytime I fly with Air Canada, there is some issue or another.  In addition to their staf