Lloyds TSB Save the Change account - Nudge in action

Lloyds TSB have an account called Save the Change that rounds up each debit card to the nearest pound and deposits it in a savings account.

Copied from a US account? In any case, nudge economics in actions.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/savings/save_the_change.asp

Rebranding & Renaming - useful examples

Someone has helpfully scanned this Marketing Week article from 2007 with good examples from successful and unsuccessful brand renaming. Including Powergen to E.on, Switch to Maestro, Jif to Cif, Coco Pops to Choco Krispies, Go to Easyjet, NTL Telewest to Virgin Media, and Andersen Consulting to Accenture.

Key lessons:

• engage staff with the rebrand and explain what it means for them
• make sure customers are clear on the benefit

http://s22609.gridserver.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/mktgditchbrands8aug07.pdf

Stew Leonards

Just visited US retailer Stew Leonards' store in Yonkers, New York.

Two iconic actions jump out:
- Giant 'stone' at the store entrance with 'The customer is always right!' engraved
- “Up the Ladder” posters above the checkouts. They show an employee's name and photo, and all the positions they have held in the store as they move up the ladder. Great idea showcasing their employer brand.

Loads of other interesting ideas:
•Webcam showing the cows in their farm
•Huge mirror above the bakery shows them baking fresh products
•As previously mentioned, they showcase recommendations of their food from local rather than national press
•Sign: “If you wouldn’t take it home for you mother don’t put it our for customers”
•Sign showing chickens and cows standing up and wearing nothing but a barrel with “Get Naked” on it (i.e. chicken and beef contains no additives)
•By the cheese counter a screen shows employees making fresh mozzarella, as they do every day. Next to it is a sign explaining the steps of the process.
•Huge banner (at least 2 storeys high) near store entrance shows cover of Fortune in which they were named amongst the top 100 best places to work.
•Want to order from the deli? A computer allows you to select what you want (e.g. sliced meat, cheese etc) and then collect without waiting a few minutes later.

Darty's Contract of Confidence (Contrat de Confiance) - Iconic Action

Darty is a leading French electrical goods retailer, currently owned by KESA Electricals Plc.

The “Contract of Confidence/Trust” is a contract between the firm and its customers. Darty launched it 30 years ago, promising price, choice and service.

It contains tangile specifics, e.g.
- Darty is never knowingly undersold
- They guarantee a repair on any day of the week (unheard of in a country where no one worked on Sundays)

Iconic action: each employee signs the contract of confidence when they join.

Sources: Mainly Disruption by Jean-Marie Dru (p 163). Also KESA Electricals site here.
CDC booklet itself available here.

37 Signals...

...have a book explaining their philosophy

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch01_What_is_Getting_Real.php

Flimsy Doorknobs (Why iconic actions work)

How do you judge how solid a door is? Of course from the feel of the door handle, and the clunk the mechanism makes when you close it.

On room doors the handle and noise is even less related to the quality of the door itself than in cars, which manufacturers apparently spend a fortune getting the closing noise right on.

Inspired by, thought not directly from: http://dustincurtis.com/two_stories.html

Accidental Innovation: @replies on Twitter

"@replies were not originally part of Twitter. They were embraced by the community first, and then we built them into the system."

Source: http://blog.twitter.com/2008/05/how-replies-work-on-twitter-and-how.html

Power of testing - You should follow me on Twitter

UX designer Duncan Curtis found that the phrase:
"You should follow me on twitter"
Got 38% more clicks than:
"Follow me on twitter"

Source: http://dustincurtis.com/you_should_follow_me_on_twitter.html

Market gap for serious but pacy media content

There needs to be more serious but pacy content on TV and radio. Radio 4 is too slow and current affairs based. 'Yoof' TV too dumbed down. Instead do something for people in their late 20s and 30s, based on Saturday broadsheet magazines.

Evaluating Ideas - Eureka Ranch's Merwyn Simulation

Eureka Ranch has employed a boffin to develop a model for predicting the sales of early-stage product or service ideas. Tap in a few assumptions, give them $2k, and they'll tell you how much you'll sell. It's called Merwyn Business Simulation Research.

Not sure how much confidence I'd have in the assumptions, but interesting idea, particularly for incremental innovations.

See their web site here. Or broader Inc magazine article here.