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February 3, 2008

GoDaddy.com had a brilliant Super Bowl commercial

How many people saw the ads that followed the GoDaddy commercial? That is to say, how many people got on the internet and went to see the Danica Patrick "Exposure" commercial?? It's amazing that the practices & standards committee wouldn't let them air that commercial, but in the end GoDaddy won. And whoever the poor advertiser was right after that lost.

Posted by Mike at 7:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 3, 2007

Adios to Bob Nardelli

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Bob Nardelli has resigned as CEO and Chairman of The Home Depot. Nardelli has been there six years and has been entangled in controversy over his compensation ever since. To add insult to injury, his severance package is worth approximately $210 mm, of which $20 mm is cash. I wish someone would pay me that kind of money to quit my job.

The only upshot to this is the stock is up 4% in pre-market trading. Maybe we'll get someone good leadership in there and Home Depot will rejuvenate as a company.

As a stockholder and a frequent shopper, one thing I would like to see is the return of customer service. Ever since the introduction of the self-checkout lines I have noticed a trend of decreasing help. It used to be that if you walked into the plumbing department, you were greeted by someone who used to be a plumber who could offer assistance and advice. These days, you rarely even see anyone in a particular department with any specialization (just my observations, your mileage may vary). Then to top it off, there is usually only 1 manned checkout - the rest is self-checkout. Self checkout is fine if you're buying nice shrink wrapped products. But when buying lumber, sheet rock, fertilizer, and other bulky stuff it's not even an option.

Posted by Mike at 8:31 AM

December 6, 2006

Is Moe's Set to Take over the World??

I am a big fan of Moe's Southwest Grill. However, I have to wonder how they will grow with their menu structure. Don't get me wrong - the food is great. The service is great. I wouldn't change a thing - except how you order it.

Let's look at burritos. You have 4 choices - the Art Vandalay, the Joey Bag of Donuts, the Triple Lindy, and the Homewrecker. When you view the menu, it looks overwhelming. They all seem pretty much the same. The Art has no meat, but all the trimmings. The Joey has your choice of meat, but no sour cream or guacamole. The Triple is the same as the Joey plus your choice of sour cream or guacamole. The Homewrecker has both sour cream and guacamole on it. These are pretty subtle differences.

A scenario that I see play out almost any time I'm in a Moe's is someone will come in and order something like a Homewrecker. When they're getting the fixings put on, they'll say "no sour cream". The person preparing the burrito then says "well, that's not a homewrecker". So now the customer has been corrected.

This has happened so many times that I realized that they have broken the golden rule of user interface design - they made the customer think. I don't want to think. I want a burrito with X, Y, and Z on it and you should figure out what the heck it is when I get ready to check out and charge me appropriately. I know they like the cute names, but it just overcomplicates things. You can boil four menu items down to one:

Burrito w/ cheese, salsa, lettuce ($x.00)
• add Meat ($x.00)
• add sour cream or guacamole ($x.00)
• add sour cream and guacamole ($x.00)

I've got a few friends who like going there if I go since I can boil it down for them like this - otherwise they don't go. I wonder how many people feel this same way and what impact the menu has on same store sales growth on this fantastic franchise.

Posted by Mike at 8:00 AM

December 19, 2005

The Peach Bowl is Losing its Identity

Would you take the "Sugar" out of the Sugar Bowl? The "Orange" out of the Orange Bowl? Certainly you wouldn't take the "Rose" out of the Rose Bowl (they don't even sell title sponsorships). So why take the "Peach" out of the Peach Bowl? I know that in some respects title sponsorships are good for the game since the sponsorship makes college scholarships available to the participating teams. But there is a certain amount of tradition with each of these old college bowl games, and I for one am not happy that the big ACC - SEC matchup that has been the Peach Bowl for so many years is now simply the Chic-Fil-A Bowl.

Furthermore, I think it is a huge mistake to lock in to a corporate name like that. After a couple of years, people will come to know the game by that identity. If Chic-Fil-A decides to pull out (or pay less than the going rate), organizers will be in a predicament since they no longer have a brand identity - the brand for that game will have become Chic-Fil-A. The peach was easily identifiable with Georgia. I don't think most people identify Chic-Fil-A with Georgia.

Read More -> Deal made for Chick-fil-A Bowl - 2005-12-16

Posted by Mike at 8:00 PM

December 15, 2005

Permission Marketing?

How is this for a crappy sneak-wrap agreement?

Your privacy is extremely important to us. You are receiving this promotional message as a member of Permission! By continuing to receive emails from Permission! you agree to the Permission! Privacy Policy.

I don't know who Permission! is (aside from what is contained in this message which tells me they are a division of Equifax) and I sure as heck do not recall signing up for a membership with them. Somehow I doubt that membership has any privleges with these people. Equifax is headquartered in Atlanta - I wonder how the CEO would respond if I mailed him a letter that said "By continuing to receive mail from Mike Schubert, you agree to give him 10% of your salary."

Posted by Mike at 11:30 AM

November 21, 2005

Citi versus Bank of America

I am very disappointed with Citi's new Simplicity(SM) card. So much so, that I'm not even going to link to them. I am sure you've seen the adds on tv or in your web browser. I kept seeing the "Overduenza?" banner, so I clicked through to see what it's all about. On the surface it sounds great - make one purchase during your billing cycle and Citi will wave the late fee.

But then there is the fine print. If you are delinquent on any other accounts you have with Citi, its affiliates, or any other creditors (I mean anybody - Chase, Bank of America, etc) - they have the right to revoke any promotional rates you have and adjust you up to the maximum rate (somewhere in the 20% range). This isn't that uncommon these days. If you had the stamina to actually read through the credit agreement modifications you've received over the past few years, you'd find many credit card issuers have a similar policy.

But here is my real problem with the card -> They are making the late fee off of you anyway. How? They are aggressively targeting people who are carrying credit card balances and encouraging them to transfer them to this new card. Let's say that you are an average American with somewhere in the neighborhood of $7500 in credit card debt and you do a transfer to take advantage of a 0% rate. Then something happens and you realize you're unable to make the minimum payment (forgot, no money, irresponsible, etc). What do you do? You make a purchase - at best at 12.9%.

When you send in payments, those are credited against the balances at the lowest interest rate. So in addition to the $7500 at 0%, you are now carrying balances at 12.5% until such a time as your $7500 in debt is paid off. Over time, even on a pack of gum, Citi will make money. And it looks better to investors if they're making money through credit issuance than simply on late fees.

So what's my main beef? Why do I care that they are bilking money out of the naive or ill-informed? Because they are perpetuating the disease of lack of saving in our society. This will have deep economic effects on our society in the coming years if people do not change their habits. Unfortunately, I don't think they want to.

That's where I give props to Bank of America. They have a new credit card out called Keep the Change™. They will automatically round up every transaction you make to the nearest dollar and put that extra change into a savings account for you. Sure, it doesn't earn beaucoup bucks like the stock market would. But it is a great tool for those without the discipline to save. Over time, the change you add in will really add up.

Hats off to Bank of America for increasing deposits (and shareholder value) while also creating value to society in general. I hope this program takes off and we see a new trend toward personal savings in this country.

Posted by Mike at 9:50 AM

November 18, 2005

New Brand Atlanta Idea

I'm not sure how this motto got past the Brand Atlanta committee - "Atlanta - the Freakshow of America".

In the past year, we have had national attention due to the following "news" stories:

• The overweight, undertrained Fulton County Sheriff's department's failure to control a violent subject allowing said subject to escape and kill several people in the process
  
• The guy on the crane for 48+ hours
  
• The runaway bride
  

And now we have

• The 37 year old woman impregnated by a 15 year old juvenile delinquent who later married her
  

These are just the ones I can remember. I'm sure there are others. So I guess Tammy and I are in the market for a new city. We just don't fit in around here any longer.

Posted by Mike at 7:36 AM

October 19, 2005

Atlanta's "New Brand" Stinks

Great. That's exactly what I want my city to be associated with. The gangsta rappers that coined the term "The A-T-L" in hip-hop shoot-em-up music. I am sure that business leaders worldwide are saying "OH - this A-T-L I hear about in the cop killing songs is Atlanta, Georgia. We should move our Global 1000 headquarters there."

Ok. I realize that I am over-generalizing the scene. But it begs the question - why, as a city, are we hooking into the lexicon of a culture that features videos shot in the Atlanta city jail and using it to promote business and tourism? Is this just a veiled attempt to revive Freaknik? What happened to the class and charm of the south that I grew up in?

Ken Bernhardt of Georgia State University heads up the Brand Atlanta communication comittee. His take is that "ATL" should get people excited. I think it lacks imagination and creativity. If they wanted people to focus on the "3 Os" - opportunity, optimism, openness - they should have come up with something that remotely alluded to that. For me, the brand conjures up the 3 Is - incarceration, illegal immigration, and illiteracy.

"It's simply an identifier," Bernhardt said of ATL. "It's not the airport and it's not hip-hop. What ATL is supposed to elicit is the meaning of the brand, Atlanta, meaning 'opportunity, optimism and openness.' When you see the Coke bottle, you think Coke. It's an identifier of the brand. ATL should elicit everything that you think about when you think about Atlanta, which hopefully in the future will mean the three O's."

>> Read More - Atlanta Business Chronicle - Atlanta to be Branded as ATL

Posted by Mike at 7:00 AM

August 21, 2005

Through With Best Buy

I went to Best Buy today to pick up a wireless card for my desktop computer. I'm pretty sure this is the last time I will ever walk into a Best Buy store. If you're having issues with Best Buy and looking for some solidarity, check out BestBuySux.org.

The employees I ran into on the floor were generally helpful. One gentleman assisted me in determining the keyboard/mouse -> USB cable I needed (they were out of stock) and another actually offered me a shopping bag to put my crap in (I declined since I didn't want to purchase more than I could carry on my own). That is where the helpfulness stopped. First, the cashier proceeds to tell me that I am eligible for some free magazines they are offering today. They've been offering these same magazines for several months (I was in back in March). I declined. But now I'm waiting to see if he sent my name in anyway as many people have complained over on the aforementioned bestbuysux.org website.

He then proceeded to add on a "Best Buy Rewards" card to my bill. What the hell is this? A rewards program that I have to pay for? No. Take that crap off my bill. He was shocked that I wouldn't want the $5 reward certificate that I earned shopping that day. Let's do the math - a $5 certificate in exchange for a $10 cash outlay in a store that I visit maybe twice a year? No, thanks. Why is Best Buy doing this? First the magazines and then the crazy rewards program? It's bad enough they slow down the checkout process with those phoney-baloney extended warranties - don't make matters worse by peddling magazines under the guise of being free but that are not free and then insulting me by making me pay to be a part of your rewards program.

So, to all the competitors of Best Buy - I am in the market for a new place to by my electronics, music, and dvds. I'm looking to upgrade our stereo system some time in the next 12 months, and I buy some hardware upgrades once or twice a year on average. If you're looking for a low-maintenace customer who will spend $500-$1000 a year across 3 visits, I am your guy.

Posted by Mike at 11:58 PM | Comments (1)

July 25, 2005

Hmmm - VISTA, let's see

Virus-laden
Insecure
Spyware
Threatened
Application

I think I would've chosen a different name. But since their people apparently drive by a company already providing business software services called Vista, I can see how the name got stuck in their head. Good luck on that one, Bill.

Posted by Mike at 10:55 AM

June 8, 2005

Losing My Identity

The recent loss of over 3 million cardholders' information is just proof that even the most prudent of individuals can end up having their identity stolen through no fault of their own. Granted, I don't think anything bad will come of the Citi Financial - UPS fiasco. It's not like this type of information is usually stored in flat text files that anyone could just open and read. In fact, without the knowing the file layout, the tapes are mostly useless.

Does this mean there is no reason to worry? No. If criminals were to get their hands on these tapes, I can think of over 3 million reasons to spend a lot of time trying to hack it.

The real snafu here is the response to it. Citi is reportedly going to offer 90 days of credit monitoring services to those affected. 90 days. Doing my own risk analysis, I find it will take several years of credit monitoring before I am reasonably certain I suffered no ill will (and for those of you who enjoy statistics, I'll still be in the long tail for a long time after that).

Let's hope that nothing bad comes of this...

Posted by Mike at 8:53 PM

April 6, 2005

Gainesville Development Controversy

There is a big brouhaha going on in the Waters Edge subdivision in the city of Gainesville, Georgia. A local developer has built a 3,800 square foot home that looks very similar to the others in the neighborhood. The difference? This one was build in sections - in a factory.

What is the difference between a building built on site and a building built in sections in a factory? Apparently quality and durability are much better in the factory built home.

At the end of the day, it comes down to perceptions. Some people, who I will stereotype as busy-body housewives, were sitting at home as this house was being constructed and decided to freak out. It was different than what they have seen done on other sites where the (illegal) labor force of Gainesville constructed a home from scratch using concrete, 2x4s, and drywall.

If you actually inspect this house, you will find that it is also constructed using concrete, 2x4s, and drywall. The residents in an uproar allude to this home being no different than a mobile home - which incidentally is constructed from recylced beer cans. True, the home's pieces were delivered on a tractor trailer. But all of the other homes had their components delivered in the same fashion. Heck - even the yards in this town are delivered in pallets on tractor trailers.

I am not sure why this builder is being subjected to the stop work order and his hearing is being delayed by more than a month. He filled out the required paperwork truthfully, he adhered to (and in many cases exceeded) the requirements of the local building code, and even with the home in its unfinished state it looks attractive and fits in with the designs of the rest of the neighborhood. With his construction loan probably sitting in the neighborhood of $225,000 at this milestone of development, the interest payment for the idle month alone could turn his profit margin from positive to negative.

The city of Gainesville is growing like a wildfire. There are many issues that they need to address to build and maintain a healthy community. The local government should stay out of this issue if the building meets the codified requirements the property is zoned for.

Posted by Mike at 8:53 AM

March 27, 2005

Yahoo! Has Lost Its Way

You may ask - was Yahoo! ever all that great to begin with? I don't know. We used them for domain name registration services for a couple of years. Mostly because it was easy and I didn't know any better. We were paying more than the average price that existed in my awareness set, but I was satisfied with service.

Shortly after the last renewal of Tammy's site, Yahoo! sent me an email saying they were lowering the price of their domain registration to $9.95 a year. This was good - I had become aware of the $7.95 registrations at GoDaddy.com and was preparing to move our sites in the coming year. But, I'd be willing to shell out the extra $4 a year ($2 per site) to not have to deal with it.

However - my site came up for renewal in February. When I logged in to see an invoice, their system would not display one. It only showed my past payments. When I clicked the FAQ link (like the email reminder they sent me advised), the only price that I found was $9.95. Great. I was later billed a much greater amount.

When I called Yahoo! (on my own nickel - no 800#), I was advised that I had email accounts along with my service and that service had been priced at the same level as my old service. Upon protest, the customer service rep said there was nothing she could do - they could set it up so that next year I would be at that new level. She said that I had no chargeback rights based on the contract - however, based on finding the $9.95 price on the FAQ that the email instructed me to view, I feel like I would have a pretty easy victory.

Needless to say, we have moved Tammy's registration over to GoDaddy and cancelled the service with Yahoo (a very important step to remember to do). Mine will follow sometime before next February. If you consistently screw your customers during the few touches you have with them, they will screw you by leaving. Funny how competition works.

As for GoDaddy - I'm pleased so far. A few days after initiating the transfer, someone from their support group called me to see if I had any questions or any problems. They have an 800#, too.

Posted by Mike at 1:12 PM

March 14, 2005

Owens Corning Basement Finishing System

I filled out the contact form to have an authorized contractor call me regarding this basement finishing system. It looked pretty interesting from the standpoint of time to install (2 weeks on average) and no dry wall dust. Also, if I needed access to the walls or ceiling, I could easily remove a panel or tile and be in.

I now have second thoughts about even fililng that form out. I should have done my Google-ing ahead of time. I found plenty of complaints about the whole process. A couple of people seemed happy in the end, but dissatisfied with the high-pressure tactics and the exorbitant pricing they were subjected to out of the box. Knowing what I know up front, I don't even want to have this company call me.

Two morals to this story:
1) Determine your objectives and conduct your independent research first, then start evaluating the offerings of different contractors.

2) If you are a company with a new product you're rolling out nationwide, use Google once a week to figure out what people are saying about it. OC just lost a potential customer because the only positive I see for their product is Bob Vila in the commercials. Everything I have found on the internet from customers tells me to stay away.

Posted by Mike at 7:00 AM | Comments (1)

January 1, 2005

The End of Late Fees at Blockbuster?

It's probably a little early for me to declare Blockbuster's new end of late fees campaign a snafu. But I think that they are going to have to increase their inventory (and thus, their prices) in order to sustain it.

According to the policy, you can keep your movie or game up to 7 days past the due date indicated on your receipt. So hot new releases will now potentially be 9 day rentals instead of 2 day rentals. The previous 1 week rentals are now 2 week rentals. Tammy and I don't rent movies all that often. Amazon
and Sam's Club sell DVDs so cheap that in many cases we could avoid the rigors of rental for only $5-7 more. It is this mentality that Blockbuster's new policy is seeking to dismantle.

I believe they do not thoroughly understand their customer. We recently rented a few movies (3 for 1 week, 2 for 2 days) and returned all of them by their respective due dates. However, it was a pain in the neck to get the 1 week rentals back in time. And I certainly wouldn't have made a special trip to return the 2 day rentals were it not for the consequence of paying late fees. I would've kept all 5 of the movies until it was convenient for me to return - a full 8 days after they were rented. While this may be the minority of their customers, I believe it is a large enough minority to have a significant impact on the availability of new releases for rental.

Once bowl week (or is it bowl month) has ended, we'll try out the new policy. My prediction: the policy will be reworked or rental rates increased by January 1, 2006.

Learn about the 100 biggest branding mistakes in Brand Failures.

Posted by Mike at 11:51 AM