Category: Marketing

If you’re feeling neglected lately, it’s because I’ve started to spread myself too thin. There’s HulaCopter, obviously, and our (shameless plug) just-released Android app. There’s some side work for four or five startup friends, all of whom obviously recognize my staggering marketing genius… And, now there’s Aloha Startups, focused on expanding and bringing more attention to Hawaii’s startup community.

With Aloha Startups, I’m part of a growing group of local entrepreneurs trying to both create a community for startups and give startups a more progressive, proactive, collaborative voice in Hawaii’s business world.

In addition to the frequent articles around interesting events, startup resources (or lack thereof), and ideas for increasing awareness of Hawaii startups, there are recurring columns on engineering for the non-engineer, legal aspects of startups, and how to build an online community. We’ve also created 808STARTUP, which gives new startups a way to let people know what they’re up to, and creates a database of startup listings. And, there’s Aloha Connections, a great forum for local entrepreneurs to ask questions, virtually network, and even post job openings or requests for assistance.

If you’re interested in tech startups, give it a read. I’m confident that you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the new ideas coming out of Hawaii’s startup community!

Wow, who knew? I stumbled across my 13plymouth app’s listing today – which gives you constant mobile access to all of my wonderful musings – to discover that I’m currently #7 in Amazon’s Android Appstore’s “Magazine” category!  That’s awesome!

This has been a great day with respect to apps:  First this, then my HulaCopter iPhone app has it’s biggest one-day volume of downloads ever!  And the day’s not over yet.  So – shameless plug – if you’re planning a vacation to Hawaii, use HulaCopter to find amazing last-minute deals on fun things to do.  We’ve been mentioned on a few blogs so far, but are just getting underway.  Currently, HulaCopter covers Oahu, but we’ll be expanding to other islands and the mainland soon.

By the way, here’s the rest of 13plymouth’s “ranking” on Amazon’s Appstore.  I’m not sure if this means my app is great, or if no one is using the store…

• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #4,621 Free in Appstore for Android
• #7 in Appstore for Android > Magazines

Just FYI, this is all public information that anyone can see on Amazon.com.  My developer account on Amazon provides a bit more info, but not much.  However, it’s still much more than Apple provides their app developers.

I’ll save this rant for another post, but it’s disgusting how little data Apple provides their developers.  I get nothing other than number of downloads per day by country.  Nothing!  Sure, they want you to build that data collection into your app, but c’mon.  No device stats?  No iOS version stats?  No referral data?  No iTunes ‘times viewed’ data?

Grrr!  But I’ll save that for another day.  Today, I love Android even more!  (The fact that I finally rooted my Nexus One and flashed Miui probably has something to do with it…)

Aloha and mahalo!

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of mixed reviews from merchants and small businesses on the “daily deal” phenomenon.  There’s been a few nightmare stories, as well as research from Rice University’s b-school showing that Groupon promotions were profitable for only two-thirds of businesses, and 40% indicated that they would not run a “daily deal” promo again.  I’ve also read that, in order to be profitable for the merchant, daily deal redeemers must visit at least four times.

On the positive side, I’ve recently spoken with a few local merchants who think that the daily deal sites are amazing marketing tools, even for the unlikely-to-repeat tourism market. One tour boat operator mentioned that, “If my boat was filled entirely with customers who redeemed a Groupon, I’d still make money.”  Another, discussing today’s Groupon (April 19, 2011) for a local resort, remarked that “They’ve sold over 200 room nights already!  I’d say that’s successful. There’s no way they could have done that in one day without Groupon.”

While I’m not going to get into the profitability of running a daily deal, I did start to look at the “fine print” around today’s Groupon and found some interesting murkiness…

• The deal states a value of $345, but looking at the hotel’s website, the most expensive two-bedroom suite (as offered) is only $295. And that’s the “high season” rate. Did Groupon inflate the rack rate of the offer to make the discount look bigger?  It’s not clear, but the Groupon rep commented that a $20/night parking fee is included and makes up the difference (but, as I learned in “The Social Network,” checking the math shows that adding up to only $315…).
• Groupon states a limit of two per visit in the fine print, but the deal’s details state, “You may purchase up to three Groupons in total and combine them for a three-day stay at almost any time over the next year…” Probably just a typo, but you’d think Groupon would be experienced enough to ensure these fundamental errors wouldn’t happen.  The entire deal is only 280 words, so not a monumental editing effort.
• In the comments, there are a few that warn buyers of a three-night minimum stay requirement. The Groupon rep chimed in to blame the owners for omitting the minimum stay from the deal, then to tell everyone to call the merchant to get questions answered. He finally apologized and offered refunds – FIVE hours after his initial “Give me a few to sort all of it out” post.

While I won’t slam anyone over mistakes and typos – Buddah knows that I make more than my share – a few things are troubling about this specific post and the way that Groupon is handling it.

• The deal has been in effect for over 18 hours, yet none of these major inconsistencies have been fixed on the deal page – the unclear $345 value, the lack of minimum stay requirement, and the mismatch between combining two or three coupons – all of these “errors” remain.
• The Groupon rep jumping to blame the merchant almost immediately.  That’s horrible service on Groupon’s side, and I would be fuming over that if I were the merchant (even if I did purposely omit that detail).
• The Groupon rep telling people to call the merchant to answer any questions.  OK, I see many things wrong with this approach, #1 being the ability for the merchant to even handle the onslaught of calls without prompting. A merchant I spoke with last week said that, on the day he ran his Groupon, his “bluetooth earpiece practically melted!”  Of course, he liked the call volume.  But proactively prompting buyers to call with questions?  I can’t imagine what the poor people at the resort were doing.  I purchased a daily deal a few months back for a spa, and when I called the next day to book an appointment, the receptionist asked me to call back in a few days since they were so inundated with a massive volume of callers.
• The apparent lack of Groupon “corporate” support for the field rep.  I don’t know how Groupon runs the logistics of a deal, but it appears as though the Groupon rep is all alone to manage the deals as they are in-process.  Where’s the support staff to actually run the deal, work with the merchant during this busy 24-hour cycle, and answer buyer questions while the rep is out selling?
• The rep’s lack of understanding of his client and their deal.  It appears as though he sold the deal to this merchant without even understanding the details of the specific deal.  Sure, he has to sell one per day (maybe more), and he’s probably selling weeks, if not months, ahead.  But, shouldn’t he spend part of each day ensuring that tomorrow’s deal will go off without a hitch?  Shouldn’t he be more closely managing his clients to ensure that their specific deals are bulletproof?  Doesn’t Groupon have enough experience at this point?  And what about the merchant?  This is probably a major marketing effort for them, probably bigger than they’ve ever done before.  Does this rep expect (or care) to have them run another deal in the future?

I hope that this isn’t indicative of Groupon’s standard operating procedure with respect to deal fine print, error fixing, and customer service.  It would be disappointing if they were being purposefully misleading in order to drive revenues…

Quiksilver is a great marketer, but it’s really great marketing when they can take advantage of a non-event. The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau, known as “The Eddie,” is a big wave surfing event named for famed Waimea Bay lifeguard and surfer, Eddie Aikau. The tournament is held within the December to February waiting period, but is only “called” when waves reach 20′ in height.  The excitement usually begins when forecasters predict a large, approaching swell and the contest organizers start setting up. Waves of that size are rare, however:  since 1984, the event has only occurred eight times.

What Quiksilver has managed to do, brilliantly, is keep the buzz alive every year with subtle marketing and the frequently-seen “EDDIE WOULD GO” bumper stickers and t-shirts.  And, while the event isn’t in the mainstream culture, within the surfing world, it’s huge.

Building the Buzz

This year, the buzz began a week or so ago with news of an approaching swell and contest preparations getting underway.  With excitement all around, and a sizable swell approaching, the contest was called for January 20th, driving spectators in droves to line Waimea Bay at 6am to watch riders surf waves four or more times their own height.

Unfortunately, The Eddie organizers are sticklers and while the waves did hit 23′ at times, the 20-foot-plus waves were too inconsistent.  But, as the video below shows, the hype created and the marketing value just in the potential of the contest is huge. (And the waves are still pretty freakin’ big!)

Luckily, there are still five or six weeks of waiting period left in the window, so The Eddie still may happen this year.  Let’s hope that it’s on a weekend so more of us working stiffs can watch, in awe, those brave enough to honor the memory of Eddie Aikau by launching themselves down a 25′ wall of fast-moving ocean!

Bottom Line

Quiksilver has created a lifestyle brand, where the product is secondary to the lifestyle that they support. Marketing that lifestyle, that vibe, that culture, is what gives Quiksilver the ability to so successfully promote and benefit from an event that doesn’t even happen.

Agree? Disagree?  Let me know your thoughts.