This is my second podcast taking a look at marketing and pop culture trends in Japan. Find out why Japan is the king of customer service, and why the US may never catch up.

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Konnichiwa boys and girls. Think about a time recently when you received great customer service. Maybe a store clerk helped you find a size. Or a waiter or waitress gave you great recommendations and kept your coffee cup full. Or more likely, maybe an outsourced customer service rep managed NOT to hang up on you or transfer you 4 times while answering your billing question.

Now imagine a magical land where the phrase “The Customer is Always Right” actually means something.

Well, from my short experience, that magical land is in Japan.

Our fairytale starts at the Ritz-Carlton in Osaka. Now before you break out your Homer Simpson voice and say “oohhhh … the Ritz-Carrllllton,” let me tell you that the friend I was traveling with has 2 things going for him. Number one is some kind of platinum membership club card because he travels a lot for business, and number two is the gift of persuasion.

So when he came back from the front desk grinning ear-to-ear, I wasn’t surprised to hear that he somehow wrangled the $1,000 Japanese suite for $140 ea. per night. Just now I looked at the cost of the Red Roof Inn in Midtown, and the rooms start at $140 per night. I’ve been forced to pay twice that amount to attend out of state weddings, even heeding the dire warnings of the bride: “They’re holding a block of rooms for us! We get a discount! But you need to book ASAP!!!” We were going to stay in a traditionally-styled, authentic Japanese room – well, except for the fact that there was a Ferrari dealership in the lobby.

But I’m not telling this story because of the high level of service at the Ritz-Carlton. It was what you would expect. What shocked and impressed us so much, was that we received Ritz-Carlton level service in every facet of our trip, from taxi drivers to souvenir salespeople.

Let me run through some examples:

The Norm Peterson
• Let’s start with the entire staff at restaurants shouting ‘welcome’ in Japanese when you walk in the door. Everyone stops what they’re doing. And everyone yells out a greeting.  Does that ever get old? Well, did Norm from Cheers ever tell the bar to shut up when they shouted his name upon entering? I don’t think so. I don’t know the literal translation of what they were saying, but it FELT like “Welcome to our establishment good looking American tourists, we are honored to have you here, are happy to serve you, and thank you in advance for your patronage.” Oh, and the warm towels they bring you right away? Can we get those here as well?

Contrast to some typical scenarios in New York, where the first words exchanged are “Is your party all here and ready to be seated? Because if everyone’s not here you’re going to have to wait outside until they all get here. I don’t care if they just texted and are 2 blocks away, you all need to be here. Next!”

The Subway Sprinter
• Now in addition to every single person we asked at a train station for directions being incredibly clear and helpful, there’s the Subway Sprinter. At the very end of my trip, I took my last subway ride to Shinjuku station before getting on the bullet train to the airport. But I still had some money left on the transit card. So I darted in to the travel information office to see if I could redeem it. Now in most cities, my guess is that once you’ve bought it, you’re stuck with it. There’s not much of a market for used passes. but I figured I’d ask.

As it turns out, the woman was more than happy to refund my money. She started the process but came back and said she was very sorry, but there was a problem. She tried to explain that I must have used the pass incorrectly when leaving a station, and that there was another step. With the language barrier, we went back and forth trying to figure it out. I told her to do whatever she needed to do… deduct the maximum, whatever. It turned out was only $6 and, showing her by tapping on my watch, we were starting to get pressed for time, so if it was going to take too long, I’d just leave it.

But she said she could take care of it … gave me the “one moment” sign… and walked past me back into the crowded station back toward the check in point. But what made my jaw drop, was that she start RUNNING through the crowd. Physically running. She was back in 30 seconds flat and handed me my money with a huge smile.

In New York? Not so much. I’ve had my sister visit, and we’re loaded down with my crying 2-year old nephew, a suitcase, an umbrella, a backpack, a baby bag, and a stroller, and try to get the person in the booth’s attention while we’re trying to get through the turnstyle and they’ll squawk some indecipherable directions “Swipe the card at the turnstyle, then open the buzzer door!”

One Moment Please
• Ask someone in Japan what this English phrase means, and they’ll probably loosely translate it to “You’ve stumped me… Don’t move. I’m going for backup.” This happened to us several times. For example, we’d check into a hotel. We’d ask about the cost, they’d answer. We’d ask for a dinner recommendation. They’d think about it, pull out some lists, and give a suggestion. But then we’d ask for a lounge-type bar where locals hang out that might have a TV. You’d see their mind working. They’re thinking like crazy. But then it comes… “One moment please.” And then they’d run to the back for more help. Same in a store or restaurant. Question 1, fine. Question 2, fine. But something not in their wheelhouse? You get the “One moment please,” and then they sprint to find someone that might speak better English or can better answer your question.

They never said “I don’t know.” They never shrugged their shoulders and said “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.” And they never just pointed you in another direction and said “Go ask him.”

That’s a wrap
• Even the tourist traps have ultra service. At the end of a tour of a shrine, it brought you to this nice area with a few shops with things for sale. I decided I would buy this one type of item for several friends and family members, and there were many options to choose from. First, the girl behind the counter spent almost an hour helping me out, telling me the meaning of each piece, and giving recommendations. That was nice. Once I bought them, they spent another 15 minutes individually wrapping each item, sealing them with Japanese stickers, and labeling each one with my friend’s names so I wouldn’t mix them up. That was a bonus. Then, they threw an additional item at no cost. Again, unexpected. And to top it off, the girl then spent 10 minutes writing out a list of her favorite pubs in the area that we should visit.

Taxi Cab Confessions
• The cab drivers wore tuxedos, and their cabs were always immaculately clean. Let me repeat that. Some cab drivers wore cleanly pressed military-style uniforms. Some wore suits and ties. And some cab drivers wore TUXEDOS!  The cab drivers in New York don’t even wear deodorant!

How can we compete?
• So you might wonder, can US companies compete with this level of customer service? If you were running a business, wouldn’t you love to have your customers come away with the same feelings that I experienced in Japan? I hate to say it, but I’m not sure it’s possible.

Sure, there are exceptions you hear of in every industry, such as high end hotels or Nordstrom in retail or Zappos.com online. But the reason I think it will be difficult is because in Japan, the entire culture is rooted in this way of life, not just individual store training programs.

There’s a CVS drugstore one block from my old apartment that I would go to quite often. Whenever I’d buy something, the person would give me back my change and I’d say Thank You. Then one day I thought to myself, wait a minute, shouldn’t they be thanking me? I just bought something. And from that day on, I always paid attention to see if they would say Thank You as they handed me my receipt. Different days, different hours, different employees. Barely ever a Thank You.

Putting on the Ritz
• So while the picture I’ve painted may appear that New York is soulless – it is not– and I’m sure there are amazing tales of hospitality from Alabama to Alaska, let me start and end with the Ritz. As I mentioned, we were only paying a little more than $100 to stay at le crème de le crème, and the service was flawless. But then we went down a notch in Tokyo and stayed at a smaller, out of the way hotel, also for about $100 a night. But guess what? The service was equally flawless. They jumped through hoops to accommodate us.

And finally, we went to a traditional Japanese guesthouse (Ryokan) for the same price. This was a lower end choice we got at the last minute. You guessed it. Flawless. They had our names on a sign welcoming us, gave out toys to the couple with small children checking in before us (check out the video below), and as we were finishing dinner, an older woman in a traditional Japanese dress came into our room (you can see her in the video). She introduced herself as the wife of the hotel owner, and bowed down and began profusely thanking us for choosing their hotel. I swear, it felt like she was almost ready to cry as she said thank you thank you thank you.

I thought to myself, geesh, we’re just one group giving you just $100 for one room, not $1,000,000 gift to save your hotel from bankruptcy.

But to her, there wasn’t a difference.

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If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes so you’ll automatically download upcoming topics about the land of the rising sun. Just go to iTunes and search Hopkinson Report. Follow me at Twitter.com/hopkinsonreport

Thanks for listening, and sayonara.

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What do you think of when you think of Tokyo? Bright lights? Electronics? Robots? Lots of advertising?

Here are 12 things you might not know about Japan.

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Konnichiwa boys and girls! I was recently lucky enough to cash in some frequent flier miles and visit Japan. Along the way I took notes, giving me some pretty cool content to bring you 3-4 episodes on Japanese marketing and pop culture. While many of the things I saw were what I expected, there were quite a few things that took me by surprise.

Could Tokyo possibly be bigger, brighter, and bolder than New York City? Lets find out.

Here are the Tokyo 12.

1. Advertising Equality
If you picture parts of downtown Tokyo as one giant, brightly-lit neon television commercial, you’re not far off. For example, thousands of people cross intersections near Shibuya Station as billboards and LCD screens tower above them, pushing Coca Cola and cell phones. You’re a long way from Kansas.

But is it any different from New York or other major US cities? Not really. While the JR subway line might have little advertisements on the hanging straps and a small TV monitor in each car, I’ve seen the entire subway car on the shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square or giant city buses wrapped in advertisements. There was definitely lots of advertising, but at a level was about what I was used to.

2. Electronics Letdown
One of the must-see side trips on my list was a visit to Akihabara, or Japan’s “electronics town.” I was prepared to see 3D television sets, $500 laptops I could fold up and put in my pocket, and of course, a land of robots. I couldn’t wait to bring back some type of secret gadget that no one in the US had even heard of yet. At the next party, everyone would gather around and marvel at this piece of next generation technology and ask, where can I get one of those? To which I’d smugly reply, it’s not available in the US.

So it was to my disappointment that the stores were more WalMart than Wired. In fact, it reminded me of the not so glamorous electronics vendors here in New York. The ones that tourists go to, but not residents. iPods? Same price as the Apple store down the block from me. Digital cameras? Talk to me when you can beat Amazon.com’s price. And Robots? We had to trek up four flights of stairs to get to the one building out of 50 that had robots, only to find the decent ones priced at hundreds and even thousands of dollars.

3. Baseball Blooper
If this isn’t a missed marketing opportunity, I don’t know what is. Since it was late October, Japan’s version of the World Series was going on, pitting the Yomiuri Giants vs. the Seibu Lions. I asked some people what I thought was a simple question… Hey, where could I buy a hat from one of the teams? Silence. People were stumped.

Seriously? If this were Boston in October, you couldn’t go 15 minutes from Pittsfield to Portland without seeing a Red Sox logo on every man, woman or child, be it on a hat, shirt, onesie, or tattoo. What kills me is that you can buy a NY Yankees hat in Japan in 12 different colors. But a Giants hat? You have to go to the Tokyo Dome. A Lions hat? About 20 minutes away at their stadium. Really? No one has thought of selling these in the city? Imagine if the only way a 7-year old boy from upstate New York could get a Yankees hat was if his Dad brought him the team store in the Bronx.

4. Sky high restaurants and bars
Here’s another difference in the way establishments market themselves vs. the US. Whether it’s bars on Bourbon Street or a Subway in strip malls, we make it pretty easy to poke your head in, see if you like what you see, and make your decision. Maybe it’s because I’m not a local, but don’t expect to find a cool bar or restaurant via foot traffic in Japan. Many of the pubs and restaurants are located high above street level, hidden in back alleys or behind unmarked subterranean doorways. You don’t know what you’re getting until you’ve hoofed it up 5 or 10 floors. Then again, that makes it that much cooler when you stumble upon a gem.

5. Cell phone chatter
Everyone in Japan has a cell phone, right? They use them to talk and text and play games and open their garage and pay their mortgage and cure baldness. But here’s the shocking thing they don’t do. They don’t talk on them incessantly. It took me awhile to notice what wasn’t happening. Thousands of people weren’t talking on them while they walked. They weren’t taking calls at dinner. They weren’t yelling over other conversations in a bar. They even adhered to the no talking signs on above-ground subways! I actually cringed when I landed in NY and the second the wheels hit the runway every person powered up their phone and began a conversation during the 3 minute process of unloading the plane. We could learn something here.

6. Celebrity vending machines
I wasn’t really sure exactly what else people would be buying from vending machines in Tokyo, now that I can buy an iPod from one here at a Macys. Do they have more vending machines in Japan? Yes. They have soda and drinks and types of food. They also have a giant photo of Tommy Lee Jones on them. But were people buying chocolate soufflés or getting their shirts dry-cleaned at them? Uh, no.

7. Thin is in
Nine. That’s about the number of overweight people I saw in 8 days of traveling. Single digits. Country of 128 million people. And to be honest I’m not sure it was that high. Oh, and zero would be the number of obese people I saw.

Look, maybe I missed the “Houston, Texas” of Japan, and there were a lot of people smoking, which surely isn’t healthy. But I didn’t see lots of ads for Weight Watchers or the Zone Diet or 8 minute abs. With reportedly 1 in 3 Americans obese and 2 of 3 overweight, it was stunning to realize that I can’t recall seeing a single person that made me think, hey, maybe he should lay off the fatty tuna at the sushi counter next time. I don’t know where all the Sumo wrestlers were hiding, but this was one healthy country.

8. Men’s Fashion (Speaking of Tommy Lee Jones)
Their fashion could be described as the same, but different. Picture the scene… waves and waves of businessmen pouring out of the subway in crisp dark suits like an enormous casting call for the movie Men in Black. It seemed that 9 out of 10 men of all ages I saw during the day, from executives to office workers to students, rocked a dark suit and crisp white shirt. Always impeccable. Never sloppy. No baggy jeans. No sideways hats. No oversized t-shirts.

Japanese Men in Black from Jim Hopkinson on Vimeo.

So how did they distinguish themselves? One way was the shoes. Another is their hair. Without the diversified hair shades of blond, brown, and red, the cut and style becomes more dramatic. A 50-foot monitor at Shibuya’s busy crossing hypes “Moving Rubber” hair gel (my friend bought some and we weren’t sure we’d ever seen such a substance). Some of the hairstyles I saw could be classified as pompadours, spikes, and the 1990s Jennifer Aniston look. But it did set them apart.

9. Women’s Fashion Wonders
In a word, stunning. Like the men, most of the women, from students to store clerks, seemed to follow a “standard uniform” for fall. That was dark sweaters and jackets, skirts, knee-high socks and boots.

And they definitely like their brands. Several areas we were in had high end shopping, from Ralph Lauren to Louis Vuitton, as well as plenty of boutique shops. It’s interesting how major brands transcend different cultures. And again, the style was impeccable. Check out the photo I took of a group of girls all wearing the same outfit, but differentiating with their crazy shoes.

10. No Japanese spoken here
My last comment on fashion is that it was nearly impossible to find a single shirt with Japanese writing on it. At first it was just casual browsing, trying to find something authentic. But at the end of the trip, I was in full-scale tourist mode. Yes, I want to be the dorky – um, I mean cool – guy that has a t-shirt with Japanese writing on it to be different. Look, it’s not like I’m getting a tattoo that I think means “inner peace” and it actually means “bean curd.” I just wanted something that had Japanese writing.

But it got to be ridiculous. Yes, I know Japanese like fashion with English sayings. But I was in Japan, and I couldn’t find ANY shirts with Japanese writing. NONE. Nothing with their native language on it! Can you imagine shopping in New York or Boston or San Francisco and only finding shirts written in Italian or German? See the photo of me at a high-end department store holding up a $63 shirt with University of Pittsburgh on it!

11. At your service
The level of customer service is unprecendented. Astounding. Shocking. Breathtaking. And, worthy of it’s own podcast. Stay tuned.

12. Royal Flush
All I can say is that the Toto Toilet company should immediately be given a US Government contract to replace all the toilets in the entire country. A new law will make it illegal to install anything but their models. Yes, they’re that good. And yes, I am going to do an entire podcast about toilets.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes so you’ll automatically download upcoming topics about the land of the rising sun. Also follow me at Twitter.com/hopkinsonreport.

Thanks for listening, and sayonara.

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It was a simply spectacular fall Sunday in New York City. Much, much too nice out to stay inside and work on a podcast, so I took the streets of Manhattan with my camera to talk to people and find out first-hand how the current state of the economy was effecting them. Here are 5 profiles.

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I have a saying that when you live in New York City, every day is like being on vacation. The sites, the sounds, the excitement. And nowhere is that more evident than Manhattan’s SoHo district. The area is known for it’s cast iron architecture, extravagantly-priced artist lofts, retail and boutique shopping, leggy models, fashion designers, and art galleries.

The variety of accents you’ll hear in just 5 minutes on the corner of Prince and Mercer tells you that visitors from around the globe descend on the area to experience all it has to offer. Surely one of the richest neighborhoods in the country (Forbes has the nearby 10003 zip code as the 14th most expensive in the country, just 4 spots behind 90210) will be feeling the downturn.

Lets see what people say … continue reading the blog post below.

• Technology | Apple Store
Like any Saturday, the Apple Store in SoHo store was jammed. If people were cutting back on consumption of the latest electronics, you sure couldn’t tell from here. Aside from the true New Yorkers sitting at the Genius bar like anxious pet owners in a vet’s waiting room, the atmosphere was giddy. I overheard one couple speaking in a foreign tongue, staring at the chart of macbooks. The husband shrugged and said, “eh, lets’s just get the 15” Macbook Pro,” as if he was deciding between a glass of Merlot or Chianti.

I chatted up a friendly employee to see what his thoughts were on business, and while he was super polite and admitted that yes, there were lots of foreign visitors and it was busy, he was strictly forbidden to comment or speculate on any business matters whatsoever due to Apple policy. Where’s Fake Steve Jobs when you need him?

• Youth Retail Fashion | Abercrombie & Fitch
I spoke with a young woman and her mum, who had come to the states from London. While everyone knows that the weak dollar means your money goes farther in the US these days, I was curious as to exactly what the most compelling reason was to make them take the trip.

Was it a specific designer brand they needed? Was it a great hotel deal? A low-priced fare? In this case, it was none of those reasons, and all of those reasons. The daughter was celebrating her 21st birthday, they had friends that lived in New York, and they got a decent, but not fantastic deal on British Airways. They said that the pound was not as good as it once was, and that purchases only made sense on certain products. But a good deal is still a good deal. An employee said the $50 sweaters marked down 50% to $25 was the biggest seller in the store.

Oh, and then there was the exotic looking couple looking at men’s dress shirts. I asked them where their accent was from and they said Turkey. So I pressed further, asking what was the decision that made them visit New York, to which they replied, “Uh, we live here.”

Oh, and to the two women walking down the street that I asked if they lived here or were visiting? Sorry you freaked out and kinda ran away. I wasn’t trying to sell you anything or steal something. But you now have your stereotype New Yorker story to tell to your friends back home.

• Youth Discount Fashion | Uniqlo
Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing retailer that makes fashionable, casual clothing at value prices.

Their marketing and sales strategy is quite clear:

Make an enormous bet on certain core items, then purchase in massive quantities to keep costs down and offer these items in every color imaginable.

For example, check out the photo of their $99 cashmere sweaters. A Crayola Crayon box has nothing on that display.

A chat with a store employee says the New York natives tend to shop after work during the week, while the international set floods the place on the weekends.

As for buying habits? The Europeans loves the skinny jeans.

• High end Boutique | Betsey Johnson
To get a different perspective, I ducked down a side street away from the hustle and bustle of Broadway. I don’t know a lot about fashion designers, but I’ve definitely heard of Betsey Johnson.

Upon entering the larger-than-expected store, I had to walk the length of the floor before I came across the lone customer at the very back, and a salesperson emerged from behind the curtain.

Aha, now I had found a victim of the recession! Surely this empty space with 1 customer must be feeling the effects of a failing economy.

But the energetic curly-haired blond working there part time while in college could not have been more helpful or upbeat. She said that sales were great. From what she told me, I deduced Betsey Johnson was surviving on the strength of three things.

One, when the visitors did stop in to buy on the weekends, they bought big.

Two, during the week, there’s a steady stream of regular customers that buy less at once, but with more consistency over time.

And lastly, the strength of her brand name gives her a niche others can’t compete with. When I asked if visitors come from abroad to buy her items, she said that they don’t have to… there is also a store in London and Tokyo.

• Retail furniture | Blu Dot
By far my favorite interview of the day was Medora Danz, Director of Sales for Blu Dot, a furniture design company that hadn’t even opened it’s doors. I stumbled across Medora and her two friends as they emerged from their not-open-to-the-public store with the words “coming soon” on the front.

The Minnesota-based company’s story? Three college friends with a shared a passion for art, architecture, and design began to furnish their first homes, but they didn’t like the stuff they could afford, and they couldn’t afford the stuff they liked.

Medora’s example? The style and hip design of a $6,000 couch, but for $1,600. I can tell right away that they’re on to something. There are plenty of people in New York that make good money and have a great sense of style. They want something way above the post-college, first apartment, IKEA collection, but something that stands out from what their neighbors bought at Macys or Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. But they don’t want to pay the premium of boutique designers.

I asked how long they had planned their opening, and they said only in the past few months. Sensing my direction, they said No, the economy did not effect their decision to enter this market at all.

In fact, she confidently said that they’re uniquely positioned to thrive in this market.

“It’s either going to really work… or fail gloriously,” she said with a laugh.

And even as the first notes of Frank Sinatra subconsciously kicked off in my head… she continued… “We’re a small company based in Minnesota… but we figured if we could make it here…” she trailed off midsentence, suddenly realizing the cliched lines she was walking into… smiling with the determination and confidence of a true New York city native.

I think this city is going to be OK.

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From my home in New York City I cover marketing and business trends, technology and pop culture from a Wired perspective.

Subscribe to The Hopkinson Report podcast via iTunes.

Follow me at Twitter.com/hopkinsonreport

Thanks for listening.

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I can see it now:

Wired’s Product Reviews 2018 – we test the best device in the universe.

First, let me set up this week’s show with a plug. The November 2008 issue of WIRED Magazine tests and rates 141 of the coolest gadgets on the planet. Meanwhile, we’ve updated our Wired product reviews section online to feature hundreds of products, from Lenovo Laptops to Lamborghinis. And all the reviews are done the Wired way, with authoritative advice from trusted editors and concise ratings to cut through the hype.

So 141 gadgets were added just this week in 9 electronics categories. But as a lifelong gadget geek, I have to wonder if I’ll ever get to the point where a single superproduct replaces my collection of digital devices.

10 years from now, could our product reviews be cut to one?

And how will advertising work on this uber platform?

For the sake of argument, lets take something everyone already knows – the iPhone 3G – and use it as the starting point.

How do we get 9 devices we use at home into one unit? For each, I’ll go through the concept and the marketing. Concluding with, the EVIL advertising plan.

1) THE CELL PHONE
Concept: Let’s start this uber device as a cell phone. As cell networks continue to evolve, the landline’s days are numbered. Let me take you back for a moment. The year was 1999, I was living in Seattle, catching the very tail end of the grunge era, living through the dotcom boom, and calling my parents back in Boston from my landline on Sprint’s 5 cent Sundays. That was really the last time I ever worried about making long distant calls and worrying about the cost.

I still remember when my best friend out there told me he disconnected his landline and was only going CPAOP – cell phone as only phone. I know you’re laughing, but this was a pretty new concept at the time. I held out another year or so, but when I moved to New York City, getting a landline in my new apartment wasn’t a consideration.

In my slightly-distorted-reality of millions of 20 and 30 somethings living in apartments in Manhattan, the vast vast majority of people I know go CPAOP. The number seems to increase with age, marriage, housing, and distance from Grand Central station.

But the numbers back it up. A story in Wired’s Epicenter blog notes that AT&T lost nearly 1MM landlines last quarter. But on the plus side, the company recorded 2.4 million iPhone activations during the third quarter — 40 percent came from competitive wireless carriers.

Marketing pitch: Easy. One phone. One number. One bill. Always available. One marketing pitch that just won’t stop is Time Warner trying to get me to sign up for their triple play – internet, cable, and VoIP phone. Listen, I’m already paying you over $100 a month for the first two. Let me make this perfectly clear. I do NOT need a land line. Period. Please stop sending me things in the mail and destroying the environment. At least we’ve been able to stave off the telemarketers.

2) MUSIC AND MOVIE PLAYER
Concept: Forget your CD and DVD collection, everything is digital. It took a few years longer than expected, but the iPhone finally gave us a streamlined music experience on our phone. We’re getting there with movies, but I’m still guessing Blu-Ray players are a hot holiday gift this season.

Marketing pitch: What’s not to love? MP3s don’t take up space, don’t skip, and can be organized and ordered to your heart’s delight. And you can download and watch any movie on the fly. No more trips to the video store, pay per view, or even Netflix membership.

3) WATCH
Concept: OK, this is a silly one, but why wear a watch when you have the time on your phone? I do know at least 1-2 people that do this, but I really don’t see this one happening. Sure, it’s not THAT much harder to pull your phone out to check the time, but please.

Marketing pitch: I don’t even think a wearable computer on your wrist is going to make this idea fly, but it is nice having various time zones, stopwatches, and alarms on your device. Maybe when you check the time in London it shows you an ad for British Airways?

4) HOME STEREO AND SPEAKERS
Concept: You’ve gotten rid of all your CDs, now how do we get that giant receiver and surround sound speakers from your entertainment center and into this device. Well, right now I can get radio stations through AOL radio, and you can get surprisingly good sound by hooking up your MP3 device to a fairly compact docking system. But can we ever do away with the speakers completely? I have to say, I can put the iPhone on speaker and very happily listen to an audio podcast while sitting at my kitchen table. But shrinking speakers small enough so that their built into the device, yet can crank enough sound for a party? I’m not a sound engineer, but my guess is that there’s a physical limitation that can’t be overcome when you’re trying to pump out some bass. Plus, the audiophiles would have too much to complain about.

Marketing pitch: Does anyone remember those giant wooden cabinet speakers from the 90s with the black grills that would pop off the front? We’ve come a long way from there to Dolby 5.1.

5) DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER
Concept: Everyone loves TiVo and DVRs. Do we still need a giant cable box? I’m pretty sure I was the first person in Manhattan to get an HD DVR box from Time Warner as I got it the day it came out, and it hasn’t disappointed. I know there are media center computers and slingboxes and so forth, but here’s what I want. Get that stupid cable box out of my house. Instead, I program and record all my shows right from my iPhone, whether I’m at home or not.

Marketing pitch: How cool would that be? Forget to record the game? Just tap a few keys. Someone recommends a TV show while at the office? Set to record that night’s episode. And when you get on a flight, you’ve got that week’s Family Guy or Saturday Night Live in your hand.

6) VIDEO GAMES
Concept: Who needs a separate Nintendo Wii when you have it built in? One only has to look at Apple’s application store to see game developers are hard at work taking advantage of a new platform. And we already have devices like the Sony PSP. Could you get to the same experience on something much smaller?

Marketing pitch: We’ve come a long way since Pong. The level of detail in today’s games blows me away. Then again, so does the simplicity of Wii Tennis. For ads, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Grand Theft Auto sponsored by Buick anytime soon, but you never know.

7) YOUR WALLET
Concept: Remember, we’re trying to get down to 1 single item in your pocket. Pay with plasma, not plastic. This one is already taken hold in some parts of the world, but not so much in the US. Do you think we’ll look back one day and say, “Remember when everyone used to carry around little plastic cards in their wallet and had to sign with pen and paper to verify a purchase?” We’ll still probably need cash, but maybe they can have a little billfold on the case to store it.

Marketing pitch: It will take some effort to get this to a tipping point, but maybe an up to the second balance and instant budget will help people manage their finances better. Fingerprint technology would prevent theft. For ads, you sign up for coupons from Frito Lay, and when your device detects your purchase of Blazing Buffalo and Ranch Doritos, ping, 50 cents off.

YOUR TELEVISION
Concept: We’ve made our TVs flatter. When can we get rid of them?
In some cases, we’re already there. You have the option to watch video content right on your device’s 3.5” display. But the goal is to also replicate the experience of HD on a 50” LCD. So my vision is a projector, R2-D2 style. One wall in your house would be painted with a special paint, and you simply aim the device at it like a projector. Over the years they’ve gotten smaller and smaller and smaller. Why couldn’t this happen?

Marketing pitch: Mom can hang a painting during dinner parties, Dad can watch the Raiders in lifesize mode.

9) EVERYTHING ELSE
Concept: That’s right, get rid of all those other devices.

• Take a photo! Look, we can shoot 10 megapixels, detect faces, stop blurring, and fit the data on a chip the size of a postage stamp, in a camera that fits in an Altoids box. You don’t think all that will be in your phone in 10 years?
• Take video! Ditto the above.
• Surf the internet on your device! It’s here, just needs to get better and faster.
• Answer email! Here, just get it easier and faster.
• Find your way via GPS! No one will need a separate device.
• Read a book! Here, just make it better.

Marketing pitch: Why pay for all those devices when one does it all?

But how are the advertisers going to reach you when you don’t have a radio or TV?

I’ll sum things up by scaring the crap out of you. If you’re a marketer, you know the more targeted an advertising message is, the better it performs. That’s Marketing 101. If you’re Ford or Saab or Hyundai or Porsche or Toyota or Suburu or Acura or Lincoln or Honda or Infiniti or Chevy or Kia or Nissan or Mazda or BMW and you have a model aimed at highly influential, very educated, early adopters with a lot of disposable income, THAT’S why you advertise in Wired.

– Uh, wait a second — all FIFTEEN of those car companies displayed their coolest vehicles in the November issue of Wired? – I gotta give props to the sales team.

Sorry, back to the story.

And honestly, as a consumer, sometimes I honestly want that. Look, if I love reading Wired, and I’m also in the market for a car, when the Porsche ad talks about their new PDK system that features increased performance and faster gear changes while reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, that’s like another page of content to me.

But like Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. Here’s where it can all go wrong if everything is tied into one device. What if you’re talking on the phone with your friend and planning a trip to Tokyo. The device does a voice to text conversion, and all of a sudden when you hit shuffle on your music player, the 80s one hit wonder “I’m turning Japanese” comes on. When you surf over to the web, all the ads are suddenly for Continental’s nonstop flights to Asia. The movie recommendation just happens to be Lost in Translation, and the pre-roll commercial is for the Park Hyatt. You’re walking home from work, and your GPS function pops up a coupon as you walk past a Sushi restaurant.

It’s enough to want to make you want to go home, put a record on the turntable, and read a good book.

———

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Today’s podcast is a bit of a rant. Quite simply, I want to buy new glasses. The problem is, the process of doing so is one of the few things in life that are NOT made easier by the web. Let me explain.

Listen to this post via podcast (recommended):

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I am the ultimate researcher. Give me any task, from finding the best digital camera to the best sushi restaurant in New York and I will give you a rundown of all the things you need to consider. In the past six months I have researched Blu Ray DVD players, pillowtop mattresses, external hard drives, portable thumb drives, ski houses in upstate New York, and traditional Japanese guest houses in Kyoto. Really, I’m a machine. Everyone asks me to do this.

All of this is made easier by the web. I type fast, am a Google god, and can open a new browser tab with a new source of information before you can blink.

But none of this matters when looking for new glasses. The system is broken, and I’m going to give you 7 reasons why.

<< Continue reading this post below >>

1. It’s an important purchase
Hey, maybe I’m over analyzing, maybe I’m vain. But most people are going to see me up to 16 hours a day, every day, for the next few years. People make incredible snap judgments on everything from attractiveness to intelligence to sense of style based on your look, and one of the first things they will see is your face. So the glasses you choose have a big effect on how you look.

2. It’s expensive and non-refundable
If we were talking a new shirt and the first day you wear it, your buddy says “Arrggh… What’s up pirate man?” you probable realize the frilly sleeves were a bit too much, you suck up the $100 loss and throw it back in the closet. Even a bad haircut is under $50 and grows back in a month.

But with frames costing up to $500 or more, and high index, lightweight, scratch-resistant, anti-reflective lenses running hundreds as well – customized for you and only you – you just can’t save your receipt and go back for a refund if your little brother’s first reaction is “Um, were you TRYING to go for the punk rock librarian look?”

3. The buying process sucks and is horribly inefficient
There’s no way around it. For just about everyone, the key to finding the right pair of glasses is putting in the work. Again, maybe it’s me being picky. My eyes are somewhat close together, so any frame even remotely wider than average makes me look like Bono crossed with Elton John.

But the way to narrow things down is speed. Show me that pair, that pair, that pair, and that one. How bout these? No. How bout these? No. How bout these? No. How bout these? Not bad… put those aside. How bout these? No way. How bout these? No. How bout these? Yes. Wait, no. How bout these? Oh, I like those better than the first pair. How bout these? Uh, you look like a moron.

And so it goes.

The way to go is to try on as many pairs as possible and narrow down what looks good, what the current style is, what feels good, and just find something that works.
However, how are most stores arranged? They have row after row of glasses for you to try, but they are locked behind glass cabinets, which can only be opened by store employees who need to go through a set of keys like a prison warden. Then you start the dance. Let me try that pair there. No, to the left. Below the rimless ones. No, the semi-rimless ones. And then you try it, and it’s a no. So you go through the charade again, and by the third time, it’s getting pretty old.

So why keep them all locked up? Why??? It’s not like a gangster is going to break in, and steal 30 pairs at once and go sell them on the black market like they could with CDs or leather jackets.

And it’s not like the average person is going to even steal ONE pair. How would that work? You talk with the person for an hour, settle on the right pair, and then when their back is turned you slip them in your coat and take off? Only to do what… track down another store, bring in your own frames, sit down for a comprehensive eye exam and consultation, and drop $300 on lenses?

Sure, lock up the Prada frames. Of course, lock up the sunglasses. But to me, I would have all my frames accessible and just hire a security guard or buy a surveillance camera that you can see on the way in. Wouldn’t that lead to a better consumer experience, and thus more sales?

4. The salespeople aren’t much help
So they’ve made it so you HAVE to deal with a salesperson, which are usually part timers with no training. Just once I’d like to walk in, ask for a recommendation, and have them say, hmm…. I’ve sold 71 pairs of glasses this month. You’re in good hands. Based on the shape of your face, the color of your eyes, and your sense of style, you should be looking at THIS or THIS. Shouldn’t they get better at their job the longer they are there? Shouldn’t they be able to at least start with a recommendation instead of just randomly handing you frames?

I stopped into the store closest to me on two different Saturdays, and both times the store was completely empty, except for a girl behind the counter and a guy who was clearly her boyfriend sitting there keeping her company. I could not have felt less welcome.

And that’s when they’re open! It amazes me when service oriented stores are open 930 to 530. Do they think we’re taking a vacation day off to come see them? Can’t you stay open late one or two nights? Noooo… you make us all come in on a Saturday at the same time, when of course the crowds are too big for them to show you anything.

And even ones that DO try to help can tick you off. I was looking at frames with one saleswoman, and at one point, I asked her what the current trends were. Obviously I hadn’t shopped for glasses in a few years, and was wondering what was stylish and current.

Most websites now tell you with the crowd is doing… most popular blog posts, most downloaded songs, most emailed articles, and so on. But she responds in an insulting, dismissive tone, saying “I don’t follow trends, and I don’t care what others think.” For the person clearly looking to make a statement and not follow the crowd, that’s probably not a bad response. But for someone asking for a recommendation, she clearly read me incorrectly.

5. You can’t apply the best of the web to the process
• You can’t Amazon the process with ratings and reviews. What looks awesome on one person could look horrible on the next.
• You can’t Netflix it and let people receive 10 pairs it the mail and return the ones they don’t want… you still need to try on too many pairs to make that efficient.
• You can’t buy someone else’s prescription on Craig’s List on the cheap
• You can’t crowdsource it other than dragging your friends or family with you while you try on various styles and they give the thumbs up or thumbs down, but free coffee only goes so far
• You can’t really have a ‘free’ model where you give away frames and just charge for lenses. It doesn’t really scale.
• You can’t sell glasses on Facebook
• You can’t spread glasses virally via online video
• And you can’t find the perfect pair via Twitter!

6. They can’t even do the easy things right with the web!
Have you tried to use your company’s vision plan to pay for all this? If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to track down an optometrist that takes your coverage within a 30 mile radius of your home by using an outdated voice-prompted 800 number. Or hopefully you can figure out how to navigate their website. But if you think that mega insurance companies are up on the latest mapping mashups and recommendation engines, think again.

And it really doesn’t matter, because once you get there with your confusing notes to say you’re supposed to get 50% off frames up to but not more than $200 and then 20% of the difference and then 25% off contacts OR 35% off lenses but not the ones that – and the guy interrupts you to say that they don’t take THAT specific plan that YOU have, and that the only frames eligible are THOSE, as he points to a display case in the back of the office filled with the misfit grandpa frames.

7. It’s nearly impossible for companies to market their frames effectively
I think most people don’t care at all what company makes their frames. Their sole purpose is just to find something they like that fits their style. But there’s definitely a subset that is looking for a logo on the side of the temple that says Prada or Gucci or Dolce Gabanna. I’m not one of those guys.

But it’s useless to market these because every person is different! If Armani advertises a great looking jacket, and you like the style, you grab your size and you’re good to go. But if they try to focus on a specific frame? The target market is incredibly smaller.

What’s more, even if you do interest someone, the glasses are branded with tiny hieroglyphic style numbers on the inside of the frame, which are impossible to read. Of course you can’t read them, that’s why you need glasses!

In fact, in my research so far, there’s only one single style that everyone knows, everyone recognizes, that had full color photos and marketing materials behind it, and according to the person behind the counter, the style that everyone wants and can’t get a hold of across the country.

That’s right. The Sarah Palin glasses.

——————————
If you’re a researcher like me, then you definitely want to check out Wired’s Gadget Lab. We’ll give you the latest information any way you want it… you can read the Gadget Lab blog, listen to the audio podcast, watch the video podcast, or get an RSS feed.

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Have you ever thought about what it takes to create and market your own business? The founders of Roomorama.com have taken an existing niche business idea and added social media to it. I interview the founders, Jia and Federico, to see what they’ve learned.

They’ve taken the concept of connecting people looking for short-term apartment rentals in major cities, and added a twist of social media.

Click below to listen to this podcast interview:

Play Episode:

We cover the following topics:

Making the leap from 9-to-5 worker to entrepreneur

• How did they get started?
• What problem did they see that they were passionate about solving?
• Jia’s reaction the week before she quit her day job

Product positioning

• Handling online financial transactions
• Funding a small business
• The Roomorama revenue model
• Creating a win-win situation with customers
• Advantage of Roomorama vs. competitors like Craig’s List
• Using the community and transparency to build trust

Social Media Marketing tips and techniques

• The smartest marketing decision they’ve made
• Getting your company noticed on the New York Times and Boston.com
• Tips for spreading word of mouth marketing — without a budget
• Effective networking techniques
• What is more effective? Paid search or organic?
• Where should companies focus more of their time, marketing or technology?

Links

Roomorama reviews: CNET | Thrillist | Boston Globe | Frommer

Follow TheHopkinsonReport on Twitter:  Twitter.com/HopkinsonReport

Also see: Interview with Jeff Howe, author of CrowdSourcing

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The person I interview isn’t a doctor, and doesn’t even play one on TV. But better yet, Cathy Conley is a senior pharmaceutical sales rep for a major drug company. She’s got a chemical engineering degree from MIT, she’s worked at one of the biggest consumer products companies in the world, and as a bonus, she’s an actress and singer and all around funny person.

Today she’s going to let us in on some of the secrets to how pharmaceuticals are marketed.

Click below to listen to this podcast interview:

Play Episode:

View Interview highlights and take the “Name that Drug Quiz”

Cathy’s diverse background:

• Chemical Engineering degree from MIT
• Helped develop a body wash at one of the largest consumer product companies in the world
• Actress, singer, and recently did a pilot for The Discovery Channel
• Senior pharmaceutical sales rep for a major drug company (pushing drugs on the streets of Manhattan)

JIM’S “NAME THAT DRUG” QUIZ

Given a name in the list below, can you guess what each one is for, and which ones are fakes? Answers in the podcast.

Notes and questions:

• According to Wikipedia, global spending on prescription drugs topped $643 billion in 2006, with the US accounting for almost half that amount.
• How sales reps distribute samples?
• How pharma reps differentiate themselves to busy doctors
• How do health care insurance companies and pharmacists affect the marketing process
• The best way to save money on prescription drugs (you won’t like the answer!)

• Doctors or pharmacists… who can you trust?
• Are we overmedicating the American public?
• The greatest marketing success story in pharma
• How a media frenzy can twist how people think about prescription drugs
• Prescription drugs … what are the true risks?
• What does Cialis have to do with Chris Farley in Tommy Boy?

If you enjoyed this interview, you may also like:

Interview with Julia Allison - Queen of self-promotion, lightning rod for publicity, Wired cover story

Interview with Wired’s Jeff Howe, author of “Crowdsourcing”

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Back in June 2008,  the tech world – and yours truly – was obsessed with the all-encompassing marketing hype surrounding the Apple iPhone 3G launch, while Microsoft had just awarded ad agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky their $300 million consumer-branding campaign to make Microsoft cool again.

I did Part 1 of the ad campaign showdown podcast pitting Apple vs. Microsoft.

Listen to this post via podcast (recommended):

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Since then, the iPhone has been the one with some PR problems, Microsoft has rolled out some new ads with some serious star power, and that podcast has been the third most downloaded out of 23. What, did you think Steve Jobs and Bill Gates would be more popular than an interview with Wired Cover Girl and self-promoter Julia Allison? Please.

New Apple iPhone 3G TV Commercials

In round one, I made the following predictions for the iPhone TV ads, saying they would tailor the message to the medium, leaving the web to explain all the tech specs, while predicting the TV commercials would:

• Avoid 3G tech speak and keep it simple
• Focus on a few key attributes
• Give situational demonstrations, highlighting
  • The slick user interface
  • Features that differentiate from your ‘normal’ cell phone
  • Applications like mapping while in a cab

Not that I really went out on a limb, but I was spot on.

View all Apple iPhone TV ads

They started one ad by specifically saying “So what exactly is 3G?”
And how did they explain it? Not in technical terms, but by simply saying “The internet, twice as fast.”

And sure enough, each individual ad has focused on just one or two tasks, such as surfing the web, using a map, or in recent spots, highlighting the application store (remember that part about differentiation?), showing games, location services, and apps such as Lonely Planet guide in Mandarin.

How has my personal experience been with the iPhone? It’s scary how much my life has lined up with their ads. The scenario I predicted in the first episode of me being in a cab and tracking my location via GPS? It was a godsend on a recent trip to Seattle when I was staying at a friend’s house in a part of town I was unfamiliar with.

And that commercial about downloading a Lonely Planet app to help you speak Mandarin? Just watched it for the first time. However, 3 weeks ago, I downloaded a nearly identical program in Japanese called LingoLook, to help me with my upcoming trip to Tokyo.

Overall, what has my experience been? Well, I’d have to agree with most of the people that took a recent iPhone satisfaction survey, which was summarized on Wired.

• It’s truly an amazing piece of technology. It is much more like a computer than a phone. A+
• Surprisingly, the greatest benefit to me has been the iPod. Sure, I had a Nano before this. But since I have my phone with me all the time, that means I have an iPod with me all the time, so I am constantly listening to podcasts. A+
• Has the phone service been crappy? Yeah, pretty much. I’d give a C.
• E-mail, voicemail, mapping, weather, sports scores, web surfing, video, Twitter – all have lived up to the hype for me. A+
• Battery life? I can toggle some features like Bluetooth, WiFi, and fetching new data on and off and get through almost 2 days on one charge. So I charge it every night and I’m fine. Isn’t that what most people do anyway?
• But the good news is, I’ve seen improvements with the App store and software. Little things like the speed of scrolling through contacts. I didn’t expect absolute perfection on day 1, and I’m encouraged that it’s only going to get better.

New Microsoft TV Commercials

In the first ad campaign showdown podcast, I made the following predictions for what Microsoft would do for their commercials:

• Alex Bogusky needs people to be sympathetic to the PC guy
• Soften some people’s hatred toward Bill Gates, positioning him as an “aging billionaire philanthropist”
• Start with the gamers

Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

Let’s look at three campaigns that have come out.

# 1.  The Mojave experiment
With this, Microsoft was convinced that much of Vista’s problems were a matter of perception. So they did an experiment, where they first asked people in focus groups what their impression was of Vista.  No shock that everyone said they hated it.  Then, they brought them to a computer and told them they were being shown a demo of a new operating system. People were blown away. Except what they were really seeing WAS Vista.

And that got me to thinking. In my very first podcast episode where I compare a Porsche to an iPhone, I give the reasons why I switched to a Mac.

But I have an honest confession to make. I have never ever used Vista.

I was one of the people that also based my assumptions purely on the hype of what I was reading, and not from using it myself. Now thousands of people can’t be totally wrong – I’m not giving Microsoft a free pass. I specifically remember a senior co-worker training me on Windows 3.1 for my tech support job back in the early 90s, and have used every version since, with my share of headaches.  But I never honestly gave it a chance. So I got to thinking, why is that?

The reason I determined, was that not one computer that I know of in any of Wired’s three offices in New York City and San Francisco had it. Like past jobs, it was the IT department that ultimately decided what operating system I would be using day in and day out, at least at the office.

So technical issues aside, a major marketing issue is that Microsoft didn’t convince the powerful IT gods that Vista would be worth rolling out.

But overall, I love the ‘focus group’ tactic. It definitely made me more aware of the effect of Apple’s constant pounding of Vista in their ads.

# 2.  Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads
As I predicted, the ads positioned Bill Gates as a lovable man of the people, actually putting him in that exact situation … moving in with a family so they could get to know him.

The first ad with them buying shoes? I didn’t think it was that effective. I bet it left a lot of people wondering what the heck was going on.

The second ad was better, and heck, I’ll watch anything with Seinfeld in it. Which is why I was disappointed that they canceled the remaining spots featuring Jerry. Do you believe the agency’s spin that only 2 ads were planned for this phase, or that the rest of them were tossed based on user reaction? We may never know. But I was willing to give them a chance.

# 3.  Microsoft’s I’m a PC ads
Aha! The giant from Redmond finally swings back! Finally, a counter-punch from the dazed former champ.

• I like the fact that they address the Mac ads head on and the PC lookalike says that he’s been made into a stereotype.
• I like that they’re throwing out real numbers, trumpeting the fact that there are billions of people on PCs. The average person probably wouldn’t know that Macs, even though they are gaining at a solid rate, still have less than 5% market share.
• I like that they’re showing real people doing real things
• And I like that they are reaching out to the community and uploading viral videos

Yes, Microsoft has a long way to go to overcome the perceptions of Vista, and they’ve let Apple gain tremendous triple momentum, dominating music players, blowing away the phone industry, and making huge gains with Mac sales.

And internet rumors like the one that came out this week that the I’m a PC ads were made on a Mac don’t help.

But like Coke vs. Pepsi, The Red Sox vs. Yankees, or Nikon vs. Canon, things are a lot more interesting when there’s a good rivalry. Stay tuned.

============================

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Budweiser sells half of all beer sold in the United States. Corona Extra is the #1 selling imported beer. Who will win the ad campaign showdown of summer beers?

Most of you are probably reading this blog or listening to this podcast at work, or during your commute to and from work. But maybe, just maybe, you’re sitting on a pristine beach, with the sun beating down, toes in the sand, and reaching for an ice cold beer.

But what beer do you reach for to quench your thirst? Is it a traditional Corona Extra, or a newly marketed beer, Bud Light Lime. Maybe their marketing campaign influenced your decision. Let’s take a look.

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Last week I strategically timed my flight from New York to the Wired office in San Francisco to depart at 8pm Monday night, allowing me to watch Monday Night Football start to finish for the 6 hour flight. Genius, I know. Since I was a captive audience for commercials, I took notes on several competing products. Everyone loves beer, so we’ll cover that first and then do a speed round with some other ads.

CORONA EXTRA

According to the Crown Imports website, Corona Extra was introduced in the United States in 1981, and became the fastest growing imported beer in U.S. history. It is the:

• #1 selling import in the U.S.
• #1 selling beer in Mexico
• #1 selling Mexican beer in the world
• #6 selling beer overall in the U.S.

Why is that? I think one reason is because they are so laser focused on their marketing message. The site says “Corona delivers a unique fun, sun and beach state of mind.” I bet you can ask 100 people what they think of when they think of Corona, and the vast majority of them will answer “the beach.”

In contrast to most beer ads that focus on over-the-top male humor, where just opening the bottle leads to a utopia of cars, women, and sports, Corona’s ads are consistent, relaxed, and make you want to be on a beautiful beach.

Check out the