CRM Riffs: I see that a new report from research firm Insight Out of Chaos says marketers are having a tough time defining what customer relationship management means in theory and practice.
I’ll take the definition practiced by Power Bar, Miller Beer, Volvo and other cutting edge brands. CRM means first that you develop a relationship with an important segment of your customer base. Not
the whole customer base, an important set. Then you carry on a dialog that gives the customer a deeper relationship with your brand and gives you more information about the customer. I don’t think any
brand knows as much as they want to about their customers. But look at what Power Bar, a division of Nestle does for some clues. They have identified 2,000 Team Elite customers. These are a
geographically spread group of serious athletes and frequent Power Bar consumers. Power Bar makes sure this team has new product samples, T-shirts, hats and whatever else it deems “cool” for Team
Elite to have. Team Elite responds to Power Bar direct mail, phone and email survey at a rate well north of 50 percent. That’s CRM. Advertising that gives the consumer a reason to get back to you with
information, is a good place for planners and buyers to start, or keep going……….
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AOL Riffs: Richard Parsons, AOLO/TimeWarner CEO, faced a tough crowd of shareholders this week. But I
think the only tough crowd he needs to worry about is the planning and buying community. Are the individual AOL/TW properties in good shape to hold their circulation or audience? Most are. But Parsons
needs to be very shrewd if he plans layoffs. Because any decrease in quality anywhere down the line will draw the financial ire of planners and buyers. Don’t worry about the stockholders……….
Fox Riffs: I’ll take one more upfront shot. I though Fox played it smart this week. They made their mark as a young people’s network. Remember 21 Jump Street? That and sports is where they
will succeed, and that’s where they focused their effort this week……….
