I have to admit that I quite enjoyed my own open letter to Starbucks, so I thought I’d bring back the format in this my open letter to Motorola.

Dear Motorola,

I don’t work for you and to be honest I haven’t owned one of your products for a while, but I know enough to know that you are undoubtedly the leader in bluetooth headsets for mobile phones.  I say this not to flatter you but to remind you that your market dominance is always at stake and that you can and should use your power in the market to continue to dominate. To that end, I’m here with a little suggestion for you and it goes something like this.

With all the states, provinces and other jurisdictions enacting laws that prohibit the use of cellular phones without a handsfree option there are going to be a mass amount of people who need to get in the market for your products quickly. Now of course you could take the traditional approach and offer some deep discounts right around the same time these various pieces of legislation pass, and I suggest you do. But here is where I think you can use your deep pockets to both make yourself look good and garner new customers. Continue Reading…

Rarely does a human being come along that changes a profession, industry or game the way that Michael Jordan did. The man invented the shoe deal, he is the reason you drink Gatorade and if you don’t own Michael Jordan To The Max you really can’t consider yourself a basketball fan. So here is my favorite YouTube video of the weekend that was a YouTube tribute to MJ.

Continue Reading…

As if he were not an inspiring enough speaker alone, at the end of his first speech to Congress Tuesday night Barack Obama did something that every CEO should take note of – he took the time to not only shake the hands of named Congressmen and women, but seemingly as important to him he stopped shook hands with and even engaged in brief conversation with the “pages” who had attended.

This is the leader of the free world and nobody had to remind him that those young pages were a huge part of the movement which elected him. Nobody had to explain to him what a thrill it would be to be 20something and have the President shake your hand and ask what you thought of his speech. Which is why it was both natural and so very classy when Obama took the time to seek out the pages. Continue Reading…

I’ve got to admit that I am really impressed with the way that Starbucks has been able to utilize the “halo effect” of the American Presidential election and specifically the renewal of promise brought by now President Barack Obama in a way that is not gimicky or based on novelty. Starbucks has effectively been able to bring a network of its customers together through a combination of online/offline marketing efforts like the I Voted or now Pledge 5 programs. At the same time the company has built much brand equity by discretely attaching themselves to all that Americans (and the rest of the world) have come to hope for in Barack Obama.

While it is obviously the execution of any marketing program that makes it worth doing, with these two campaigns Starbucks has been able to utilize the halo effect from Obama as the reason to call its consumers to action and in doing so has been able to use the Internet to connect the brand to its consumers and consumers to other consumers through their ideas, ideals and sacrifices. Continue Reading…