lwien
Well-Known Member
Ok, I know I may get some negative flak over what I'm about to say, and it may even keep me out of the winners circle but I think it's worthwhile for manufacturers to read this and it is in that vain, that this is written.
There's an age old marketing adage that still holds true today as it did in years past and that is, "Always under promise and over deliver.", for doing that is the absolute best way to manage customer expectations.
What I am specifically referring to are the contests that were put forth by both DaVinci and Herbalizer.
I know I came off as kind of a pest in getting the Haiku DaVinci contest off the ground, but I was only reacting to DaVinci stating that the contest would start on such and such a date, but didn't start until almost a week later. That was an "over promise, under deliver" scenario".
Now that both contests have ended, DaVinci stated that the winner would be announced on 5/6. It is now 5/8 and no announcement has been made. Another "over promise , under deliver" scenario, and what makes it worse is that there has been no word from DaVinci as to the reasons for the delay along with an adjusted time as to when the winner will be announced.
Same thing with Herbalizer. Their contest ended April 30th, and while they didn't specify when a winner would be announced, 8 days have gone by without any word from them as to when this announcement will happen.
Contests are great marketing tools and when used correctly, can create both excitement for a new product as well as build-good will for the company, but this good-will can deteriorate quite rapidly if that "under promise and over deliver" scenario isn't played out.
In the case of DaVinci, if they couldn't keep their promised announcement date, than they should communicate immediately, like the first thing Tuesday morning, or even better, Monday night, that they needed to move that date back.
In the case of Herbalizer, even though they didn't mention a specific announcement date to announce the winner, 8 days without any communication from them at all is going a bit long on the tooth.
Like I said, these contests are great ideas and we all appreciate them very much, but if you're going to engage any community with a contest such as these, than it's best to be prepared to keep the contestants well informed. Your contests have worked so well, that they have built anticipation, which is a good thing, but when that anticipation isn't managed, it can be a very bad thing and end up actually being better to not run the contest at all unless that management can happen in a VERY timely manner.
It's probably the decades that I worked in sales, advertising and marketing that causes me to go a bit nuts when stuff like this happens simply because it's stuff like this that I trained so many of my managers not to ever allow to happen. Under promise and over deliver. A simple practice that works, but so easy to forget to do, especially in the heat of battle, with the battle in both of these cases being the introduction of new product to the marketplace, which can be insanely chaotic, so I totally understand why this is happening, but that doesn't make it right.
Ok…….off my soap box.
There's an age old marketing adage that still holds true today as it did in years past and that is, "Always under promise and over deliver.", for doing that is the absolute best way to manage customer expectations.
What I am specifically referring to are the contests that were put forth by both DaVinci and Herbalizer.
I know I came off as kind of a pest in getting the Haiku DaVinci contest off the ground, but I was only reacting to DaVinci stating that the contest would start on such and such a date, but didn't start until almost a week later. That was an "over promise, under deliver" scenario".
Now that both contests have ended, DaVinci stated that the winner would be announced on 5/6. It is now 5/8 and no announcement has been made. Another "over promise , under deliver" scenario, and what makes it worse is that there has been no word from DaVinci as to the reasons for the delay along with an adjusted time as to when the winner will be announced.
Same thing with Herbalizer. Their contest ended April 30th, and while they didn't specify when a winner would be announced, 8 days have gone by without any word from them as to when this announcement will happen.
Contests are great marketing tools and when used correctly, can create both excitement for a new product as well as build-good will for the company, but this good-will can deteriorate quite rapidly if that "under promise and over deliver" scenario isn't played out.
In the case of DaVinci, if they couldn't keep their promised announcement date, than they should communicate immediately, like the first thing Tuesday morning, or even better, Monday night, that they needed to move that date back.
In the case of Herbalizer, even though they didn't mention a specific announcement date to announce the winner, 8 days without any communication from them at all is going a bit long on the tooth.
Like I said, these contests are great ideas and we all appreciate them very much, but if you're going to engage any community with a contest such as these, than it's best to be prepared to keep the contestants well informed. Your contests have worked so well, that they have built anticipation, which is a good thing, but when that anticipation isn't managed, it can be a very bad thing and end up actually being better to not run the contest at all unless that management can happen in a VERY timely manner.
It's probably the decades that I worked in sales, advertising and marketing that causes me to go a bit nuts when stuff like this happens simply because it's stuff like this that I trained so many of my managers not to ever allow to happen. Under promise and over deliver. A simple practice that works, but so easy to forget to do, especially in the heat of battle, with the battle in both of these cases being the introduction of new product to the marketplace, which can be insanely chaotic, so I totally understand why this is happening, but that doesn't make it right.
Ok…….off my soap box.
.
