not happy with MU but not divorced

The day before 10 year anniversary of Jennifer’s wedding we had a discussion about happiness – that was my stickiest takeaway by the way. That is very important that person who teach you positive sides of doing business (there not many of them if you speak about real business) feels like the happiest human on the earth. Otherwise she/he would not be persuasive J

Everybody understands happiness but not many can predict happy moments of customer for branding purposes. I think the concept of the lifting of this problem one level higher and instead of trying to run behind the customer’s mood it is much more sustainable and visionary to brand around your customer’s process to help customer to catch up with little happy moments everyday is just brilliant. So another takeaway by systematic and be chaotic in the same time to be sure that your brand associates with a happy life unless you are “Prince of Darkness”.

Last takeaway was about divorce. I was unhappy with Manchester United performance in the Champions League final today, but I was happy to learn that one of my favorite brands “Manchester United” talked to me and I talked to him. According to professor’s hint I and MU are not going to divorce nearest future.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1187275/Red-Bull-Cola-banned-Germany–traces-cocaine-it.html

Red Bull Cola could be banned in Germany – after traces of cocaine are found in it.  Germany is considering a nationwide ban on the high-energy drink Red Bull Cola after traces of cocaine were found in it. Authorities in the states of Hesse and North-Rhine Westphalia have ordered retailers to stop selling the beverage – which is available in the UK. The consumer ministries in the two states confirmed they had ordered retailers to pull the drink off their shelves after a food safety institute in North-Rhine Westphalia found the drug in samples. Red Bull Cola Coke problem: An investigation in Germany has found traces of de-cocainized extract of coco leaf in Red Bull Cola ‘The institute examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine,’ said Bernhard Kuehnle, head of the food safety department at the federal ministry for consumer protection. Authorities said the cocaine levels do not pose a health threat but are not permitted in foodstuffs. The investigation found the drink to contain a de-cocainized extract of coca leaf in the drink. More… * How one woman lost 7 stone on the Red Bull only diet – but also suffered a heart attack That means the drink cannot be classified as a foodstuff but as a narcotic and needs a special licence, authorities said. Giant German retail group Rewe had already issued orders to remove the fizzy drink from its shops. Wilhelm Deitermann, spokesman for the North-Rhine Westphalia consumer ministry said he expected most – if not all – other German states to follow suit and ban the drink. Red Bull Cola has protested the action. ‘De-cocainized extract of coca leaf is used worldwide in foods as a natural flavouring,’ said a spokesman. The company added that Red Bull Cola as well as other food that contains coca leaf extract is considered safe in the EU as well as in the US. The more popular Red Bull, dubbed the ‘clubbers’ drink,’ is often mixed with vodka. It contains caffeine, vitamins, and sugar which, the company claims, kick-starts the body’s metabolism and keeps people alert.

How Singapore Airlines converts the biggest critics into its strongest brand advocates

While this blog post doesn’t specifically reference the algorithm mentioned in class today, it is still a strong example of how Singapore Airlines uses customer service to maintain brand credibility…
 

Posted on May 6, 2009, 8:52 pm, by Shashank Nigam 9 comments

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Remember the story about food on Virgin Atlantic?

Earlier this year, I had published an article on how Virgin Atlantic had dealt with a passenger whose grievances about bad food had made it to The Telegraph, as the “world’s best complaint letter”. Sir Richard Branson had personally called him up and requested him to help choose the menu for future flights. Virgin Atlantic had successfully turned a critic into a fan.

Generally, this is an exception in the airline industry, as complaints often fall on deaf ears. But as I discovered, at Singapore Airlines, it is a practice to take special care of a disgruntled passenger, ensuring that he is a convert by the end of the brand engagement. The first time I heard this, I was wondering how this was possible. That’s when I was enlightened by an experienced SIA crew member.

The downside of an unhappy passenger

On every flight there are bound to be passengers who feel that they have been shortchanged, mishandled or even mistreated in some way or the other – often resulting in anger or frustration. But instead of trying to understand the situation and try to appease the passenger, most airlines tend to ignore such passengers, to not cause further trouble. But in such bad economic times can airlines still afford to maintain the same attitude when dealing with unhappy passengers? Probably not. And here’s why.

• With social media, an unhappy passenger can spread the word far and wide. Did you read almost a hundred comments on the United Airlines saga?
• An unhappy passenger not only doesn’t fly the same airline again, he also takes away other potential business
• We all know it’s much harder to get a new customer, than to please the current customer and get him to fly again

Therefore it makes perfect sense to treat an unhappy passenger like a VIP and this becomes even more so relevant in an enclosed and constrained environment like an aircraft.

How Singapore Airlines cultivates VIPs?

Singapore Airlines has a very systematic approach to service recovery whenever a problem is encountered within the flight. And here’s how they turn unhappy passengers into their biggest fans:

1. If the problem is directly or indirectly caused by the airline, the airline acknowledges the problem and assumes full responsibility. EG, if the in-flight entertainment system doesn’t work on a flight, the customer if offered a seat-change and if he doesn’t take that up, he’s given a $50 voucher. Who wouldn’t be pleased with that?
2. Other than generous compensation, having an ever-smiling and courteous cabin crew helps calm nerves in a tense situation as well. SIA Girls seldom lose their cool.
3. If for some reason the crew isn’t able to resolve the situation, he or she doesn’t hesitate to ask for help from the in-flight supervisor.
4. And even the in-flight supervisor is not reluctant to apologize. He knows that if he can make this customer happy, he will be back.

Here are the simple rules SIA crew follows in making a decision in situations like these: If it’s simple, give it to the customer. If the thing that was miscommunicated is easy to do or follow through with, just do it. If it’s complicated, try to compromise.

And it’s these simple practices that make Singapore Airlines the only airline in the Forbes Top 50 brands in the world.

What do you think? How has SIA managed do it consistently while others are struggling with this? Let’s discuss…

Special thanks to veteran airline crew, Z. Ahmad, for his inputs for this article.

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Class Notes: Happiness

Happiness is not an endpoint. It waxes and wanes over time. And shifts based on age, gender, ethnicity, roles, and your time in life.  

We start simple, but soon fill up with angst and feelings of confinement, until we leave those behind to go conquer the world, before gradually trading ambition for balance, developing an appreciation for our bodies and our children, and evolving a sense of connectedness, for which we feel grateful, then happy, calm, and finally blessed.

Two problems:

1. If people (implicitly) perceive happiness as an endpoint, they believe they should be able to chase it. Untenable, frustrating goal.
2. People often do not remember exactly what brings them happiness. People often remember Disneyland as one of their happiest memories. But online experience ratings caste doubts on this. Finding parking is difficult, lines are long, and the park is often full of children who are crying. So why is it that you go home, wake up and can’t wait to return to Disneyland? Perhaps, at least in part because of the photos taken of you grinning ear to ear after exiting the ride (Sutton, 1992). 

Four pillars of happiness:

1. Autonomy
2. Competence
3. Relatedness
4. Self-esteem or set point

Barriers to happiness (Note: Be sure to weed these out if they seep into your organization)

• Confusion
• Loneliness
• Lack of control
• Struggle for survival

You need to either create the environment for happiness or you have to intervene in the barriers…which means that where there is misery and annoyance, there is opportunity to make $$ making people happy. Car rental companies (zipcar), airlines (southwest), and telcons (skype) have done exactly this.

• Name an experience that made you miserable. Could your brand that does the opposite? Advice: mute annoyance and play up happiness (80/20 rule)

Expectations are malleable.

• You can lower your expectations to be more realistic. The lower the expectations, the higher the happiness.

Create a reward system.

• The power of a small reward. Little things make a big impact.

You can gain the most important insights into an organization by finding answers to the following two questions:

1. What are the stories they are telling?
2. What are the experiences they are celebrating?