by John Cataldi | Aug 26, 2013 | An Entrepreneurial Mind
Forward by John Cataldi. Overcoming failure, the most important characteristic of an entrepreneurial mind, which Sarah Blakely does extraordinarily well. I am not the author of the following post I have been following Mohammed’s work for sometime. Though Mohammed has never met Sarah, I have on several occasions. I’ve been amazed by her quick wit and an endless energy. She appreciates failure as a fundamental building block of learning.
Guest Post by: Mohamed El-Erian – CEO of PIMCO, Author of “When Markets Collide”
If you haven’t already done so, I would strongly suggest that you become familiar with the story of Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. Not because she is said to be the youngest self-made female billionaire ever, and not because of an amazing business success that runs counter to conventional wisdom about business training and experience; but because she seems to epitomize the combined power of hard work, persistence, innovation and humility.
I have heard Blakely’s story several times, including Sunday on CNN’s GPS show with Fareed Zakaria. Every time, I come away with insights that I am eager to share, especially with my 10 year old daughter.
Blakely’s initial claim to fame and fortune is a product that, in her description, makes women’s figures look better.
The idea came to her as she prepared for an evening out. Frustrated by how she looked in white pants, she took scissors to traditional panty hoses and created what has evolved into a popular range of “body shapers.”
Today Spanx offers a rapidly-growing product offering that benefits from increasing adoption (including abroad). It is opening stand-alone stores (five at last count). It is even extending the concept of body shapers to men’s undergarments. In the process, Blakely believes – and others confirm – those who use Spanx can end up feeling better about themselves.
The journey from initial concept to today’s unlikely reality was a long and difficult one.
Blakely faced many obstacles. She confronted a daunting string of early rejections and skepticism that would have probably derailed many (if not most) others. She had very little money to support her entrepreneurship. She also lacked any formal business training. Yet she managed to overcome all this, and shares with us wonderful stories on how.
So, what made her persevere and prevail in the face of such overwhelming odds?
Having heard her interviewed several times, it comes down to more than steadfast conviction in a brilliant new idea, personal dedication to entrepreneurship, and a desire to make a difference.
Yes, they are all “necessary” conditions; but I doubt they would have also proved “sufficient” given all the headwinds that Blakely faced. Understanding the difference provides important insights for those committed to improving their parenting skills and our education system; and especially so in a world that is yet to overcome harmful conscious and unconscious biases – regarding gender, race, religion, sexual orientation etc. – that are detrimental to empowering, enabling and enhancing human talent.
Through her upbringing and early employment, Blakely evolved her definition of failure from the traditional construct into a more inspiring and constructive one: Rather than interpret failure as the lack of success, she deemed it to be the lack of trying.
This simple and subtle change was the result of a father who encouraged Blakely and her brother to always extend their thinking, activities and aspirations (he would regularly ask his kids at the dinner table about their failures, commending them for trying); and of a job that exposed Blakely to many rejections (that of selling fax machines door-to-door).
One last point. While I have heard Blakely story several times, I do not know her personally. Yet, having come across other very successful entrepreneurs, I cannot but admire the humbleness that comes across whenever she recounts her story – all of which makes her success even more inspiring for the rest of us.
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by John Cataldi | Jun 21, 2013 | Consumer Retail, Social Media, Technology Innovations
Consumer profitability takes a dramatic shift from physical storefront to automated retail kiosks that are redefining the retail shopping experience. – By John Cataldi
In the past, the majority of vending sales focused on the “Four Cs” — coke, candy, coffee, and cigarettes. Today, generations Y and Z also known as the millennial and social generations, respectively those born between 1977- present, can interact with the vending machine as a full-service retail fulfillment experience as opposed to the impulse buy of yesteryear. In today’s tech savvy world, vending machines are no longer just for the Four Cs — they now offer a full range of products and services. Today’s mobile consumers are purchasing media, electronics, venue tickets, as well as paying bills, and even paying for parking through a combination of vending and mobile devices.
According to the Vending Times 2012 annual report, the presence of traditional Four Cs vending machines decreased from 185,000 locations between 2007 and 2012, and sales from traditional vending machines sank more than 14% to $49.2 billion in the same period. The major exception to this rule has been highly specific retail opportunities such as DVDs, e-cigarettes, electronics, and luxury goods. Those brands and retailers who have land grabbed high traffic, well-placed automated retail kiosks have seen incredible success, including increased profit and market presence. This sector has added over 40,000 of “new era” retail vending machines from 2009 to present.
According to Best Buy spokesperson, Jeremy Baier, over the past 9 months Best Buy Inc. has installed product kiosks in airports, hotels, and college campuses. The benefits of Best Buy kiosk locations include: no employee costs, a fraction of the overhead, low investor costs, increased brand recognition due to high traffic placement, the ability to address the consumer’s desire for instant gratification, and of course, maximum profits. Best Buy kiosk locations outperformed their big box store locations by an estimated 2,900% given per unit sold.
Other benefits reported by luxury brands and retailers from CoinStar to Xbox are:
- Open boutiques quickly with minimal structural impact
- Generate retail sales 24/7
- Provide internet savvy consumers a wider varity of quality brand name merchandise
- Turn remnant space into a revenue centers
- Increased lease revenue by 20 to 40%
- Offer clear and engaging consumer transactions
- Provide loyalty programs
- Offer social and mobile media advertising
- Access inventory and logistics management remotely
In our electronically, interconnected world the value on human interaction seems less of a consumer need. The value is increasingly being placed on the overall customer experience. According to a 2013 survey by Motorola, over 50% of consumers believe they are better informed than the sales associate and therefore, are becoming increasingly comfortable with sales transactions that do not include human interface. This is extremely evident in the world of ecommerce (online and mobile) and appears to be the trend in this micro-retailing environment as well.
In a semi-downturned economy it is difficult and expensive for brands and retailers to grow awareness and maintain a strong ROI while having to maintain their limiting physical space and competing with pure onlie retailers like Amazon. The answer may just be the micro-boutique, which will help retailers gain a competitive edge, without the high cost of maintaining a physical presence.
Sources: Industry Interviews, Wikipedia, National Retail Federation, The Wall Street Journal, Zoom PR, Red Box Annual Report, Block Buster PR, Best Buy PR, and American Retailer
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by John Cataldi | Jun 21, 2011 | Social Listening, Social Media, Social Mobilization, Technology Innovations, US Government
Social Media Intelligence versus the War on Lone Wolf Terror
In a post 9-11 world, the war of terror rages on, billions of dollars are being spent to defend and destroy those that would cause harm to US citizens, her allies, and interests. In recent years, it seems the threat that may cause the greatest harm to our security is not longer Al Qaeda, but potentially those that already reside within our borders. These individuals may have succumbed to foreign propaganda or environmental pressures which inspire them to turn against their fellow citizens in an outward violent act. Unlike an attack by Al Qaeda, a lone wolf or wolves are near impossible to detect by traditional intelligence networks and local law enforcement. Moreover, the lone wolf terrorists that are already domiciled within the borders of the United States have ready access to lethal materials and high population centers. Yet, in a world highly connected via social media, mobile communications, and the internet, could social media be used to sniff out potential terrorists threats? Personally, I believe it could.
As US Citizens, we need to think on a much more localized level, while simultaneously monitoring global conditions. The challenge for law enforcement is that Lone Wolf terrorists may be inspired by global events without actually being directly connected to a specific terror organization or watched intelligence network. In a statement by former FBI Agent Jack Cloonan, “We don't know what a lone wolf; al Qaeda-inspired operative looks like. We don't know where they hang out; we don't know really what motivates them. So when you don't know that, you've got a talent pool of people that is so huge, it stresses law enforcement. We just don't know what they look like and what they want to do."
Here inlays the problem. The US government currently looks at social media intelligence in the same contextual fashion as a Google search. Most recent example is its 2010 contract with Visible Technologies via the CIA technology investment fund, whereas Visible crawls over 500,000 social content sites twice a day, and scores the poster sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) against a predefined contextual document. If the poster has a degree of influence or social following, then they may end up on a watch list by one or more government agencies. This is the same type of technology that many companies use to measure their brand reputation. Where this technology fall short is it sorts more on contextual relevance than actual meaning. Moreover, influence over others means very little if you are a lone wolf.
A better platform would be one that uses contextual search like visible in association with semantic search and scoring. Whereas, the process of semantic search seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the searchable data space, whether on the Web or within a closed system, which generates more relevant results. Example: Tom Cruise, being the bomb, would not be confused with a man named Tom looking to detonate an explosive device on a cruise. More importantly, this tool should be available to both local and federal law enforcement agencies. Given that if local law enforcement is reporting suspicious activities IE acts of trespassing at city water reserves, and there seems to be a repetitive actions happening in other cities within a given time period then there may be cause for a deeper federal investigation. If this was compounded by lone wolf or wolves social media chatter on “Let’s poison the water supply”, using action words and phrases showing a repetitive intent to comment such and act then the treat matrix would be elevated to mobilize against such a threat while in the planning stages.
How would one build such a system? I spent a lot of time on this issue, given that I have designed several social analytics and engagement tools in the past. Simplistically speaking it would require the following steps.
1) Access to large data pipes of RSS feeds with specialized crawlers designed to target specific sites of interest. Include video and media feeds as well.
2) Create model documents of potential terrorist scenarios
3) Turn the model document into a searchable algorithms using Semantic Latent Indexing
4) Build information capture sites that use the model documents as a guide to search engine optimize a lone wolf into accessing “How to build bad things that hurt people” downloads.
5) Run the search algorithm to find specific “suspects” of interest per potential terrorist scenario.
6) Use an automated reverse lookup or trace route (if possible) to determine origin and potentially identity of user.
7) If user is anonymous, then auto engage the user, using a social bot, or automated response program that uses in part the suspect’s subject matter in conjunction with a preformatted action text in hopes to gain more intelligence on the user to establish true intent, by posing as a like minded individual. Engagement tactic may be to send them to the capture site, capture their IP address, time on site, downloads, to help establish potential threat.
8) Compare data gained in suspect search algorithm with that gained from the capture site.
9) Find affiliated accounts, handles, or suspect’s network of friends via communication threads or social media friends and begin to semantically monitor conversations.
10) Monitor and turn potential treats over to local, federal, or national law enforcement based upon treat analysis.
11) Threats that became creditable would be tagged in the system to better target future threats. The end result would be a fairly accurate profile per threat scenario.
Outside of Al Qaeda terrorists, this type of technology would have a great practical application in local law enforcement in regards to:
1) Potential sex offenders / human traffickers
2) Pre-planned. mass violence – such as the 2007 Virginia Tech Shooting leaving 33 dead
3) Drug trafficking
4) Organized crime
I would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment and share. If anyone knows someone in government that would want to build such a system, I would be happy to have that discussion in depth, so please contact me.
by John Cataldi | Jun 17, 2011 | Advertising Channels, Mobile Applications (Apps), Mobile Couponing, Social Couponing, Social Media, Social Mobilization, The Real Mad Men
How should retailers react to the Socially Comparison and Savings Apps?!
High unemployment, higher fuel costs, drops in credit, tumbling home prices, job market insecurity are amongst the several economic factors has translated into less than stellar sales for most retailers as they enter into their third quarter. Now retailers have a new “friendenemy” in the realms of consumer intelligence, “Social Savings Applications”, which could help consumers save billions of dollars in aggregate. But is consumer savings a good thing for retailers? Moreover, how should retailers respond to social and mobile coupons?
Though less than 5% of consumers use social and mobile shopping applications to compare small ticket items, as opposed to 30%+ that utilize internet search to price big ticket items, retailers must be made aware that this small percentage has a very high influence within their localized social communities. As an example, Margret, a stay at home mom, communicates daily with other moms within her community. Unlike the average social sphere butterfly having 50-75 social connections that updates their social statues 1-2 times a week, Margret has 135 friends, all active, and socially posts 1-4 times daily. Moreover, her social community has approximately the same following, activity, and shopping habits. So in when Margret shares here shopping experience, she is sharing with her 135 friends times 134 friends of friends, equating to 18,000 socially conscience shoppers. So in essence, a 5% usage, could essentially equate to a 20%+ net brand effect in consumer spending on a localized level.
Outside of the socially conscience, hardcore saver, there are folks like myself that are connivance shoppers. We are in the right place, at the right time, and if I can find a good deal somewhere, I will most likely be back again. A quick and dirty example of such a retail outing, I went to Kmart yesterday, not because I am an avid Kmart shopper, but moreover, I ran out of my favorite workout nutraceutical, Whey Protein, and happened to be passing a Kmart. First of all, as a guy I am genetically wired to ignore most coupons and if I want something, I have an innate need to satisfy my cravings. So I journeyed to Kmart to quench my craving. I found my item, though it seemed a little pricey at $27.99.
I’m not one to round pennies, but I don’t want to fell I am getting a bad deal either. So, I pulled out my phone and scanned the bar code using a price comparison application called “Shop Savvy”, though there are literally hundreds of these apps currently online. What I discovered is that Kmart was about 60% more expensive than approximately 15 other local retailers.
Ok, I was a little miffed, but I figured Kmart’s customer service would match the price, right?! To my dismay customer service could do absolutely nothing, and in the words of Kmart’s customer service manager, “I wish I could do something, but management doesn’t listen to us, it’s out of my hands, the price is the price.” Yet, to my surprise, she then picked up her phone and texted her gym friend and asked where she found the best deals for the brand of protein that I desired to purchase”. In a matter of seconds a response came back that was even cheaper than what I found using my social app, though my shopping app did set the bar for savings.
The end result, I saved 75% off of Kmart’s price. I got my Whey Protein; I scanned the bar code and updated the price so other local shoppers can find the same great deal I did.
The lesson for retailers everywhere:
1) Know what you consumers want. Know the hot items per category.
2) LISTEN to the social sphere, what are people saying about your brand and engage both good and bad experiences. Especially do this prior to bad experiences gain a social following. I’ll write a few posts on social listing and engagement next week.
3) If you don’t have the items and your competitor does, either get the items, or know who does so you can refer your customer. It’s not the ideal scenario, but it does show that you are karmatically working in their best interests.
4) Price your competition’s popular products or services items weekly. You don’t need to always have the best price, just a comparable one.
5) Don’t cut costs in customer service or sales support. Nothing makes me want to shop the competition more than a bad experience.
6) Update social shopping applications with the items and prices that are best or most comparable in the market place. Influencer shoppers like Margret will bring her friends and friends or friends.
In conclusion, immersion in social savings applications early could grow your brand and consumer loyalty quickly. Just as many retailers ignored the internet and social media in the beginning, social savings applications as the former are here to stay. Retailers that ignore social shopping apps do so at their demise.
If you want more information on how you can socially engage your customers via couponing, shopping loyalty programs, and social media, feel free to contact me.
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by John Cataldi | Jun 3, 2011 | Anthony Weiner, Politics, PR Crisis, Social Media
Rep Weiner defends his family jewels from media scrutiny – Weiner Gate, Day 7
Rep Weiner is not giving an inch to the rising media attraction to the identity of the infamous masked wiener, as seen on his twitter account “@RepWeiner”, less than a week ago. What are the hard facts in this case? Who cares! The net result of “Weiner Gate” is that the little known, outspoken congressman from New York’s 9th district has been thrust into the National spotlight, and believe it or not, is gaining positive social stature online.
As a media and political consultant, never have I seen so few inches arousing so much negative media attention while simultaneously gaining a positive social perception. So could this political fiasco for one NY congressman be his golden ticket to reelection in 2012?
According to Twitter Counter and Adreka’s social polling metrics, Weiner’s “Alleged” weiner has gained over 60,000 twitter followers over the past week. Moreover, there is a 58% growing positive sentiment that is socially pro-Weiner, regardless if it’s his weiner or not.
So my Crisis Marketing advice to Anthony Wiener, NY Congressman for the 9th district:
1. Stand erect, take credit where credit is due, even if it’s not you, you need to own this wiener.
2. You and your wife use the media to your advantage to make light of the situation. Can you imagine the sound bite, “the secrets out, my husband has a big wiener”, says Mrs. Weiner on the David Letterman show last night.
3. Run with a plausible conspiracy theory…. “It’s my wiener; it was on my desk top, for the wife only, but someone found it and ran with the joke” or even better a plausible truth… “I posted a response to the one of my twitter followers and accidently attached the wrong file, I am truly embarrassed, but not ashamed of my big weiner”.
4. Follow up with another sound bite: If your think my Weiner’s big, you should see my balls; they have served me well both in an out of politics.
5. Conclude the internal investigation with, let the record show it is my big wiener. I sent the offending falus, by accident when I attached and posted the wrong picture online.
6. End of story.
I am feeling an entire campaign brewing…
You know he’s a swinging dick in congress and he has the balls to match, vote YES for Weiner 2012.Ok, maybe I need to work on this political campaign a little bit more.
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