Musings Of A Marketer

Ever had a chance to beta test a coffee? Here’s Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company coming up with a cute idea. As a blogging you are invited to beta test a new flavoured coffee.

The main requirements are that you have to be a blogging, testing and coffee enthusiast. Sign up by providing your blog url (which will be published on the net amongst others) and, if you are eligible, you will be sent a trial version of the new-flavoured coffee Jamaican Me Crazy.

Who and how decides on the eligibility is what I am not sure about, but I know for certain that blogging from Russia I may forget about being among of the happy ones

A very neat, cute and interesting launch - idea to my liking. Hope both Joffrey’s and the bloggers will enjoy…

Technorati : beta test, blogs, coffee, internet, marketing, web 2.0

Food Production Daily reports Mars launching a gift service throough Facebook. This wouldn’t be a big deal, knowing how many widgets have been coming out for Facebook. However, this new service takes a step further on, since it is not any longer a virtual giftshop - the chocolates are pretty real and can actually be eaten

What you need as a Facebook user, is choose a gift (for the moment this will have to be a Twix or Galaxy chocolate), and make a payment through PayPal. The recepient then will be delivered a Facebook message, requiring a mobile number to which a voucher code is sent. This code can then be exchanged for the gift at one of 12 500 participating shops through the UK.

The idea looks pretty raw to be, and only UK-based just yet, however, it is a pleasure to see the giants like Mars searching for ways to combine traditional marketing techniques with completely new methods of our digital age.

One might argue that a gift should be, well, gived… Rather than having the receiver search for the participating stores. True, but let’s hope this will be another step further. And… come on, as if you wouldn’t like to get or give a little something to a mate that you might not have a chance to meet every day but rather once in a month, or not even so. And this now becomes just a couple of clicks away.

I don’t know how confidential the information is, and neither do I know how strict the regulations are, but it would be great for Mars if they had a chance to link their cute widget to birthdays or anniversaries info on Facebook, and let the best customers have little somethings from Mars themselves…

Technorati : facebook, internet, marketing, mars, social network, web 2.0

View these two examples:

Working at a production line, you find out there is a fault with it resulting in a part of production going out with slight defects - unnoticed at the beginning but tending to come out crashing on you later on. You have an option: turn off the line and stop production - leading to you being sacked without a notice. Or else, you start the procedure: reporting to your line manager who reports to his line manager who reports to his line manager who reports to one decision maker. After a couple of weeks your report will be taken care of…maybe… This is Russian-style quality manager.

Imagine yourself a janitor… Relax, it’s just for a sec

You walk your routine along the production line wiping dust maybe… You notice there is a slight fault with the line (you may get it wrong but you don’t think so)… So, you don’t have any options - you just stop the line… People will come over in a sec to have a look and solve the problem… This is Japanese-style quality management.

Which do you opt for? I’d pick the latter. Don’t be scared to overeact. It is easy to miss a small fault which may result in dramatic failure. Once you make a fuss out of nothing - you will at least be sure that people have paid attention to what might have been a problem.

Technorati : marketing, quality management

Be it salespeople, jobhunters or whoever else, people have to first face a gatekeeper when trying to contact a person of interest at a company. How frequently do you succeed in actually passing through, especially if you are first-time caller?

I understand that people too busy taking calls, and having a gatekeeper is an inevitable solution in majority of cases. But what are the objectives of having one? Is it that you need them to do a thorough screening and decide on whether the caller is worth talking to, or do an initial screening to pass further on to the necessary person? I would opt for the latter.

One of our partners (prospective, of course) were very close to losing us - just because their secretary deemed our service absolutely stupid and irrelevant (she needed 5 seconds to make that decision). Thank to me being stubborn enough, and to Internet community sites, I could find a contact of a decision maker at that company. Naturally, he found the service very interesting and timely. I didn’t tell him the story of a gatekeeper at that time

Another role of a gatekeeper here in Russia is helping the manager avoid the partners. It’s so comfy - you make smb else answer the phone and say you are out of office.

What is the role of your gatekeeper?

I have just stumbled upon a great website - Kiva.org, a project started by Matt and Jessica Flannery, which helps small entrepreneurs in developing countries get funding from all over the world. The feature that makes it great is that you do not give the money away, but rather loan it to the entrepreneur of your choice. The amount is as little as 25 bucks which you can pay by paypal or credit card.

The scheme is roughly as follows:

1. You choose an entrepreneur on the site.

2. You make your loan to the businessman.

3. You start receiving feedback from the project’s partner institution about the sponsored entrepreneur’s progress.

4. In the end you receive your loan back from the entrepreneur, which you can withdraw or re-loan to smb else.

I have no idea what makes up the profit for the project owners, but this is a very cool way one can help people who need help and who are willing to work and develop. The project is being supported by many respected managers (YouTube’s Steve Chen among them, e.g., or Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn).   

Kiva guys define 2 risks for you as a lender:

1. Entrepreneur risk. To reduce this risk, Kiva is cooperating with local field partners - various microfinancial institutions who are screening each applicant for eligibility before posting on the website. The Field Partner looks at a variety of factors (past loan history, village or group reputation, feasibility of business idea, etc) before deeming the entrepreneur as credit worthy.

2. This leads to the Field Parner risk - bankruptcy, fraud or just lack of knowledge. This is reduced by Kiva people who have rated the institutions from 1 to 5.

In general, I have had a very positive impression of this project - a great idea, well executed and supported by many respected managers and companies from various industries. I hope this will be a long living project, good luck, guys…

To illustrate what I was posting about just yesterday, I have come across two articles in two different business magazines. The articles are about a very well-known Russian web service Odnoklassniki.ru (main idea - reuniting with classmates and friends from childhood and youth - analogue of classmates.com).

The idea of the project is great and it has been very successful, claiming millions of registered users. How many of them are fake is another story but anyway, the number of visits is very impressive - claiming the figures of around 50 million people over the last month.

However, what I have noticed is that people who are being interviewed seem to be quite careless about what is going on around. The striking point: the owner is very certain about the fact that his project and the rival site Vkontakte will be the leaders in the near future, with the competition lagging behind. Honestly, I hope (for his own good) that his choice of words and tone is not as confident when talking to the investors. Be confident but careful, and remember to look around for competition.

The same people managing Odnoklassniki project would in another article comment on Myspace expanding to Russia: these guys have nothing to do here, the market is shared by the two projects (I mentioned them above), and there’s no more room for Myspace. Come on, just have a look at Myspace’s concept to find that they are different. And have a look at their investors to find that they can find some space for themselves here in Russia. I would say, if you are a Myspace, a Facebook, a Badoo or anything of the kind, do not waste your time - the leaders here are very willing to give away their users.

Unfortunately, Myspace have been really slow so far. Their post about a single vacancy has been on for months, and God knows how long it will keep hanging there. I wonder what their HR policy is…

Reading the Russian business magazines here,  I have come to a strong feeling that anything new that is being undertaken by a company is received with skepticism by ALL other players in the industry.

I mean, guys, just have some consideration to do a small reading about what goes on with your rival, and have some guts to acknowledge that they are doing a good thing, if the are. Who knows how many businesses would shut down if they all were as scared to introduce new ideas, and just how many of today’s bankrupts would still prosper if their managers paid a little more attention to the new trends and flavours.

Strolling on Arbat street (a famous walking street in the center of Moscow) with my friends I was shocked to see the Starbucks coffee shop. These guys have been very quiet and I somehow missed the moment of their opening.

I have actually been waiting for the chain to open, and didn’t quite understand the reason what took them so long to penetrate the booming Russian market. Now that I have browsed for some info, it turns out that they had some legal fights with a trademark squatter who registered the chain’s brand name in Russia. Looks now that the fight was successful for Starbucks, and the guys have now received the green light for stepping in to the new fight – now with the competition.

I called in the restaurant yesterday, just for a moment to have a quick view on the interior. It looks fine. A couple of details, though, might be improved:

• Long tables across the windows are missing. It would be nice to have them there – this is my favourite place to sit and stare out into the street when I have some time to kill
• They serve coffee in the plastic cups, which, I hope, will be changed soon
• I haven’t tried their coffee yet, so I cant judge about the taste. There were no complaints on the net. There were a couple of negative notes, though, about their prices.

Otherwise, the place looks pretty much authentic (at least as far as I can compare with a London Starbucks). The latest data state that Moscow has one coffee house per 3 187 people. Comparing to New York and Paris (one per 365 and one per 126 respectively) there is room to grow. However, there are a number of competitors that have been doing pretty good so far (e.g. Coffee House or Shokoladnitsa) and a new entrant – the Costa Coffee (the joint venture project of Whitbread and Rosinter Restaurants). Another issue is that one should take into account the Russian capital’s behaviour: Paris must have more places to stop in than any other place, and Moscow doesn’t seem to be the favourite place for tourists.

Anyway, let’s wait and see how fast a pace the Starbucks is going to take here in Moscow, and in Russia. I truly hope there will be enough places to stop by and have a cup.

P.S. Starbucks global website doesn’t show any Moscow shops on a map. Strange.

It’s a very interesting – logically sound and a fun – idea. After years of being judged and rated by their students, professors now have a chance to “strike back” – responding to some of the comments (I don’t know if it is them or the project owners choose the comments) in short movies with the help of MTVU guys.

One should have expected this sort of a strike back. What kind of a Web 2.0 experience would it have been otherwise? J And, though not directly on the rating site Ratemyprofessors.com, the communication is now transferring into a true dialogue.

What do we get from it? We come to understanding that professors are far from being boring – their wit and sense of humour give away really intelligent and nice people who have been often judged by losers who flunk their exams for no other reason but their own laziness or foolishness (to put is soft). Some, though, are exactly the way they are described by the students. Although the rating sites are perceived mostly as a joke, professors are not just having fun filming the movies. There happens to be a well-grounded criticism from the students, and the teachers have a chance to view themselves from their point of view. Some take the chance to apologize if they find the criticism well-argued.

However, the majority of the professors state that they do not normally check the rating and comments. To me, this seems wrong – among the boundless (if there are so many) comments from the whining students there will appear a couple of useful comments that are worth thinking about. Therefore, this strike-back project seems a tool to attract those pedagogues to the site more often, and respond accordingly – not necessarily through a movie but through educational process.

I hope, the films will continue, and the parties will have a chance to communicate to each other the points that they, for that reason or the other, cannot (or just don’t) discuss in class.

Especially, when shopping online, if you’ve chosen to pay by a credit card - what would the reason be? You don’t want to waste time on physical shopping if you are certain about the features of the product. Would you come up with a more e-business than selling hosting and domains? To me, it is somewhere in the top of e-businesses. The least of physical participation required.

Not so very true here in Russia, it seems. My latest experience with a Russian provider (Ru-Center) was a failure. I choose to buy from Internet using my credit card, I enter all the info, and lo! On the final stage of registration it turns out that I need to come down to the office to sign an agreement. Come on, guys, why would I care to come over if I want to pay by a credit card? If I do care to come – I will bring cash with me – it is just 20 bucks after all.

Result? I am here, registered with GoDaddy – the guys from over the ocean