If I Was In Charge of Verizon…

If I was in charge of Verizon, the first thing I would do would be to take the large group of people, known collectively on TV as “the network,” - seen following around the “can you hear me now?” guy in the commercials - and reassign them to work in Customer Service.  In fact I would make the core focus of the company customer service. I would make going to the Verizon Store something you love to do - not loathe to do.

Note to Verizon.  I can hear you.  Great job on the network thing.  Now that we have established that fact, let me hear you be nice, thoughtful, and helpful.  Make me feel like bypassing the iPhone and AT&T (who could also benefit from this) or Sprint, or whomever, was the right choice because you actually care about your customers.

From the billing process, to telephone help desk, to the in store service and sales experience, there is huge opportunity for you to improve what you do, while setting a new industry standard for excellence.  Be the first to own this space and make service the cornerstone for your future growth.  Can you hear me now?

What would you do first if you were in charge of Verizon?

If I Was In Charge of… City Life Sculptures in Dayton

For the second year in a row the City of Dayton, along with the Downtown Dayton Partnership, has brought in 20 of the magnificent bronze sculptures sculptures of J. Seward Johnson.  The sculptures are extremely lifelike.  They depict people, sometimes accompanied by animals and props, going about daily life in the city.  The detail is amazing - causing people to double take as they pass just to make sure that it really is a statue.  They have been widely successful in attracting attention and drawing people to visit downtown Dayton to check them out.  The city started a photo contest around the sculptures, which I think is brilliant.

Still, if I was in charge of the City Life Sculptures the first thing I would do would be to create a blog for each of them.  On each blog, the story of the person depicted in the statue would be told day by day.  This could be done as a creative writing project, where students from Dayton Public Schools could compete to earn the right to tell the fictional story of one statue.   The writings could focus on a different area of life each week, creating a framework for the project.  This could start with biographical information about where they grew up, where they live and work, what they see everyday, how they interpret it based on who they are, and what they hope to see in the future.  This would be a wonderful exercise in characterization and imagination.  By placing it in the context of a blog, readers could engage with the statues in conversation - truly bringing them to life.   This would be sort of a Canterbury Tales meets the Internet.  Each statue has a story, and each winner gets to tell it.   I think this would be an amazing opportunity to showcase young, creative talent, while simultaneously attracting additional attention to this amazing exhibit.

What would you do first if you were in charge of the City Life Sculptures in Dayton?

Downtown Dayton Partnership

If I Was In Charge of Coke… or Pepsi

This week, I am offering a suggestion that can be easily implemented by either Soft Drink giant.  However, since I have named 2 companies, I will make 2 suggestions.  Fair enough?  Alright, here goes…

If I was in charge of Coke the first thing I would do would be to bring back real cane sugar.  I would eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup from the core product, making the delicious beverage it once was.  The second thing I would do would be to package it in glass bottles.

Why?  First, anyone older than me can vividly remember what it was like to grab an ice cold bottle of Coke, and chug it down on a hot summer day.  Delicious.  I was reminded of this on Father’s Day.  For lunch, we went to City BBQ for a father’s day feast.  In addition to the delicious Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich that I ate, I was delighted to discover that City Barbecue now carries icy cold, glass bottles of Cheerwine - a soda that is rarely found outside of the Carolinas.  Best of all, it was made with real sugar.  It was so delicious and refreshing that I went back and bought another bottle.

It got me thinking, why wouldn’t Coke and Pepsi take advantage of this.  After all, High Fructose Corn Syrup has plenty of detractors.  It has been suspected, but not proven (please no lawsuits), of contributing to diabetes and obesity.  More important to me, sugar just tastes better.  Perhaps in a blind taste test, I would never know the difference, but I am not blind.   I read the ingredients, and frankly I am predisposed to believe sugar tastes better.  (See Seth Godin’s All Marketers are Liars for more on that idea)

Now, surely I would not be alone in this predisposition toward all natural sugar and glass bottles.  Think of the aging baby boomer population, the largest segment of the population by the way, and how they might wax nostalgic for a good old fashioned Coke “like the singing international hippies in the commercials used to drink.”  No, soft drinks aren’t that healthy to begin with, but if they were less unhealthy - especially than that of competition, - that would be a selling point for some.  The glass bottles are reusable, and offer the sweet 10 cent bounty for turning them back in.  Being made of glass, which is made from sand, they would be more bio-friendly.

Because corn is in high demand relative to ethanol, the use of sugar would not be as cost prohibitive as in the past.  Thus, the switch to sugar might not even change the price.

So in summary, better tasting , more healthy, more eco-friendly product that would appeal to the largest group of consumers with the most disposable income on the planet.   That is what I would do.

How about you?  What would you do first if you were in charge of Coke?

High-fructose corn syrup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If I Was In Charge Of… Staples

I was watching game 3 of the NBA finals last night, which was being played in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. The building is home to the Lakers, and hosts concerts and other events as well. There are frequently blimps flying around the building, shooting the all too familiar overhead view of the venue. So as I saw the blimp shot last night it hit me. Something was missing, and thus came the inspiration for this post - the latest in my series of “If I was in charge, the first thing I would do would be…

So if I was in charge of Staples the first thing I would do would be to change to roof of the Staples Center. The roof is a perfectly nice roof. It appears to be structurally sound, and even has some nice, subtle messaging for Staples on it. However, if I were in charge, that roof would be transformed into a giant marketing icon - The Staples “Easy Button.” This would be really “easy” to do, and would further reinforce my the current Staples marketing campaign.

I would light it up so that it would be a bright red beacon to planes, blimps, interstate drivers, and television viewers alike. The photo is a mock up of the idea. Yeah, it is that easy.

If you were in charge of Staples, what would you do first?