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Number
4: May 28, 2003
Please forward this newsletter to your colleagues and friends. If
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This week in Katydid:
Take This Screen Test
Conjure into your memory the most iconic images from popular culture and
chances are they are images from movies – E.T. and Elliot flying their
bicycle across the moon, Dustin Hoffman framed in the supple curve of
Mrs. Robinson's leg, Gene Kelly twirling on a lamppost during a
downpour. We could each name dozens, perhaps hundreds of images,
complete with a personal commentary on their importance to us.
While one might say this stockpile of film moments is a comment on
the dominance of entertainment in our culture, I think of it as the
triumph of marketing. To find out, go through your list of movies and
ask yourself how many of the images you recalled were also featured on
the poster, or in the trailer for the film. Check out the American Film
Institute's top
100 films and consider whether you remember the film, or the film's
marketing when you think about it.
For me the proof came when the movie, Shrek, came out and I
took my children to see it. The moment the princess leaps into the air
and freezes as the camera spins around her before she unleashes a split
kick to dispatch a couple of merry hoodlums, the audience of comprised
mostly of children burst into laughter of recognition. All these
children were too young to have seen the R-rated Matrix, the
movie that Shrek was parodying in that scene, but they had seen
the moment hundreds of times on television.
Many can quote lines from a movie. For example, Travis Bickle's
famous line from Taxi Driver, "Are you talkin' to me?"
and Dustin Hoffman's line from Midnight Cowboy, "I'm
walking' here!" are classic. Of course, most quote them
incorrectly, because most recall the edited versions from the film
trailers. In fact, some moments can be so ingrained in our memories
before seeing the film that the timing seems off when we see the full
version of the film. Tom Cruise screaming, "I want the truth,
" and Jack Nicholson's reply, "You can't handle the
truth!" in A Few Good Men, loses a little impact in the
longer context of the full scene.
Very often, the trailer is better than the movie (e.g., Signs).
And after watching a trailer that gives away just about the entire plot
of the movie, my wife and I are fond of turning to each other to
whisper, "That was a great movie."
Of course, you did not need to be convinced that Hollywood could buy
great marketing. What you need to remember is the transference from
advertising to product. Few credit the marketing when they remember the
product and the proof is in the pictures. Let this inspire you not to
make the marketing, but the product memorable.
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Where to Get Personal
On web projects, I make a distinction between personalization and
localization. Localization is the use of information that
localizes the visitor, such as zip code, city, or state. Personalization
is the use of information linked to the identity or behavior of the
user, such as favorite books, clothing sizes, or music preferences.
Web sites often store localized information in a cookie on the
visitor's computer and store personalized information on a server-side
database. Marketers see a lot of value in personalization because they
can track buying behavior to demographics and alter campaigns to
influence purchases. However, a site usually only offers personalization
to visitors who log into the site with an id and password. Good sites
store as much information as possible in their cookies and only require
login for purchases or account access.
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Great Personalization Looks Simple
Personalization is often a mixed bag. For example, if I buy a country
& western CD for my Sister from Amazon.com,
I'll likely see nothing but Garth Brooks offers until I buy a rock &
roll CD. But they may never learn that I'm really a fan of the blues
because I make those purchases elsewhere.
One site that handles personalization exceptionally is Netflix.com.
Netflix is a mail-delivered DVD rental company. For a flat monthly fee,
they allow their customers to rent as many DVDs per month and keep them
as long as they want. Customers create a list of DVDs they want to rent.
They can only have a few DVDs at a time (depending on their monthly
rate), and whenever the customer returns one DVD, Netflix mails them the
next one in their list.
Netflix is one of the few web-based businesses that truly could not
exist without the Web. They base their value on anytime access to rental
queues and account information. Generally, they have excellent online
customer support and account access practices, which one would expect.
They go beyond expectations in their rating system. They allow
customers to rate movies using an intuitive five-star system. The site
uses color coding to make rating easier: gold stars are the customer
ratings, red stars mean the customer has not rated the movie and predict
the customer's rating. The ratings appear with every movie graphic and
title.
The site also displays DVD recommendations based on a cross match of
customers with similar profiles. The system is successful for two
reasons: 1) the ratings refresh instantly without reloading the entire
page, and 2) the site shows predicted ratings of movies the customer
hasn't ranked yet.
By making it easy to rate movies and by challenging the customer to
rate more movies, the site quickly gathers a great deal of marketing
insight. The site even displays the number of movie's the customer has
rated to date (I've rated 503).
Amazon has tried to implement a rating system, but it does not work
as well because it fails to integrate ratings into the full sales cycle,
it's not as easy to use, and ratings don't apply to Amazon's broader
range of products. The Internet
Movie Database, which Amazon owns, has a frustrating rating system
for movies. Clicking on the stars opens a login procedure, which forces
the customer to begin again. The process discourages visitors from
rating films at all, robbing Amazon of vital marketing data.
Netflix uses personalization to encourage increased participation and
increased participation makes their recommendations more accurate. It
succeeds because it is ubiquitous and consistent – they even include
the ratings and recommendations in their reminder e-mails. Overall, it
succeeds because it's easy.
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Thanks for Reading
This e-mail newsletter spreads mainly by word of
mouth. Please forward it to your colleagues and friends. Also, you can
read other back issues.
If you have suggestions of web sites to review, writing that buzzes,
or a new way of looking at things, let me know. Send your suggestions to
.
If you received this newsletter from a friend, please
today. Our subscriber lists are confidential; we never sell or rent our
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from this newsletter,
please let us know.
Kind regards,
Kevin Troy Darling
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