JCPenney (JCP) brought CEO Ron Johnson in to replace longstanding CEO Myron Ullman in order to make some changes in merchandising and overall retail store appearance (having been a former Apple exec). Johnson made changes; however, customers began to notice other things that turned them away from the JCP brand, such as the dismissal of coupons and disappearance of JCP go-to clothing lines. Loyal shoppers began to voice their concerns, and after a period of time, many became furious.

In early April, after the flow of negativity reached a max, and JCP failed to respond to customers, Johnson was released from his position as CEO. While most brands would stop there, maybe just issuing a press release to announce the change had been made, JCP took it a step further. Read the rest of this entry »

The Insight. For far too many product-demo videos, the “demo” is short for “demotivating.” We’ve all seen them: a 20-minute lockdown shot of a spokesperson standing in front of some machine, droning on and on about the product’s features. Or worse, an endless series of sleep-inducing screen shots that show you—in excruciating detail—how to do things you really don’t care about doing.

Knowing that they had a truly unique new product with a bunch of cool features, Sid Bhattacharya and his team at Xerox began thinking about demo videos a little differently. Sure, it’s something that every product introduction needs—but why do you have to do it in the same way as every other product introduction? Why not stand out instead? Read the rest of this entry »

Businesses with a social media presence are always looking for ways to measure ROI and ROE (return on engagement). It’s not always an easy task. How can you really measure your efforts if they’re not specifically tied to a call to action?

With the growth of ecommerce in the past couple of years, a popular credit card company has capitalized on a unique opportunity: tweet to purchase.

Recently, American Express announced a new, exciting partnership with Twitter to instate hashtag codes for individual items found on Amazon. In a Fast Company article, the VP of global product and business development at AmEx noted that merchants will now have the ability to track conversations and see which ones will lead to better business–and in turn, purchases.
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There’s a clear link between employee engagement and business outcomes. After all, employees not only drive productivity, they’re also brand ambassadors who can drive new business growth. So considering how you might reinvigorate your internal communications program from time to time makes good business sense.

Here are a few thought starters.

Use fresh ingredients

Even tried-and-true methods for communicating can become tired. Try some “not your usual” approaches to reinvigorate the dialogue with employees:

• Distribute a conversational video message from the CEO instead of a formal, written communiqué, and then invite feedback via a Yammer site.
• Spice up your intranet with a temporary interstitial page that announces something new or noteworthy.
• Skip the dry PowerPoint presentation and illustrate your strategic goals in an infographic instead.

Offer bite-sized carrots

Your company probably already has a reward and recognition program in place, even if it’s as basic as salary increases and job title promotions. Your internal communications program, though, can offer smaller incentives to help you achieve your goals:

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