Roy De Young

Typographic Fetish

For those of you who share the same passion for typography this is a must see. It can be seen in larger format at this website: http://www.squidspot.com/Periodic_Table_of_Typefaces/Periodic_Table_of_Typefaces_large.jpg

Starbucks Should Look At The Whole Experience...Dammit!

I was in my car last week and was alerted that the need to forward a document to an associate was now urgent in nature. Fortunately, my laptop was in my bag so I parked my car and ran into the Starbucks, here in Montclair, NJ, thinking, "sure, no biggy, I'll just get online in a second and send this document along in a flash!" Wrong.

The Internet connection is not free at Starbucks as it is at the majority of independent coffee shops I frequent. No problem, they need to compensate for their diminishing sales to McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts, so I can understand that. The baristas told me that I need to purchase a gift card and then I would have access to the internet, OK, easy, except that I have now lost 10 minutes and $5 for the gift card.

Registering the gift card was not as intuitive as I expected it to be, in fact, the baristas needed to give me additional guidance which option to choose as the language was unclear and unintuitive. Finally I succeed, another 10 minutes lost.

Now I had to register with the service provider, who I believe was AT&T, which required another 10 minutes of interface truth or dare, only to find upon completion that I must go to my email and click the registration confirmation link to get online access. Wait a minute, I don't have internet access, how can I get into my email to click the confirmation to get internet access? I attempted to go down this path with my mobile device but the page is not optimized for mobile.

$5, 35 minutes, a stomach ache, and a brand experience that was not only disappointing and frustrating, but this experience instilled in me a deep emotional disgust towards Starbucks  that I wanted to scream! HOW COULD THEY BE SO FREAKIN' STUPID THAT THEY WOULD ALLOW FOR ME TO GO DOWN THIS PATH???

I am sure some first-time Starbucks customers going online had a different experience and got access much easier than I did. But when so much time and energy is devoted to the whole-customer-coffee experience at Starbucks why was my experience allowed to be so awful? Why did they not ensure that my experience from gift card to internet access was seamless and easy? Especially when, upon asking, a barsita told me, "yeah, that really pisses-off a lot of people!"

So I drove to an independent coffee shop and had the document sent in less than 5 minutes, no charge!

Marketing The Brand And Story Telling

A Wall Street Journal article I read today reminded me of a point I wanted to make some time ago, but like many of us with a lot on our minds, I forgot. The article, written by Alec Baldwin, is a poignant piece about documentaries and the role they play in our education and lives. 

As a marketing professional and film/documentary enthusiast I find it interesting that many brands are not producing Sundance quality films that tell their particular brand story. I am by no means advocating that Peter Brabeck produce a film about the textural experience one has with a Nestle Crunch Bar, that would be a bit of a snore, but why haven't I seen a documentary about the Madison Square Garden concerts of the 1970s? 

We see many performances on DVD with the subtitle "Live from Madison Square Garden", and a recent boxing film with the title, "Madison Square Garden". A film dedicated to the amazing concerts the Garden brought to us in that decade complete with backstage footage, interviews with producers and managers, and crowd shots could be an exciting film that many would love to see, especially those like myself, who attended shows like: Frampton Comes Alive, Aerosmith Rocks Tour, and Yes "Going For The One".  It would make a compelling story to support the Garden's branding efforts, capture of mind share, awareness and above of all, emotional connection, which is what all brands aspire to do and so few accomplish.

Remember what the film Pumping Iron did for Gold's Gym and Arnold?

Kicking A Dying Brand, Ya Basta!

Anyone who has been following my Twitter activity, blog posts, Facebook, and YouTube over the past couple of weeks is fully aware that I am not a "brand advocate" of Bank of America. Over 4000 people have viewed my YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hy4PBo4tE) and posted a remarkably high quantity of negative comments towards the bank. In addition, USA Today interviewed me in regards to my Bank of America Walkout efforts, and through Twitter I reached well over another 50k people. I am also experiencing a growing interest my T-shirts that feature the new logo I created for Bank of America. 

So what does all of this mean? To me personally it has been an empowering experience that, as a consumer, I no longer have to allow a group of thieves hiding behind a red, white, and blue logo to have their "way" in my financial life--except of course for the tax burden they will eventually impose upon us all. The internet has empowered me, in just two weeks time, to share and spread the word with others that we should tell Bank of America we have had enough. We do have a choice! Will my efforts cause BOA to shut their doors? No, not by any means. They are successfully destroying themselves from the inside-out-- slowly bleeding from their deplorable customer relationships, misappropriation of funds, and unscrupulous practices. Just read the press on any given day of the week to affirm this.

As a brand strategist what does all this mean to me? As I tell all my clients, either walk-the-walk with your brand or get into another line of business. In this era of brand transparency, a brand that took decades to build can be destroyed overnight as customers share their experiences at the speed-of-light. And if a brand does not live up to it's promise, if a brand cheats customers, if a brand brings the wrath of the public and press upon itself... it's curtains! I would guess by now that Bank of America is spending a small fortune with their advertising and PR firms to "sway" the online conversations so that they might be more positive. I would also guess that BOA is spending dearly on their SEM/PPC efforts too hoping the multitudes, who do not read the press and live in caves, will somehow be conducting unbranded banking searches and "happen upon" Bank of America as a viable option. 

My advice to BOA would be simple, follow Tylenol's example of accountability and responsibility in their 1980s near-brand-disaster-turn-success. Come clean, get honest real fast. Stop stealing and start delivering. Be the first of the big banks to change everything and start loving your customers again. 

In closing, let's all watch closely and see what happens. Consumers will decide...as they do with all brands. And yes, I still have lots of T-shirts!

Bank of America Walkout Draws Fire

This person, who claims to be a Bank of America employee posted a comment at my YouTube and then sent me additional messages. He/she appears to be very angry at all the comments being posted by other upset customers:

help center | e-mail options | report spam

nicknicknickr13 has posted a comment on your profile: I deal with customers like you all the time. I have news for you... Every other bank has the same policies we have on both deposit products and credit products! I have checking and savings accounts with Bank of America, Chase, National City and Chemical Bank, the latter two being local banks. Also, I have credit cards that have zero balances with American Express, Bank of America and Chase. Every bank acts the same way. We are in tough economic times right now, and all companies are tightening there credit products to save themselves from future losses. Maybe if you banked smarter you would be more satisfied with your financial institutions! From: YouTube Service <service@youtube.com> Date: Tue, May 5, 2009 at 4:07 PM To: roydeyoung@gmail.com help center | e-mail options | report spam nicknicknickr13 has posted a comment on your profile: I am both... I am only bitter because of stupid people who are irresponsible, and when they get penalized for it, blame other people for there mistakes. You can reply to this comment by visiting your comments page. © 2009 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066 ---------- From: Roy DeYoung <roydeyoung@gmail.com> Date: Tue, May 5, 2009 at 4:12 PM To: YouTube Service <service@youtube.com> Irresponsible how? I make all my payments on time. I always pay more than my minimums due. I have paid-off high balances down to zero balances. I never bounced a check in my history with BOA.  I guess I am a little confused by your comment. Unless of course you mean it was stupid and irresponsible of me to ever consider BOA as a viable trust-worthy option...and there you have me! It was stupid.

Bank of America Walkout - May 15: Drop Dead Day!

I closed most of my accounts at Bank of America on Saturday. Knowing it takes time to fully close an account, and weeks to get the word out, let's make May 15th the last day we will Bend Over America!

For those of you who have not seen my YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hy4PBo4tE

Get your t-shirts and help spread the message: http://www.cafepress.com/bofawalkoutgear

Bank of America Walkout - Gaining Momentum!

39,000 Twitters, amazing feedback, and lots of requests for T-shirts so fellow angry Bank of America customers can share and express their outrage. So I opened a store for T-shirts with the below logo for anybody who would like one:

http://www.cafepress.com/bofawalkoutgear 

Bank of America Walkout

If you are like me, you are concerned, frustrated, and a bit confused that Bank of America has been allowed, and enabled, by the U.S. government to suck the life out of our financial system. In addition, if you are like me you are very pissed-off that BOA has recently sent out letters to customers, like myself, that our credit card interest rates have nearly tripled. Because they feel like it. Regardless of the customer's history and good standing with the bank. 

Both personally and professionally I believe this brand has become a joke, a picture of sleaze that even Larry Flint can not compete with. At least Larry Flint makes money the old fashioned way, he earns it! BOA has to steal their money from us to continue to fuel their failing machine.

I believe it is time that we Bank of America customers tell these pirates that we are not going to take this anymore and we are going to give our business to the smaller regional and local banks that deserve the business. 

I ask each of you to close your accounts at BOA and walk out the door this week. Tell them goodbye, and that we are not going to bend-over for them anymore and take this crap! If we all do this it will send a message that extortion-based banking is no longer acceptable in this new era of customer empowerment. I also ask that each of you share my new interpretation, with your friends and family, of what I believe the acronym BOA should now stand for, as well as the new logo Bank of America should employ since it is much more fitting and aligned with their business model.

 

P.S. Here is a link to my YouTube piece on this very subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hy4PBo4tE&feature=channel_page

Accommodating Brand Elasticity: Sports and Magic

The before and after screen captures illustrate the challenges my client had with their prior online presence. Non-user centric grouping, throwing everything at the home page in hopes that a user will bite, presented in a uninteresting, flat interface design, all in addition to the poor conversion rates, unquestionably constituted the need for complete redesign.

As with any development project of this size and complexity, it's success was made possible through the daily collaboration with my team-- including the amazing site architect Amy, and design director Judyann. 

PS - still deciding how much I like or dislike this Typepad experience, the clunkiness of tools and unintuitive paths.

Why I Love What I Do

I love to see design make things better. I love to see strategic thinking, smart clients, usability science, and good design all come together as they did in the website solution for Trump University. An established brand, recognizing the need for change, I directed my team to focus on the user and keep the experience true to the brand. The before and after images speak for themselves; from run-on copy and clutter to a user-centric, experience.  

Also, as this is my second post on TypePad, first one using images, I am testing both my patience and the experience with this service. So far...hmmm...the jury is still out. I did yell out-loud some unpleasant words in the process.