The Kohl's Backlash: Will the Haw Shame Spiral?

Uh oh, I just got some Kohl's backlash from Mike over at mikespoints.com.  Apparently Mike likes to make points, but isn't really a big fan of, you know, thinking them through.

Over at his blog, he has questioned my integrity in dealing with the Kohl's photos.

"Paul McEnany/Hee-Haw Marketing made a trip to Dallas Kohl’s store around Christmas and found much of the store in disarray. And, from those photos, that store did look pretty bad — at that moment

But, for all we know, that may have been an extremely busy day, and atypical for that Kohl’s or any Kohl’s store. So, did McEnany go back later to see if the mess was a one-day deal or a pattern?

It doesn’t look like it to me.

And, while he may have received some great traffic, Kohl’s got a bit of a black eye. All because of McEnany’s jumping to conclusions."

Yes, Mike, it is totally MY fault that Kohl's got the black eye. 

So while he accused me of taking a snapshot of a situation, without properly investigating, he also forgot to actually read the comments from the multitude of others with similar experiences.  Nor did he read the multiple times I said I WOULD be going back to take pictures.

I am not a journalist, nor do I think most bloggers should be treated as such. I went into a store, and it looked like shit. What if it was a restaurant, and I took pictures of rats hanging out in the kitchen? Should I then just ASSUME it's a one-time thing?

It's not incumbent upon bloggers, or anyone else, for that matter, to become apologists for any company. Sure, we all have our good days and bad, but in most cases, you're not good every day, and then all of the sudden have a moment of pathetic disarray. If that were the case, I might have seen at least one person attempting to clean up.

Anyway, thanks Mike. Apparently I was in the mood for a rant.

Hurricane Kohl's! The Resolution, sort of.

Please know that it is our top priority to provide you, andall of our customers, a quality shopping experience. I’m very sorry that you recently encountered an unacceptable store environment, and from your pictures, clearly not up to our standards. I have advised our senior level management, they’ve been made aware, and they’re highly committed to addressing it. So, thanks again for letting me know. I do appreciate hearing from you and we do value your patronage.

                        -VP Public Relations, Kohl's Corp.

https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=18055&doc=hurricane-kohls-28058

Excuse me while I feel a little unsatisfied. After a few phone calls, that was the response (via voice mail) I received from Kohl's.  And, ever since, I've been sort of scratching my head.

Why even respond?

Now, she sounds like a very nice lady, as most PR folks are, whether they really are or not. But, seriously, I'm not the New York Times, and I think my rambling phone message made it abundantly clear that I'm not a skilled interviewer. Is that really the right response? Would no response have been better in this case?

Really, I have no doubt in my mind that nothing will happen in any store, even though this was obviously not an isolated incident. I doubt the representative leaving that message really has the power to push the right buttons to fix X and O problems like staffing. I realize they can't just say that, but, I can't help but feel empty from that message.

Take a look through the slide show. I've aggregated some comments from around the blogosphere in response to this Kohl's story, spliced with the bullshit spewed from the Kohl's website.

Anybody have a take on this one?

HURRICANE KOHLS!

UPDATE: To see the Kohl's response to this post, go here.

UPDATE #2: To see the Kohl's Dallas Employee blog made in response to this post, go here.

Holy shit.  I wouldn't be what you would consider a 'luxury" shopper.  Generally, I'm more comfortable in a vintage shop rather than at a Nordstrom's, but, jeez, some level of decency would be nice.

I've got this Kohl's right next to my house, and with that proximity, I'll make a stop by every few weeks to check out the sales.  Its always bad, but this Dallas, Texas Kohl's would look more at home in New Orleans after the flood.

hmm, I hope they have my size!

I really like the jeans display. Now that's great salesmanship!

And, maybe a nice sweater to go with those jeans?

Don't forget to try them on!

I get it, it's after Christmas, things have been busy, and your store has probably been thrashed by rabid shoppers over the past few days. But, all you've told me is that you don't give a shit.  Not about your merchandise, your store or your customers. It is Kohl's, so my expectations are already low, but this is ridiculous...

And don't think I didn't notice all those Kohl's ads, the millions of dollars burned driving customers into the stores. They did this while obviously and intentionally remaining sorely understaffed.  That sort of penny pinching is wasteful, and if someone over there doesn't act quick, Kohl's situation will resemble something closer to Kmart, rather than the me-to Target they're shooting for.  Businesses like this that fail to recognize the added value of experience, and the limitations of traditional advertising, won't be around much longer, thanks to customers like myself who choose to stop wasting their time with retailers who obviously don't care for them.

The New Marketing Landscape

Phew! I guess it's about time to start dusting off the old brain, and get back to real life. 

So, with that, the continuation of the Dry Erase Board Chronicles...

As if marketing to people who don't care about you is hard enough, try doing it tomorrow, when the tools for shutting you off get even easier, more intuitive and more commonplace.  I don't know if you guys remember the scene from the Matrix where Neo just puts up his hand, stopping the bullets screaming towards him, then takes a second to pause and look more closely at one of his choosing, but it's a pretty good metaphor for the marketing landscape lazy, magic bean marketers have created for us to clean up.

Now, we just have to find where we fit in. Or, if we fit in.

The Holy Grail of Holiday Advertising

Today, I snuck into the offices of Generico & Generico Advertising, and found this, the secret to holiday advertising.  I pass it along to you, as it is, apparently, the secret behind campaigns around this time of year.

The Writing Bug Bit Me

If you wake up in the morning, and you can't think anything but singing, then you should be a singer, girl.
-Sister Mary Clarence.

Yes, that was the formerly brilliant Whoop Goldberg in one of my most shameful guilty pleasure movies, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.  I know. You don't have to tell me how ridiculous that is.

But, a good insight there. And, for me, and many of us, I suspect, we could replace singer with writer, marketer, pontificater, philosopher, or some combination thereof.

After CK played matchmaker with Tim McHale, one of the most accomplished marketing minds of the past couple decades, and myself, the little Hee-Haw blogger, Tim took me on to write for his brainchild, the Madison Avenue Journal, a Watershed Publishing e-zine, from the same folks who bring you AdRants, Media Buyer Planner, and MarketingVOX.

My first article came out today. Read and enjoy.

And, yup that's 3 writing gigs now. I think Whoopi would be proud.

A virtual realistic prediction?

I checked out the Big Brother SL island the other day, and found this tent, full of ads for other television shows from the same producers, regardless of network. Yup, that’s NBC and ABC represented, at an event for a CBS show. What are the networks good for again?

And, yes, I realize this is two posts in a row on Second Life.  I'm shaking my head, too.  And the tailspin begins...

Second Life: The Greatest Thing Since the First One

I’ve got two new friends, Jackson Jacks and CK Emoto. Well, new versions of old friends, anyway;the masi guy, Tim Jackson and our own little bookstress, CK.

The three of us spent the wee hours of Saturday night, or Sunday morning, depending on your disposition, exploring the wonderful dork forest of Second Life . I say dork now because it makes me feel better about the fact that I actually rather enjoyed it. You know, I never really did play dungeons and dragons in high school, but maybe I should give that a shot, too.

Jackson Jacks looked like some massive Viking of questionable sexuality. Seriously, it was creepy, and as evidenced by this picture, he wasn’t afraid to show it off. And, of course, CK, never one to shy away from a little bare midriff, well, you know, showed a little, uh, skin.

 

We were all three very much newbies, and between CK typing anywhere but where she was supposed to, Jacks' unfortunate Mohawk, and my lack of virtual motor skills, we wore our minimal expertise on our sleeves.

It does strike me as comparable to an advanced version of the Sims, but with real people. Or really virtual people. I’m not sure if my first life allows too much extra time to begin a second one, but it clearly has marketing implications all over it. There’s no question that we don’t connect so linearly as we once did. Geographic boundaries don’t necessarily provide relationship boxes like ten year olds on the same cul-de-sac.

But, it’s still hard to put your finger on. It’s clear that just because this life is virtual, doesn’t mean that SL citizens care any less about them. If we treat second life like we’ve already treated the original one, one of two things will happen; there will be no more Second Life, or no more us in Second Life, one or the other.

 

So, at this point, I’ll just enjoy perusing the Crayon offices a bit more, and figuring out what’s what with my new favorite “sort of” real people, CK Emoto and Jackson Jacks. If you’d like to find me, this is Dallas Dibou, and I’ve officially blogged about Second Life, which makes me just a little dorkier and just a little smarter. And I’m good with both.

The Long Awaited Jaffe Interview

*Holy shit! I finally got it working!*

Move over Adam Curry. The greatest podcaster in the history of forever is in town. Well, fuck, at least I'm probably not the worst. You can give me that, right?

Believe me, it does sound like my first real go at podcasting, but luckily and thankfully, I landed a ringer, and Joseph Jaffe was there to pick up the significant slack.

If you stick it out to the end, you'll get to hear the epitome of my master interviewing skills, while I obviously get caught thinking about the next question, rather than listening to the answer to the last question. Yes, that's skillz with a z.

Anyway, this is in the hallway of the Chaos 2006 conference in Austin, Texas.  Hope you guys enjoy...

Click Here To Listen.

Text version to come at the Madison Avenue Journal.

And, the Jaffe essentials.

Chief of made-up titles Interrupter: Crayon, Life After the 30 Second Spot, Jaffe Juice, Across the Sound - The New Marketing Podcast.  Soak 'em all in,  and send me a thank you card. Photo by Bryan Pearson.

Fashioned Wallpaper

Thanksgiving was at my aunt's house this year.  Well, grandmother's sister's daughter's house.  Seeing as how I have no idea what label that necessitates, aunt will have to do.

Anyway, this is a picture from her 16 year-old daughter's bedroom.  Once my eyes adjusted to the frightening amount of pink, I noticed this wallpapering of Cosmo ads...

Anybody still question whether advertising can be effective? What is the ROI on this, anyway?

You know, all those fashion print ads struck me as the height of ridiculousness for a long, long time, but, maybe I had it wrong all along.