By Ian Sherr

A new branding campaign from computer maker Dell Inc. takes a cue from Apple Inc.’s marketing playbook: It doesn’t talk about technology.

In one spot, a teenage girl talks about how she uses a Dell laptop to video chat with a boy she has a crush on. In another, a grandmother explains how she keeps in touch with her family using a Dell smartphone.

The campaign, dubbed “More You” and expected to begin Friday, is aimed at personalizing technology and marks a break in tradition for a company that got its start by commoditizing computers. Rather than focus on the specifications of products, Dell is hoping the campaign will encourage consumers to think about features and how they can be used.

“We realized it was important to connect more emotionally with customers,” said Paul-Henri Ferrand, who heads Dell’s consumer marketing efforts. “Most competitors are neglecting the fact that technology is empowering people’s lives.”

The Round Rock, Texas, company has been working to win more individual consumers—after relying heavily on corporate customers—and it wants to turn around a sagging image. Those efforts have begun to bear some fruit. The consumer sales unit turned a profit in the fiscal fourth quarter after struggling to control costs and entice customers. The growth continued in Dell’s most recent quarter, which ended April 29.

Dell’s reputation has fallen over the past three years and trails rivals Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple in key areas such as perceived quality, reputation and overall satisfaction, according to BrandIndex, a daily tracking service. In recent months, however, Dell’s image has recovered slightly, a trend the Round Rock, Texas, company hopes the ad campaign will help to accelerate along with its larger corporate branding effort called “The Power To Do More,” launched last month.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published July 5, 2011, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Yukari Iwatani Kane and Ian Sherr

Steve Jobs turned Apple Inc. into the world’s most valuable technology company with high-tech products like the iPad and iPhone. But one anchor of Apple’s success is surprisingly low tech: its chain of brick-and-mortar retail stores.

A look at confidential training manuals, a recording of a store meeting and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees reveal some of Apple’s store secrets. They include: intensive control of how employees interact with customers, scripted training for on-site tech support and consideration of every store detail down to the pre-loaded photos and music on demo devices.

More people now visit Apple’s 326 stores in a single quarter than the 60 million who visited Walt Disney Co.’s four biggest theme parks last year, according to data from Apple and the Themed Entertainment Association. Apple’s annual retail sales per square foot have soared to $4,406—excluding online sales, according to investment bank Needham & Co. Add in online sales, which include iTunes, and the number jumps to $5,914. That’s far higher than the sales per square foot and online sales of jeweler Tiffany & Co. ($3,070), luxury retailer Coach Inc. ($1,776), and electronics retailer Best Buy Co. ($880), according to estimates.

With their airy interiors and attractive lighting, Apple’s stores project a carefree and casual atmosphere. Yet Apple keeps a tight lid on how they operate. Employees are ordered to not discuss rumors about products, technicians are forbidden from prematurely acknowledging widespread glitches and anyone caught writing about the Cupertino, Calif., company on the Internet is fired, according to current and former employees.

Behind Apple stores is Ron Johnson, 52, who J.C. Penney Co. confirmed Tuesday would become its new CEO in November.

Apple’s retail success is fueled to a large extent by demand for the company’s products. Retail analysts say many of Apple’s advantages over rivals such as Best Buy are technical: It sells a single brand, has far fewer products and has only a few hundred stores compared to Best Buy’s more than 4,000. As the company continues to expand, some analysts expect it to face more pressure to consistently execute good customer service. Some former employees say they have already seen the quality of Apple retail staff decline as the retail network has expanded and has fewer enthusiastic fans to choose from.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published June 15, 2011 on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

LinkedIn Corp. is beefing up its advertising technologies, offering marketers more ways to target ads to the social network’s users and making it easier for big advertisers to connect to its website.

The business-oriented network, which has more than 90 million members, plans to roll out updates for its marketing tools that let advertisers zero in on people based upon job titles, seniority, age and location, people familiar with the matter said.

LinkedIn, which declined to comment, will be wading into an already competitive market where social-networking rival Facebook Inc. is rapidly gaining ground. Last month, more than a quarter of all online display ads in the U.S. appeared on Facebook, according to comScore Inc. By comparison, LinkedIn represented less than 1%.

The moves come as the Mountain View, Calif., company prepares to file paperwork for an initial public offering. Advertising represents roughly a third of the closely held company’s revenue, with the rest coming from subscription services and recruiting tools.

While the company has recruited a few big advertisers such as American Express Co. and Hewlett-Packard Co., it remains to be seen whether more will follow suit.

“LinkedIn has a large and growing audience,” said David Karnstedt, chief executive of Efficient Frontier, an online marketing firm that helps advertisers place their ads on the Internet.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published Jan. 26, 2011, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

When Jennifer London cut a deal with Groupon Inc. to promote her smoothie shop in an email, she wasn’t sure how many people would show up for discounted drinks.

Thirsty New Yorkers bought more than 1,300 of her online coupons, and “it kind of blew my mind,” Ms. London said. People redeemed roughly 900 of the coupons over six months at her small Xoom NYC Inc. shop, including a crush in June, but she was disappointed that few became regular customers.

“Most of the people who came are not from this neighborhood—I most likely won’t see them again,” Ms. London said, adding she wished she had limited each person to three coupons rather than 10. Fortunately, she said, not all the coupons were redeemed. “I definitely would have lost money if everyone had shown up,” she said.

Groupon and its competitors, which build buzz by sending out a daily email alerting subscribers in a city to a local bargain, are listening to gripes like Ms. London’s and recasting their operations. Among the new approaches: computer programs to better target consumers with personalized deals and staff on the ground to help merchants.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published August 25, 2010, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — With an iPhone, Zeus could have saved time to call on lightning from the heavens — so says California-based sculptor Adam Reeder, who seeks to merge classical Greek iconography with 21st century gadgets.

“Art is what we use to talk about our time,” said the 33-year-old artist, whose unabashed aim is to fuse western civilization’s antiquity with its newfound technologies.

The sculptor did so with the mythological Greek nymph Pan, replacing a trademark flute with Apple Inc’s iconic music player and headphones.

“He’s still a musician, he’s still dancing, but now he’s listening to his iPod,” Reeder said.

(more…)

By Ian Sherr

There’s a point in every Star Wars film when the good guy inevitably turns to his buddies and says, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” right before all the big explosions begin.

One can only imagine that is what Nescafe was thinking when they saw Starbucks’ VIA instant coffee mix arrive in Chicago, Seattle and London. After all, Nescafe is nearly synonymous with instant coffee.

So, what is Starbucks thinking?

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By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – In a world where everything is mobile, even billboards are starting to move in surprising ways.

Large advertising messages traditionally fixed to sides of buildings or planted along roadways are being freed by digital projectors and laptop computers to pop up in unexpected places.

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