And while I am at it…

 

Sunset in Erskineville by Was

Those pesky developers are trying for the second (or is it third?) time to get a DA approved for the Hive site on Erskineville Road. I have noticed they have changed the wording in their DA application from supermarket to “grocery store” – because that sounds so much more benign doesn’t it? 

 

Hello Mr Developer – the locals of the area have asked that you not be allowed to build a supermarket for them.  They don’t want you. They are afraid that you will increase traffic in what is already getting to be a pretty conjested road. They are worried you will change the character of what is one of Sydney’s nicest village atmospheres. You are not filling an unmet need as there are two decent sized supermarkets only a short walk away on King Street, and two pretty big supermarkets close by at Marrickville Metro and Broadway.  There is also a good deli, a mini-mart, a fruit shop etc on the strip on Erskineville Road itself.

We don’t need you, we don’t want you. Piss off!

If you feel the same way I do, I encourage you to visit the web page of the Village Friends that has all the information about the development and who to write to at Sydney Council.

Blow it up and start again

I go to a supermarket about once a month. Just to get cleaning products, garbage bags, that kind of thing. We buy our fruit and veg from a fruit and veg shop. We get our meat form a butcher. Bread from a baker. I know that a lot of other people go to supermarkets more often for their bread and meat and veg.  Supermarkets are doing very well thank you out of the GFC as Australians take a little more notice of what they are spending on food and household stuff. So I’m not claiming that the supermarket is dead. But man, I wish they were better.

So this Sunday we stopped in at our local supermarket – we needed some toothpaste and tooth brushes and other bits and pieces. And even though we’d done our fruit and veg shopping that day, I had a sudden urge for Mexican style beans and salad for dinner.  So we needed a tomato and some lettuce.  

The drama started at the “oral hygiene” section. Tooth paste was relatively easy – sort of. We grabbed one, then realised it was a whitening one and spent a little bit of time just looking for the normal tube.  But trying to find a normal, small head, non-fluoro brush was impossible. I stood there trying to make sense of the selection –  there are definitely cues toothbrush designers are taking from the sex toy market (vibrating / battery operated / ribbed grip etc – not in my mouth thanks).  And then there are the bristles – none of them point the same way, are of the same length, made of the same material. There are no small head tooth brushes (sorry, I come from the school of thought that a massive head of a tooth brush cannot clean your teeth in the same way that a small one can – they just can’t get into the same places.  And I know when I go to the dentist the toothbrush sample she gives me is a small head one – and she should know what’s good). I am mourning at this stage my electric toothbrush – a nice Oral B number that I think got bashed about from too much travelling and just gave up the ghost about a month ago. I am getting another one.  So in the end, tucked in the back corner I found a toothbrush with a small head and a plain handle. Finally, despite the fact I had to enter into the “sensitive teeth” sub-category it was 90% right, so took it.  In the mean time, a woman stood next to me and did exactly the same thing. She was holding her small son, and kept sighing “There are too many – I have no idea which one to get.” We laughed at each other when we realised we were doing exactly the same thign. I wonder how many other times this scenario happened on that Sunday alone?

After a similar situation in front of the yoghurt section which I will not bore you with (apart from saying – there has to be other people out there who do not what “lite” yoghurt), we remembered to grab the lettuce and tomatoes – dear god. Living proof as to why there is still a healthy fruit and veg business  in this country. Why fruit and veg shops like Harris Farm keep growing. I have  never seen such dire, saggy, disgusting, inedible, vegetable-like things masquerading as items for sale before in my life.  Everything was in shiny plastic bags – making sure everything had this ugly slimy sweat.  

So just to go in and pick up a few things was such a horrible experience.  And whose fault is it?

1) the toothbrush fiasco is the manufactures fault. In order to drive growth they keep making more and more and more. Instead, all you are doing is driving me crazy. You are not giving me what I want.  I will not buy more toothbrushes because they vibrate. I will not buy more toothbrushes because they come in a “fun fluoro” 6 pack (I do not need to brush my teeth in the dark). This is a category (like so many others) that needs to be blown up and then start it again. From scratch.

2) The Fruit and Veg – no matter how many ads that say you are fresh food people (that’s both of you, not just the one with that slogan), to me you are “sweaty, slimy” food people. Your fruit and veg is pretty much the same price as the fruit and veg guy outside your store or across the road, and they are 100 times better. You also need to blow up your department and start again with your buying and storing ans while you are at it – get rid of the shiny over packaging.

 I am so glad that I don’t have to  go back there for another month or so.

Get a Room

Around late October, early November I am having a baby. I have decided to go all public – no stuffing around with obstetricians and the like, just my GP and the midwives at the birthing centre are going to manage my care.

Mostly it’s all been easy, and to top it off, all free. But I have to book a bed at the hospital for after the baby is born. And for four days I’ve been trying in vain to get through to the RPA antenatal admissions line. It’s constantly engaged (baby boom anyone?), and when it does ring, no one answers.

Not sure what will happen if I can’t get through. Will I have my baby and then they’ll send me home? Because I don’t have a reservation?

Where I am from

 

Port Kembla steel works (State Records NSW)

I am a pretty optimistic person. Work is still busy. And the ultimate symbol of optimism, in about 5 months mm and I are having a baby.

The global financial crisis has dented a lot of people’s optimism – made us a little more cautious, feel a little more vulnerable, that kind of thing. Counter to this, there is also a lot of attitudes that oppose this  - facing the crisis head on and saying “piss off”. Morgan Hotel group launched it’s “Fuck the recession” campaign late last year, Dirk Singer spoke of a hand written letter he received stating “We refuse to participate in the recession“. We even have the Sunrise show here with Reject the Recession - complete with a mobile phone ring tone. I admire this spirit (even as annoying someone like Koshie and his ilk can be). But a few weeks ago I watched a Four Corners episode focussing on the impact of the recession on the southern Illawarra region – not very far from where I grew up, and where I have some members of my family living.

It’s an area dominated by the industry of Port Kembla – a steel works, a copper smelter, and the once-busy harbour itself where steel and coal is shipped out, and overseas imports arrive. My grandfather worked at the copper plant and my uncle and aunt at the steel works. Wollongong had a “sister” steel city in Newcastle, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief when BHP chose to close the Newcastle plant over the Wollongong one. But lately steel production has been cut significantly, which then impacts on the amount of goods being shipped out of the port, which then ultimately impacts on the whole economy of the area. To top this off, Pacific Brands have shut down it’s factory there too.

So as I watched this episode of Four Corners that told the story of a worker at the port who was classified as “under-employed” but not unemployed – he gets one shift a fortnight, and a woman who lost her job at Pacific Brands, I thought, sure, I can say “Fuck the recession” – no fucking problem. My mortgage has just dropped and I have an extra few hundred bucks each month, and I get good rent from it to help out with this as well. Everything I’ve needed to buy over the last few months I’ve managed to be able to buy on sale. I earn a good salary. I have a roof over my head. I’m going to get some paid maternity leave, and have some holiday pay saved up so I can afford to take a year off work. But after watching that episode, and seeing a region sort of dying, it felt a little bit narrow-minded and naive to do so. Sure, we can say “I refuse to take part”, but we need to acknowledge there are a growing group of people who have no choice – they are wrapped up in this issue completely. So we can keep spending, and give the R-word the finger, but what happens to this group who are under-educated and under-skilled? A longer term solution needs to be found so some of us don’t all get left behind.

And now for something nice…

Excited because this Thursday evening Mark Pollard is coming into our office and sharing with us a bit about twitter and what newbies can get out of it.  

Mark put up a post saying he wanted to do these sessions, and was looking for a venue.  We jumped at the chance of getting him in. We have a big group of our staff hanging around after work, and some of our clients are popping in, as well as other peeps who are interested in finding out a bit more.  I’m really excited about getting more people in our workplace on thinking more about how SM can be used in their day to day roles (beyond Facebook) and how it also impacts our clients biz.

Feral Sandpit

There is a weird arse feral mood sweeping twitter today and all seems to stem from an event at the Hilton about twitter. Sure, there was media hype, and lots of claims that it was the first of it’s kind when it clearly wasn’t, but JESUS CHRIST, can the back biting and bitchiness get any nastier?

I was asked at the last minute to go along (Mark Communications – the organiser – is part of the same group as the company I work for) and was a bit surprised that I was on the panel table when I arrived – but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do – morning sickness or no morning sickness!

So, here is what I got out of the morning…

The majority of the crowd there had been on twitter for less than three months (some not using it at all just yet). There was lots of interest generally in how twitter is impacting the media and the gathering of news information. Interesting that a very new user to twitter (please someone help me – it was one of the trainers from Biggest Loser) was first concerned about security and how it all works (but thinks it’s a great way to connect with people who watch the show or read her books). This event WAS NOT for people who are part of the “twiteratti” or any of the people who lay claim to social media – yes, the whole lot of it – in Australia (ie: those who know all there is to know about SM  and certainly don’t like the idea of anyone else telling them about their experiences either). I also got to meet a few very nice people (some who I knew on line and got to meet face to face). Everyone is a winner! 

The panel (which I was on) was 100% ego-free and did not push any agenda.  We just answered questions for Tim Burrows of mumbrella, and any that came our way from the floor.  The audience I felt wasn’t all “agency” types as some of the doyennes of the SM scene said it would be (and to be honest – who gives a flying fuck if it was – twitter ain’t limited to a narrow group of people).

So now we get this from Andrew Ramadge on (SBS aplogies – actually ot this site) news.com, and lots of nice and “real funny” jokes on twitter. Check out twitter search on the event (#beachmeet) and you’ll see a bunch of aggravated, bitchy “leaders” of the social media scene in Australia being generally catty about the morning.   

Guys – the sandpit is big enough to all play in.  You are coming across like stupid spoilt little kids.

Inherent Optimism

Free Stuff by sparkrobot

When trying to predicting future behaviour (like purchase intent, or service uptake) it can be a very tricky exercise. You are asking people what they believe will happen in the future. And most people seem to put an accent on the positive.

Science Daily reports on a study that shows that people always put a rosy tint on their predicitons of outcomes that will happen tomorrow, and found “that people were consistently overly optimistic when asked to predict their own future behavior”.

I know myself – when estimating time it takes to complete a project phase when I am working out costings, I think – well, with no interruptions, hiccups or disasters, this  would take about 4 hours.  But in a real day – when the hiccups and disasters are a matter of course it will take 8 hours – at least.

This is really important to think about when using consumer data to predict an outcome. If the news seems too good, then we have to accept that maybe it is too good.  In an ideal world we may steal 50% market share in the first month, but this doesn’t take into account a whole bunch of stuff like product awareness, poor distribution, or intense competitor activity beyond what was assumed in the study.

So what to do?

• be realistic – if a result comes back that people prefer your product than the market leader, do not assume you will be in their position in 12 months time. Plan for a year or more of getting your message out there, cracking distribution, stealing share, but don’t expect to rule the world on launch. 
• don’t oversell it, be truthful – Building in realistic expectations will also help your case internally. If you sell in a product in that it will take X% share in X months, and it doesn’t, chances are there will be calls for it to be deleted. You may actually have a pretty cool product or serve that needs more nurturing, so don’t build such high expectations that you may never be able to deliver to
• use the right measurement tools – increased accuracy in results means using more sophisticated tools (and unfortunately increased cost). Using a choice modelling approach will increase your chances of getting a better picture of what may happen as you an include potential competitor activity in your market simulations. Asking straight up purchase intent will give you that overly optimistic response –  ”Will I buy it? I’ll buy 10!”. And no – four focus groups will not give you the answer on the success of a launch.  If you use the wrong tools you have no right to “blame” research…especially the focus group!
• build in realistic distribution and awareness estimates – I’ve seen some rocking concepts fail at launch as the marketing guys haven’t involved the sales guys enough, so while people may have heard about the product, no one can find in anywhere to actually buy it. Or a great product being marketed on a nearly non-existent budget so no one actually has heard about it. So, if you know either of these are likely to be low (no or low sales or marketing support post launch) make sure you build this into your predictions.  It will also sound like an excuse at the end of the day if you say you haven;t reached your target because you didn’t have  enough support – this should have been known beforehand.  

Don’t bash the Focus Group

 

image by LEEDSJMECELAB

I have been reading a lot about the change of  Tropicana packaging in the US and the back flip to the old pack based on the outcry by passionate drinkers of the brand.  There’s a bit of a vibe that this  has been the fault of the focus group.  

I’m sick of focus group bashing. Can we give it a break?  It’s getting intensely boring. 

Can we instead bash these people…

1) bad moderators who are happy to take what people say on face value, and report the most obvious, “he said, then she said” style of presentation that leaves  you wondering ‘what the hell do we do?’ at the end of it.

2) naughty clients who use focus groups to rubber stamp an idea that they have already decided on, and often ignore what people are thinking and feeling if it doesn’t back this up (hmmm, I wonder if the new Tropicana pack was a lighthouse act for a new marketing director? Or a group who thought their brand was a bit tired and needed sexing up to reflect their life values?)

3) People who call for the death of the face to face group and want to move everything to web-trawling, or scanning twitter, or brand communities. They are great tools to employ, but you will only ever get to hear the voice of a particular type of consumer. Trust me – there’s a whole world out there and not all of it is on-line…

So I call on all (good) qualitative researchers to start standing up for ourselves!

To tell the “focus groups are dead” people to go and take a flying leap!

To produce amazing work to blow our clients minds away!

To always be curious about how people live their lives, and never give up asking the ‘why’ stuff!

To embrace the focus group as the good tool it can be, and don’t be embarrassed or ashamed to say “I AM A QUALITATIVE RESEARCHER WHO LOVES THE FOCUS GROUP!”

response: regarding “Green ideas must take blame for deaths” (12th February)

to me

show details 5:10 PM (2 hours ago)

Reply

Dear Kelly,

Recently you contacted ReaderLink. The following outlines The Herald’s response:

Miranda Devine’s articles appear in The Herald’s opinion pages, and like all our opinion pieces her article is intended to stimulate debate and discussion among our readers. Much of this debate takes place in the daily Letters pages.
To respond to Herald opinion pieces you needs to send your comments to: letters@smh.com.au .

Your interest in Herald Publications is appreciated and has provided us with valuable feedback.
Please quote 00138031 if you wish to contact ReaderLink again.

Regards,
Justine & Ben

Contact us:
readerlink@mail.fairfax.com.au
02 9282 1569
9.00 am – 3.00 pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays)

Kelly Tall  to Reader

show details 7:21 PM (2 minutes ago)

Reply

(Apologies I pressed send too soon – )

Dear Justine and Ben

“Your interest in Herald Publications is appreciated and has provided us with valuable feedback.
Please quote 00138031 if you wish to contact ReaderLink again”

I am telling you I am never buying anything from Fairfax or visiting another Fairfax website because of an offensive article. 

Her article was NOT designed to stimulate any debate and discussion, it was to INFLAME it and promote hatred.

She was calling for a group to be lynched. 

This is irresponsible.  

It is journalism at it’s worst.

It is not what I expected from the Sydney Morning Herald.

This is a tragedy and shocking that you would allow this to be printed in response to this tragedy

You are not the tabloid in this market so why are you acting like it? 

Do you have a standard response you always say about Miranda Devine’s articles? 

Do your editors care at all about how disgusting her piece was, or are they happy about all the anger and hatred she has stirred up, the hits it has probably driven to your website which in turn gives you something nice to tell the advertisers?

I don’t care about the letter pages. I want YOU to know you have lost a reader. 

Kind regards

Kelly Tall

regarding “Green ideas must take blame for deaths” (12th February)

 to; letters@smh.com.au, readerlink@smh.com.au

cc; devinemiranda@hotmail.com

subject: regarding “Green ideas must take blame for deaths” (12th February)

Sir / Madam

After your publication of Miranda Devine’s opinion piece “Green ideas must take blame for deaths” (12th February) I will not be visiting your website, nor buying a copy of The Sydney Morning Herald ever again.

While I understand this was an “opinion” piece I feel it was very poor judgment by the Sydney Morning Herald Editors to publish a piece so clearly designed to stir up and promote hatred, set against such a tragic and horrible event. People are already confused, angry and saddened by what has happened. It was irresponsible and insensitive to lay claim to an such a simplistic answer on who is to blame now, and in the manner that Devine did.

“It is not arsonists who should be hanging from lamp-posts but greenies.”  I cannot believe any paper would publish this at any time, let alone less than a week after what your own journalists have described as one of our country’s greatest tragedies. Devine has conveniently left out the environmental factors contributing to that day (extremely high temperatures and strong winds) and lay blame at the foot of environmentalists without any real facts to back up her argument.

While Ms Devine remains in your employment, and you still allow her to write such inflammatory and insensitive “opinion pieces”  I no longer wish to have anything to do with your publication, or indeed anything to do with any of Fairfax Limited’s associated entities.

Kind Regards

Kelly Tall