Here is an excerpt from a blog I stumbled across:

Today we’re going to take a little trip in the wayback machine with the help of my colleague Seth Manheim, who was there when this happened.

Set the date to November 22, 1989, twenty years ago and one day. Bill Gates is being taken on a guided tour of the product support department’s new office building, and during his visit, he asks one of the people manning the phones,

“Mind if I take this call?”

Bill puts on a headset, sits down, and answers the phone. “Hello, this is Microsoft Product Support, William speaking. How can I help you?”

Bill talks with the customer, collects the details of the problem, searches in the product support Knowledge Base, sifts through the search results, finds the solution, and patiently walks the customer through fixing the problem.

The customer is thrilled that William was able to fix the problem so quickly, and with such a pleasant attitude. Bill wraps up the call. “And thank you for using Microsoft products.”

At no point did Bill identify himself as anything other than William. The customer had no idea that the product support engineer who took the call was none other than Bill Gates.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Even though this story took place while most of the support staff were on their lunch break, news travels quickly, and soon everybody in the department knows about The time Bill took a product support call.

Some time later, the same customer calls back with a follow-up question.

— Hi, I called you folks with a problem with XYZ, and I talked with a nice man named William who straightened it all out. But I have another question. Can I speak with William?

“Okay, let me see if William is available.” The product support engineer brings up the customer’s service record and looks at the name of the support engineer who handled the earlier call: billg.

“Yeah, um, I’m sorry, but William is not available right now. His friends call him Bill, by the way. The person who helped you last time? That was Bill Gates.”

— Oh my God.

How many people do you think that surprised customer told, “Bill Gates helped me fix my computer.” And how many people do you think have heard this story on the web? How do you think something so simple as taking a customer service call can create such buzz? By simply stepping out of our expectations of a Captain of Industry, Bill Gates was able to create a viral campaign to enhance his brand image.

What do people expect of you? And how can you change that expectation to create a memorable impression? Of course, this is not to say you could start dancing on your desk. It’s about doing something positive that engenders goodwill. It could be something as simple as buying your boss abox of chocolates from your trip to Hersheys. It’s not overly complicated but unexpected.

Just as it would be clearly fake for me to enjoy planting a rose bush, the same is true for the Microsoft customer service staff “enjoying” this painful dancing routine:

This is the distinction between Google and Microsoft. Google actually has fun in their own geeky way while Microsoft painstakingly tries to be “gettin’ giggy wit it.” Consumers can see through the painful attempts to be “cool.” If there is anything that we could learn from this Microsoft video, it’s about authenticity.

If you are not a company that breaks out into dance, don’t break out into dance. Simple as that. While it can be beneficial for companies to think outside the box (Southwest Airlines rapping flight attendant), Microsoft store employees dancing is incredibly painful to watch because it is so forced. So before you ask your employees to break into dance or take a shot at rapping, are you a company that dances or raps?

Though Netflix is not suffering as much as other companies, it’s exploring its own ways to cut costs. Lifehacker reported that Netflix is considering delaying its new releases to reduce the purchase costs or they are going continue with their current model — new releases when they come out.

Essentially, Netflix is battling whether or not to maintain the model that has made it successful (featuring great, new releases along with its competitors) or giving customers a reason to go to the Blockbuster down the street. Unless Netflix intends to charge less for its lesser product, it gives customers a reason to change services. Why pay the same amount for a lesser product?

The way Netflix could create a win-win situation is to offer a tiered plan based on movie release dates. Pay X to receive new releases and pay a lesser amount for everything else. This way consumers have the ability to choose a lesser service. Unfortunately, if Netflix decides to make users pay for a lesser product by delaying new releases, it could give consumers a reason to shop down the street.

For webmasters, this trend towards information has eliminated much of the mystery and magic that got people interested in the web to begin with. It was all about Flash — how could you incorporate a completely branded experience for your customer? Was it a splash page or really cool graphic navigation?

We are now in the age of SEO — the complete opposite of Flash. SEO is about using text that can be indexed by search engines to boost traffic referrals.  However, Carry’s new website demonstrates that Flash is not dead — it’s very much alive. The website immerses the user into the mysterious world of Jim Carry. It’s full-screen experience that raises the bar of what a website can be.

Maybe the tide is turning. While we exited the first era that was marked by creativity and Flash, we entered the age of information, and now, could creativity and brand immersion rise again?

That little cake bit made a connection with me. It put a personality behind the reporters I listen to every day. I could relate to them on a personal level and it is this audience / publisher relationship that creates long-term relationships.

My suggestion would be to incorporate more personality into the funding drive. It could be as simple as putting a mic in the middle of a dinner table with NPR’s favorite hosts. And let them talk away. Something as simple as a candid conversation could add emotional value to the non-profit organization.

It’s as simple as: would you rather help out your friend out of a bind or a random person? Most likely, you’d choose your friend. You have an emotional investment that you do not with a complete stranger. If NPR could create this emotional value for their stations, they would most likely receive more funding — as their listeners have more of an emotional investment in them.

The Creative Review made the plastic magazine sleeve out of biodegradable material so it would dissolve in water. Though this new sleeve is not going to radically curb global warming, its carries symbolic value that speaks to the Creative Review’s commitment to the environmental.

The key take-away here is how can you make your company not just say your core mission, but actually do it. Is it developing an internal bike service to cut-down on emissions or is it as simple as creating a bio-degradable magazine sleeve. To create impact, it’s not just enough to say you’re remarkable, you have to act and be remarkable.

All numbers aside, brands can learn something from a quality cappuccino. It’s called consistently delivering on your value proposition. At first, the founders of Starbucks failed in their attempt to make a successful café in America. Dominating the landscape was Maxwell House and other coffee suppliers. Having journeyed to European cafes, the Starbucks founders decided to bring quality to the American coffee market. Impressed with the European coffee and espresso machines, the Starbucks founders imported the expensive hardware to the States.

With the brand value proposition that incorporates quality, Starbucks had the vehicle for which to deliver it with their premium café machines. Thus, America was introduced to exceptional coffee enjoyed by Europeans. And the rest is history.

After evaluating the market, you should have an idea of where your brand can deliver value. From here, you can develop your value proposition. The key is having a clear and simple way of following through. Are expensive coffee and espresso machines the way you’re going to follow through on your value? You must have the resources to deliver on your promise. If not, your brand will fall flat.

Often, brands are so aspirational they fail to keep their feet on the ground. To ground your brand, refine your value proposition delivery system. How are you going to get from A to B? At the end of the day, it’s all about follow through. Is your product going to hit the 8-10 range at a truck stop or down the road, in a different state?

When I’m trying to find an article on the web and I run into a splash page ad, I get a tinge of stuck-in-traffic frustration. Someone put a roadblock in my way and though I have to spend a second or two trying to find the “skip this ad” button, it is an inconvenience. Every time I go to that website it gives me the option to skip the ad, which is an oxymoron to begin with. Just blocking my way to the content I’m looking for does not let me skip the ad–it is forced upon me.

It’s almost like saying, “Want to buy a car? I’m Andy, by the way.” It’s cheap and starts the relationship off on the wrong foot. Unless the splash page is incredibly interesting, it is an inconvenience and tries to sell me something before I can even enter the site.

Ultimately, most people do not like roadblocks. If you’re trying to go somewhere and you add an extra, unnecessary step to block them from getting to their destination, it starts the brand / user relationship off on the wrong foot. This disruptive way of thinking might have been possible when only a couple of channels were available on TV. People were forced to watch advertisements.

Unlike the early days of TV, in the digital age, if it’s news or a fact I’m looking for, I have choices. It’s easy to work around one website because most likely, I can find the information elsewhere. Case-in-point, creating a roadblock does your brand no favors.

Though advertisers might pay-up, ultimately you’re creating a small annoyance for your customers. If there are a lot of alternatives to your product, you might want to think about the long-term ramifications of creating roadblocks.

The Harry Potter franchise has not captivated me like it has most other people I know. In fact, to see what all the fuss was about, my parents bought the first in the series for my birthday. While I only cracked the book to read the first couple pages, my parents whizzed through them like they were mere pamphlets.

But there is a small tribe of people, like me, that restrict their Harry Potter interest to the movie theaters. In the past, I’ve been somewhat reserved in feeling that the films are OK. I never got into the print series and a typical film rendition isn’t going to change my mind. That’s what I thought until I saw the last Potter film, The Half Blood Prince.

There were five to ten seconds in the film where I had an awe moment. It was when Dumbledore (the wizard / headmaster) waved his wand and fire encircled Potter and the headmaster—burning the zombies crawling at their feet.

This was by far an awe moment for me. I said, “Wow.” Quite embarrassing in a movie theatre. This awe moment resonated with me even further after I left the movie theatre. Discussing it with my girlfriend, I realized this one five to ten seconds of awe-striking, jaw dropping action trickled down into my Harry Potter schema.

No longer is a typical Harry Potter film to be expected for the next release. My view on the franchise went from “eh,” to “wow.” This one moment made such an impression on me that every time I meet someone who has seen the film, I have to mention it—and sometimes for those who haven’t.

It is these moments that are critical for brands to capture. Typically, it’s the negative five to ten seconds that resonates most with consumers. Turning back the clock on those very impressionable moments when we make our “final” judgment is very difficult. We can offer outstanding customer service, maybe throw in a couple of free-bees to soften consumer anger, but it’s impossible to completely turn back time.

If your brand can capture a positive awe moment, well, you have a very forgiving customer. Consider Apple. They have an incredible value proposition and deliver on it with nearly every evolution of products. Think about the release of the iPhone. The creative-driven computer company revolutionized what it meant to have a mobile phone. In essence, when consumers looked at the product for the first time, they had an awe moment. It was five to ten seconds where they said, either internally or to a friend, “this is awesome.”

They created hundreds of thousands of awe moments across the world. Now, even if Apple delivers an average product to the market, consumers will still be clamoring over it. That one awe moment made such a lasting impression, consumers would be willing to waste their dollars for products that are average. Don’t be fooled, however. Just because you’ve created an awe moment, doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Enough bad experiences in a row can turn any consumer against a brand.

There were a five to ten second period where we make the decision that yes this is amazing or it’s par or hits below our standards. It’s the goal of brands to capture that one, decisive moment where the consumer makes up their mind about your product or service. Making that top tier, where a consumer has an awe-moment should be the goal for all those in the product and service businesses.

Just as poor customer experiences can tarnish brand perception for the long-term, awe-moments can do something similar. Though it might be more difficult to over-deliver on consumer expectations, understanding your customer experiences and history will help you develop a strategy to make an awe-worthy product.

By Alice from Stock.Xchng

To further exacerbate the situation, Ralph Lauren began suing the ad critics— sending takedown notices to bloggers who published the ad.

Unfortunately for Ralph Lauren, they wanted to pick a fight with the blogging community. And, of course they lost. The fifth link of a  Ralph Lauren Google search is titled, “Image of ultra-thin Ralph Lauren model sparks outrage on Shine.” Consequently, anyone searching for Ralph Lauren clothes will see the controversy surrounding the brand.

The Ralph Lauren mishap illustrates the power of social influencers on the web. Picking a fight with bloggers connected to hundreds of thousands of people is dangerous. If you consider the audience of the worlds top bloggers and those of brands like Ralph Lauren–bloggers will win every time.

The old way of thinking is to ignore or fight against your critics. In the digital age, however, the tables have turned. There is a level of transparency that was never possible in a pre-digital world (e.g. the takedown notices were published on numerous blogs). To save face, it’s crucial to listen to your audience and work with influencers to rectify any problems before the flare up into a blogosphere firestorm.