Creative Strategic Technology / 2007 / SML

Creative Strategic Technology / 2007 / SML, originally uploaded by See-ming Lee 李思明 SML.

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Copyright 2007 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Ideas / SML Universe. All rights reserved.

City = Brand

As a special report in the June 14, 2007 issue of Business Week, writer Tom Lowry discusses how New York City Major Michael R. Bloomberg applies brand management techniques to New York City:

1. New York City = Corporation
   
   
2. Citizen = Customers
   
   
3. Sanitation workers, police officers, clearks, deputy commissioners = Talent
   
   
4. Major = Chief Executive
   
   
5. NYC & Co. = a not-for-profit entity consisted of three existing operations
   
   
6. Annual marketing budget = tripled = $22 million USD
   
   
7. George Fertitta = Brand management for Coca-Cola (KO), Perry Ellis (PERY), Walt Disney = NYC brand management lead
   
   
8. NYC & Co.'s goal = lure 50 million visitors a year by 2015
   
   
9. Branch offices around the world = Presence in 14 cities, with new offices set to open in Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai in coming months
   
   
10. 311 = 24-hour customer-service
    
    
11. Cost of 311 Startup = $25 million USD
    
    
12. Number of 311 Calls = 49 million since 2003
    
    
13. Number of 311 Round-the-clock call takers = 370
    
    
14. 311 Call data-mining = 1 million less 911 traffic = Inspections for excessive noise up 94% = rodent exterminations up 36%
    
    
15. City Hall meeting rooms glass doors = better and faster communication
    
    
16. Presentations = Easy-to-follow charts and tables
    
    
17. Semiannual mayor's management report of yesteryears = >1,000 pages in 3 printed volumes
    
    
18. Semiannual mayor's management report under Bloomberg's reign = 186 pages, available online, includes many more features than before, including neighborhood data + five-year trends that allow New Yorkers to compare past and present
    
    
19. City Plans + Budget = fully accessible on the city's Web site with specific agency's overhead costs (e.g. pensions + legal claims)
    
    
20. Katherine Olivier = ex-Bloomberg global radio and television operations = executive from the city's Office of Film, Theater + Broadcasting
    
    
21. Within a month of Katherine Olivier's arrival, her 22 employees had new Dell (DELL) flat-screens, and production companies were able to file for permits online
    
    
22. 15% tax credit to film + tv produtions that complete at least 75% of their stage work in the city = generated $2.4 billion in new business = 10,000 new jobs since 2005
    
    
23. Dedicated team of 33 police offers to ease shots in the city = B2B = microcosm of what Bloomberg wanted to do for the entire city
    
    
24. Efficiency in city's film office = maps + diagrams + suggestions of where to shoot during one-on-one meetings with folks in the office
    

Read the full article:
Business Week / 2007-06-14T11:51-4:00 / Bloomberg: The CEO Mayor / How New York's Mike Bloomberg is creating a new model for public service that places pragmatism before politics

Skip the VUI

You know the drill: you had to call customer service for your cable, your bank, your ISP, your medical insurance, or your cellphone company. You call the 1-800 number and now you are stuck with the VUI (voice user interface). It's another annoying thing in life that you really won't want to deal with.

Well, now you can skip the phone trees. Here's how it works (from BRINGO: Stop Talking to Machines and Talk to Real Human):

1. Find the company you'd like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, loans, health care)


2. Enter your phone # (we will never disclose your phone number to anyone, not even your mother!).


3. Wait a few seconds while we navigate the phone tree.


4. When we call you back, pick up your phone and you're done. No more phone trees.

All the major banks (Citi, Bank of America, etc), Credit cards (Amex, Capitol One, etc), Mobile (Sprint, Cingular, etc), Airlines (Air France, UA, Delta, JAL, etc) are all listed with this service and I suspect that the list will only keep growing as businesses try to demonstrate that the customer is king.