25 November 08
Street Art on Wooster
This was shot on Wooster Street in Soho. For fans of street art, I highly recommend checking out Wooster Collective.
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17 November 08
Health Plan Communications Need a Reform of Their Own
My wife recently gave birth to our son. That spectacular event triggered a flurry of communications from our health plan — namely, plan statements. Plan statements get mailed following a provider visit. They explain what procedures were performed, what the provider billed the plan, and what the consumer’s cost is (if any).
Up until recently we really didn’t pay much attention to our statements as we rarely visit the doctor. But after the birth, larger bills started to float in — it was time we looked closer.
22 October 08
Party at 58 Gallery
58 Gallery has been at the cultural center of the Jersey City arts community for some years now. Their opening receptions are frequently followed by lively parties and often showcase great local bands.
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Random Photo
20 October 08
Differentiating Online Retail Experiences
A blog I frequent published an article that, with a simple quiz, brought into high relief the lack of brand differentiation in online retailers. The author removed the logos of a dozen or so e-commerce websites from brick and mortar retailers such as Sears, Macy’s, and Kmart and challenged you to identify who’s site was who’s. I got most of them wrong.
While this exercise is quite powerful, there is a critical piece of the equation that the author left out. Many of the retailers that she cited don’t have distinctive customer experiences in the the real world. Yes, I could tell the difference between whether I’m in a Kmart, Macy’s or Sears, but how memorable and engaging are these customer experiences? What does the JC Penny brand really have to leverage in-store that they can extend online? The fact that Penny’s has consistently scored high on Forrester’s Customer Experience Index isn’t enough to truly set them apart online — especially when competing against companies like Zappos.
So who does do a good job extending their brand and differentiating itself online? Let’s take a look at a few examples…