Fun Friday - Applebee's Get's Toddler Loaded!

My friend and Superstar Rock Star on tour in Europe Dan Coyle

linked this amazing story of idiot process design by a Management dead set on shaving nickels of productivity.

LINK from http://www.alexgpr.com/

It seems a toddler was served a Margarita by accident instead of Apple Juice. I know you think wait...this story is for Fun Friday?! Yes! Because it is so dumb it is hilarious. Not only is the incident completely stupid the response is even more stupid! So glad Applebee's doesn't build cars or airplanes.

So with my 9 years of restaurant experience I have to assume this was the problem:

Combined with this:

So the Waiter goes and gets an Apple Juice. The button is next to the Margarita button and they press the wrong one. They are in the weeds which means very busy and stressed running around. The parents can't see it is a Margarita. The kid get's loaded. The response by Applebee's is training vs maybe their process. Just maybe they shouldn't be serving pre-made crap Margaritas from a hose that has a button next to juices kids request. Just maybe they should have a second freaking hose for anything with alcohol to prevent this. But instead it's a training issue?

I wish to say I do not find Applebee's a place with good food. I try to avoid it. I remember ordering an Asian Chicken Salad that came with only Ice Berg Lettuce, Peanuts, Chow Mein Noodles and Ginger Dressing. How much bigger of a Fail can that be?

So while Mr. Coyle and the Article discuss the PR Implications. Lets make it easy:

Applebee's Press Release:

In an effort to reduce costs and quality of product and service we the Management were so dumb and stupid to choose to serve our customers Margaritas pre-mixed at a factory served in a Keg and Dispensed through a Beverage Gun where the button was right next to the Apple Juice Button. We apologize for getting a 15 month old torched. But it does prove that the crappy Margaritas do indeed have some alcohol in them. At least enough so that a 15 lb toddler can't drive home. Please forgive us.

Applebee's

Mobile Monday - Is it Android or is it Motorola?

I got a Droid2 in August. I love it. I hate it. Sometimes I am so happy to have it. Sometimes I want to run it over with a steam roller. Not sure what are Android Issues and what are Motorola Issues. This discussion is the phone not Apps.

What I like:

Gorilla Glass Screen - unbreakable unscratchable

Slide out keyboard - very easy to use once you get the hang of it

Google Maps/GPS/Navigation - it is awesome. Though the Speak your destination feature can use improvement.

Wi-Fi Connection

There are a ton of great Apps.

Easy to share content socially from Apps.

When I run now I can take pictures, upload to twitter, etc. I can do Twitter for a client from the gym.

What can improve:

Web Surfing still kind of sucks. Nothing beats the laptop. Most sites still not formatted for mobile and type and video is still small for the ones that are.

Google Maps GPS - great when driving. Not so great when walking around.

Not so easy to share websites from the browsers via Social.

What I hate:

Battery Life sucks. I shouldn't need to tote 2 spares with me for a night out. It gets about 2-3 hrs of battery life if you use apps/data/satellite/GPS constantly. I also sometimes bring the charging cord.

It freezes up A LOT! Often several times a day requiring a ReBoot.

Have not found a away to share a contact via text messaging or email yet. Requires memorizing or writing down info then entering it separately into the text or email. Big fail here.

Software to transfer photos to laptop sucks horribly. It seriously is pretty much the worst I have ever used.

Comes loaded with Motorola Software I have no use for and can not remove.

Apps run on their own for no rhyme or reason sucking up RAM. I use an App called Advanced Task Killer which shuts down these Apps. Problem is they start on their own automatically! Why should I have to battle with this stuff?

Things I don't use my smart phone for:

Buying things. Not talking about my Latte at Starbucks. I am talking about E-Commerce stuff. Not really a good platform for it. Screen to small for really browsing. Hell a Laptop Screen is still too small for shopping in a productive fashion. But I do use it when at stores to pull info up via barcodes and in some cases compare prices.

Watching Video - I do but the screen is small. There is a reason we have big HDTV's at home and not a bunch of mobile video handsets.

MS Office Type Work - not a big enough screen for me to find value in Word Processing and Spreadsheets etc.

Mobile Search. Search SUCKS. Browsers suck. The Verizon network is slow as nails and to go to the browser and search and then pull up a website takes days! So I use Apps like Yelp! and Gowalla.

I heard many of the smart phones have similar issues and challenges including the IPhone. What do you have for a phone and what do you like or not like?

Why Did Saks Fifth Avenue Pay Twitter to Show me this Ad?

Advertising and Marketing is complicated. The whole chain of important activities to sell something can be blown if just one key part fails.

1] We need a product people want or will want if they know about it.

2] The Brand needs to make something that meets the value expectation otherwise all marketing efforts go down the tube with no repeat business.

3] The Advertising and Marketing must be crafted in a way that achieves the goals of awareness, enticement, emotional connection whatever it takes to get someone to try something new or improved, or remember they miss/liked something they have tried and forgotten about.

4] The Advertising must bee seen by people who will most likely buy the Brand's product or service. The less likely I am to buy the more it costs the Brand per contact. For example I can show an Ad to 100 people who will have a 70% likelihood of buying. Say that is a finite number. Now the next hundred whom I pay the same $$ to reach have a 50% likelihood of buying. It just cost me more per sale for my Advertising/Marketing expense.

Last Friday I saw this ad as a sponsored Tweet in my Twitter Feed:

I didn't see it once. I saw it ALL FREAKING DAY!

So I clicked to see what the link brought me too. Drum Roll Please!

As Kyle's Mom on South Park would say....What What What??!!!

So who's fault is it? Twitter's? The Media Planner? The Ad Serving Platform? Is Twitter not sophisticated enough a platform to identify women? What is worse is whomever is giving a report back to Sak's is counting my views as success. And counting my click as a success. Which is why people do not trust Marketers, Advertisers, Nielsen, etc. Anyone who makes money based on gross views or clicks without identifying how many of the true target saw something or took action is technically stealing money from their clients.