Damian Holmes

Recently, I went to my local Xinjiang Noodle shop for lunch. I ordered my usual and sat down inside on a stool. As I sat there looking around at the full tables, I wondered why is it so many people come here. Now to explain the scene, Xinjiang Noodle shops often have three or four large pots of water boiling away and someone inside the door making noodles and passing them to outside to be cooked.

So why do people come here? This shop is not elaborate and some would say not that hygienic – so why is it that its full at lunch and dinner? Is the location? Is it the price? Is the food?

Honestly, I think it is a combination of factors – price, food, authenticity and drama.

The Price
The shop is a ‘cheap eat’, however there are several restaurants in the area that are just as cheap. That being said if they charged more than 15RMB(about $2.00USD) they would loose customers quickly.

The Food
Xinjiang food is different from most Chinese food and noodles are speciality so people come for the noodles.

The Authenticity
The shop is authentic with pictures of animals and fields in Xinjiang on the wall, but the people is what makes it truly authentic.

The Drama
People watch the guy make the noodles for each order from the dough they made in the morning. You see and hear long thin noodles being banged and twisted on a table or watch him carve wide noodles from dough with a blade flying into a pot of water as he yells at the waiters inside who are joking with each other.

The noodle shop has no pretences, no veneer, nothing hiding the process from the customer, we can see, smell, and hear our noodles being made.

So what can we learn from the Xinjiang Noodle Maker? Authenticity and drama are key to attracting customers time and time again. Too often in business we hide the process or core ideals from the customer because we are fearful that they might not like what they see. However, we could generate more business if the customer could smell, hear, and see how authenticity of your brand.

How does this apply to you business? Think of all the examples of businesses that create authenticity and drama. I can think of a few other examples:

• chocolate/icecream/waffle shops who show people making the process of  creating their product
• whisky distilleries and vineyards  who give guided tours from above the working floor on gangways
• museums and art galleries showing experts restoring pieces
• nurseries showing plants in hot houses or trees at different stages of production
• film studios opening lots with people on set
• milk tea shops in Malaysia
• Richard Branson’s many PR stunts – although showy they are authentically Virgin
• car companies giving guided tours of  factory floor

there are many more examples. So the question is how can you create drama and authenticity for your customers? Does your production process enable you to showcase your product? Can you create drama that represents your companies brand in an authentic way? Can you create a unique experience for customers? Can you get someone passionate from manufacturing or engineering to attend a trade show rather than just sales people?

Of course, you have to careful when applying this idea across a whole brand as it can loose its authenticity. There are some examples where this has occurred with a brand making an authentic and dramatic experience into a formula which is then scaled across a brand that has then lost its appeal with the customers as it became too ubiquitous.

Got any comments or ideas? Email me – damian@damainholmes.com

Seems shanghai tweeple are starting to use foursquare more after a prompt on twitter by @chijs last sunday and when Scott Ballantyne(shanghai twitterville member) mentioned that it may be used for his coffee – Flying Turtle Coffee.

So what is FourSquare? Its a social networking + game play in your city(or cities) website. Not actually an Amazing Race speed but its more hey I’ve been here with points and a leaderboard.

So how do you play? You register on the website http://www.foursquare.com via your laptop or desktop or phone and then when your wandering around Shanghai going to your favourite places you log in via your laptop/phone to foursquare.com or your iPhone or Android app. You then ‘check in’ to the location and get points for checking in. Some places like Malones, Citizen Cafe, Bar Rouge, KABB, etc, have already been added. If the place has not been added yet you get extra points for adding it to the city list. Although this may become a problem as places change so often in Shanghai I wonder if there will be any moderation?

So whats the point you ask? Well its like when we all started using twitter and were following people and trying to get followers – which turned out to be mostly spammers – Its addictive, checking in or adding places for points to try and get up the leaderboard. Although adding places can be a little tedious but once its added its will be easier every time you checkin.

You can also add friends from twitter, gmail, and other social networking sites – so that when you check in to a place you can add a shout-out so that if someone is near by they can join you or you can let your friends know if somewhere is good or bad. Also when you check-in to a place more than twice you become Mayor and gain badges for different things.

From a marketing point of view it has a multiple possibilities with promotion or specials for websites, products, hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes.

I think that it will be as addictive as twitter and have the same sort of uptake as twitter with some people trying it and getting addicted and others using it once or twice but finding it not exciting and others who’ll try it – forget it and then go back when its in newspapers and tv.

Who will the celebrities be in Shanghai on foursquare?
Who will be on top of the leaderboard on New Years Eve?

I am Damian.H on FourSquare – add me as a friend

CROSS POSTED AT SHANGHAI TWITTERVILLE

Recently I read Chris Brogan’s post about Sending the Wrong Message and found it very interesting and a good catalyst to think about brands and their messages. I have kept these ideas in the back of my mind when walking around Shanghai and have seen some good messages and some wrong messages. Some messages that I may think are personally wrong sometimes just cultural differences as a westerner in Shanghai. However, today I think I saw a perfect example of when a message stood out as very wrong. I was coming back from Pudong to Jingan Temple and travelling up the escalator where there are often people handing out travel services cards or hawking goods, which I often ignore. However, today I took interest as I saw a young guy handing out highly polished brochures not the standard cheap one page or card pamphlet. To my absolute surprise it was a well know worldwide luxury 5 star hotel brand.

Now, at the moment I know times are tough in Shanghai and hotel occupancy rates are low. However, no matter how tough times get a 5 star luxury hotel shouldn’t need to hand out brochures at the top of subway station escalators. Especially when it’s usually the practice of hawkers pushing plane ticket services, copy bags and books. The brochure was something I would expect to receive in the mail as a hotel group customer or be given when checking in as it had some discount coupons for dinners and the gym. Maybe it was a brainwave one morning by the hotel manager to hand out some brochures; I hope for the brand that this is isn’t a regular occurrence as it seems a practice below the standard of a 5 star hotel. My question is if this is the message I get outside the hotel what type of message will I receive when I enter or check-in to the hotel?