Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

You're Kidding, Right?

If you never heard of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike before, you probably have now. They are the company behind the buggy update that crashed over 8 million Windows operating systems, causing hospitals, governments and airlines to meltdown a week ago, resulting in the biggest IT failure in history. The company reportedly responded by offering $10 Uber Eats gift cards to customers who were affected.

Imagine that you are Ed Bastain, CEO of Delta Airlines, the most severely impacted airline with over 7,000 flights cancelled because of the bug. The financial cost to Delta is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And, you offer him a $10 gift card?

And then, it doesn't work?

Really?

Not Surprised

When I saw this story out of Nassau County NY the other day I immediately thought of that classic esurance commercial where the friend of a woman who clearly didn't understand how Facebook worked said, "that's not how any of this works."

Because that's what happens every single time that a government (or Chamber or EDC or Park District) steps in thinking they can do Destination Marketing better than the DMO from which they've just yanked the contract. Because what sounds like a good idea to amateurs in this space (for that is what they are) is very rarely rooted in research and ROI.

Take Nassau County, which recently decamped from the sensationally successful Discover Long Island, believing they could do better. Their first campaign out of the box is to run "branded" buses from midtown Manhattan and transport consumers directly to Nassau destinations. And then back to Manhattan that evening. Never mind there is a train that already does that.

How does that generate overnight stays (which is how destination marketing is generally funded)? Yeah...it doesn't.

Nice try through, rookies.

You'd Never Do That with the Fire Department

The Town of Oro Valley recently terminated its Tourism Development contract with Visit Tucson. It wasn't a complete surprise, as the Town had been ringing the bell of discontent for a few months, after Town Staff couldn't figure out how to quantify the ROI of the contract (which, of course they couldn't, as they don't speak DMO).

But what is a surprise is that the Town terminated the contract without a Plan B, sending staff scrambling to figure out how they were going to replace the considerable sales and marketing muscle of Visit Tucson on behalf of their two major resorts; facilities into which Visit Tucson had booked over $11 million in business over the past two years. Now, those resorts don't even appear on the Visit Tucson website.

But, here's the thing. If the Town decided they wanted to take Fire protection in house from another entity, don't you think they'd go out and buy a couple fire trucks and hire some professional firefighters before unilaterally severing a contract for services and leaving its residents completely unprotected? Possibly for months, if not a year (if not longer)?

Why would the Town Manager believe this to be any different?

Where Design and Execution Collide

So...there are those hotel brands that provide free breakfast. And there are those that charge. Some of the ones that charge offer buffets; others offer servers to take your order and deliver your food. And then there are those trendy bars adjacent to the lobby that serve made to order breakfasts and, in some cases, lunch and dinner.

I can't imagine that the designers of this week's hotel ever imagined the scenario I witnessed yesterday...or if it never dawned on them what could go wrong, I can't believe a legacy brand would have ever hired them.

It's dinner. I've already exhausted the restaurants this week within a 10 minute drive that have at least 4-star Yelp reviews that look remotely aligned to my tastes. It's starting to rain. Screw it, I'll just order a hamburger here in the lobby and watch SportsCenter.

The person behind the bar takes my order, turns to retrieve a frozen patty from refrigeration, slides it into a fast broiler and waits for the timer. Hey? I'm standing here. I can see what you're doing.

When the timer chimes, she takes it out, lays a slice of processed cheese on one side of a bun and puts the halves in the broiler to get a slight char on the bun (a nice touch, to be sure). She assembles the pieces and then looks at me and says, I'll get your fries...and goes back into the kitchen. Five minutes later, she returns and delivers my now cold burger with my now steaming fries. 

As always, I'm gonna side with her...and challenge management with horrible training. Put the fries in first and unfreeze the burger second was clearly never communicated to her. But, therein lies a deeper issue. If you have a working kitchen behind the wall, why would you put on display that you are serving frozen meat by cooking it in front of a guest in the first place?

C'mon, Marriott. Shouldn't we be able to expect more from you?

So Long, X

Over the past few months, I've simply ghosted my presence on X (formerly known as Twitter). I didn't proclaim my extraction. I just walked away...so far from its origin had it strayed.

But, as I was reminded on my recent trip to Jackson MS to keynote the STS Connections conference, to be silent is to be complicit.

Industry icon Corbin Ball carries the ball for so many of us with his final post before departing the arena.

Or, should we stay and fight?

More Rewarding My Butt

I've absolutely loved my relationship with Delta over the past decade since they absorbed Northwest Airlines. Their customer service has been sensational...and their misses have been few and far between.

But, when I got the e-mail today that said "A Simpler and More Rewarding SkyMiles," I slowly shook my head, knowing that the perks of airline loyalty were about to unravel. And honestly, do marketing departments really believe that their most loyal customers will believe such spin?

In the interests of brevity, I'll only suggest that limiting access to the SkyClubs to 10 times a year unless one spends $75,000 on the Delta AmEx credit card isn't more rewarding. And M&C has its own take.

Maybe Tom Brady can talk some sense into the brainiacs that have now caused a Million Miler to reconsider their future loyalty.

Blind Faith

This is not an indictment of marketing agencies. Most do exceptional work. But, when one trusts them implicitly, shit can come unglued pretty rapidly.

A few years ago, Rhode Island Tourism fell victim to an agency that used video that was not of the destination (hell, it wasn't even from this country.)

It happened again last week to the Philippines Tourism Office. Already being attacked by some for the new campaign "Love the Philippines," it now turns out that several scenes in the new promotional video are stock images...and not from within country.

Hey, this stuff happens, I guess. But errr, DDB? You had one job.

We shouldn't hafta double check your work.

And yet, we must.

Opening a $107 Million Convention Hotel without a DMO

I'm pretty sure that the disillusioned head shake by hotel developers in Conroe has been more pronounced than that of the serial killer in the Geico commercial. As the City of Conroe footed most of the bill for the exceptional new Hotel & Conference Center that opened last week, you'd think someone would have considered that having a DMO with no staff to assist with the opening would have been a red flag.

Hey, if forces within the City wanted to fire accomplished, award-winning DMO leadership...that's fine. Completely their prerogative. But doing it weeks before one of their biggest private economic development partners opens such an ambitious project that needs a professional DMO (and not City Hall receptionists)...that's just carelessly clueless.

But hey, there's a lot of that going on out there.

Sadly.

Missing Priorities

While the Hawaiian Legislature spent an inordinate amount of time attempting (and, ultimately failing) to end the Hawaii Tourism Authority...they absolutely whiffed on a bill that would have had a profound impact on protecting the State's delicate infrastructure. 

Despite widespread public support, a bill that would have imposed a fee for tourists to visit State Parks and trails that would have funded the maintenance and protection of parks, coral reefs, forests and wildlife such as dolphins. And yet, legislators apparently couldn't agree on details before the session concluded.

Isn't that what we elect leaders to do...represent our interests?

Reality v. the Circus

For the past 5 years, Shannon Overby took the destination marketing of Conroe TX beyond what most would consider possible. She recently got caught up in political shitshow when forces within the City decided that the DMO should serve as the receptionist for City Hall and she pushed back.

Conroe let her go for her "insubordination." And, within days, she is snapped up by one of the top DMOs in the State of Texas.

Hey Conroe? Does that suggest to you that you have no friggin' idea what you're doing? Or the talent you just frittered away?

Yeah...probably not.