November 7, 2009
Last week I was having a bit of trouble finding a station in Osaka so I asked a lady for some help in finding the station. She didn’t speak much English but gestured for me to follow her and started walking, assuming she was getting to a better position to point out the station I followed her. However, to my surprise she was not simply pointing me in the right direction, after a few minutes of walking (through some impressive underground shopping centre) it became clear she was actually talking me to the station. She walked me all the way to the station as if it was her duty to do so, accepted my thanks, smiled and walked back the way we came.
Now that’s some great service and definitely went above and beyond my expectations. Consequently from this one event, I was given an extremely positive feeling about Osaka, and Japan. This feeling was not just towards the people and their behaviour, but to the country as a whole. This single event had largely defined my opinion on the personality (or brand) of Japan. If I was to have left Japan that day that’s the experience and opinion I would have taken with me and shared with other people.
The point here is that just one event can define a person’s attitude to all that event represents or can be associated with. When it comes to brands, just a single customer service situation could determine how people define your brand. Customer service tasks are not just a box to be ticked, but a real opportunity to exceed expectations and benefit the brand as whole. Exceptional or unexpected levels of customer service will alter the perception of the individual involved, but it can also alter and determine the view of others. Word will spread (particularly quickly these days) and if it’s positive it can provide some very powerful promotional material.
Getting back to Japan, I’m glad to say that this was not an isolated incident, the people of Japan are some of the nicest and most helpful people I’ve ever met. Just the other day someone offered to cycle round part of the city to look for our hotel!
November 4, 2009
Here’s a little picture of the toilet in my last hotel room that can be found across Japan. Some very interesting buttons and it was also a little odd to see a power cable going into the toilet seat!
Can’t see these appearing any time soon in the UK, more due to reasons related to the desire to use them rather than any lack of technological knowledge. It’s just one of the many examples that show the importance of culture in any form of technological advancement.
October 31, 2009
It has been widely reported that QR codes are common place in Japan. In my short time in the country so far I can confirm this to be true. In fact I got one put in my passport as soon as arrived. Since then I’ve seen them all over the place, from hotel information posters to chopstick packaging.
We might think that we are pretty obsessed with our mobiles in the UK, but Japan really takes things to another level. Over here the mobile Internet is nothing new or clever it’s just something they use like phone or the Internet. Consequently people do use QR codes over here, all they do is make something they already do that little bit easier and quicker.
Walking round Osaka city you find a phone in the hand of everyone, young and old, whether they’re with friends or riding their bike. One thing of note is that very few of these phones are what we would necessarily call smartphones in the UK, I’ve seen a few Blackberries and although I’ve seen a fair deal of promotion for the iPhone I’ve not seen many being used. Nearly everyone seems to have a flip phone, none of which are particularly small, but come with a camera and a decent size screen. It appears that Japan’s mobile Internet infrastructure works so well that there is limited desire for change. Their mobile websites work just fine so they don’t need apps, they don’t need 3G because they’ve already got it, and who wants to buy a phone that doesn’t even come with a QR code reader as standard.
The iPhone has a lot to do to convince the Japanese to abandon their flip phones, and the UK still needs a bit more time before we are using are mobiles to obtain services and information at quite the same level as they do over here in Japan.
October 28, 2009
With my current travels in mind I recently jumped on the netbook bandwagon and got myself a very nice little ASUS 1005.
It’s pretty good and it can do most things a normal laptop can, however, there are a few drawbacks when viewing the web. The annoying thing is most of these drawbacks can be easily avoided, the problem is people haven’t considered netbooks.
A few years ago this might have been excusable but now with netbook use so widespread (yes I can confirm it appears their use is widespread in Japan) people need to consider making their designs netbook friendly or having netbook versions when the the usual version is too big and the mobile version too small.
Thanks to these issues I’ve had to stop using Hootsuite to view twitter posts as I just can’t see enough on the screen. All they need to do is let me hide a few sections, but I can’t so Thwirl it is for now.
Unlike Steve Jobs I don’t think netbooks are going away any-time soon (they will one day, but not for a few years yet) so people best start considering them if they want to deliver a good web experience to their entire audience.
Image: jpm
October 21, 2009
The latest technology has opened up a whole new world of possibilities, and in turn these possibilities have brought with them new expectations. It doesn’t take us long to adjust to the benefits of new technology, and what starts out as a luxury or perhaps novelty can soon become a necessity.
Not many of us can live without the Internet or our mobiles, and soon the Internet on our mobiles. Furthermore, our expectations or not context specific, when we experience a service in one context we expect it in another.
I had this experience not so long ago when I was searching Tesco supermarket for plastic cups (as you do). I had no idea where to look, and neither did any of the staff around me. Of course on the Internet I would simply do a search and find them in seconds. Furthermore, I knew that Tesco would have all the information stored on a system somewhere. 5 years ago I wouldn’t have been bothered, but the problem was with my iPhone in hand I new we had the technology to solve my problem.
It appears Tesco were well aware of the possibilities and the very next trip to Tesco I was able to use my iPhone to find my nearest store, instantly see what services they offered, and exactly where everything was. Good work by Tesco, however my feelings were (perhaps unfairly so) more of ‘about time’, than ‘great job’.
As peoples expectations change at the rate of technological advancement, it’s going to get harder to meet them and even harder to exceed them.
Filed under Digital, Food and Drink, Future, Search, Technology
Tags: apps, expectations, Future, iphone, Mobile, shop, shopping, Technology, tesco
October 20, 2009
Thanks to the Internet it’s now possible to discover trends, technology, and advertising from around the world. However, there really is no substitute for first hand experience, so from next week I’ll be leaving the UK for a few months.
I could go pretty much anywhere in the world and be sure to learn something new, but with our emerging digital world in mind there are a few stand out locations.
It’s hard to talk about the latest technology without mentioning my first destination, and it’s certainly a place that is frequently mentioned on Trendplanner. From next week Trendplanner will be coming to you from Osaka, Japan, and in the following weeks from other various locations across the country.
Following Japan, I’ll be heading the the country with the largest Internet population in the world, that of course being China. Then time dependent I’m hoping to visit various places including Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Hopefully I’ll be able to share my experiences and new insight via Trendplanner while I’m away and in person when I return.
If anyone has any advice on where I should be heading (In Japan, China, and beyond), or would like to meet up in any of these locations to talk digital and advertising just send me an email or just comment on this post.
Image: JVK
Filed under Digital, Future, Technology, Trends
Tags: advertising, China, Digital, japan, malalysia, singapore, travel, Trends
