Stay Thirsty My Friends

For all of you who don’t know, Corona is not the only Mexican beer out there. I think that they have done a good job of marketing it to the world, but it is not the only Mexican beer out there. If you notice somewhat of an angry tone to the last sentence it’s because there is one. Let me tell you why. As someone who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, I have the dislike towards Grupo Modelo (the makers of Corona) in my blood. Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma (CCM), the makers of beer brands such as: Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca, Bohemia, Indio, and Dos Equis XX is attributed to be one of the forerunner companies responsible of making Monterrey the 3^rd biggest and most industrial important city in Mexico after Mexico City. In Monterrey, we take our “northern” heritage very proudly; so do the people in the “central region”, the makers of Grupo Modelo. Just to make full disclosure, the fact that my grandfather worked in CCM his whole life might seem as a case for bias, but the fact is that just by being from Monterrey makes anybody biased.

Now that I have laid the grounds on how passionate I am about the topic, let’s get down to business. I think the topic of social media is an extremely important one to talk about these days. It is amazing to me how much attention and participation sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Linkedin, and Wikipedia have managed to produce and to the rate that people like you and me have accepted them in our everyday lives. Just as is pointed out in Groundswell: beyond actual technologies being used, what is amazing to see is how the relationships are changing everyday with the implementation and acceptance of these technologies. It is these relationships that are changing and evolving in a very unique and increasingly rapid manner.

To be perfectly honest, I am not an innovator when it comes to these new cyber technologies, but I am a very fast imitator. When everyone started using Facebook it took me a little time to really embrace it and see its use. So, the same thing happened when people start talking about how Facebook can be used with businesses and marketing. I really didn’t see its application. Of course it was easy to see the power of the tool and how much advantage it could bring if someone were able to apply it to their business, but it was just hard for me to understand how that could be done; at the beginning. But like I said, I am a fast imitator and it didn’t take many examples of how companies have successfully used Facebook to understand the great potential there is for marketers using this tool.

With this said, I want to use an example that will tie perfectly with my proud representation of the excellent Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc products out there. The beer I want to talk about is Dos Equis XX. Apart from being an excellent beer (this is a whole other topic I could talk about in detail), it is an excellent marketable product. This beer has existed in Mexico for almost 100 years and has just recently made its very successful jump into the US market. The reason for success: The Most Interesting Man in the World. It could have been the green bottle, or the “X’s” in the name, or the good quality of beer, that made this beer so successful in the US, but I think what ultimately made is such a success is this person I mentioned: The Most Interesting Man in the World. And that is his real name. The Most Interesting Man is in a set of commercials that make him just what his name says he is. He has fought tigers in India, wrestled with bears, arm wrestled with Russian Mafia, and saved countless lives. His tag line at the end of his commercials he says: “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friends”. If you havent’ seen any of the commercials I invite you to do so, they are hilarious.

Now back to Facebook. This character has been such a success that CCM has been able to market him as an actual person. You can find his profile in Facebook and be his friend. He has pictures of himself and more than 200,000 friends. Since he is known for his sarcastically funny quotes, people add to them in his wall for others to see. The great thing about this media is that CCM has been able to “lure” all of these customers to the Dos Equis XX experience through The Most Interesting Man and use this page in Facebook to understand the customer base better and get feedback of their insights and needs. There is a road show about “interesting people” that Dos Equis sponsors and all the event’s updates and photos are available in this page to see. What is amazing to me is that the page’s administrators use The Most Interesting Man to actually chat with their customers and get their thoughts and insights! The power of this tool is so incredible that you actually believe that the guy actually exists and is not just an actor playing his role!

This is also a great way for CCM to be proactive and lessen the risk of having this media used against them. As we saw in Groundswell, not all is good for companies with the existence of these social media initiatives. You now have no, or very little control of what people can say about you and this is just one way to level out the bad with something good (in case there are any bad comments about your brand).

So, I encourage you to become friends with the Most Interesting Man in the World and maybe, just maybe, he will invite you to his next hunting trip to Malaysia.

Stay thirsty my friends,

Salud! Rolando

Wal-Mart Knows Where You Live - So What!

I could see how this article about how Wal-Mart collects personal customer data unknowingly by the customer could come as a big shock and/or surprise to a lot of people, but for me, it doesn’t seem like that much of a shock. Sure, I am not saying that I already knew this immense data collection was taking place, but when I read the article I could easily come to accept what is going on. I think that more than the amounts of data being collected, what is most shocking to people is the nature of the type of data collected: SSN, address, telephone number, etc. For me, this type of data is just getting more and more accessible as time goes by. I mean, just look what Google is doing with GPS, I bet you have probably played around with its satellite view map and looked at your old love’s house. I think the privacy issues that surround these practices will continually be less of a concern to our society.

My point is that instead of dreading on the fact that corporations like Wal-Mart are collecting unthinkable amount of data about their customers, I am more interested in the actual application of this data and would want to know if this strategy is working for them in a way that makes the customer experience a good one and therefore achieve a substantial competitive advantage. So, I think the focal point here is CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. We all know that Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart because of its everyday low prices, and this exactly I believe is where their competitive advantage comes from. The customer experience is just that: cheaper prices. I don’t think there are a lot of customers that go to Wal-Mart to have a wonderful time or appreciate their service or other patrons like you would maybe at a Barnes & Nobles or Wholefoods. In these places the customer experiences are actual experiences that are created by the companies to better serve their customers. Now, the question here would be to do some cross referencing and analyze if Wal-Mart’s ultimate customer experience (which we said is low prices) actually does bring a competitive advantage and see if this is derived from the huge amount of personal data they are collecting. I personally think that it does. The data they are collecting is definitely helping to provide the cheapest prices to the correct stores which is in a big part derived from the personal data they are analyzing. The amount of insights that Wal-Mart analysts can get from this data should be a critical point to how they manage each and every store and therefore the origin of their advantage over their biggest competitors.

Now, having said this, the data collection is obviously not the only driver in providing the low prices that customers are looking for. As most of us know from studying Wal-Mart in numerous case studies in different classes, Wal-Mart’s supply chain plays a very important part in being able to maintain their prices low. This brings me to my next point. Most of the supply chain success that Wal-Mart has gained has come by the sacrifice of a lot of suppliers. Sure, many suppliers have made their millions by partnering with Wal-Mart; imagine having the doors open to the thousands of Wal-Mart stores world-wide. But to many suppliers, this has ultimately come at a cost. What impact does technology have on Wal-Mart suppliers? Just as Wal-Mart has negotiated tough prices, delivery windows, and overall supplier policies that have made suppliers have to live with very tough margins and restrictions, I think that the new technology will similarly be tough on Wal-Mart suppliers. These suppliers will be forced to make big investments on infrastructure and technologies, such as RFID, that could potentially only be used by Wal-Mart. The biggest concern with this is that there are usually no binding contracts in this business and Wal-Mart may, the day they please, terminate with your relationship and leave you hanging with all the technology investments you have implemented. It is also true that many suppliers actually grow and learn by working with Wal-Mart precisely by having to deal with this tough environment and requisites. But the fact is that in the long-run I think Wal-Mart’s policies are too strong for a lot of small suppliers that will ultimately sacrifice profitability over volume.