The BIG Kahuna

So we hired a company called Wow iVideo branding and advertising to produce the hi-def video you are seeing on this blog. I expressed my interest in possibly forming a partnership with them with future client projects. Things started off great but went straight down the drain.

?

Rusty Stewart the owner of Wow iVideo and Priority One Software Solutions immediately passed me off to Kim Blake (the receptionist) to handle our customer service.?

Rusty never communicated my order to Kim properly and the troubles began. One problem lead to another. Kim was stuck in the middle and the communication between her and Rusty was poor due to Rusty?s busy travel schedule. ?

Meanwhile back at the ranch the only one suffering was Brand Identity Guru.? Rusty finally got back to us to smooth things out. I told him that I was concerned about bringing potential clients to them because of the mistakes Wow iVideo made with us. He assured me that would not be the case.?

After many phone calls and mistakes they finally got our video right. Part of the arrangement we made with them was that we didn?t want prospects/clients clicking through to the Wow iVideo site. They agreed and set that up for us.?

Fast forward one month and my trusty Google alert system emails me a message that Wow iVideo has listed our branding?blog and video in their online portfolio. Hmm, I don?t remember getting a phone call asking for our permission? Normally I like to ask first?seems like the professional, courteous thing to do.?

But the frustrating part is that Wow iVideo knew that we didn?t want prospects/clients associating us with them. This was agreed to in advance and they have broken that trust. ?

So the Wow iVideo has been up for a few months now on our branding?blog. Unfortunately bloggers don?t like the video. They feel it?s intrusive and annoying. So I email the owner Rusty again to let him know it?s causing more harm then good. What is his response? ?

Blame the client:?

?There is a lot of different ways to use the online spokes person if you would just take the time and watch the video that came with the installation instructions?, says Rusty.?

Yea, I did take the time. Thanks??

So I ask if I can stop using the service because it?s not working for me, this is Rusty?s response:?

?You also signed a 12 or 24 month agreement that you are obligated to, I will check on the term of yours.? At the end of the 12 or 24 months you can cancel the agreement with a 90 day written notice.??

Thanks,

Rusty Stewart

Priority1ss & WoWiVideo

President, CEO

PO Box 477

Kokomo, IN

46903Phone: 765-236-5100Fax: 765-236-5109

 

rusty@wowivideo.com

 

www.wowivideo.com

www.priority1ss.com?

Well I think I?did sign an agreement based on good faith but the product isn?t working for me. And if you want to stick it to us (for $250) I guess you can (although if I need to I?ll dispute the charges). But as someone who says they do branding you may want to reconsider. Because this is a rotten move on your part and a great example of poor branding and customer relationship management.?

So Wow iVideo, stick it to us now but remember what goes around comes around. Soon this blog post will be ranked in Google?s top ten (we obviously have no control of that)?when prospects search for you and your company. I wonder how many of them after reading about your pathetic service will reconsider using you?

Your prospects will be reading this wonderful article about how you are not only awful, provide bad service but also break the trust of your clients. Breaking the trust of a client is by far the worst thing you can do for your brand. And sticking it to us for $250 is very short sighted.?

Wow iVideo is yet another example of bad service, poor branding and most of all is an untrustworthy company (in our humble opinion).??

So in my daily rounds of reading branding blogs I visited Dave Young?s Branding Blog (he writes some cool stuff).

?

I reviewed a few articles and then left a comment on one of the articles. The comment was very general but pleasant.?

It went something like this:? I really enjoyed your article, you were right on target. Or something like that. As usual I embedded a link back to our branding?blog which is pretty standard stuff.?? So Dave emails me directly and tells me that he didn?t appreciate the link back to another branding blog (namely ours). That we stole his name and that he reported us for spamming??

Here’s his very professional email to us:

Hey Big Kahuna,Nice try.

It?s a little more sincere than the pornographers and the viagra hucksters, but still a bot-driven comment. Did you even look at the story you commented on? So, you steal the name of my blog (up since 2004) and now are trying to create phony links to point to yours.

It?s been reported as spam to Typepad and I?ve sent them a complaint.

–
-Dave Young

Huh? We left a positive comment on your branding blog. Our blog is called ?The Branding Blog By Brand Identity Guru?, I hardly think we stole your name. Not unless you call yourself Brand Identity Guru? And then to report someone for making a nice comment on your post?is just ridiculous.?

Hey Dave, it?s pretty normal for like blogs to post articles or comments. We get competitors posting on our site all the time. Who cares? Grow up and start acting like a professional.? My suggestion, consider a new line of work. If you?re this insecure about us posting a nice comment then you need to be in a new business.?

Here?s his emails: young@cluemail.com, daveyoung@wizardofads.com

We wrote several articles on the pathetic customer service, ?performance and branding of Magellan GPS Navigation:

Nelson Chan CEO Magellan

Magellan Poor Customer Service

Here’s one from GPS Tracklog

But now the word is spreading and it?s not good. Seems like a plethora of people are starting to share their feelings about Magellan. Usually this is a good thing, you know, word of mouth and all. But this word of mouth is all bad, bad and bad.

Here is just a small sampling:

Ben’s Blog??, CNet Reviews, Shopping.com, Rippoff Report, FixYa, Hawkee, Amazon, GPSmagazine, Eopinions

Since?Magellan painfully doesn?t care I?d like to send out a challenge. Please tell 10 friends about Magellan. Blog about them. Make case studies about them. But make your voice heard.

?

The Magellan?s of the world need to know that word of mouth carries significant weight. Hit them where it hurts, don?t buy their products.

I?ve never been a fan of American Express. I?ve had nothing but problems and frustration with them. They spend millions of dollars a year on branding but yet fail at the most basic elements.

?

Here?s my beef with American Express;?First and foremost don?t say there is no preset limit and then cut card members off when they start to really use the card. There is nothing more embarrassing then having your Platinum card denied at a client dinner because you?ve spent $10,000 this month and that?s new for you. No preset limit means just that. I should be able to spend $100,000 without a care.?

Not so and American Express is just plain lying about this. As soon as you cross a new threshold with them they suddenly want your tax returns for the last two years.?Next is their customer service. It used to be horrible. Now it?s horrible, pathetic and unimaginable. American Express now outsources their customer service to India. I?ve said it before and I?ll say it again. American?s don?t want to talk to any foreign customer service people. Especially when they barely speak proper English.?

Outsourcing to a foreign company is a brand killer. We all know you?re trying to save a buck and we all feel the same way?uncared for. When you outsource you are saying you don?t care about the customer experience. So why should we care about you??

Oh yea, when I call American Express customer service I?m assuming I?m talking to an American (hence your name). Not some Indian with a fake name they?ve been given like Bob.?

Lastly American Express is fat and happy. They?ve lost sight of the target market and have no clue as to what?s happening. They are arrogant and rude.? American Express, it?s time to look within yourself. Soon you?ll be a company no one cares for or recognizes with.

Barry Bonds says he?ll boycott the Baseball Hall of Fame if his ball has an asterisk branded into it. What a piece of work Bonds is. I must say he?s got a big set of balls. Well actually with all his alleged?steroid usage he probably has a small set of balls.

?

Read the article here:?http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-bonds-halloffame&prov=ap&type=lgns?

“I don’t think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don’t think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk,” Bonds said. “You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can’t do it. There’s no such thing as an asterisk in baseball.” Says Bonds.?

Let?s break this down. Is there anyone in the world that thinks that Bonds didn?t cheat by using steroids? Does anyone think his head actually grew in circumference due to age? You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history? Ah, yes you can and we did!?

No, I think it?s obvious that Bonds cheated.?Next, Bonds could have bought the baseball from the current owner Marc Ecko but didn?t because the ball supposedly meant nothing to him at the time. Now he?s crying like a little school girl because there is going to be an asterisk branded into it. Isn’t branding powerful??

So, if the Hall goes through with the asterisk display? ?“I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never,” Bonds said. “Barry Bonds will not be there. “That’s my emotions now. That’s how I feel now. When I decide to retire five years from now, we’ll see where they are at that moment,” he added. “We’ll see where they are at that time, and maybe I’ll reconsider. ?

But it’s their position and where their position will be will be the determination of what my decision will be at that time.”??

Man, not only does he lie but he?s such a hypocrite.?

Lastly, the public (that?s all the fans Barry) voted to brand the ball with the asterisk. That?s the people. You know, we paid your horrendously rich salary over the years. We think you cheated and now we?re letting you know it. Aren?t the fans the reason for the game???

Here?s the deal. The brand image?of the Baseball Hall of Fame won?t jeopardize?itself because of a hypocrite like you Barry Bonds. They will take the asterisk ball and as fans we will cheer them. Trust me if they can keep Pete Rose out they sure won?t miss you.?

I hope Barry does boycott the Hall. Then we?d (and I mean the fans) all win. But if I know Barry he will flip flop yet again. That?s what liars and cheats?do.

I just got off the phone with Verizon. They wanted to deduct a $1.00 per phone line with a new business plan because I?m a good customer. Really? Somethings amiss??

A normal response would be great! Let?s do it. But not when it comes to Verizon. I asked many, many questions. Why? Why would Verizon give us a break? She said I don?t know. But it?s the same plan. I said are you sure? She put me on hold.?

Now I?m worried. I?m thinking this is some scam that will come back to bite me in 6 months or something. Or it?s some trickery and my bills will go up. It?s anything but Verizon being nice.

She came back and said it?s a dollar less per line. I said I?ll keep paying the extra buck because I don?t trust Verizon. She laughed and hung up.?

You know you have branding concerns if the company you do business with can?t even be trusted to be on the up and up.

Anytime we get bashed by some unknown twits we make a nice post. This time we got bashed by Billy Ivey at Ivey McCoig an ?advertising, design, research and branding collaborative in famous Franklin Tennessee. Apparently they are a collaborative of two, bone-head Billy (maybe he designed their logo)?and Ted McCoig.?

First let?s look at who is bashing one of the nations leading branding agencies: A company from Franklin Tennessee. Is that part of the US? Not sure about you but I?m not buying many things from Franklin Tennessee. Moonshine maybe?

??(Bill & Ted, their excellent adventure!)

Molasses? I?m certainly not buying world class ?advertising, design, branding research and branding?.?? ?

Secondly talk about a lack of positioning for a so called branding company:? Advertising, design, research and branding collaborative?can you be more general? Talk about trying to be everything to everyone. Yikes, do you make and sell widgets? At Brand Identity Guru we specialize in just one thing: Brand Identity.?

Thirdly would you hire a creative firm with such an uncreative name like??Ivey McCoig?, nice way to position? C?mon, show some creative thinking, just your last names? Shoot me now! Am I hiring creative types or a law firm? Couldn?t you find any creative names that positioned you in the market space of Franklin Tennessee (seems like you’d have a blank canvas)??

Fourthly, look at their website. It looks like a junior designer worked on it. And their logo reminds me of that alien Marvin the Martian from Bugs Bunny.

????? ????

I mean really a light bulb going off for a logo, geez, I wonder if that?s been done about 10 million times??Next time stick to bashing fresh out of college art majors, they?re much easier to look better than.

I find these awful websites on a daily basis and scratch my head. This one takes the cake. He calls himself the Internet Commander, his name is Garry Egan.

Here is copy from his website which is so poorly written and designed it?s not worth mentioning but I must.?

Check out the typos and poor use of the English language (I?ve underlined them):?

So, in closing, we never talked about ecommerce credit card processing so feel free to give me a call to talk about that.. Hopefully, you know more about ecommerce web site development now after reading this. (huh)?Big project or small, your ecommerce shopping cart software is easily customized by me and my close design professionals. If you have had to the good time reading this, then contact me with code 11232 and you just got $100 in free services. Thanks for reading. Your ecommerce internet solution is much more than just ecommerce websites.??

I am here to bring all of the pieces ogether and generate more revenue. My services will pay for themselves. Your satisfaction is the most important thing to me. Don’t you want to find out for yourself??I Am The Expert Of Experts. ?My Custom eCommerce Web Site Storefronts Are Top Notch (no period)?

Does this guy sound like a professional you?d hire? This is exactly the kind of junk I tell my clients to stay away from. It literally sounds like a 3^rd grader wrote it.?Be careful out in the big internet world because you may run into a lot of Garry Egans.

I?m reading through some branding blogs the other day when I see a post from Brandon Fritz at Kolbrener Branding ? Marketing. He?s their new ?SEO? guy. So Brandon goes on to bash Brand Identity Guru about?our SEO practices and branding services. None of which have a shred of truth.

 

 

?(those colors look strangely familiar)?

What really get?s under our skin though is that Mike Kolbrener allows this type of stuff. If you claim to be a branding agency, which they are obviously not (looks like their a hyped up graphic design company at best) then why bad mouth a fellow branding company? Doesn?t that ultimately make you look bad??

So we wrote to Mike Kolbrener several emails- seems he just doesn?t want to talk about his new?employee Brandon Fritz. I wonder why? Here?s a quote from their web site on the hire of Brandon Fritz:

Hired Brandon Fritz as Interactive Services Manager. His responsibilities include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy and maintenance, as well as managing and assisting with implementation of Web and interactive media projects.

?We emphasize the value of SEO planning, and adding an in-house SEO expert to our team enhances our ability to meet our clients? needs in that area,? noted Mike Kolbrener, the firm?s CEO.

?Beyond that, Brandon is an exceptional young man with an impressive knowledge of interactive media and a strong entrepreneurial drive. He?s a great fit for our clients and target markets, and for our growing agency.?

Well, let?s look at the statement from Mike Kolbrener:?

1.???? Does Brandon?s services also include going online during the work day and bashing branding companies about their branding capabilities? Ask Brandon to define brand equity for us. As soon as he can he can talk about branding. Brandon?s obviously not a branding strategist.?

2.???? Does Brandon?s responsibilities include lying and deceiving potential prospects about Kolbrener’s SEO competition? Because that?s what he?s done. Some may even say that?s unfair competition.?

3.???? Hey Mike, if this cats so good why does Kolbrener rank below Brand Identity Guru on every major branding keyword(s) in Google? Check them out- we dare you!?

a.???? Branding Agency (we?re #1)

b.???? Branding Company (we?re #1 and #2?ah, you?re not in the top 10)

c.?????Branding Strategy (we?re #4 and #5 ?ah, you?re not in the top 10)

d.???? Corporate Branding (we?re #4 and #5 ?ah, you?re not in the top 10)

e.???? Internet Branding (we?re #4 ?ah, you?re not in the top 10)

f.??????Corporate Internet Branding (we?re #5 and #6 ?ah, you?re not in the top 10)

g.???? Brand Development (we?re #2?ah, you?re not in the top 10)

h.???? Brand Name Development (we?re #3?ah, you?re not in the top 10)?

Those are the homeruns of branding terms, but I don?t see you in the top ten on almost any of them. Where are you in Google and what exactly does your SEO guy Brandon Fritz do????

Question: How and why would potential clients of Kolbrener branding buy your search engine optimization services if Kolbrener marketing can?t even rank for their own top phrases??

I had to laugh, chuckle even when I saw the 50 searches that were done on the term kolbrener online marketing. Here?s where it gets comical?we?re #1 over Kolbrener on their own freakin phrase.Hey Brandon, you?re really not too good at SEO are you? Good hire Michael!

Check it out here, that is if you want a nice chuckle:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-18,GGLG:en&q=kolbrener+online+marketing

Maybe Brandon can concentrate on your own SEO campaign and less on the competitors that are kicking?your ass up and down the internet. Just a thought. But since you haven?t responded to our emails I can only imagine you just don?t care?.?Now that I think about it you’re really not our competition are you? If customers want to hire an SEO company they’d choose us over you all day. If they wanted a TRUE branding agency they’d choose us over you as well.

We established an ongoing list of brands we hate and love. You can see this total list here:?Brands We Love/Hate

But we?ll start with the brand we hate the most:?

???Magellan GPS Navigation?

Magellan is one of the original creators of automobile navigation so they should be the brand leader. But Magellan is one of the most poorly managed companies in the history of poor management. ? Magellan just named a new CEO, Nelson Chan, who apparently is not a branding expert. Let me tell you why, Nelson Chan you are?committing branding suicide.?

“Magellan has already made a significant mark on the GPS market as an early innovator and a reliable provider in segments ranging from auto navigation and outdoor recreation to land survey,” said Chan. “I’m looking forward to taking Magellan into a new era of market leadership based on product innovation and operational excellence that will excite customers and the market.”

Your products don?t work. That?s right; you have a serious quality control problem. Are you aware of this? I?ve made the mistake of buying 3 different GPS units from Magellan and ALL have failed to work for more than 1 year. What are you doing to solve the quality control issues??

If you go online and Google ?Magellan GPS?quality? you?ll see what I mean. The phrase itself can be either positive or negative but you?ll find the negatives severely outweigh the positives.??

But why? Well Nelson Chan let me tell you because you are obviously uncaring of your current brand image or just completely out of touch with your customers.?

Reasons why Magellan GPS brand is bad:?

1. Poor Quality ? Ah, your stuff doesn’t work
2. Poor Service ? Ah, you outsource to India (thanks for that, Americans love to chat with people that barely speak English).
3. You scam us ? Sorry, the device doesn?t work. Buy a refurbished one for $299 or we?ll fix that one for $150 otherwise piss-off!

So let?s delve into why Magellan GPS Navigation has the worst service in the world.

Magellan GPS Navigation outsources their customer service to India. And folks they do that because they appreciate you Mr. Joe Customer so much. Outsourcing to India sends one message only: Magellan GPS doesn?t care about the customer.??

As customers we have a say. Start spreading the word to friends and family. Let them know that Magellan Navigation stinks and if you ever have a problem have fun talking to someone with a name like Jawaharlal but who calls himself ?Larry?. No kidding I?ve been through it. They barely speak English and follow-up is not in their vocabulary.??

Next you scam us. If it doesn?t work you bill us a fee of $150 or sell us another paperweight for going retail price. Huh? You really just don?t care about your branding at all.?

Nelson Chan you are a bad CEO. Because trust me when I say that there is nothing more important than your brand identity and brand image.?And if you don’t know that then you should resign as CEO of Magellan.

Hopefully this will become viral so that other would be purchasers of Magellan GPS units will avoid your company at all cost.??

Readers, help spread the word about Magellan GPS Navigation. Let your friends, associates, collegues and family know that they?should avoid buying their products.??

Let?s teach these big companies a lesson!?

This is the first piece of junk I bought from Magellan:

I mailed this to Magellan to be fixed and they actually lost it. It took me 6 months to get a replacement from them which they charged me $150 for. You’d think it would be a no cost “sorry we lost your unit” but nahhh, you still pay us even though we waited 6 months to replace it. Go Magellan!

About Magellan

Magellan is a leader in the consumer, survey, GIS and OEM GPS navigation and positioning markets. Recognized as an industry innovator, the company is the creator of the Magellan RoadMate series portable car navigation systems, the Magellan eXplorist outdoor handheld navigation devices, the Hertz NeverLost car navigation system and ProMark, the single frequency GPS survey product line on the market. The Company is privately held and headquartered in Santa Clara, California with European headquarters in Carquefou, France.