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Tag Archives: Miss Chu

Me Likey Miss Chu’s travel…

13 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Malcolm Auld in Advertising, Branding, Customer Service, Direct Marketing, Marketing

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amrketing, branding, customer service, direct marketing, Miss Chu

Long time readers may recall my discussions about the savvy marketing by Vietnamese street noodle chain – Miss Chu. Here and here if you’re interested.

Well given Miss Chu’s ‘migrant’ theme using her passport imagery and background as a refugee, the obvious next step from flogging fresh dumplings is to offer food tours of Vietnam.

That’s right dear reader, Miss Chu has teamed up with a Melbourne travel agent and is merchandising the tours in store, using a very authentic looking passport as the brochure.

miss chu 001

miss chu 002

miss chu 003

miss chu 004

This is a wonderful brand extension at very little cost and I imagine little risk. It fits the Miss Chu brand perfectly – come to Vietnam for a culinary tour. If you’re interested you can download the full passport brochure here.

This brand is evolving as fast as the chain is growing. And while it’s ‘street food’ it’s certainly not street prices, which demonstrates the value the brand is creating.

Who knows what we’ll see next in the world of marketing? A former mail-order record salesman launching space tourism for the public. Yeah right.

I think I need to eat some dumplings, my mind’s wandering…

 

 

Talk about

 

 

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You ling, we bling…me Likey…

12 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by Malcolm Auld in Advertising, Branding, Content Marketing, Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Marketing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

advertising, bling, branding, content marketing, copywriting, direct marketing, marketing, Miss Chu

Thanks for the positive comments for yesterday’s post about Miss Chu (and ERM). Coincidentally, and unbeknown to me, there was an article this week in a magazine called Wish. It’s a free monthly magazine published with The Australian newspaper. Her story is fascinating – read it on her website.

Miss Chu uses Asian English in her communications, such as “You ling, we bling” for home-delivery and “Me Likey” as the icon for Facebook Likes and “Me Hungry” is a headline.

As her biography states: “Like many people who understand and respect the role of humour in society MissChu has decided to use the awful slurs she grew up with and still feels lies just beneath the surface of many interactions with White Australia and turn it into comedic commentary.”

Miss Chu

Though her real mission is to use her fame to highlight the plight of Vietnamese refugees in Australia – read the article here.

Even more coincidence…

Yesterday I also received a personal letter from ERM. This is the electricity mob I mentioned in the same post as Miss Chu. Curiously I suggested they should write a personalised letter, as it would work better than the unaddressed card. Spooky stuff.

Unfortunately the letter is not much better than the card. The company has fallen into a familiar trap of talking about themselves, rather than the benefits for the prospect.

I use reading glasses these days, but did the salutation have to be printed in 24 point font? The letter uses various font sizes, colours and full points after every subheading – a big no-no.

And the brand Nazis have really gotten to it – everything is printed dark blue and orange. The logo and tag line appear to use three different font sizes and two different colours, as well as a full point. As a result it looks like an advertisement dressed up as a letter, which affects its credibility.

ERM letter

One thing you need to be careful with direct mail, is where the letter folds. In this case it folds right along the headline following the salutation, so it is difficult to read.

Even worse is the headline: Isn’t it time you switched to the business-only experts?

The subconscious answer to a question like this is “No, why should I? What’s In It For Me?

A headline needs to include a benefit, or news – something to encourage the reader to continue reading. For example:

Alternate headline: Switch to ERM and in less than 5 minutes you’ll save $hundreds, lock in a competitive rate to avoid price rises – and get a FREE iPad…

The above headline says it’s easy to do, saves you money now and in the future and offers a reward for doing so. It’s far more powerful. You are encouraged to read on…

Like the unaddressed card, the letter focuses on the company not the reader. The best part for the reader is mentioned in the last 3 bullet points. If you want people to believe you, get other people to talk about you – it’s why testimonials are so powerful.

ERM has won a customer service award two years running. Where are the testimonials from customers to reinforce why they won? If I wrote the letter it would be something like:

Dear Name

If you’re like most business owners, you want to keep your costs to a minimum. Now you have a new way to do so. With ERM you can immediately cut your electricity costs and lock in a competitive rate, so there are no surprises in the future.

And if you switch to ERM by <date> we’ll give you a FREE iPad to use in your business or home.

Here’s what Ted Bloke, CEO of Another Company, says about his switch to ERM: “insert copy from Ted and print in italics with quotation marks“

And Jose Person, Founder of That Company Over There, says after he switched: “insert copy from Jose and print in italics with quotation marks“

It takes less than 5 minutes to switch using our online service – www.ermforsmallbusiness.com.au

No exit fees

And unlike ordinary electricity suppliers, if you choose to leave us, ERM does not charge exit fees. It’s just one of the many reasons ERM has been rated No. 1 for service and value by our customers two years running (Utility Market Intelligence Survey*).

Call to action, contact details and signature file

P.S. Remember it takes less than 5 minutes to switch and you get a FREE iPad – but you must switch by <date>

This letter focuses on the prospect. It includes benefits and an offer, with support from existing customers via testimonials and independent research. It could be improved with some editing and layout. I just drafted it quickly for demonstration purposes.

Your copy is the one thing that doesn’t cost a lot to get right, yet it can have an enormous impact on your bottom line. Just because you can type doesn’t make you a copywriter – don’t skimp on your copywriting investment.

bling

Incidentally, do you know why in the US the term “bling” refers to cheap junk jewellery? Firstly it’s not a word, it’s a sound – “bling” – so it’s easy to say. It was created by people who were too stupid to spell “cheap junk jewellery” so they called it “bling” instead – much easier to say and spell.

Me think, maybe not so stupid…

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Me Hungry! for Miss Chu’s marketing…

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by Malcolm Auld in Advertising, Branding, Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Marketing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

advertising, branding, copywriting, direct mail, direct marketing, letterbox, marketing, Miss Chu

Letterboxes are a wonderful part of our lives. Every day mine creates a sense of anticipation as I open it to see what surprises are in store. A couple of days ago it served up two very interesting pieces of mail. One is something I wished I’d created myself. The other, sadly, is a complete disaster.

Here they are:

Me Hungry! from Miss Chu the “Queen of Rice Paper Rolls“

For those who don’t know, Miss Chu is a fast-growing restaurant chain offering Vietnamese food in a retail “tuck-shop”. The signature food is rice paper rolls, but the menu offers far more choice. There is even a floating tuck-shop on Sydney Harbour, you can check its location via the website.

This is an unaddressed mailing that has a menu inserted into a pair of wooden chopsticks. You cannot avoid reading it when it arrives in your letterbox.

Miss Chu 002

Miss Chu 005

Miss Chu 004

Miss Chu 006

Unlike most take-away menus you get in the mail, this one is jam-packed with everything you need to know and delivers an incredible feeling of authenticity.

There is a postal watermark, that appeared on the hoarding of the tuck-shop as it was being built. It now appears on printed material as well as on the wall in store. The tuck-shop is a crowded hole-in-the wall, just like you’d find in Asia. It serves food for take-away and eat-in.

The mailing promotes the iphone app for easy online ordering. It opens to reveal the menu and an offer of a FREE steamed pork bun for orders over $20. The reverse side has a location mud-map, social media addresses and replicas of Miss Chu’s passport and immigration details. She was apparently a Vietnamese refugee who sailed to Oz on a leaky boat in the 1970’s.

There’s also a passport stamp promoting the awards the restaurants have won, along with the image of Miss Chu that appears to be taken from her original passport photo.

Everything about this mailing works – it is tactile and cannot be ignored, particularly as it uses a simple but relevant involvement device – chopsticks. It has all the information you need to buy – menu with prices, location map, website details and an offer. It’s supported by information about recent awards and it folds up to an easy-to-store size – on your fridge, in a drawer or even a purse.

Most importantly it has charm – one of the keys to getting emotional engagement. I’m going to take up the offer soon – they serve great dumplings. Interestingly, the mailing is so authentic that I’ve typed “she” as if I was referring to the individual Miss Chu while writing this piece. I had to delete “she” and replace it.

The other mailing in my letterbox on the same day as Miss Chu’s was this:

An addressed orange envelope with a card inside

Sadly it is wrong in so many ways – particularly in comparison to Miss Chu’s.

Firstly, while an orange envelope stands out, there is no reason offered to open it. But as I’m an inquisitive sod, I opened it anyway.

Here’s the card – both sides:

Miss Chu 007

Miss Chu 008

Let’s look at the headline – when it comes to changing the game in electricity we mean business.

This headline is just a glib statement. It has no benefit for the reader, is all about the company that wrote it, not about the prospective customer. And it doesn’t even make sense. Changing what game? Electricity isn’t a game – it’s just bloody expensive. If they can provide cheaper electricity why not say so? And a full point at the end of the headline tells the reader to stop reading. Halt! Go no further. (not now, please read on)

The reverse is even worse. The headline is: ERM Business energy is dedicated solely to business electricity. And it’s accompanied by a man with a blue tie on a factory floor without a caption identifying him. It is followed by a subhead; What does this mean? This is followed by; It means we have the experience that matters for small business. (are you getting excited dear reader?)

There is no WIIFM in these statements. What’s In It For Me?

The bullet points don’t help at all. The first, which is usually the most powerful, says: Australian owned with a 30-year history in the energy sector. How does this help me the customer?

The second says: rated #1 for customer satisfaction by big business customers for the past two years. I thought ERM was for small businesses?

The third starts to scrape the bottom of the barrel: Accurate billing designed from the ground up for small business. I would assume that accurate billing is a given. You won’t keep many customers if your invoices are wrong. How difficult is it to send an invoice saying how much electricity a customer has used?

The next two bullet points don’t offer much either.

Unfortunately this communication offers not one reason to use ERM. They’ve given no reasons to switch from existing electricity suppliers. They haven’t identified a problem or how they provide a better service than the one I use now. Even worse, they have invested in renting a list and personalised the envelope, but have not personalised the message inside.

A personal letter from the CEO of ERM addressed to me, explaining in simple terms why their service is better and what value or savings they offer, would have done far more for their sales and brand than this waste of time and money.

Interesting that the humble Miss Chu tuck-shop, which you’d expect has a limited budget, can do a better job than a major energy company with money to burn.

There’s an idea. Maybe ERM should use the rest of their cards as fuel for a power station? Or maybe they should hire Miss Chu to do their marketing?

I’m off to get some dumplings, which is probably why my bride refers to my rippling stomach as a “one-pack” rather than a “six-pack”!

Mmmm dumplings...

Mmmm dumplings…

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