At the beginning of this month a media frenzy broke loose when Cell C announced that Trevor Noah was going to be their new ‘Customer Experience Officer (CEO)’.  The uproar was not because Trevor is famous and well-loved, but because of the way the campaign unfolded.  Here is a short overview of the campaign thus far and how it developed.

At the end of July, a recording of one of Trevor’s stand-up performances was uploaded to YouTube.  In the video, Trevor makes fun of all the South African mobile service providers, including Cell C.  Take a look for yourself.

The following Sunday (01 August 2010) an apology in the form of a full-page advert from Cell C’s CEO, Lars Reichelt, to Trevor appeared in the Sunday Times and Rapport.  The letter included the promise that Cell C is committed to ‘great customer service’ and that Cell C is ‘serious about turning things around’.

The following week Cell C held a press conference to reveal their new branding and announced that Trevor Noah was their new ‘CEO – Customer Experience Officer”  - and that the preceding events were staged, from the YouTube video to the apology in the Sunday papers.  They also announced that as part of their new campaign Cell C clients can visit www.telltrevor.co.za to tell Cell C how they can improve their service.  Some consumers felt that the campaign resembles astroturfing and that Cell C tried to ‘fool’ their clients.

Some call Cell C’s campaign a ‘stroke of marketing genius’ while others refuse to do business with Cell C again.  On the other hand it seems as if Cell C is determined to make a success of the Tell Trevor Campaign.

The campaign is aggressive, with radio, television, print and online channels being used.  Their Twitter profile seems fairly new but they are very active on it, and unlike Vodacom they don’t post generic responses to @ replies.  Cell C’s online reputation management campaign is on the ball, with responses from Lars Reichelt being the first comment on many of the articles (see the list of articles below).

Lessons that can be learnt from Cell C’s campaign:

• Don’t fool your clients or make fools of your customers. The truth will (eventually) come out
• Generally news spread fast via social media but bad news spreads like a wild-fire. If you want to pull off a risky campaign make sure that you have enough resources to respond to the questions, backlash, comments and tweets.

For me, in the end, it’s Cell C service delivery that matters.  As the saying goes ‘the proof is in the pudding’ and we’ll just have to wait and see if Cell C is going to deliver on the promises they have made through this campaign.

Read more about the Cell C campaign:

Analysis: Cell C, Trevor Noah and the cunning stunt that got everyone talking | The Daily Maverick

Cell C is preening its feathers | TimesLive.co.za

Cell C revamps | ITWeb.co.za

Noah-gate: Lessons learned from Cell C’s controversial ad campaign | Memeburn.com

Why do you think I’m stupid, Cell C? | Tech Leader

Google announced a new service on their official blog yesterday that, according to them, will provide users with ‘transparency, choice and control’.

The new service, Google Dashboard, places all the Google products and services that a user has subscribed to in one convenient place.  With its wide array of products and services, the search giant gathers a notable amount of data on each user, and with the Dashboard, Google recognises the importance of users’ privacy rights.

The aim of Google Dashboard is to show users the personal information they share with Google in order to ease users’ privacy fears.  The Dashboard covers more than 20 Google products and services and allows users to control and update the settings of their various Google accounts from one point.  Users can also monitor the information that is visible to the public and keep track of everything that they have been doing with their Google account on the Internet.

Log in to www.google.com/dashboard and take a look for yourself.  I discovered services I forgot I signed up to.  Subtle advertising could be another reason why Google introduced the Dashboard – to remind users of services they signed up for and might not use on a regular basis.

On the web, content is undoubtedly the most important asset. I recently started rereading a great book by content guru Gerry McGovern called Killer Web Content. The book really is essential reading for anyone who’s serious about writing punchy and effective web copy. After all, content is what delivers services and sells products.

The main premise is simple: more killer, less filler. It’s about providing visitors to your site with the right information at the right time. The book also contains some great tips for writing compelling copy and headlines.

I am by no means the grammar police , but I thought I’d share some of my favourite writing tips from my own experience.

Get descriptive with verbs, not adjectives. All too often, copy is loaded with mounds of superfluous adjectives – this can be cumbersome.

Less is more. Keep sentences and paragraphs short and simple. Editing your own copy is one of the most difficult tasks a copywriter faces. However, cutting down on unnecessary words will keep it tight and easy to read.

Make it scan-able. These days, most people are time-starved and information hungry. Present your information in such a way that a reader can easily ascertain what the page is about, and whether it’s what they’re after.

Generally it is best to avoid using metaphorical language as these figures of speech are easily misunderstood by non-first language speakers and frequently do not translate accurately.

Similarly, when considering non mother-tongue speakers, it’s often best to write in the active voice. This keeps sentence structure straightforward.