Last week a couple of SCG colleagues and I embarked on what we anticipated to be a fun evening of dinner at a highly rated restaurant, Sea Change, followed by A Streetcar Named Desire at the Guthrie Theater. What we did not expect was to sit through a critically acclaimed 3-hour play completely appalled by the evening’s events – and hungry. And so, our harrowing customer service tale begins.

The evening started without a hitch. We arrived at the restaurant for our early reservations, were seated on time, and eagerly listened as the server described a delicious menu as a courtesy since we were first-time patrons. The appetizers we ordered were served promptly as tables began filling up with the bustling dinner crowd. Impressed by our first taste from the menu, we anxiously awaited our entrees. And waited…and waited. As we looked around the restaurant, we noticed that several other tables that had been seated long after ours were already halfway through their meals. Some had already even come and gone.

Before we knew it, 7 p.m. was fast approaching and the show was scheduled to begin in 30 minutes. After alerting our server (who seemed to have gone missing since our appetizers were served), we waited for another 10 minutes while he spoke with the manager about the delay. The manager finally stopped by our table after another five minutes passed and proceeded to shower us with excuses. We walked out utterly disappointed, stomachs growling.

Dissatisfied with the server’s lack of responsiveness and the manager’s ill attempt at handling the situation, we thought it would be beneficial to inform the general managers about what went on in their restaurant. After sending a stern yet cordial email about our experience, we resigned to put it all behind us and move on (and to never go back for another meal).

The next day, each of us received a pleasantly surprising email response that was very apologetic and included an invitation back for a complimentary dinner in addition to tickets to another show. The general manager said he would personally ensure we would be taken care of. Thanks to the timely response and going above and beyond what we expected (a complimentary dinner at best), Sea Change earned another chance to impress. Hopefully when we return next time, we’ll walk out groaning from eating too much delicious food.

-Mary Nhotsavang

One of the perks (or perhaps curses, depending on how you look at it) of living with a guy that’s a complete sports nut is having the privilege of watching ESPN on occasion. So you can imagine my surprise last week when I discovered the TV was set on ESPN in anticipation of LeBron James’ announcement of where he would play for the next few seasons. I’ll admit, I really had no interest in finding out “The Decision,” but when I watched the spectacle unfold on the screen before me, I couldn’t help but get drawn into the ridiculousness of it all. Granted, LeBron James is a phenomenal basketball player – that much I’d gleaned from the prime-time ESPN special – but I just couldn’t grasp why it was such an event. It made me start to wonder what happened to filling airtime with news that isn’t self-serving.

Nevertheless, ESPN and LeBron James got the publicity they were after. According to Nielsen, the hour-long special was the third most-watched program on cable television this year, with an estimated 9.95 million viewers. It was also the highest non-NFL rating on ESPN this year and website visitors spent 130 million collective minutes on espn.com that day. Some would say that it was an example of powerful PR tactics. After all, the LeBron James hype did manage to generate significant coverage on multiple media platforms, boost professional basketball content, and give advertisers tremendous exposure. On the other hand, an article on MinnPost.com points out that this type of programming has weakened news media and taken away from real journalism. So where do we draw the line between using star power to get ratings and delivering real, authentic news?

To be fair, the six million advertising dollars spent on “The Decision” by VitaminWater, McDonald’s, State Farm Insurance, Microsoft’s Bing and the University of Phoenix were donated to charity. According to an article in Advertising Age, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America received $2.5 million from the program. While the charitable contributions did help mitigate the sensationalism of it all, the fact remains that newsmakers are being given increasingly more power to dictate content to the news media. And I have a sneaking suspicion that we have not seen the last of this kind of overly dramatic programming.

Did you tune in?     

-Mary Nhotsavang

One of the things I love about living in Minnesota are the various trails, lakes, and hidden paths that make summer a fun season for exploring. These amenities offer the perfect excuse to get outside and take a walk, go for a run, or dust off the bike. If you’ve ever ventured to Lake Calhoun on a sunny Saturday afternoon, you’ll quickly discover that I’m not alone in taking advantage of the opportunity to explore – and get my heart pumping.

Another great thing about summer in Minnesota (aside from the good riddance to winter hibernation) are the various running/walking/biking races that raise money for nonprofit organizations. Just a couple weeks ago, I cheered my sisters on at the 10K Fill Their Plate Race to support Kids Against Hunger at Lake Calhoun. I am currently training to run my first 13.1 Minneapolis half marathon on August 22 that benefits World Vision, a charity that helps children and communities in Africa. I also know a few brave people that are training to run the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  

Surprisingly, many Minnesotans that participate in these races aren’t doing it for the simple joy of running. In fact, I learned from a recent class project that many Minnesotans who run races are doing it for the sole purpose of supporting nonprofit organizations. Here I thought the reason was just to get in shape, shed some pounds, and earn bragging rights. There is a false belief that only people who’ve run all their lives can participate in races. Not true. You don’t need to be a seasoned runner to join a race. Many of the races have a 5K walk event and some even have a 1-mile walk for the kids. And if running isn’t your cup of tea, you can try a bike race.

Participating in a road race – whether it’s running or biking – is a great way to show your support for a nonprofit organization, reap the health benefits of physical activity, and enjoy the warm weather while we have it. And even (gasp) have fun!

-Mary Nhotsavang

When I read about a blooming partnership between Foursquare and Starbucks that offers a discount on Frappuccinos to its most loyal customers, I had to learn about Foursquare in more depth than, “It’s just another social network.” If such a reputable brand as Starbucks is using it, there must be something to it that makes it an effective marketing tool for businesses, right?

For those as unfamiliar as I am with Foursquare, here’s a brief rundown on how it works: download the Foursquare app to your cell phone and link to your address book, Facebook and Twitter accounts to find out where your friends are hanging out and let them know where you are. You can share tips about places you’ve been such as menu recommendations, quality of service, and special discounts. You can also view tips from friends and other users to find recommendations on your specific location or suggestions for things to do – or avoid. Unlock badges and earn points based on where, when, and how often you check in. A bonus: if you check in at a location more than anyone else, you become the mayor, which may allow you to get rewards from participating businesses just for being a loyal customer.

One of the things that I think is great about Foursquare is that it encourages people to explore different hot spots and local businesses while turning it into a game, making it appealing to both social bees and avid gamers. And, it’s a great way to connect with other people that live in your area and learn about new places to explore.

For businesses, it’s the perfect viral marketing tool to be seen and heard while driving more people into your store, restaurant, coffee shop, etc. It also promotes customer loyalty and enables businesses to reward their most loyal customers with freebies or discounts. Foursquare will call attention to venues that offer special treatment to Foursquare users and let them know how they can get a discount or free offering.

There are several businesses in the Twin Cities that have partnered with Foursquare, including Wedge Community Co-op, The Bulldog, La Belle Vie, JJ’s Coffee & Wine Bar, First Avenue, Bryant-Lake Bowl, and Barrio Tequila Bar. Perhaps you could become their next mayor.

-Mary Nhotsavang

As a relatively new Eden Prairie resident, I’ve been exploring all the local hot spots with great fervor so you can imagine my excitement when I received a happy hour invitation from a fellow Eden Prairie resident at a new place that she had gotten coupons from in the mail. What better incentive to try a new place than a “buy one get one free” deal? As I walked through the doors of JJ’s Coffee & Wine Bar, I was transported to a cozy coffee house with the modern look of a wine bar – a perfect blend of suburbia and urban.

Locally owned by a husband and wife team, JJ’s Coffee & Wine Bar offers a vast array of beverages to suit the morning coffee-lover as well as the after-work wine and beer aficionado. The menu even includes suggestions for those brave enough to try something new, pairing favorite beers with wine options.  They also offer breakfast sandwiches, appetizers, and desserts to couple with their beverages. I tried the flatbread pizza (delicious!) and am eager to go back and sample other menu items, including the coffee. Did I mention that their coffee is roasted in Minnesota?

All in all, JJ’s Coffee & Wine Bar is a perfect place for an intimate happy hour, a coffee date, or to enjoy a good book by the fireplace (or, in my case, get some homework done).  

Here’s a tip: if you become a follower of @JJsCoffeeCo on Twitter, you can get a free coffee on Twitter Tuesdays by telling them your user name.  

-Mary Nhotsavang

First, it was Facebook. Then, it was MySpace. Then it was back to Facebook. Now it’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This chronicles my experience with using social media over the past 5 years. After reading an article in USA Today about MySpace’s efforts to revive its level of user engagement, I was brought back to my own MySpace days and decided to log in for the first time in over 6 months.

Once logged-in, I was brought to a new home page that closely resembled Facebook’s home page with a space for posting a status update, a stream of friend updates, and a list of suggested friends I may know on the right hand side. These were some of the updates MySpace made to its design last month, along with placing the online chat feature on the bottom of the page and developing forthcoming profiles for celebrities that are easier to navigate.

According to the article, MySpace plans to “move back to its original DNA: appealing to self-expressive, creative under-35-year-olds who are into games, music and movies.” With the mantra, “Discover and be discovered,” MySpace hopes to ultimately be the place to find friends, movie trailers, little-known bands and social games. However, many are skeptical about the success of MySpace’s rebranding efforts, noting that the company got too comfortable in its popularity and failed to innovate. Many believe that it’s too late for MySpace to regain its standing amongst other social networks that are growing exponentially on a daily basis. Others argue that MySpace will survive through its music and entertainment niche offering.

Do you think MySpace can make a comeback?

-Mary Nhotsavang

The recent Toyota recalls have placed doubt and anxiety where quality assurance and reliability once resided in consumer’s minds. This, in part, has much to do with the way Toyota initially handled the recall crisis—opting to keep quiet, blame others, and deny when they should have immediately stepped up, taken responsibility, and addressed consumers.

Time after time, the value of a public relations crisis management strategy has proven to be critically important for both companies and celebrities to have in place. An article in Fortune compared Toyota’s crisis management to the way Tiger Woods handled his scandal, making statements such as, “Like Toyota, Woods refused to make a public appearance to apologize for his misdeeds (and still hasn’t), preferring to issue press releases instead.” And, “Like Toyota, the news about Woods’ missteps was allowed to trickle out day by day without being effectively refuted.”

Thankfully, Toyota has finally sprung into action, releasing TV, print and radio ads, posting updates on the company web site, leveraging social media, putting the president of U.S. sales, Jim Lentz, on the Today Show, and issuing a news conference in Japan where Toyota’s CEO apologized for the safety problems and vowed to regain consumer trust. But is it too late?

If there’s one lesson we can learn from the now famous Tylenol recall, it’s that quick action and transparency can go a long way in repairing and reestablishing trust in a brand. While Toyota’s actions were slow to start, how they handle the crisis going forward will determine whether their reputation has been irreparably damaged.

Will you buy a Toyota after the crisis is over?

-Mary Nhotsavang

<3… B4…LYLAS…TKU4UK

Translation: heart, before, love you like a sister, and thank you for your kindness, respectively. Would you have guessed that these seemingly random combinations of numbers and letters are just a few among hundreds of acronyms of text message lingo? I pulled these from Netlingo.com, which boasts the most extensive list of text message lingo, 95 percent of which I am completely unfamiliar. When I receive text messages from friends or younger family members comprised mostly of acronyms, I scratch my head, puzzled at what the message is supposed to say.    

For a long time, I was resistant to text messaging. I thought it was a waste of time. A simple phone call would take half the time to get to the point than a text messaging conversation. In fact, I was so resistant that until a few years ago, I didn’t even have a cell phone that enabled text messaging! And now, I find that I text more than I talk on the phone simply because people are more responsive to a text message.

However, my text messages are not cryptic codes of letters and numbers. Instead, they are grammatically correct and complete sentences. I have yet to give in to the LOL, BRB, TTYL and other acronyms. As a spelling and grammar nerd, seeing these acronyms and period-less sentences make me cringe.

What sparked this evaluation of my text messaging habits was an article I found while perusing through the day’s news online that took text messaging to a new level. The headline read “South Korea team wins text messaging world cup.” The LG Mobile World Cup Championships pitted 24 participants from 12 countries against each other in an intense competition of who could type phrases projected on plasma screens the fastest with no typos or abbreviations. The winning team from South Korea took home the championship title and $100,000. A new record was set by a 27-year-old from Portugal who typed a 264-character text in 1 minute and 59 seconds. I’m fairly certain I could only type a 100-character text in the same amount of time with several typos.

Fifteen years ago, I never would have guessed a phenomenon like text messaging would ever come to pass. Now, people are competing to be the most accurate and fastest of all the avid text messagers in the world. OMG!

 -Mary Nhotsavang

Google recently added real-time search capabilities to its search engine, which means that in addition to traditional search results, Google’s search spider will also reveal real-time search results from Twitter, and public pages on Facebook and MySpace, among others. As soon as content is posted and linked, it will be searchable immediately. The real-time search reveals breaking news the moment it happens, even if it’s not the most popular news of the day. Click on “Latest results” or select “Latest” to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news, and other web content. Search results can also be filtered to see only “Updates” from micro-blogs like Twitter, FriendFeed, Jaiku and others. Google Trends has also added “hot topics” to show the most common topics people are publishing to the web in real-time.

So what does this mean for companies engaged in social media?

For one thing, this new search component will make active engagement in social media more important to increase visibility on the web. The more content a company is able to create, the more often their content will appear in Google’s search results. This content can take the form of Tweets and Facebook wall posts, comments, notes, and links. It may change the way companies implement search engine optimization to include using hash tags to drive search results. Companies will also want to pay closer attention to content that is being posted about them on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, etc. because that content will now appear in search results. So, if a customer has a negative experience with your product and they publicize it via social media, it will be searchable and may even appear on the first page of a Google search.

Google is making it even easier for people to find information about your company or product outside of news stories and company web sites. Now, the conversations and opinions people have are more readily available for anyone to read. So if you’re a company that is not already engaged in social media, it may be time to extend beyond a static web site and establish a presence on the social web if you want to be seen and heard in the vast and evolving world of cyberspace.

–Mary Nhotsavang

Sometimes it seems like just yesterday we were stocking up on canned goods preparing for the much anticipated Y2K computer meltdown to hit and create mass chaos. We quickly learned that the dreaded computer failures would never come to pass. Despite the sighs of relief everyone breathed, January 1, 2000 still marked the beginning of the downward spiral that defines the past decade for America. I hadn’t realized to what extent the spiral plunged until I read a sobering article in Time magazine that so eloquently coined the past decade, “the Decade of Broken Dreams.”

It began with 9/11 and ends with an economic recession. To me, the first half of the decade greatly defines the dark decade we were about to live through. There were the anthrax letter scares, the Enron scandal, the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the largest natural disaster in our nation’s history Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami in Asia that killed more than 200,000 people. The second half of the decade dutifully followed suit with the spikes in unemployment, the housing slump, the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Fort Hood, the I-35W bridge collapse, and the untimely death of the King of Pop.

My point is not to list every unfortunate event that happened since 2000, so let’s reflect on some of the good things this past decade has provided. We can’t forget the growth of the social media landscape such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace that enables us to reconnect and expand our reach in the community. Then Apple launched iPods and iPhones that exemplify how far technology has come and how much further it can, and will, go. We witnessed a turning point in history when our first African-American President was sworn into office. And we continue to have the world’s strongest military.

After I read the article and gave it some thought, I realized that while we can’t deny some of the terrible events that have happened in our nation, we can scale the memories of the past 10 years down to a personal level and think to ourselves, it wasn’t really that bad. In actuality, we’ve had some really good times. For me, it was an overall great decade in my life.

As I head into a new year and a new decade, I resolve to make it a point to remind myself of everything that I do have, not to dwell on what I don’t have, be thankful for the past and lessons learned, and look toward tomorrow with a lighter heart and the promise of new beginnings.

How are you going to start your new year?

-Mary Nhotsavang