We hear so much about online power of peer-to-peer reviews – so it’s refreshing to see a brand actively embracing what consumers actually think about it, good and bad.

The UK bank First Direct (owned by HSBC) has a long reputation for excellent customer service, particularly in the quality and flexibility of the staff at its UK call centres. The strength of this service proposition has allowed them to ‘float above’ the commodity nature of consumer financial services – with a £10 charge for customers paying in less than £1,500 monthly, and no interest paid on current accounts. Key to its success has been understanding that its affluent customers value good service standards above value alone, in a sector infamous for getting the basics wrong.

All this has given First direct the confidence to do something seemingly very brave. It has launched First Direct Live, a site which tracks what is being said about the bank and its products in blogs and online forums. I particularly like the diagram which tracks what people are feeling.  

There is also a forum with direct comments – Talking Point. However this is where they may have been a little too brave. Although the majority of comments are positive, some longstanding customers seem to feel the excellent service standards have started to decline in recent times. 

Experience of working with clients in our Closeness practice, has taught us that it’s when longstanding and loyal customers complain that brands need to worry. These are the consumers who have really invested in a brand – the more emotionally involved, the more they feel betrayed when something goes wrong. For a bank which has built its loyalty on the emotive power of good service, these small issues need to be fixed before they become costly turn-offs.  

First Direct will obviously generate much publicity and further bolstering of its open and honest image through this move – and it certainly sets it apart from the low levels of trust the public holds for high street banks in the main. However the Live site will also give First Direct an extraordinary degree of intimacy with current consumer concerns – a valuable tool for keeping focussed on improving service and continued brand growth for the future!

The news that a McDonald’s is due to open in The Louvre next month has angered art lovers and historians across the globe. It raises a question which, for me, underlies the intensity of many an anti-consumerist stance: what do we value more highly: footfall or fantasy? 

On the one hand, footfall unites The Louvre and McDonald’s. Outside of the US, France is McDonald’s biggest market and last year French ‘McDo’ restaurants welcomed an increase of an extra 450 million customers, up 11% on the previous year. There can be no doubting the fact that the French love McDonald’s. Similarly impressive statistics tell us that The Louvre is the world’s most popular museum, last year attracting approx. 8.5 million visitors.

On the other hand, the fantastical offering of each brand could not be more polarised. McDonald’s gives its customers fast service, fast food and friendly prices which result in a brand that enjoys some of the highest footfall in the world. Though not necessarily a bad thing for a fast food chain, McDonald’s is not a brand which overtly appeals to our imaginations – the problem is often that you can buy exactly the same thing wherever you are in the world, and this challenges the extent to which we can claim to spend our money in interesting ways. The Louvre contrastingly offers its visitors a pause for thought, a piece of history and a window into Paris at its most authentic – it is a brand whose foundations are built on fantasy.

The people so upset by this news need to face up to the fact that we spend our money on fantasy and fast food in equal measure. Ultimately, we know that if no-one went to this restaurant it wouldn’t stay there – but crucially no-one is doubting its popularity. I wonder if people are being unfair towards the integrity of McDonald’s; yes, its reputation has had a mixed history but it has always been able to adapt to new needs and improve its offering when consumers demand it.

Rather than representing a democratistation in culture and reflecting poorly on The Louvre, perhaps The Louvre can challenge McDonald’s democratisation of food and reflect positively on its brand. My hope is that the fantastical setting of The Louvre will spark a different attitude to footfall for the managers of this ‘McDo’. Perhaps we might see a different, one-off menu that challenges mass-market assumptions about McDonald’s…but perhaps I am living in a fantasy world, and some croissant consistency is what’s really needed!

1. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” (William Arthur Ward)

2. “The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.” (Winston Churchill)

3. “Optimism doesn’t wait on facts. It deals with prospects.” (Norman Cousins)

4. “It’s better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right.” (Anon)

5. “The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser – in case you thought optimism was dead.” (Robert Brault)

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.