Branding Done Well

Before I called Bank of America and Capital One, I had no preconception of which is a better company. After one call to each, I now love Capital One and despise Bank of America. It's the little things that make all the difference. Customer service is key. Without it, CEOs corrode their own branding.

Some corporations build outstanding goodwill with good customer service and rewards systems. They earn life-long customers who delight to give them business and tweet their love for the business. In addition to customer service, reward cards are one of the top ways to earn loyal customers.  Everyone wants to get enough stamps or points to earn free goods. When I get a punch card, I usually keep coming back to fill it. The cost of the free cookie, latte or even a burrito is surely negligible compared to the new loyal customers and the boost of goodwill. I'm surprised not all food services have such a reward system.

Some businesses have more creative forms of recognizing loyal customers. Shake Shack, for example, is one of my favorite places to go. They don't have any formalized system for rewarding loyalty, but they do sweeten the orders of customers they recognize. Although they operate in one of the busiest cities in the world, the staff is incredibly friendly and personable. I go to the same branch often, and I get all sorts of perks. I highly recommend them. Plus, their custards and burgers are fantastic.

Birthdays are also an excellent time to earn goodwill. Starbucks gives a free drink voucher to members to redeem anytime near their birthdays. Godiva club members receive a free truffle every month and an extra on their birthday month. Sixteen Handles gives a free cup of frozen yogurt to anyone who comes in their birthday. Who wouldn't like that?

businesses hit the jackpot with quality service. Consistently positive and friendly employees are rare but crucial. One bad experience can ruin a lot of customer goodwill, especially if it's tweeted to the world. When I called to activate my new Capital One card, I was floored by the wonderful customer service. On the other end of the spectrum, I've had terrible experiences with T-Mobile. It's consistently awful service; I'm often transfered multiple times, usually round in circles until they decide who I really need to talk to. A few times, I've hung up, frustrated that I couldn't get the help I was looking for. Quality service is hard to find.

I'm writing this in a Starbucks in London, which I'm usually not a big fan of. They are too expensive and not very good, in my opinion. But they just won my favor. Having just had a birthday, I had a free latte to redeem. None of the Starbucks in US airports would recognize the reward voucher. I was told that all airport Starbucks are managed by a major franchising corporation, distinct from normal Starbucks. Anyway, having returned to London, I discovered that US rewards are not honored here. But the barista gave me a venti pumpkin spice latte for the price of a shot of espresso. How nice! The little things truly do make all the difference.

London Bucket List

See the view of London from Hampstead Heath
Attend the Ceremony of the Keys (locking up the Tower of London)
Browse all floors of the V&A
Master a British accent
Eat dumplings in Chinatown
Hang out in the Natural History Museum Friday Night "Late"
Spend an evening in Camden Town
Get tickets to a play at the Shakespeare Globe and Les Miserables and Book of Mormon
Visit Oxford, Cambridge, York, Stonehenge, Bath, Manchester, and Stratford-upon-Avon
Travel to Scotland, Wales, North Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain

Life in London

There are never any pence on the pavement in London, while New York sidewalks are littered with pennies. Beyond that, the cities are quite similar: packed tube/subway cars; Starbucks at every corner in the center of the city; countless ethnic restaurants; the melting pot of cultures. It feels like home in so many ways.

Okay, realistically, it's not identical. The accents are the major obvious difference - everything they say sounds so posh; their streets twist and wind in the most illogical patterns, as do most of the tube lines; their grocery stores sell everything prepackaged, strangly futuristic; the buildings are much older and often more beautiful; their history goes back a lot later than America's; and they buy and sell with pounds, making everything about 50 percent more expensive than the states. Maybe that's why there are no pence on the pavement...

Syrian Friend

Sunday afternoon, in typical London fashion, the sunny day quickly turned cloudy and started pouring. I was in the middle of Trafalgar Square and had forgotten my umbrella.  So I ducked into the nearest Caffe Nero to stay dry. Next to me sat a doctor reading an academic journal. He moved to England many years ago to study medicine and earned citizenship, but he identifies as Syrian. So we discussed Syria's history, Assad's recent atrocities, relations with China and Russia, the Sunnis and Shi'a Muslims, the rebel groups, the best case scenario for Syria's future, how the international community should respond, Britain's non-response, Assad's relationship with Israel, the refugee situation, and his brothers and family who are living in Damascus. Most fascinating! If you want to hear his thoughts on any of these topics, put a comment on one or two, and I'll write his answers here.

To give one example, my friend Ghazi said that an international response is warranted, especially due to the fact that Assad has used chemical weapons on his citizens 14 times, in the outskirts of Damascus. The supposed reason is that Assad wants the land back and wants to crush the rebel groups, and chemical weapons are his most effective means. Ghazi says that Obama should provide arms and resources to the Free Syrian Army, which he considers the most effective and hopeful rebel group. He also made a comment about the thousands of people that are being held by the government and tortured daily. He really wants Assad to leave (obviously), and for these people to be freed. Although they're removed from the chemical weapons, they're still being treated completely inappropriately. I wonder how the international human rights organizations are going to handle this one. It's not against the rules of war, but it's abominable.

Oslo

The most expensive city in the world certainly lives up to its repuation. To give you some idea of the prices in Oslo, an entrée at any normal sit-down restaurant ranges from 150-250NKK, with prices much higher at fancy places. The conversion rate makes that $25-$42 (€19-€31). Crazy!! Supermarket prices are far more reasonable, but still highly inflated compared to American norms.

The city resembles a modern, brand-obsessed population, with TGI Friday's, McDonald's, and Burger King lining the streets. I stumbled upon an abundance of juice shops and espresso cafes and bars, just as you would expect in a country's capital. And the fearless pigeons were as obnoxious as they are in Manhattan. 

Oslo has the honor of presenting the Nobel Peace Prize each year. Alfred Nobel gave them this responsibility before Norway had independence. Now it's slightly strange that Stockholm presents all the other prizes, while Oslo presents its prize, especially because they're bestowed on the same day: December 12th, when Alfred passed away. The Peace Prize is given in the City Hall, adorned with an astronomical clock:

Henry Ibsen is a native of Oslo, and they honor him with a statue outside his museum:

Oslo also has incredible beaches, and the weather wasn't frigid, as I expected from the North Sea. Some people on the beach said it was 19 degrees (Celsius). I couldn't remember the conversion, so I just went in. It wasn't too bad in the water, but it was far nicer on the sand :)  

Their new opera house has a gradually sloped roof that reaches all the way to the ground!  So locals and tourists alike climb up to the top to watch the sunset and enjoy the peaceful water and the views of the city:

Oslo has many popular pedestrian streets, one of which starts with the guy below. Not sure who he is, but he sits right in the center of the city, across from the parliament building:

 

Oslo is surprisingly small. The total population is less than a million, and tourists aren't attracted in roves, due to the high prices. So it's quiet even in summer. Nonetheless, the locals all flock to enjoy the parks, lounging on blankets and grilling some dinner, soaking up all the rays before the sun disappears for the winter. 

"Put them in fear, Lord, that the nations may know they are but men." ~ Psalm 9

Stockholm

Stockholm is a lovely city of large islands, easily accessible by a handful of major bridges. The old town, Gamla Stan, is one of the smaller islands, completely surrounded by the rest of the city. My rolling suitcase on its cobblestone alleyways announced my presence to everyone in town. Oh well. In the middle of Gamla Stan, there's this large sculpture of the Europe-wide legend of King George slaying the dragon:

I bought a meal of Swedish meatballs from a small café, sold by a nice Russian lady who hardly spoke English. After some miscommunication due to the language barrier, she lamented that she only speaks Russian, Spanish, and Swedish but not English. Spanish?! She married a Cuban man many years ago and Sweden is one of the few places in the world where they can live together. The embargoes almost prohibited their relationship, but Sweden had no problem with it. So we continued in Spanish and all was better. Strangely, I've heard as much Spanish in Scandinavia as in the Bronx. Apparently, Spanish tourists really like to go North for holiday. I don't blame them - it's beautiful! 

Stockholm has successfully turned a national embarrassment into one of its greatest tourist attractions. In 1648, the Vasa ship sank on its maiden voyage. They had some proportion problems, so it sunk nearly instantly. Rather than sail the seas, it sat in the salty North Sea for over 300 years, preserved almost completely. Now it sits at the Vasa Museum. By an engineering feat, they excavated the entire ship from its resting place in 1961 and restored it. It's huge: 7 decks, 64 guns, and countless sculptures, including one of King David and his harp! It's pretty epic. Below is the royal seal of the King of Sweden:

Stockholm is just as expensive as Denmark, which limits their tourist attractiveness. But it's quite picturesque and definitely worth a visit. Swedish is quite close to Norwegian, and not far from German. But they all speak incredibly perfect English... except the Russian lady who sells meatballs ;)

"O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!"  ~ Psalm 8

Copenhagen

Where is the world's oldest amusement park, from 1583?  Yup, just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. And the second oldest amusement park, Tivoli Gardens, opened in 1843, is located directly across from the Copenhagen Town Hall. The Danes must enjoy their amusement. I slightly regret not getting a danish from the Danish, but at an average price of $7 per pastry, I couldn't bring myself to it. Everything is quite expensive. The cheapest, small-sized latte to-go costs $4.50, and it's nearly impossible to find something cheap to eat for less than $8.

Copenhagen is a beautiful city, and not too large. very easy to see on foot or bicycle. Founded by Warrior Bishop Absalom in the 1200s, Copenhagen began to grow in population when it was only the mid-point town between two large cities. Danes wanted the convenience of being close to both cities, so they started to settle right in the middle. For the past few decades, the city has been home to a unique "green light district," a community of hippies, called Christiania, where limitless forms of marijuana are sold in a street market. The three rules of Christiania are no pictures,  have fun, and don't run. It's very popular among tourists. The strangest part is that weed is illegal in Denmark. Still not sure how that works out.  In addition to the hippies, Copenhagen also hosts beautiful architecture, a tourism industry from the cruise ships, and some beautiful canals. In Danish, Copenhagen means Merchant's Harbor. Some even consider it to be the Venice of the North, but Copenhagen doesn't have the same love for life as the Mediterraneans. 

Copenhagen has lots of statues and churches:

Here's the famous Little Mermaid statue, from Hans Christian Andersen's story:

And from the top of the 400 steps on the tower of the Church of Our Savior, you can see the whole city, 360 degrees around!

In general, the Danes like to jog and bicycle. Lots and lots of joggers kept passing me on the sidewalks. The people are all very tall and blonde, and they speak excellent English. Even on the metro, I heard more English than Danish on many rides. I found many Danes to be very helpful and quite friendly people. I highly recommend a visit!