Inspired Ideas

[//ANOTHER UPDATE]

What a cluster-fuck this has turned out to be.

If you are like Dana Gordon and the million others just like her you probably already know that Scrabulous has officially been shut-down. Chalk one up for the lawyers.

Maybe they read my blog?

Not likely.

Fear not; however, Scrabulous is back on Facebook as Wordscapper. Letter tiles are now circular. Oh boy. Don’t get too excited it probably will get shut down as well.

Everyone wins. Except for Dana.

Sorry, I tried. Oh and Dana if you’re reading, you’re running out of excuses now…

[//UPDATE]

Dana Gordon is up to her old shenanigans again.

Loyal readers may recall an earlier post where I hypothesized the real reason my friend Dana was mysteriously eluding my requests to hang out:

[//ORIGINAL POST]

I have this friend who enjoys playing Scrabble. No, she’s not retired and no she’s not my grandmother.

Let’s call her Dana. Last name, Gordon. Dana Gordon is often busy with “prior engagements” or at least that’s what she tells me. I have a sneaky suspicion that she’s actually busy playing Scrabble online with some kid from across the world. Sad, I know, dissed for Scrabble.

Apparently, Dana Gordon is not alone. There are close to 600,000 daily active users of the Facebook application “Scrabulous“. 600,000. Daily. Active. PLAYING SCRABBLE! A majority of these people were probably not what Scrabble would define as their core target market just 3 years ago.

This is what most brand managers dream of. We go to pointless meeting after meeting so that we can figure out how to replicate exactly this - a loyal community that is deeply passionate about our brand.

So, what do the geniuses over at Hasbro/Mattel do when they find out about Scrabulous and this community of 600,000 strong.

Cease and desist on their punk asses that’s what.

And all of a sudden Dana Gordon has a lot less “prior engagements”. Coincidence?

There’s a group that’s started on Facebook called “Save Scrabulous” - its has over 40,000 members. Talk about passionate users.

Am I missing something here? Shouldn’t the brand managers at Hasbro/Mattel be overwhelmingly giddy like a bunch of teenage girls waiting for the Jonas Brothers to perform?

There has to be a better solution then trying to shut-down the community. The problem, as I see it, is out-of-touch marketers making decisions based on the opinions of lawyers. Corporate lawyers are tasked with minimizing risk and that can be a problem when marketers and lawyers don’t communicate.

Scrabulous is just one, of what I am sure are many, examples of poor communication between marketers and lawyers. So, what’s the solution? To start, marketers and lawyers should sit next to each other. Corporations have made strides breaking down the silos between different departments but this should also apply to the legal department. If this is not possible or will take months of “planning sessions” to figure how to move everyone around then have a weekly mandatory working session between the marketing and legal department. This will allow each department to update each other on what they are trying to achieve, upcoming programs/initiatives, etc.

Matt Dickman over at Techno//Marketers also has some other interesting suggestions and how to look at all of the options inside of social networks like the Scrabulous community.

What are you waiting for? If you’re a marketer call up your legal deparment and vice-versa. Introduce yourself. Talk. That’s all I ask. Don’t do it for me. Do it for Dana and the millions of people just like her around the world.

I knew something was afoot when all of a sudden Dana started having a lot more “prior engagements” again.

Yes, it’s true, after doing some detective work I have once again been dissed for Scrabble. After the Scrabulous debacle and Hasbro/Mattel’s failed attempt at shutting it down they decided to launch their own version - the official version.

My version of what happened within the confines of Hasbro/Mattel:

“Damn it this Internet thing is not going away”

“Neither is this social networking thing that all these kids seem to be occupied with”

“I wish it would all just go away so we could just frolic along and not have to adapt”

“Screw it, I know let’s create our own official version, everyone will love us”

And so that’s exactly what they set out to do.

The official Scrabble boasts a flashier user interface and an automatic refresh for faster game-play.

Aside from these main difference most of the other functionality mirrors that of Scrabulous. Except if you switch over you can’t carry over your ranking score (apparently for nerds like Dana Gordon this is a big deal) you also can’t play with anyone outside of North America.

High-fives all around we created an official version that sucks. Let’s hope nobody notices.

And nobody will. That’s because they will be unsuccessful in converting users over to the official version of Scrabble on Facebook.

The point is if you’re trying to change a person’s behaviour - to have them convert to a product that is essentially the same, than you better have a hell of a good reason for why they should.

People don’t care that you refreshed your package design (the next time you are shopping look for the number of products that boast “wow new bottle design” as a point of differentiation) or created a flashier user interface.

They do care about how your product makes their life easier, enriches their experience or addresses a real need.

When you’re trying to change behaviour start with the steak the sizzle is all secondary.

- Nish

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