An Australian-themed steakhouse restaurant, Outback Steakhouse says on its website that “The Company’s strategy is to differentiate its restaurants by emphasizing consistently high-quality food and service, generous portions at moderate prices and a casual atmosphere suggestive of the Australian Outback.” Judging from the sound bites in our sample, Outback is doing pretty well on the “high-quality food” part but their service is a problem. Note: This netnography is one in a series on casual dining restaurants. You can read a [...]

You know you’re getting old when you find yourself saying cliché things like “Where has the time gone?” but it really does feel like just yesterday that we debuted the Brand Passion Index…and in fact, it was a year ago tomorrow that our first BPI on grocery store shopping for Memorial Day hit my blog. Memorial Day is always cause for me to celebrate– my daughter was born on the holiday four years ago, so we’ll be filling up the [...]

There’s a new netnography on SPAM for you to read on Netnography.com. Michael Osofsky Ideas still in the works and the latest thinking on Innovation and Netnography from Michael Osofsky, NetBase Chief Innovation Officer.

A wide range of individuals contribute to social media, and they write in a wide range of styles. Does it matter how hard or easy it is to understand what they write? You can easily score the readability of online text, but how is that information useful? Would you do searches based on a readability level? Categorize posts according to level? Filter results based on level? Write corporate or marketing communications with specific scores for specific audiences? Measuring Readability First [...]

There’s a new netnography on Sony HDTV for you to read on Netnography.com. Michael Osofsky Ideas still in the works and the latest thinking on Innovation and Netnography from Michael Osofsky, NetBase Chief Innovation Officer.

Olive Garden commercials show family members having a great time—in fact, too great a time—at the restaurant. The Cousins commercial in particular annoys consumers. While the commercials do feature food as well—which is the biggest positive for the restaurant—the restaurant chain might consider dialing down the artificial cheerfulness  of the groups in the commercials. Olive Garden is the leading restaurant in the Italian dining segment with more than 700 restaurants, more than 87,000 employees and $3.3 billion in annual sales. Olive [...]

Nothing makes a new CEO feel more welcome than embracing his clothing preferences. That’s why CTO Mark Bowles and our staff declared Friday, April 29 to be “Braces Day” at NetBase in honor of our new CEO, Peter Caswell, and his habit of wearing what we call suspenders, but what Peter calls “braces.” (“Suspenders,” he sniffs in his distinctly English manner, “are what women use to hold up their stockings.”) Our own Dr. Wei Li produced a video tribute to [...]

There’s a new netnography on Samsung HDTV for you to read on Netnography.com. Michael Osofsky Ideas still in the works and the latest thinking on Innovation and Netnography from Michael Osofsky, NetBase Chief Innovation Officer.

This is the first in our series of netnographies on popular chain restaurants. We will also be profiling Applebee’s, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster and T.G.I. Friday’s. The Cheesecake Factory created the upscale casual dining segment in 1978 when it opened its first restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. Today, the company operates 164 full-service, casual dining restaurants throughout the U.S., including 150 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory mark. The Cheesecake Factory prides itself on the “lavish décor” of its [...]

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a day to commemorate a huge victory for the Mexican army against the French in the 19th century and a day to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride. However, it is also a great day (or excuse) to indulge in burritos, tequila, chips and of course – my favorite – guacamole. If you and your coworkers are anything like the NetBase team, I am sure many will be heading out for a Mexican food and drinks [...]