While it had a strong Nov. 14th launch, Microsoft’s Zune has failed to maintain the momentum it created that week. Information Week reported Tuesday that Zune had 9% of unit sales and 13% of revenue during its launch week, but that it was still far behind iPod sales, which accounted for 63% of unit sales and 72.5% of revenue that same week. Zune also failed to touch the iPod on Amazon’s top sellers list - it rarely made the list at all this holiday season.

The buzz Zune created in the market has been largely around its potential to be the ‘iPod killer.’ Zune rarely earned exclusive coverage and has been evaluated, in most news articles, based on how it compares to the industry-standard iPod. This is typical for a new entrant to a market with such an entrenched leader, but it means that establishing its own identity will take time. The chart below shows only a small blip of exclusive coverage for Zune (not shared with the iPod) during its launch week.

Microsoft will have to change the public’s concept of a portable media player to beat the iPod in the long run. But, in the short term, it will first have to prove that it’s an equal substitute. This may be why Microsoft officials have said they are satisfied with initial results of Zune sales that seem to only scratch the surface of the market.

Beating the iPod also means that Microsoft will have to beat iTunes. MediaPost covered a Hitwise report today showing a 413% increase in iTunes store visits on Christmas Day. This represented a 110% percent increase over the previous year and placed iTunes fourth on the Hitwise retail index. Zune Marketplace was nowhere to be found. This is likely due to the relatively low amount of coverage it received compared to iTunes.

Does this mean that Zune and Zune Marketplace are destined to meet the fate of others who have tried to knock Apple off its digital music throne? Not necessarily. But it does suggest that if it happens, it won’t be a quick hit, but rather a slow etching away of its market share. All of the players in the space lose points in eyes of consumers for issues like digital rights management (DRM) that limit the way someone can access and share music. Until one provider develops a digital music solution that allows anytime, anywhere access to music on consumers’ terms, the playing field could still change.

For more analysis on Microsoft Zune, please click here to visit our Industry Reports section.

How many criminals does it take to steal McDonald’s brand? A trick question you say…

McDonald’s has built one of the world’s most durable brands around efficient, consistent and low-cost food. People save time and money going to McDonald’s - and they know what to expect from the experience. Of course, four men robbed a McDonald’s in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, last Saturday by gunpoint providing an experience far beyond expectations. At other locations, you might have a McDrug Deal, get carjacked in the parking lot and or shot on your way home. The security at a high school in Philadelphia can monitor the McDonald’s across the street. Why? Because you might be shot at McDonald’s for showing disrespect (this one happened in London, so it’s not just us, but it may be Western culture’s own brand of extremism).

It’s not just in the news. Bloggers are talking about these things. So much, in fact, that blog posts on crime at McDonald’s outweighs conversations about its breakfast menu (there is some overlap though, like this blog post talking about someone who was run down in a McDonald’s parking lot after eating breakfast there).

Share of Key Issues and Messages for McDonald’s
3 Months of Blog Postings

And while analyzing the Blogosphere is a great way to get a sense of public discourse, there’s nothing better than good old-fashioned news media to pinpoint where the problem areas are (this may change soon, if geotagging takes off).

Top Publications Covering McDonald’s and Crime
3 Months of Media Coverage

But don’t expect local issues like crime to stay local. A local news attack at a Grand Prairie, Texas, McDonald’s was posted to You Tube where it was viewed 3,685 times in the four months between when it was posted (8/2/06) and when I checked it today. And it doesn’t stop there. Bloggers, like Dread Egos, post the You Tube video to their blog. A Google search for “McDonald’s” and “sucker punch” turns up 32,600 results. That’s not many compared to the 16,900,00 results that come up for McDonald’s, but “McDonald’s” and “crime” turns up 1,750,000 results (NOTE: the actual search results for McDonald’s, the company, would be less than a pure “McDonald’s” search and the content having to do with crime would be greater than the results from a simple “crime” keyword search).

Since McDonald’s is everywhere and crime is everywhere, you have to expect this is going to happen from time to time. But, is there any brand impact? And what could McDonald’s do about it? Knowing that it’s a topic of discussion greater than many of the products and messages being promoted is a big red flag that you might need to take action. Using local PR strategies to balance out negative perception is a good start, but in world connected by social media, that’s not enough. In the absence of a full-fledged corporate strategy to minimize crime at the stores, going beyond messaging to show some level of action is always ideal (in-store metal detector perhaps, remove shoes, toss liquids…).

I looked for some research on this topic and found a great article on the impact of corporate crimes, but not on the occurance of crimes during the brand experience. I’d like to conduct a study to find out what percentage of people who have experienced a crime at McDonald’s first hand will no longer eat there. Then ask the same question to people who heard about a crime from someone else? What’s the fall-off rate as you add more degrees of separation. You would have to take into account the number of times someone has heard about a crime, over what period of time and whether the negative impact was per location or at the brand level.

Ultimately, you could figure out the ripple effect of each crime and how many it would take to significantly impact McDonald’s brand. Then you could answer the question - how many criminals does it take to steal McDonald’s brand?