Zagat Story - From Andrew's Memory
My first Zagat guide was for San Francisco and the Bay Area. It was a maroon colored signature paperback everyone was familiar with. I was a broke college student then and couldn’t possibly say that I used that guide often. Yet, I wondered about how awesome those 26 or 27 rates restaurants would be like. Reading those 20-30 words tips… man, it got me hungry alright
“… and that foie gras on top of filet mignon with reduced red wine sauce was out of this world…”
“… the service is just marvelous. The owner, john, would often show up himself at the tables….”
I trusted the guide. Restaurants of Zagat Score 25 or above would guarantee a great date. Since then, it was Zagat = reliability.
My Recollection of Zagat’s disappearance
Seeing Yelp, I wonder how come it isn’t Zagat there. The experience is so similar to that of Zagat on paper, you know?
If I would have been asked to describe how Zagat would evolve in the Internet age, I would have said, “Zagat should keep its core experience of sharing reviews from avid restaurant goers with brief description of restaurant, yet visualize it with pictures, make it easier compare, add social flavor, making a full use of the new medium.”
But then again, hindsight is always 20/20, right? So I wondered how is it that I am using Yelp.com, not Zagat.com
People will pay Zagat, even on Internet
As Zagat saw the need to expand its present over the web, it must have faced a question all newspaper, magazine, and published industry had to answer.
“Can I make people pay for my contents online?”
Zagat had a loyal following. Even though there were many city guides on the market, it was able to command premium price for their guides. So the rational must been that “Zagat brand can convince users to pay for its contents.”
So the Paywall was erected ($25 a year).
To be fair, at least in my recollection, there truly wasn’t a great competitor online. There were other sites, yes. Citysearch or Cityguide was one of them. I didn’t trust the reviews on those websites as much I did on Zagat, but I didn’t feel that I wanted to shelve more money for the site. Especially when I already gave them money for the guide.
Maybe, if they had given free access to folks who bought the guides, or created tiered pricing, it could have worked.
In any case, eventually, a capable competitor showed up in the market in the name of Chowhound, then Yelp which basically copied Zagat’s core experience on the web, added with easy picture uploading and reviewing tools to fully leveraging the benefit of the Internet medium.
Zagat could not go over the typical hump that offline leaders faced. It was too hard to let go of the money from offline and cannibalize it with their own hands and waited for someone else to do it.
From an innovator to a follower …. then to a nobody
Just like many others, the once innovative incumbent has become a dinosaur. Zagat must have noticed that its loyal offline followers ditched it to other competitors. Oh crap, it must do something. And it did, but not so successfully
- Get rid of paywall --- a bit too late,
- Create a community --- First Chowhound, then Yelp established a loyal and engaged community, just like that of Zagat in the past.
- Go Mobile --- clumsy app. Yet again, Zagat had the data/content, but didn’t know how to build new and innovative experience in this new medium
All while guide sales have been plummeting. Tragedy
Second life with Google … sort of.
Google bought Zagat in 2011. It made sense. Content producers complained that Google search, map, and other products are fundamentally designed to keep them within their sites/apps leveraging their contents. It needed more local info and Zagat had enough of it to warrant buying them out right.
Now Zagat survives as a local info engine in Google Map. Its viability as a stand along competitor to Yelp seems a bit challenging. (check out the site. It is not that great. Experience is a bit complicated and not too intuitive. www.zagat.com) From the look of it, Zagat will only survive as a small icon when you look for information on Google Map app and Zagat rated stickers (which are being replaced by yelp stickers).
So, I want to know. Would it be possible to bring back Zagat again? Make it more relevant again today? … Back to its glory days?
Can someone buy the brand only and use it to launch a new mobile service?
Frommer founder recently bought its brand back from Google. As a part of the agreement, Google kept the data/information from Frommer, but the founder was free to use it to launch a service again.
Zagat still has brand equity amongst folks in their late 20s to 40s. Couldn’t someone buy the brand and start a mobile community? Sure, there are strong niche players in the market, like Epicurious and Chowhound, but can it possibly build a brand that is new “Michelin Star?”
Images that I associate with the Zagat brand is “selective” “trust worthy” “exclusive.” So instead of rating all the restaurants in the world, Zagat can say that only selected restaurants will be designated with Zagat brand. Something like “Zagat approved.”
Could Google use the Zagat brand to combine ex-Frommer assets and create a new travel/hospitality service?
Well, this one was something obviously Google thought of it before. I saw this article today. ZagatTravel.
Since the website is not up yet. I will think of few things of my own. I envision TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, and City Guide. But distinctive it caters to specific type of travellers that are looking for some unique traveling experience that is not just about sightseeing. Leverage the Zagat brand what it stands for. To me at least, the brand means reliable, classy, unique, etc… Can’t we make some distinctive experiences happen?
I’ve been sitting on this draft for a week or so and answers to my questions were being answer even before I posed them. Talking about the pace of information nowadays
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