Remembering the Birth of Multi-Channel

It was 1996 when I met Bob, the owner of a Michigan bike shop. He was working with friends on a new idea for promoting bicycle races in the area. I helped get him free Internet service in exchange for listing the ISP as a primary sponsor for the circuit. Free Internet! Then I remember watching the light bulbs go on when we started talking about reaching niche communities with bulletin boards, newsgroups and email.

Bob understood that his bike retail business -- stuck in the middle of a small town -- had limited growth potential compared to the vastness of the Internet. He also realized there was something special in his product assortment, expertise, attention to detail, passion for bikes and a candid approach to customer service that people beyond his small town might enjoy. He was a true brand advocate, with a strong desire to pursuade everyone to ride a bike. "Friends don't let friends ride junk" was his tag line. He would often rebuild customers' bikes and then drive his Astro van an hour out of the way to deliver them personally.

Almost overnight, there were dozens of newsgroup posts. Interested in a crank, some pedals, a frame? Email Bob. Suddenly this local bike retailer became known by other bike lovers across the country and around the world. This was a true multi-channel retailer before the concept was ever labeled. He was happy serving one customer in his store, but couldn't help trying to reach out to as many people as possible.

Good lessons from the first multi-channel pro I knew. Thanks Bob.

My Zappos Encounter

If you're into buzz marketing, you can't help noticing Zappos.com. Their entire new web environment (zeta.zappos.com) embraces their social culture, filled with reviews, video, blogs and other hidden surprises. The company has a fanatical customer service approach...and they don't just say it's important, they live it daily. Zappos' approach has been so successful that word of mouth referrals are still their biggest source of new customers. They also have one of the highest customer retention rates of any retailer; a solid 75% are repeat buyers.

The company CEO, Tony Hsieh, has adopted an open leadership approach, sharing random thoughts and posting the most mundane activities on Twitter. His "followers" -- over 12,000 of them -- include most of the Zappos crew. Many of them have hundreds of their own "followers" making this a substantial network of Twitterers.

I've only recently started using Twitter myself, watching people like Tony (@Zappos) share random activities and photos while meeting other fascinating people or traveling to exotic places places like Beijing and the Google Zeitgeist. Prior to a recent trip to Las Vegas (near Zappos' world headquarters) I wondered just how friendly this Twitter society really was. So, I sent a Tweet directly to Tony.

"Heading to Las Vegas for shop.org next week -- can I stop by for a tour?"
The next morning I receive a reply:
"Yep, someone from our helpdesk will be emailing you re: tour, thanks!"

Apparently another component of the Zappos culture is to provide tours to just about anyone, so I'm glad I asked. The director of the help desk, Donavon (@Zappos_Drob), contacts me to arrange the shuttle from the airport. When I arrive, a bright yellow SUV emblazoned with the Zappos logo is waiting at the curb. One of the customer service representatives, Angela (@Zappos_Achege), is the driver -- they all take turns picking guests up from the airport.

With a pleasant welcome and cold water bottles, we're off to Henderson. Angela is inquisitive and friendly, asking about my trip and where I'm from. I ask her if the rumors are true about the odd interview process. She says they are "interesting" -- interviewed by six different directors she was finally asked, "what is the strangest thing you can do." The short trip takes us through a few nice neighborhoods until we arrive at a modern, clean office park. I've wondered what the Zappos campus would be like, and as we approach I see the first glimpse of some ultra casual workers taking a smoke break outside. I'm greeted with a "hello, welcome to Zappos" by almost everyone...although it doesn't sound contrived. Everyone seems genuinely happy that customers come to visit. The lobby is a hive of activity, with small bar stools poised against the reception desk to make me more comfortable as I sign in and receive an honorary name tag. A large sign on the wall reads, "Zappos.com -- Powered By Service." Pam is the first to greet me at the counter, with my name tag already filled out and a large "special guest" flag in her hand. The tour starts at a glass case with the founder's original pair of shoes (the ones he couldn't find and inspired the idea), along with the original business plan. That humble memento is juxtaposed near the crystal Bank of America award congratulating Zappos on it's first $6,000,000 line of credit. Several bookshelves contain the favorite books of the management team with titles like "Blueprint to a Billion," "Branded Customer Service," "Tribal Leadership," "Citizen Marketers," and many others. The books are handed out freely to employees and customers.

Down the first hallway I can tell that employees are used to seeing guests. They all manage to give some happy greeting and then keep working like it happens all the time. Turns out that as many as 20 trips are taken back & forth to the airport each day. Pam explains the importance of their technology group, talks about the marketing & creative talent, shows me the wall with recent boot camp graduates (everyone must attend training at the Kentucky distribution center), and lets me sample a small strawberry ice cream cone. Everything (except the Red Bull) in the break room is free to employees. And if folks can't get enough of the Internet, there are sub-stations set up for personal use. The upper floor houses most of the merchandising and customer service representatives. Somewhere between Couture and Shoes is a jungle-like atmosphere with palm fronds and leaves hanging from the ceiling. This is where Tony sits. I missed him on this visit -- he left for Orlando ten minutes earlier. Many of the sections of cubicles are missing the fabric panels. Workers walk right through the blank frames in defiance. There are shoes everywhere. Branded displays that you might see inside a normal shoe store are propped up in various places throughout the building, close enough so the reps can grab one to tell a customer more about it. At one stop on the tour I am gleefully greeted by someone named Dr. Vik, former chiropractor turned life coach. Before I realize what's happening, I find myself crowned (literally) and seated at a big red throne under a big "I'm Royalty at Zappos" sign in his office. My polaroid is added to the wall amid thousands of others. Under his desk are several boxes more, and he comments that he needs a bigger office now.

With all the commotion in the workplace, my nerves are calmed a bit when I see the relaxation room. Inside are several tranquility pods; plastic cocoons to escape from the hectic surroundings. Before I leave, I'm asked to take as many books as I'd like -- a sign that this company's passion and customer service philosophy should be shared with everyone.

On the way out the door, I'm asked to contribute to a beach ball-sized conglomeration of all the stickers from all the visitors that have gone before me. Somehow I know I'll be back some day.

A Social Brand: Before There Was Internet

It started with a simple message... "i love VB! :)"

On November 13th, 2007, at 3:34pm...the Vera Bradley page on FaceBook was born.

When the marketing team at Vera Bradley brainstormed ideas for the 2007 holiday season, suddenly it felt like the right time to engage fans online. After all, customers had been creating their own communities and chatting on blogs like LiveJournal and MySpace for months. Just a few years earlier the attitude was, "why would anyone spend time talking about handbags on the Internet?"

There have always been followers of this American success story...and they were talking about their special bond with the product long before Al Gore invented the Internet. The Vera Bradley brand has grown as if the company was deliberately using a direct selling model. But people weren't being paid for having home parties...they just shared their love affair with their favorite handbags whenever they got the chance. They shared their collections, gave gifts, and treated themselves to a little happiness in a colorful quilted bag.

Now they get together online.

"What bag did you use today," Sarah asks. The answers reveal a companionship with the product...."this one's going to class with me, but later I'm taking this one to work..."

Another post, "Is there anything you wish Vera Bradley made?" just gave the product development team the kind of information that used to take hours of brainstorming and cost thousands in research.

Over 36,000 FaceBook fans, 2,000 discussion topics and 1,200 wall posts later, this really should come as no surprise. After all, the company has featured its friends and family in catalogs since the beginning. Friends and family work for the company. New employees often comment how "everyone is just so nice" when they start their new jobs. Friendly, approachable, fun...authentic. It's the culture that makes this brand a no-brainer for social media. And with product names like "Java Blue" and "Raspberry Fizz" why wouldn't people want to talk?

The discussions aren't always so nice; questions about manufacturing or quality pop up and are debated. The biggest fans are brutally honest sometimes. People want to know why a certain color was retired, just when they started to like it. The new colors are stellar, or a total disappointment. No matter the topic, the loyalists will debate their position and share how they really feel. Like every relationship, sometimes you have to air your concerns -- it's the kind of authenticity and transparency people expect from their favorite brands.

If Vera Bradley were to stay away from the social crowd...only feed the craze with traditional media like ads, catalogs and mailers...would the brand continue to grow? Possibly. But as the brand evangelists continue to carry her products and tell her story, Vera Bradley would risk losing a new era of consumers who expect to hear a real voice. The images on the page would appear contrived; models staged for a photo shoot just to sell more quilted cotton handbags. Just another advertisement from a manufacturer trying to make money.

If the only brand elements a customer touches and sees are on cold paper, the company is saying that it doesn't want to have a real conversation with its customers. "Just buy our products and we'll keep making them." That wouldn't be logical, and would be contrary to the brand promise.

The communication paradigm shift may be painful to some execs and old-school marketers, but brands must constantly rethink how to engage customers in conversation, considering the high expectations and power of the crowd. For this company, it all started with a gift, and it is very fortunate to have sustained a social following that other companies can't buy.

Community Brands

The tree planted in my back yard comes from the Plant Center down the road. My wife saw a "tree sale" sign and couldn't resist, so I borrowed a neighbor's trailer and picked it up. It's a big tree.

The way I was treated at the Plant Center motivated me to share my story with everyone. They gave me advice because they wanted me to enjoy the tree and wanted to make sure it would last. They loaded the tree carefully into the trailer for me and provided instructions how to place it in the ground, even though I saved $100 by picking it up myself. And when I asked for some top soil to finish my landscape project, they charged half price even though I had just purchased a discount tree...without delivery.

Do you think I'll recommend this place to my entire neighborhood?

Now my neighbor has a tree planted in his back yard just like mine.

Bad Attitude Makes Bad Coffee

I had the worst cup of coffee at Starbucks yesterday. Turns out the barista was in a foul mood -- honking at the other workers, looking grumpy, throwing cups around. I think that the attitude pretty much guaranteed the outcome; I couldn't even recognize the slop that was supposed to be my favorite drink. Next time you're at a coffee house, take a look at the dude making the coffee first, then decide whether you should risk it.

Polyvore: A Consumer of Everything

I stumbled on another social media site this week called Polyvore.com. I love the name. You have to think about it for a second; a carnivore is an animal that eats other animals, a herbivore eats only plants and an omnivore eats both plants and animals. You get it. So, logically a POLYvore just eats anything and everything it sees...rocks, trees, people, cars, etc.

According to the site, "Polyvore is a unique web application that lets people mix and match images from anywhere." Young consumers' passion for fashion and their insatiable appetite to engage & share what they have (or want to have) makes this site a huge movement in social preference marketing. For a very long time, marketers have been trying to figure out what people are thinking when they buy things...and what things they buy along with other things. Remember the Jetta Trek? Seemed logical at the time, but I wonder how much research money was spent deciding how many people would actually be more likely to buy a car if it had a bike attached to it. In my own experience, I have helped spend a ton of company money conducting studies and focus groups to figure out how our product fits into the lives of consumers. A popular tactic among researchers is to place a blank piece of paper in front of a consumer, along with a fashion magazine, and ask them to create a collage. (This particular exercise might cost you about $30,000 for the moderator's time.) "You have 10 minutes...go." Then the researcher shows it to you (weeks later) and says, "isn't this an interesting collage that Sally put together?"

This trend is apparently so prevalent in business today that I've even been asked to create a collage at work to show what I think a particular consumer group looks like. But now I don't need to guess. I have about a bazillion collages to choose from on this crazy site called Polyvore. It isn't a little focus group with a few moms and a stack of fashion magazines on the table to tear apart. It's a pool of global consumers (in an age bracket with the largest buying power ever seen in human history) with a virtually unlimited amount of visual assets to choose from. The best part is, these consumers are providing researchers more information than they could ever imagine...without even thinking about it. Teens are spending hours creating these pieces of art with products and brands that have become a part of their lives. They even make contests out of them. Sadly, I imagine there are market research professionals who have no idea this information exists...or possibly write it off as a kooky bunch of kids playing digital scrapbook.

I browse these pages, I see how this technology allows consumers to grab whatever they "want" and make personal stories out of them...and I am completely amazed.

I think next year I will save a few hundred thousand dollars on market research and look to sites like Polyvore.com and the wisdom of crowds.

The brain's perception can feel like reality.

My daughter had a dream last night; I blew up in the woods.

It has had a profound affect on her today, almost like it really happened. She had a hard time telling me at first. Like if she told me that she saw me die maybe I actually would die. Then when she told her mom, she started to cry.

You all know what this is like. I think it has happened to most people. You see someone in the distance and something bad is about to happen, and you can't reach them in time. Someone betrays your trust. Or you're running away from something and you keep falling down so it crushes you. Then you wake up, and somehow it feels like it really happened. Sometimes it takes a while to wear off. Married guys have often woken up to the glare of their spouses -- the morning's first words: "you cheated on me."

Now, I'm no child psychologist, so I have no idea how to help my daughter except to let her hug me and know I'm ok. But I wish I could bottle the source of that emotion. It's irrational, because she knows that it didn't actually happen. But somehow the brain interprets it like a real event and it evokes some of the same emotions.

If I could have sold my daughter a helicopter to rescue me at the moment I was about to explode, she would have bought it (assuming I raised her allowance). In the real world, there are emotional conditions that exist where marketers can sell irrational things to irrational people.

So when does someone's mental state make them more susceptible to the influence of advertising or more likely to buy? I don't know yet...but it will fun to find out.

Viral Marketing in 1972

I was born in 1972 in Grand Rapids, MI. Upon my birth, I imagine that people were made aware of the blessed event primarily by phone messages, a newspaper announcement, letters and maybe a postcard dropped in the mail. (Stamps cost eight cents at the time.) Knowing my family, any pictures taken were probably not developed for months (or years) and were certainly never used to share my arrival with people who were unable to visit me to give me my first kisses. It's possible the only people who really saw me within the first few months were neighbors or church friends who lived within a few miles.

What am I thinking, you wonder?

Back in the 1970's, there were still people who engaged in viral marketing. It just intrigues me to think how today's media has seriously altered the way the message is transmitted, the quality of the message, and how the attention span of the people receiving the message has changed.

Imagine your phone buzzing in your pocket. Your friend is sending you a text message. "Where RU" flashes across your screen. "Club Soda - best Martini's in town, live music," you reply. "Never been...heard about it...lemme know what's good on the menu."

So you become an amateur food critique for the evening, not realizing that's what you've become. But in the 1970's you would have thought about the location, the drinks, the meal and the entire experience for hours, days, or months before you decided to share the experience...possibly deciding that your experience wasn't worth sharing at all.

Our location, the circumstances and the media available often determine our likelihood to share things that are happening. The reality is that most people don't filter their surroundings at all; whatever is happening is happening now...it plays the way it plays. We don't consider that maybe our advice will be good or bad for the person receiving it. We only provide the commentary because that's what the recipient expects.

If we had to think, how different would our message be. Like in 1972?

The Anti-Customer

The social networks have brought out individuals with a wide range of social aptitude. For some, this may be their only outlet -- the only place where it's possible for a group of people to hear them or take them seriously. The beauty of the medium is that it's here for everyone and anyone. All you need is a computer and the ability to push some buttons. But that certainly doesn't mean the author has any ability to engage with other users or deliver anything worth reading. But that doesn't prevent them from trying.

When I last read the book "Tipping Point" I had the frame of mind that people who become connectors or salespeople have a basic desire to influence other people in a positive way.

Silly.

As marketers, it's our job to win someone over to the "good" side. It's not that often that we think about the detractors who are trying to do just the opposite. I've recently encountered this with a corporate blog. We love our fans, our fans love us. It seems like the right time and opportunity for brands to host forums to share that love. But some of the "salespeople" in the group aren't always happy or interested in seeing that brand succeed.

Why would someone claim to be a fan of something, then try to persuade others that they should rally against it? It's as if the indignant few are hoping to expose some foul injustice and someday the wronged will become victorious.

Maybe its like that old car in high school -- you couldn't afford the car you really wanted, so it was cool to tell everyone that you hated your car. "My car sucks." So you didn't wash it, never changed the oil, filled it with empty Mountain Dew bottles...and it kept running. You didn't know until later how much you loved that car. Today you might tell someone, "I had this old car and it never owed me a thing...if only I knew then..."

So now as we try and market a brand or a product, there are forces working against the positive influence we are trying to create -- able to vocalize their disdain for the topic at lightening speed with little impunity. Maybe they're just grumpy. Maybe they need a friend. But will I ever be able to win them over? No...at least not by myself.

So, we'll continue to find ourselves in strange debates with otherwise innocuous people that somehow pushed our buttons today.

Social Influence on Shopping Behavior

A new study was just released by Jupiter and LinkShare regarding the influence of social media on shopping behavior:

http://www.linkshare.com/press/news_jupiterresearch.html

• Social and community sites impact the purchase decisions of 51 percent of online shoppers aged 18-24. This is far beyond any other age group, which averaged less than 26 percent
• More than a third (36 percent) of online shoppers affected by social/community sites said they buy offline even though they use online social/community sites to make their decisions
• 42 percent of online shoppers said consumer product reviews would make social/community sites more useful when researching and buying online; 24 percent of online shoppers said top 10 product lists would make social/community sites more useful when researching and buying online
• 77 percent of online buyers who used store websites when researching their most recent online purchase found them useful. 75 percent of online buyers who used search engines when researching their most recent online purchase found them useful. Yet online shoppers continue to seek out additional product insight, commentary, and promotions elsewhere

Can you be tipped?

I was reading the article "Is the Tipping Point Toast" here:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/122/is-the-tipping-point-toast.html

...and then I had some thoughts:

• I love when I read something like “... a growing group of marketers believes Watts is radically altering the way companies attempt to produce trends” ...when that could mean five marketers over a year and a half.
• why does it seem like it is assumed everyone is equal — where’s the passion? Could that be the third dimension no one has figured out yet?? All ideas are equal, all consumers are equal...they just happen to fall into categories like “mavens, salesmen, or connectors” ...or “influentals”...so just because you’re connected you’ll spread the word? You have to be passionate about something first.
• people get over diseases. I spread one to my daughter last month, a few weeks later she spread it back to me. But eventually, we’re all breathing again and forget about it. She still wants another Webkinz the minute a new one comes out, and no one told her she should like it.
• they talk about influence in mechanical terms. I am most influential when I am sold (tipped) — I happen to like Hush Puppies a lot and now people know about it, but there had to be a reason for me to get hooked in the first place.
• “... the cascade began with an average Joe” and “the rank-and-file citizen” was far more likely to get things moving... BECAUSE they are were all equally BORING people.
• I’d rather think of effective viral marketing as an echo in a chamber and less of a ripple in a pond — the ripple goes out and then dissipates, but the reverberating idea is what really makes brands strong. We talk about it, we agree that it’s good, we talk about it when we buy it the second, third and fourth time. That’s different than spreading an idea/trend and never hearing affirmations of your convictions from the group you infected.
• “He simply doesn't think it's possible to ‘will’ a trend into existence by recruiting highly social people.” I agree: you’re idea or product might suck.
• “When he tried to pitch ‘some company's shitty product,’ he couldn't force it to go viral.” -- really? You’re kidding.
• If you have to work so hard to get people to grab an idea and share it, maybe your idea isn’t so good in the first place.

Another idea: maybe a product/brand just makes me happy and I don’t care what your marketing says. Some consumers don’t need to be pitched...and now most won’t allow it. If companies think this first step (to pitch the influencer) is actually a good idea, I think there’s a lot of money being wasted. The brand itself needs to be a social one...people enjoy it together, give it to each other as gifts and talk about new products that come out. They experience it together...as a group...so they influence other whole groups and not just individual people.

The Brand Transfer

The idea for this blog started with an innocent gesture: one of the Blue Men said "hello" to me after a show by placing his blue hand on my head. After his blue-ness was transferred onto my bald melon, I wasn't sure how to remove the paint. So, the mark remained on my head for several hours while we experienced the City Walk at Universal Studios. No doubt anyone who saw the hand knew where I had been -- the open hand is a trademark of the Blue Man Group and the blue color is obviously a recognizable visual queue.

This got me thinking about how other influences and preferences are transferred to everyone else we meet. The brands we like, the desires and attitudes we possess -- they all have a way of being projected at certain moments and affect other people. Sometimes we're not even aware that it's happening.