Brains on Fire

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  A Salute to Companies Sticking to Their Guns

  Posted on August 11th, 2010 by Eric Dodds and currently 2 commenting.

  I’d like to share a few thoughts that have been floating around in my head - I might re-visit them in more depth later, but I think a little discussion could be a good thing - even if they’re in rough form.

  The fact that voices of customers are online and discoverable is quite amazing - companies everywhere are learning more about how which people view, use and talk about their brand, products, experiences, etc.

  I think, though, that this ‘power of voice’ is a double-edged sword. One reason is because, as Joshua Blankenship points out (1), the ability to comment on the internet can reveal just how mean people are. Another reason, though, is that I think the knowledge that a company can hear your voice has also given people the ability to complain like they’ve never complained before. Complaining can be good; the ability to discover a customer’s bad experience and mend a relationship is invaluable, and the internet has allowed companies to meet needs in incredible ways. But it also seems that some customers have hijacked the idea that “the customer is always right” as an excuse to complain about or demand unreasonable things en masse, using the information swarm of the internet as the vehicle for their voices.

  A few examples:

  Salute 1: MG Siegler wrote an interesting article (2) related to feature demand - his discussion of the iPhone ‘copy and paste’ outcry is an interesting example of a company sticking to their guns despite negative outcry from their customers. (Side note, this is not a discussion of details about Apple’s feature release or the iPhone as a device, it is a reflection on their devotion to user experience):

  Jobs cited the iPhone’s cut, copy, & paste functionality as one example of Apple getting a feature right. I have to agree. For two years, everyone complained (myself included) that Apple didn’t have this functionality. Could Apple have done it sooner? Of course. But would it have been half-baked? Probably. Just look at how it works on other devices — or maybe I should say: look at how poorly it works on other devices compared to the iPhone.

  Release details, timelines, opinions on devices, and even outcome aside, Apple’s devotion to user experience should be saluted. Customers complained and demanded the feature, but Apple didn’t give in to public opinion (have they ever?) - they stuck to their guns and released the functionality when it was consistent with the user experience that is their brand.

  Salute 2: I first heard about Intelligentsia Coffee after Geno and Heather had visited on a trip to Los Angeles. Geno’s description was so interesting to me - “When I ordered, they made it the way they think a latte should be made, and that’s what I got.”

  After a little bit more digging, I found out that the company’s founder, Doug Zell, has an intense devotion to “providing coffee in the way it tastes best.” (3) His devotion has led to the removal of the 20oz. drink size form their menu - a move that will allow users to experience coffee in an amount that doesn’t allow for unbalanced ratios (like the larger sizes do).

  In a market where major coffee brands are marketing all sorts of options (more variety of flavors, consistent introduction of new types of drinks, etc.), Intelligentsia deserves a salute for their commitment to providing the best coffee experience possible, even if that means decreasing options for customers.

  Salute 3: Google offeres several phone features (phone number, voicemail, SMS) through a service called Google Voice. All of the features are used through an internet browser and, following suit with most of Google’s offerings, it’s free.

  Not so long ago, there were rumors in the techno-sphere that Google was going to release an actual desktop application for Google Voice, and potential users rejoiced. The project came to a halt, though, when Google’s founders questioned whether a desktop application was consistent for a company who developed browser-only technology.

  Blogs ranted about the injustice of halting the project and a petition to continue development circulated.

  But Google’s internal struggle to continually evaluate their brand and clearly define which types of technology they want to develop should be saluted.

  What do you think? Have customers always complained and demanded as much as they do today, or has the visibility of their voices on the internet just made us more aware of it? Any other good examples of a company staying true to their brand despite complaining and demanding customers?

  • (1) - Joshua Blankenship’s article, “On the State of Comments on the Internet,” can be found here.
  • (2) -  MG Seigler’s feature-demand example can be found in his article, “What’s Missing From iPhone 4 Is Part Of What Makes It Great,” here.
  • (3) - Read The Chicago Tribune’s coverage of Intelligentsia’s decision to decrease options here.
  Tags: Apple, Brands, coffee, comments, complaining, customer support, customers, demand, Google, google voice, intelligentsia coffee, Internet, iPhone, purpose, sticking to your guns, The customer is always right, values
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  Movements and ownership - employees and customers behind the wheel

  Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by Eric Dodds and currently 2 commenting.

  On Monday we talked about why movements require ownership - putting employees and customers behind the wheel. Today we’re gonna look at a few really practical examples.

  First, if you missed the last episode, here are a few highlights:

  • So many well-meaning businesses initiate use of social media tools and conversation with their employees and customers, but never let them out of the passenger seat.
  • If you want to build real community, though, you can’t just invite your advocates along for the ride, you have to let them get behind the wheel at some point.
  • Without letting them drive, you’ll never see your employees or customers let out their full potential - which also happens to be the full potential of your brand.
  Ok, on to a few practical examples. There are lots of them out there, but I picked a few different ones that look at ownership from different angles. We’d love to hear about some more examples from you.

  

  Example 1: Engineering and letting the people who use your products help design them.

  Fiskars is an amazing client of ours. Their willingness to let the people who love them most play an active role in the brand continually amazes us. One of the coolest examples, though, is the magic that happened when the brand let some of their biggest fans meet the product engineers - and tell them what they liked and disliked about old products and what they’d like to see in new products.

  That’s right - Fiskars let the people who use their products on a daily basis get together with the engineers to help them brainstorm on how the products could be better. And the engineers loved it - end users giving them practical and useful product improvement ideas. What’s more, one of their meetings even resulted in a new product.

  

  Example 2: Using customer artwork in company marketing.

  Pabst Blue Ribbon has held an annual art contest for the past 4 years. The rules are pretty simple: any art created had to have the Pabst Blue Ribbon can or logo and any sculptures created had to be constructed solely of empty PBR cans. How’s that putting customers behind the wheel?

  Pabst uses a selection of the artwork to display on billboards (giving the original artist full credit). Lots of companies solicit user-generated-content from customers, and many of them display the work online. Pabst (and other companies with similar efforts) takes it a step further and actually involves artists’ work in the companies marketing and let’s the world know it.

  

  Example 3: Asking employees to be the brand of good customer service and putting your money where your mouth is.

  The Ritz Carlton has an incredibly strong commitment to the quality of their customer experience. That customer experience is delivered by their employees, so they obviously have very high standards for their workers. (Sidenote, their employee motto is really cool: “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”.)

  But The Ritz doesn’t just ask make customer service a job requirement or simply ask their employees to provide an optimal stay for guests. They give them the power live the brand of customer service. With cash.

  …they’re empowered to deliver the level of service Ritz mandates… Sixty-seven percent of customers leave you because of indifference with how they’re treated. Customers judge the quality of the institution, he said, by the responsiveness of the first person they come in contact with to discuss their problem. Given that, the Ritz empowers and trains the front-line service to resolve conflicts. Part of this entails allowing employees to spend up to $2,000 per guest per day to “fix” any problems, as well as giving employees ongoing problem-resolution training.

  –Milla D’Antonio

  Tags: art, beer, Brains on Fire, Brand, Brands, customer service, customers, Employees, engineering, fiskaneers, Fiskars, Fiskateers, Marketing, ownership, pabst blue ribbon, PBR, Ritz Carlton, user generated content
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  Movements and ownership - people need experiences they can call their own

  Posted on July 19th, 2010 by Eric Dodds and currently 15 commenting.

  

  (photo via Lauren Holmes)

  

  (photo via Lauren Holmes)

  

  (photo via yours truly)

  Doing things for yourself makes all the difference.

  Ever followed someone’s lead, then taken on the same experience for yourself later and it was completely different? This past weekend I had the chance to do something for myself, and it was a great reminder of why we harp on that word “ownership” so much in the Brains on Firesphere.

  It all started with amazing weather - when the climate’s good around here, we try to take advantage of the great outdoors that happen to be our back-yard. I decided that I’d take my lovely girlfriend on a grand adventure to find one of South Carolina’s least-frequented waterfalls.

  But our escapade wasn’t without it’s share of trials in order to get to the prize.

  The journey began with navigational challenges due to changed road names, then heated up with an out-of-the-blue summer downpour as we trudged through thick hardwood forest trying to find the trail-head. After re-grouping and drying off a bit in the car, we finally found our way down the right dirt road and up the trail. The almost-rock-climb to the cascading water drew a little blood, and if you’ve never been stung by wonderful plant called a nettle, you’re quite lucky. They were everywhere.

  Ok… what the heck does that story have to do with ownership?

  Well, a group of us have been to the woods several times in the past few weeks, but for most of the treks I’ve been following someone else’s lead to a spot they had been to before. But not this time. This trip required my planning to get to a destination I’d never been to before, my leading, my navigation upon being lost. In other words, I had to go through the work of pushing through every aspect of the trip, good and bad.

  After we emerged from the woods victorious and started the drive home, I realized that on previous hikes I had great experiences, but didn’t possess them like I did when I had to read maps, travel down the wrong roads and trudge through forest looking for trail.

  This time, after taking hold of the trip myself, I reached the end with an experience I could truly call my own. And I could take you to the trail head and up to the waterfall right now with complete confidence.

  Before I had been a passenger; this time I was behind the wheel.

  I couldn’t help but think about all of the companies today trying to ‘build community’ in some form or another. So many well-meaning businesses initiate use of social media tools and conversation with their employees and customers, but never let them out of the passenger seat. If you want to build real community, though, you can’t just invite your advocates along for the ride, you have to let them get behind the wheel at some point.

  Without letting them drive, you’ll never see your employees or customers let out their full potential - which also happens to be the full potential of your brand.

  What does it look like to put employees and customers behind the wheel? We’ll take a look at some really practical examples later this week.

  (PS - I’ll update this post with pictures from the hike tomorrow.) UPDATED!

  Tags: adventure, Brands, customers, Employees, hike, ownership, Social media
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  On scotch whiskey and open doors: brands doing neat things

  Posted on May 13th, 2010 by Eric Dodds and currently 2 commenting.

  

  There’s lots of marketing advice out there and honestly, sometimes the lists and suggestions and tactics and 10 reasons and theories and on and on can be tiresome.

  So today we’re going to take an advice breather and look at a brand who is doing simple things to open its doors, give interested parties a full look inside their world and try to give back to the industry they hold dear.

  My discovery of the brand started with the privilege of enjoying a fine spirit with a few family members. As single malt scotch fans, they enjoy exploring the wide range of different brands and tastes - this time they had chosen Highland Park.

  I’m no scotch expert, but I know my way around the delightful brown liquid enough to understand that different regions, casks, maltings, etc. will produce different flavors. Thoroughly impressed with Highland Park’s effect on my palette, I decided to dig a little deeper into how they crafted their product.

  What I found was wonderful - their site is rich with the history and geography surrounding the region their distillery is located in. Very interesting stuff.

  But what caught be off guard was the amount of detailed information they provided about scotch - from basics of novice tasting all the way down to how vegetation in the surrounding region affects the flavor of the peat that goes into their malting process. And they pulled it off in a way that anyone can understand. Within 15 minutes on the site, I had learned more about the basics of scotch than I had collectively gathered up to that point.

  And here’s the clincher -  they want people to know about scotch. In general. Not just their scotch.

  What? It’s true:

  “We have created this section to help explain and develop your appreciation of whisky – whether expert or novice and is intended to be relevant to all whiskies – and indeed whiskeys – not just Highland Park. The joy of whisky lies in exploration and discovery, phrases like steeping, peat, phenols and floor maltings are thrown around by experts and novices alike - but what do these titles really mean? We decided to ask and film some of the experts involved in production.

  This section is divided into 3 main areas

  - Tasting videos - both our Core Expressions and our Special Bottlings

  - Whisky Production videos - we have the quick guides and the in-depth guide

  - A Brief History of Distilling - a video of the one and only Charles MacLean explaining the genesis of distillation

  I hope you find them helpful, we plan to add more videos in the months ahead.”

  They understand that to appreciate their product, you must appreciate the intricacies involved in distilling and enjoying whiskey in general.

  Now, they’re not producing general, un-branded videos - they’re guides are highly branded and use their specific process and range of Highland Park products to explore all the details of whiskey. But they’re refreshing compared to other ‘look at me!! look at me!!’ content that brands produce.

  Why?

  Because they’re opening their doors and allowing people to come in and experience everything that they love about whiskey - a complete inside look at their brand from people who work at the company - and that happens within the context of a process and product that they happen to be very proud of (and happens to be very highly awarded).

  Interestingly, a quick perusal of other prominent single malt brands reveals an equal level of branding and pride, but much more limited information for the general public.

  The brand has ‘opened the kimono,’ as we would say, and those interested in scotch - Highland Park drinkers or not - will benefit from the brand’s desire to spread the love of the single malt experience.

  Tags: Customer, Education, Highland Park, information, kimono, openness, scotch, Sharing, simple, single malt, whiskey
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  Here’s a brand I love talking about: Jon Wye

  Posted on April 29th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 3 commenting.

  A couple of years ago, someone gave me a Jon Wye custom belt and I love it. Love it. So much so that I want to wear it all the time. A couple of weeks ago I decided to order another:

  This one:
  
  
  Like it? I love it. Have it on today as a matter of fact.

  I love tattoo art, but haven’t made the jump to ink on skin yet. So these belts featuring beautiful tat worthy art, are just the best.

  Well, I ordered my belt and then got an email from Jon himself:

  Hey Robin (Never mind he spelled my name wrong. I forgive him. He’s a busy making belts. )

  I am finishing up your belt today and just need to do final sizing. I check in will (That typo let’s me know we are same tribe.) everyone who orders less than a 30 sizes belt to make sure we get the right size. Did you go by pants size when ordering or by belt length. The second being the most accurate, as all you have to do is take one of your existing belt and measure it tip to tip and I’ll send you the same size in the mail.

  Let me know so I can get you the perfect size!

  And thanks fr your nice note!

  Cheers
  jon

  So I reached back out to him:

  Jon, I love you and your brilliant company. I wear a size 27 jeans, can you just go by that? Hope things are going well. I have told people all over the world about your company. And products. Seriously last summer in Sydney a guy stopped me on the street and had me write down the name of the company.

  Cheerio,
  Robbin
  
  And this was his instant reply:

  “Courageous President” awesome… you have to be to be insane enough to be responsible for other people. Nerve wrecking isn’t it! You are too kind. i just try to make awesome stuff and keep it in the US. I want to grow it for sure, but always with the community that helps support… ie, not MACYS.

  I would prefer to wait to get the length measurement just in case. It is the most accurate. Sorry for the delay! Just want to make sure your custom belt is… custom.

  If you are ever in NYC I hope you get a chance to stop by the new NYC store front opening soon… May 7 if all goes well. Sooo nervous! AHHHHH!

  Cheers
  jon

  John Bell, Global Managing Director for Ogilvy PR’s 360 Digital Influence Team said this in an interview on WOMMA’s word:

  I actually believe that a talkable brand is one that makes an effort to make it easy for customers and constituents to talk about and even with them. They’re “talkable” because they do many of the things that Emmanuel Rosen calls out as drivers of word of mouth - they have a good story, they let their supporters be creative - that sort of thing. And the simple step of making an effort to spark or be involved in a conversation, in my book, makes them more talkable. Ford, a client, is a great example of a talkable brand.
  

  I feel I know Jon Wye. I will go by and see him and his new store when I am in NYC. You should, too. Tell them Robbin sent you.

  I know. I know. They are small company and you might say it’s impossible for a large brand to do this. But big companies can learn from small companies. I believe that with all my heart.

  And like John, I believe Ford is making it happen. Scott Monty is leading the charge to make them easy to reach and talk with. I have living proof of that — and a pin. So my advice to us all is uber simple. Create processes, practices, policies and most of all an atmosphere that gives your entire company (large or small) permission to:

  Show up. Respond. Care. Keep promises. Extend invitations. Make Typos.

  And most of all be human.

  Tags: John Bell, Jon Wye, Scott Monty, Talkable Brands, WOMMA, WOMMA Word