Brains on Fire

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  “We aren’t in Kansas anymore, we’re in Greenville. (Part 1)

  Posted on July 29th, 2010 by Kindling Spirits and currently 11 commenting.

  Today’s post is from @mackcollier. We were so lucky to have him attend and agree to blog from the 2010 4th Annual Brains on Fire FIRE Sesssions. What a treat to finally meet him in person. Photos from this post are via Flickr via hyku’s photostream (our super cool and very talented friend Josh Hallett). More photos to come from our very own Justin Gammon. So enjoy:
  
  

  And being in Greenville on this glorious day means being at Brains on Fire’s FIRE sessions.  This is an event, actually I think it would be more appropriate to call it an experience.  I was beyond thrilled to be invited by Robbin to attend and blog the event, and to say it didn’t disappoint would be an understatement.

  The day started out with the Brains on Fire serenading us to David Bowie’s Changes.  I’m not sure what surprised me more, that Robbin was air-playing a saxophone, or that we were a couple of hours into the day before I first heard the term ’social media’.  Both were very pleasant surprises!
  

  The schedule got started with BOF’s own Geno Church telling us a bit about some of the work BOF has done.  One thread that seemed to run through each case study (and this is a big reason why I love BOF) is finding the people that are passionate about the message you want to spread, empower them to spread that message then get out of their way.

  Geno told the story of the Rage Against the Haze movement that was created to help combat teen smoking in South Carolina.  Teens that were passionate about their community and stopping teen smoking were empowered to lead the charge for this movement.  Geno admitted that giving control away to teens was a bit scary, but when the teens realized they were being empowered, they took ownership of the movement.

  The results?  The state of South Carolina saw a drop in teenage smoking from 36% to 19% within 3 years of launching Rage Against the Haze.

  Next up was the always-inspiring Fiskateers story.  Geno talked about how BOF worked with Fiskars to do initial research to figure out who the company’s market was.  These findings led them to realize that Fiskars market was younger than Fiskars thought, and they were more active online.  BOF found that many of Fiskars’ existing customers were active online, and they weren’t talking about the tool (Fiskars scissors) but rather what the tool allowed them to do (scrapbooking).
  

  But what Fiskars and BOF also discovered was that there wasn’t really a positive place online that ‘regular’ scrapbookers could come together and support each other.  In fact, there were some scrapbookers that were abusive to others and identified themselves as ‘Scrap Bitches’.

  So first, they worked to reframe the conversation from being about Fiskars products, to the experience that customers have by using the products. Then, they looked to create that supportive and nurturing place where scrapbookers could form a community.  Enter a blog and before you know it, we have a Fiskateers movement on our hands.

  You’ve likely heard of the Fiskateers movement so I won’t spend a lot of time rehashing what Geno shared about it.  But I did note two key takeaways about the success of the movement.  First, Geno shared that Fiskars saw a 600% increase in brand mentions of ‘Fiskars’.  Still, I thought this stat was more interesting: Stores that have hosted at least one Fiskateer have enjoyed THREE FOLD increase in sales.  That tells me that Fiskars has people in place that are passionate about the products and more importantly, what the products allow them to do.  I believe Geno also made the point that when looking for lead Fiskateers for their blog, they weren’t interested in good writers as much as they were looking for customers that were passionate.  Love that.

  Key takeaway from Geno’s session?  Find messages about your brand that resonate with the people you are trying to reach, then empower those people to not only help shape that message, but to spread it.  Doing so gives them ownership, which only intensifies their natural passion and enthusiasm for the message and idea that you want to spread.  Yeah, it’s kinda scary to give up control, but putting an idea in the hands of the people that want to see it succeed beats having an idea that no one cares about, right?

  My head is already hurting from all this smartitude, and we are barely 90 mins into the day.  I’ll share more wholesome goodness from the #firesessions in the next post!

  

  Another big thanks to @mackcollier and Josh Hallet (@hyku) for pushing out some awesome content from the FIRE Sessions! More fiery goodness to come soon!

  Tags: Brains on Fire FIRE session, Brains on Fire the book, Fiskateers, geno church, Josh Hallett, Kindred Spirits, Love, Mack Collier, Rage Against the Haze
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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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  8.19.10 - PRSA Webinar - Geno talks about How to Grow Word-of-Mouth Movements

  Posted on July 2nd, 2010 by Geno and currently 1 commenting.

  What does it take to build a movement of loud and proud brand ambassadors? More social media applications? Faster technology? Geno Church teaches you the seven lessons on how your brand can build and grow a movement, starting with how to treat people like fans, not customers, and how to allow your fans to share brand ownership. Learn the difference between a movement and a campaign, as well as how to measure ROI. Hear about word-of-mouth case studies, including the Fiskars Brands “Fiskateers” movement, which now has more than 5,000 members worldwide, and the Effie award-winning Rage Against the Haze youth anti-smoking initiative, which has more than 7,000 active teenagers involved despite a complete state program budget elimination.

  PRSA Webinar

  Thursday, August 19th

  3:00pm, EST

  Members $150 / Non-Members $250

  Register: http://www.prsa.org/Learning/Seminars/view/663/How_to_Grow_Word-of-Mouth_Movements

  Tags: ambassadors, Brains on Fire, Brand, EFFIE, Fiskars, Fiskateers, Geno, geno church, gold, Movement, people are the killer app, PRSA, Rage Against the Haze, Speaking, webinar, WOM, Word of Mouth
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  How far would your community go for one another?

  Posted on January 12th, 2010 by Spike and currently 9 commenting.

  Caution: Potential horn-tootin’ ahead, although we really can’t take credit for it.

  Over the weekend I received an email from one of the Lead Fiskateers (thanks Angela) with the subject line “You have to see what these Fiskateers are now offering each other,” and a link to the Fiskateer message board. So I click the link and read the post:

  It goes on to say that one of the Fiskateer’s fathers may be in need of a new kidney. And as you read a little further, you realize that another Fiskateer reached out and HAS OFFERED TO BE TESTED AS A POSSIBLE MATCH.

  “Fiskateer Sister NEVER has anyone in my life offered such a gift that you have done by offering to have yourself tested as a possible match for my almost 74 year old father so that he could continue with his life here. I am so touched that words honestly cannot explain the givingness that just that little email has shown me about you. God bless you because you certainly just earned some big jewels in my opinion by thinking so much of a man who you will likely never meet especially since we live 3, 000 miles away. If there were more people like you here on this home we call Earth I can only imagine how much sweeter every day would be.”

  A long time ago we realized with Fiskars that we couldn’t create a community centered around scissors and paper. We had to ignite a community that centered around people sharing their lives through their passion of crafting (we call it the “passion conversation”). One of the absolute joys of a thriving community is that it’s organic. Relationships are formed online and offline in ways that you (and we) could never have anticipated in a million years. In fact, as you read the comments, you run across this gem: “I wonder if Fiskars/Brains on Fire realize how this group has really impacted many of us!” Sure, we thought about the benefits for R&D ideas, impromptu events, putting out fires on customer service issues. But offering up kidneys to one another? Never.

  Community is a powerful thing. A sense of belonging and connection deepens relationships, but it has to have an environment - online and off - to thrive and take on a life of its own. Sure, you can shepherd it along and keep it from falling victim to the dangers along the path, but ultimately you have to realize that you don’t have control - and you never did. You just became the conduit between people and their passion. If you do that, you’ll be amazed at what happens.

  Tags: Anglea Daniels, Community, Fiskars, Fiskateers, kidney transplant, Lead Fiskateers, message board
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  Orange-Colored Glasses

  Posted on December 17th, 2009 by Kindling Spirits and currently 5 commenting.

  Note: This following post is from Shannon Kohn, who has been a part of the Brains on Fire movement (as a Kindred Spirit) for over 10 years. She formally joined us about three months ago and took on the role of Fiskateer Community Manager. We love the way way she bakes and cooks for us. And the way she looks at the world:

  Orange. It might only be a “second-from-the-left” color in your world’s rainbow, but for me, it’s more.

  Orange is the color that connects me with my client. It instantly summons the loudest, proudest voices in my client’s customers. It flies fast and frantic like an unfurled flag—high above the spectrum of mediocre colors (sorry, periwinkle) that are constantly battling for my visual attention. It has me, the anti-shopper, scouring after-Halloween sales in the hopes of grabbing some small quantity of cute, pumpkin-colored treasure. It’s a happy color…and it shines brighter than a mo fo up in this joint.

  Two nights ago, my daughter wrote a cute little note to Twinkle, our “Elf” (the little critter who comes to life at night and wreaks havoc downstairs). One question she asked him was, “What is your favorite color?” Well, I’m no elf (although I’m as cute as one), but when I really step back and think about it, orange is my favorite color now. I see my world through orange-colored glasses (set inside uber-fashionable frames, of course). Did my sharp-edged client know that when I stepped back aboard the Fire train, I would be preaching the gospel of this secondary, color-wheel staple? I think the answer is “Yes.” It’s an easy thing to do when you feel empowered.

  Truth be told, I’m a little late to the big, orange-lovin’ party. 6,700 other craftily creative folks beat me there (they saved me a beautifully-embellished seat, though). My tardiness does nothing to lessen my desire to spread my client’s gospel, though. So, if you meet me on the street, at the grocery, or in the carpool line…look out! I’ll have you seeing your world through orange-colored glasses in no time at all.

  So, what’s your favorite color?

  Tags: Fiskateers, passion