Just got done watching a private screening of Lemonade, the Movie(Thanks Erik & Jennifer). Something I heard in the film resonated with me and it’s part ofand is a great reminder for all of us. It’s a quote from Michelle Pfennighaus.
“Sometimes there are things you love to do that you forget about. Put your energy into the things you love–put all the energy you can into these things…and see what happens“
One of the most interesting marketing developments of this past decade has been watching Chris Anderson’s 2004 concept of the Long Tail play out across retail– specifically companies inviting fans to customize products.
Recently the Wall Street Journal ran a story about Keds shoe company inviting customers to design their own shoes. Champion has also gotten into the act, but in a more limited way, by running design contests, then producing the winning design, while Nike has been in the customization business for nearly 10 years with NikeID.
Next year Coca Cola will see a more widespread distribution of its Freestyle soda fountain that invites consumers to mix their own flavors, ultimately offering over a hundred different choices.
Sweet-toothed consumers can even customize their own M&Ms.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, the hipsters at Jones soda just launched an iPhone app inviting users to generate a photo for their very own customized Jones six-pack.
Customization of mass marketed goods isn’t new for brands; some would say it started with Burger King in the 70s:
Although this funky version is my favorite:
Four decades later the trend has continued with online businesses like Cafe Press, Zazzle and Threadless letting customers design and even market customized tee shirts, mugs, mouse pads and other tchotchkes. But it’s not just packaged goods makers getting into the game. Global brand Toyotarecognizes that customization begets brand loyalty by offering customers the ability to customize a Scion; Ford offered tricked-out cars with the roll out of its new Fiesta at the 2009 Auto Show.
What does retail customization mean for marketing?
Many a brand manager wouldn’t dare undertake a marketing initiative that they couldn’t tie directly back to ROI, but where retail customization is concerned, they’d be missing the point. Mattel fell victim to this thinking when they tried and later sunsetted a build your own Barbie website . One guess about this site’s demise was that people spent a lot of time designing the doll, but it didn’t translate to sales. It probably didn’t help that the Friend of Barbie was only available to fans over 18. But in the endthis was a missed opportunity for Mattel. After all, are sales really the point of customization?
Customization retail is really an engagement and customer service tool. It’s about brand loyalty and brand development; it should not necessarily be about sales. (Although, as Amazon could tell you, if they shared sales data, the long tail of retail becomes quite meaningful when as much revenue is derived from obscure single sales as all the best seller titles combined.)
Brands need to see customization for what it is: one more example of a marketing dialogue with customers. Will an individual’s sneaker design drive sales for a global sneaker brand like Keds? Unlikely, but customers taking ownership of a product at that level develops fierce loyalty, creates buzz and bolsters the overall impression of the brand—all of which typically lead to an uptick in sales—eventually. But what if it doesn’t? Is that a bad thing?
If you build it will sales come?
Engagement, not sales, should be the real metric of retail customization. A great case study for brand engagement in the last few years comes from Office Max. Elf Yourself, one of the most popular online viral marketing tactics ever developed, has translated to a 46% recall for the Office Max brand. By its second year online, people had spent nearly 2600 years (combined time) on the site as reported in James Othmer’s book, Adland. Any brand would be giddy over that level of engagement.
Office Max has shown that generating buzz and having customers develop a relationship with and take ownershipof your brand is marketing gold. Sales were never the point.
Lose control of your brand.
As anyone familiar with the story of New Coke knows, loyal fans can bring a giant brand to a halt. When one of the most iconic brands in the world messed with its formula, Coke fans revolted. For a more recent example, watch social media circles every time Facebook announces an interface change that users don’t agree with. It’s practically chaos.
But revolt and chaos are not necessarily to be feared in brand marketing. Handled well, a company’s reaction to unpopular decisions, demonstrates a level of care that can foster more brand loyalty than any broadcast marketing campaign. Brands can’t buy loyalty, it has to be earned. As with any other relationship it’s built on trust, respect, and an ongoing dialogue.
The word customer is derived from custom, meaning “habit;” a customer was someone who frequented a particular shop, made it a habit to purchase goods there rather than from its competitors and with whom the shopkeeper maintained a relationship to keep his or her “custom” or, expected purchases in the future.
As part of your 2010 marketing plan, consider retail customization to drive brand engagement with your customers. It may not drive sales but if it helps your customers make your brand a habit and develops a relationship with an engaged clientele, what’s the downside?
If you like Meatball Sundae, Purple Cow or any other of Seth Godin’s books. Or even if you’ve never read any of his books, his latest is an ebook called What Matters Nowand it’s free.
I like Seth’s writing, it’s always inspiring, insightful or inspirational.
Good way to start off 2010.
For those keeping tabs, Seth also has a book book coming out too.
Mashable ran a story today highlighting a Netflix agreement with Warner Brothers for new release movies. Seems, Warner Bros thinks that if they make people wait 28 days to see a new release DVD they’ll be more likely to buy the DVD. And Netflix? Who knows what they’re thinking?
This is not a business strategy it’s arrogance. Not releasing content in hopes you’ll shell out $30+ to purchase a DVD is the ultimate attempt at customer coercion and will fail. And what’s in it for Netflix? Pissed-off customers?
DVD sales have been in the toilet for years so it’s really just one more nail in that coffin but trying to force customers to do anything they don’t want to do is a losing battle. Hello!? Warner Bros, haven’t you learned anything in the last few years? Seems the only strategy is to get out of the DVD business and make it someone else’s fault.
This announcement will be a boon to Warner Bros and Netflixcompetitors and opens up an opportunity for Blockbuster, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube and others. Holding content in hopes we’ll purchase isn’t going to drive sales and they know it, so in the next breath, both companies say they’ll be adding more instant streaming to Netflix, like we couldn’t see that coming. It seems likely that the next step is “premium” content from Netflix. Want this new release? $9.99 and you can stream it.
These customers may likely go elsewhere, at least initially–RedBox is certainly hoping they will. Most folks want to stream movies, so what’s next is more exciting than what’s now. So for now, I’ll hold me breath to see how this pans out. And, Warner Bros, I’ll wait 28 days to see your new releases.
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