Twelpforce

Maybe the hardest thing for brands who face social media and social networking is to avoid the bandwagon and really come up with a strategic thinking behind their presence.

Lots of brands are making use of the social tools. But lots of brands are just replicating, with different layers, the messaging model when there is no conversation at all.

So, it’s great when some companies come up with richer perspectives and this is what makes me highlight what Best Buy is doing.

In this post from We Are Social you can see a video of Best Buy’s CMO explaining how they understand what is happening and what digital can do for them. In a sentence: “make dreams come true”.

As part of that, they launched Twelpforce, a dedicated help force to be there for customers via Twitter. What means that if I have a doubt I use @Twelpforce and someone will try to solution my anxiety.

Isn’t it simple and brilliant?

What I like most about it is that it’s a real service for people. A real utility for consumers.

Great because it builds value upon the space where people are already present and adds a new function inside it.

It’s also a big example of how companies and agencies can be skillful to bring up new uses of Twitter as a social tool applied to business.

If CP+B is not behind it (which I think they do), they are the ones who are spreading the service.

Have a look on the ads (here) that directs the audience to @Twelpforce and not to a microsite. Oh, and the stadium metaphor really makes one understand what the service is all about. Even for those who are not used to Twitter.

Behind the touch-screen

This year at Cannes Lions lots of people could interact with a new Coca Cola vending machine.

One that, besides delivering the product, delivered a new buying experience.

Before that, I watched a video of a Samsung’s person explaining its functionality, but it’s a huge jump when you observe people interacting with it.

It’s interesting to see how, through this technology, Coca Cola amplifies the experience at the moment of buying. A precious moment when the consumer has his attention totally focused on it and the brand can give something more than just the product.

It’s not just a moment for a “refreshing pause”, but a huge opportunity for the brand to be more relevant, to surprise and present a piece of its storytelling in a delightful way.

Also, this is a nice example of how great interactions can generate more interests for brands.

A natural thing if we think that the more pleasant an experience is, the more we want to repeat it.

Maybe, this is the little truth and desired effect behind the touch-screen.

Zappos.com

It’s so pleasant when you face a brand that walks the walk. And that’s why I’m writing about Zappos.com.

This week, my dear friend and colleague at McCann Brazil, Debora Nitta, sow Zappos’ young CEO on Oprah TV show and was amazed by how he runs his company. Their mission is to provide the best customer service experience through the WOW philosophy.

Debora, then, wanted to know more about it and sent an email to Tony Hsieh, the CEO. I don’t know what was her expectation, but mine wouldn’t be receiving a reply on the same day or the next. But Tony put words into action by answering her inquires just-in-time and offering the 2008 company’s culture book so she could know them better.

We were just amazed with that. But the more we read about them, the more we understood this act. These guys are just crazy about making this WOW thing happens. See:

• Zappos.com is an online retailer (primarily focused on shoes)
• they don’t charge shopping and returns (for 365 days!)
• there are always someone to help you in case of doubt (yes, real people)
• people do have autonomy to solve your problem
• if they don’t have the product you want in stock, they will look for it with competitor’s and then drive you to that site so you can have what you want.
• but, most importantly, they will satisfy you throughout the entire shopping process.

To guarantee this idea Zappos.com creates and feeds an internal culture that involves all employees around it. And it’s based upon 10 core values.

So, when the CEO of the company replies an email from an unknown person from another country and sends a book about their culture and beliefs for free he builds his brand and is truthful to his own ideal.

Tony knows how to generate word-of-mouth around his business. His business vision is all about improve his service and let people do the advertising job. In a natural and spontaneous way, telling their folks how good it was their purchasing experience. I just love a sentence of the book which says: “rather than spend a lot of money on marketing, we can instead put that money towards improving the customer experience”.

In an age of conversation what it seems to me is that Zappos.com has all to do with common sense and simplicity. They are not reinventing the business, but being more sensible on making a good selling, dealing with people and allowing them to interact with you. It’s an human approach, after all.

Also, it’s a great example on how brands should behave to really connect and dialogue with people.

That’s why, in a near future, they can be operating in whatever business their way of doing means to provide a better experience than the competition.

Check it out more about them here and here.

Look at Nike and Red Bull

Everyday new powerful creative ideas emerge on the marketing field trying to empower the brands behind it. A lot of them make me feel very pleasant on the way some companies and agencies are walking the walk, by the way.

But nothing makes me feel so enthusiast as when I see brands doing differently on its strategy to connect and engage with consumers as a result of its inner belief on how to be more meaningful for them.

Two brands that I believe do differently because of their beliefs and behaviors are Red Bull and Nike.

Red Bull has always had its own particular way to build the brand. It ever knew what it was all about. And to communicate its values and spirit, there was no best way than to focus on the targets’ lifestyles, promote the integration between the brand and communities and offer incredible experiences only reached via Red Bull.

You can say that events, athlete sponsorships and PR coverage were the main pillars to deliver the Red Bull experience. But if we look more carefully, we see that digital marketing, and even advertising, were also important to complete the whole brand experience (delivering different messages as well).

Nike is another brand that has also always created its own culture, but is now putting more importance on the experience with the brand. What is most interesting about Nike today is how it is changing its marketing approach to connect with consumers.

The brand that once used tv ads to be at the top and to immaculate a bunch of sports stars is now more concerned on creating bonds with real people. Doing that through programs and strategies anchored on an idea of how the brand could provide experiences and services that are more useful. Moreover, using the power of its own brand and products combined (e.g.: Nike ID and Nike Plus).

For me, it’s the perfect example of a brand that understood that the age of brand image has passed away (as John Grant defends with Brand Innovation). Relevance and differentiation today have more to do with the way you connect linking brand experiences to what consumers can take from it.