I am terribly excited about this weekend as it sees the first ever ‘Fashion Weekend’ in the city of Antwerp.
I will be joined by 9 fantastic European Fashion bloggers who will be having a fun packed fashion-themed weekend in one of my favourite European cities.
Make sure you check out the newly launched site ‘Shopping in Antwerp‘ – Once in there, click on THE HUNT on the top right corner and you’ll be able to read more about the event and see the bloggers who are taking part.
Also, you can join the conversation and enjoy all the content from the event simply becoming a fan of the Facebook page we’ve put together for the program.
If your ‘forte’ is either fashion, food, diamonds or architecture – Antwerp is definitely the city for you!
Probably few of you may have seen this already, but I wanted to write a small post about it because things like these rarely happen!
Last week I was reading this post on Jennifer Jones’ Speak Media Blog, and my heart nearly sank. Sometimes brands really know how to behave with their fans and this one is a truly wonderful and powerful story.
As with Jennifer, I am not posting this to praise how amazing Pixar was in turning such an amazing story in a PR stunt, because they simply didn’t – I just wanted everyone to know about this story because it shows how people (and not brands) are actually willing to listen and do good in this world!
Here’s the story.A beautiful ten year old girl named Colby Curtain has been fighting a rare form of cancer for years. Her family was recently told she didn’t have much time left. After seeing previews for Pixar’s new animated feature, UP, Colby told her parents she just wanted to stay alive long enough to see the movie. Knowing she couldn’t go to the theater and probably wouldn’t make it to see the DVD release, a family friend contacted Pixar and they came through. The animation company flew an employee to the Curtain house with a pre-release DVD and a few stuffed animals from the film. Colby watched the movie with her family and friends…and then she passed away seven hours later. [From Jennifer's post]
Still today no comment from Pixar whatsoever… wich makes us all believe what an amazing action this was!
It kinda reminds me about a Zappos‘ story. Not sure if anyone remembers this, but Zappos had a very similar situation with one of their existing customers.
Zaz Lamarr meant to return some shoes to Zappos, but her mom passed away and, naturally, she just didn’t have time. Because of this, Zappos arranged to have UPS go pick up her shoes—and then sent her flowers. This is what Zaz then wrote:
“When I came home this last time, I had an email from Zappos asking about the shoes, since they hadn’t received them. I was just back and not ready to deal with that, so I replied that my mom had died but that I’d send the shoes as soon as I could. They emailed back that they had arranged with UPS to pick up the shoes, so I wouldn’t have to take the time to do it myself. I was so touched. That’s going against corporate policy. Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is.”
I totally heart Zappos and this was an absolutely briliant story!
Now with Pixar joining the club I wonder if IT REALLY IS time for some more brands to get a wake up call and love those customers withouth whom they wouldnt really exist, eh?
I am delighted to announce the launch of the new MINI iPhone application, OPENNESS
The app is part of the latest digital MINI activity to promote the new MINI convertible, Stay Open, and something completely different from the run-of-the-mill motoring iPhone applications available within the iTunes Store.
Drivers of convertibles are more open to new experiences so the MINI Openness mobile application encourages users to explore the unexplored and try new things. By downloading the application, users will have access to an off-beat guide to the UK’s major cities, including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh and over 400 unusual and spontaneous experiences: from getting a Brazilian to attending a Mexican wrestling match with fetish cabaret, joining a literary salon to jumping on a coach to an unknown destination.
Here are a few quick words on what the application does:
When launching the app on your iPhone, based on the level of open-mindedness you choose, the app will provide you with the most adventurous things to do, either closer to where you are or in a specific location (the app supports two geo-options: ‘Find My Location’ and ‘Insert Location’)
The application also has a built-in Google Maps API, where you can find the venue or the exact location for each single ‘open-minded’ experience
If the experience chosen doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can choose amongst many others, simply clicking on NEXT.
Also, if you are not really sure on how adventurous you feel, a simple shake of the iPhone will provide you with a random experience.
The wider digital campaign, Stay Open, is supported by online banner activity, also centred on openness and spontaneity.
I am so glad I was made aware of this video today!
What BestBuy has achieved is what majority of brands are struggling to understand and probably not brave enough to embrace. It’s what I call openness:
give a chance to everyone in your company to speak up,
make everyone within your company a stakeholder,
everyone should be involved,
let your employees feel they have a high level of impact into your business development
I have posted a link to the video below this paragraph for all of you to go and watch. It’s 30 minutes long, but if you have a bit of time it’s an incredible insight into how brands should adapt their business models to open up to their employees, with the ultimate objective to retain them for as long as possible, make the business a better place for your customers to come back to, and last but not least, for your own company to constantly develop thanks to the people who make it such a good place…. It’s not rocket science, BUT STILL, I have no idea why only merely few companies have got it right so far!
I am not anywhere close to being a business consultant, however I humbly reckon it’s part of an overall ‘Corporate Social Responsability’ vision which has a strong potential to let your business stand out from the others.
The only reason why I am giving the spotlight to BestBuy is because what they are doing is exactly what brands should also be doing with their customers!
BestBuy has launched an internal social network for their over 3000 employees across the US by the name of BlueShirtNation, an internal WIKI, a TradeTrending tool and a Product Development Forum. Within these spaces, employees are constantly coming up with new ideas, talking directly to the managers, getting funded by the company to take interesting concepts one step further, connect with each other from different stores etc… allowing a fully personal experience where they can feel meaningful to the company
That is exactly what customers want!
They want to feel listened
They want to get involved
They want to be meaningful to the eyes of your brand
I would be extremely surprised if BestBuy doesnt open such tools to their customers. People could add even more ideas to what BestBuy employees have, it could actually generate even more conversations between employees and consumers to drive better service and more product development.
Also, at the moment they are talking about a mobile device which would allow customers to review their products right there at the moment of consideration/purchase. A custom software would allow reading a product barcode and let you retrieve all the reviews from the BestBuy online community website straight onto your mobile screen.
The ultimate point is : how would your customer feel through such an awesome shopping experience?
I could only say – satisfied? clear about his choice? glad about listening to what other people like him have to say about the product? More willing to buy?
As a brand, if you start engaging with your existing and potential users online, through building and maintaining open and meaningful conversations you might get the same results! Am I right?
Answers on a postcard please!?
E
PS
The slideshare below explains in more details their strategy
SocialVibe