Musings of a Marketing Maven » brand marketing http://christinethompson-blog.com Christine Thompson> What's on my mind: life and work Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:42:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Learning from Parisian Shop Windows http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/11/13/learning-from-parisian-shop-windows_319/ http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/11/13/learning-from-parisian-shop-windows_319/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:12:45 +0000 Christine http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/11/13/learning-from-parisian-shop-windows_319/ I love strolling and window shopping in Paris. There’s a special mystique that window dressers in Paris employ that brand teams and marketers everywhere would do well to emulate.

Shop windows in Paris do a wonderful job of conveying the idea of what’s being sold — of conveying the brand essence, helping you envision how you might benefit from the products or services on offer. For a moment or two, you’re experiencing the dream, fantasizing about how you might look better, happier, healthier or whatever, based on the nature of what’s being presented for your delectation…

The power of simplicity

The most powerful windows don’t crowd the display area with a representative sampling of everything inside the store (as you sometimes see in America). This is not a functional or utilitarian approach to marketing what the merchant has on offer.

wedding-dress-merchandised

The power of simplicity. I love the idea — but it’s so hard to put into practice, given all the factions and stakeholders that marketers must contend with.

]]> http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/11/13/learning-from-parisian-shop-windows_319/feed/ 0 Lululemon: Cult-like Loyalty? http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/06/09/lululemon-cult-like-loyalty_219/ http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/06/09/lululemon-cult-like-loyalty_219/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:17:30 +0000 Christine http://christinethompson-blog.com/2009/06/09/lululemon-cult-like-loyalty_219/ So how does Lululemon inspire such cult-like loyalty among its customer base (principally yoga practitioners)? They do the basics really well — for both in-store and online shopping. It’s clear they’re paying attention to customer experience management across many dimensions.

A Well-Designed Experience Playbook

Here are some of the things they get right:

  • Know your customer — and prove it by the way you recognize her and/or personalize her experience while shopping
  • Deliver high-quality products — a great balance between form and function
  • Stand behind your products with great customer service, to achieve superior fit to the customer’s individual needs
  • Extend the brand across multiple touchpoints
  • Manage the experience from order entry through eventual in-home delivery (for online shopping)
  • Look for unexpected opportunities to create delight

My Own Experience with the Brand

Here are some examples of Lululemon’s principles in action, from my own observations.

Know your customer They remember the style of yoga I practice, the name of the studio, and its general location. They ask about my practice whenever I visit the store (about once every 60-90 days).
High-quality products Great fit, high-performance fabrics, still work well after multiple washings. Highly functional for the intended purpose, thanks to careful construction/seaming details.
Great service Free alterations to improve fit.
Instant feedback for online shoppers about inventory status of specific SKUs (by color and size). No sign-on hassles.
Branded touchpoints Highly reusable bags, imprinted with their manifesto. I see them everywhere (even my cleaning lady carries one). On a recent flight from Boston, their logo appeared on garments worn by at least a handful of fellow travelers.
Design the order-to-delivery experience Highly designed order confirmation documents (email, online invoice with tracking info); includes pictures of items ordered, along with inventory and delivery status. Very visible button to track delivery status. Well-designed tracking form. Sensible up-sell options offered at bottom of email to confirm order. It’s clear some usability experts had a hand in this…
Unexpected moments of customer delight I loved everything about the order confirmation email. It increased my excitement about the forthcoming delivery.

Behind the Scenes

I’m aware that they have adapted Apple’s “evangelism playbook”: choosing brand ambassadors from among well-respected yoga instructors within a local community.

Empowering your brand ambassadors can be a highly effective tactic for expanding the cult of brand loyalists — which I understand well from my days at Apple.

Having said that, I’ve not yet encountered any brand ambassadors in my local community — except for the unofficial, vocal enthusiasts who love their Lululemon gear and wear it all the time.

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