What do Zappos, LEGO, Marvel and MTV have in common? The brand DNA is permeated throughout the entire organization. They all have a strong culture and (employee) bond. But above all: good agreements, hard work, good timing, relevance, genuine bond with fans/customers and courage!
Successful storytelling depends on brand loyalty.
We learned this at the International social media & PR summit , organized by Dutch 'social PR agency' Coopr in collaboration with PR Daily and ING. This is my second story about this two-day busy but interesting conference, you can read the first part here .
Where Zappos is service-minded to the core, everything at LEGO is LEGO-branded. At Marvel, employees and fans identify with their comic alter egos, MTV revives and re-energizes youth culture with bloggers. Four strong brands, each of which has mastered 'storytelling' in its own way.
A service company that happens to sell shoes
For those who were not yet familiar with the story of online shoe store Zappos, Loren Becker 's infectious story must have been like a film recorded on another planet. Does a (large) organization or brand really exist that is so strange, happy, chaotic, customer and employee friendly? And that it also completely radiates and tells, without restraint? According to Loren Becker, it is and his videos of, among other things, (falsely) singing employees of Zappos, the online shoe store, illustrated that flawlessly.
Loren Becker shows off the Zappos warehouse. Tweet: 'shoe heaven!'
Loren Becker shows off the Zappos warehouse. Tweet: 'shoe heaven!'
According to Loren, Zappos is primarily a 'service company', which also happens to sell shoes and clothing. This is reflected in the hiring and training policy and the freedom employees have to do their work and develop 'extracurricular activities'. There are no targets and no scripts. How it must hurt that Zappos is no longer in the Forbes top 10 of best employers .
But transparency is also key towards suppliers. Against all industry customs, Zappos opens up its system in which inventory and returns are administered, so that suppliers can see with their own eyes where things are 'wrong'.
That a strong, clear culture works well is proven by their almost unbelievable Net Promoter Score of 93%. That was reason for many attendees to jealously tweet this number:
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Use influential bloggers
MTV is cult(ure). Peter von Satzger , PR director MTV at Viacom for 14 countries, is a natural, relaxed storyteller and an example for many a storyteller. He told about shifting norms and values ('Bloggers as journalists want to be paid. Journalists find that unethical') and how you can and should pamper influential bloggers. Bloggers are gaining more and more power and are not bound by ethics. According to Peter, PR professionals should make more use of this. According to Peter, MTV does this in his region wherever possible. MTV proves that they dare with a special, MTV-worthy press kit for bloggers:
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He shows us in images and sound how video, and Vine in particular , is strongly emerging in his target group and how many content possibilities it offers. That comedy and comedians – just like celebrities – can have great value for your brand, but can also damage your reputation in one tweet. The Catch Steve Angelo campaign , around explaining the term Catfish , proves that with 1 Facebook profile, a strong brand with loyal fans and a smart content strategy you can achieve a PR value of 87 million for a new TV show.
Peter von Satzger: 'Bloggers as journalists want to be paid. Journalists find that unethical'
Peter von Satzger: 'Bloggers as journalists want to be paid. Journalists find that unethical'
MTV-branded or not – the content should speak for itself. Show courage and guts to do it differently and stick your head above the parapet, because it will be rewarded by your target audience. According to Peter.
One of Peter's striking takeaways was that Germany is the only Western European country that still attaches so much importance to traditional media. Social media does not do much there , not even with young Germans. A difficult country for the social media manager.
Rebrick and Brickmented reality
LEGO is all about branding. I dare say that after the story uganda mobile phone number list of Lars Silberbauer . What else can you say when you hear that the name of LEGO's bookmarking site is Rebrick and you call a campaign Brickmented reality .
A tight story about how the use of social media at LEGO, an example and dream for many social media managers, is organized. With a core team of 4 people, 20 to 25 'social media champions' and 300 employees with a 'social media driving license' all over the world (and a whole army of fans), LEGO has no shortage of catchy stories. Social is now at the core of various business processes, such as LEGO's product development program. Ideas that are suggested via social media now naturally find their way to LEGO's product developers. The starting point for social: creating stories with LEGO. Building together and the pride when you have made something; that is what it is mainly about.
LEGO clearly measures everything. Lars conjures up a sheet that shows in great detail that social contributes to sales and marketing effectiveness. A Facebook post led directly to turnover. With 14k likes, a reach of 1 million and 5500 shares, 8000 people went to the webshop as a result of that post and together generated 10,000 euros in turnover. It goes without saying that not only he, but also his boss – and we – enjoy such figures.
LEGO likes to use it a lot for the brand experience, but consumers are also making videos more and more often. There is a lot of user generated content at LEGO – and according to Lars they have not yet run into any legal issues. Apparently possible legal consequences are still a (often heard) unfounded fear, perhaps prompted by our legal colleagues.