Brand Story

Threadless Gets the Imporance of a Brand Story

Last month's Inc Magazine featured a long and interesting story about Threadless, the online t-shirt maker. Threadless takes an innovative approach to product development by involving a community of designers in design creation and production decisions. The result is $30 million in sales and a very involved, evangelistic customer base.

Threadless's success in the t-shirt business hasn't gone unnoticed. They have been approached by retailers like Target and Urban Outfitters who want to carry Threadless's designs in their stores. Here's what Jake Nickell, Threadless's founder had to say about the opportunity:

"We would do a deal with Target or Urban Outfitters... The only stipulation we need is to have some kind of presence in the store where people are able to easily learn about where the designs come from. You go to Target or Urban, and it's just shirts on a wall. You have no idea where they came from or who designed them... As long as the story isn't lost, we're OK."

Nickell proposed an in-store kiosk that would allow shoppers to rate designs and learn more about the artists who created them. So far, the big retailers have balked.

Unlike retailers who want to move more and more popular products, the guys at Threadless understand that their business isn't just about making and selling t-shirts. It's about interacting with their community of fans, who are suppliers, customers, and evangelists. This story is the one thing that really sets Threadless apart from any other t-shirt vendor. Losing that would make Threadless products just more "shirts on a wall."

Choosing a brand story over the opportunity to increase sales in the short term is no doubt a difficult decision. But it's the right decision in the long run. Good for Threadless.

Disruption and Blue Nile

A short follow-up to my last post on Blue Nile...

Another reason I love Blue Nile is their disruptive business model.

When CEO Mark Vadon was looking for an engagement ring, he went to Tiffany's to find what he was looking for. In the store he was largely ignored by the presumably snooty staff who must have thought that the Birkenstock and t-shirt clad guy wasn't a likely buyer. Miffed, Vadon left the store without spending a dime.

More importantly, he had just identified a part of the market that diamond retailers were ignoring—regular guys who don't understand diamonds, but need rings. They have money to spend, but need to be walked through the process, instead of being sneered at. Predictably the people with a vested interest in the status quo have fought Vadon from the beginning, refusing to do business with his suppliers and encouraging his competition to sell at a loss to hurt Blue Nile's profitability. You can read the whole story here. It's a classic tale of disruption.

Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen defines disruptive innovations:

"A disruptive innovation is a new product or service or a new business model that doesn't attack the core market by bringing a better product to established users in direct competition with the leaders in an industry, but rather it comes into the low end of the market, either through a business model that can compete at much lower costs, can compete profitably at lower costs, or it brings to the market a product or service that is so much more convenient and simple to use and affordable, that a whole new population of people who previously couldn't afford or didn't have the skill to own and use a product can now own one."

Blue Nile clearly fits the definition. Business 2.0 listed a bunch of future disruptors here (sadly they left out this one, but then they can't write about us all the time). I love this quote from Erick Schonfeld, the author of the Business 2.0 article:

"The most disruptive businesses, though, don't replace existing products. They compete against non-consumption by opening up new markets that were never before possible. Think of the airplane, the cell phone, or the Internet. Sure, some industries might get trampled by these new technologies—but only if those industries are not giving consumers what they really want. If you think about it, disruption is just another name for the age-old economic concept of creative destruction."

If you've got the bug to learn more, Christensen's books on disruption, The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution, and Seeing What's Next are great resources on the power of disruption. This short article is a pretty good preview of the thinking outlined in the books. Still more good stuff can be found here.

5126 Failures—The Dyson Brand Story

James Dyson is a failer. While vacuming his home, he became frustrated with the lousy suction of his vacuum cleaner. The bag and filter clogged too quickly, reducing the suction to the point where it didn't work. I know the feeling. But unlike me, Dyson decided to do something about it. Over 15 years, he built 5126 prototypes before he found the one that worked. 15 years and 5126 failures. How did he find the solution? "Wrong doing." Here's how Dyson describes it:

"When I was doing my vacuum cleaner, I started out trying a conventionally shaped cyclone, the kind you see in textbooks. But we couldn’t separate the carpet fluff and dog hairs and strands of cotton in those cyclones. It formed a ball inside the cleaner or shot out the exit and got into the motor. I tried all sorts of shapes. Nothing worked. So then I thought I’d try the wrong shape, the opposite of conical. And it worked. It was wrong-doing rather than wrong-thinking. That’s not easy, because we’re all taught to do things the right way."

There's are plenty of lessons in Dyson's story. Never give up. Don't settle for stuff that doesn't work. But the lesson I like most is the idea of right thinking and wrong doing. Doing things in a different (new or unexpected) way is the crux of creativity.

To get his vacuum to work, Dyson had to do it all wrong. And when he offered his new design to Hoover, they did the opposite—right doing and wrong thinking. They sold bag vacuums. This new vacuum wouldn't fit their product line. It was too different. They had the market sown up. So they passed on the idea. Dyson went on to sell more than 15 million of his vacuums (for as much as $2000 each). Today he is one of the richest men in Britain.

Inside the box, with every Dyson vacuum cleaner is a small brochure that tells the Dyson brand story. How James Dyson failed more than 1500 times. How his competitors first ignored him, then copied him. And how he succeeded despite the odds. This simple brochure is a great way to reinforce the Dyson brand story with every new customer. Of course, the fact that this is an amazingly good vacuum delivering a great product experience also helps.

This month's Fast Company magazine features a very good interview by Chuck Salter with James Dyson, covering not just his vacuum story, but also his thinking about design and engineering and his latest invention. Read it here. Don't miss the second page, which is even better than the portion of the interview in the print magazine. There's also a podcast interview here.

One more clip from the interview:

"A lot of people give up when the world seems to be against them, but that’s the point when you should push a little harder. I use the analogy of running a race. It seems as though you can’t carry on, but if you just get through the pain barrier, you’ll see the end and be okay. Often, just around the corner is where the solution will happen."

The Value of a Good Story

On Tuesday Apple's CEO and master storyteller, Steve Jobs, announced a "revolutionary" new mobile phone with a wide screen touch pad, Internet browser, built-in iPod, visual voice mail, Google maps feature, and much more. The reviews so far have been very good. Time writes: "Apple's new iPhone could do to the cell phone market what the iPod did to the portable music player market: crush it pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority. This is unfortunate for anybody else who makes cell phones, but it's good news for those of us who use them."

It's even better news for Apple's share holders. On the day of the announcement, Apple's share price increased more than 8% or $7.10 a share. And shares of both Palm (maker of the Treo) and Research in Motion (maker of blackberry) fell, 5.69% and 7.85% respectively (a collective loss of more than 2 billion dollars).

But here's the kicker. Apple doesn't even have a completely functional model yet. Those lucky few who have seen it report that some features are not yet ready for prime time. The demos are cool. The pictures are cool. But Apple won't have a phone ready to deliver for almost 5 months.

So all Apple really has is a well-designed model and a terrific story, worth more than 6 billion dollars. True, Apple is very good at delivering products that change categories. And that's what investors are betting on. Given their track record, it's a pretty safe bet.

But until the iPhone starts shipping, all Apple has is a very impressive, very well-told story.

What's your story worth?

Hat tip: tuaw.com.

Goodbye Fast Company

Well, it finally came.

My last issue of Fast Company, wrapped with a special cover warning in capital letters: THIS IS YOUR LAST ISSUE!

Good bye Fast Company. What we shared was good. Really good.

As a subscriber since issue #5, we had a great thing going. But you changed. And not for the better. At first I thought it was the dot com bubble. That threw us all for a loop. But while businesses recovered, you didn't. Maybe it was the acquisition. Your style and focus definitely changed. But two editors later, you still haven't found your way. 

You used to be about unique ideas like "Built to Last," "A Brand Called You," "The Wow Project" and "Permission Marketing." Now you focus on light bulbs? And horse tracks? Interesting articles, but not the kind of stuff you were printing when we first met. It's not like there aren't great ideas, new business ideas, and unique business approaches to write about.

I could go on. But why? You're different now. And you're not going to change back. I've been waiting for nearly two years for you to come around. In the words of Bob Marley, "I don't wanna wait in vain." So it's time for me to move on.

We'll always have our memories. It was good while it lasted. Good bye.

What's Your Story? Would It Make A Good Book?

I'm a big fan of direct marketing guru Alan Rosenspan. When it comes to response oriented marketing, he knows his stuff. He recently shared the following creative execution in his somewhat irregular newsletter:

It's amazing how much great direct marketing is done around the world these days—and not just in the U.S.

I attended the 2006 Caples Award Show in New York City and the Best of Show Award went to The Republic of Singapore Navy.

It was called "Navy Page-Turner" and the objective was daunting. The purpose of the campaign was to encourage 17-year olds to join the Singapore Navy.

It sounds like fun until you learn it's a 10-year commitment.

Saatchi & Saatchi of Singapore were up to the task. They send out bound paperback books, with titles that were personalized on the cover, the spine and the back cover.

The titles were designed to attract the attention of their market and also get excited about the adventures that lay ahead. They included:

Sample A. Sample in
Uncharted Depths!

Sample A. Sample in
Courage at
640 Knots!

The books were blank inside—to dramatize the point that the story—your story—was waiting to be written.

And the copy in the enclosed letter asked the provocative question, "If your life was a book, would anyone read it?"

Great question. And good campaign. We all love a good adventure story—especially about ourselves. Would anyone read your life story?

Learning—Part of Work

I thought I was done posting for the night... then I stumbled across this article (may require registration) about Pixar University and how the company is using ongoing learning to foster a unique environment in Hollywood. Not only that, but it results in a better product. From the article:

"The skills we develop are skills we need everywhere in the organization," Mr. Nelson said. "Why teach drawing to accountants? Because drawing class doesn't just teach people to draw. It teaches them to be more observant. There's no company on earth that wouldn't benefit from having people become more observant."

Branding a Scent (This Looks Familiar)

In the category of "You Heard It Here First" comes this news from Brand Noise and Primal Branding: Omni Hotels will soon introduce its own unique scent. Apparently Aveda and Sumsung have done something similar (originally reported here). And of course, readers of this blog will remember the grass-scented tennis balls and attempt to trademark the scent of strawberries I wrote about here and here.

Sadly, I'm still waiting for someone else to use the word AROMArketing to describe this growing phenomena.

Telling a Brand Story with Packaging

The latest issue of Package Design magazine features a profile of the new can for Waistline brand soups (no need to read the article, it's not that great). But the new package (shown here) is a great example of a company telling a brand story with a package. The can is slimmer in the middle than the top and bottom and makes good use of the color green, which represents healthy foods. Shoppers who see this can will know these soups are supposed to help you lose weight.

There are a lot of unique and cool packages out there, from vodka to the Homer- and Marge-shaped tins for a season of the Simpsons DVDs. But it's rare to find a package that actually takes the opportunity to communicate a brand benefit. Cool is one thing. But a package that communicates the brand story? That's a great way to get attention on the shelf.

Another company/brand that does this well is Gatorade. I love the cooler shaped package they started using for their powder in 1996. It not only immediately says, sports, it also reminds buyers of Gatorade's most recognized brand image—the Gatorade dunk. And liquid Gatorade comes in a water bottle, reinforcing the idea that Gatorade is sports hydration.

Of course, not all packages can do this. It isn't always practical or affordable. But even if your product must "live" in a boring package, you can use the space to tell your brand story. In-and-Out Burger (their brand message is "fresh" fast food) uses it's paper wrapper to remind customers that the buns are made the old fashioned way and the burger is never frozen. The fry tray talks about the potato, the cholersterol-free oil, and the fact that your fries were cut fresh right before you arrived. Smart.

Want to read more about packaging's place in branding? Here's a decent article, though it doesn't address packages that convey the brand story. Hopefully we'll see more companies take advantage of this opportunity in the future.

Three Great Links

Being Reasonable is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs. Marc Babej is live blogging the Fortune Innovation Forum. Three of his posts struck a chord with me:

Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity.
Chris Albrecht on Innovation at HBO.
Cook and Lombard on Products and Partnerhsips.

There's lots more at the Being Reasonable blog. Check them all out.