Brand Autopsy

Zappos $1,000 Offer

Ever heard of a “Quit-Now” bonus for new employees? We’ve all heard of severance packages where long-standing employees are essentially paid a bonus to quit now. But a “Quit-Now” bonus for new employees to voluntarily leave after a week on the job … that’s novel.

Bill Taylor, of Mavericks at Work fame, writes how Zappos , a fast-growing online shoe retailer, will offer one-week old employees a “Quit-Now” bonus of $1,000. Zappos will ask new employees this question … “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.”

Why does Zappos do this? The reasoning, as Bill Taylor put it, is …

“Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture—which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick—and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)” READ MORE

Brilliant! Bloody brilliant!!

Thanks to someone’s blog for the hook-up. (Sorry, I forget who clued me in.)

An Amazing Bookstore

Hey everyone, I'm still out-of-pocket yet I stumbled upon something amazing in my European travels that I had to share immediately...

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Picture this. A historic cathedral sits empty in the heart of Maastricht (Netherlands) shopping district.

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Now picture this. Selexyz converts the historic cathedral into a bookstore.

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That’s remarkable. So remarkable that I’m remarking about it here. So remarkable Seth is sure to reference this bookstore in a presentation. So remarkable you are going to spend time looking at the photos below and then click on the links to learn more. So remarkable you will remark about this with others.

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>> More information << | >> More photos <<

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Why is Everyone Smiling

"Call centers are traditionally commodity businesses with very low margins, high turnover, and low morale. We're the complete opposite. We have profits that are four to five times higher than other call center companies. And we have a fraction of the normal attrition."

Paul Speigelman | CEO, co-founder of Beryl

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Beryl operates call centers for hospital and health care providers. So when you call a hospital in the middle of the night, chances are you’ll be talking to a nurse at a call center and maybe a nurse from Beryl. This not a glamorous business but it is a necessary business.

As Paul says in the above quote, call centers are a commodity business where pay is low and turnover is high. Yet Beryl has managed to grow with zest and zeal that belies the fact it is a commodified business. Beryl has grown to become a $25-million dollar with over 300 employees.

Since it competes in a margin-challenged industry, Beryl can’t afford to pay its employees more than its competitors. According to a Dallas Morning News article, a new Beryl call center employee makes no more than $22k. An experienced Beryl call center employee may make as much as $35k.

In the same article, Paul explains instead of paying employees more per hour, Beryl spends “hundreds of thousands of dollars a year” to make the workplace more fun and enjoyable. They throw parties for employees, take field trips during the day, conduct a murder mystery game that has employees spending weeks solving whodunit.

And Paul, the CEO, finds new ways to humiliate himself in front of employees. At one company party he might be dressed up as a matador roller skating around the gala. Or he could take on all comers in a game of one-on-one basketball during the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

You can learn all about Paul’s management philosophy and business beliefs in his recently published book, WHY IS EVERYONE SMILING? Bo Burlingham, of "Small Giants" fame, wrote the foreword to the book and he gushes about the special company culture at Beryl.

One of Paul’s key management practices is “Employees should always expect fun just around the corner.” Below are ten practices Paul believes can ensure that fun is just around the corner for employees. You’d be wise to read them and act upon them. (You’d also be wise to read Paul’s book.) Enjoy…

WAYS TO MAKE EMPLOYEES SMILE Paul Speigelman | CEO, co-founder of Beryl

Give Employees a Voice
We have the Better Beryl Bureau, a group of 15 co-workers from all facets of the organization responsible for enhancing our culture.

Pay them Fairly
Money is not the only source of motivation, but the lack of a fair pay structure can quickly lead to dissension.

Recognize and Reward
Leaders must personally let people know that they appreciate them. Peer-to-peer recognition is equally valuable. We encourage peer recognition certificates and hold quarterly drawings for winners who receive cash prizes.

Offer Opportunities for Advancement
Look first within the ranks when a position becomes available. Provide opportunities for training and mentoring to help people grow personally and professionally.

Support Out-of-the-Box Semantics
Our HR department is the ‘Department of Great People and Fun, and its director is the ‘Queen of Fun and Laughter.’”

Infiltrate the Workplace with Fun
Look for opportunities to celebrate and make them festive.

Walk the Walk
If you're having a down day, don't let it show. If you can't disguise your feelings, stay home. Just as laughter is contagious, so is a frown.

Send a Handwritten Note
It's even more appreciated today than it was two decades ago.

Let Down your Guard.
Don't be afraid to sit in the dunk tank during a family picnic or don a costume in a celebration.

Open your Heart
We have created a formal program so that co-workers can inform us about events in their lives or the lives of their peers, and we find appropriate ways to be there for them when they need us.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News article | Sept. 4, 2007

Doritos X-13D

Eric Ryan, co-founder of Method cleaning products, has been quoted as saying … “There is no such thing as dull product categories, only dull products.”

Think the potato chip category is boring? Think again …

photos from flickr

Just when we’ve been lulled to think the potato chip category was stale, here comes Doritos X-13D. In the latest iteration of customer co-creation, Frito-Lay wants everyday people to “Get it. Taste it. Name it.”

We consumers are to buy this mysterious product. Decipher what it tastes like. Then, submit a product name. The winner gets a year’s supply of whatever the name ends up being for the Doritos X-13D experiment.

Kudos to Doritos for flavoring their newest potato chip with some marketing zest.

Can’t find a package of Doritos X-13D? Try eBay.

What’s Next for Zingerman’s Deli?

I’ve never been fortunate enough to experience Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, MI. (Read a lot about this company to know I admire it though. It’s a classic small company that acts big.)

Zingerman’s purposely decided not to franchise its renowned deli restaurant and take it from being local to being global. Instead, Zingerman’s decided to grow itself by adding additional stand-alone businesses like a coffee company, a barbeque restaurant, a bakery, and a customer service training company.

Zingerman’s is now turning 25 years old and at yet another crossroads in its existence. Zingerman’s first crossroads came fifteen years ago when it began asking the difficult question of what it wanted to be when it grew up. Well … with $30-million dollars in sales and its operation of eight distinct businesses, Zingerman’s is all grown up now. So now, Zingerman’s is again asking questions about what it wants to be when it grows up yet again.

Learn more about what’s next for Zingerman’s from this worthwhile New York Times aticle (May 3, 2007). And, re-learn the story about how Zingerman’s first answered the question of what it wanted to be when it grew up from this vintage Inc. Magazine article (January 2003).

Me Loves the “Wine That Loves” Labels

UPDATED (April 5th):
The Wine That Loves website is now online. And, BusinessWeek (SmallBiz edition) has an interesting piece on Wine That Loves.

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For many of us, it’s intimidating to buy wine. Why? Come on, we know the reasons why. Most labels are obtuse. Styles are ill-defined. Pairing wine with food is utter guesswork. And prices can get super-spendy.

It takes an educated person to understand the information on wine labels from the appellation of origin to the grape varietal to its quality designation. Most of us cannot begin to articulate the differences between a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sirah, Pinot Noir, or Zinfindel. Pairing wine with food beyond knowing that white goes with fish and red goes with steak is a mystery for many. And most of us shudder to think of spending $60+ on a bottle of wine we’ve never heard of at a restaurant.

That’s the problem and the Amazing Food Wine Co. thinks they have the answer—easy to understand wine labels.

According to BrandWeek, the Amazing Food Wine Co. is launching a new wine brand called, Wine That Loves. This new wine brand “…takes the guesswork out of pairing wine with food. Thus, Wine That Loves Pizza, Wine That Loves Pasta, Wine That Loves Roasted Chicken, and so on."

Yep, it’s a wine marketing effort designed to make pairing wines with food a no-brainer. Serving Roasted Chicken with a Caribbean-style Mango Glaze... pair the dish with the "Wine That Loves Roasted Chicken" bottle. Very simple, very easy, and quite interesting, eh? Take a gander at the creatively straight-forward label design:

Wine geeks do not like these labels because details like grape varietal, vintage year, and growing region are not included and those details matter greatly to wine geeks. But this wine isn’t being made for wine geeks. It’s for all those folks who are either intimidated by selecting wines or unable to decipher the language intricacies of wine labels. And ya know what, there are more wine neophytes than there are wine geeks.

While these wine labels take a whimsical approach to communicating wine and refuse to get caught up in granular grape details, it's not like they are absent of information. On the back-side of each bottle is information which will help wine newbies gain a basic tasting vocabulary (tannins, acidity levels, etc.) from which to better describe the wine they are drinking.

So maybe, just maybe, after being introduced to wine with the “Wines That Loves” labels, these wine neophytes will begin their journey to understanding/appreciating wine and ultimately graduate to wine geek status.

Now, let’s hope the Amazing Food Wine Co. took as much time crafting the wine inside the bottle as they did in crafting the label on the outside of the bottle.

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BTW … my Dad is a total wine geek. I’m curious to see if he is reading my blog and if he is, he’s sure to have an opinion on this post about wine. After all, he’s the guy with the know-it-all gene which was genetically bequeathed to me. John Moore calling Al Moore, come in Al...

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F.I.R.E.’d Up

My travels this week took me to Greenville, South Carolina where I connected with kindred spirits at Brains on Fire (BoF). Robbin, Spike, Virginia, and Geno (shown below) are just a few of the brains from BoF.

BoF is a whiz-bang marketing services company that lives by the credo of: Fascinate. Inspire. Reward. Engage. I spent a full day hanging out with the BoF crew and they shared with me some of their recent work which I found fascinating, inspiring, rewarding, and engaging.

Dig around the Brains on Fire blog and you might just get F.I.R.E.’d up too. I’ve already done some diggin’ for ya…

Robbin >> Hiring is Tiring
Spike >> Campaigns vs. Movements
Virginia >> Bringing Back Bandit
Geno >> I Still Have Hope

Pop Art Stores

We’ve seen Pop-Up Retail stores from Target, JC Penny, and Song (to name just three). And now we have POP-ART Retail storefronts. Last fall, Prada, bastions of high-end Italian couture, installed a retail storefront in Marfa, the epicenter of the West Texas badlands. It's not a store as you can't buy stuff. It's a Pop-Art store. Now that’s decidedly Godin-ish purple.

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from the El Paso Times …

"Prada Marfa" looks incredibly out of place, a permanent public art sculpture in the middle of nowhere.

Almost everyone in far West Texas is either scratching their heads and wondering what it's all about or talking about this strange art object in the desert that resembles a high-fashion boutique in Paris or Milan.

The artwork, a 15 1/2- by 25-foot stucco and adobe rectangular building filled with expensive hand-crafted Prada shoes and handbags, went up a couple of weeks ago on desolate ranch land on the outskirts of Valentine: population 217 and roughly a 2 1/2-hour drive southeast of El Paso.

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from an ARTFORUM article …

”Behind its shatterproof, plate-glass windows were posh-looking high heels and handbags. There amidst the tumbleweeds, in the very landscape where Giant was shot, was a boutique displaying accessories from Miuccia Prada's fall 2005 collection.

Was this the inevitable apotheosis of Judd-effect gentrification?

Not exactly—it was Prada Marfa, Elmgreen & Dragset's new, permanent sculpture, produced by local nonprofit Ballroom Marfa and New York-based Art Production Fund (co-founded by Doreen Remen and art maven/fashion enthusiast Yvonne Force Villareal). It's more or less a perfect, if small, replica of a typical Prada emporium—except it will always be closed.”

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More:
++ Associated Press article
++ pradamarfa.com
++ google search

BimActive is now Active

Last year I spent a little time working with Bones in Motion (BiM), an Austin-based technology start-up helping them fine-tune the marketing strategy of their first product, BiMActive.

Simply put, BiMActive turns your cell phone into a GPS-enabled high-tech pedometer. But BimActive is more than just a pimped-out pedometer. By syncing one’s cell phone with a satellite, BiMActive records distance, speed, pace, location, elevation, and calories burned while you run, cycle, hike, or whatever. All this information is accessible on one’s cell phone or online in one’s personal training journal. Cool stuff, eh?

Andy Graham and Jon Werner of BiM have spent the better part of the past three years to bring this remarkable product to market. Congratulations fellas … your idea is now reality.

For more on BiMActive, stream their demo from the recently held DEMOconference.

Buzzing Buzz-o-Phone

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Matt Galloway’s infatuation with Word-of-Mouth Marketing is now officially his avocation. He recently launched Buzz-o-Phone, an experiment where people can dial 1-800-591-5375 to rant or rave about companies they loath or love. Matt will then package the rants/raves into a podcast. Cool concept as it mixes old school tools with new school rules.

milliondollarhomepage.com

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UPDATED | March 28, 2006 ... I’ve closed comments to this post because of the derivative comments from people plugging their copycat version of the milliondollarhomepage. Since nothing worthwhile was being added to the conversation, I’ve elected to close comments. Sorry. I hope you understand.

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Alex Tew brings new meaning to CPP (cost per pixel) and new relevancy to the Law of Remarkability. At milliondollarhomepage.com, Tew sells advertising by the pixel. He divides a computer display screen in 10,000 squares selling advertising by the pixel at $1 per pixel (100 pixel minimum).

Launched in late August 2005, Tew has sold $712,000+ in advertising and milliondollarhomepage.com gets anywhere from 600,000 to 700,000 hits per month. For more on the remarkability of Alex Tew’s idea, read this Wall Street Journal article.

"It is Lighter than a Duck?"

I spent this past weekend at a beach house with friends. My buddy Mark, brought along a handheld gadget called "20Q"... It's full name is actually "20 Questions Deluxe." It's a small electronic game with an LED screen that 98% of the time accurately guesses what you're thinking in only 20 questions.

The goal is to try to stump the toy by thinking of something it cannot guess.

Think of something... nearly anything... and 20Q will ask you a series of questions.

It starts by asking you: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Other or Unknown...

It then seems to ask you a series of random questions...

"Is it heavier than a pound of butter?"

"Is it bigger than a microwave?"

"Is it colorful?"

You answer YES, NO, SOMETIMES or UNKNOWN...

While you think its query is all over the board... little do you know it's getting closer and closer to the answer...

It has amazing accuracy... It's hard to believe that in only 20 questions the artificial intelligence can guess random things like bowling ball, light bulb, clock radio, file cabinet, handcuffs, and dozens of others...

Once in a while it may guess VERY close, but wrong... for example... I was answering questions for "banjo"... it came up with "guitar" (close, but technically incorrect)... so it asked about 5 more questions and thought I was thinking of a "piano."

Other words it had trouble with included... sand dollar and... certain body parts (but it may be programmed to NOT guess those).

It's VERY addictive. All weekend it had the eight of us baffled... One by one we would each try it to try to stump it. Time after time, it would guess right!

I'm getting one for myself, for my brother and for others. It's fascinating.

If you can't wait to get to the toy aisle to buy one... here's a similar on-line version hosted on 20q.net

I wonder if this type of technology could be used to predict the quality of service an applicant may provide when interviewing for a job? Could this technology be used by medical professionals to diagnose illnesses? Could it be programmed to help coach people and help them make critical decisions? Interesting...

You can buy 20Q Deluxe many places... I'd recommend UncleGames.com (that's where I swiped the image in this post from).

Visit the ThinkGeek for a great description of how the technology works.

Tooth Tunes | Remarkability Amplified

4 out of 5 marketers agree, Tooth Tunes, a musical toothbrush from Hasbro, is a case study example of spending marketing dollars to make a product better.

“When pressed to the tooth, [Tooth Tunes] renders a recorded riff from a pop star that lasts two- minutes – precisely the amount of time dentists say children should be spend brushing their teeth." [source: Wall Street Journal article | sub req’d.]

Not only does it make the ho-hum toothbrush remarkable, it also solves the problem of getting children to brush their teeth more often and for longer periods of time.

For six years, Hasbro has been trying to develop the right use for their invention of a tiny devise that can transmit sound through enamel and bone. They first tried to use the technology in a lollipop but at $10 bucks a pop, consumers balked. Next, Hasbro considered using pens, spoons, and forks but none of those prototypes made it to the marketplace. Hasbro finally settled on a toothbrush and will launch Tooth Tunes in late summer.

If 4 out of 5 marketers agree this is a great example of using marketing spend to improve the product ... then who is the dissenting 5th marketer?

Bigger Burgers. Bigger Sales.

Last November, Hardee’s introduced the MONSTER THICKBURGER. While the 1,418 calorically-dense burger and its 107 grams of fat may not be healthy, sales at Hardee’s sure are healthy.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Burger sales at the roughly 2,050 Hardee's outlets have climbed 20% since the 2003 introduction of the first Thickburgers. CKE (owner of Hardee’s) has posted 19 consecutive months of same-store sales growth, after years of the opposite.” And the company’s stock price has zoomed to near $15.00 a share, up from a low of $3.69 two years ago.

I found the story of how Hardee's edgecrafted its way to sales success quite remarkable. Below is an excerpted abstract of the article ...

The order sounded like heresy to Bruce Frazer, chief architect of hamburgers for the Hardee's fast-food chain. While Hardee's rivals were making menus leaner and greener, Mr. Frazer's boss ordered him to build a "bigger, better burger."

First, Mr. Frazer delivered the Thickburger, topping out at two-thirds of a pound of Angus beef. Good, his boss said, now make an even bigger one. In November, Hardee's unveiled Mr. Frazer's Monster Thickburger: a pair of 5.7-ounce patties, four strips of bacon and three slices of American cheese on a buttered sesame-seed bun slathered with mayonnaise. It weighed in at 1,418 calories -- 600 calories more than Burger KingCorp.'s Whopper with cheese, or the equivalent of more than two of McDonald's Corp.'s Big Macs.

Consumers have long told fast-food chains that they want burgers with mayonnaise, but many chains eschew mayo because it is expensive. Mr. Frazer went with it anyway. Working with a development team in the Hardee's test kitchen, he increased the thickness of dill pickles on the sandwich and switched to a tastier, more-expensive American cheese.

The designers considered using a single thick tomato slice, but "it was just too tomatoey," Mr. Frazer says, so they settled on two thinner slices. Four slices of bacon overpowered the original Thickburger, so three were used, although the Monster Thickburger was big enough to handle four. Bigger burgers required a firmer bun, which required more dough -- at still more cost. Mr. Puzder wanted butter on the buns, so Hardee's commissioned the creation of a "butter wheel" that the bun's bottom is rolled over before it's popped onto a grill. Finally, Hardee's made franchisees pay for $7,000 grills with bigger flames that reduce cooking time and give burgers a "char flavor," Mr. Frazer says.

"The costs were pretty heavy [but] we had to do something," says Bill Boddie, chief executive of Boddie-Noell Enterprises Inc., the Rocky Mount, N.C., franchisee of about 320 Hardee's units. His sales had fallen throughout the late 1990s, he says, but are now climbing again.

Hardee's then splurged on advertising that cost $55 million last year. All the spending showed up in the price that Hardee's recommends franchisees charge for a Monster Thickburger: $5.49. By comparison, the most-expensive McDonald's sandwich, the Double Quarter-Pounder with cheese, is $3.60 in the Chicago area, while Burger King's Angus Bacon and Cheese sandwich runs just over $4.

The high price has helped boost the average guest check at Hardee's by 5% to $4.58 in the past year. Annual average sales per restaurant have risen nearly 19%, from a low of $716,000 in fiscal 2001 to $850,000 in the third quarter of fiscal 2005, but are still below the $1 million industry average.

As Hardee's had hoped, Thickburgers have done especially well with men aged 18 to 34 years old. Recently, at a Hardee's in Niles, Mich., a working-class town, Ben Townsend, 27, bit into a Bacon Double Cheese Thickburger -- all 1,300 gooey calories of it, plus fries. Was he worried it might endanger his health? "I've never even thought about it," said Mr. Townsend, who builds homes. "And to be honest, I don't really care. It just tastes good."

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (article)| Thursday, January 27, 2005 | subscription required]

Leftovers from the Category Killers BBBT

While prepping for the recently held Business Blog Book Tour VI for Category Killers, I asked Robert Spector (the author) which ‘killer categories’ were ripe to become the next category killers. Besides mentioning Metal Supermarket and Lightbulbs Unlimited, Spector mentioned the Container Store, a Dallas-based privately held company specializing in boxes, bins, and everything in-between to help consumers organize all their stuff.

Recently, The Dallas Morning News ran a profile (reg. req’d) on The Container Store and how they are experiencing tremendous sales success with their 14-month old Manhattan location.

According to the article, this Container Store, located in the Chelsea neighborhood, is generating 2½ times the sales of its next highest grossing location. And if that doesn’t impress you, then maybe the fact the store is producing $1,100 in sales per square foot will. It’s no wonder the Container Store will be opening up a second Manhattan location in March 2006.

The Container Store is a prototypical JumboShrimp company because they have gotten bigger by being smaller. As with all JumboShrimp companies, The Container Store isn’t trying to become the biggest storage/organization retailer … they are trying to become the best.

In its quest to become the best, The Container Store relentlessly cultivates a company culture where employees are inspired to go above and beyond in delivering great customer service. Nearly every product sold at The Container Store can be found at other category killers like Bed, Bath & Beyond, Linen & Things, and Storables. These companies can replicate the products The Container Store sells, but they can’t replicate the people that sell the products to customers.

JumboShrimp companies, like the Container Store, recognize competitors can replicate products, but they can’t replicate people.

For the last six years, The Container Store has been named by FORTUNE magazine as being one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” ranking in the top five in five of the last six years. That's remarkable. In a press release, The Container Store’s CEO/President, Kip Tindell, summed up their employee-first focus by saying,

"We know that our unbelievably great people are the reason behind The Container Store's success over the past 27 years and the FORTUNE honor is just one indicator that they feel trust and pride in the company – something that I'm very proud of. Each day, we're committed to making The Container Store an even better place to work – more training, benefits, communication, empowerment, FUN – it's a never-ending journey."

************************************************************************** To learn more about The Container Store, I recommend reading Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard Berry. Throughout the book, Berry highlights the people practices that have made The Container Store a respected and admired business.

Peddling the Soup Peddler

Last June we introduced Brand Autopsy readers to The Soup Peddler.

For the unaware … David Ansel, The Soup Peddler, quit his high-tech job in 2001 to start making homemade soups using seasonal, local, and organic ingredients. Better yet, he delivers his soups to customers in South Austin by bicycle. Yes, bicycle. Hence the name – The Soup Peddler.

The Soup Peddler is very much a case study in the art of being remarkable.

Much has evolved in the life of the Soup Peddler since June. These days David and his team of peddlers and soup makers deliver over 350 gallons of soup every week. He is quickly outgrowing his once seemingly gigantic soup kitchen. And, he is grappling with how to continue growing his company without losing touch with the original mission of the business.

I reckon the curse of being remarkable is dealing with the remarkable growth it brings and dealing with all the media attention it garners. Just in the last few weeks, David has been featured on The Food Network (.mov file), KXAN-TV (real player), News 8 Austin (windows media player), and The Soup Peddler documentary premiered on KLRU-TV.

If all that wasn’t enough, David is now blogging and he recently submitted the manuscript for his Slow and Difficult Recipes Cookbook to be published by Ten Speed Press this Fall. (Click here to read a sample chapter.)

Last month I sat down with David to talk soup, Fela Kuti, and ways he can apply basic JumboShrimp Marketing principles to his business.

JumboShrimp Marketing is all about getting bigger by being smaller and some of the principles we discussed were:

Being the Best, Not the Biggest

Going Beyond Stating a Mission to Living a Mission

Fostering Customer Devotion, Not Customer Loyalty

Appealing to Main Street More than Wall Street

Global Warming Bad, Local Warming Good

High-Touch Over High-Tech

David and I are scheduled to talk again ... so I'll keep y'all informed on how The Soup Peddler will continue getting bigger by being smaller.

CD Baby | a classic JumboShrimp company

CD Baby is a quintessential JumboShrimp company. Meaning, they are getting bigger by being smaller. Instead of selling CDs from mainstream artists from the rosters of major labels, CD Baby sells CDs only from independent artists (musicians not affiliated with a major label).

What began as a way for Derek Sivers to sell his band’s CDs, has turned into a way for 80,000 other independent artists to sell their CDs. And sales are exactly what’s happening with CD Baby having sold over 1.34 million CDs to online customers since 1998.

NPR’s Morning Edition profiled CD Baby this morning in an informative seven-minute story (click here to stream the audio).

In the story, CD Baby founder, Derek Sivers, recounted how/where/why he got the idea of starting CD Baby by approaching online retailers in 1996 …

I’ve sold 1,500 copies of this CD on my own and would you guys (online retailers) like to sell it? And they said, ‘Who is your distributor?’ I said, ‘Well … I don’t have a distributor and I don’t really want one. Can’t I just sell a box of CDs to you guys -- you sell it and when someone buys it, you ship it to them and pay me?’ And they went, ‘Ha-Ha … yeah, right … it doesn’t work like that kid.

So Derek setup a credit card merchant account and began selling his band’s CDs on the band’s website. Soon thereafter, friends began asking Derek to sell their CDs on the site as well. Once the band’s website became too commerce clunky, Derek began CD Baby.

Derek describes CD Baby as, “… a utopian experiment in how a distribution deal would work from a musician’s point-of-view.” The mechanics behind CD Baby do indeed favor the musician:

Musicians pay a one-time $35 setup fee and send CD Baby five CDs.

The artist sets the selling price and CD Baby keeps $4 from each sell with the musician keeping the rest.

Plus, CD Baby will never kick out any artist for not selling enough.

Sounds utopianistic to me.

But what really impresses me about CD Baby is how Derek measures success.

Instead of measuring success by how much revenue is generated for CD Baby, Derek measures success in how much revenue is generated for the independent musicians. And to date, CD Baby has paid out over $11.4 million dollars to musicians.

[Blogger’s note: I have had first hand experience with CD Baby having purchased a few Blaze CDs and Hot Buttered Rhythm CDs in the spring of 2003.]

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For more on the remarkable aspects of CD Baby, click below:

About CD Baby | CD Baby website

“CD Baby – An Outstanding Customer Experience”| Ripples blog | Dec. 1, 2004

“Be Yourself and Build the Buzz” | Church of the Customer blog | Nov. 7, 2003

Article/Interview | Future of Music Coalition | Oct. 8, 2003

The Remarkability of Anthropologie

While I am not their target audience I’ve always enjoyed and been inspired by the Anthropologie shopping experience. From their creative window displays to unconventional in-store signage to eclectic merchandise, Anthropologie has always impressed me with making the common uncommon … and uncommonly good at that.

So it shouldn’t surprise me that Anthropologie’s website made the common store locator task uncommon … and uncommonly creative at that.

Click here to find an Anthropologie store near you.

Very creative! Me likes.

Me also likes this story on Anthropologie from Fast Company Dec. 2002.

Making the Common Uncommon

Remarkable businesses make the common uncommon.

For example, Starbucks has made the common cup of coffee uncommon. Whole Foods Market took the common grocery shopping experience and made it uncommon. Mini has made the common 'compact' car uncommon.

And now,Which Wich is attempting to make the common sandwich uncommon … and uncommonly good at that.

“Which Wich who? Which Wich what?,” you ask.

Which Wich Superior Sandwiches is who. And the following four aspects are making Which Wich remarkable:

Remarkable Aspect #1: Customer Engagement
Which Wich reduces labor costs and increases customer involvement by having customers be their own order-taker. To order a Which Wich sandwich, customers choose a brown paper bag from one of 10 categories (turkey, ham, beef, chicken, seafood, vegetarian, saladwich, classics, and breakfast).

The customer then chooses their bread, cheese, spread(s), and spices by marking their choices directly on the bag. Customers complete the order by writing their name on the bag.

Remarkable Aspect #2: Low-Tech | High-Touch
Ain’t nothing fancy about how a customer’s order is communicated to Which Wich sandwich makers. The cashier takes the brown paper bag, attaches it to a zip line, and zooms it along the sandwich assembly line. No computer printouts, no computer monitors … just ink on a brown paper bag. Once the sandwich is prepared, a Which Wich expeditor calls out the order to be picked up, “Turkey on Wheat for Wynter.”

Remarkable Aspect #3: Simplified Pricing
All Which Wich sandwiches cost $4.00. Extras like avocado, bacon, more meat, and jalapenos cost $0.75 cents each.

Remarkable Aspect #4: Personalization
Because your order has your name on it, Which Wich workers can more easily establish a rapport with customers. Not to mention, calling out your name for pick-up helps to solve for any sandwich stealing shenanigans that may occur during busy hours.

Despite the crowded sandwich sector which includes the likes of Subway, Quiznos, Blimpie, Potbelly, and Schlotzsky's, Which Wich is managing not to get ‘sandwhiched’ (sorry, but you knew a pun was coming) in with these competitors and instead, they are finding ways to be remarkable.

Kudos to Which Wich for attempting to make the common sandwich uncommon.

[Blogger’s note … thanks to a tip from Al and Glenna Moore (my parents), I experienced Which Wich while in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. Needless to say, I was very impressed with the concept.]

*************************** Further Learning:

Youth, Energy, and Fresh Ideas | QSR Magazine (December 2003)

Genghis Grill Founder Debuts Which Wich Sandwich Concept | Nations Restaurant News (January 2004)

Sandwiches Get Hot | Dallas Business Journal (May 2004)

The Low-Tech/No-Tech Approach | QSR Journal (July 2004)

New Meaning to Fire Roasted Coffee

The Java-Log is the first fire log made from coffee grounds. (Yes, you read that right … used coffee grounds.) It weighs 5 pounds, burns for up to three hours, produces 3x the flames of wood, burns 7x cleaner than firewood, and costs around $3.50.

Purple Cow-ing the fire log. Nice.

***********************************

Further Learning:

Recent story from National Geographic online

The Java-Log website

The Java-Log story [PDF] (from the Java-Log website)

Read a Mini-Case study about Java-Log from Entrepreneur Magazine [July2004]

Featured as a TIME Magazine “Cool Invention” for 2003

Improv Your Business

Just because we have labeled it work that doesn't mean it has to be serious, stiff and boring. That's exactly the philosophy of Portland based company/troupe On Your Feet. They use improv and the philosophies of improv to teach companies to manage better under pressure and to find new ways to "create, relate, and communicate with skill and agility."

Here's how they describe it.

Business is uncertain

Great ideas emerge under the right conditions

Audiences want to be engaged

Teams want to be surprised

Actions matter

Most meetings suck

That's where improv can help.

To learn more about their antics, we (the marketing medics from Brand Autopsy) attended a ‘Play Day’ in Portland last week. They offer an afternoon 'try before you buy' where they share the methods of their madness.

Gary Hirsh and the gang at On Your Feet demonstrated how they "help organizations and individuals engage their audiences, generate breakthrough ideas, facilitate organizational learning, strengthen their culture, and discover new possibilities for their brand, all while having a ridiculously good time."

We had a blast.

If your usual methods of motivation have lost momentum... perhaps you need a boost of jest - check out On Your Feet.

Wine by the Ounce

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UPDATE: Tuscany Market is no longer in business.

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Wine by the Ounce. At Tuscany Market, a “gourmet market and eatery” located in north Austin, shoppers can sample one-ounce tasters of 32 red and white wines through the first computerized wine sampling system of its kind in the United States, reports Dale Rice in the Austin American Statesman (9/8/04). Tuscany co-owner Mike Sattler says, "There are a lot of times I would like to buy a bottle of wine that's a little more expensive, but I'm afraid to get it home and find I don't like it. This creates the ability for people to taste wine, experience it, learn, and go."

Tuscany’s computerized wine sampling system is situated in a chilled room and boasts 32 upright bottles housed in a pressurized preservation system which prevents deterioration. To sample any of the wines, shoppers need to first purchase a debit card from the store and load money directly onto the card much like you would with any stored value card. With the help of a Tuscany employee, the shopper places their debit card in a slot above the wine they wish to sample and the computerized system dispenses exactly one-ounce of wine into the glass and deducts money from the shopper’s debit card.

Most one-ounce wine samples cost 60 cents with more expensive wines costing around $3.00 per sample. The most expensive sample Tuscany Market offers is a 2000 Chateau Margaux, a French Bordeaux, which costs $20 an ounce to sample and $600 for a full bottle. In the six months Tuscany Market has been open, they have sold more than 1,200 wine sampling debit cards with an average sale per visit/per card of $16.73.

************************* For the real "Cool News of the Day" ... go here.

Ideas to Innovations ... the SolutionPeople Way

I returned from SolutionPeople’s one-day Accelerated Innovation seminar and found it very worthwhile.

You see, I fancy myself as a Marketing IdeaSlinger who lives by the motto of: HAVE IDEAS. WILL SHARE. My challenge has never been generating ideas but rather implementing ideas.

My biggest “Ah-Ha” moment from the seminar came when I learned SolutionPeople’s definition for innovation.

in-no-va-tion (n.): an idea in action

Another way to look at this is:

Idea + Action = INNOVATION
Idea + no action = IMAGINATION

So … for all these years, I’ve been imaginative but not innovative. (Aye Caramba! My creative world was just rocked. Ouch.)

Jodee Bock, our facilitator for the day, introduced me and the thirteen other seminar attendees to the KnowBrainer innovation|creativity tool from SolutionPeople.

Using this KnowBrainer tool, SolutionPeople teaches a four-step process for making innovation happen from identifying needs to generating ideas to assessing solutions, and to putting plans into action.

The beauty of the KnowBrainer tool is at every innovation stage, the tool asks you focused questions designed to better create, shape, evaluate, and activate the idea(s) for implementation.

The KnowBrainer is more than an innovation tool, its a catalyst to zoom ideas into action.

As a project manager, I’ve never had problems identifying needs and ideating potential solutions. However, I, along with my project team, will inevitably get stalled in the evaluation and action stages of a project. I’m looking forward to using what I learned from the seminar to help my project teams get past those mid-project hiccup phases.

All seminar attendees began the day with a goal/problem. And through using the KnowBrainer tool, we each left with specific action steps to implement the best ideas to help us achieve/solve our beginning goal/problem. Leaving with specific action steps made for a highly productive day at the Thinkubator.

With this knowledge and tool in hand … maybe, just maybe ... this Marketing IdeaSlinger will become a Marketing InnovationSlinger living by the motto of:

HAVE IDEAS.
WILL SHARE.
AND IMPLEMENT.

***************************** For a list of upcoming SolutionPeople seminars, click here.

Vocation Vacation

Is your dream job to be a vintner? Or a fishing guide? A cattle rancher? How about a chocolatier? Sure, you may be a cubicle monkey today, but given an opportunity to have some on-the-job-experience you may be ready to ditch your dreary job for your dream job.

Vocation Vacations is in the experience business … the business of experiencing your dream job that is.

For a fee, Vocation Vacations will pair you with an expert mentor who will be your guide as you take your dream job for a test drive. A recent Marketplace radio report profiled a home brewer who, on his Vocation Vacation, spent the day shadowing and learning from the brewmaster at Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, OR.

From a marketing perspective, I view the Vocation Vacations concept as a potential Brand Evangelist Boot Camp where fanatical customers can spend a few days inside the company they so fervently follow.

This is taking the customer experience to a new level as the home brewer experienced by spending a day on the job at Full Sail. Now, he not only knows the story of Full Sail Brewing, he also has an emotional connection with the company. A connection he is sure to talk glowingly about for years to come.

Further learning:
USA Today article on Vocation Vacations

The Soup Peddler – A Case Study in the Art of Being Remarkable

“Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting.” (From the Purple Cow by Seth Godin.)

David Ansel, The Soup Peddler, quit his high-tech job in 2001 to not only make homemade soups using seasonal, local, and organic ingredients ... he also delivers his soups to customers in South Austin by bicycle.

Yes, bicycle. Hence the name … The Soup Peddler.

For The Soup Peddler, being remarkable is all about great soup, sustainability, slow food, and peddling fast.

To learn more about The Soup Peddler ...

Read this Christian Science Monitor profile from 10.22.03

Skim this Austin Chronicle article from 6.17.04

Visit The Soup Peddler's website to learn about his soupology

A Latte to Learn

It's funny. I remember Krispy Kreme, like White Castle, as a place in the south where you could go to for a 24-hour snack. A clean, 'blue collar' place - not a chichi vogue place to go. It was functional. You wanted a donut; they were hot and fresh (and delicious). I specifically remember a big piece of their business was selling wholesale to school groups for fundraisers - cheerleaders would sell donuts to raise money for new uniforms or for bus trips to the state championship.

Krispy Kreme's rise to popularity has been interesting to me. I lived in NYC when the first KK opened. It was so popular it was as if New Yorker's invented KK themselves.

So while this fresh new start has been interesting to experience... it seems they're getting stale already.

Now I'm going to share one experience, at one location, at one moment in time (but still)...

I went to KK this weekend for a donut and coffee... Instead of a drip coffee, I thought I'd check out their espresso. After all, I understand that they've added that to their mix to be more competitive in the espresso market. I ordered their latte with their original Kreme flavoring... Evidently they offer four kinds of milk - nonfat/skim, 2%, whole milk and their original Kreme flavored milk.

After I place my order, the woman on the register asked a gal on the production line something about my drink. They asked another gal to help. She went to the espresso machine and was flipping through some pages – to find a recipe and/or instructions on how to make my drink.

The register gal returned and said that "We can’t make it right now because the girl who makes the espresso wasn’t there." Wow. No one else has been trained to make espresso beverages? (In Seattle?)

Of course, it was neat seeing the production thru the window… and I got a free donut. But, should they stick at what they're good at? Great donuts and fresh coffee?

Song's Random Acts of Coolness

The “Random Acts of Coolness” promotion from Song Airlines is … very cool.

In six cities beginning today, Song flight attendants and gate attendants will reward customers for being nice by giving them a free round-trip ticket.

Suppose a Song customer gives up their aisle seat so a couple could sit together … that act of coolness by a customer could be rewarded with a free round-trip ticket. Over the next couple of days, Song will be giving away 5,000 free round-trip tickets to such courteous customers.

A traveling curmudgeon, like the one in the NPR story this morning, noted that he’d rather see airlines improve their services than reward customers for good behavior.

The marketing gadfly in me respects the curmudgeon’s take; however, I applaud Song for running the program.

I applaud Song for empowering and trusting their flight attendants and gate attendants to execute this program. Song is not defining what a “cool act” should be. Rewarding a nice customer will be at the sole discretion of the Song employee. That’s cool.

Years ago when I was doing marketing for Starbucks Coffee, we did a few “random acts of kindness” programs where we gave store baristas free drink coupons to randomly reward customers. Ultimately, we stopped doing those programs because we couldn’t “trust” the barista to hand out the coupons to worthy customers and not to their friends.

That is why I applaud Song for empowering and trusting their employees to hand-out $300 round-trip tickets when Starbucks couldn’t trust their baristas to hand-out $3.00 coupons.

Off Paco's Lips Now

Last month, as part of his book tour, promoting Call of the Mall author Paco Underhill visited our offices. He shared with us his background and a bit about his first book Why We Buy – all very interesting. However, the Q&A part of his presentation was the most interesting...

Here are a few of the interesting thoughts Paco shared… (paraphrased and in my own words…)

Paco mentioned three retail concepts that he thought had it right…
• Staples – they have a new store concept that makes finding what you want within the store very easy. You wouldn't find yourself wandering up and down the aisles unless you wanted to.
• Zara – a fashion apparel company highlighted for the way they’ve set up a network to manage inventory from the factory to the store floor
• Three Minute Happiness* – a Japanese based store with general household and houseware items. *Scroll down to the second image - This is the only link I could find… It's a Japanese site translated through AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation Service – it's difficult to understand, but you can at least get the picture - literally.

• He believes that we’re “past the age where companies are driven by a visionary general”. Where a single individual owns and drives the overall concept and direction of an organization. He said we’re in the age where empowered captains and sergeants are/should be running organizations. Where the brand DNA of the company is carried and executed by many.

• He mentioned that when customers love a product so much you could say they almost worship it… for us, he said we’re in the "worship of coffee business" (stay with me here). Paco mentioned that there are three types of worshipers: the Novice, the Acolyte and the Deacon. (This is similar to the way Ben and Jackie use the term Evangelist for a customer who is a raving fan). You need to treat each type of worshiper according to their level of experience with your product. The Deacon can easily explain the concept to others… the Novice, however, is just a beginner and my need help understanding how your concept works. (At Starbucks – the 'deacon' could order their drink using all the drink calling wording just like a barista… a novice is still trying to understand how it all works).

Paco also made reference to three forms of time. To customers time passes in three forms:
• 1) real
• 2) perceived
• 3) a combination of real and perceived

real – An episode of Gilligan's Island feels pretty much like a 1/2 hour with the commercials and all. I pretty much know it'll be a 30-minute show and that's basically how it feels…

perceived - waiting in line for 30 minutes for a fresh, hot Krispy Kreme donut goes by very quickly – you may perceive it as a shorter wait than it is. Waiting for 5 minutes at the department of motor vehicle office can feel like a lifetime.

combination – the best example I can think of is waiting in line at a theme park. A queue line may take 40 minutes (and feel somewhere between 20 and 60 depending on the temperature and who you're in line with)… The ride itself may last for 10 minutes, but may feel like 5 because it was so engaging or thrilling.

Very interesting thoughts... I recommend you check out either of his books if you haven't already.