Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Best Buy Employees Deliver a Strong Brand Message. So Can Yours.

You’ve seen Best Buy’s television commercials featuring real, live “blue shirts”—employees of the electronics retailer—describing their real experiences with customers. The employees volunteered their stories, which have been captured intensely by director Errol Morris for BBDO.

One spot shows an employee helping a blind man learn to use his home-theater system. Another recreates a husband and wife’s spat over what kind of computer to buy. Over the holidays, some blue shirts even caroled their way onto the small screen.
No sales pitches, no prices, not even any exclamation points! The campaign’s theme is simply, “You, Happier.”

A great example of a company that understands what a brand is and isn’t.

Is: The relationships built between employees and customers.

Isn’t: The latest iThing, a sale, cool logo or fancy packaging.

As companies try to find ways to build relationships with customers to grow—or even maintain—business in a wobbly economy, Best Buy CMO Barry Judge found the inspiration for his branding strategy literally surrounding him, in the form of employees.

In the commercials, “we try to demonstrate how it’s our people (not the stuff) that make the difference,” Judge said.

He’s on to something.

The Gallup Organization found that 80% of the market value of the average S&P 500 company is made up of intangible assets like brand, customer base, innovation and talent of its employees.

It’s what separates one brand from competitors, regardless of industry. No two businesses have the same blend of individual styles, generations and cultures spread amongst their employee population. This unique mix becomes a differentiation that can’t be duplicated, the DNA of a given brand. That differentiation can be used to strengthen the connection to customers.

Traditional consumer marketing methods—special promotions, points-based loyalty programs—are tired, and consumers are skeptical of them. But, grow a brand through stronger bonds between employees and customers, and the overall business grows as well. Consumers turn to value and brands they can trust, making relationships critical to every business situation.

And it’s cheaper. This kind of marketing strategy leverages existing investments—employees.

Best Buy is, in essence, declaring: “Here are our employees, and we’re proud of them. We don’t need models or actors to help us connect with you, our customers. That’s not genuine. These are real people who can really help you. We care about them and we care about you.”

The company is personifying its brand, in the form of people who need people to succeed, who want to build relationships.

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