Brand marketers can feel like fish out of water in Retail. I came from the Packaged Goods world and I can attest very well to this feeling. Positioning a Brand whose “product” is based upon people, experience and price is very different than Gatorade where I cut my teeth. When I first got to Best Buy, I was often told after what I thought was a riveting customer analysis, “That’s nice but how do I make it actionable in the store or “What does a store employee do, now that you have told me this.” So for me, its been a journey on how to make our Brand Positioning work matter in the customer experience.
@Chrislovett (http://twitter.com/chrislovett) recently asked me, “How can we make everyone a brand ambassador?” This thought is so right on based upon what I have learned. And, I think our associates are fanatical ambassadors of our brand. So the spin on the question for us might be, “How can we make the brand reflect the hundred thousand fanatical ambassadors that are making our customers happy everyday?”
When we are on our game the “brand,” or who we are, is almost palpable. You can feel the energy; the vibrancy that is Best Buy. There is a deeply rooted desire to get it right for the customer, and make sure they are happy. Our mission is to make our customer’s technology dreams come true. To help them realize the promise of technology by inspiring them with the possibilities while also taking care of the problems that get in the way. For us, we call this “Dream Support,” and is the internal (inside our Company) articulation of what we aspire our Brand to be. The customer facing language for this is “Buyer Be Happy,” which will be our new tag line beginning this Summer.
I know, it sounds like a very difficult (maybe unattainable) objective. But we have an entrepreneurial spirit that runs deep, and as a culture we are highly motivated by lofty challenges. We have gained an appreciation for how our brand can point us in the right direction. And this direction feels right in so many ways; because it reflects the passion of our people, and because it gives us a great platform for continued growth as a company. We are not fully there yet, and we know that. But that is the point because it is the climb that we enjoy.
I think what you will notice, in the next several months, is a renewed commitment to making our customers’ happy; unparalleled support to make technology work the way it should; and advertising that gets at the heart of our brand. Let me know. I am always listening and I want to know how we are tracking.
Hi Barry, speaking personally my experience with Best Buy customer service has always ranged from good to exceptional. Can’t recall anything less than that. One stand out experience was when I was buying a new tv – had a very patient, knowledgeable assistant. From a branding perspective, I like the new tagline – clever play on Buyer Beware, and very timely (happiness in a time of general anxiety is refreshing).
Barry-
First off I really like that your goal is outside of your current reach or “unattainable” as you said. Having the company push itself past its limits for the customer is exciting. I heard a podcast recently about good blog writing, and it focused on being specific. The question was posed,
“If you could only write to 10 people who would it be? Now that you have those 10 people in mind write to them.”
Then another question drilling down even farther.
“If you could only write to 1 person who would it be? Now that you have that 1 person in mind write to them.”
Do you and your team have something like this as you approach the BBY customer? If not how do you specifically focus on making EVERYONE happy?
Thanks!
It strikes me that the most critical aspect in being able to support the dreams of the customers is to be able to UNDER the dreams of the customers. So the trick will be in teaching the brand ambassadors the way to coax those dreams from the customers, then interpret them properly.
Helping the the blue shirts realize their technology dreams is the surest way to create brand emabassadors. The power of mobilizing that army would be unstoppable. Lets see Walmart try that
Barry, as owner and CEO of a marketing agency that specializes in the tricky work of combining brand and retail messages, I speak with 19 years of experience that you’ve got the right thought process going on here. Best Buy has a brand that is absolutely great, and only as great as it’s people. For me, your brand revolves heavily around one Best Buy person, Shaun Schuetz. To me, he is Best Buy. They are your brand, and that’s the biggest opportunity…and challenge. Hats off to you for your comments.
i am very please’s for the work you all did on computer PC.
You are correct that fully actualizing the brand potential requires tapping in to the passion that your employees bring to the salesfloor everyday, and translating that into memorable customer experiences, one customer at a time. I congratulate you for recognizing that your challenge is to develop stategies for doing that within each and every store from your highly centralized corporate position. It is a challenge that every major retailer faces, and Best Buy certainly does it as well as any.
[...] Why is that so cool? Because they are creating personal service and expertise that is authentic and transparent which is what social media is all about. The report came out on Bloomberg on July 2nd in an article called Best Buy Uses Twitter to Create Sales, Service Team (Update1) CMO Barry Judge discussed this on his blog in a post titled Bringing Dream Support To Life In The Customer Experience. [...]
@Chrislovett (http://twitter.com/chrislovett) recently asked me, “How can we make everyone a brand ambassador?”
Why not let the brand represent everyone? Make the brand personal, your thoughts, your feelings, your style? This is My Best Buy! a genericized trademark idea?
Imagine a new marketing vehicle that allows consumers to interact with real, 3-D, life-like images of their products of interest ( ex. mp3, mobile phone, laptop, TV). Or, imagine the possibilites for our blue shirts and customers to simulate an entire home theater setup while at a BBY store or in the comfort of their homes. Experiences such as this would not only WOW customers, allow them to visualize their technology dreams, but also give them a reason to shop with only BBY. Marketing can span traditional print to BBY’s on-line channel at bestbuy.com…It seems to good to be true, but this technology is out there!! It’s called Augmented Reality and I propose we utilize it to WOW customers in their homes, in our stores, on-line, mobile, or wherever they happen to be!
[...] Bringing dream support to life in the customer experience [...]
[...] and what they hope to do with technology enables employees to engage in lasting relationships. Judge explains this on his blog: “Our mission is to make our customer’s technology dreams come true. To help them realize [...]