I love the story of the elf – that is so precious

I cannot wait to see how this all comes together. I love that we are putting our people in the hero role. I also have to tell you that is has been really cool to be on the “journey” as you have shared the idea from inception through development. I think we are all waiting for the next installment.

I hope one of the story lines involves some of the great things our stores do n their communities. I love that story from the Roadshow of the store that worked with Mayor to provide PCs for the learning lab. I got completely choked up when I watched it. One store had such an impact on the kids in that town. Proves we can make a difference.

You know we don’t even know now what Errol is going to do with the stories. There were a lot of them, 30 Blue Shirts in all and there was no script, The stories captured here were really just a taste. I didn’t attend all of the days but I know that Errol and the Blue Shirts just talked.

By the wya, this format will be part of our Hispanic marketing efforts and we will be filming on Monday for online specific consumption not to mention what we end up doing with all the film we did this week. Lots to process. Will be uploading about 10 more to the blog in a few minutes. I figured out how to upload to YouTube all by myself. I feel like i have arrived!

This is fantastic! Raw and real, but so engaging and charming. You can’t help but get drawn into his story and start to imagine a Geek agent, with a soul patch, working as an elf. It made me think about what I might have done had I been in his position – a sign of deeper engagement in the story than just casual watching. To me, it says that Best Buy is willing to go to extremes to make customer dreams a reality. A good message to land at a time where every retailer will be cutting back.

I know the real magic occurs in the edit suite, so I can’t wait to see what Errol does with the footage he captured and how he weaves it all together.

Excellent stuff, Barry. The rapport between Errol and your employees delivered some great material. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it all.

This is very cool, and potentially very powerful footage. Agree with JWeb that it’s been refreshing to be taken along for the ride to-date in such a transparent manner. Will be powerful in the future when more people/employees are able to experience this.

Specifically, the stories that strike a chord with me are the ones that hit on the truly emotional moments that we share with customers that aren’t focused on what the product does for them, rather, what we’ve been able to do for them. In particular, I think Angelia, Maurice, Mechelle, Dave and Emily brought forth some pretty unique stories on how they are able to find a way to connect to cosumers. They seem real, proud, and have an energy and apssion to them, and come off as truly enjoying what they do. Great representitives for the brand…

Some of the other casting tapes posted tended to focus on how we were able to find a different product than the one they originally sought, which might sound suspiciosly like upselling to skeptical consumers.

Overall, I think these have a chance to land a powerful message to consumers that “we get them”, and that our Brand is represented on a daily basis by fun, energetic, ougoing people who truly relish the opportunity to help because we’re passionate about getting it right for the consumer.

I want to remind everyone that these tapes were used to determine which of the 200 employee stories would be selected to film a longer session with Errol. These were shot at Best Buy HQ with the Errol’s production team and Yellow Tag. Errol was not involved in this work. We then had 30 employees (these clips were 9 of the 30) go to LA last week to shoot 1 hour segments that would then be cut down to :30s. My expectation is that these stories only get better in the longer shoots and in the editing studio.

Not as close to the Capability doings as before. Heard about this approach. Facinating and powerful. Loking forward to seeing continued development.

OK Just had another chance to watch a couple more–EMILY from Richfield was GREAT! Love her spirit and enthusiasm. Also love how Errol is laughing and chatting he just seems super down to earth. So fun!

I’m appreciating the transparency to the process on so many levels. What a trip! It’s the kind of inspirational storytelling that can be a springboard for more creative thinking, more ways into the authenticity. Sharing the good news with my teams, asking for ideas on how to connect in to the (multiple) ideas here. BTW, I’m a bigggg Ashley and Emily fan!

Endearing and smart. I second Jennie’s appreciation for Emily–she’s a star!

Everyone in these has precisely the authenticity that can bring a brand to a whole new level with consumers. Errol Morris is anything but contrived and he’s connecting BBY’s people–the company’s greatest asset–to the kind of experience consumers long for.

It’s gold, Barry! Pure gold. Congrats.

I just uploaded all of the casting videos to our Best Buy YouTube Channel. There are 25 total. If you want to view, they’re in a playlist called “Our Employees.”

Here’s a link to the page they start on….

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9484BF5F540B35AE&page=2

The channel’s main URL is:

http://www.youtube.com/bestbuy

Great stories – I am fascinated by this approach to bring to light the emotions that drive the Blue Shirts and Best Buy – can’t wait to see how this actually helps BBY build authentic connections with our customers. Would love to see how customers who see these respond to the brand promises – will these authentic stories make those more believable? Thanks for sharing.

Barry: I’m in your business and have monitored your Twitter posts over time and love the transparency.

The campaign is solid and has even been proven effective with other brands (my favorite execution of similar is currently from OnStar because it’s not only real employees, but in the actual events — and similarly effective past executions Ford and Wal-Mart). I expect this will work brilliantly for you at Best Buy to bring to life the store associates.

Question/Thought to extend this concept: If you like the idea of bringing your associates’ qualities to the forefront with your customers, why don’t you create retail programs and events that specifically create a real-life reason to do so, AND THEN CREATE ADS AROUND THOSE? BBY has a huge marketing opportunity to leverage the entertainment-orientation of your product lines to host major product, movie, or video game introductions or even previews and have your employees show their stuff by managing the demos or events. Per your earlier post about new online brand extensions because your retail growth opportunity is slowing — why not steal share from Mass Merch by hosting massive store experiences (in-store Guitar Hero challenges on launch night, etc etc) that create a reason not to just go to Wal-Mart by offering exclusive offerings and, coming back to the theme of this new ad campaign, showcasing the quality of Best Buy employees in the process?

You then film THAT and you’ve got a campaign that works even harder by showing how your employees, and your stores, bring differentiated and wonderful experiences to customers who will be cheated if they go anywhere else.

Barry, Our employees are very inspiring for me. One can feel the energy on the tapes. How do we keep that energy authentic on the edited TV slots?
Check out IAMBESTBUY- i like the way that movement is emerging as a voice of our employees.
Kal

Hi Barry,
Check out iambestbuy.com. Amazing employee stories emerging. Also on the youtube channel.
Kal

hmmmm, very interestng….any chance this can be out before thanksgiving

I am not sure I understand the question. Any chance what can be out before Thanksgiving?