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How Do Your Customers Experience Your Brand?

June 24, 2009
Yesterday I attended the Social Media Online Marketing Masters Summit in Chicago. The ballroom at the Blackstone Hotel was packed with business owners eager to learn more about how to build their brand online and I was on hand along with @williger to provide free Twitter consultations to the 200 people in attendance.

But one of the most interesting presentations of the day was an offline retail story from David Roth and Rick Bacher of Get Stirred Up, co-founders of Cereality Bar and Cafe. Cereality served cereal - hot and cold - in any combination with almost any topping. You want some Cinnamon Toast Crunch with your Grapenuts and some berries on top? No problem. Or maybe you're a Captain Crunch + Fruity Pebbles type; they served that too.

Cereality was a huge hit in major metropolitan areas and college campuses and  became a powerful brand and new retail channel in a multi-billion dollar industry arguably overnight. Yesterday Roth and Bacher, who have since sold Cerality to the parent company of Cold Stone Creamery in 2007, talked about the small things they did within their store to make eating at Cereality a true brand experience.

It's the Little Things...
Roth and Bacher designed a fun cereal bowl not unlike a Chinese take-out carton and noticed that before people tossed them out, they would tip them back to slurp up the milk at the bottom, often dribbling a bit of happy-flavored milk down their shirt. Their answer was the Sloop™, a spoon that sips like a straw, so customers could easily drink up every last drop.

They put refrigerator magnets on their milk dispensing machines, couches in the front of their store, and the staff wore pajama-like uniforms. The best quote of the speech was when Bacher said, "People bought cereal, but we sold Saturday morning."

Years ago I worked for Chicago retailer Findables. The store owner sold an assortment of fine housewares, jewelery, accessories and personal items. It was the kind of store that you could fly into under the wire and find the most perfect hostess gift in minutes flat.

Findables was known for its giftwrap. During the busy holiday season, and for no extra charge, Findables would wrap your purchase in the most lavish holiday paper and top it with an artful hand-tied bow. Customers would wait ten minutes in line to buy their Radko ornament or Davies Gates soap because they didn't have to buy wrapping paper, clear the dining room table and find time to wrap it themselves.

Author Seth Godin said, "The only thing people judge about you is how an engagement with you makes them feel.” At Findables, people bought expensive gifts; Findables sold a posh version of convenience.

What does your brand feel like? How do customers experience doing business with you?

If you're doing something fun, quirky or otherwise creative to help customers experience your brand, I'd love to hear more.

Posted by Sima Dahl on June 24, 2009 | Comments (1)