Who says engagement doesn't translate to sales?

Everyone complains that sometimes engagement isn't enough!

People wan't to see the bottom line increase as well right? - not just the conversation of the brand and its products. Well, I say they are not thinking creatively enough about engagement.

Introducing Hijack - an app designed by a shoe store called Meat Pack in Guatemala. This engagement piece actually gets customers RUNNING to their stores - extremely creative and ingenious! 

But why do people run? 

1. Customers download a Meat Pack mobile app that tracks their location using GPS.
2. When the app senses you have entered a competitior's store (Nike, Adidas etc) a  message pops up.
3. It gives you a challenge - gamification ( a very powerful tactic to drive interaction, turning brand or purchasing activities into games). Customers are given a 100% discount on any product in the Meat Pack shoe store - even though they are still standing in a competitor's store.
4. THE CATCH. this offer is time sensitive - for every second you wait 1% of the discount disappears. This translates into significant customer behavior - people begin running to the nearest Meat Pack to claim their discount before it becomes too low! 

Think that engagement pieces can't translate into sales - think again!

Hijack By Meat Pack

Case Study: DryBar

Case Study. 

Ladies, have you ever heard of drybar? Well if you haven't, maybe you know the founder Ali Webb who was just invited to Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards?  She is the founder of a wildly successful startup called - you guessed it - drybar. The concept for the startup was a place that women could get really good blowouts (their tag line - "no cuts, no coloring, just blowouts"). Sound mildly crazy to completely impossible/unfeasible - well try telling that to a business with long lines and that is now opening locations around the country. 

Dry Bar Engagement Strategy. 

This post is going to analyze their marketing success - which really looks at how flawlessly they communicate both their value proposition and their core beliefs. To keep this post clean we are going to be using the my own egyptian analytical framework, which is weird I know - but stick with me. 

Develop an ideology.

Peace, Love and Blowouts. That pretty much sums it all up.  Behind the yellow hair dryer, the company has produced a very unique view point and experience, which drives their engagement strategy. They even went so far are as to publish a video of their 10 core values - a type of exercise and publication I believe every company should go through. Why does this impact marketing/engagement - it completely streamlines the decision making process. If you approach marketing/engagement as a medium to construct added value to things (as drybar as done amazingly) - then you need to define goals, methods and approved communication styles. 

Establish a story.

drybar has done a very good job of that - they even released a video explaining the drybar experience. As every good marketer knows, a hair salon should not focus on the scissors but the environment in the salon. Indeed the "bar experience" story has been very well established. When you walk in you are greeted with a "menu" (with the services they offer) and cocktails. This story has been physically manifested as the menu indeed looks like a real restaurant menu. The story of "haircutting" has been completely thrown out the window - to drybar's advantage. 

Condense into symbols.

See the little upside-down yellow hair dyer from way above - her name is Buttercup. This company has also done a great job in the usage of symbols. Take their distinctive mascot - Buttercup - who is prominently displayed at every location. The symbol is a good use of color, personality and visual identification. Furthermore the "menu" of hairstyles are boiled down into archetypes - symbols that assist in the decision process. Women can choose to get the Manhattan or the Cosmo. In the "restaurant design" of their shops you can see the minimalist esthetic, which is white and their symbolic yellow. This narrow design choice is very specific and fully realized to every aspect of the experience - making it highly visible and recognizable. 

Maintain narrative.

This menu style experience insures that the bar narrative is maintained and that it ties back into the company's story and ideology. I can't really talk about the company's online or social media campaigns - I have not performed a thorough analysis of them. 

Engage & rumorize.

This would require more information - and more analysis of their social media usage - how interactive they are online - how hard they publish creative content to drive conversation. 

However this little image (left) I found is exactly what I am talking about - engagement pieces that drive word of mouth marketing. These pieces have to be big (in size or some  other characteristic), they have to be bold, they have to be eye-catching and they have to hold true to the system of symbols.  I would say a giant yellow hair dryer fulfills those requirements. The cherry on top, the kicker, the engagement piece to really promote brand vitality and strength. 

Getting to grips with social media | Technology | guardian.co.uk

​This article gives the case study of Cadbury, famous european chocolate brand, and their social media marketing campaigns to increase involvement and also virtual CRM.  

Examples of their Engagement pieces

• ​Facebook pages with competitions to become a "Joyville Taster" for upcoming products
• Live streamed an attempt to create ​build a "larger than life" Facebook like hand out of milk chocolate bars - resulted in 40,000 new fans and 350,000 engaged users. 
• Creativity always wins in social engagement!​

How Marketers Manipulate You Without Your Knowing | Psychology Today

For example, a leading beverage company created a sound when opening the can (My guess is Snapple) that was subtly different from other cans to trigger a unique craving for their brand’s drink. The manufacturer redesigned the can to create a differentiating snapping sound, a branded cue of delicious anticipation. They then recorded the sound in a studio and incorporated it into advertising. The manufacturer would play the sound at major concerts and sporting events, seeing an instant uptick in sales for their brand when they did so. Yet when consumers were asked why they suddenly choose that particular beverage over another they would say things like “I haven’t the faintest idea, I just fell for it.” 

We all know that science has entered the age of the brain, and it's now a rush to understand how to read, predict and ultimately influence the brain's neurological systems - but I don't know how to react yet to the marketing tactic above. Perhaps this is also due to the argument that the sciences advance at way too quick of a pace for law or morality to catch up with them.

As the science of persuasion marches deep into the depths of the mind, I worry that marketers will really no longer appeal to our free will and our own natural, individual autonomous decision making processes (which is already a hard thing to argue in itself). No doubt subconscious tactics are used now a days in marketing to drive sales and brand awareness - but what will the future of this look like? 

Regardless - this book looks like a very good read! It's on my booklist now.

Unconscious Branding: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing

By Douglas Van Praet