At RedBalloon we’re committed to not taking life too seriously, having a sense of humour and fun is one of our values and a little generosity doesn’t go astray either. I figure if we’re having fun our customers will have fun… besides if we are having fun, it does not seem like work at all – we bound out of bed ready for another day at RedBalloon. So I had a bit of a giggle when I discovered how the…
We have calculated that the team at RedBalloon send and receive more than 10,000 one to one emails every week ie not automatically generated from the system. I thought I would share a sample of some this week. Email One ‘Hi, Thanks for the email??. Loved the little red book!?? My boss is actually a bit of a jackass (pardon my French)….and while reading the book all I was thinking was ”why can’t he do those kind of things for…
First of all I would like to say to the advertising agencies working on with the political parties for this election… tough gig – the fees must be nice – but, ugh, I bet the briefs you are receiving are cluttered – and the approval process a nightmare. I was watching ‘Top Gear ‘with my son (12) last night – and at every single ad break we were bombarded with political messages. My son would yell at the TV –…
I’m a marketer and a ‘sucker’ for new things… but the shear volume of messages that I’m bombarded with each day overwhelms. It is very hard to be a remarkable ‘purple cow’ as Seth Godin implored – when everyone is claiming to be a ‘purple cow.’ Real cut through comes from the authentic experience someone has of a brand. At RedBalloon we just figure that rather than making ‘promises’ and ‘ trying to sell’ stuff – we will just let…
I recently read the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh – CEO of Zappos.com – He believes much of the success of his $1billion online retail business comes from it’s commitment to the culture of the business – which allows every person in the business to stay customer focussed. He talks about customer happiness with religious zeal. The culture of the business means that there is not a department accountable for customer care – the whole company is. Every employee…
I’ve been reading the book ‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.com. There are a significant number of similarities between RedBalloon and Zappos. As CEOs we both wanted to create a place where we too wanted to work. We both believe in experiences over stuff, we both believe that the key to success of business this century is transparency, vision, values and alignment. And we both believe the company’s culture and the company’s brand are really just two sides…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
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A ‘luxury’ brand experience.
I am fascinated by how organizations personify the brand experience. It is often so hard to get it right. One thing is promised in advertising but the in store experience is completely different. Company owned stores, however should ‘in theory’ have a far better ability to ensure that the brand is executed consistently at every touch point. This week I was at the AICD course and one of the female participants said she was desperate to get a new handbag…