Great examples of how operations can become marketing.

303988670 4da18b3d57 o Great examples of how operations can become marketing.

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In a couple of weeks we’ll be partnering with Microsoft to give a joint presentation to some IT and Marketing directors about the idea that their two disciplines are starting to (or needing to) work much more closely these days. What we want to show is that there are many cases where marketing and IT are collaborating to create programs that deliver operational efficiency within their companies as well as being great marketing vehicles for attracting and retaining customers.

Regular readers will recognise this as a favourite theme of ours – we like to think that the best marketing ideas are actually company operations that happen to be really appealing or compelling to customers too. One of the many advantages of this line of thought is that marketing is completely integrated into the business and you don’t have to spend money to build marketing programs that then build your business, you simply spend money on building your business.

While this area can be a bit hazy and wooly, I think the best definition for this kind of marketing is that it is: an aspect of internal operations that has been made transparent to customers and in doing so has become a driver of loyalty or additional business.

I wrote previously about the fact that this kind of marketing is much less sexy than other forms and therefore great examples are harder to find. So I thought I’d continue my list-making with some of the examples that we’ve been bookmarking. Sam and Eaon have clearly been thinking about the same kinds of things as they also contributed massively, thank you again! This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, more of an appetizer. I’d love to hear of any examples that you might have in the comments, in fact, please help me make this better!

Delivery: while delivering your product can be a mundane forgettable experience a number of companies have turned it into a big advantage.

Zappos is famous for secretly upgrading its shipping from 2-day to overnight whenever possible. Customers who get an early surprise have tweeted and blogged by the hundreds and this tactic has been a big part of driving growth and love for this company. Ironically (or not) they canceled their advertising to pay for this program (double awesome!).
Mercedes pioneered European delivery in the early 60s (proving that great operations have always been great marketing). Even though it’s pretty common among the European luxury brands I still think this is genius. Get your customers to transport your product for you, give them a great experience and save them money in the process. I wish I’d though of it.

Sourcing: more and more, people care about where you got your parts from, some companies have turned this into an art form.

Trader Joe’s has built a large part of its business around the fact that they find interesting foods that are also really inexpensive. While it may be frustrating to find out that your favourite peanut butter is no longer available, the surprise of finding something brand new has led to their cult status among foodies.
Patagonia has taken a slightly different tack by exposing the carbon footprint of several of its items from design through delivery with their Footprint Chronicles. I think this is really brave and predict we’ll see a lot more of this kind of thing in the future.

Construction: this is basic but when you make something differently/better – people like it better

Apple recently saw a lot of success with their new “brick” manufacturing process for its Macbook Pros. The unibody construction really is a lot nicer.
Howies has gotten a lot of buzz for its hand me down line. Really unusual for a “fashion” brand to be promoting the longevity of its clothing.
Threadless is probably well known to most of you but I still think it’s really smart how they pretty much ensure that they sell all the shirts they make by crowdsourcing their designs and only producing the popular ones.

Billing, even the mundane task of asking for money can be a marketing opportunity.

Apple, I wrote about this before but I think their email receipts are really smart. A bunch of different benefits that come from this one small step.
Almost everyone is offering paperless bills or statements now. This is becoming too common to be a real advantage but I still think it can be a marketing edge for some.

Payment: great thinking can make this more efficient as well as a huge advantage over your competition.

Apple dispensed with fixed registers last year and gave all its staff handheld registers in their stores. Now I never queue to pay and there’s always someone around to help answer questions because they’re not stuck behind a desk. Why doesn’t everyone do this?
Self-checkout machines are getting pretty common but I almost always prefer them to human-powered checkout.

Internal metrics or data: the data your company collect can be really valuable, useful and interesting to customers

Amazon’s site has lots of examples of using their data to help customers but its sales rank is one that I’ve often found very useful.
Current, a broadband over powerline company has just announced a really cool home energy monitoring service which allows people and businesses to see their power consumption and make changes to reduce it. This is extending data they already have and need to deliver their service to their customers.

Repair: this is typically a real pain with most companies but it can also be a real asset.

BMW is one of the only European luxury brands that still offers free maintenance for the first 50K miles. Because BMW has an image of being costly in the shop this is one of the best ads they could possibly “run” to counter that.
Apple (again! sorry) has turned repair into a real advantage by branding it Genius. Remember, these are the guys that are usually hidden behind thick doors and reinforced glass windows at other places.

Saving money: can actually be something you get credit for.

Howies again got a lot of people talking with a simple light switch on its Carnaby Street shop. Instead of keeping its lights on all night, it allowed curious, late night, window shoppers to press a button and light the window temporarily. Brilliant.
Whole Foods is joining a bunch of other retailers in completely eliminating plastic shopping bags. Instead, bring your own or buy a branded, reusable bag. This is the equivalent of being charged for online banking – the business wins twice.

Many of these are very simple ideas, but ones which required an enormous amount of coordination and cooperation within the company in order to execute. In most cases, their value is obvious or easy to measure. There’s no need to create a secondary measure like “engagement” in order to figure out the value of these ideas to the company. They’re also really smart and really inventive solutions to business problems. They solve marketing problems by saving money or making more money rather than by “investing” in marketing programs whose returns are questionable. When done well, they get talked about, a lot, because people are always always interested in getting more value. For these reasons (and more) I think these kinds of programs really are future of marketing. Or at least I’d love to think so.

What do you think? Have you seen any other examples? I’d love to hear.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm and is filed under marketing, operations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

View Comments to “Great examples of how operations can become marketing.”

André Galhardo Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

Adrian, I guess there's a example from… 1971: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZitLEDOZ_ng&feat...
Disney helped us understand “The Experience Economy”.
Now maybe Wonka can inspire companies to create/open their “Marketing Factories”.
We're here to give them a hand, of course.
adrianho Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

Haha yes good one, but not sure clients appreciate fictional examples
mixon Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

I have an example for you. Under the “saving money” category list Bank of America's “Keep The Change” program which rounds up purchases to the nearest dollar and transfers the difference to customer's savings account, helping people save, continuously, little by little.
adrianho Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 12:11 am

Yeah I'd forgotten about that one, great idea thanks
nguyen duong Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 1:07 am

a few more to add to your list:
delivery: walmart's “site to store express” allows unlimited free shipping (from online orders) to the store of your choice (w/an annual fee of $29)
i recall volvo also does the car pick-up 'n vacation combo offer as well, right?
most casual-dine restaurants saw that the fast-food guys were eating their lunch and dinner w/customers, so they started offering the priority pick-up parking stalls for phone-ahead customers (e.g. Applebee's carside to-go, Chilli's To-Go)

I also like what Trader Joe's is doing locally here with rewarding the customer behavior. We get a raffle ticket good towards a prize drawing every time we use our bags.
André Galhardo Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 2:01 am

hehe Another one, Adrian: some hotels are opening their kitchens for guests – and not just for a kick look, but allowing them to “play chef”. Must be a unique experience… and some are really “using” them as assistants to prepare real meals for fellow guests.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2006-02-0...
Ross Popoff-Walker Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 2:10 am

Local community is one category I'd add. Whole Foods pushes all it's marketing dollars into supporting local community outreach for every single store on topics like health and organic eating. They've never spent a dollar on traditional advertising.
nguyen duong Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 3:35 am

to dovetail off of your comment, there's a “kitchen for rent” story out here in socal, where a breakfast place rented out their kitchen space to a couple that created their own “speakeasy-style” dinner concept in the same facility. i really like this idea of co-partnership to maximize the use of the space. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kitchen-flyn...
adrianho Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 11:09 am

Yeah these are perfect, also the principle of opening up your operations so that customers can serve themselves is something that can be applied in a bunch of other situations and industries.
adrianho Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 11:13 am

Thanks Nguyen, these are both awesome ideas. The Walmart one in particular, rebranding and reselling their own internal distribution is genius.
adrianho Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 11:16 am

This seems like smart marketing but is it also turning their operations into marketing? Was this outreach something they were doing before simply to run their business?
Chris Wiggins Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

Really interesting to see all these great examples in one spot Adrian. Even operations really does seem to be one category of several that exemplify of the blurring of the line between internal-thing-X (product, operations, social web outreach, etc) and marketing.

There's been a lot of discussion about how these combined trends are bad for advertising agencies, because obviously the ad agency traditionally has no significant role (if any) in these activities. But given that no agency of ANY type (advertising or other-new-innovative-and-modern-type-agency) plays a role in this stuff… curious what your thoughts are on these trends as seen through the lens of someone inside a marketing agency.

I guess I'm curious how big a role and what kind of role, if any, you think any marketing agency of any type will have if these trends become close to universal. More consulting, less making?

For now, there are lots of clients who could probably use help figuring out how they can improve their “marketing” results by focusing more on stuff like this but how long will that be true. I'm not actually trying to make any sort of point here, I'm honestly curious what you think because I'm not sure I know what I think myself.
adrianho Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

Hey Man, well as you know, a bunch of our stuff probably falls into this camp and CPB seems to have done some pretty cool stuff in this vein too so I definitely think that agencies have a role to play here. I think the issue you raise of consultancy vs. producer is really the big sticking point. I think most clients are glad to get different points-of-view and smart advice on how to make their business better, but they're probably a lot less willing to hand over execution and administration of big parts of their business to outsiders. There are opportunities for creative executions that come out of lots of these kinds of ideas so I think there's still a role for the production side of agencies but the creative executions may be extensions to the idea or small supporting pieces rather than the big idea itself.

I don't know, tell me how it works at CPB when you're settled, would love to know how they handles this. And congrats too BTW – great move.
Stephanie Gerson Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 9:33 pm

amen to letting the message (marketing) be the medium (operations, or something integral to what the brand already does).

I have a longtime Love for Sam's Cam (http://www.samscafe.com/cam.html) and the SF Exploratorium's Roof Cam (http://www.samscafe.com/cam.html) – enabling a peep into what's simply going on to act as marketing.

similarly, TCHO.com is soon to do some interesting things in your sourcing category…

and I'm sure you know of TBG's GE Adventure (http://geadventure.com/) in which a mere telling of third-party first-person stories about what GE is developing is not only the beginning of the marketing process, but of the marketing product. (though interestingly this could be considered an inversion of the above – in which marketing operations can become marketing.)
adrianho Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

Yeah these are really awesome and simple, just shine a spotlight or camera onto different parts of the internal operations and you'll get people interested. That TCHO movie makes my mouth water.
Beata Wickbom Says:
May 1st, 2009 at 3:43 pm

I think the examples in the list are excellent. In terms of sourcing, I think Dole has an example of transparent and engaging service: type in code on the banana sticker and follow where the fruit was grown, See the actual farm on Google maps http://preview.tinyurl.com/c8lapr
Beata Wickbom Says:
May 1st, 2009 at 4:18 pm

I came to think of some more:
Hertz (Swedish market) had two business problems: 1. high costs for returning vehicles that were rented one way 2. difficulties in attracting younger customer who thought Hertz was an expensive business brand. They created a service called “Hertz Freerider” where you sign up for membership and then receive offers for a free car rental (on the distances that they need car returned). The great thing is that members that don't find an appropriate distance for free, end up renting at normal Hertz rates.

https://www.hertzfreerider.se/unauth/ (in Swedish)
Hertz has saved a lot of money + attracted over 25,000 new customers.

Interflora (flower delivery) has created a new service and a new verb called “Rosa” ( to rose someone) in Sweden. “To rose someone” is to send them a rose in the phone. For 50 SEK (approx $7) you can send someone a rose. The receiver gets a textmessage from you in their mobile phone, shows the SMS at a physical Interflora store and is able to pick up a physical red rose.
http://tinyurl.com/becwym
adrianho Says:
May 1st, 2009 at 4:53 pm

I'd forgotten about the Dole example, but that Hertz example is amazing. What a brilliant idea – get people to pay for returning your cars! Thanks Beata!
RyanMoede Says:
May 1st, 2009 at 5:23 pm

This is a fantastic post, Adrian, and I blogged a while ago about the branded storytelling initiative from Nike late last year http://bitly.com/12yCLa. Similar to Apple, they did a great job sitting down with their researchers and designers to discuss the creation process http://www.nike.com/nikelab/site.html?en_US#//v...
Simon Källgård Says:
May 1st, 2009 at 5:43 pm

I really like the “Hertz Freerider” service, top of mind when renting cars in Sweden
tbrunelle Says:
May 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 am

On the Delivery end—love Zappos. Personal story: I ordered two pairs of Adidas. An hour after submitting my order online, my mobile rings. It's “Keith at Zappos.” Turns out Zappos customers had been returning one of the Adidas I'd ordered because the sizing was too small. “I think you should get a half size up,” suggested Keith. “I'm holding the box now. Do you want the change?” Of course I did. And the order shows up the next day (love the overnight!) along with a note from Keith. Why would I order shoes anywhere else ever again?

I think Moo.com is a great example of how an organization integrates Ordering, Processing, Delivery, Billing and Customer Service. And they've just opened up US printing and delivery, which speeds up the process–and lowers the cost! They didn't raise prices for the added efficiency! Moo demonstrates the value of Style and Tone throughout the customer contact process. Every email I get from them, even the automated “We got your order” messages have wit to them. Again, why would I order business cards anywhere else ever again?

And finally, a comment on Chris Wiggin's point: Why can't agencies or modern agencies supply ideas and thought leadership in this area? Who else is better positioned? In a way, agencies can come in to an organization and get all the warring factions to leave the guns and knives outside the conference room to have a conversation around the amorphous and non-threatening topic of “the brand.” An agency can guide discussion around how the “brand” can be defined or delivered or made more true by enhancing Delivery, or improving Billing or investing in better Repair processing. The brand becomes an avatar for operations in the age of transparency and empowered consumers. Good luck in Redmond, Adrian!
How operations and marketeers can meet, indeed!! « Fredzimny’s CCCCC Blog Says:
May 2nd, 2009 at 1:01 pm

[...] Source: http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2009/great-examples-of-how-operations-can-become-marketing [...]
Ryan Says:
May 4th, 2009 at 1:56 am

thanks for sharing this list.
These are fantastic examples of how companies manifest their brand personae's into tangible experiences for their customers.

To tbrunelle's point, there are agencies out there that come alongside companies and attempt to help them engineer their brand experience rather than just construct a messaging platform and create attractive ads.
adrianho Says:
May 4th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

I agree agencies are capable and have many of the right skills. I think the barriers are mostly on the client side. Will they actually let an outside company peer this deeply inside them and make wide-reaching suggestions. Are they able to get different departments working together to pull off coordinated programs. There are a bunch of issues around how most companies are structured that will make this kind of program difficult for an agency to pull off.
adrianho Says:
May 4th, 2009 at 4:07 pm

Thanks Ryan, I agree using designers/engineers to talk about their products is great marketing. It's even better when you can put that information in context for a potential buyer.
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Jeff Pesek Says:
May 6th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

The problem as I see it is that of the local agencies I've come in contact with, very few of them can see the future, are willing to accept what they see, and are able to articulate it. Kudos for this article and for pushing the local cultural norms through ZS!

Sure- every aspect of a customers experience with a product, service, brand (whatever you want to label it) is in fact marketing, but why is this new all of a sudden?

Furthermore, I am of the opinion that those companies/agencies/examples that you site above (amongst countless other success stories) are a rare (albiet increasing) breed of “humanized” orgs.

Thank you for this article!

Jeff Pesek
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Matt Daniels Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 12:22 am

Well-researched post…few of us remember the most effective forms of marketing (and cheapest) when they are not sexy.

Another to add to the list: you employee touch-points smiling. Nothing improves a customer experience than a friendly smile
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May 10th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

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Tom Himpe Says:
May 12th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

Absolutely brilliant post.

There's a lot of examples on sourcing within the food category, about being more transparent about origins of ingredients

Restaurant in LA, growing food on top of the roof:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/green-r...
Restaurant in Amsterdam, growing food inside the restaurant (which is a greenhouse):
http://strathmoreliving.blogspot.com/2009/01/re...
Farley Millano Says:
May 14th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

great post, dude!

here in brazil we had an example with Volvo. they had a worldwide recall with the C30 model and only one (in the whole country!) of its samples had an specific problem, but still they managed to do the same standard recall procedure and announced it in all medias (tv, magazines, etc.).

I think this example fits on the repair category.

hope this helps!
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jonmbutler111 Says:
June 25th, 2009 at 10:36 am

I agree with your call on the big aeronautics. The economics and uncertainty associated with pursuing the recreational market are challenging. The aerospace/defense industry is huge and the lower risk approach may be to focus on the emergency services or armed forces with the potential for developing an offering for the general public down the track. Either approach will be difficult and will probably require more than $20 million to get production to scale and manage working capital requirements. http://www.geonlineservice.com
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Jean Says:
September 7th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Thanks Zeus,
You really made my day, i just love this kind of informations.
Seriously, it costs time to you, it's quite generous to share it.
Really thanks !
mdea Says:
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 am

One of the most important and over-looked components of an effective marketing strategy is managing your company's brand assets. As a CMO, you need to articulate both your brand strategy and brand essence to your marketing managers and define creative guidelines for external agencies if you want to ensure the consistent and accurate expressions of brands.
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September 30th, 2009 at 11:45 am

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October 29th, 2009 at 9:54 am

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connectme360 Says:
November 21st, 2009 at 6:05 pm

What a terrific post!

Hotels have always used the notion of a “connected experience” — i.e., their concierges — as a way to turn service delivery into a marketing activity.

Sprint's eponymous “Dime A Minute” promotion is often forgotten, but it was groundbreaking in that it simplified what was then a crazy quilt of tariffs – a call from Santa Monica to downtown Los Angeles would cost more than a long distance call to Denver – and turned billing into a source of marketing advantage.

Hmmm…and looking at your sourcing example, I've heard that in a few years consumers may care more about the carbon footprint – or its equivalent – in a few years, as it relates to how the things they buy get created, and whether they want to co-invest in a supply chain that is divergent with their world view.
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What a great explanation of the problems. Certainly anyone who's ever tried to get some SEO recommendations implemented on a fairly large company's website has had to deal with this masini de inchiriat

From The Head Of Zeus Jones