Brands That Get You
 
DSC_0515.jpg

BRANDS THAT GET YOU

Find Your Brand Story Fast + Advice for Startups & Growing Brands
Bite-Sized Insights Served Here

FOLLOW ME For More

East Eats West 🙌 Year-End Reveal #1: We gave Bamboo Asia a far out market makeover. It's orange and blue and opening all over.✨✨✨ SF-based Bamboo Asia had made its name as a Fi-Di staple for the grab-n-go lunch crowd. But when they were ready to start expanding, they realized the brand wasn’t as fresh as the food. ✨✨✨ The team at Bartlett Brands started with strategy, diving deep into the customer expectations and Bamboo Asia’s unique value proposition. Then we reinvented everything but the food to create a buzz-worthy new concept: Bamboo Asia Far Out Market—a mashup of Far East flavors and West Coast vibes. The new heart-worthy identity and hip interior design have customers lining up—literally. They’re getting featured by Eater (yay!). And everyone is hella’ welcome. ✨✨✨ Love, peace and far out food. #brandsthatgetyou
✨Find out how in my new article on The Startup, Medium’s largest publication for entrepreneurs🔝link in bio #brandsthatgetyou
Had the best time recording my first Brands That Get You podcast with the fantastic founders of @gofiltr this weekend✨✨✨We talked about how to be a Brand That Gets You—with actionable insights from their startup journey, lessons on how to come back super strong from a Kickstarter campaign and their best advice for other brands getting off the ground right now 🙌 I couldn’t have asked for more interesting, intelligent and charming guests for this premier episode, GoFiltr’s Dmitri and Travis! Coming soon to earbuds near you... #brandsthatgetyou
Talk-Worthy Branding 🙌 Spotlight #5 on REI: How this outdoor retailer created conversation for 4 years and counting... ✨✨✨In 2015, REI sent shockwaves through the retail world. On Black Friday—the holy grail day of shopping days—REI went MIA. Not only did they NOT have sales and discounts. They didn’t have employees. ✨✨✨REI closed its doors to purchases IRL and online—encouraging everyone to #OptOutside and spend their day exploring the great outdoors rather than fighting the crowds indoors. Bonus: They were still paying all of their employees for the day. ✨✨✨The shuttering down got everyone hyped up: people couldn’t stop talking about what a genuine and caring company REI was. And it put tremendous focus on their brand values in a way that people connected with. ✨✨✨Four years later, their CEO credits the now yearly closures with helping REI survive the retail apocalypse—during which over 200 big retailers have died. Others have copied the approach, but no one’s gotten people talking like REI. And the campaign has become part of their core alongside their values. ⚡️Insight⚡️How can you bring your brand values to life through your actions so customers better identify with you? Think outside your big box. #brandsthatgetyou
Talk-Worthy Branding 🙌 Spotlight #4 on Primary.com: How this kid’s clothing company created conversation with a free Costume Concierge ✨✨✨Every October, the pressure’s on to create a unique costume for your kids. But the choices are not so choice: cheap polyester one-and-dones or potential DIY disasters. For those lacking extra time and crafty talent, it’s a real horror story. ✨✨✨ Enter Primary, the "awesome kid’s basics at reasonable prices” brand. To help end parents' struggs, they launched a free Costume Concierge service. Simply call them up to connect with a DIY guru who helps you bring any idea to life and walks you step-by-step through an easy-as-possible process—including tips on where to buy extra fabric and exactly what glue to get. The costumes all start with Primary basics, many of which you undecorate and re-wear long after the candy's been consumed. ✨✨✨ The service doesn’t cost Primary much, but it has a tremendous impact on parent’s interactions with and love for the brand: positioning them as the go-to resource who really cares. Plus, it gives parents something awesome to talk about to all the mommies and me. ⚡️Insight⚡️Is there an unexpected way you can help your customer out with a problem? It’ll be a talk-worthy treat. #brandsthatgetyou 📸 by @kelsey_dewolf
Talk-Worthy Branding 🙌 Spotlight #3 on Buffy: How this comforter company created conversation by letting you sleep on it... literally✨✨✨ When Buffy launched what they called the comfiest, cleanest, healthiest and most eco-friendly comforter ever, they did everything right to get people feeling good about the ultimate feel-good purchase. ✨✨✨ But what REALLY got people talking was a marketing technique that’s often applied to other product categories—but not typically to bedding: Try Buffy Free for 30 Nights. It’s a risk-free test period with no charge until you’re smitten. ✨✨✨ Buffy’s win was three-pronged (1) Taken alone, the “try before you buy” approach immediately conveys confidence. This is a company that stands behind its product, and that’s super appealing. (2) When Buffy put this approach to work on an incredibly personal item that gets used in an incredibly personal way (aka your bedding), it turned heads and made people talk about it because it both was unique AND appreciated. (3) By not charging your card until after 30 days, they made the test period feel like a REAL test period—not hassle-full return. ⚡️Insight⚡️Can you take a tried-and-true marketing technique and apply it to your product in a way that wakes up more customers? #brandsthatgetyou
Talk-Worthy Branding 🙌 Spotlight #2 on The Standard Hotels: How their “Ring a Rep” phonebooths created conversation ABOUT conversation—and dialed up the values of their brand✨✨✨ In April, The Standard (a boutique chain known for edgy vibes) installed big colorful phone booths at their hotels in NYC, LA, and Miami. The call to action: each booth is set up to dial Congress directly. Pick up the phone, enter your zip code and leave your rep a message about any issue. There’s even a handy script with advice for how to position your points. ✨✨✨ Since they installed the booths, over 3,000 people have called—but MORE have talked about it. They’ve also added direct dial features to their rooms and hosted Ring Your Rep events in all of their cities, partnering with the ACLU and Fashion Week. ✨✨✨ By making activism easier than ever, The Standard is empowering guests to make their voices heard—a mission that aligns perfectly with the value they place on radical self expression and interconnection. They got creative in their space and turned it into a platform. ⚡️Insight⚡️When you want to start up conversation, check in on your core values. Then brainstorm ways to bring them to life through an experience that guests will check out—and talk about. #brandsthatgetyou
This is Talk-Worthy Branding 🙌 Spotlight #1 on Dirty Lemon: How a beverage company got everyone talking with a “you might call-them-crazy” scary new retail concept: grab-product-now… and text-to-pay later✨✨✨ Since it’s launch in 2015, Dirty Lemon has been a millennial drink darling —minimally designed and cleverly marketed “it’s not a cleanse” drinks made of dirty lemon water (water+lemon) infused with ingredients for flavor+function (collagen for glow, ginseng for energy, charcoal for detox). ✨✨✨ Last month, Dirty Lemon launched Drug Store—their first brick-and-mortar location in NYC. The BIG TALKING POINT here: it's a store based on the honor system. Walk in, take a drink, walk out, text to pay later. Dirty Lemon already used a text-to-buy experience for their online orders. But doing it IRL puts a lot more trust in their customer… and gives them a sticky thing to say about the brand. “Have you heard about Dirty Lemon? You just grab a drink and walk out!” Making paying voluntary may seem like a risky move—but it pays for itself in conversation starters. ⚡️Insight⚡️Think about how your customer buys your brand—and look for an opportunity to do something radically different (aka talk-worthy) that makes it better or easier. They'll drink it up. #brandsthatgetyou
The Big✨The Bold✨The Unexpected ✨What brands have gotten YOU talking lately because they did something weird and wonderful? Comment here—because this week, I’ll be spotlighting brands creating conversations that lead to conversions and exactly what you can learn from them. #brandsthatgetyou
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DSC_0515.jpg