OK – I’ve been itching for ages to write about what I believe is probably my favourite company in the world, but saw something earlier that gave me a kick up the arse I clearly needed and to just blurt out “I LOVE ZAPPOS”.

So who are Zappos I hear you ask (well – you’ll know if you’re reading this in America of course as $1bn in sales kinds of make it a significant business, let alone its pioneering approach)? In short Zappos is an American online retailer that has not long celebrated its 10th birthday (Happy birthday!).

But if I’m blogging about a company best I say what I “love” so much about a company that I have never interacted with as a customer (mores’ the pity). To me they are a shinning model of:
1.    a company that understands it’s employer brand is intrinsically linked with its product/service brand – and acts accordingly!
2.    a business that plays the long term game – putting the customer first everytime (and as more than just an advertising slogan), because they know a repeat customer is the most valuable sort and that a happy, neigh delighted, customer is also the most valuable marketing channel there is.
3.    management live and breath this approach, and are comfortable enough in their own skin to maintain the unified ethos and literally work alongside their colleagues.

There’s plenty written stateside about the company and what it does so right – mostly by the staff themselves.  Hell, they even had to do some lay-offs earlier in the year and they handled it all so positively the brand actually got a boost from it (although I’m glad to say they’re back hiring again – and pay attention UK retailer web management monkeys who insist on not giving hiring a prominent web presence – “we’re hiring” is splashed across their site. It’s a positive message and not something to be ashamed of!!).

Anyway – they also produce a book called “Zappos insights” – as Tony, CEO, mentioned in the video above, where he also offers for you to email him and he’d send you a book. So I did. What did I get? A personal email response from Tony and 4days later an excellent book from the states which Tony had signed. Did he need to send me a book? No – I was after a PDF as being in the UK thought postage would be excessive. Did he need to sign it? No – but for a few moments of his time and engaging with me this way I have gone from a fan of Zappos to a Zappos evangelist.

But there is a down side – I’ve just found out that they now deliver to the UK at a time when the exchange rate is a real killer   Never mind. At least I know that one day I’ll be able to partake in some of that legendary customer service built that they’ve from a clear understanding that employer brand and product service brand is truly intrinsically linked!

And the thing that kicked me into posting this – the offer of attending a Zappos insights live BootCamp. I am so gutted I don’t just happen to be in Vegas over those two days. Maybe next year eh!

Oh – and for all you social media aficionados out there – this company kicks arse there too. This is engagement 2.0

http://www.youtube.com/zappos

http://twitter.com/zappos

http://twitter.zappos.com/

http://blogs.zappos.com

Just incase you’ve not seen one of the funniest videos the UK recruitmemnt industry has produced in quite some time (maybe ever) – then you have to go check out the Tribal resourcing Star Trek Spoof. My money says this is a pure internal effort that the Senior Management didn’t realise they would never be able to keep a hold of, however (and I guess you can’t really blame them) in an ri5.co.uk article they’re trying to spin it as a master stroke in viral marketing.

Trot over to DigitalRecruiting.co.uk and have a look see for yourself. Tribal Resourcing boldly viral marketing where others fear to tread or more a case of the person who concepted & executed the whole thing needing the vulcan death grip? Either way – it’ll certainly raise a smile (after you’ve uncurled your toes perhaps).

What I especially love in this game is when something happens that brings home the real potential and actual value of a particular technology/platform. Today’s example: the internet and the potential to engage, influence and convert opinion – AKA e-brand management (and I honestly think this formula might hold water too – clearly I did pay some attention in that Economics degree!).

I started the day picking up an RSS feed from the Bairdyblog – highly amusing find by Andrew of one of the worst types of corporate “engaging wiv da yoof” / trying too hard that I’ve seen in a long time (video below too). It was too good to let go without sharing so I posted a Tweet (a posting on the Twitter microblogging network) that commented:

“in case you missed it – this from the Bairdyblog – http://is.gd/ak75 Toe curlingly bad from CapGemini US! Or is it Sacha Baron Cohen?”

So the comment’s out there. I know a couple of people picked it up and probably passed it on enjoying it too – but then a couple of hours later I get a Tweet back from @capgemini saying “I have to agree. We’ve discussed this internally and it makes many people cringe! – Richard”

So let me explain what excited me so much about this.

They can’t retract the original video – it’s done & it’s out there. Hey, we all make mistakes, and clearly this Sacha Baron Cohen lookalike may be thinking his was to press the record button. But now it’s out there people will chatter about it – it’s human nature. But rather than doing so just down the pub, in the student union or wherever else people may gather, it’s now going on louder than ever online too.

But it doesn’t take a lot now for brands to hear what people are saying and by taking part then to at least to some extent put themselves in a position to positively influence the conversation. And are they going to stop me laughing at this guy? No. Am I now going to apply for a job with them? No. Am I now going to buy a product or service off them? No. But if I’m ever in such a position where I might be in a target audience for either of the latter then my first recollection will not be of Jonathon “getting wid da kidz” (although it will take a while for that to fade completely), but how CapGemini then engaged with me and in that one act of listening and communicating showed their empathy and human face – and the fact is that as humans we all prefer to do business with humans.

There’s a lot of talk about “listening to” or “joining the conversation”, this is certainly not the first (nor the last) post on this subject – but here is an example that I felt made it all very real. Well done Richard – and you never know, thanks to him/his teams work then Jonathon’s recording faux pas may actually be turned into a positive, or at the very least something less negative (although I think it’ll test Jonathon’s personal skills of Internal Comms management if he manages to turn this into a CapGemini career enhancing positive – I’m sure already he’s writing a white paper on how he planned this whole thing right down to the follow on digital engagement and PR benefit of his “out there” personal style humanising the CapGemini brand).