Social networks can be the messenger that drives people and brands to interact. Product Design Specialists provide insight into how brands can maintain a long-term competitive advantage in a dynamic environment.
A recent article in Design Management Review (DMR) discussed authenticity and branding, and William Faust and Leigh Householder at Ology defined brand authenticity. They suggested that a brand must be clear about what it is and what it stands for; the right brand is built from the inside out rather than pandering to the latest trends, fads, or customer segments. Additionally, the best practice branding is achieved through the use of a true story, a connection to a fundamental truth, and an appreciation of savvy customers.
On a recent visit to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City, I was surprised to see the line of customers of all ages pouring out of the store onto the Fifth Avenue sidewalk. Customers (some tourists) were just as happy and excited outside the store as those inside. While inside, visitors explored the store, trying out the products and shopping for some of Apple’s latest technology offerings.
This seems to be a typical customer scenario at this store, and other store locations across the country experience a steady stream of customers as well.
Next door (a 15 second walk past the GM building) is the world famous FAO Schwarz toy store (now owned by Toys “R” Us). As Apple is now, FAO. It was once a must-visit toy store at 57th and Fifth Avenue.
It was recognized worldwide for its variety of unique and one-of-a-kind products, including toys, entertainment products, and motion picture and television merchandising. Its products reflected the brand’s dedication to quality that its customers had come to trust for nearly 150 years, but in recent years the brand’s image has eroded and customers have noticed the smell of blood in their water.
On this particular day, as on many others throughout the year, FAO suffered from lost customers and a lack of interest in its merchandise.
What also surprised me was the dramatic difference in foot traffic between the Apple and FAO stores. The FAO was relatively empty, even though the streets were packed with tourists looking for an entertaining, air-conditioned shop to cool off. Instead, they chose to stand in Apple’s long line, which stretched from inside the store, up the escalator, and out onto the sidewalk in the hot 90-degree August sun. It was like waiting to get into a popular nightclub: new customers weren’t allowed in until the others had left. And this was not a new product launch day.
Is Apple better at engaging its customers through digital and traditional media alongside its product launches? Let’s take a closer look at the current social media presence of these companies:
Apple:
Facebook – 628,516 followers
Twitter (50+ accounts): iTunes account has 1,528,755 followers, follows 14, and has 692 tweets
Apple YouTube Channel –
Channel Views: 2,760,784
Total upload views: 14,444,703
Joined: June 21, 2005
Followers: 82,802
C.A.M. Schwartz
Facebook – 4,779 fans
Twitter: 411 followers, he follows 5 and has 11 tweets
Youtube channel:
Channel Views: 5,296
Total upload views: 24,626
Age: 42
Joined: July 24, 2007 (two years after Apple)
Last visit date: 10 months ago
Followers: 53
Videos taken by a manager at FAO Schwarz in New York.
Apple seems to have a stronger social media presence, even though FAO has a 150-year emotional tie to people of all ages with its focus on classic toys and historical and current movie and TV marketing. FAO was also a strong brand communicator before the rise of social media marketing, and the film Great cemented its place in toy merchandising history. People of all ages also have a psychological attachment to FAO products dating back to their childhood memories. Its social media branding and public relations campaigns began long before Apple’s.
Is it that the FAO brand and its related merchandise are not relevant in today’s entertainment market, or is it that their media agencies are not working outside the box to connect with their customer base? (I also realize that big box stores like Wal-Mart are undercutting FAO’s sales through low prices, even though some of their entertainment products and in-store service specials aren’t the same.)
Apple and FAO (both companies market entertainment products globally) discuss the central challenge of social media, as Faust and Householder define it, “creating a social dialogue that engages customers and stays true to the core of the brand.”
But the FAO seems to have lost that “thing,” as Faust and Householder pointed out, with which people inside and outside the company can connect and recognize each other. While FAO has suffered from poor management and ownership changes in recent years, that is no excuse for ruining a 150 year old brand for lack of a good branding and marketing strategy. If the issue is money, the FAO could have hired several young digital strategists to create a successful campaign that is relevant to today’s younger generation.
People of all ages identify with Apple’s hip, hip buzz in the media, design technology launches, and media campaigns supporting its products.
Also, Apple customers are willing to spend more (even in a recession) on Apple products than on similar products made by a competitor. Do people today prefer to see themselves as cool, savvy, and socially up-to-date tech users in tune with the latest trends and fads?
If so, Apple’s approach runs counter to the current wisdom of some experts in the field of product design, branding, and sustainability, which states that brands are built from the inside out. Apple doesn’t always follow the latest trend, fad, or customer segment, but sometimes it’s because it creates them. Perhaps Apple is the exception to the branding best practice rule that “for a brand to be successful, it must be clear about what it is and what it stands for, and add to it.”
FAO lacks a cohesive branding, marketing and social media strategy. You’re disconnected from your current and potential customers, you lack creativity in your PR process, and you don’t have an effective social media listening strategy. I do believe their products are relevant to today’s customers, but the evidence of a weak marketing plan is visible in their in-store foot traffic levels and also in their search engine optimization (SEO) approach.
From a marketing (SEO) perspective, FAO has 1,067 external links to its home page from other sites (Apple.com has 1,336,191), and FAO’s parent company Toys R Us has 6,117 external links to your home page. This means that Toys R Us is cited as a stronger authority in the eyes of Google’s search algorithms. If Toys R US can improve their own SEO link strength, they can do the same for FAO’s. The parent company ranks on page 1 and page 2 on Google’s organic (non-paid) broad search (without enclosing the search term “toys” in quotes). FAO appears on the second page of a Google search, fourth from the top of the page.
One strategy that Toys R US could start using is to spend more time on FAO’s SEO organic search force, which would give its customers better visibility of the online store. This could save money on paid online advertisements (PPC). Unlike other FAO online competitors, as of this publication, Fisher Toys (with a first page, first place) has 28,285 external links to its page, eToys (with a first page, third place), has 842 external links to its page, and KB Toys (with a first page, ranked 4th) has 42 external links to its page. (All search results were done using the term “toys” in Google search.) Also, while KB Toys has fewer links pointing to its home page than FAO, it also doesn’t have FAO’s nearly full page of Flash content, which can interfere with search engines’ ability to properly index a web page. While there are other SEO strategies I haven’t talked about, at first glance these are some of the most obvious.
FAO’s focus on customer loyalty and marketing its products based on its one-of-a-kind products are no longer enough to forge a powerful connection with a brand that was once the toy store to beat. Today’s consumers expect to interact with a brand, and that can be achieved profitably through digital and social media.
Apple’s public relations (buzz), social media strategy, traditional marketing and advertising provide a very different consumer experience. Launched numerous products (including the iPod which proved to be the “game changer”, propelling the company from a computer vendor to an entertainment company. FAO can learn from one of the most innovative companies operating in today’s business market with an ultra-loyal user base.For the past ten years, Apple arguably had only one new launch product that flopped, the Power Mac G4 Cube (phased out after its first year), while the jury is still you may be deliberating about the Mac mini and Apple TV.
Apple has promoted itself as a company that can solve your personal entertainment and business problems instantly; their promotions connect with a basic human desire (for life to be easier) and the desire to be fun and cool, even if it costs more. They also express something more important about the core of the brand: that Apple is a quick problem solver. Often, that means not only thinking about what the customer would like, but also defining what is brand true. Toys will always be fun. But easy is fun and authentic.
