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REI Invests in Targeted Marketing Campaign… In Store and Out

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REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) was named most respected brand in the private company category by branding and advertising firm GreenRubino in 2011.  So how does this iconic outdoor retailer invest in marketing to support their success?

In 2011 REI spent approximately $60M to support their $1.8B business.  To put this in perspective, they spent 3% of their sales on advertising to drive an 8% growth in sales compared to one of their competitors who spent 8% of their sales on advertising to drive a 5% growth in sales.  REI’s marketing dollars are aimed toward supporting their catalog distribution and their social media campaign.  REI puts a lot of stock in their Facebook and Twitter relationships as well as their educational videos on YouTube, known as ‘REI Expert Advice.’  These simple short videos, which can reach millions of people, help foster a relationship with the consumer by sharing tips on topics from the basics of paddle boarding to how to teach your child to ride a bike.

REI doesn’t just market their brand through traditional market techniques that appear on their income statement.  Shopping with REI is very experiential–from the knowledge of their employees to their store design and layout.  They invest a disproportionate amount of time on training and focusing on employees, as compared to other retailers, to ensure that if you want to know which sleeping bag is best for camping in Yosemite in November or the best secret camp sites in the Sierra Nevada’s… the sales person will know the answer.  Their store designs and layouts also offer terrain to test out hiking boots and, in some locations, a rain tunnel to test the latest waterproof gear.  For REI it’s all about the experience and they rely on positive customer experience to build generational customer relationships.

Screen Shot 2013-02-12 at 3.03.38 PMAnother  example of REI’s relationship marketing is their ‘REI ADVENTURES’.  REI provides travel arrangements and packages to bring fellow outdoor enthusiasts together to enjoy what they love.  Pictured here is an example of one of REI’s adventure packages.

Bottom line,: REI spends their marketing dollars in all the right places.  They seem to have mastered how best to market their brand and created their desired customer experience in all that they do.

An INTRODUCTION to Team “I”

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Hello, we’re Team “I”- nice to meet you! We’ll be bringing you various INTERESTING articles to discuss IMPORTANT topics in the world of marketing. We’re looking forward to some INTERACTIVE conversation and hope you have an INCREDIBLE time visiting our blog…

Family INCORPORATED

So, you check your schedule and see you have an afternoon meeting, a brainstorm session on branding. Nothing peculiar about that. Just an average day at the office. But this isn’t the office. The meeting location is your kitchen table and the attendees consists of your family members…

The Wall Street Journal recently published an essay on the benefits of running a family like a business. And why shouldn’t you apply workplace solutions to the challenges families face in the home?

The general belief is that many companies fail if the make up is one or two charismatic leaders, but the others in the company don’t understand or practice the company’s core values or make decisions based on the company’s brand. This new practice engages all family members and gives them a seat at the decision table.

Families are using a progressive program called “agile development” that has quickly spread from manufacturers abroad to startups in Silicon Valley. It’s a system of “group dynamics in which workers are organized into small teams, hold daily progress sessions and weekly reviews”.

These group dynamics move away from the “waterfall approach” of management, where orders come from the top down. It is more of a collaborative process, where decisions are made after group conversation where all parties get to weight in. Gone may be the days of the age old parental response, “because I said so!”

Jim Collins, the author of renowned business strategy book “Good to Great, points out that great organizations “preserve the core”. He encourages families to develop a mission statement and using the statement as a foundation for decision making for all members of the family. Children can then work their way through problems and base decisions on how the solution relates back to their family’s unique brand. It creates a “touchstone” for the family and is a great way of highlighting what the family is doing right.

If your family had a brand, what would it be??? Would you be open to drafting a mission statement with your family?

Welcome!

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