Categories
Brand Metaverse NFTs

Adidas enters the Metaverse, and your brand should too.

Adidas has officially announced they are deep down the rabbit hole of the Metaverse, partnering up with considered blue chip NFT projects Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Punks Comic in what they consider to be “one of the most exciting developments in digital”.

On the back of their tweet, a link will take you directly to a page which states:

“It’s happening. Gmoney, Punks Comic and the Bored Ape Yacht Club lead Adidas into the Metaverse. Let’s go.”

In addition to this, Adidas have changed their profile picture on both Twitter and Instagram to a 1of1 Adidas X Bored Ape Yacht Club pfp (profile picture), falling in line with the NFT space, and how members of the NFT space all have their owned NFT’s as their profile pictures, displaying their unique identity and virtual metaverse clout.

Adidas enters the Metaverse

If this is all new to you, think of an NFT and changing your pfp to one, as being much like a ‘digital flex’; similar to how some may wear a Rolex or wear designer.

In addition, NFT’s allow the holder extensive utility and perks; which vary from project to project.

This comes as many Celebrities have joined the Bored Ape Yacht Club over the past month, changing their profile pictures as they do so, displaying how they are a part of one of the most elite NFT circles out there.

Some celebs in the BAYC include: Post Malone, The Chainsmokers, Jimmy Fallon, Logan Paul, Mark Cuban.

The list at this point is only growing and those A listers are just the tip of a very big iceberg not only for the BAYC, but for the NFT space alike.

It was also reported that Kylie Jenner DM’d a member of the BAYC asking what their price was to sell their pink Bored Ape, to no avail.

Adidas purchased Bored Ape Yacht Club #8,774 which was last sold for 46ETH ($156K at the time of settlement). The BAYC has heart-shaped sunglasses, a gold hoop for earrings, a “bored” look, a fisherman’s hat, and blue fur. In the recent Adidas tweet, the company has the BAYC sporting a yellow Adidas jacket with the classic three-stripe design.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club currently, at the time of writing boasts a ‘floor price’ (cheapest you can obtain a Bored Ape on the secondary market for) of 50.6ETH, or $231,000.

 

So, what can your brand do?

If your brand can begin to understand this new emerging world of digital flex, private circles, and how NFT’s provide their owners with exclusive utility, it could be a whole new way of bringing your fans into your world, and making them feel a part of something entirely exclusive.

Just this week, Budweiser released their NFT collection and also now own the domain ‘beer.eth’. Simultaneously changing their Twitter name to this URL in tandem.

Budweiser NFT collection

There’s no doubt that the Metaverse is coming, and will be a fundamental keystone of our lives in years to come and as web3.0 begins to take full flight.

If you as a brand are advertising on Facebook right now, you’ll be a part of this shift inevitably, as Facebook announced their name change to ‘Meta’ whilst also demonstrating their vision for how their platform will evolve into a full Metaverse in the future.

The world is changing, and this presents an opportune moment for brands and those who can follow the breadcrumbs to where this is all leading.

We at The Normal Company are working hard on the tech side of our business to keep our brands at the very forefront of how this is all unfolding, and have already made steps with a small handful of our clients to guide them on their Metaverse & NFT brand proposition, with some in early stage development as we speak.

We now look to potentially build out a fully done for you service ‘DFY’ when it comes to creating smart contracts, and building out NFT collections on the blockchain for brands that want to be a part of this web3.0 shift.

Bored Ape Collage

Categories
Brand Fashion Power brands

Skimming over the Success: SKIMS by Kim Kardashian

Within 24 months, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand has been built up into a $1.6 BILLION company.

In this blog post we are going to skim over SKIMS, and what has made the label such a success in a short space of time.

SKIMS launched in 2019 and instantly sold out of all stock at the time. In the past, Kim had loved wearing shapewear but realized there was a huge void when she couldn’t find anything that really worked for her. 

In turn, this created her market.

According to Grandview Research, the global shapewear market size was estimated at USD 2.26 billion in 2018 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2019 to 2025.

Kim had experimented with a lot of shapewear before launching her own brand, most of it probably coming from Spanx.

Kim identified her market fit, and brought a twist to this market. She offered unique colors of shapewear, plus-sizes, and the shapewear was made to compliment women’s outfits, and not so much to shape one’s body. 

A product she clearly wanted, which didn’t quite exist for her own personal needs. She harnessed her social prowess to catapult it to where it is, yes..

However, the products really do hold their own when you look across the board within women’s fashion. 

They have visible USP’s, interesting colour ways which stay true to Kim’s personal colour palette, and they offer a unique angle not exploited by other brands that sell shapewear.

 

After rinsing through their custom-coded website, stats for those who like to get ‘nerdy’ on the back end: 

After heading to their best-seller section, We found the average price of their top 4 best-selling products is $30. They also offer free USA shipping on orders over $75. Based on this, we would predict that their AOV is in the $60-70 range.

It’s high-quality shapewear, but at a reasonable price when benchmarking against the likes of Zara’s AOV. It fits in well with mid-tier brands, but with a ‘luxury’ touch, as it embodies Kim.

This makes for an easy impulse buy sale. Kim could have easily taken a steer from Kanye’s ever succesful Yeezy, and hit price points which could take her AOV beyond $100, as her name can pretty much do as she pleases, however when it comes to the scale she is seeing, it’s easy to see why when priced so competitively, and with it fitting in with the impulse buy notion. 

According to SimilarWeb, SKIMS receives 3.7M monthly visits to their website.

What’s next, is the most interesting part to take away from SKIMS success.

Let’s predict SKIMS’ revenue with our simple equation:

5M website visits x 2.5% CVR = 125,000 orders/month 125,000 x $60 AOV = $7,500,000 revenue per month!

But remember, Q4 and BFCM weekend is a whole different story for ecom businesses. We would estimate a $10m minimum month for the brand across Nov & Dec.

Not bad, Kim!

According to NY Times, SKIMS reported $145 million in sales during 2020, and expects to roughly double sales to $300 million this year in 2021, and based on the data we are seeing, we also expect this to hold true. 

$150M in one year, selling simple shapewear and comfy loungewear.

Categories
Brand Fashion Power brands

Like A Phoenix: How Puma rose from the ashes.

Puma. A brand we are all familiar with. Founded in 1948, they have been an ever-present in the sports scene, adorning sports shops worldwide and boasting heavy endorsement deals over the past 3 decades in multiple industries. 

For Puma, basketball was and still is, a key facet of their brand.

However, their first attempt at the lucrative scene of NBA fell way short of competitors, and sent Puma down the pecking order of consumers minds, against the likes of Nike and Adidas, who conquered for years.

Before Nike popped up onto the scene, Puma was the power player, almost untouchable as they represented some of the NBA’s top players at the time.

They had one small issue with this however, much like a lot of current brands in today’s market with keystone influencers and the marketing budget allocated to human endorsement; They couldn’t turn a profit on this area.

And so they shut down the division, enabling Nike & Adidas to take over and storm the market, whereby you’ll still find around 75% of NBA players wearing Nike shoes when they enter court.

More importantly, as NBA increased in popularity, Nike’s brand thrived financially as they ride the wave of basketball popularity and fan-demonium.

Nike US Revenue

  • 1990: $2B
  • 2000: $5B
  • 2010: $8B
  • 2019: $16B

Here’s a key take away from this that you may not have known: The basketball shoe business isn’t a lucrative one when it comes to profits. The typical profit margin within this sector all things accounted for is just a 5% profit margin. This proves that for the power players who have been around for generations, it’s all about the cultural influence (which is leverage and huge brand equity in consumers minds), rather than making quick returns on the short term.

With revenue dropping sharply by 10% from 2012-2014, Puma knew changes were needed, and fast to remain competitive.

Who did Puma seek out first to join them on this climb?

None other than Rihanna herself.

Rihanna was named creative director of Puma Women. With women’s sales ramping up a heavy 92%, Puma saw immediate results from the introduction of RiRi, to no surprise. Of course, the brand leverage from this was also something to be accounted for. 

Did they stop there?

No, Puma had their sights on taking things back to where they wanted to be within the basketball arena. To do this, they looked to someone of equal measure when it comes to influence, a true G.O.A.T by the name of Jay Z.

Given his cultural appeal and connection to sports biggest stars through Roc Nation, it was a no-brainer for the brand to bring in such a mogul.

Thereafter, Jay Z became the new Creative Director of Puma Basketball. Upon this announcement, one of his conditions was that he wanted a Puma Jet.

No biggie.

Jay felt that creating a fully Puma branded private jet would set the brand apart, and of course it did just that.

The brand wasn’t playing around, fully investing into every facet possible to ramp up brand image, set itself apart from the competition, and launch an attack on the markets it wanted to be a big player within.

They even personalized the tail number for Jay Z:

  1. N: Country code
  2. 444: Jay-Z’s album title
  3. SC: Shawn Carter

It’s not just a gimmick either, players routinely mentioned their ability to use the “Puma Jet” as an advantage.

Word was getting around, and Puma were becoming a heavy hitter once again, and no longer in the shadows of Nike and Adidas.

Where they could have easily backed down or tried to get on a level with competition, Puma always went one step further, attempting to break the market and leapfrog competition to be the best they possibly can be, crafting their own image, on their own terms for domination of their sector.

Outside of basketball, Puma has routinely continued to delve into celebrity image. Recent brand partnerships from celebs range from The Weeknd, right through to Victorias Secret model Adriana Lima.

From Victorias Secret they then go to other sports, notably F1 and Football with Lewis Hamilton and Neymar Jr.

This for us, proves the point that standing alone, doing different and thinking different, leads to different results. Brands can learn a whole lot from Puma’s approach when it comes to endorsement and driving up company profits and value. The message is clear; think outside of your current thought sphere, and delve into new spaces.

Still in doubt? 

Here’s the figures..

After seeing their annual revenue decline for two consecutive years, Puma’s all out celebrity strategy has skyrocketed their growth to phenomenal levels.

Revenue 2012-2014: $3.8B to $3.5 (decline)

Revenue 2014-2019: $3.5B to $6.5

Oh and also, their stock has gone from $22 to $99, and rising.

Today, with the focus on cultural influence embodying the brand, Puma is now more relevant than ever before, proving that when a brand can pivot and reach out to new areas, it can often pay off if the execution is strong.

This shift for Puma changed the direction for their entire brand, and for the better as they are poised to remain a heavy hitter in multiple industries for many more decades.

 

Categories
Black Friday Brand facebook ads Fashion Long Read

Black Friday & Cyber Monday: Don’t Be That Brand.

BFCM. The time of year all brands, customers, and agencies have firmly imprinted in their minds as the cooler months roll in..
The time of year when some brands can accumulate in a SINGLE DAY what they may accumulate in several months leading up to it.

As a consumer, you will be hit from all angles, often by brands you had never even heard of, all vying for your attention, and your hard earned cash.
It’s the time your inbox receives an onslaught of “Our Cyber Monday sale!” emails, sales announcements, and your Instagram turns into a boxing match between your favourite brands.

It’s an epic time of year, absolutely. One of which we absolutely buzz off and get a thrill like no other when we see 6X, 7X, 8X+ ROAS at top of funnel. And then of course, we get all hands on deck to scale the living sh*t out of it as each hour goes by, with us chomping away to try and hit record sales months for our brand partners.

However, there is a flip side.
A big flip side which can be disastrous, and put your brand in a tricky place if not methodically thought out.

Riding on the hype train of Black Friday, Cyber Monday is a potentially disastrous decision if you follow every competitor’s lead without sensitivity to what your audience expects and wants to hear from you, and one of which if not carefully curated ahead of time, can leave you scrambling away with a lacklustre campaign that fails to hit the hype.
It’s a mega traffic time of year, which can lead to endless unsubscribes, unfollows, and potentially even bad feedback scores and ‘spam’ hits on your ads.
…We aren’t about that life.

Last year, we gave 3 top tips to maximise your sales.

This year, these tactics provided will do exactly that once again, and possibly even to larger effect than what was seen in 2019.

This year, we will provide 3 tips to ensure you don’t get it horribly wrong when it comes to your BFCM strategy..

 

1. If It Feels Wrong, Don’t Do It.

If you’re planning out your BFCM outreach right now and it feels slightly uneasy as a brand, or you straight up feel like you’re only doing it because it’s BFCM, we would recommend putting on the brakes.
If you have those negative feelings about your outreach, it’s likely that your audience will feel that way too on the receiving end.
There’s nothing cooler than a brand that thoughtfully decides not to follow the herd on a very herd-inducing stretch of days like BFCM.
This is not to say don’t do anything however, because if you do nothing you will undoubtedly miss the moment on what could have been an epic sales busting week for your brand. But rather, what I am trying to get across here is that you can dare to do differently. It doesn’t have to be a blanket site-wide sale (although for the majority, these work a treat) There is no ‘need’ to do high discounts if your brand isn’t totally aligned to that and it feels wrong, would hit the margins way too much, or maybe you just don’t need to do them; this is pretty much only if you are Christian Dior. Most brands reading this however, should be doing something.

Some food for thought here is to think around how creativity can induce larger volumes of sales, such as bundling, or tiered discounts based on amount spent.

 

 

If it doesn’t feel right to you to hop on the BFCM train in the way you think it should be played, get creative and think through what your audience does want to receive from you on a day when they’re traditionally asked to give. This brings me to my next point..

 

2. If You’re Going To Do It, Do It Right.

By this, we mean don’t be stingy.
A measly 10% off or a ‘free shipping for BFCM’ promo is not a promo for BFCM.
This is like turning up to a Halloween party with a scream mask and a bin bag, you may as well not have even turned up.
The discount needs to pack a punch, be ‘wow’ worthy, and something in which will entice a buying rush like when Yeezy drop a new pair.
The trick here, is to do something that will get your audience processing orders faster than they ever normally do, in a FOMO inducing state.

It’s easy to know if you’re winning when it comes to this, because within 15 minutes of you putting the offer live, your jaw will be dropping to the floor with the amount of ‘dings’ you get from Shopify.
If you haven’t experienced this, the chances are your BFCM of last year failed to hit the hype levels required to pack the right punch, and you don’t want to miss the opportunity once again in a year in which e-commerce will hit all time transaction highs.

When thinking through your business’ BFCM plan, I challenge you to backtrack and ask yourself if your audience would debate the offer being strong enough, or something they could easily pass on and move on to a competitor.
As a business, your primary responsibility is to produce income, and so knowing your customer and your demographic is fundamental here to knowing how to play BFCM, and how to get the adrenaline flowing from your customers when they see that glossy ad served up to them on their Insta feed.
Be the business that listens to its audience year round, and you will know what would be the best bet.

 

3. Don’t overcommit. (Don’t be that brand)

Only produce what you can keep up with.

A lot of email and social media ghosting happens on BFCM; brands that have barely sent any emails, do 1-3 IG stories a day throughout the year all of a sudden bombard you with emails on BFCM and have an IG story that looks like Tetris. As soon as BFCM is over, like a ghost, they disappear from your inbox as quickly as they came and you get little to no value throughout the other months of the year.
Using your email marketing purely as a tool to make announcements is old school, and completely useless for today’s consumer, and one of which will dwindle your subscriber list faster than you brought them in.
There is enough clutter in people’s inboxes – if your emails have no utility to audiences other than as bait for them to spend money, they will sense this, and you’ll lose them. Especially so with this point, you need to ensure that if you are to send a ton of promotional content, you are ready to keep this up to a similar level once the hype settles and the period is over.
As soon as the middle of December rolls around, you need to ensure you keep it up in a way that is true to your brand.
One saying we have at The Normal Company is that LTV is the master metric. Do not jeopardise your long term stature for the short term shiny dollar, ensure you can carry everything out in a moderation that suits you, suits the brand history of marketing, and the future in which you plan to continue the distribution.

If you want to captivate and engage with your audience in a meaningful way, start off by sending useful content in your emails and boosting its intrigue for your audience.
Does your audience want to receive brand updates, funny memes, helpful information about sustainable fashion, a cause in which you back as a brand, or useful advice that suits why people buy your product?

Show up to your customer in a way in which best reflects your brand, the tone of voice in which you wish to be perceived with, and a manner in which you would be proud of seeing when looking at it’s content, context and value to the audience.
Selling your products or services, especially on BFCM requires a nurturing process more often than not. Don’t think that just because you’re giving out a once-in-a-year discount that your audience will let you skip over the fundamentals of what makes them want to buy from you.
Create a vibe, an aesthetic unique to you, a feeling which your customer is a part of, and you will forever have an audience which is actively on the lookout for your discounts, and ready for you to drop that email bomb on them as they not so patiently press refresh every 10 seconds on November 27th.
What I have described here, is that high LTV brand which dominates it’s market.
When you have an audience like this, you have what we call a superbrand.

Before BFCM comes around this year, start sending the emails and doing the work now to build an engaging conversation between you and your audience. Well, tbh you should have been doing this way before now, but creating a hyped and engaged audience is the firepower you need which will front-end-load your campaigns before you’re even thinking about them. It’s the surefire way to boost the success of any BFCM play you put out there, in a way in which your competitors could only dream of keeping up with.

Categories
Brand facebook ads Fashion

The 2020 King Content Strategy For Brand Scale.

Ads on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are today deemed the most annoying.

This is according to Business Insider Intelligence’s recent Digital Trust Survey.

Why?
Well that’s simple.

People don’t like being advertised to, especially when they want to scroll and find new inspiration from their favourite bloggers, escape for 10 minutes on a lunch break, play the latest Justin Bieber music video, or see what those they love have been up to.
It’s irritating, and a primary barrier to what they are on the platform to see, and experience.

The results of this survey should come as a wake-up call to marketers and brand owners alike still unsure about native content, or focussing more on the natural, stripped back approach to marketing vs the glossy magazine cover-esque pieces of creative.

So, what’s the solution?

Based off our recent results across our brand partnerships and client portfolio, the fuel for the most recent ROI experienced has been user generated content.
In the last 3 months especially, this has been the primary driver behind results both on an engagement, organic level, but also on the paid advertising front.

Our ethos is simple, and the types of conversations we have been having recently looks a little like this..

Integrate with content your target customers love to see, and be a part of the reason they are on the platform.
Be native.

Don’t be a 1990’s yellow pages advert plastered in the middle of an Instagram feed.

You’ll lose out.

If your marketing is in a designated advert, in between your target customer and the content they want to watch, undoubtedly it will be glanced over or not given attention. Your CTR will be sky high, even on the editorial you spent hours on end in a studio developing, tweaking and editing.
Not to mention the cost for producing your glossy ad.

It just won’t generate interest, and your marketing spend will be wasted because you are going against your consumers’ psychology and frame of mind at that given moment.

Integrate your message into user generated content, and become an intrinsic, flowing piece of the platform experience.

Here’s our top reasons why UGC is the way forward for brands that want to scale:

 

1. It’s the human touch

As above, people don’t want to be advertised to. They don’t want to be bombarded by marketing messages and they most certainly don’t want your ad interfering with their user experience on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

User generated content goes against ‘marketing’.

It’s a natural, aesthetically on point piece of content that creates a feeling.

A feeling that is in line with who your customer wants to be, how they want to feel, and the desire they have when it comes to the ‘why’ they would buy from your brand.

Here’s the thing: People trust people.

People want to relate with people.

This has been one of our key mantra’s when it comes to strategy calls of late with our clients, especially those in the fashion space.

Those that have adopted this strategy and nailed in on the UGC space to their advantage, have seen all time high conversion rates and revenues reported for the months of July and August consistently.

Instead of scrolling through websites that only tell you their ‘halo’ version of the product, people now prefer a natural, vibey conversation coming through from what they see from brands.

What they crave, essentially, is the human touch to an otherwise lifeless, staged, over-edited piece of content. UGC content provides precisely that – the human element.

It shows the product for what it is, the brand for the feeling they create with a no holes barred approach, and the customers for the community they generate.

Seeing a similar person to you, or a respected influencer wearing the new line is the best way to demonstrate your product to would-be-buyers. It’s the pairing of valuing perspectives of their fellow customers, hand in hand with an unfiltered view of your product in a real world use, often in a real world environment.

This is what UGC provides your brand: The much needed, and much desired help that prospective customers understand the product inside and out, and they get to know what to expect before they even land on the product page.

2. Customer Experience Is Accentuated 

Consider that you have been using the same angles of content for the past 6 months.

Your ads may very much be experiencing ad fatigue, because your product only shows so much.

It shows one angle, repeatedly: Your angle as those behind the brand day to day.

You have yet to mix this up and twist things into the angle you really need to be portraying as priority: Your customer’s view when they have the product.

When this switches up, your intended customer will see something a little like this…

They open up Instagram, scroll along and then get hit with a native ad that speaks the same language as those in which they follow, almost as if the ad they are seeing has been posted by one of their close friends.

Immediately they have minor emotions tied into the creative, and they are getting a sense of feeling with your brand.

The piece of content shows your brand in a native and natural form, and in a way studio content just cannot relay in the same way.

Suddenly, the product has new life to it, a new portrayal, and a new value proposition in the eyes of your consumer.

A different view, creates different reactions. 

They are now viewing someone experience the product in real life and validate all its claims, as opposed to just hearing them.

In short, your consumer is already experiencing the product, and in turn they get convinced that it’s as good as you say it is, and it does exactly as what that customer would expect from a product.

User-generated content adds a dash of authenticity and reverberates with the customer in the most natural form.

It’s a buying accelerator like no other.

3. It Converts 

User generated content drives sales like no other.

When people see for themselves how a product has impacted the life of someone else, and someone they identify with, they begin to find ways the product can help them, and starting selling the product to themselves.

In turn, this creates a higher CTR and traffic generation from this type of content compared to any other because it’s so identifiable.

The metrics align perfectly for any brand looking to scale, because UGC generates interest and more ‘scroll stopping’ than an ad that doesn’t look like it belongs.

It’s why people skip the adverts immediately when they come on T.V. between their favourite show – they know it’s not going to be relevant or personally tailored to them.

It’s another annoying barrier before they get to what they really want to see, and the reason why they are watching T.V. in the first instance.

However, if those adverts were people you adored and identified with showing off their latest buys in the most natural way, you may just hear them out.

Brands get far more bang for their spend, because their spend isn’t being wasted on people scrolling past, but rather the spend on the content is now getting clicks, and clicks create conversions.

You may end up buying something you do not need at all, or find something you may have passed up on initially, because it directly impacted you on an emotional level – it’s not just another advert. 

User-generated content consciously and subconsciously alters buying patterns and increases eCommerce sales twofold with brands who have lacked in that department historically.

Every marketing metric that aligns to sales, rises in all the right areas, and it’s clear to see why.

Categories
Brand Coronavirus facebook ads Fashion

£650m to Zero. How Stubbornness Will Kill Primark.

UK ‘Giant’ clothing store Primark made a grand total of £0 this month on the back of four weeks of closure, and over 60,000 furloughed staff due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Primark’s usual £650m months have plummeted to rock bottom due to their lack of diversified channels, in a world which is changing around them, and one of which they have ignored for many years.

With stores across the world forcibly closing due to the UK lockdown, Primark has been unable to sell any products due to its non existent online presence or diversified channels. In the past, the store has tried to justify this by saying it would not be able to keep prices low if home delivery were an option.

But, this in our eyes is an all too familiar phrase and string of excuses similar to that of brands and stores that we have seen fall at the hands of a digital first world over the past 18 months.

Primark however, like many physical stores have now had the shock which would have been inevitable regardless; adapt to e-commerce, or face a harsh reality check at some point. 

Chief executive George Weston said: ‘ABF has been squarely in the path of this pandemic. At Primark we have 68,000 of our people receiving furlough payments from governments across Europe, without which we would have been forced to make most redundant.

‘From making sales of £650m each month, since the last of our stores closed on 22 March, we have sold nothing.’

With this highlighting how George Weston and his board have failed to acknowledge and take action on what it means to have a digital strategy, the company and their staff are now paying the price of an ‘adapt or die’ retail world.

George added: “In time we can rebuild the profits. We can’t replace the people we lose.”

Shortsightedness can prove to be a killer even at the best of times and when business is booming, however at this current time especially, the so-called-giants will face a harsh reality which could see many household names pay the ultimate price.

The value of diversification for brands and stores is becoming apparent, as it always will when it becomes too late, but always pushed aside when times are good.

The question poised on Primark and their Directors is now this: Should we shift to e-commerce as a priority? 

The answer, is undoubtedly so, but equally it took a worldwide pandemic for them to emerge out of a cave, and ask what should have been a question they answered with tenacity when they had an opportunity to thrive, rather than merely scrap to survive.

Myles Broom

Categories
Brand Long Read SMM

In Musk We Trust: What Your Brand Can Learn From Tesla

Tesla. We all know the name, and will have our own opinions of a company which is consistently seeking innovation and has carved it’s way as the pioneer of electric vehicle ownership. However, how can your brand see Tesla in such a way that would be of benefit?

With Tesla, something is very different, and it all stems for the C word.

1. Customer Centricity

Everything at Tesla embodies an experience which is customer centric. From the website user design, right through to the ownership after care everything is built around the customer in such a way that majorly disrupts the car industry.

It’s such an integral part of Tesla, and this is why Tesla owners genuinely want Tesla to be successful on every level. Tesla owners want to be a part of the Tesla journey, the Tesla ethos, and see the company be a major success. They are raving fans, rooting for the company to dominate. An extremely high 80% of customers buy or rent another Tesla for their next car after buying their first, and it’s no surprise.

What can you learn from this? Create an experience that is adored, fine tuned to focus on creating loyalty and you will have something truly special; an experience that sticks in the mind of your customer. With this you will have them for life, time and time again.

2. A website that oozes class, and makes the buying process a breeze

Go on the Tesla website and you will see a user experience that is far beyond any capability of it’s competitors. Car sites are traditionally sticky, bulky and difficult to navigate. Check out BMW and you will see how their site homepage is busier than the sale rales at TK Maxx, cluttered with corporate jargon and taking the customer away from what they want to see, and straight into what the company feels is important.

Tesla on the other hand, much like their vehicles is sleek, smooth and crisp. It’s so clean we would eat our breakfast off it.

It creates an experience that mirrors the Tesla ownership experience. Experience here is the important word when thinking of your brand like Tesla; you want to create a feeling of ownership of your product, even before it has been ordered.

The call to action on each slide is an enticing button which is seamless with the web design, taking you on a customer journey which focusses on you beginning your Tesla ownership ride.

Within just TWO clicks from the homepage, you are given the ‘Buy a Tesla’ option.

Now, we don’t know what your product is, however if it is anything smaller or less pricey than an $80,000 electronic vehicle and your customer cannot buy it within just two clicks…

…What are you doing?!

From here, picking out your vehicle and having all of the key questions answered without needing a “questions” section shows just how advanced they are on the market.

Tesla Custom Build

Car information, price, savings you’ll be getting, a bar to change your payment method, delivery date, and a customer journey bar at the top to show you that you are only 3 steps away from having your Tesla fully spec’d out, it’s all so clean and is exactly what the customer wants to see.

Tesla have gone for minimal styling here, keeping things light and simple for the customer for something that historically has been such a complex purchase for many.

If Tesla can do this on one of the biggest purchases an individual can make, why isn’t your site following suit?

3. A Digital Only Strategy

In 2020, customers will more often than not, be starting their purchase online. That means that digital provides customers their first impressions of the brand. Tesla stands out right away with a strong digital presence, in a way that is mission focussed and depicts the why behind the brand in such a way it creates legions of fans even from those who have never even sat inside a Tesla cockpit. Instead of being pushed into a sale by a well oiled car salesman wearing a Datejust, they are given information to make their own choices through the omni channel experience online. Such things have been taken to the extreme by Tesla too, in 2019 they shut down all of their physical Tesla showrooms and stores. They are the only car manufacturer to have an online only presence which was a major shift for the market, and one which is radically innovating, going against the grain of the supposed ‘need’ for physical locations for car companies.

When you focus on where the customer is, how they want to shop and why they shop for what they do, you’ll find that the online experience is paramount.

4. A Mission Beyond The Product

Tesla is hugely mission focussed beyond all else. Excusing the pun, the cars themselves are just a vehicle for change. In Tesla’s words their purpose in the world is to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Existing for more than profits, making money and selling their new cars and getting them out onto the roads, Tesla has built an identity for carving a strong mission that everyone buys into. It makes their employees more engaged and dedicated to the ultimate cause, which encourages them to deliver a better customer experience because there is a paramount ‘why’ behind everything Tesla stand for.

On the other end of this, Tesla owners are a part of something. A movement for change, for the better.

If your product or brand doesn’t have a central purpose aside from selling, you may be at the mercy of brands that can have people buy into a ‘why’.

In Musk We Trust,

The Normal Company