The cat Steve drew for me: busy grad student

Meet Steve Gadlin: the creator behind the one of a kind, ‘I Want to Draw a Cat For You’ company that took off a couple of years ago with a hugely successful Groupon deal followed by an appearance on the hit television show, ‘Shark Tank’ – where billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban decided to invest $25,000 in this company. I was lucky enough to talk with Steve about how he got the idea for the company, the ‘Shark Tank effect’, and what he has planned for the future.

Let’s talk a little bit about your background: what were you doing in the years leading up to ‘I Want to Draw a Cat for You’, and what are you doing now?

Well, I grew up in Skokie/Evanston, IL and went to college at Miami University in Ohio (my alma mater, too!). Once I graduated, I came to Chicago and performed a lot of improv and comedy and started to produce my own shows. I eventually put together my own show called Blewt, which is comedy that’s intended to delight and confuse.

‘I Want to Draw a Cat For You’ grew out of this – it was essentially a strange e-commerce project and a little bit of a social experiment combined. I like to do really weird things and I wanted a business that I could run with and market. I thought ok; well, a stick figure cat is the ultimate widget I can produce as a product. It won’t be a problem to create the product and I won’t have to worry about some of the other things that entrepreneurs generally have to worry about.

How many hours out of your workday do you dedicate to drawing cats? Do you have anyone helping you out on the side?

It’s varied. Right after my episode on Shark Tank it was like working another full-time job. I actually took a few weeks off from my day job and dedicated 60-80 hours a week to fulfill all of the orders. Once that initial demand subsided a little, I would work 30 hours per week all at night, and I had office space in Evanston, so I would go to my day job, come home, and then go to my ‘cat drawing factory’ to churn out the orders.

I had people helping me on and off throughout all of this. I would still draw every cat, but I’d have people color for me and take care of the scanning, web posting, shipping, etc. I tried to have it set up so my only responsibility was to draw cats.

Nowadays, the orders are slower, and until they decide to re-run my episode, I only need to dedicate 2-3 nights a week to work on this, and now my wife is the one who helps me with the coloring.

How did you come up with the concept, and turn it into a sustainable business?

I have always pitched dumb projects to people to get their feedback; I came up with this concept and I was laughed at and told how stupid it was; but I have so many stupid ideas like that and once and awhile all of the pieces are right in front of me. This one happened to be easy to execute.

How did you pitch your idea to Groupon, and how did it help your business?

Before the Groupon deal, I used to have 3-5 orders a week that came from my friends. I filled out Groupon’s app on their website and played pretend; I took the app very seriously and talked about my stick figure cat product and discussed it as if it was your average business. A sales rep called me up the next day and said, ‘lets do this’. I was floored, but he was really up for it.

Groupon told him they wouldn’t approve it, but he somehow snuck it into the Santa Rosa, CA market. It blew up when Reddit caught wind of it and touted it as the dumbest Groupon ever. That was enough to make it take off.

Then, when I applied to Shark Tank they kept referring to the Groupon deal as something that legitimized the business.

What made you consider applying to the Shark Tank show?

When I applied to Groupon it was mainly for a cool rejection letter; and when I didn’t get that from them, I applied to Shark Tank for the same reason. It was very fortunate; there was a lot of serendipity involved.

What effect did your Shark Tank appearance have on your business?

I’d be dumb to think that this business would be anything without Shark Tank; it would have fizzled. I had sold about 1,200 drawings before the show; and about half of those were from the Groupon. Now, I’ve sold more than 12,000. Shark Tank transformed it from a silly joke to something I had to run as a business because there was an influx of orders and I had customers’ money, so I owed them all of these cat drawings. I had to work 80 hours a week to get them out.

Overall, the ‘Shark Tank effect’ has been a positive experience, but there are some lows to it; you feel like you won the lottery when you walk off, because, ‘oh look, this billionaire just did a deal with me’, but in reality you’ve won a second job and you have to work really hard at it.

The producers paint these great idealistic pictures on the show, but they don’t show the work that goes into it. The last couple of years have been spent bridging the gap between reality TV and reality. I’m not a millionaire; I don’t make much money with this, and I spend a lot of time on it. It has been a great opportunity that I walked into; so I spend a lot of time trying to make the best of it, and at the same time I try to keep my eyes open. I don’t want to be the guy who’s still drawing cats for people when the fad is over. I want to be able to recognize it’s over when everyone else does.

Does Mark Cuban actually draw one out of every 1,000 cats like he promised?

He has drawn 2 cats, and he charged $1,000 a piece for them. A college student in Michigan bought one for his girlfriend, and I really hope they’re married now. A patent lawyer bought the other one; he wanted a cat saying stuff about patent law. They say it was worth it to get original ‘artwork’ from Mark Cuban.

Do you have any other businesses that you’re working on right now?

We have a few things cooking; I started a t-shirt company that flopped hard right away. I thought, “I’ll make something else super stupid”, but it just turned out to just be really stupid. We are still producing comedy shows; we have a game show that we’ve been working on producing for TV, which is a long process. I still have my day job, where I build websites for a TV station.

I do have a greeting card line in development with American Greetings and they’re going to start test marketing that in the next year or so. Who knows what’ll happen, this company may fizzle out by then or it may keep growing. As cat drawing fades out something will inevitably take its place.

For your marketing tactics, do you primarily rely on word of mouth, or do you use any paid marketing tactics?

The one thing I learned fast is that there is no substitute for Shark Tank; you can’t buy that kind of exposure. I can spend a lot of money on AdWords or on Facebook advertising, but it pales in comparison compared to the effect my episode had. I’ve tried TV commercials, web ads, etc. but the return on my investment was always really poor.

That’s part of the reason I started this company in the first place; I wanted to try out various methods of marketing to see what I could do. I’m not sure which is to blame, the product or the medium, but that kind of paid advertising doesn’t work for this type of company, and I don’t like to spend that kind of money on it.

So it has primarily been word of mouth. Every drawing is posted to the web and people will talk about it. Groups of friends will randomly discover this and will all buy one to try and show each other up. Most importantly, I keep telling my story, which has been very effective.

What’s the weirdest request that you’ve gotten?

I get this question all the time, but I never know. They’re all really weird. Recently, I was asked to draw a cat in a hot air balloon that was being attacked by unicorns and zombies. It gets strange, but sometimes I forget the cats I’ve drawn because I’ve done so many of them.

What’s your favorite cat that you’ve drawn to date?

Every thousandth cat I draw for myself; so if you look at all of the thousand numbers on the website, you’ll see my mental state of progression. Its’ kind of interesting; those are my favorites because they’re personal.

So let’s start with the big idea. What inspires you? What does the process for your team at Status Creative look like?

It all starts with who the client is, in the sense that we look for inspiration in what is exciting or interesting about their brand and what the possibility might be there: we look for inspiration in things that are happening—trends that are happening right now, for example doing interesting things involving mobile, involving convergence between social media and digital to the physical space—these make social media more social for many campaigns. What we do—we’re PR—we have a slightly different strategy than most firms. We never lose sight of the fact that we’re trying to create awareness for firms, but we need to get people to share content and get involved, so we try to find that one interaction with people that will convert them to brand advocates.

You’ve had some pretty stellar creative concepts. What is your favorite accomplishment in your work thus far?

For me, it’s always the most recent. To me, the most recent thing is the thing I’m most proud of because I know the amount of work and time it takes. I always try to take some time to reflect on how much fun you had and how hard you worked—last year, the Pure Michigan commercial with Chrysler showed we can effectively work with the big brands so that now we’re able to walk into any Fortune 100 brand and say these are the results we have and what we can do. And after 2 years, I think that’s pretty cool. Today, what I’m most proud of is the Forbes list. It’s a personal accomplishment, but a tribute to how we as a company engage, work with people, and take the time to build the right relationships. I hope there’s more good news on the way and more business to eclipse what we’ve worked on previously, but that’s where I’m at now. I’m really excited about it.

How did you develop your following to be as influential as you are now?

It was important to try to continue talking to big brands and big names on a personal basis. I was able to gather a large following from great mentors and influencers where I was able to pick their brain and really learn from.

Tweet chats tend to fade and become information dense: our goal is to inform but also to entertain. I treat it like a talk show. If you work in the field, you understand all the angles. In a lot of ways, it’s an extension of what I do for the Washington Post.
It is important to be perceived to have thought leadership in your field, and you can do that in a variety of ways: blogs, for example. I have chosen this media route as something relevant to me and a channel where you can seek out information about people, but also where you can gain information and continue the conversation with that individual. (And it’s now a top ten trending hashtag, too, FYI)

Implementation is key in all of this. Do you have any tips you’d like to share about how to make your moments most visible? Gain traction and UGC?

Know who your audience is, what motivates them, and what the consumer psychology is: it has to start with who you’re talking to and what motivates them to want to share content. The right piece of content for us might not be the right content for a different group. That’s paramount before anything else. Keep things short enough, simple enough, you want something that can be defined in one sentence, that people can quickly understand and is almost universal. So that people can see themselves in it, even if it doesn’t relate directly to them. Needs to resonate. From a personal branding standpoint, that’s the same way. A lot of people define themselves by their industry or what they do: you need to narrow things down so much that it stands out. Keep it simple. With tweets and retweets: short and sweet is key—even with the 140 character limit.

Paid, owned, earned. We hear so much about earned media these days, and that seems to be your forte. Your energy surrounding creating a big idea resonates, and it seems like something you champion. What are your strategies for capturing earned media, as you begin your process and adjusting as your campaigns are launched?

Before getting off the ground, it is important to make the campaign as flexible as possible. You need to be timely for relations between current information, but leave room to adapt content and have that capacity to change at a moments’ notice. Something that’s been overly emphasized recently has been the Oreo example in the super bowl, but there are so many other events and campaigns that encourage companies to empower their teams to capitalize on the existing situation. Editorial schedules are more structured and do well, but it’s best to remove layers of red tape and have your communications and creative teams ready and able/allowed to respond immediately. From a tactical standpoint, if you use social media in concert with traditional media, it’s a much better thing. None of these things are going away, but you need to adapt them. Regarding press releases: providing information for the media to write is a useful tool, instead of as a means to get coverage—using content excitement and social media traction will sell your piece. You can say, hey, 500,000 people are already talking about this, and that is far easier and far more likely to sell your story—go from having to constantly sell, to a position of facilitating, which is a much easier experience to help share.

We’re seeing some interesting things happening in today’s market, with PR agencies really utilizing lower budgets and creative ideas to catalyze concepts. What are your thoughts on these trends?

We’re seeing a merging of advertising and PR, enabling the two to really work together. This allows them to go in and leverage more of the advertising budget to be allocated to PR, to create the best mix of creating things and being proactive, rather than taking what’s available and trying to make it into something.

Thanks, @BarrettAll, for a great conversation, and for the innovation you bring to the field. Many congrats on your spot on Forbes’ Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers, no doubt you’ve earned it.

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To join the conversation, follow @BarrettAll on twitter and check out his tweet chat, #BareItAll, every Wednesday at 2 pm est.

Dove, a Unilever brand, released a video on their YouTube channel on April 14. The video, which is produced by Ogilvy, documents a social experiment where an FBI forensic sketch artist is commissioned to draw two images of female participants: one as they describe themselves and the other as a stranger describes them. Each female highlights the flaws of her face in contrast to the strangers that highlight the positive attributes, resulting in two drastically different sketches. The video is eye-opening, placing a spotlight on how critical women are of their physical appearances. The video has received close to 4 million YouTube views in less than a week and has been reposted thousands of times to popular social networking sites. The video has also sparked a debate about how beauty advertisements are aiding in the social problem of low self-esteem among teens and young women.

Dove’s corporate vision is to “imagine a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety.” This vision has been translated into their print and television advertisements that now feature real women that are different from their hair, age, skin color, to body shapes. Dove’s print and digital advertisements are confronting the narrow definition our society has placed on beauty and seeking to broaden that definition to be more inclusive of all women. In the “Real Beauty Sketches” video, Dove is not seeking to sell deodorant or body wash, but confidence. The other featured videos on their YouTube channel show that women in America need to be sold confidence, not products.

Dove is not only making strides in helping to improve women’s self-esteem across the world, but is also changing the face of beauty advertising. They are stripping away the fake layer of too -thin models and replacing it with the faces of their consumers. Why has it taken this long for a company to realize that women want to be empowered by their beauty products, not made to feel they have to hide behind them? Finally, a company is being honest and transparent by featuring real life women and showcasing their beauty and happiness as the standard we should all strive to achieve. Dove has changed the conversation in the beauty advertising world for the better and I hope more companies follow their lead.

Lesson 1: Ambush Marketing Works

When you can’t get in the ropes, great marketers, like great golfers find a memorable way around the obstacle. Bridgestone really stood out to me. The company commissioned hotels to brand the room keys for the week to promote tickets to the Bridgestone Invitational. A novel, nifty way to get the message into consumers’ hands. Additionally, to launch their effort to target the younger generation of golfers, IZOD established a social hub a block away from the entrance to the Masters to entice golf fans to venture inside to see what was going on inside. It was impossible to enter the grounds a not wonder what IZOD was up to!

Lesson 2: Know Your Audience

For those who watched the live Masters broadcasts over the past four days, you would have noticed a lack of variety in the advertising. The three legacy TV sponsors: IBM, ExxonMobil and AT&T, are the only companies that can place advertising during the official telecast. Yet, the messaging of each ad ought to be taken note of as well: these ads did not tell us about the latest and great smartphones and gas-saving tricks. They emphasized technological advancement and how the companies were working to solve the world’s problems. This is because The Masters is known to have one of the highest concentrations of decision makers in its broadcast audience. As such, these veteran Masters marketers know that the CMO on the other side does not want to know about what new Android is at AT&T for $99.99, he/she cares about how information systems and data are doing to help him/her make better decisions. When you have an elusive audience, communicate to them about what they care about.

Lesson 3: Create a Genuine Experience

Some people may not get what the Masters is about; much in the same way that I don’t get what the Samsung Galaxy SIII is all about. But, ultimately The Masters provides a one-of-kind experience for golf fans that goes beyond the superficial and actually connects with them. It’s a lesson that all brands can learn from. By creating a unique, special experience for customers that does more than just solve a need, companies can create a loyal following of advocates who not only favor the brand but are sure to tell all they know just how special it is. We all dislike when people are not genuine to us, the same applied to brands.

Perhaps my last Musing from The Masters would have to be on IBM’s TV campaign this weekend. All of the ads emphasized how the company is using big data, analytics and social to help businesses arrive at better decisions and “build a smarter planet.” It was a message that was geared from those in the C-Suite but has tremendous value for IMC. After all, “on a smarter planet, collecting data is one thing. Knowing what to do with it, now that’s an entirely new game.” (IBM “Ben Hogan” ad – air date 4.14.13)

Beginning around 9 a.m. the activities throughout the day aim to provide as much information as possible to the prospective students so they can make a truly informed decision about whether Medill and IMC is the best fit for them.

Not only will they be able to meet and mingle with other admits, but they will have the chance to hear from current faculty and students who can help shed some light on the IMC learning process.

Additionally, they will be able to hear from alumni of the program, who will speak candidly about how IMC has helped them professionally; not only in terms of where they were hired after graduation, but also about how they are able to apply the IMC fundamentals to their careers.

New to the agenda this year, students will get to participate in the IMC Midwest Talent Forum where a panel of communication experts will discuss social media ideas and best practices for engaging employees. Furthermore, numerous PR and communication professionals will be in attendance representing companies including Allstate, CDW, McDonalds, Hillshire, Beam and Big Ten Network. The Midwest Talent Forum is sure to provide future admits with a glimpse at the numerous networking events Medill has to offer.

The day, however won’t be completely IMC-centric; students will be guided on a campus tour, and will have lunch in Evanston where they will get to mingle with their potential classmates.

Visit Day 2013 is sure to be a fun and educational filled day preparing future students with all they have to look forward to by attending Medill this fall.

The idea of leadership (particularly transformational leadership: “the ability to get people to want to change, to improve, and to be led”) through the lens of gender can be an important factor when considering the structure and systems of IMC in the workplace. With much progress toward gender equality, we see many more women filling leadership roles and sitting at the table in all sorts of occupations. Even more so now, then, we must seek to be informed by the differences that gender takes, as well as update our stereotypes and our information about how behaviors and trends affect our social and work environment, so that we can react to and utilize the nuances behind them.

What key takeaways can we note from Sandberg—and other professionals like her—advising women in the workforce? While this list is nowhere near exhaustive, my thoughts below link research and media surrounding gender and leadership with important components of IMC as a strategic mindset in contemporary organizational culture.

1) A SHIFT AWAY FROM VERTICAL MANAGEMENT

Research has indicated that women are strong leaders when it comes to collaborative style and lateral (horizontal) versus vertical leadership. This interconnectedness across departments, teams, and brands within large-scale companies, focusing on decentralized idea generation and management, enables a shift in the way work is accomplished—and women have much to say on the experiences which have shaped their leadership in this way. Creating lateral leadership gives voice and accountability to all contributors, evoking transformational leadership.

2) CHAMPIONING OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION & EXPRESSIVENESS

Because transformational leadership emphasizes personal and individualized communication between colleagues, it is especially important to look at the ways that employees interact together. This strength has translated into a focus on women’s leadership styles overall: women as leaders tend to be more expressive, more nurturing, and more community driven, focusing on interpersonal relationship-building with staff and with communication and decision-making across hierarchies more generally. Beyond formal teams and within company structures, women take this skill into their informal networks to drive their success.

3) WORKPLACE CULTURE

In order to retain the best talent possible, we must be willing to understand the realities of how different genders experience work culture and demands, changing the model by which we understand what success looks like, as well as what sacrifices are required to maintain it. Beyond changing shifts and flexibility of the workday, it is necessary to adjust socialized norms surrounding gender, something at the heart of Sandberg’s Ted Talk. Before we adequately can address discrepancies in gender equality at work, we must address in the greater culture the stereotypes surrounding success: what it looks like for a man and what it looks like for a woman.

4) INCENTIVES & REWARDS

Women differ from men in more ways than their roles surrounding family responsibilities and their unique struggles with work/home life balance; overall, they differ in their level of competitiveness and their likelihood to ask for options  to further their careers. More specifically, women are less likely to ask for something within their own self-interest, and within the constructs of American culture, are less likely to be as competitive as their male counterparts. Sandberg states this powerfully when she gives a personal story of a friend underestimating her expertise in a subject she was clearly knowledgeable within; and by pointing out women repeatedly ask less for that promotion or for that raise they equally deserve. Knowing these tendencies, and then actively working to change them by encouraging women in the workplace, is an integral step for tomorrow’s leaders and successful businesses.

5) ENGAGING BOTH GENDERS IN NEW WAYS

Because women form such a large percentage of the workplace today, their tendencies can be diverse—few women no longer must act on behalf of their entire gender. Equally, many men possess traits that are deemed feminine qualities to varying extents. Much like other aspects of an individual’s personality (watch this TedX talk on introverts) leadership characteristics rarely fit into one prescriptive mold. Both men and women must champion the efforts of understanding this subtlety, so that not only are stark gender roles no longer a rigid necessity for either sex, but also so that collaboration is authentic. We must teach the future leaders to think around the important considerations of gender in order to challenge assumptions, inspire greater integration, and offer up new solutions—for both men and women alike.

All of these five considerations are examples of what benefit derives from women in the workplace, as well as what is necessary to keep them there. They must be applied, and not just given lip service, to ensure that women—both by cultural pressure and workplace procedures—don’t leave before they leave, sit at the table, (in Sandberg’s terms) and share their part in shaping tomorrow’s innovative spirit. And while my pre-ordered copy of Sandberg’s book is sitting on my desk yet to be enjoyed on my upcoming vacation, the buzz the book has already created is exciting and palpable—and a thought-provoking topic I thought would be fitting to share with all of you. My deepest hope is that someday these conversations become permeated into our culture so that the girls of today—the women of tomorrow—are able to benefit from them: so that women can continue to succeed, alter stereotypes, and break down barriers for success in the workplace.

Additional links:

PR Daily article

Levo League article

Wall Street Journal article 

The Huffington Post Women blogpost 

Marie Wilson, Closing the leadership gap: Why women can and must help run the world.

Tory Burch. The label everyone wants to wear, and the woman everyone wants to be. She is coined as the most copied, most influential designer in America, and recently landed herself on Forbes’ Billionaire List. So how did Tory Burch go from a brand launched out of a kitchen to one valued at over $3.5 billion in a mere 8 years? Let’s find out.

Insight #1: The significance of the CEO on image differentiation and organizational structure.
Tory Burch has successfully blended her private and public life, which we can see on The Tory Blog and her Twitter. Just take a look at the lady: she’s beautiful, put-together, a mother of 6, and did I mention a billionaire? Consumers are shelling out hundreds to have the medallion double “T” logo on their clothes, handbags, accessories, and shoes. But Tory didn’t have it made from the start. She built her brand through editorial relationships and personal appearances, which allowed people to get to know her as both a person and businesswoman. Tory is not just the face of her brand- she is the brand- but she is also a powerful and decisive CEO. Vera Wang says of Tory: “She understands business from a P.R. standpoint. That’s what the business is about today.”

Insight #2: Proactiveness is an underpinning of success.
Tory Burch was a novice in the fashion industry when she launched her brand in February of 2004, the same month that Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook from his college dorm room. But that didn’t stop her. She realized a need in the market: women want luxury without the price tag. This is the niche where her affordable luxury lifestyle brand thrives. In 2006, she forever changed the fashion world when she came out with the “Reva” ballet flat. Now, women are able to look polished without wearing heels.
Tory is also proactive on the legal front. She is currently in the throes of a lawsuit with her ex-husband who came out with a copy-cat brand. Not to mention the $164 million in damages she won against online counterfeiters. Go Tory Go!

Insight #3: Adapting an entrepreneurial strategy will positively impact performance, regardless of the stage in a company’s lifecycle.
Although Tory found quick success, the start-up spirit is still alive in her business operations. They don’t advertise in traditional mediums. Ecommerce is the backbone of their revenues. They experiment with the intersection of social, local, and mobile. She recently entered a partnership with Estee Lauder for a fragrance and beauty line.

Tory Burch is one of my favorite designers. Although I can’t quite say her pieces are very affordable for me right now (hello, starving grad student here), they are aspirational, attainable, and just amazing. The fashion industry has a lot to learn from Tory Burch, but so does any other company. To be able to compete and continually succeed in a high velocity environment has takeaways for all. So if we tuck away these insights into our marketing repertoire, maybe one day we can build a brand to the likes of Tory Burch, and hopefully just as quickly!

But let’s back track a bit, shall we?

It was a match made in heaven: Adidas and Derrick Rose, one of the most talented athletes in the NBA. The two first joined forces when Rose entered the league in 2008, and as his career skyrocketed, Adidas was there every step of the way. In just three years, Rose won Rookie of the Year, helped the Chicago Bulls regain levels of success not seen since the days of Michael Jordan, and in 2011, became the youngest player to win the highly coveted Most Valuable Player award.

So when it came time to renew their contract, Adidas spared no expense. In February 2012, Rose inked an unprecedented 250 million dollar, 14-year contract with sporting goods brand.

But just two months later, it all literally came crashing down.

Rose tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Game 1 of the playoffs and would be out for almost a year.

And that wasn’t the only bad news Adidas faced at the end of the 2011-2012 season. In addition to Rose, two other Adidas-backed NBA players went down with season-ending injuries. These incidents had many in the online sphere questioning the quality of Adidas products. Even more troublesome: Rose had to give up his spot on the 2012 USA Olympic team. This left Adidas’ biggest competitor, Nike, in the limelight during the London Games with superstars Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James sporting the infamous check sign logo.

With so much going wrong, Adidas could have taken two routes: (1) Wait for Rose to return to the court or (2) develop a campaign around the soundness of its products with the hopes of improving its brand image. Instead, Adidas chose a third option that not only incorporated the pros of both aforementioned scenarios, but also reflected Rose’s value to the brand.

In collaboration with Rose, Adidas developed a series of web videos called “The Return of Derrick Rose.” The episodes were released over the span of four months, and gave fans a chance to see a normally reserved Rose open up about his life and injury. The videos documented Rose’s road to recovery and featured a mix of rehab footage and interviews. As for the coverage, Adidas utilized social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter to share the series with fans—and they didn’t disappoint.

“The Return of Derrick Rose” generated over three million views on Adidas’ YouTube page. The impact of the web series, however, stems beyond just the number of clicks it received. The videos ensured that despite not having been on the court for almost a year, Rose remained relevant in the sports world. It also created a buzz around his impending return to the hardwood.

Through “The Return of Derrick Rose,” Adidas has given a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘turning lemons to lemonade.’ The sporting goods manufacturer was able to take an unexpected, worst-case-scenario and transform it into marketing gold. Given the success of this web series, it will be interesting to see how other sporting goods manufacturers manage similar situations in the future.

C&A’s Digital Hangers

The integration of retail fashion with social media has certainly been one of the hottest marketing trends across the globe over the past few years. With consumers increasingly seeking a second opinion from friends or other like-minded individuals online instead of the opinion of in-store assistants, retailers have directed their attention to online activity surrounding their products. C&A’s Brazilian outlets have responded to this new environment by reinvigorating their brand using one of Facebook’s most recognized features, the ‘like’ button. This initiative, called the “Fashion Like” invites consumers to “like” outfits on Facebook and subsequently, these ‘likes’ are displayed digitally on the hangers in the stores in real time. This particular use of ‘likes’ demonstrates an innovative and unique way to engage customers. What’s better than an in-store popularity poll? Instant opinions from thousands of people can potentially sway a buying decision. C&A clearly intends to alleviate customer indecision and capture the online interactive opinion with this strategy.

Although this particular use of social media is unquestionably innovative, it may or may not guarantee an increase in sales. How long will it take before the novelty of the ‘social hanger’ wears off? C&A also must fine-tune the overall execution and must integrate this campaign with their store website to make it completely cohesive. Even though the increase in the number of likes could potentially increase the size of the individual shopping cart, would customers necessarily want to buy what everyone else is going to be buying too? Or would they instead want to pick a more exclusive item? Likewise, C&A may find it extremely challenging to sell the clothes that do not receive many likes on Facebook. Just 5-10 likes versus 500 may automatically make the customer question whether or not that item is fashionable enough for them.

Setting aside from some of the challenges that C&A may face in the course of making this a successful campaign, this strategy is definitely an innovative attempt to bring the virtual and real worlds closer together.

The “like” button on Facebook and Instagram provide immediate social gratification. Be honest, you post your picture and get excited when you get 10 likes and compulsively keep checking the next few hours. It makes you feel good and relevant. Your social profile is a popularity contest. When you are at a Cubs game and catch a fly ball, you want everyone to know. You pull out your smartphone, snap a picture and within seconds you’ve shared your glory on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and texted your dad to make him jealous. If you had taken that picture with your digital camera, you would have had to go home, find your cord to plug into the computer, open the program to upload, save, and then maybe you would share, but by then who cares? You don’t get instant social gratification by using a digital camera.

I pose this question to the reader:
Is there a way that these traditional camera companies can tap into the app and social market or is this a lost opportunity for them? Personally, it seems to me that the only way to draw in the social-user is to be able to wirelessly send photos from your high-end camera to your tablet or phone or computer? Everyone likes to be liked; traditional camera companies should take note.