The Real Thing

I don't even know where to start...I'm not a soda drinker, and definitely go for the local spring water vs. filtered..but when it comes to an iconic brand as an example for a marketing presentation, nothing beats a Coke. And they are smart enough to tell their story in as many different ways as you could possibly want it. Even a section for students who might be doing research on their company. Of course, they have all the cool stuff like screensavers and videos of their ads. And they even have their logos and images for download - that's how strong their brand is, and how smart they are about sharing the happiness. Wow.

Customer Service & Empowerment

OK, those are words that we all hear too often in the business world. We need to "exceed customer service expectations" and "empower our employees" to make decisions. Just yesterday we were talking about these in the context of storytelling, and by example the Nordstrom tire return story. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not - either way, it's a powerful story that's repeated often as a shining example not just of customer service, but also of employees who are empowered to make decisions regarding how to treat their customers.

Today at the Willow Lawn Chipotle, I experienced the same customer service and employee empowerment. And I swear it's true. I'd faxed in our order, called to confirm receipt and headed over to pick up the order. I was a few minutes late picking it up. The guy at the counter said the order wasn't received, did I call to confirm? "Yes, I did." And off he went to find our order, jump onto the line, make the food himself and deliver it to me in record time. And then the zinger: "no charge," he says. "I've got this covered. Really. Sorry about your wait, come back again soon."

Wow. I was stunned. I offered again to pay, then thanked him, and was so flustered I left without picking up napkins or forks (which are essential for Chipotle). I headed back to the office, still shaking my head over this encounter with customer service, and employee empowerment. I mean, this is basically a fast food restaurant and this guy wasn't even the manager.

If Chipotle can get it right, then there's no excuse for the rest of us not doing so.

Congrats Virginia Partners Bank!

It is an exciting week for one of our clients, Virginia Partners Bank, as they open their brand new Main Office building in Downtown Fredericksburg. The new building is beautiful so if you are in the area you should stop by and check it out.

We started working with Virginia Partners Bank when it was just Bill and Lloyd working out of a borrowed space. MBM had the pleasure of assisting with marketing materials from the ground up including the capital raising process, brand and logo development, and general marketing/promotion of the Bank.

Virginia Partners Bank celebrated its one year anniversary in August and has experienced great success in a short time. The Bank has opened two offices and has more than $89 million in assets.

Congrats VPB on your success!

Through The Looking Glass

As much as I'd like to start this blog with one of the classic quotes from Alice in Wonderland, it just feels too cliche today. Anyway, what I'm thinking about is the difficulty of holding a mirror up to your own company. Although we've done some of our best ever brand, logo and culture work this year for clients, we just can't seem to clarify MBM's brand. We've tried every tactic on ourselves but somehow we just can't seem to articulate who we are and what is special about us. It's frustrating but we're not giving up. We just put the finishing touches on a survey for current and former clients and hope they'll give us that extra insight we need to finalize our work. Stay tuned for updates and probably a new website when we get it right! And if you're struggling with the same issue, let us know. Maybe we could help each other?

PS - how cool is this film going to be?
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/22/tim-burtons-alice-in-wonderland-teaser-trailer/

New client website

So, I have to share a new client website. Maggi, Jason, and I spent the summer and fall working with Creative to provide a fantastic new website. Their brand has been evolving over the last few years, and they needed to update their website to reflect this evolution.

Be sure to check it out - Creative's new site.