Birchbox: a case study

I really admire innovative marketing ideas. One of my recent finds is Birchbox. Every month I find two of my co-workers eagerly anticipating the arrival of the box and then discussing in excited detail the contents of the box.

Birchbox is a monthly delivery of ”high-end beauty and lifestyle samples from top brands.”

Now, I am not the girliest girl you’ve ever met. I’ve been loyal to Maybelline make-up since my internship in grad school but most women my age have graduated to department store brands like Lancome, Clinique or Estee Lauder. I don’t love shopping. I don’t go to just browse, I go with a purpose.

What I love about Birchbox is that it brings the mall to you. I get to try new perfume, lotion and make-up for $10 a month. And when you like something, it’s super easy to log on and buy the full-size version on their website, all without a trip to a crowded mall. They’ve completely roped me in and I’ve made purchases in the first two months.

Honestly, the coolest part is the entire customer experience. From the very beginning they tease you into really wanting it. You have to submit a form to apply for a subscription. Yes, they have to give you permission to give them money! And while you wait for your subscription to be ready, your anticipation starts to build. Their e-mail marketing is timely and relevant and helps to build your excitement. When the package arrives in your mailbox, you feel a few of the same flutters you get when you open a present. I know, it sounds dorky but it’s true. The box within the box, the tissue paper and the cards really do deliver and exceptional experience.

So if you’re looking for a creative gift idea for the lady in your life, you really should look at the Birchbox. And no, I received no compensation for this blog post. Are you kidding me? I have like twelve readers!

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks

Yes, I am the dog in this story. Since April I’ve discovered two new hobbies/obsessions: gardening and golf.

In April I hired a fabulous landscaping company (Timberline Landscaping) to dig up my entire backyard and put in a brick patio and some landscaping. I spaced them out so I had room to plant my own things. Randomly, I chose red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumber, broccoli and egg plant.

I can’t tell you how thrilling it is each morning to check my plants for new leaves, flowers and vegetables. My iPhone is filled with pictures of my garden. Everything is growing bigger and faster than I ever imagined.

Watering is like a religion especially since we are in a drought. The best advice my landscaping company gave me was to water at the roots rather than use a sprinkler and to water every two to three days. It’s important to let the ground dry out so the roots have to grow stronger as they look for water.

I’m looking forward to eating my first pepper and broccoli in the next week or so!

And my second new hobsession (made that up) is golf. A friend invited me to participate in a five week clinic with three other girls who have been golfing for years. The golf pro was great. She was able to provide simple tips and corrections for all of us even though we were all at different levels. Immediately I saw improvement with my drives. They don’t go far but they generally go straight.

She was adamant about the need to practice, over and over. I took her advice and try to get to the driving range one or two times a week to drive, chip and putt. I love it! It’s fun having something to practice to improve. It’s great exercise. The courses are gorgeous and get you out in nature. And it’s something I can do into retirement.

It’s funny how the universe works. I was recently invited to play in a golf tournament with a vendor…the first time this has ever happened in my career! And we really did talk a lot of business in between shots. What a great time!

So now you know why I haven’t blogged since March. So what are your new hobsessions?

Yes, I'm a Madonna fan!

And I just bought tickets to see her in St. Louis in November! I got them through the regular Ticketmaster online sale at 10:00 am on March 5th. I’ve seen her three times in NY, Philly and Chicago so I wasn’t officially planning to go again. I assumed the tickets would be too expensive and that with all the pre-sales, the seats would be too far from the stage. So I was checking them out just in case… I was giddy after I bought the tickets!

I have to say she’s lost some of her appeal in recent years. I haven’t bought the last few cds and I haven’t seen the last few tours. But something about her halftime show reminded me about what I used to love about her. She really is a fantastic performer and she performed a bunch of my favorite older songs.

Whether you like her or not, there is something fascinating about her. Come on! Her career has lasted almost 30 years all while pissing people off the whole way! Think about all the pop culture references over the years. Here are a couple of random mentions:

1)In both the book and the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.” There was a poster of her from the “Lucky Star” days on the wall of the bedroom of the first victim.

2)In the movie “The Professional” that starred a very young Natalie Portman. There was a scene where she was dancing around entertaining the assassin and she did a version of “Like a Virgin.”

3)The awesomely hilarious spoof of herself she did featuring Wayne and Garth where they redid her “ Justify My Love video.”

4)Swear to God, as I am typing this, the Real Housewives of Orange County are having an 80’s themed bunko night and one of them is dressed exactly like Madonna!

Remember in 1991 she released the movie “Truth or Dare” which was a documentary-style movie that followed her on her 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour. Being a huge fan, I loved all the back-stage and behind-the-scene footage of her and her dancers. Critics challenged the entire concept saying that everything she did was contrived and put on for the cameras. They insisted there was no way she could forget the cameras were there and actually be real. Well, fast-forward to the present day and ‘reality’ TV shows out-number scripted shows! She was ahead of her time. Brilliant!

Then in 1992 she published her “Sex” book (featured above in the pic). Of course I pre-ordered mine. Once it arrived, everyone I knew wanted to see it. No one wanted to admit to it but they all wanted to see it. And as they turned each page, they would comment out loud “she’s disgusting, she’s so weird, I can’t believe this, oh my gosh.”…as they continued to turn every single page and look at every single image. Whether you like her or not, she’s still fascinating.

There was only one woman I worked with who flipped through a couple of pages and stopped. Everyone one else looked at every page, complaining the entire time! Sometime during every party I’ve ever had, the book comes out. Everyone still wants to see it. The metal covers and the first 10 pages are no longer attached to the spiral binding!

The other book in the picture above is a hard-back, souvenir concert book from “The Girlie Show” that came with a special collector’s edition CD. This was my first Madonna concert I saw at Madison Square Garden! Yes, way cool!

The set of four, picture discs features an unedited, rare interview she did in London. They are vinyl and you need a turntable to listen!

So, yes, I’m still a big fan of Madonna, even though at times it feels like she’s gotten weirder as she’s gotten older, and as my co-worker’s wife says, “She has Gollum arms!” But as a marketer, you can’t ignore people like Madonna because they affect culture, language, fashion, art and life….whether you like it or not!

Pinterest 'liked' my pin!

I didn’t even know that the Pinterest brand engaged with the content like this. I can’t tell you how giddy I was when I received the e-mail notification that Pinterest ‘liked’ my pin!

I’ve only been on Pinterest for a couple of months. I haven’t pinned many things but I really enjoy just scrolling through to see what other people have pinned.

A friend of mine is doing a hike to raise money for breast cancer. I wanted to help promote her web page where you can make an online donation. She has a great photo from the last time she did the hike so I thought it would be cool to ‘pin’ her. Within minutes a stranger re-pinned the photo and Pinterest ‘liked’ it! How cool!

I’ve already completed a Pinterest-inspired craft project, two new recipes and found several cool new blogs to read. I highly recommend Pinterest. Just play!

and PS, if you want to make a donation, click on Jane's photo above. Thanks!

Who buys perfume on HSN?

Well…apparently I do. It’s hard to explain. I’m not a big infomercial shopper and I’ve never purchased anything off HSN. Well…until last Friday.

It’s so random. I came home from an early dinner and started flipping through the channels. This was strange way to start the night because I rarely watch live TV. There’s always something good in my DVR.

I flip to HSN and Kate Walsh is on promoting her perfume. I’m a big fan of hers. Loved her on Grey’s Anatomy, I follow her on Twitter and Facebook and her video blogs are really funny. Why would any of this make me think she knows anything about perfume? I don’t know but apparently she was very convincing.

She was so excited about all the notes and the high quality ingredients and how she didn’t just put her name on a perfume she started her own company and how the bottles are like little pieces of art and how it was such a great deal since it came with a little roller-ball, pressure-point applicator bottle thingy and free shipping!

So I bought a new perfume without trying it on or even smelling it. It’s called Billionaire Boyfriend which, if you know me, is even funnier that I bought it!

And yes it smells great! No buyer's remorse.

How did you hear Whitney Houston was dead?

Crazy world we live in where a guy on Twitter (@chilemasgrande) who has only tweeted 50 times and only has 161 followers is getting credit (via Mashable.com) for breaking the news about Whitney Houston's death.

A later report says that @AjaDiorNavy tweeted earlier "omgg , my aunt tiffany who work for whitney houston just found whitney houston dead in the tub . such ashame & sad :-(" She's tweeted almost 9,000 times and has roughly 700 followers.

I know a lot of people who aren't on Twitter and never plan to be. They're not on FourSquare, Yelp or Google + either. The gap just keeps getting wider. Makes marketing more interesting. My parents are a perfect example. My dad has never used a computer. My mom still has dial up. Neither have a smart phone. They still read every page of the paper newspaper. Lots of brands should be targeting them but not via social media. (They found out on TV.)

ps I found out from my waiter at dinner. His name was Holden. He wasn't named after Holden Caulfield. He was named after a soap opera character.

Loved the Apple Episode of Big Bang Theory!

I just received my first iPhone a few days before this episode aired so I am finally beginning to understand the obsession. Raj’s character is so charming and the fact that he can’t speak to a live woman unless he is drunk is always a hilarious plot-line. But the fact that he is able to talk to Siri and begins a ‘relationship’ with her is ridiculously funny! He tells her to call him sexy…come on! How can you not laugh when you hear that? And when he finally ‘meets’ the live, red-headed, smoking hot Siri and he can’t conquer his fear and speak to her…well, your heart just goes out to him...and you laugh out loud at the same time!

My favorite part of the episode was the idea Leonard (and Penny) had for having ‘bug reports’ in the ‘beta test’ of their relationship…so perfect for this show! And now having managed a web team launching new technologies and applications over the past two and half years, I am well-versed in the language of bug reports. Any relationship expert will tout the importance of communication and probably the hardest part is voicing a criticism or complaint. The bug report philosophy is really quite logical…at least for Leonard.

I’m really curious about the level of Apple’s involvement in the episode. Was this a paid product placement? Did Apple pitch the Raj plot concept? Or were they simply consulted? Did the producers need to get permission to use Siri or her voice? Did Apple simply hit the jackpot again by being featured on a top rated show?

Top 3 Reasons to Attend an AMA-STL Luncheon

Although I’m no longer a board member I am still a big fan of the local AMA (American Marketing Association) and their monthly luncheons. Last year I met some fantastic people and really enjoy seeing them at these events. So here is my non-board-member perspective on why you should also attend.

1. Excellent local speakers

St. Louis has some great talent doing innovative, successful work and the team this year has done a great job of securing the speakers. Most recently they featured Jeff McHugh from Clear Channel Media. This wasn’t a canned talk promoting a book or working the speaker circuit. He was a lively and entertaining speaker who went above and beyond on his preparation. He asked his on-air personalities to record funny, improvisational videos to queue up each section of his presentation. They were hilarious, made fun of Jeff and spoke directly to the AMA audience. But the meat of his content was really interesting on how they are keeping local radio relevant in the age of Pandora and iTunes.

2.Lively networking

This group doesn’t just come in find a seat and sit quietly until the meal begins. When you enter the room, you are typically greeted by several board members and when you survey the rest of the room you see many pods of three and four people chatting it up. People come early to take advantage of the networking. You will meet people from all areas of marketing from agency to client, market researchers, technology providers, social media, SEO etc. It’s a great mix.

3. Stellar food and service

This one seems silly but the food and service at Maggiano’s is ridiculous! It’s worth the money and so much better than many catered meals in a hotel ballroom. The Brentwood location makes it convenient for anyone in St. Louis.

So there you are. Members and non-members welcome so see you next time!

The intern almost became mayor of my office!

So I’ve had my new iPhone for almost a week and am just a beginner on Four Square. When I first joined I noticed that our part-time intern was mayor of our entire company. We have over 150 employees that work at my location and I thought it was crazy that a part-time intern was mayor.

I told the entire marketing department that I was on a mission “to become mayor”. The first hilarious moment occurred when I was standing in the hallway, loudly expressing my desire to become ‘mayor’…at the exact moment a very funny co-worker crossed through our group and says “…where of Loserville?” awesome!

Later that same day the intern friends me on Foursquare. I start seeing her updates. I return to my office after a few meetings and notice that she has begun checking into “Chris’ office!” I’m not even sure how to set up a new location! I run over to her office, laughing the whole way, and ask her about this. Two of my co-workers who sit on either side of her are belly-laughing as well. I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.

I’m happy to say I am now Mayor of my office and hope to retain that title. I’m still not sure how often you can keep checking in to a location. I also think there should be a Foursquare Honor Code that requires you to physically step in to the space before checking in. We’ll see how that goes.

PS and I know her name, just choosing to let her remain anonymous. But when I'm in a weird mood I yell for the interns like Karen from 'Will and Grace' used to for her driver...I just yell 'Intern!" and crack myself up.

Charlize Theron and Product Placements

I just finished the latest episode of Top Chef with special guest judge Charlize Theron on my DVR. As a big fan of this show. I think this was THE MOST creative challenge they’ve ever had. As a marketer, I love how it was creatively entwined into a clever promotion for the new movie “Snow White and the Huntsman” where Charlize plays the Evil Queen.

So many product placements feel contrived and intrusive but this one was perfectly blended into the main premise of Top Chef: a cooking competition. The movie is a much darker version of the Snow White fairy tale. The challenge was to “create a gothic feast fit for a queen. Each dish should be wickedly beautiful…just like the queen.” Charlize challenged the chefs to bring her real indulgence and risk taking and to think like an evil queen.

Well, these directions sent all of the chefs down some truly creative paths with their plates. One dipped his gloved hand into a red sauce and left a full ‘bloody’ hand-print on the plate. Loved that! Another created a poison apple dessert with faux maggots and a worm. My favorite was a dish that was supposed to look like a black chicken had been slaughtered on the plate with a quail egg on top symbolizing the baby that had been inside her when she was slaughtered! NUTS! (Isnt’ that picture morbidly delicious?! taken with my Blackberry of the TV)

The beauty of the marketing behind the movie is that it pushed the creativity of the chefs well beyond their culinary school and fancy restaurant training. It made the show better. The viewers were presented with one of the best shows ever and the judges commented that the entire meal was one of the best in all the seasons of the show.

The movie trailer premiered during the show and because of the challenge and Charlize’s candor and personality during the show, I was actually excited to watch the commercial. Gold Star Top Chef and to the agency promoting “Snow White and the Huntsman!”