Mecca Good vol 2.

Here are the pics (p.s I'm not a Gemini and I still bought it).............

Mecca Good

One of the reasons I love working with brands at-retail is the endless option for creating amazing and unexpected customer experiences.

Technology can really add wow factor but so can simplicity.

Case in point: Mecca.

I am a huge fan of Mecca Cosmetica. Love the space. Love the people. Love the products.

Mecca is brand not bland for the following reasons:

1. Sets its own playing field - no other competitor offers what it can (= scarcity).
2. Creates a brand experience each and every time via store lay-out, product range, packaging and staff experts ( = tangibility).
3. Treat customers like friends - you're welcomed, trusted, rewarded, engaged (= talkability).
4. Simple, beautiful POP. Makes you want to leave spending twice as much (= shoppability).
5. Take customer service and value to new levels (= loyalty + lovability).


Inside every Mecca store is a wall of individually packaged products that are swapped over regularly. Each of the products selected for this wall is moderately priced making it even more tempting to "add on" in your basket as you check out.

Recently, Mecca combined their wall of temptation (at least, that's what I'm calling it) with a fantastic promotion. They personalised products based on astrology signs then gave customers the chance to meet the well known astrologer in person, and naturally, in store. What a winning idea. No surprise it sold out. It really proved their knowledge of their market and their customers. Simple. Memorable. Effective.

A Super-Market Experience

In Coles today and had the most amazing customer service experience. This is the second time it's happened (different person). Really impressed me. I turned up for a 'transaction' and what I got was an experience (and now I'm talking about it). Cool.

Got me thinking (again) about how it is the human encounters that turn the retail experience from bland to brand. Those little details that make the difference between talkability and forgetability.

When Apple hire and train their people, they don't just look for "floor staff" they hire "brand ambassadors." They employ people who are fans of Apple - obsessed, tech-literate Apple-junkies who live and breathe every nuance and brand detail Apple has to offer.

What if we could do the same with a brand like a supermarket. Imagine if Apple or Virgin opened a supermarket - how different would it be from our usual experiences?

Here are my top 5 ideas for transforming the ordinary retail experience into something amazing:

1. Be a brand that stands for something beyond the expected. Be brave -dream big.
2. Create personal brand-value for each & every one of your team members.
3. Empower your brand ambassadors (staff) to surprise & delight customers in unexpected ways.
4. Transforming "customers" to a "fans" means consistent delivery of your brand promise every time. Create systems and processes that allow this (rather than inhibit it).
5. Make the experience personal. Build loyalty at every opportunity.

Brands Engaging Youth

Shift? Advertising to Entertainment - stop interrupting what they're interested in & start being what they're interested in.

10 tips:

1. Create an experience....an interaction.
2. Audience co-creation + ownership. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
3. Make sharing between tribe members easy. Allow them to help create the story.
4. Use humour. Enterain.
5. Be authentic. Everytime.
6. Be transparent. Everytime.
7. Consistency across all touchpoints. Don't give it all away up front.
8. Enable belonging. Teens are tribe-centric.
9. Add something useful.
10. Don’t assume anything. Trust + respect get earned by being relevant.