Glasses direct blog

Last week Kevin, Bob, and I were lucky enough to visit Zappos, a US company who sell a huge amount of shoes online, and spent half a day touring their facilities and spending time with a couple guys who work there.

Here is what I think are the most remarkable things about Zappos, which provide inspiration to us and are relevant to any consumer company:

1. The powerful and truthful brand that the whole company upholds. Their brand is founded on Core Values – we call them principles at GD- and are religiously subscribed too. They do not claim to do too much, but what they say they do, they do 110%. External brand agencies have not been let anywhere near it. Their brand has been allowed to evolve over 10 years and pervades company culture to an extent I have never witnessed. The best effect of this in my opinion is that commercial decisions become no-brainers with the backdrop of such a prevalent sense of reason d’etre.

2. All areas of the business are focused on Wow’ing their customers – striving to create a ‘personal emotional connection’. Their ‘Wows’ please customers, and the obvious offshoot of this is that they drive talkability, repeat purchase (and therefore lower costs of acquiring customers) – because everyone is focused on creating new wow’s, the whole company orientates their thinking (and, their spending) naturally towards the customer. At GD, our customer is our boss- and it is great to see a company that truly believes that their customer is more important than their management, shareholders, board and themselves, as well. And they go about every day and decision proving that. Zappos spends approximately just 2% of it’s annual revenues ($18m last year) on marketing. Wows are the reason why.

3. In terms of literal customer service, they’ve renamed it ‘Customer Loyalty’. Customer Loyalty is not a call center, but an extension for them of brand marketing. CL agents are brand marketers driving loyalty – and they really do; 75% of sales revenues come from existing customers, which is a figure that we aim to one day achieve. Rather then spend their bucks on re-acquiring customers, they make absolutely customers have such a good experience that they come back.

The data speaks for itself in terms of results. In all 3 of the points above Zappos, ‘a service company that happens to sell shoes’, is stronger in my opinion than the ecommerce ‘gold standard’ Amazon which even if it is predominently in other verticals, already looks dangerously like the vulnerable incumbant. Companies like ours should study Zappos now to understand the future of ecommerce.

The Opus Design Award is a Japanese based competition for people wishing to ‘Deliberate Today through the subject of eyewear’ if you please.

There’s some lovely ideas. Who knows how many we’ll see on sale at Glasses Direct in the future?

This years winner was ‘Switch’, a photochromic pair of glasses where the entire pair change in sunlight, not just the lenses.

Project here

The silver prize went to the thought provoking idea of glasses for blind people – so that the glasses actually indicate the blindness instead of/as well as the stick:

Project here




These are slightly scary. Clamping to your face.

Project here

However the best for my money are these, if only for the dodgy translation. They’re glasses designed to counter the problem of the lenses steaming up when eating hot food.

When you eating hot food,
the misty in glesses is the most besetment for people
who put on a pair of glesses.
But it is discourteous that somebody usually shave the glesses.
Easy to shave the glesses not only well-mannered but also elegance

Project here

Here’s one that went from crazy design in 2002, into production

2008 Awards

Let us know any you think are particularly good.

Note: the main awards site does have a few broken links on it, but it’s worth persevering.

All companies make mistakes in their advertising from time to time (I recall roping in Nancy Sorrell in 2005 as a one-time model which generated very little awareness for us and cost a fortune) but most companies learn from their mistakes and react quickly to them.

2009 has brought with it a wave of repeat broadcasts of the Specsavers TV ad featuring Edith Piaf. I dont listen to her music, but like many people (especially since the recent film about her life La Vie en Rose) I am aware of her talent as arguablly France’s greatest popular music singer ever, and her tragic and premature death.

Edith Piaf would be turning in her grave if she could see this advert. This is a song that the French regard as something of a national anthem, about someone who was a chronic alcoholic and drug user looking back on her life, and saying that she regrets nothing; that all the pain was worth it for her to become the person she now is. It is poignant and heartfelt. (reference)

Whoever sold her out to Specsavers must regret doing so – I’m just suprised Specsavers hasnt stopped broadcasting this once it became clear how misguided it was. The Guardian called it ‘sacrilege, vandalism, and just plain wrong‘. I just did a google search, and it looks like it’s been shorlisted by someone as one of ‘TV’s worst adverts’ and someone else on page 1 of the listings calls it ‘evil’ . As I speak, the latest comment on youtube reads ‘I’m sure I’ve seen a worse ad than this. But I can’t think what it is. ‘.

Specsavers’ advertising can be impressive, like the viral Barclaycard style ad, but surely it’s time for these particular broadcasts to stop?

Image courtesy of Word Freak

I have to say it’s not a stereotype that I’ve noticed being true, apart from in movies & on the TV, but it’s nice to have conclusive evidence that backs it up:

“We have literally busted the myth that people who wear glasses are introverted or have particular personality characteristics. They are more likely to be agreeable and open, rather than closed and introverted,” said A/Prof Paul Baird of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Eye Research Australia.

Generally a nice bunch then. Up the speccies!

It does however go on to say that there are some serious points for eye health, as some younger people resist wearing glasses because of the fear of preconceptions that others have.

“This shows that people, particularly children, should not avoid or delay wearing glasses due to preconceived ideas about what it would imply about their personalities.”

It did make me think that although the wearing of glasses in itself doesn’t imply particular personality traits, what does my choice of glasses get across about my mood on a particular day?

I think that deserves a post of it’s own.

Link to the research:
http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_5073.html