Vineyard Vines Tie Company
Today’s Brand Garage is not a fix-up job; we’ve pulled this one into Bay No. 4 over there just to admire the chassis of this well-oiled marketing machine: Vineyard Vines tie company. First, let’s say one thing about Vineyard Vines: They’re comfortable. They’re like an old friend. Their website feels like communication from people you know well and want to hang out with. It’s like family. This emotional intimacy with customers is their glue.
Not only do they talk about their new products and new stores and business stuff, they talk about fishing trips and the company hockey team and how much money four of their people raised by walking to fight breast cancer. Their casual pictures look like photos you might have on your refrigerator. Their verbal style is like a neighbor coming by to tell you about a great recipe. They have a niche and fill it windowsill to wall socket.
TT: OK, as anyone who knows me knows, I am no fashion guru, so I can only talk about Vineyard Vines from a strict branding sense. Fred is the passionate consumer of Vineyard Vines products and I first heard about them from him. I have to admit, however, that I think their efforts are beautifully done. It’s not the most creative execution. But it is creatively executed in an effective manner that has the intended effect. Great concept, well planned, built and delivered. I feel like they are family when I see their communication. More importantly, I feel like they are honest and real. I feel like they care. If I did, for some strange reason, want to own a tie, I’d buy one from them.
FRED: Terry – these Vineyard Vines guys are so good at communicating their “essence” and their “soul” that I’ll bet they’d have even YOU craving one of their bow ties (of course, with tiny Jack Russells all over it).
But, you’re right – I love Vineyard Vines! It’s weird – I’m one of their biggest fans! I’m always flipping over my tie, turning it around, showing folks the Vineyard Vine label on the back. How did this attraction happen? I’m in the “brand building” business and I’ve been suckered in by a dang brand! Yikes!
TT: Hoisted on your own petard. Caught in your own ointment. I know what you mean. When you cross paths with a brand that gets it, you actually appreciate the intelligence so much it compels you to express genuine excitement and absolute loyalty. I felt that way when I saw the first Macintosh many years ago. I felt it when I went in my first Starbucks and Nike Store and when I drove my first Z. Yet here we are with a thing as ubiquitous and simple as a tie and they have found a way to create that kind of engaging connection. You have to appreciate that.
FRED: You got it. You know, here at The River, we’re always saying a brand has to have a clear and meaningful message, look and voice – and that “voice” is the toughest thing to create. These guys are the masters of the “voice” thing. You get the feeling that everything Vineyard Vines touches is the passionate work of good people who have played a lot of touch football together and enjoyed their share of communal “pops” afterwards. One day, maybe hanging out on the beach together, they just decided that they would make some quality, fun ties and get them out to other friends and see what happens. It feels that comfortable and loose. That’s how much their effective “brand voice” communication has affected me. After looking at their catalogs and rooting around their website and calling them and talking to their people, I just made up their whole heritage in my mind. I feel like I am a part of this cool group by being a customer.
TT: That’s the kind of consumer connection every brand craves. It’s interactive, interactionable and inner-fulfilling. Target has built this kind of brand. Ben & Jerry’s is this kind of brand. Saturn once built this kind of brand from scratch and squandered the equity. Will Starbucks overextend themselves and squander theirs? We’ll see. But Vineyard Vines has a sweet thing going on and it looks like they understand how to keep the mixture fresh and compelling. So what happens when you call them on the phone?
FRED: Honest to Abe, you call and they answer the phone, you feel like you’re calling an old, comfortable, clapboard home, not a sterile business. This is no “punch one” here and “punch three” there routine. They answer the phone. Imagine that, a real human being answering the phone.
TT: You’re kidding? I can’t remember the last time I called a company and a real person answered. I usually get the impression that all of the real people are being held hostage by corporate robots and are allowed to speak to customers only if it appears someone might die.
FRED: These folks are so comfortable and real. You’re actually taken aback because it feels like you’re talking to the people who actually make the ties themselves, like a mom-and-pop establishment that cares about each customer and deeply cares about their products and how they serve you. In no way does this sound like a call center in India or Bangladesh (how long has it been since you called a retail clothing company and not heard the fake, “Hi, I’m Amy” at the friggin’ call center?). When you’re talking to the Vineyard Vines guys on the phone, you can almost hear the football game going on in the back yard.
TT: Now you got me thinking about a bow tie. I think I had a tie once, but I lost it. I have been roaming around their website and they do seem pretty darned genuine. I am considering buying a tie, maybe one with a dog, like you said.
FRED: They have plenty to choose from, for sure.
TT: Seems like they have managed to create an atmosphere that is truly who they really are, not some rigid business planned-out, accountant-run, sweatshop-filled warehouse where the bottom line is how many ties they sell instead of how many happy customers they have. I know they are not that loosey-goosey, but they sure feel like they are really just people who love to make cool ties and talk to people who want one or ten.
FRED: I have bought more than twenty myself (a couple are repeats as they fell prey to the stealth attacks of those villainous bean dips).
TT: And that is a nice one you have on there now.
FRED: Why, thank you.
TT: As we all know and as is borne out in enough research to bury the call centers at Microsoft, GM and Visa, there are not too many good customer service experiences out there (call any cell phone company with a problem), even when you buy a fifty-grand automobile or a $300,000 home. If these guys can deliver such an authentic experience for the price of a tie, why can’t other companies make more of an effort to create even a rudimentarily decent customer service experience?
FRED: It’s about a commitment to customer service. You just feel better purchasing something from them. I love the amateur scrapbook-like photos throughout everything they do. They make you feel good compared to other buying experiences.
They make it look so easy, but with our branding hat on now, I think two things: First, they really are a genuine, authentic company with a clear direction and an honest passion for their business. It is nearly impossible to fake that for any length of time. Second, they have a strong game plan for developing their brand. And that’s the irony — it works so naturally and effortlessly because they worked hard and smart to understand their brand and they followed a disciplined approach to keeping true to their brand. Now, these incredibly successful brothers probably are kicked back on a couple of HUGE yachts — though they would NEVER let you see or feel that because it’s inconsistent with the brand. Companies all around the world should take a big-time (and humbling) lesson from Shep and Ian at Vineyard Vines.
TT: Anything involving a couple of guys named Shep and Ian has to be either good or dangerous.
FRED: And they are good. Here, check this out. I am looking at their holiday catalog right now. The cover has a great photo of some amazing Nantucket sailboats in the foreground and in the background, well behind the big ships, you see a tiny little boat with the barely perceptible Vineyard Vines logo on the side – beautiful! The power of being humble. How many companies would have a photo of the Queen Mary with the queen’s logo airbrushed out and their logo in giant letters, screaming like the viewer is an idiot — always, of course, with their 800 number. Expected. It’s why so many companies like Brooks Brothers are struggling; they lost their authentic brand along the way.
TT: I think it’s why a lot of companies struggle. They forget the golden rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Don’t scream at the customer. Don’t bludgeon me with your brand and logo – communicate with me, not at me. Many CEOs need to take a little stroll down to see what’s going on in shipping and customer service and hang out with sales one evening and talk to the call center folks and work hand-in-hand with everyone in the company at some point.
FRED: The whole inside-out alignment thing we preach.
TT: Yep. Of course, when I read about some guy from Home Depot getting fired and being handed $210 million to pack his stuff, I think, Maybe I need to shop at Lowe’s more often. When we have companies paying the head honchos 10,000 times what the average worker makes, you construct a beautiful black hole to aid in helping you lose sight of why you’re in business.
Vineyard Vines seems to understand their brand and love their business to the core – not just the money, the daily act of their business. That is the difference. That is what you’re feeling. That is the genuine, authentic, humbling truth. I’ll buy some of that.
FRED: I did.
Big R’s Brand Garage will be happy to discuss your brand. Just send us your product or e-mail Terry Taylor or Geoff Stone.