Apple, ever the font of Glue, has been confounding analysts and critics alike for years with Macs, G4s and iPods and iTunes and iPhones and amazing customer service and the genius Genius Bar in their retail stores. By the way, everyone who supposedly knows retail predicted Apple’s failure in retail as well. Last quarter, 21.5 million people visited 180 Apple Stores and sales were up 34 percent from this same time last year. And the iPhone isn’t even dialing yet. Not exactly a retail failure.
Steve Jobs is not just a visionary computer guru, he seems to be a visionary music guru and retail guru and cell phone guru. Fact is, Jobs is what I would call a Gluru – a person who knows how to align internal to external products, people and processes while understanding exactly where to put the Glue between all of those things for maximum effect.
He simplified the entire computer experience years ago, put thousands of tunes in our pockets; he’s going to likely turn the cutthroat cell phone business on its earpiece (even with early glitches). And this recent retail success shows that operations people can be visionaries, too. In fact, they
have to be.
Look at Target, Amazon and Best Buy to see more Glued retail experiences. These companies and brands are Glurus at attracting people with a memorably good customer experience.
Vineyards are Gluing to consumers faster than vines grow. Tea manufacturers are as well. Then there’s the food at Chipotle.
Steve Ells, the iconoclastic founder of the tastefully exploding fast food restaurant (based on his impressions of taquerias in San Francisco), has Glued us all to his fresh way of making Mexican food. He started in 1993 with the hope of creating cash flow so he could open the “serious” restaurant he’d dreamed of. What he did was turn Chipotle into one of the most serious success stories in fast food. If you haven’t tasted one of his items, stop reading and go do it right now.
Glurus uncover, define or unleash a strong vision and inject it into their internal culture through inspiration and communication. Then they align their vision-inspired internal culture with their external branding, advertising, messaging and overall customer experience and Glue the points of contact between all of these components. This bonding of people and processes inside and outside of these retail organizations is the Glue that creates sales opportunity and customer loyalty.
Rick Rubin, the legendarily astute music producer and culture guru (and now president of Columbia), has always been a Gluru when it comes to understanding what people want to hear. He says radio is no longer the vehicle for launching music and new artists. So besides the obvious Web distribution angle, he’s doing it on TV shows. Watch TV these days and listen for the hot new song on “ER,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “AMC,” whatever. He is Gluing his music to his audience by going through other media.
There is more than one way to Glue a category. You just need to have the vision and be ready to Glue that vision to your consumer.
Tags: , Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Branding, Food, Glue, Steve Jobs, Target