Experience: Case Studies

“A traveler loses his way in the forest; it is dark and he is afraid. Danger lurks behind every tree. A storm shatters the silence. The fool looks at the lightning, the wise man at the road that lies–illuminated–before him.”
— Tales by Israel of Rizhim (as told by Elie Wiesel)

Wuhu Travel

Challenge

Wuhu Travel, a travel industry disruptor, exists to provide an alternative to the standard travel and tourism “sights and sounds.” It’s a brand built for people wanting to go off the beaten path. Like most start-ups, Wuhu Travel had no capital to support a six-figure quantitative market segmentation study. However, the company knew it needed to know more about its travelers.

Approach

The question we thoughtfully considered became…what if we didn’t have to spend a huge amount of money on a survey to understand our best prospects? We used the syndicated Simmons database, at a fraction of the cost, to create a segmentation of travelers and find the best audience for Wuhu, one who wanted to pursue travel like it used to be done – in a way that allows for serendipity and exploration of cultures.

Solution

Using the syndicated Simmons database, we performed a k-means clustering analysis to find a group of 23 million prospects who travel for the experiences along the way, not to check things off a list. This group became known as “Katherine” and was brought to life in a creative poster for product designers and creative teams.

Results

The start-up successfully raised venture capital using this refined audience understanding. Product designers and media planners were able to use this profile to more effectively reach Wuhu Travel’s audience. In the end, the project was a display of how using the right tool can lead to great outcomes.

Frost Bank

Challenge

Frost Bank is a different kind of bank. One where people know your name when you walk in. One where you're not just a string of random numbers. It's also only available in Texas. The challenge was making this customer service difference shine in a digital experience. Banking websites need to accomplish many goals. First, they need to meet the needs of their current customers. Second, they need to help prospects understand what makes the bank different. In addition, the regulatory environment makes it difficult to stray too far from the category formula. 

Insight

A competitive analysis uncovered a sea of sameness – blocks of text, login boxes in the corner of the screen, and a dizzying array of menus. What if Frost Bank figured out a way to bring its personal, Texas-inspired customer service to life on the web? 

Solution

A redesigned site launched with a key feature: customer photos on the front page, changed every day. This simple use of imagery on the website makes the bank stand apart from others like Bank of America and Wells Fargo, who are unable to live the Texas-only story in the way that Frost is able to live. 

Results

Launched in 2011 and used for over 10 years, the Frost website helped successfully drive business for Frost Bank. Frost Bank's publicly-traded parent company has seen consistent quarter-over-quarter earnings. 

Mizuno Running

Challenge

No awareness. No money in an athletic wear category of giants. A deeply ingrained buying habit we had to break with a product that didn’t feel good and costs a lot more. Brand ambassadors who had lost faith in the brand due to a failed shoe launch the prior year. 

Insights

Insight 1: The odds were stacked too high against us to win in-store.

The store clerk’s job is to sell shoes, not Mizunos. He’s not going to try to talk a Running Junkie (Mizuno's best prospects) out of the shoe she came to the store ready to buy. And any Running Junkie open to trying different brands will lace them up, take a few steps and jump up and down a few times to test them. With that process, what feels like “fit” is just cushioning, and Mizuno’s competitors win that battle since Mizuno's shoes are made stiffer. 

Insight 2: The odds shift in Mizuno’s favor on the road.

Mizuno loyalists love the brand because it’s made for hardcore running. Mizuno’s stiffer, less-cushioned Wave Technology really does provide a better running experience for those who run on it 20 miles a week or more. Mizunos are made to be tried on the run. If we could get Runnning Junkies to actually wear the shoes on a run, we’d have a shot a converting them. In fact, the worst thing we could do is use advertising to drive in-store trial.

Insight 3: Running Junkies, true runners, know a great run from an ordinary run.

They are a different breed of athlete. They live for the run. They run for the moments of “flow” when the endorphins kick in and they feel like they are flying. But they spend more time chasing that high than actually enjoying it (source: agency qualitative research, Mizuno Segmentation Study). They try on shoes like everyone else. But they might pay a premium for a no-name shoe if they experienced a great run in Mizunos.

Solution

The Mezamashii Run Project: a social media campaign centered around a breakthrough way to get people to try the brand. We started with a $1.5 million media budget for 2012. The first thing we did was cut it in half. The first half would be spent putting free Mizunos on Running Junkies’ feet in a program we called the Mezamashii Run Project. The second $750,000 would be spent doing what we could to make people aware of the project.

We built three phases into the Mezamashii Run Project:

Initiate: Key Running Junkie influencers, from bloggers to running club leaders and celebrities, received one of 600 handmade direct mail invitations. Upon receiving the invitation, each runner was told to call Mizuno USA and fulfill their shoe order using a unique code on the inside of the invitation. Then, depending on the size of their circle of influence (which we determined by measuring their status within the larger running community), they were offered the chance to send out one, three or 10 invitations to fellow runners they thought would also appreciate a Mezamashii run. All recruitment was handled through word of mouth and social media.

Expand: Six weeks after the Initiate phase started, we launched the Expand phase. This relied on paid, owned and earned media to spread the word. Display and rich-media online banners were strategically placed on major running websites, including Runner’s World, Women’s Running, Active.com, Running Times and Facebook, while small-space print ran in Runner’s World. The unique Mezamashii brand identity that leverages Mizuno’s Japanese heritage is also found at running events and in stores that carry Mizuno. In this second phase of the campaign, the overall running public could apply to join the project via Mizuno’s home page and be one of 100 people chosen to receive a free pair of Mizuno running shoes.

Nourish: The third phase was geared at maintaining the community. With the community largely built, the focus shifted to making sure community members received new, relevant and exciting information and offers from Mizuno, like the opportunity to wear test future products, influence shoe design, access future models before they become available to the public, and have live chat sessions with Mizuno shoe designers.

Results

Brand favorability grew, specialty shoe store sales and share grew to its highest point in three years, and brand ambassadors were re-energized... 

“What the Mezamashii Run Project has taught me.....don't knock something until you try it. Mizuno believes in their product so much that they gave out shoes knowing once you try them you will love them.” (Fatrunnergirl.blogspot.com, 7/12/12)