branding with technology by dan kim, founder of red mango

dan kim (@dankimredmango) - red mango (@redmango)

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branding withtechnology

MURTEC 2013Dan Kim

Red Mango, Inc.Founder & Chief Concept Officer

1Wednesday, March 20, 13


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Hello.



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Me.



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Red Mango.



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Red Mango.

215 stores in 30 states.5Wednesday, March 20, 13


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My goal today.

The integration of technology and marketing is more important

today to multi-unit retailers than ever before.



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Brand quality.

Because technology has a direct impact on brand quality, it can no

longer be ignored, feared, sacrificed or marginalized.

(the “who needs ‘social media’ mumbo jumbo” syndrome)



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Integration is key.

Retailers will not be able to grow successfully if they do not advocate the integration of technology into all

business functions.



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The Red Mango Story:

How?

How technology helped build our brand.



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without prior food experience.

(except as a food lover)

I founded Red Mango

Irony.



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★ Born when Apple was founded (1976).★ Started to play piano (1981).

★ Graduated jr. high school when AOL was created (1989).

★ Graduated high school when Yahoo! and Netscape started (1994).

★ Studied business and writing at UC Berkeley during birth of the dot-com bubble (1994-1998).

★ Graduated college when Google was incorporated (1998).

★ Worked only for Internet and tech companies.★ Studied photography & design at UCLA.★ Worked as a wedding photographer.

My Timeline.Tech

Art



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Me in Pictures.

@dankimredmango



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Turned Red Mango into a leading national frozen yogurt & smoothie chain in under 5 years.

National brand.



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After two stores.12/31/2007



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After two years.

Success

2009



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Forbes: Top Brand.

Success

Feb. 2013



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How did we do that?

??????????



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How did we do that?

Technology



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What?

“Technology?”

Technology and Frozen Yogurt?



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Connecting.

Technology focused on connecting with consumers.

Instead of maximizing sales and optimizing costs.

(My internet background gave me a lot of exposure to connecting with customers online.)



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Beginnings.Started in 2007.Los Angeles, CAMature and competitive industry.But had a good idea ...

... and a little bit of money.



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Mo’ money.

Spent all of our money on developing our yogurt and building our first store.

We learned a lot about food and construction from:

First way tech helped!



So what did we have?

2 Flavors of Unique Frozen Yogurt

1 Stylish Retail Store Design

0 Dollars for Advertising

And pretty pictures.



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Strange advantage.

We also had something others didn’t:

^This is what ultimately led us to successfully open our first store.

Tech Geek

Design Lover



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Old school.

The traditional view of retail technology.

A Long Time Ago. Today.

Back of House

In-Store Ops

Advertising



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Back of house.

Supply Chain

Inventory

Cost Analysis

Labor

Stuff that’s

boring but

important.



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Inside of store.POS/Sales

Surveillance

Loyalty

Ambiance

Stuff that

looks cool!



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Advertising.Email

Mobile

Television

RadioThe cool but expensive stuff.



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Initial tech focus.We didn’t do it cheaply.POS System

Loyalty

I had logos of our partners here but

I removed them because they didn’t

buy me the drinks they promised.



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No money.

We couldn’t afford advertising, even in digital channels.

But we knew we had to connect with our customers.



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Going digital.

What if we weren’t a brick-and-mortar retail concept?

What if we were a frozen yogurt Internet company?What the

heck is that?



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It clicked.

A year before our first store opened, we created and cultivated our digital presence.



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Online.

Became active in channels where our target customers spent a lot of time.



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Grassroots, too.

We even installed yogurt machines at Google , and delivered to Facebook.

Remember

Google Froyo?



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Rationale.

Didn’t have the money to do anything else.

And we knew how to do it.



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Branding is better.

We believed that driving brand awareness by dynamically engaging consumers is the

best way to create a strong brand...

Branding > Advertising



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Advertising.Advertising is important, but it’s focused on selling, or inviting people to try to experience a brand.

It doesn’t always create a strong brand.



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Branding.

Branding is creating a product or service experience that consumers will talk about and love.

And the best way to get people to talk about your brand is to become a

part of that conversation.



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Engagement.

(This is what we call)

Customer Engagement

Brands engage customers when they connect with them and

make them happy.



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Connections.

And as brands create more positive connections with consumers...

...brands become a part of consumers’ lives.

This is how a brand becomes successful.



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Fans.Customer engagement has always been our top priority, even before we opened our first store.

We had fans before customers.



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A big, little brand.

Engagement is the reason we were able to develop a brand that became bigger than our company...

..and technology is what enabled us to create that engagement.



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Channels.

2007$ 2012$2008$ 2009$ 2010$ 2011$

More and more technolog

y-

driven connections.



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Success

...and our consumers

love us for that!

Consumer Sentiment.Feb. 2013



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Why is this important to retailers?

Growth.

Because the power of company’s brand determines its success and ability to grow.



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Branding

If customer engagement is now the most effective way to brand....

Relevancy.

...then technology becomes highly relevant to the entire company.



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Branding

Technology gives retailers new and more effective ways to create brands that can be as strong as CPG brands.

Brand power.

And that is a very good thing.



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Traditionally, the strongest brands we love most are of consumer products, not of retailers.

Strong brands.



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CPG brands can be purchased, worn,

carried, eaten, shared, used, played or enjoyed almost

everywhere.

Constant Engagement

Continuous engagement.



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Omnipresent and portable engagement.

Everywhere.



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Strong retail brands.Although we can’t “carry” retailers around, there are very strong retailer brands people love:



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...but they all have key things in common:

Not easy.

Lots of stores

Long op history

Big marketing budget

Difficult or Expensive



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Branding

Small or new with limited budgets.

Engagement must be made within the four walls.

Once customer leaves store, engagement ends.

Makes branding more difficult for retailers than for CGP companies.

Difficult for most.



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New paradigm.

Retailers’ engagement with customers are no longer bound by their four walls...

...because the way we communicate has changed from a linear, physically-present

relationship to one that is virtual and multi-dimensional.



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Personal Contact Pokes

Phone Calls Texts & Emails

National Presence Authenticity & Discovery

Paradigm shift.No longer have to be in the same room to communicate and engage.



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More, faster, now!We can now communicate with more people, more frequently, at more times.

The explosion of opportunities to connect with each other makes relevancy and authenticity

more important than size.

This creates a positive opportunity for smaller or newer brands.



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Justin Bieber.

Technology made these brands famous because it allows them to engage

millions of people in a meaningful way.



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Food trucks.Few trucks, but they have national awareness.



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Subway.

@ the Store

Retailer

@ Home/Office

ADVERTISING

38k stores

Jared

Biggest Loser

Ad Fund

Only store & TV



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Subway.

@ Anywhere@ the Store

Retailer

@ Home/Office

ADVERTISING

MOBILE & SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY

Now stronger & more relevant



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Red Mango.

We have more out-of-store brand

touch points than we do in-store.



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Technology is Not an Option; it’s a Necessity



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Branding

Technology integration and engagement are not just for strengthening your brand’s position....

...it’s critical to keeping your brand alive.

Mission critical.



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Engage, or fail.If retailers stop engaging their customers in relevant ways, they risk losing mind-share and importance...and ultimately, market share.



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Social media.The reason why social media is as popular as it is? it is the best and most authentic way to engage consumers.

And because technology powers social media, retailers must embrace it

into their culture.



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Branding

What’s next?

Mobile

Localization



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Branding

Mobile is going to be even bigger than what it is today.

Represents the most personal and intimate relationship a

brand can have with people.

Mobile.



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Localization and geofenced applications will proliferate.

Localization.



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Branding

Technology enables brand engagement.

Last slide.

Brand engagement is critical to growth.

Integration of technology and marketing is key!



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Thank you.(Yes you’re right; technically, this is the last slide!)
