Warby Parker (named after characters in Jack Kerouac’s journals) is an internet-based eyewear designer, producer, and retailer. Founded by four friends who met at The Wharton School in Philadelphia, the brand launched in 2010 with the objective to “create boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point…” (as stated on their website).

According to a recent profile of the brand in AdAge, Warby Parker hit its first-year sales goal in just three weeks, sold out of its top 15 styles and had a waiting list of 20,000 customers after a month in business. Their role models: “Apple as a master of design and function; Zappos for customer experience; Nike for building an enduring brand; and Method and Patagonia as trailblazers with clear “do good” missions.” Clearly a recipe for success.

While there are many, here are just a few reasons I love Warby Parker:

The brand:
The brand is beautiful, and more importantly, perfectly attuned to its target customer and always consistent in voice — from the website, to social media, throughout the customer service experience, to the packaging and materials housed with the frames.

The product and price:
I seem to have a taste for what always turn out to be expensive frames and usually pay big bucks to avoid ridiculously thick lenses. Warby Parker’s glasses are a flat $95 for both frames and lenses. I almost feel compelled to place an exclamation mark here. They are able to do this by avoiding traditional channels and dealing directly with their customers. The frames are custom made from cellulose acetate with antireflective, antiscratch polycarbonate prescription lenses (thinner and lighter than glass). Even with high index lenses (an extra $30 to avoid the aforementioned ridiculously thick lenses), I’m paying a couple hundred dollars less than I’ve paid for my last pair of glasses.

Buy one, give one
For every pair of glasses purchase. Warby Parker donates a pair of frames to someone in need. The brand distributed over 100,000 pair of glasses in 2011.

The focus on creating an an awesome customer experience from introduction to the brand through to purchase:
The website is clean, simple and easy to navigate. To alleviate anxiety over ordering frames online, Warby Parker offers several ways to get comfortable with your choice. They have a virtual try-on tool which is better than many out there, photos of the frames on customers/models in various angles, along with measurements of the frames so you can get a better sense of how they fit on a face. And, the best part, they offer a free Home-Try-On option. You can select five frames and Warby Parker will ship them to you free for five days. This focus on customer experience carries through offline as well (as I experienced in email and phone correspondence with them during a glitch in my ordering process…totally user error by the way).

Consumer engagement
The real magic of this brand, and reason for my infatuation with it, is its success with building a huge following and a fast-growing network of brand evangelists. Count me among them. I’ve mentioned them in conversations, I’ve tweeted, I’ve sent an all office email, and now here I am again on the Peepshow. My coworker has suggested I seek a commission, as two other Fast Horse ponies have placed orders with a third pending. Warby Parker’s Facebook following has grown from 6500 in January of last year to over 50,000 in December. @WarbyParker has over 13,000 Twitter followers and they say they averaged 56 Twitter mentions per hour in 2011 (according to its “annual report“, which by the way, is another example of its smart, engaging content strategy).

Through all channels, they are engaging in authentic conversations with their customers, providing fun, brand-right, relevant content, and creating brand experiences through events like the recent #warbywalk – along with Instagram NYC, they hosted a stroll around Soho and the Meatpacking district ending with a rooftop party and trunk show.

Here’s a couple of us in our new Warby’s:

Me in my Zagg frames

Bob in his Spencer frames

Last week I made a little trip up north for a weekend along Minnesota’s Gunflint Trail. To my surprise, on my drive there I found myself targeted by possibly the most effective and cost-efficient brand building tool I’ve ever known. No, there isn’t some secret marketing museum in Grand Marais (that I know of). I’m talking about the Sven and Ole’s bumper sticker.

You know the ones. They’re simple, they’re yellow and they’re everywhere. I’ve seen them for years on automobiles not just in northern Minnesota, but in the Twin Cities area and even out of state when I’ve been on road trips. So what makes so many people put this bumper sticker on their car? Let’s first look at the main reasons for why people typically (and consciously) choose to decorate their cars with bumper stickers:

• To send a message, often health-related (Smoking kills!) or political (Guns Don’t Kill People…)
• To show you are part of a tribe (I’m a Twins fan; I went to Cornell; I like Dave Matthews)
• To brag (My child was named student of the month!)
• To be funny and/or ironic (HONK if you are against noise pollution!; My kid beat up your honor student)

Which category does the Sven and Ole’s bumper sticker fall into? Could it be all four? I feel like it could be interpreted as the following:

• Sending a political/economy-related message (I support local/small businesses!)
• To show you’re part of a tribe (I am part of a select group that has dined at Sven and Ole’s/has this famous bumper sticker, etc.)
• Bragging (I’m not too cool to go on vacation in northern MN, etc.)
• Being funny/ironic/mocking (Let’s laugh at Minnesotans, they talk and act funny; I have this rare bumper sticker and you don’t; Look at me, I have that one bumper sticker that an oddly large number of people have, let’s laugh at that phenomenon, etc.).

When I started thinking about what bumper stickers say about one’s self-awareness (bumper sticker philosophy is complex!) I decided it was time to get some pizza. So whatever the reason is for why people have given Sven and Ole’s free advertising on their car, I ate lunch at Sven and Ole’s and I did it because of the bumper sticker. I didn’t care about the pizza. I just cared about being in a place that has cultivated a movement. To work in marketing and eat a pepperoni pie solely because of a 11.5-inch by 3.75-inch rectangular sticker blew my mind.

I can’t say that I can recall many other instances in which I have given a business patronage or bought a product because of one singular marketing tactic. I mean, sure, I’ve gone to a restaurant that I’ve never heard because of Groupon, but all my non-discounted purchasing habits seem to be due to brand loyalty or to me gradually consuming a variety of messages via different forms of media.

Can you think of another example of an inexpensive marketing tool that has been so huge to the success of a business over time?

The world of TV infomercials took quite a hit with the passing of Billy Mays last weekend.  I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen such an effective pitcher since Cy Young.  If he was selling, people were buying – to the tune of more than $1 billion in collective sales for the products he endorsed. So what made Mays the king of all salesmen?  Was it the hands-on demonstrations for products like OxiClean and Zorbeez?  Was it the booming voice and animated hand gestures?  Was it the well-groomed beard?  I’d say all of the above and then some.

As a marketer, you have to admire how this guy built the Billy Mays brand.  In a profession made up of hucksters and snake oil salesmen, Mays came off as genuine and trustworthy – the handy neighbor who always had a solution to your problem. He cultivated that personality and took great care not damage his reputation by hawking products that didn’t work.

I’m a pretty skeptical guy – certainly not one to buy gadgets from infomercials – but I can see why Mays was successful.  He started every commercial with his trademark: “Hi, I’m Billy Mays for [insert product conveniently priced at $19.95 here]” – an endorsement that grew to mean something to people. And Mays was smart enough to know that stumping for just one clunker would hinder his ability to sell in the future.

It takes a lifetime build a reputation and only a second to irreparably damage it – and by all accounts, that’s why Mays tested and believed in all the products he sold.

He also made sure not to take himself too seriously, as witnessed by the recent commercials he did for ESPN or the popular YouTube clip which has been viewed 450,000 times where he humorously spoofs himself while ordering at a McDonald’s Drive Thru.

Believe it or not – it’s possible Mays was just about to really take his career to the next level when he died.  Not only was he gaining wide appeal via the ESPN spots, but he had a TV show on the Discovery Channel entitled “Pitchmen” and he was set to star in a new series of Taco Bell commercials.

In fact, I heard someone say he was on the verge of becoming a “cultural icon.”  That’s quite an ambitious description, but was it possible?  Given the millions of people who have been trusting him with their checkbooks for years, I think I can buy it.