Brand Research | Nicole Monahan

Last week I had the privelige to tour the NYC Google offices. Coming up in September, Digital DUMBO is hosting an event with Google Local and saw this as a great opportunity to visit their offices and meet a fellow Community Manager. (Side note: We both went to UCF, I love small world coincidences like that.)

I’ve always had an obsession with visiting tech and other great brand’s offices in New York. Then I thought being the OCD list maker I am, wouldn’t it be fun to write down all the offices I’ve visited as well as the ones on my office “bucket list”.

Here’s my list. What are some of your favorite offices in the city?

Tech & Awesome Brands I’ve Visited:

Google – They have about 4 cafeterias on one floor with great food + Legos.
Buzzfeed – Everything you’d image the Buzzfeed office would be.
Foursquare – Customized conference rooms named after badges, cafeteria with a calligrapher that comes in each week to write out the upcoming menu and craft beer for the following week.
Warby Parker – Dream company + Showroom inside their offices!
Shutterstock – Photos on each elevator door.
AOL – Catered events.
AppNexus – Have their own auditorium space and cafeteria space for events and talks.
Flavorpill – Graffiti, high ceilings, lots of light, Friday lunches.
Tasting Table – Spacious, lots of light, test kitchens on site.
MKG – Each conference room is different and has a theme + word search board and photo booth.
Percolate – I haven’t seen the new offices, just the old one!
Tumblr – They have their own Grady’s Cold Brew fridge and Tumblr user artwork around the office.
Bitly – Pufferfish every where!
Tattly/ StudioMates – Always full of fun surprises.
Ogilvy – Huge and fancy.
Times Square Alliance – Over looks Times Square, of course.
Birchbox – So pink!
Artsy – Probably has the best view of the entire city. Like Top of the Rock good.
Vemeo – Huge and snacks galore! And they have their own popcorn machine.
General Assembly – Open space, good classroom environment.
Huge – The whole office has design in mind. They also name their conferences after celebs. Justin, Britney, Kim.
Sesame St. – Interactive Sesame Street coffee table, their creative department is more fun and colorful.
Squarespace – Customer support has their own floor, and they have pretty great snackage.
Contently – Epic bookshelf in color coordinated order.
MediaBistro – Went there for classes, it was a pretty ordinary office.

Company Bucket List

Adweek
Barkbox
NowThisNews
Jetblue
FAB
Big Spaceship
Gilt Group
Livestream
Chartbeat
Quirky
Uber
Seamless
Songza
Aereo
Fast Co.

If there is such a thing as being obsessed with a brand, my top brand would have to be Warby Parker. Last month I got a chance to speak with Carlo Ang, from the Warby Parker’s Social Media team. Carlo had a wealth of great information but there was one thing that really stuck with me. When I asked what do you do to keep up with the developments in your industry, his response was “we conduct weekly brand research to see what other brands are doing in the space.” I love competitor research and seeing what other brands are doing in social. This gave me a great idea to do this for my own website, and what better way to kick it off with Warby Parker. 🙂

Before I begin, I think it’s important to get into the genius mind of Warby’s CEO Neil Blumenthal. If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, do it. I’ve heard him speak at 3 conferences already and wrote a recap of his speech during Social Media Week this year. Most importantly, when it comes to business and new ideas, Warby considers these questions first and for most:

Is this a unique experience?
Is this authentic?
Is it interesting and fun?
Does it have a compelling narrative?
Do people want to talk about it? Is it sharable?
Does it do good in the world?
Are we consistently learning?

Now let’s take a look into something I like to call, “you’re doing it right.” The most notable things I’ve seen Warby do over the years is heavily customer service based while connecting both the physical and digital space.

Best examples include:

Custom Customer Service: Let’s face it video content is hot right now. Warby has combined the best way to package video content and offer amazing customer support all into one. You’d think it would be best to make one video to answer the same question 10 people have been asking, but when you personalize these videos these customers are so impressed that they want to share it with everyone. It then reaches 10 times more eyeballs! This turns into a unique personal experience. Customer appreciation and support is very hard to come by these days.

Warby Parker Class Trip: Warby Parker had this amazing idea to set off on a tricked out yellow school bus across nine cities in six months, bringing their showroom experience to America. Who else would kill for that job? This idea is so genius. Initially they began as an online ordering platform. Their big hook was sending you 5 samples to try on at home… Problem solved, people love to touch, feel, and play with a product, right? But Warby Parker didn’t just stop there, they planned a showroom on wheels and took off.

Annual Report: Something that Neil has said before is, “we’ve noticed that being transparent and vulnerable with each other forms deeper relationships with both our staff and customers.” What better way to do this than by allowing everyone to take a look into your annual report. This report was designed by Warby employees who are made it fun and personal.

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My 2¢ on gaps and new opportunities:

1. Warby Parker seems to be very influence by literature. Whether it is in their showrooms, events, or name itself. It may sound corny but I think a great opportunity lies in a future book club or a book drive for those in need.

2. Their growth is so massive. I’d like to see the strategy they have for managing each individual customer service video.

3. They should have taken a field trip to New Orleans and visited the pharmacy museum, because this history in eyewear should be shared with the masses:

4. Weekly day-in the life video, vine series, or Instagram where they follow a Warby employee to see their perceptive through the lenses. It would make for some pretty interesting content, even highlighting who came into the stores or any “office personality type” content always performs best on Instagram. Tattly does this well. I’ve honestly never seen a brand have a higher IG audience than other social media accounts with so few photos.

5. If they’re going the route of celebrating people with iconic frames – Lisa Loeb, hello!

6. Rumors are that they’re expanding, which should come as no surprise. Final thought would be to use your space to connect with your community. Host events (book clubs, jam sessions, speaker discussion, create your own film festival, or even celebrate these iconic eyewear legends with a birthday party.) Space is a vital resource in NY use it and connect with people.