Model behaviour

Service is a great barometer for our time. Through economic downturns, technological upturns and corporate u-turns, the changing approach to customer service can be read like a newspaper. I wrote last week on the Moving Brands blog about O2's successful little foray into Twitter-based crisis management, which you can read here. But it was a recent trip to Westfield Stratford - all dolled up for the Olympics - that attuned me to another shift in how brands are are using customer service to cope in today's climate.

"Models protect and project the image of the brand through personal style, providing customer service and maintaining presentation standards" - so runs the job description for sales assistants, known as 'models', at Gilly Hicks. This purveyor of beachwear, 'cute bras' and 'down undies' is the "cheeky", faux Australian cousin of Abercrombie & Fitch. Like A&F and its other (probably backward and almost certainly unsafe around small animals) cousin Hollister, GH caters to buff teens roaming free with their parents' credit cards. Like all stores in the A&F chain, they appeal to their impressionable customers through 00 sizes and stores that are loud, dark and thick with the richly perfumed undertones of consensual rape. 

When A&F opened in the UK in 2007, it drew a line in the sand for service design. Harp on all you like over how there was something distinctly 'not cricket' about they way they swanned into Mayfair, stripped to their smalls and started a roaring trade that sex-ed up a once dingy end of Burlington Arcade. Nevertheless, it's impossible to deny that the all-American customer service that came with it was in stark contrast to the stiff pleasantries of Saville Row. It marked a new era for British retail - as people fled online, great customer experiences were the only thing to keep them in-store. Following A&F's lead, many UK retailers woke up to the value of a more touchy-feely sales experience.

In 2012 at Westfield Stratford, however, Gilly Hicks appears to be doing a weak doggie paddle in the swirling tides of socially-driven commerce. I was greeted by a hungry-looking tween, muttering something about 'welcome....beach......cute...something something'. At check out (research, research!) I was handed my receipt and told in a bored monotone "Don't forget to follow Gilly Hicks on Twitter for all the cutest bras and cheekiest tanks.". I've had dental work sold to me with more excitement.

literally cringed with embarrassment when the girl at @GillyHicks danced and said the same thing to all customers. #painful
— David Albon (@DaveShuffles) July 14, 2012

Forging great relationships with customers through social platforms is key for retail brands moving forward. As Mercedes-Benz CEO Steve Cannon said in a recent Fast Company article, "[youth] perception is going to drive perception of the brand... In order to win, you have to know who they are. That means digital, social, and all the things we are doing". And, for the young audience Gilly Hicks is looking to attract, bridging that gap between online and in-store is critical. Only through on-brand  customer service and socially-driven messaging can this happen and, right now, their 'models' are seemingly too busy ignoring hunger pangs to start a meaningful conversation for the brand that can continue online. 

Aubin v Jack

The usual Easter Monday sloth was briefly interrupted when, with heart in mouth, I spotted Aubin and Wills (the big sister of Jack Wills) open for business in Westborne Grove. Not having been in-store before, I dashed across the road - narrowly missing an oncoming Porsche being driven erratically by some Madoff-victim blonde.

I was hoping for a Jack-Wills-goes-to-work range of preppy basics, soft fabrics and sizing aimed specifically at the long-term anorexic. What I found, however, was Jack's sombre, less gregarious, and far less sexy, elder sister.



Jack made us feel that is was ok to wear a scarlet riding jacket on the streets of London, he made us truly believe that y-fronts on girls was hottt. As the more mature, seen-it-all-before, 50-notches-in-the-bed-post, Aubin shouldn't be pushing striped pajama pants and linen shirts. We want suits to match the quiffs of over-grown public school boys now slaving away in the City, and Sloane-tastic work skirts for the Lucinda's and Anabelle's serving their time as a PA until they get themselves married off, and slutty lounge wear for loafing around the flat in Putney we bought with our trust money.

Jack, I think it's time you took Aubin out to Mahiki and spike her drink!

To see how Abercrombie got it right with Ruehl, click here.

Where there's a Will, there's a way.

If there's one thing the British upper classes are brilliant at, it is exclusivity. Without the right surname, the right public school alumni, the right postcode, you're not allowed in. The adult upper class are bad enough, but look at their teenage children and you find a group utterly obsessed with 'fitting in'. Jack Wills, the fashion brand aimed specifically at young Sloanies, is more than savvy to the fact that wearing one of their hoodies instantly tells you its wearer's class, income and even education. Indeed, Jack Wills has taken the concept of a lifestyle brand and run with it.



Starting with its stores, Jack Wills creates homely retail environments through a combination of vintage homeware and non-traditional store design; their shop in Marlow is a converted townhouse which maintains its original layout of 'snugs', 'dining rooms' and bedrooms. By being the outfitter of choice to teenage Sloanies, Jack Wills has won sponsorship opportunities in areas usually dominated by older, more traditional brands. It sponsors club nights at Mahiki and polo events at the Guard's. It has 'Seasonnaire' teams in every hot ski resort in the world. On its website, it even has a online 'lending library' with a tailored reading list which includes the likes of The Great Gatsby, Richard Branson's autobiography, and P.G. Wodehouse.



Nor is Jack Wills resting on its laurels. Recognising that Sloanies must eventually grow up (if only for the sake of coming into their trust funds) Jack Wills is currently rolling out its sister brand, Aubin & Wills. Aubin caters to an older, richer shopper and has a corresponding website which purveys a more mature, cultured mindset and a look straight from the pages of Vanity Fair.



With old favourites like Abercrombie & Fitch in front and newcomers like I Don't Go To fast approaching behind, Jack Wills seems to have done the impossible by not only infiltrating that most exclusive of clubs, but dressing it as well.

Come... join us.

9.47pm, Charing Cross tube station, Northern Line. A black and white poster simply requests 'join us', and, at the bottom, 'Heavenly. A new kind of branding agency'. Firstly, snaps to them for dreaming up such a clever recruitment idea. Secondly, it made me think about how the really great brands make a concerted effort to market themselves to potential employees. Get recruitment right and you've got brand ambassadors who are already walking the walk and talking the talk before you've even handed them the health and safety guide.



One company I've come across who does this brilliantly is Innocent Smoothies. Their tone on the 'careers' bit of their website is all about family, team-playing and having a lovely time. They invite you to tell them about your unusual hobbies, your cake baking abilities, and whether you got to grade three clarinet, and then to post it to 'A Job Would Be Nice, Fruit Towers, London etc'.

As experience becomes a huge factor in modern selling, the people who represent your brand become key. If they personally support your product, they're going to be great at getting other people to as well. New terms are also being employed which reveal a move away from seeing employees as staff and embracing them as integral to your marketing strategy. Abercrombie and Fitch has 'in-store models', while Apple Mac have 'geniuses'.

Time was we trawled through the job section hunting for a job, now we go shopping for one and see which company, which brand is speaking to us directly.

Over- fed, over-hyped, and over here: The American Invasion.

It started a while back with Urban Outfitters opening on High Street Ken as the go-to place for fashionable bo-ho Londoners who prefer their vintage looks without the smell of old lady. Then American Apparel appeared on Carnaby Street luring generations of Gap-fans with their soft cotton tees in rainbow colours. But it was unleashing Abercrombie & Fitch on the nation's 15 year old girls that really made everyone sit up and take notice of these sexy American stores charming their way onto our high streets and into our wardrobes.

Unlike their reserved and somewhat eccentric counterparts, the American stores know no bounds. They are vast, glossy and immaculate. No amount of British propaganda (apparently A&F in-store models are fired if they stop dancing) can penetrate their alluring shell. Whole Foods swanned into Kensington, kicked the Barkers building into shape, piled the shelves high with over-priced Organic veg and, like unwitting Northerners with a penchant for coal, had Londoners swooning in the aisles.



It is Banana Republic, however, that is quietly giving British retail a major run for its money. And it's not due to their office-perfect twin-sets, or their preposterously massive changing rooms, it is their standard of service. We have laughed for years at candy-pop cheerleaders who greet everyone with 'Hi! How are you folks doing?', but it is sixteen years since Ab Fab's Eddie quipped 'You only work in a shop, you know. You can drop the bloody attitude' and still we are putting up with surly, unwelcoming assistants.

Will Banana Rep's pioneering development of a beautiful midway point between Olivia Newton-John and Jeeves see things begin to change on the shop floor?

Still astonished to see that this slide viewer for Abercrombie & Fitch is pretty much the only one in use on the web for retail!



www.abercrombie.com