Authentic customer engagement is a top priory for Costa Sunglasses. For over three decades, Costa has manufactured high quality sunglasses for people who love the outdoors. The brand has been recognized for its patented technology that goes into an array of innovative lens and frames to create some of the clearest and most protective sunglasses available.
But even beyond its leading line of premium products, Costa has become known for the remarkably tightknit community of seafarers and outdoor enthusiasts who demonstrate a tremendous amount of brand loyalty.
Loyalty360 recently spoke with Al Perkinson, Costa VP of Marketing, about how a deep sense of community is entwined with the brand’s distinctive customer experience. Perkinson, who will also speak during an upcoming session at the 2015 Engagement and Experience Expo this fall, also talked about how brands can benefit from this strategy.
Costa has a very unique following. Has it always had that niche?
Perkinson: In 1983, Costa was started in Florida by fishermen to fill a pretty specific need. Back then, there were not a lot of high quality outdoor sunglasses around. So we helped the people that spent all day on the water avoid eye fatigue. We created lenses that got rid of that problem, and started selling them at boat shows to fishermen. So that community has really been there since day one.
Community is very important to Costa. How was this community strategy developed?
Perkinson: Some of it was well researched. Some of it was just gut instinct. There is a belief here that people have become disconnected from their world, and from where and how their products are made. That has created a backlash, and people miss that connection to things in their life. It is almost a human need for community, and there has been a movement to reconnect. Brands that are real and authentic, and allow for that connection, have become more popular. And we have tapped into that, and we have analyzed communities much like a cultural anthropologist might.
We have identified key things within communities that drive actions. And we have people from those communities who actually work at Costa, and manage all of our activities and communications there. So I currently have 5 different community leaders right now, each of who has a specific community that they work with.
Most communities are highly connected, and truly listening to and understanding them can be a big challenge. How does Costa accomplish this?
Perkinson: For Costa, it is not really a marketing tactic as much as it is a full company commitment. The brand is the company. It is not something that happens in a marketing department. A part of it is also our attitude about the community. We are part of the community, and we want people to be a part of the brand. There is a constant feedback loop. We are at the fishing tournaments and boat shows where our customers are. We have a lifetime warranty so we repair over 100,000 pairs of sunglasses a year. And we are always on the phones with them. Also, when people call us there is not a voice mail. We talk to them directly. And customers send us letters and pictures. It is all very much connected. Unlike traditional marketing that acts as more of a conquest, our goal instead is to become a community member.
Is this commitment to community something that permeates throughout the entire culture of your organization?
Perkinson: Ideally you would need to have that culture in place because your company is physically touching the community that you are serving. Those touch points with your company create experiences that affect the connection that people have with your company. If an employee, for example, talks to a customer on the phone and they don’t sound like they expect a Costa person to sound, then that is going to weaken that connection. So all the actions done by all the people within the company eventually become known, so they need to be authentic as well.
Do all brands have a capacity to create a community-based structure? Or do some simply have more social currency than others?
Perkinson: It evolves over time. First you join a community, then you become a leader of the community, and then you create your own community around the company. So somebody like Harley Davidson or Apple, those brands have built communities around what they stand for. So it is possible for anybody to do that. But some brands maybe too far gone, they maybe to disconnected to reconnect.
About the Author: Mark Johnson
Mark is CEO & CMO of Loyalty360. He has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs.