1-800-FLOWERS Case Study
Objectives:
- Enter their brand into Second Life quickly and affordably
- Have a Second Life program active in a very short frame time for their CEO to talk about it as the keynote speaker at the recent Internet Retailers Conference in San Jose
- Begin a conversation with the residents of Second Life in order to learn how to best serve and leverage Second Life now and to prepare for the future of the web and online retailing
- To re-enforce the reputation that 1-800-FLOWERS has as one of the most forward-thinking and cutting edge retailers online
- To build community and excitement around their product and their brand
Solution:
1-800-FLOWERS wanted to build their own brand island and run several promotions when they approached us. Unfortunately, their fiscal year and budget planning did not allow for this to be developed in the few weeks prior to the CEO’s Keynote at The Internet Retailers Conference, the most important conference of the year for many online retailers.
- We offered 1-800-FLOWERS a special and unique deal. We let them use the Green House Flower Show that we had created solely for the purposes of illustrating the proposal. This provided them with a Second Life location, on our island, to call their own for the summer.
- We trained a team of 1-800-FLOWERS actual customer service reps to staff the virtual Flower Show during designated hours
- We provided a very limited (60 hours total) Buzz Team engagement for the opening weekend of the virtual "1-800-FLOWERS Summer Flower Show"
- We placed some keyword ads in the SL internal search engine for the weekend of the opening
Results:
- 1-800-FLOWERS was able to enter their brand into Second Life quickly, super affordably, and in time for Jim McCann, their CEO, to talk about it in his keynote speech at The Internet Retailers Conference
- Buzz Agents were able to have personal one-to-one interactions with 1654 individual avatars over limited hours between Friday and Sunday of the opening weekend
- 925 residents went to the 1-800-FLOWERS Summer Flower Show during the time our Buzz Agents were giving away free virtual Happy Hour Bouquets and the Landmark for the show
- The launch was June 1st and the story is still being reported in the media!
- We provided the names over of the 1654 avatars we interacted with as Buzz Agents for the brand, to 1-800-FLOWERS and they were able to invite them individually to join a group for “Flower Lovers” and they can continue the relationship that our Buzz Agents started with these residents
Sample Media Coverage:
- The New York Times – Business Section June 11, 2007
- The San Jose Mercury News – Business Section June 23, 2007
- USA Today (to be released shortly)
- Numerous online news outlets and blogs
Testimonials:
"Joni West has been a pleasure to work with. She "gets" Second Life and what 1-800-Flowers is trying to achieve in Second Life.
She helped us formulate a strategy that has been very well received by Second Life residents. The Brand Ambassadors campaign was
a phenomenal tactic. We interacted with thousands of residents in a short period of time, spreading our message and bringing good
wishes (in the form of flowers) to the World. She worked quickly and efficiently, and focused on interaction and not the "build".
This made all of the difference to us for our Second Life launch."
Seth Lasser, Asst. to the CEO / Director of Special Projects
1-800-FLOWERS' CEO Jim McCann thanks Joni at a virtual Round Table Discussion of 1-800-FLOWERS in Second Life
