The WilliamsWarn Story

A food friend of mine, Juliano Mendes, was one of the guys behind creating Eisenbahn, one of Brazil's most successful beer brands. Another friend is working on a business plan to expand a retail store specialized in beers from around the world. Beer is one of those categories that generates a lot of passion.

Below you'll find an interesting story of how a New Zeland brewmaster identified an unmet business opportunity and through ingenuity and hard work created a pretty revolutionary product concept. If you're into beer, captivated by the surge of microbreweries and believes in the power of customization, you'll like the story of WilliamsWarn.

Customizing my Mini

Just got back from the Mini Cooper dealership here in Sao Paulo.  The Mini Cooper S I ordered has finally arrived (after a dreadful wait).   My 7-year old daughter and I had loads of fun at the Mini Lounge selecting the accessories to make it my Mini.... bonnet stripes, checkered-flag mirror caps, 17" web spoke alloy tires.  

Customization is a beautiful and powerful marketing concept.  

As a consumer, the design-your-own movement is an empowering experience.  Consumers feel special, unique, differentiated, which ultimately builds a greater affinity for the brand.   

Maybe it's time to give in...

Everyone who knows me will tell you how crazy I am for my BlackBerry.  But I have to confess that visiting the iPhone 3G App Store it made me think that it's time I give in and go for an iPhone. Anybody out there that uses a BlackBerry during the week for business and goes iPhone on week-ends?

A Simple Idea on Customization

Customization has always been around but the trend has taken a whole new dimension with the Internet. So far, there are many examples of customization for services and high-ticket items, from laptops to refigerators to automobiles (BMW's Mini Cooper® is a great example). It's harder to find examples of companies that offer consumers the opportunity to customize everyday consumer products. I found an interesting case from Germany. A company called MyMuesli.com® is... well, doing just that... allowing consumers to mix up to 75 different ingredients to make their very own muesli. Mix, order and get your custom-made muesli box at home. A very simple idea that only makes me believe that there's a lot of potential for innovative concepts around customization.

A Lesson in Experiential Marketing

Just got back from an ideation session that our company held in Miami Beach. Part of our exercise was to walk on Lincoln Road to identify consumer trends that could potentially influence our innovation agenda. It was a great opportunity to visit a new Starbucks® concept that I had read about that had opened last year on Lincoln Road called Hear Music™ - a very innovative coffeehouse that also provides customers with a fun, self-service way to discover and customize music on CDs. There are different music stations divided by genres (rock, latin, hip-hop...). The look and feel of the place is amazing. I find it fascinating how Starbucks® is continuously finding new ways to enhance the customer experience. A true lesson in experiential marketing.