Need help getting started with your contest entry? The example submissions below should spark some ideas.
Example #1: Blender manufacturer
Challenge:
We are a small manufacturer of durable, high-performance blenders for commercial and home use that faces relentless competition from big, name-brand blender makers, constant difficulties selling in a “mature” and market, and a slowdown in unit sales. The company can’t afford large scale advertising, and needed a new way to differentiate itself in a crowded, competitive market, while consumer attention turns increasing to the Internet. Any solution needed to help both wholesale and retail channels. (75 words)
Solution:
Early on, we noticed the exploding popularity of online video through sites such as YouTube, among others, and wondered if there might be a way to create videos that would help to publicize our line of specialized blenders, and our brand in general. It seemed a little crazy for a humble business that just makes blenders to think that creating some videos could make a significant difference to the business, but we plowed ahead and brainstormed for ideas that were unusual and fun. The result became a series of videos where we put a variety of crazy objects in our most durable blender -- like marbles, glow-in-the dark sticks, DVDs, Coke cans, golf balls and all kinds of other stuff – to see if it would blend. A technician, wearing a lab coat and goggles oversees each Will it Blend experiment, and renders a “blend or no blend” decision.The result is that “Will it Blend” became an Internet cult phenomenon viewed millions of times. Will it Blend now has its own website, blog, Will It Blend store, Friends of Will it Blend community, and line of DVDs such as “Will it Blend – the First 50 Videos” that includes outtakes and behind the scenes footage. The boost in brand awareness and website traffic has been huge. (215 words)
Example #2: Community Bank Startup
Challenge:
We’re a tiny bank in South Carolina, started about eight years ago by local entrepreneurs, and now with 145 employees. We’ve continued to face two parallel challenges: 1) trying to compete against giant multi-billion dollar banks; and 2) attracting good people. Early on, we just filled chairs, but quickly learned we needed talented people aligned with our unique mission and values. So our challenge become defining our culture, hiring people who believed in it, and hanging on to them. (79 words)
Solution:
We created a unique hometown culture and “Easy To Do Business With” mantra including free services other banks charge for or don’t offer, such as personalized service, free checking and free coin machines. Our operating hours are unprecedented in the banking industry -- 8 am to 8 pm daily, including most traditional bank holidays. The fresh gourmet coffee and plasma TVs in branch lobbies help, too. Community involvement is crucial, including event sponsorships and financial literacy programs. Each year, the bank donates 1.5% of profits to local charities. A key part of the “people” solution has been going high-tech where other financial institutions lag, including HR management. The bank recognized early that it needed to automate employee management and reviews to keep things in line for different positions and locations, and became one of the first such businesses to adopt a web-based employee review system that eliminates the old, cumbersome manual ways to set employee goals, conduct ongoing reviews and encourage employee participation in the process.In late 2008, this bank is flourishing, with Q3 net income up 31% over Q3 2007. The bank’s ability to compete with far bigger competitors has never been better. Managers cut the amount of time needed to conduct reviews in half, accelerated review and goal-setting schedules and reduced unnecessary emails. The online system proved so useful, even the bank’s old-school managers quickly bought in. Our customer satisfaction score is 98%, with customers citing the extended hours as a major convenience.(246 words)
Example #3: Nut Company
Challenge:
Our company has been in the business of selling nuts since the 1920s. We’ve taken the Internet seriously and were early to establish a web-based retail sales effort. But online competition has grown tremendously as other nut sellers become more focused on the web and more aggressive at selling online. Plus, the notion of establishing and protecting an online reputation has become vastly more important. In the past, we could rely on our local reputation. Now we need new ways to build and protect our reputation online and off. (89 words)
Solution:
Rather than risk our online reputation to the infinite possibilities of the global Internet, we decided to take a more proactive approach toward managing online reputation by collecting, managing and promoting our own customer reviews. We engaged a new type of service that, among other things, sends and tracks emails to customers asking them to provide ratings and feedback. This move to solicit reviews and ratings also helps uncover and resolve what otherwise might be hidden cases of customer dissatisfaction, permitting our company to take action and turn those situations around. The web-based platform can automatically post fresh, relevant testimonials with a single click, eliminating the cumbersome process of collecting and posting reviews manually ourselves. We now collect authentic feedback and reviews, manage those reviews, publish and promote positive comments and respond quickly to negative feedback.Response rates from customers were through the roof. And after the web-based effort took hold, the number of unique website visitors who became nut buyers increased by 50 percent. After deploying the strategy, Internet sales overall more than doubled in a one-year period. We serve existing customers better, and convert more browsing prospects into purchasers. (191 words)
