Inspirational Owners: October 2008
Kiehl's
If you are looking for a textbook demonstration of putting Lovemarks in action, Kiehl’s is a prime contender. This remarkable company has been creating skin and hair products for 150 years. CEO Philip Clough is very clear about what makes Kiehl’s a Lovemark.
Beyond A Brand
I so much agree with the idea of Lovemarks. It is all about passion. I started by designing the clothes I wanted myself, for my friends and for art students.
“From our earliest years we have formulated products in direct response to customers’ requests, and while we are a bit more sophisticated about formulas today, everything we create – from products to the overall in-store experience – has the individual heart.
“We observe traditions and time-honored values, one of which is to treat customers as friends and extended family. We believe in attentive, personalized interactions and environments that foster conversation. It’s a part of who we are as a company – nearly innate, certainly intuitive – and it’s what creates our visual and emotional fabric.
“We’ve rewarded devotion through the Kiehl’s bus tour. We visit our customers where they live and work and distribute gifts of their favorite formulas. The bus tour has always been about celebrating both our most loyal customers and unsung heroes in the community – a mobile event that we’ve taken to sanitation workers for keeping the neighborhood clean, post office workers for delivering rain or shine, animal hospitals for keeping pets healthy, and firemen and –women for keeping us safe.
“Beyond being a brand, we’re guided by the idea that one of the purposes of our existence is to improve the quality of the community in some way and to share our passion. That’s what makes us a Lovemark – we express our passion and we support projects that are important to our customers. We learn from them and we get the opportunity to be educators ourselves.”
For more Insight Interviews, get your hands on a copy of The Lovemarks Effect: Winning in the Consumer Revolution.