One word. “Brilliant!”

It shouldn’t surprise me that the first advertisement that has ever, really ever, blown me away came from Tony Hsieh and Zappos. I think I am a good marketer. I’ve managed some really great branding projects. I understand target markets. I “get” social media and understand how to integrate it with other marketing channels. I have some beautiful and effective work in my portfolio that I am really proud of. I have NEVER ever been blown away by an ad like I just was with the new Zappos ad in Real Simple Magazine. They did so many things right, and it wasn’t that they took out six pages with a gate fold. But that they did it strategically and integrated so many channels while grabbing the attention of their target market.

Earlier this week I received my Real Simple Magazine in the mail. I’m busy and just haven’t had time to make magazine reading a priority in recent months, so I didn’t rush to read it. I’ve run out of good books to read at bedtime and remembered I had it in my bag so got it out and was flipping through when I came across an ad with my name on it, literally. I have a unique name so it stopped me dead in my tracks. What is this? Is this customized to me? It has to be.

Okay, then my mind goes into the technical questions only someone in the print industry would ask. How did they do this? Magazines are printed on huge web presses on humugeous rolls of paper that get folded into a big group of pages and then trimmed and typically sent out to be bound. There is no way to customize an ad to print an individual’s name on it on a web press. So, they printed that page of the ad on the outside of one of the signatures (group of pages) and then ran that through another print press to customize names on the ad. WOW–That had to be expensive. Could that ever pay off? And they did a gate fold right next to it. That isn’t cheap either. What is Zappos thinking spending so much on a print ad? So maybe I have a unique perspective on this. I start babbling about it to my husband. He thinks it is pretty cool too, but goes back to reading his book a couple of minutes later.

I’m still staring at the ad and realize I haven’t even opened up the gate fold yet. I open it up. It is interesting. Definitely targeting the mom demographic with paper doll cut out clothes. Now I realize there are some cut out doll clothing pieces missing in the closet in the gate fold, so I turn the next page. There are two more pages to this ad and wow does it include a lot more. Did I just say wow again? There’s a QR code to take you to a video featuring Zappos.com style expert. What? Zappos has a style expert? I read Tony’s book, “Delivering Happiness” and there was no mention of a style expert. And why does a shoe company that also carries accessories need a style expert?

But wait. There’s also a sweepstakes through Twitter, apparently known as Tweet Sweeps with a call to action to tweet @ZapposStyle with #zapposcloset hashtag to win a $2500 Zappos shopping spree. But then I notice that each of the missing pieces on the last two pages of the ad have the logos and brands of each piece. Zappos just plugged all of their preferred suppliers and quite possibly got them to help offset the cost of this super duper expensive ad.

They have managed to really creatively tie together so many marketing channels and techniques:

• Print Advertising
• Online Video
• Variable Data Printing
• QR Code personalized with the Zappos logo
• Social Media
• Co-op advertising

QR code, Twitter, Tweet Sweeps, video and co-oping. The new Zappos ad integrates it all while grabbing your attention. Sorry, I did get excited and make notes on the ad that you will have to excuse.

Zappos is positioning themselves as a style resource, a one stop shop to purchase every key piece that you need for your seasonal wardrobe. If this works, they may have also just changed the way we shop. Not just meaning shopping online. I would speculate that many of us every day working moms who don’t have personal shoppers, go out and buy a couple of pieces that we need at a time. And, we may see something else we like and impulse buy along the way. But Zappos is suggesting to us that we plan our seasonal wardrobe and go to them for advice on pieces to go with something we may already have. I love it!

The one question I have about their strategy was whether Twitter was the right social media channel, over Facebook which is more mainstream. But, perhaps. Twitter does have the influencers. It will be interesting to see if they can make trending topic. Okay, two questions. How many every day working moms know what a QR code is for and actually have a QR reader on their phone? I do, but I am also a marketer, and I haven’t bothered to utilize it yet to watch the video. Better do that so that I can also comment on the video. It was worth the 2-3 minutes of my time, and had a couple of good tips.

So, who is the mind behind this brilliant ad. Is Mullen, Zappo’s agency, responsible? It looks like it based on a little research. But interesting that for the last ad campaign they sent previews to major media and don’t seem to have for this one. This ad isn’t quite as sexy or brazen as the previous campaign, but in my opinion they nailed it.

What do you think? Did the ad impress you as much as it did me? Will it be effective?

I am an extremely bottom line driven marketer. My non-profit background makes me extremely conscious of ROI. So, I have to wonder if this could possibly pay off for Zappos in sales. I don’t know. It will be interesting to see. But it certainly was a really great first step to reposition themselves as a style expert and kick them out of the shoe store niche into a much wider market. Clearly more than shoes!