As some of you might have known, our Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice on Sunday, where he challenged the two teams to create a Zappos Comic Book Character. Now, we’d love for you to have the chance to do the same!
Please do a video response to this post on Youtube or comment below with your idea for a Character that would best represent Zappos.com!
I think your cartoon character should be a cute "fashionista"-young & sassy!!! She is the "answer man" for Zappos. Examples could be about ease of returning items, ordering items, etc. Her name would be "Z-Z" but everytime she has a quick customer friendy solution or response she says..."that was zzzeasy!" It's always zzzeasy at zappos!!!
I watched The Apprentice when the newbies had to come up with a comic character to rep the Zappos culture and I was screaming at the TV because I REALLY, REALLY felt the character should be a customer service employee of the company. But, here's my take on the character: The" zuper customer service chick" can handle any question or situation that comes their way with a quick change of their shoes (this shows the vast line of styles) to fit whatever comes their way. Having been in the retail market for what seems like a lifetime, I have seen it all! The story line could be endless, just by adding in all the wacky situations that come up and by adding on all the other merchandise Zappos offers. You could even have customers share their "real life stories' and make them part of the Zappos culture, too. If i give you anymore on this idea you wold have to add me to payroll, which I would gladly accept!!! You seem like a great company to work for!! Hey, I hope to hear from you soon!!
Why not just rip off e-surance? I mean its what every idea I have heard, and read seem to be saying...
I watched Celeb.App. We really have some awesomely creative americans just from reading the above comments! I love ZAPPOS. The customer service is EXCEEDINGLY BEYOND any I have experienced online. Know you will find the right character to represent your fine store.
Try a cartoon rolly polly. It could have shoes on all it's feet.
I think it should be a team of characters named Zip and Zap. Zip is able to fill an order making sure it's hip. Then leap tall shelves packing boxes with merchandise and making it ready to ship.
Out jumps Zap in his Zappos hat to deliver your package after a quick glimps at his map. Up up and away Zap flies into a wind gap sending your package to arrive as your fingers snap.
Excited at how quickly the order arrived you thank Zip and Zap with a happy tap and short rap :-)
Zip and Zap you are the best. Ordering was easy I have more time to rest. Knowing my items will arrive safe and sound. Zappos is the best shopping site around!
JUMP ABOARD "ZAPPO" :) 2009-2010 EXPERIENCE THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFE TIME
hi-yes i enjoy the show very much-this topic was definatly fun and i would of loved being apart of it-poor scoot with the eee very bad-it definaltly has to be a z character-i love zip--and the comment above zip and zap would definatly work-i am not very good costume wise but any thing you want to shoot my way as far as voting i am here. i love zappos and have received the most beautiful boots i ever purchased in my life. zappos is a great company and always there very nicely with suggestions and inquires you ever have. cant wait to see how this progresses and the character you finally choose.keep me posted and much luck. ann
I think Furious George is truly right on the money with his idea of Zap! Zap! Zap! I LOVE it! Of course, a lightening bolt "Z" would add pizazz! ;-)
I was very disappointed in the lack of creativity on the Celebrity Apprentice, but I suppose none of us know what we would do under that kind of pressure.
The SandWitch
For a comic book character.... There's a beautiful stilletto heel that meets up with a very cool cowboy boot and they realize that they are "Sole Mates". She thinks to herself....I have nothing to wear for our big date, wait! I have just the solution! Zappos has everything I need and with 24 hour shopping and zippy shipping I'll have everything under control. Zappos.com to the rescue!!!
Hi,
While watching the Apprentice I was very surprised with the lack of creativity, especially with the EEE name...????, what was that? I just can't...
Ok, what about a "CENTIPEDE"? "ZENTIPEDE". (Using the letter Z from Zappos)
Zappos.com is all about SUPERB customer service, image and quality products, meaning fast shipping, fast returns, and fast everything, I've experienced that and I won't buy my shoes anywhere else.
Zappos focuses on shoes as it's core image and that's how people knows Zappos=shoes=Great CS, that's how it started if I'm not wrong. The name itself I would assume, comes from the word Zapatos (Shoes) in Spanish? So a ZENTIPEDE could be an interesting character for your brand. Why? It has lots and lots of FEET to wear shoes, it represents an icon that by using those feet can get there (move) very fast,can do a lot of things at the same time with his/her feet, and that translates to, speed, quality, thus GREAT CS. Also a ZENTIPEDE is a very friendly, easy on the eyes and fun character. He could also change clothes, wear different things, not just shoes, for the other apparel at Zappos.com
I hope this idea helps...
Thanks
Hi, I don't think the cartoon character should be male or female. After all, you have male and female employees, male and female customers and a male CEO. The reason that I shop with Zappos is the excellent customer service, reasonable prices, a fairly wide variety of sizes and widths of shoes, nice clothes, very speedy delivery, and free shipping both ways. The character should be called "Zappy" and should not be gender biased in any way, but rather a force to be reckoned with. It is the force or power, or energy that surges from the entire staff at Zappos. The only mission it has is to satisfy the customers of "ZAPPOS". The force is present 365 days a year. Zappos never sleeps and Zappy is the force behind Zappos! John F.Reno, Nevada
What about a critter? Maybe something made out of the products zappos sells. Take a stick model, throw some random accessories on it, then drop the stick lines. Presto!
She should be the old woman who lives in a shoe. Instead of having just one shoe-home she has multiple fabulous shoe-homes, all over the world...(even in Canada). Thanks to Zappos, she expands her horizons...and lives happily ever after...in Zappos shoes.
I love Zappos.com. My experience with shopping at your site reminds me of my loyal and all too eager to please yellow lab, Rylee. Rylee never lets me down and always makes me smile and surprises me time and time again how willing she is to please me and serve me. Much like Zappos. I tell everyonw about your site, I can't believe how hassle free it is and so dependable. Rylee is quit and adorable and would make a great proto type for a Zappos cartoon character. Her face is that of a trusted loved and fun friend. Someone who helps you out when yor in need and also is there to make life better for you. She like Zappos is quick to please and goes through great pains to see that I am happy. She like a Zappos delivery is something I am always happy to see at my door! Also I could see her taking a customer's order and then go sniffing through a warehouse just to find the perfect pair of rare shoes that the customer could not find anywhere in a store and than drag them out and rush them to a conveyor belt to be delivered to the customer just in time to save the day and solve the problem that the customer thought she would never be able to solve before the big event. You could even name the dog Zap or something like that. I think that animal characters give corporations almost instant product identity to consumer's minds. Much like the Aflac duck, or the Gieco lizard just to name a few. Many Many people associate positive feelings to the image of a dog, especially when it is the adorable face of a yellow lab. Just look at a picture of Marley and try not to smile.
Thanks Zappos ~ You are a shoppers best friend!
I believe the character (maybe an animal such as a zebra with a Z on a mail pouch) should have no gender, but should be an employee who believes in the 3 Z's of zappos: zip - easy ordering zap - fast order fill zoom - speedy delivery
It's name could be Zigzag (like a lightning bolt).
For the new Zappo character: I have to first tell you this so you know where it is coming from. I, as well as many others, have multiple foot problems requiring a wide shoe. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find ANYTHING nice at the mall?. The norm for shopping for shoes was to waste an entire day or maybe two or three to find a pair of shoes I "somewhat liked" and 90% of the time, whenever I did, I was always forced into a compromise for lack of choices and after the horrendous time shopping, I was pretty 'ZAPPED' .NO MORE! Now I get good-zapped at Zappos without the hassle and for the first time in my life, I actually have a choice. Thus, using the word "Zapped", I would call the character "Zapper". Zapper would be a lightening bolt, zitzing it's way thru the choices of the type of shoes it wanted, selecting two or three pair to be sent , only to find that Zapper really liked two of the three instead of just one and then Zapper just Zips the non-choice back to Zappos. Therefore, this is the scenario:: a lightning bolt zitzing from one mall to another, checking out several stores at each mall and becoming more zapped out would go home with achy feet and collapse. Then Zapper finds Zappos on line and gets really excited, ordering with a 1-2-3-ZAP! Zapper sits back with feet up , drinking a frothy treat while the package zips it's way to the Zapper's zip code and arrives at the door a day or two later! Zapper grabs the package with beating hearts swirling above it's head and Wallah! Zapper lets our a Zappy "Whew" showing a little puff of steam coming from his zippy mouth as a relief and thinks "All this time I could have had Zappos!" Two pair are great and the third Zaps back to Zappo's Zip! Just like that!
I watched the show, am a marketing exec in the luxury industry and had an immediate idea... A short, round Asian man (simple black and white line drawing) who can run around be cute and fun, do a little dance... but at the sound of a mouse click, followed by a gong symbol, he stands at attention, with feet together, hands with palms together (prayer position) under chin and bows. Tag line reads, "your click is our command."
Lori Indianapolis, IN
yes! I saw the show too.I think people here have much better ideas. All I know is when i first heard of zappos i had to remember it somehow. So i looked at the word and it reminded me of hippos.ppos-get it. the z reminded me of a hippos large mouth,the two pp's can be the body and leggs with shoes. the s at the end reminds me of a tail on the o or is it its behind. anyways-this is how i remembered zappos and everytime i see it written i just see a little wide mouth,short legged shoe wearing zappos
Hi - As a fairly recent customer of Zappos, I watched the Celebrity Apprentice show that had the two teams trying to create a comic/cartoon type character to reflect your company. I was a little surprised to see that both teams basically had the same idea.... of some (sexy of course) female super heroine. Although this doesn't appeal to me, it doesn't mean it won't appeal to many others.
Anyway, it occured to me that the concept of the "Office Assistant" in the Microsoft applications might be the kind of thing that would be both somewhat familiar to your customers and quite useful. Long ago I choose "Rocky" the dog as my little cartoon person to replace the infamous paper-clip and he still amuses me as he does this and that while "assisting" me to find the help I need within the application (e.g., Access, Word, Excel). MS allows 8 different animated characters and hasn't updated them since Day 1. Maybe you could create one Zappos help creature or a slate of them for your clients to select - and to attach the FACS and Help Q/A's, etc., to them. Might be fun for your employees to come up with a gallery of pictures. Maybe an animated shoe or the puppy that fetches them or the cat that sleeps in them or the goat that eats them or whatever. You can tell I like the animal theme but a younger crowd might like robots or dragons or ETs or whatever is in these days.
Just a thought! Best of luck in whatever you do with your great site, Zappos! Jackie
That episode of Celebrity Apprentice was interesting. I thought it weird that so many minds took so long in coming up with a concept. I came up with 2 in an hour that I beleve aren't half bad. 1. Because Zappos caters to both men and women, and they are not only shoes, 1 character could be a spin off Victor/Victoria, where 1/2 the profile of the character is male and the other half female. Character's name could be Zappy/Zapper (could be tweeked), however, concept is, character appears as a butler or concierge in a tux, rotating to show both sides, depending what is being searched for determines "who" completes the search. The other character could be a geenie in a bottle / lamp. Female in geenie outfit, name is Zeegeenie, if help is need in locating something, Zeegeenie appears and in a soothing Customer Service voice ask, "How may I assist you today?", You state what you are looking for, the reply, "I'll be happy to assist you with that". Zeegeenie find your product, and asks" Is there anything wlse I can assist you with?'" if not, Zeegeenie says "It was my pleasure to assist you today" and goes back in the lamp/bottle. Hope you like. Sandra GS, Bronx, NY
To elaborate on the " Z SPOT " shopping bag. When you do peek inside, you will find, superior customer service, fabulous merchandise, and if that weren't enough, free and quick shipping.
Have you Zappoed lately? Get in touch with your inner " Z SPOT " ( an animated shopping bag )that when you take a peek inside all of your shopping fantasies come true.
Why didn't he just add a "Z" on front of the EEE's????????? In my mind that would have worked....Zappos.....Then it could have been "ZEEE"......and I think that might have worked for them. Just my two cents that I have been wanting to tell anyone who would listen :-)
this is fun reading all the interesting ideas! i am stiring in my seat wondering if i could really come up with something catchy~~~ i have never had as good of service anywhere as i have with you. you are all so great at service, satisfaction and gaurantees! how cool is that! you rock so hopefully a logo will flow out with a peaceful energy reflecting your personal attention that everyone is happy ;) love you! xx
Here is my Zappos superhero.
He is Captain Zappos of the Fashion Police. He gets desperate calls from frantic costumers requesting super fast service. Captain Zappos says; "It on its way to you faithful customer!" Oh Oh! Ordered the wrong size! Captain Zappos says; "No problem costumer in dispair! Don't lose hope! I'll have the right size sent right over!" Suddenly from one of the Fashion Police; "Captain Zappos we have a ton of orders coming in on our website. How can we possibably get them out in time? What will we do?" "No fear EEE, Captain Zappos is here!"; says the Captain. With his super human ability, he gets in touch with his sources and presto, all the needed merchandise is there for the orders. Once again Captain Zappos of the Fashion Police has save the world.
I hope you enjoyed!
Ken Kwilinski Burbank, IL
I like that when you get an error or typo message with Zappos.com you have a picture of a dog. Does anyone know what I am referring to?
Well, I watched Celebrity Apprentice and they all went with human characters. I thought it would be cute to go with a super hero Dog. Dogs are reliable, dependable, they're good listeners, they are obedient, and of course they are man/woman's best friends.
Having a Comic Book Hero Super Dog would also differentiate you from the many other companies trying to utilize comics (as mentioned above).
Thanks for your wonderful products and services!!
I Heart Zappos!
A Loyal Kansan
I love Zappos and the service is great! The character should be a customer service person that when goes to different categories the shoppers choose... changes for each section. Starts with office attire and changes to running gear or in casual attire... ladies may want to see a woman helping pick out sizes... styles... Men may want to see a cool guy or pretty woman (not beyond norm for the site tho). Zappos will do everything to help you with your shopping experience. So maybe a chamelian (spelling?) jazzed up tho. lol
Sal
Right now your site says "Put a Little Zappos in Your Day!" How about establishing a cute character called Lil' Zap. I envision a characterization of the letter Z - perhaps adding cartoon eyes, nose and mouth, etc. features. A tagline could be "A Lil' Zap Goes a Long Way...Going the extra mile to serve you better." The character could be featured on the home page as a customer helper. Shoppers can can click on it for Live Support or FAQs, etc. The character would appear on every page of your site - front and center - always there to help customers in a variety of ways. Lil' Zap could be made into a magnet and included in all orders so customers can put it on their fridge as a reminder of Zappos great customer service. You could promote to customers that 'At Zappos, we put a Lil' Zap in every order!' Eventually a fuzzy stuffed version of Lil' Zap could be made and given as a free gift to randomly selected customers. Lil' Zap would look great on T-shirts, caps and reusable bags too.
Good Luck! JH, Furlong, PA
Rather than trying to explain my idea I would like to show it to you. I have a sketch and detailed comic layout if you would like to see it please contact me. I would love to hear from you.
In watching the Zappos episode of Apprentice, it was woefully obvious the contestants had no knowledge of basic marketing, brand awareness, brand extension, etc. Not their fault, however, since most of the populace doesn't either.
Had I been a contestant, here is what I would have suggested:
First and foremost, the "comic book character" icon(s) should be four (4) contemporary people images of four different ethnicities: One White, one Black, one Asian and one Hispanic. That would cover just about every demographic your company serves.
Second, they should be called and known as "The ZWOW Team." Each having the Z, the W, the O and the last W on their costumes and each lined up so as to spell ZWOW.
Why ZWOW? Because the customer service team at Zappos wants to WOW its customers, because they wow us!
To expand on the theme and reap rewards of the brand extension and awareness such will provide, Zappos will invite customers to JOIN THE ZAPPOS ZWOW TEAM. Customers will be able to join by (a) new customer referral, (b) by writing Zappos with recognition of the extreme level of customer service they received, or both. The reward will be a free ZWOW Customer Service Team T-shirt. Of course, under that identifying T-shirt copy, would be the Zappos.com URL. This will give further exposure to the effort, Zappos and the ZWOW Team. I'm guessing that each T-shirt will cost Zappos no more than about $6.00, but the return on investment will be huge gains in brand awareness, word of mouth (eye?), by being seen on the street and extend the notion that Zappos wows their customers with uncommon levels of customer service. To say nothing of the new customer referrals. Additionally, you should get huge press by announcing this new program, free of any cost, of course. Your PR firm or staff is surely capable of amassing considerable editorial coverage.
The logical extension of this new program would include appearances at various events, like the MAGIC apparel show, in Las Vegas, maybe by co-oping with American Idol in some way, sponsoring some contest at Women's Wear Daily, etc.
I could go on and on, Tony, but I think you get the idea. I know receiving such marketing ideas via e-mail is unorthodox, but I simply can't help myself. I had to share this information with you. Do with it what you might, toss it in the round file, expand upon it, manipulate it or just ignore it. The choice is yours and I understand.
Sincerely
Rick Campbell Gardnerville, NV
I think those are all terrific ideas, however I still believe that a cartoon character that is more of a mascot such as a puppy dog would appeal to all. Dogs serve humans and love all, regardless of sex, age or ethnicity.
Very excited to see what Zappos decides! Truly, Zappos is a shoppers best friend. I have noticed that your service model is influencing other online stores. Way to WOW the retail world!
Laurie in Iowa
Just an added note. The cartoon mascot could easily be manipulated into the Zappos family. The pup could be seen playing poker with the CEO, doing zany tricks with customer service employees, retrieving shoes, whining and acting upset upon reading a complaint email from a Zappos customer (an extremely rare thing I am sure) and then working tirelessly to solve the problem ultimately wagging his tail and smiling upon the response of the satisfied customer. I can see the character working cubicle to cubicle bringing joy to all Zappos employees as well as being loyal to all of Zappos customers. Customers will easily embrace the mascot. Very identifiable, funny, zany, works hard, and always reliable 24/7. And yes so very humble, works solely for our affection and love. I am picturing a big and goofy type of dog with a very expressive face.
© 2007-2010 Zappos.com, Inc.
Great show the other night, wasn't a big fan of the "EEE" but such is life. It occured to me during the show however that both teams missed the most obvious mark. In my humble opinion I think the Comic Book Character should be the employee at Zappos who receives the order and handles all the details of each unique request.
Not only could it provide a great universal visual, by having the character shop for items all over the globe lightning fast, but who can also disguise themselves as a delivery person, who has the knowledge of a fashion consultant, has the experience of a seasoned dept store shopper, and has the world's most amazing memory and remembers each customers needs with amazing clarity...(more traits too if interested).
The character of course would have to be female (nothing to do with demographics or fashion, more for balance in the world of Comic Books and the proven superior listening abilities of women) and I am thinking that "Triple Z" for Zap Zap Zap would be a fitting name because of how quick and easy it is to: 1) take your order (Zap!) 2) fill your order (Zap!) 3) deliver your order (Zap!)
As a sidenote this has nothing to do with Triple X or EEE, my friend has been saying Zap Zap Zap for years, and it is very catchy. In fact he was almost compulsive about it.
Anyhow, hope you like my two cents. If I hear from Tony or anyone from your team commending my post rest assured I would be shocked and thrilled.
Furious George