What’s the most common way to gain customer feedback? 

The survey.

But most surveys are impersonal and uninteresting, and it’s tough to entice customers to respond. Worse yet, few consultants and companies conducting surveys deliver real-time feedback so participants know that their voice was heard. 

IBM handles things differently. Dave Rodgerson, the Marketing Manager for IBM Canada, emailed me today explaining his very creative approach to gain high-quality customer feedback and deliver a truly memorable customer experience. 

Instead of using a bland survey and traditional marketing materials to gain customer insights and convey new messages, Dave and the IBM Canada Retail team created a “Retail as Theatre” event recently at the Second City theatre in Toronto. The “breakfast theatre” event blended stage performance, humor, food and live audience interaction delivered through IBM technology. What an interesting way to learn, share and showcase IBM technology and services! 

Check out the event summary and if you’re in retail, their array of studies for: 

• General merchandise retailers
• Apparel retailers
• Grocery online merchants
• Drug stores
• Pharmacies 

Tying the customer experience event to social media 

As if the event wasn’t creative enough, IBM introduced a fictional character at the event, Dash Walmsly, who they’re now leveraging through social media. Some people find him funny, others … well, let’s not go there. Whatever your feeling about Dash, he’s a great example of how to creatively convey a challenging message through both traditional media and new media channels.

Experience Dash yourself: 

IBM isn’t the first to use a goofy fictional character for B2B marketing. Check out Biff Manly and one of his videos that the GrowthANSWERS consultants used to promote one of their events last year.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Knexus and Foviance Collaborate to Launch ‘Designing Customer Centric Experiences’ Live Webcast for Marketers (seomashup.blogspot.com)