Urban Outfitters on Flickr - Customers in Control

Urban Outfitters is an innovator in using web 2.0 concepts with their brand. YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, Blogs. But they take even more "risk" than just the technical. Flickr is a great example.

It's not just about photo sharing. They let the customers take control. Explore their flickr photo pool and you'll see their clothes right alongside their competitors. On real people. Just like us. We don't just wear one brand. How about that?

Home Page Promoting Flickr



Blog Post Directing Customers to Flickr



Flickr Photo Pool
The cool thing is that as you scroll through the pool, you'll find photos with tags and notes that include other brands like Levi's and American Apparel. It takes confidence to let your customers show how your goods compliment what other companies produce. That consumers can love your brand without being monogamous.

Do You YouTube? Most Retailers Say No.

I remember working on Victoria's Secret email program in the late nineties, and it was SUCH a big deal to get video done. Now individuals, and small companies can get in the mix. YouTube has made it easy. So now retailers CAN do video easily & at low cost, but most don't. Here are a couple of examples I've seen lately.

I looked at about 1000 sites (the week of 1/26), and came up with only two sites where YouTube was a visible part of their home page. The sites were:

1-800-Flowers with their "Greatest Love Story" contest and

Urban Outfitters who has used YouTube for several weeks in different capacities.

Most of the DRTV sites use some type of streaming video as part of their user experience. For example see:

Jewelry TV

QVC HSN

Shop@home

Shopnbc

YouTube in Emails

Shari's Berries used a YouTube video as the prominent feature of their 2/7/08 email. Subject line: "Watch the Video, New Gund Frog Sings My Girl, Save 20% ".

Email (click to enlarge screenshot)




Landing Page (click to enlarge screenshot)



Here's a live link to the landing page if you want to watch the video.

Read More...
If you are interested in using YouTube on your site, see also

STORES Magazine: Do YouTube?

YouTube for E-Tailers: Tips, Camcorder Reviews

Shop.org Blog - Look whos's marketing on YouTube!

Urban Outfitters Innovation

I noticed a couple of things on Urban Outfitters site this week that I thought others would be interested in.

1. The use of YouTube video on the home page. (Also posted on YouTube. Thus far few f
2. Mobile marketing signup is more prominent than email.
3. Horizontal blog.

YouTube. Interesting way to share content created for the site. They have a channel on YouTube. So far only 3161 views since April 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/uotv





Mobile Signup
Here's a copy of their signup form.


Horizontal Geo Blog
They have an interesting way to display their blog content. Very visual, filter by location, and scroll is horizontal.
http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/