Ponseti & Partners

A 100 year old company looks at keeping customers

There it sits, on the tightest curve of the Mississippi, just across the water Red Wing Logo

from Wisconsin. On Sunday, you can drive across the bridge to buy a bottle of wine for dinner—Minnesota State law forbidding alcohol sales on Sunday. From some angles the town of Red Wing appears not to have changed much in 100 years.

Red Wing Shoe Co. (affectionately called “The Shoe” around town) is the largest employer, although the local Indian casino Red Wing Boots is challenging that position. Four generations of Red Wing area families make America's finest footwear for people who work in factories, on farms, in restaurants or on railroad cars. Known for quality in material and workmanship, many of the shoe styles haven't changed in years because customers don't want them to. “Give me another pair, just like these,” they're likely to say.

William Sweasy, or “Bill,” as he's referred to by everyone in the company (and everyone immediately knows whom you're talking about, even though there are probably 75 “Bills” working in the company) is in his mid-forties, quiet, and smart. He's running the company his father and grandfather ran. Times, however, have changed.

He found Rhoann Ponseti and her company, Ponseti & Partners of Santa Rosa, California. Ponseti began turning Red Wing customers into data, then turning the data into customer relationship strategies. The project started out small and grew from there. First came the company customer magazine, Feet First. Contained inside each issue is great stuff of interest to Red Wing's customers—stories about real people who wear Red Wings to work every day. Stories about the real people who make the shoes. And rock-solid information about the materials and workmanship that make these shoes “the best friends your feet ever had.^TM” (a slogan coined by Rhoann).

Once the database was created and individual stores elected to participate in the program, they had a way to talk to their customers on a regular basis, enjoying high quality color printing at extremely discounted prices based on national participation. After just a couple of years, those stores participating in the Relationship Marketing program experienced a 15% overall better performance than those who did not.

Results. Relationships. Return on investment. That's what relationship marketing 1:1 can do for your company.

Feet First magazine, conceived, named, written and designed by Ponseti & Partners, was created to speak to Red Wing Shoe Co's, customers. An important component was a response card, giving customers a chance to talk back.