Zappos.com: The ultimate customer service company

The point of US online shoe store Zappos.com is not that the staff knows how to party (the first part of the clip above), but the free shipping and returns. It's not just "try before you buy" - believe it or not, customers can send their shoes back up to a year after they bought them. Really! And the best thing about it, Zappos' best customers are the ones that the return the most.

See, customer service is the new marketing - and here's Zappos marketing chief Aaron Magness explaining how.

What attracted you to Zappos?

The mentality. Hire great people, trust and empower those that you hire and don't be a bottle neck. Zappos isn't big on giving assignments and specific tasks. There is an overarching direction and discussion, but the actual execution is up to the team. I'm here to provide support and guidance, but not to get in the way and micro-manage. This allows freedom of interpretation and greater focus on what "marketing" is really about.

For example, if a particular item is not available in a particular size, Zappos staff are instructed to find and recommend a rival company on the web that has it in stock. Now that's the ultimate in customer service.

IBM wants to know your favourite colour

Color Sensitive Interactive Billboard from milton cj on Vimeo.

It's so simple, it's easy to scoff, but there's also great potential for businesses to tune into customers in new ways. More importantly, it is a great way for stores to gather data on what their customers are wearing. Another example of how a better customer experience works both ways.

Some terrace romance from Puma in time for Valentine's Day

You either believe in Valentine's Day or you don't. For those that worship at the temple of football, renegade sportswear manufacturer Puma has launched its HardChorus, a website that showcases the above video and lets users dedicate the song to a loved one. As the idea and execution are so good, there is barely any need for any Puma branding (none of the cast appear to be wearing Puma). Puma is simply cool by association.

And look, there's also an Italian version - run them both at once to get that true matchday feeling.

Wearers of Diesel clothing are officially stupid

Sure, honesty is the best policy, but this may be a little too smart - or stupid.

Superdry: Big in Japan, and now in London

Everyone in London seems to be wearing Superdry this winter, a brand I had never heard of until my brother got a hoodie from his girlfriend this Christmas. In the bar before AFC Wimbledon's away match at Hayes & Yeading United (a hotbed of fashion indeed), I spotted three teens in the same group wearing this Superdry gear - and that was only the top layer. Given that the brand is Japanese and has only a modest web presence in the English-speaking world, this is no mean feat. On the other hand, a quick browse on the website (and the rest of the web) reveals that Superdry has an exceptionally broad range of high-quality, retro-feel products at very competitive prices - which might go a long way to explaining this cheesy-sounding Japanese label's new-found popularity.

Are England as good as Umbro's new marketing drive?

From Gladys Santiago's blog, which I plugged here, it wasn't long before I stumbled across the above Umbro vid promoting the new England shirt - probably the country's most worn item of clothing. A branding revolution right under everyone's nose...

For more, check out the Umbro website, which is very, very cool and trying very hard to bring a bit more branding sophistication to footballwear. And for a lesson on brand blogging, check this out.

What is striking is that this is a multiple-pronged approach to the football kit, something that people will buy whatever it looks like and whatever it costs.

Unbranding fashion: Strategically ditching the logo

When it comes to fashion, it appears more companies are leaving something to the imagination. Not in terms of their raunchy cuts, but in terms of their branding - or rather unbranding. Read more about it over at Gladys Santiago's blog. Really interesting.