Dan Kim on Red Mango Marketing and Value

At last week's National Restaurant Association Marketing Executives Group (MEG) conference, Red Mango founder Dan Kim's keynote was, well, a real treat. Kim’s marketing strategy is quite elegant, and there was even something for a pricing aficionado like me. And why wouldn’t there be – it was a marketing talk, after all.

Kim attributes Red Mango’s growth to three principles:

• Respond to customer trends with prediction and innovation
• Deliver value uniquely
• Let customers own and shape our brand

Customer Innovation

While Kim maintains that customers can easily state their preferences, they can’t tell you what they need. So he maintains that it’s up to a brand to take information on trends and behaviors and predict what they will want next – his definition of innovation.

Value

Kim was quick to point out that for Red Mango, value is about offering the right attributes rather than reducing price for the same amount of product, or providing more product for the same price. He went on to say that value in a recession does not equal price. So what is value for Red Mango customers? Customers want control and variety, and customization and co-creation are key; hence the company’s self service stores. At those locations, customers can choose from 112 flavors via five to six machines. They pay by weight and they actually SPEND MORE in these stores, which charge by the ounce.

How does Red Mango measure if it’s delivering value? Through guest satisfaction, frequency, and social networking connection and feedback. Kim is big on social networking – he concluded his presentation with a tweetable summary, saving everyone the trouble of counting to 140 characters.

Kim is very clear on the fact that competing on price doesn’t make sense for Red Mango, and pointed out that with its definition of value, the company has avoided daily deal and group buying programs.

Empower Your Customers to Own Your Brand

In today’s environment of access to information and heightened competition, customers embrace brands by continuously discovering and shaping them. For Red Mango, in-store ownership places guests in full control of flavors, toppings, and portion. And because social networks enable advocacy, Kim believes it’s the most powerful way to engage customers, and is constant. Red Mango wants to connect with our customers whenever they are socially or emotionally engaging.

The Four Cs:

Kim notes that customers want what he terms the Four C's: Comfort, Connection, Convenience, and Control. Control and convenience happen when eating becomes grazing, and customers dictate portioning. Convenience and Connection are served with innovations such as contactless payments, and mobile ordering, as well as through local applications.

When asked if he sees Red Mango as a restaurant or retail brand, Kim, who says he is not a restaurant guy, says it’s a consumer brand that represents a lifestyle, which goes beyond a restaurant brand. Restaurant guy or not, it’s great marketing.