新锐时尚眼镜品牌瓦尔比派克的营销秘方

    没用多长时间，瓦尔比派克眼镜公司（Warby Parker）就打造了一个声名大噪的品牌。这家电子商务公司位于纽约，专营价格亲民却又时髦别致的眼镜。这些眼镜售价约100美元，而一副设计师品牌的眼镜往往售价高达500美元。这家公司的联合创始人尼尔•布鲁曼萨尔对品牌的定位是，与Apolis/Band of Outsiders和Maison Kitsuné等高端时尚品牌比肩。但是，公司的品牌推广灵感却来自一类性质迥异的团体：非盈利组织。这群倡导善举的明星慈善组织包括：“上善若水（Charity: Water）”、“看不见的孩子（Invisible Children）”、“Movember”和“许诺铅笔（Pencils of Promise）”。

    乍一看，这似乎有点违背常识，因为这家公司在其位于SoHo的总部拥有精美的展示厅，同时还在洛杉矶和纽约东村（East Village）豪华的标准饭店（Standard Hotel）附近设有夏季的街头流动店铺，然而瓦尔比派克的发展史确实与非盈利组织紧密相连。布鲁曼萨尔的职业生涯始于VisionSpring公司。这家非盈利公司的主要业务是对发展中国家的当地经销商进行培训，让他们销售廉价眼镜。布鲁曼萨尔认为，对创业初期的公司和社区来说，这一业务能为大家带来双赢。因为它能让用户更好地保护视力，同时又能“很有面子地”为自己买单。

    布鲁曼萨尔表示，让他敬佩有加的这个非盈利组织团体其实是一个结构松散、由企业家朋友构成的非正式交际网。几位创始人是在系列峰会上结识的——据布鲁曼萨尔说，就是去年4月的一次“海边峰会”（Summit at Sea）——随后他们就开始探讨各种最佳实践。布鲁曼萨尔还称，其中有几位创始人志同道合，拥有相似的慈善目标，他们包括：“上善若水”的斯科特•哈里森、“Movember”的亚当•加罗尼、以及“许诺铅笔”和“看不见的孩子”的几位创始人。

    Warby Parker has built a buzzy brand in no time. The New York City-based e-tailer sells inexpensive-yet-chic eyewear, which costs about $100 a pair compared to $500 for a typical set of designer specs. Co-founder Neil Blumenthal situates the brand with the likes of labels Apolis, Band of Outsiders, and Maison Kitsuné. But the company is taking branding cues from a very different set of firms: non-profits. This "rock-star group" of do-gooders includes Charity:Water, Invisible Children,Movember, and Pencils of Promise.

    At first blush, that seems counter-intuitive for a company with a sleek showroom in its SoHo headquarters and summer pop-up kiosks at swanky Standard Hotel locations in Los Angeles and New York's East Village. But Warby Parker's own story is closely tied to non-profits. Blumenthal got his start at VisionSpring, a non-profit that trains local entrepreneurs in the developing world to sell inexpensive glasses. Blumenthal described it as a win-win for the fledgling businesses and the communities that receive access to better eye care with the added "dignity" of making their own purchases.

    The group of non-profits Blumenthal admires is part of a loose-fitting, informal network of entrepreneurial friends, he says. The founders bond at Summit Series events—Blumenthal notes last year's April "Summit at Sea" -- and talk with each other about best practices. According to Blumenthal, there's a bit of a crew of founders with similar charitable missions, including Charity:Water's Scott Harrison, Movember's Adam Garone, and the Pencils of Promise and Invisible Children founders.