Interview With Jérôme Pineau; Community Manager, Marvin Watches
Some of you may already be familiar with Jérôme Pineau, the internet savvy Community Manager for Marvin Watches who has been single-handedly building the brand’s presence on-line. We have been quietly observing this exceptional upward trend since the beginning of the year and so we decided to approach Jérôme to find out more.
We had already discovered with great pleasure that he was a faithful reader of The Watch Lounge, always happy to share his views and engage with other readers. So to find out more we also followed his personal Twitter account, as well as the Marvin account and discovered pretty quickly just why he has been so successful.
Not only is Jérôme (and by extension Marvin) extremely accessible, his activity on-line is also exceptionally relevant and geared towards creating meaningful relationships with customers and enthusiasts alike, not just reeling off corporate spiel about the brand like so many others do. He’s also exceedingly kind and always willing to go the extra mile for Marvin customers, building invaluable goodwill for the brand.
So, without further ado we give you Marvin Watch’s community manager, Jérôme Pineau!
Please note this interview is also available in French here.
BIO:
Name : Pineau, Jérôme.
Age : 45.
Employer: Marvin Watches.
Distinguishing characteristic: The only, or almost, the only Community Manager in the watch-making world.
Main activity: To create, develop and manage the reputation of the brand over the web, in relation to all its stakeholders – journalists, bloggers, clients, prospects, etc.
Limitations: None!
The highly desirable Malton M160 by Marvin
TWL: So, Jérôme tell us, how did you become a Community Manager?
JP: By pure chance! I spent the better part of my career in the US, mainly in the software industry as a sales engineer and an evangelist. I was always very up to date about new technologies, and especially about the web. One day, Sandrine Szabo, the head of Marvin’s communication agency, NetInfluence, contacted me on LinkedIn. One thing lead to another, and before I knew it I was offered a job to join Marvin.
TWL: So I guess that you were already a big watch-making fan, right?
JP: Not at all, I didn’t know anything about the industry! And I think that’s what attracted Marvin on my CV. They have a great expertise in watch-making, but communication (especially online) is not their business. I had the opposite position. So, we joined forces, and now we can have an objective outlook on each others work.
TWL: What is it like to work for Marvin?
JP: The company’s state of mind is all about being open-minded and daring and as such I have been given free reign. While here, in Switzerland, all the decisions are the result of a long thoughtful process designed to eliminate all potential risks, in the country where I come from, the United States, we tend to try new things, new approaches, new tactics, with sometimes completely new and unexpected results.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Then we work backwards, we publicly acknowledge our mistakes, and then try something else. There is not a good way, and a bad way. The whole challenge was to transpose one country’s methods into the context of the other one.
TWL: And so, what are the results?
JP: Well, I’ve already noticed that some well-known brands are watching us closely! Almost as though we were some kind of lab experiment in fact. Although it’s still early days some of the results can already be seen: the average time spent on the site by visitors has multiplied by 4, on more than 300.000 pages viewed ; Facebook fans have multiplied by a factor of 100 in just two weeks (currently sitting at an impressive 937 at the time of publication), and we have more than 500 followers on Twitter. All these figures grow on a daily basis, but I’ve only been here since January.
If you prefer something a little sportier than try the Malton 160 Cushion by Marvin
TWL: These are very promising results indeed! Why then don’t other brands follow the trend?
JP: It’s not my job to judge the strategy of my colleagues, but I have noticed that many decisions are made according to the brand’s positioning, and not according to market expectations.
At Marvin, our first priority is to listen to the market. We listen carefully to what our customers want – that’s why we have created all these communities and opened channels for direct conversation with them. How can you learn what are your customer’s wishes if they have no way to express them?
This is why we have opened so many channels of communication: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, a blog, on-line chat, etc. We listen to our clients and try to answer them in the fastest and most satisfying way.
TWL: Could you give us an example?
JP: Take the e-shop case. Many brands, as a matter of principle, don’t open an e-shop. But in our case, our customers requested it. Consequently, we are going to open one.
TWL: A great challenge!
JP: Yes! We’ll have to have a close look at the supply chain, provisioning, and above all, the customer service. Some brands focus above all on the brand reputation. At Marvin, our obsession is customer service!
Some cheeky advertising from the brand dedicated to doing things differently!
TWL: Still, all these initiatives are, after all, mainly virtual. Surely there will be a time when you’ll have to actually meet your audience…
JP: Yes, and the web is a great meeting tool! Recently, we had a negative comment posted on our blog from a client who had troubles with his watches and was disappointed by the follow-up he was offered. First of all, I left the comment on the blog and answered it within the minute, because in my opinion we have to be completely transparent with our clients. Mistakes happen, of course, this is part of the daily job of any brand. What’s important is not to hide them, but how you correct them.
In this case, I offered to send this client a new watch immediately. He refused: he wanted to come down to our office and get it personally! We had a very pleasant moment together.
TWL: Are you concerned that with such strong, open communication you might eventually lose control of what is said about your brand on-line?
JP: Not at all! The content, once published, is no longer ours any more, it belongs to the community of people who follow us! In my opinion, this desire to control everything is a mistake. Let’s be honest: it’s the Holy Grail when someone starts talking about your brand publicly without you asking them too!
TWL: The Final Word?
JP: There’s still a lot to do, this is only the beginning. Marvin is a wonderful brand. It has the story, the legitimacy, 160 years of watch-making, high quality, and a true market vision. My job, as the community manager, is to let the whole world know about it!
Category: Exclusives and Previews, Interviews, New This Week
