I heard an interesting story today that illustrates how some companies are failing to understand building community around their brand. This story was about Ergo baby carriers, but the business principles are just as applicable to companies like Harley-Davidson.

The Ergo baby carrier is an evolution of a Baby Bjorn in that it transfers the weight of the baby to your hips from your shoulders, a difference that everyone feels after about a half hour. Now this is not really a new concept, people have been carrying babies around in various slings pieces of cloth and homemade gizmos for, well, a few thousand years at least. Maybe more. The Ergo is pretty well made with clasps in the right places. Clasps that are cheap imitations of your standard Fastex models - certainly of better quality than the even cheaper rip-offs that Maclaren uses on their strollers.

The price point is pretty good, the aesthetics are not seductive. But the idea is right, and the carrier passes the vacuuming-with-baby challenge. Not a trivial hurdle.

However they are a bit challenged in the Brand management department. One of their retailers, Laura Hamilton of The Portable Baby in San Jose, found the aesthetics lacking and started hand dying them to her own colors. This is not so different from a Harley devotee repainting the gas tank. Admittedly probably a milder form of the obsession, but clearly related.

Ms. Hamilton is very savvy: she has a commerce enabled website and a blog which she uses to connect with her customers. Ergo saw that she was offering these modified carriers and immediately threatened a lawsuit and demanded the return of all their product. To a small retailer the threat of a lawsuit is not a minor matter. Profits from these kinds of businesses tend to be pretty modest. But the real issue is the ripple this kind of response has on the brand.

To return to the Harley analogy: people customize Harleys’ because they believe in the product. This is an act of commitment, money & time. Nobody would bother if they didn’t think it was worth it. And while it is a statement that the product may not be perfect, manufacturers’ need to recognize that consumers look to novelty for identification.
And these days we publicize the results if a company shuts that down. Ms Hamilton has the freedom of speech and a platform to launch a critique, which she has done effectively. The effect on the Ergo brand is both bad and out of their control. What could they have done to prevent this?

_ Step one would be to listen to their customers. If people are customizing it, then they should meet that need or celebrate the ingenuity of their retailers.

_ Step two is to realize that the commercial landscape is now a three way street. The company, the customer and an active public forum are all shareholders in whatever enterprise you have on offer. The heavy-handed tactics of legal bullying tend to backfire in this landscape.

Harley recognizes these realities and has incorporated them into their model. It hasn’t always been comfortable with it, but in doing so they have built a brand that has a kind of loyalty that other companies can only dream of. Ergo would do well to grab a page out of their book.