Todd Anthony Shaw better known by the stage name Too Short is a rapper, producer and entrepreneur. He’s best known for his hit songs, “The Ghetto“, “Life Is Too Short” and “Blow the Whistle“.
Too Short is one of the pioneers of West Coast hip hop. He first began recording in 1985, becoming one of Oakland’s better known underground emcees, before he signed a deal with Jive/RCA Records in 1987, releasing his mainstream debut album Born to Mack.
He experienced his first widespread success with his 1989 follow-up album Life Is Too Short, and remained one of the most popular rappers into the mid-2000s. His lyrics are primarily about pimping, hustling, living his best life, and promiscuity. Jay-Z, Biggie Smalls, TI, Jeezy, Rick Ross and Master P among others admit to being heavily influenced by Too Short’s authentic storytelling ability.
In the mid-1980s, Short innovated and produced personalized songs (called “special requests”) for notable East Oakland hustlers, players and macks with his neighborhood homie and collaborator, Freddy B. In these special requests cassette tapes, he would tailor the lyrics and hook for the customer. He rapped about some of their exciting and luxurious lifestyles, as well as their legendary exploits in the streets.
The story goes, that many of Too Short’s early personalization customers were more than happy to play their songs to any-and-everyone who would listen, thus providing great first-party, word-of-mouth traction to his then fledgling hip hop career.
These customers also became loyal advocates for Too Short, because they had a connection and some “skin-in-the-game”, so to speak, with his content and wanted to see it expand. They knew they could be brag about being early adopters after he blew up nationwide.
These one-off cassette tapes, coupled with Too Short’s tendency to promote and sell his tapes while riding the city bus made him the most popular emcee in the Bay Area at the time, even more popular than another up and coming rapper named MC Hammer (more on Hammer in another blog).
Think of your most rewarding interactions with a brand. What set them apart? Likely the experience was more relevant compared to the rest, because of personalization.
Many brands confuse personalization with customization, and while there can be a direct relationship between the two, they are very different from each other.
- Customization hands the controls to the customer and allows them to make all the choices themselves. Nike ID is a very clear example of customization, as it makes no assumptions about what the customer wants, but rather enables one to dictate all aspects of the design of the shoe; from the model of the shoe to the color scheme and included materials.
- Personalization occurs when the marketer or brand provides a specific experience or set of choices, based on what they know about the customer. Netflix does this quite well with its “recommendations” list. Customer decisions in a customization experience can create very useful data that can inform curated choices in future interactions with the brand, or “personalized” experiences.
As organizations shape their strategies for 2020 and beyond, those that personalize each user experience are sure to feel the benefits of more engaged, loyal customers. In customer experience terms, this is called the Emotional Connection Score (ECS). Fulton-Mecklenburg, uses ECS as a predictive metric toward user/buyer behavior.
Some recent Usabilla data suggests, that customers who are ‘emotionally connected’ bring 52% more value to a brand than customers who are simply ‘highly satisfied,’ personalization drives that emotional connection.
So, what are some of the personalization lessons that experience designers, digital marketers, brand storytellers and business innovators can extrapolate and leverage as actionable insights from Too Short’s special request cassettes?
Well, there are many, I’ll share a few that jump out at me.
- Connecting with customers and ensuring they feel valued and heard is crucial for brand loyalty and advocacy that translates to high customer lifetime value across the board. Some of the customers that bought some of Too Short’s special requests are still active with his brand 30 years later.
- Customers stay loyal to brands for many reasons, but it often comes down to emotional connection resulting from a personalized experience. Just like picking and choosing friends, people are motivated to opt for certain products because they have a positive association with them.
- Brands and digital experiences with a tailored, truly customer-centric approach are those that help people meet their unique goals. Too Short helped his special request customers differentiate themselves from competitors occupying the same space.
- Great products, easy-to-use digital platforms and standout customer support are all essential ingredients to smooth buyer/user journeys.
What it all means…
Connecting with customers/users and ensuring they feel valued and heard is crucial for brand loyalty and advocacy that translates to high customer lifetime value across the board.
