Best Buy's Brand Image

Best Buy's brand image is simple - their brand is the publics "innovative friend".



Their brand image is warm, friendly, smart, innovative and helpful. The companys brand image has all of these qualities because of the services they provide to their consumers as well as the products and quality of the products they sell to their consumers.


Best Buy's brand image comes across as innovative and smart because of the nature and quality of the products they sell. They sell products with the latest cutting edge technology, they are new and unique and appeal to their consumers. They are definitely high end purchase decisions.





Even though Best Buy sells many products that are advanced and that you may need to learn how to use, Best Buy does not have a stuffy, indifferent image towards their consumers. Their image is portrayed as friendly and helpful because of the services they provide. For one, they have the Geek Squad. This is a group of individuals at each store that help the consumer with any problems they have with their product. They also have a Geek Squad on the go, which is a car that you may have seen on the road! The Geek Squad will come to your home in case you need help with something like a desktop computer and you can't bring it to the store!





Best Buy does many PR campaigns that help convey their helpful and friendly corporate image. Best Buy employees represent the Best Buy brand when they give back to their communities. Best Buy employees serve meals to the homeless, build homes, clean parks and mentor children. In 2008, 50,000 Best Buy employees volunteered nearly 200,000 hours and, through the Best Buy Children's Foundation, donated more than $3 million to nonprofit organizations. Groups of Best Buy employees gather to raise much-needed funds at walks benefiting organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, March of Dimes and more.

When stakeholders see how Best Buy employee's give back to their community, it makes them want to be part of the Best Buy family. Best Buy also has "The Best Buy Children's Foundation" where they donate money to non-profits that help youth. This makes stakeholders feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves and really does a great deal of good for Best Buy's brand image.




Best Buy's brand image can be described as the publics "innovative friend" because the products they sell are innovative and technological, the quality is high and most important Best Buy employees go out of their way to help you and be your friend. The products they sell are also products that you become close to, for example your cell phone or your ipod. These are products that can become like a friend to us on their own if we constantly use them.




Another way the Best Buy brand proves to be our innovative friend is through their "Twelpforce". This is their twitter page, that has Best Buy technology pros offering tech advice in Tweet form to their consumers. This pr campaign to use twitter in this way has worked out huge for Best Buy by adding to consumer satisfaction with the company itself. Another social media tool used to form the public image is their "share your ideas" forum. Here, Best Buy asks the consumers directly to share their ideas about the company. Is there a better way to be someone's friend than asking what they think? It shows stakeholders and the public alike that Best Buy values their opinion and wants to make things better for them.


Yes, Best Buy has many partners that help in their PR efforts like the Red Cross and the Boys and Girls Club of America. Best Buy's biggest PR campaign to enhance that they are your "innovative friend", is their @15 program. Best Buy created a website just for teens where teens can play games, interact and most importantly vote and decided what non-profits Best Buy donates money to. Best Buy wants your advice and they trust your advice! They use the internet to get this campaign across because let's face it, Best Buy is a technology company. They are a technology company that comes down to your level!


Best Buy is clearly engaging in all of the right public relations activities to connect with their consumers on a level that means they are their friend. That is so important for a company based on technology, because let's face it, sometimes we do not understand new technology and it needs to be explained. It is so important that Best Buy gives that warm, friendly feeling towards their stakeholders and consumers so that we feel comfortable buying and using Best Buy's products. Their community relations enhances their corporate image as the publics "innovative friend" and definitly makes me want to visit Best Buy!

@15

I'd like to take the time to pay proper attention to Best Buys main success : @15.

Best Buy understands the saying that "children are our future". They get that and they want to start helping teens now. At https://www.at15.com/, Best Buy gives teens the power. Through the @15 program, teens get to decide where Best Buy donates their money. Best Buy created @15 to give teens a voice and a say in the world. Teens decide, not Best Buy!

So how does it work?

The @15 Points Program earns you points for everything on this site and then you get the chance to make a difference. Four times a year, you are able to give your points to your choice of charitable organizations and Best Buy donates the money.

Do you or your teen want to be a teen spokesperson? Right now, Best Buy is giving teens the unique chance to have their voice heard. @15 is giving teens the opportunity to speak at events around the country to tell the story of what it’s like to be a teen today and what we can all do to make sure teens are successful in life. To apply, teens have to prepare a short video on the role of teens in American society. To become a member of @15 is FREE and you get access to forums, games, contests and more!

One new game is a Taylor Swift trivia game, Taylor Swift is a new special teen advisor on the @15 advisory board. How old were you when you started driving? Were you 15, 16 or 17 depending on where you live? Best Buy knows this! If you want tips on how to drive or ride safer in a car, @15 has tips for you!

There are many different partners with Best Buy's @15 program, some of which are: Boys and Girls Club of America, Mouse Squad, Mercy Corps and Communities In Schools.

There are many events going on right now with @15. In June, 15 winning teens from at15.com are headed to South Africa to attend a 2010 FIFA World Cup™ soccer match. In May, 1,000 college bound students will be announced as scholarship winners through the @15 scholarship program.

Voting is open for teens to get their school the money they need! Over $1,500 in Best Buy gift cards will be awarded to schools every 15 days. According to Best Buy, sparks are talents, passions or gifts that give you energy, motivation, focus and joy. On the @15 website there is an interactive tool to help you explore and find your sparks.

Best Buy also uses social media to promote their @15 program. You can visit Best Buy on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or Myspace. It's cool that they do this, because these are all sites that teens are always on. They are reaching teens on their level in their own terms. The @15 website also has its own blog. Here they blog about important issues and @15 members can write comments.

As you can see, Best Buy's main focus is on teens. And why wouldn't it be? Teens are their future consumers. Teens tell their parents now what technology to buy. Teens know technology now and they will know it later. So who better to give a voice to? Teens decide where Best Buy donates their money - and thanks to Best Buy that is exactly what teens get to do!

Investor Relations. What is it? An investor is a person who buys stock in a corporation, becomming a part-owner of the corporation. Your goal as head of investor relations at a company is to make sure your shareholders are as knowledgable of your organization as they can be. The happier an investor is with your company, the more they will invest in your company. So how do you inform your stakeholders about whats going on? Three ways are an annual report, a letter to shareholders from the CEO himself and a press release with your quarterly earnings.

So, now that you have a "background" in investor relations, how about we check out Best Buy's investor relations?

Best Buy's annual report is far from a slick marketing piece and much closer to an economical piece. They actually posted its annual SEC 10-K. It is for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009 and was put out on April 29, 2009. The goal of the company's annual report definitely seems to be simple compliance. The annual report goes through the business, risks, legal proceedings, properties of Best Buy, all financial data, analyses and statements and then into the directors, executive officers and corporate governance. It is 169 pages of information about Best Buy, completely detatched from any relationship with the CEO.

The latest letter to Best Buy shareholders from the CEO was on the 2008 year. The central message that comes through in this letter is that Best Buy is succeeding in their goals of growth and employee standards. Investors will undoubetdly feel good when reading this letter and feel as though they should stay with Best Buy for the long haul.

It first talks about how the new products, stores and increased customer satisfaction as well as reduced employee turnover. Their financial improvements are also explained with the numbers to back up that their share has risen. Next, is Best Buys belief that they are enriching the lives on all of their customers by being the friend to help people enable their dreams of digital connectivity. Sound warm and fuzzy yet? Best Buy, is the friend that will lead their consumers into this exciting but challenging digital era. Best Buy stores in Canada and China have shown positive results.

Next, they speak about how they recognized customers desires and fulfilled them by providing the Geek Squad, in-home delivery, Magnolia Home Theater rooms and Best Buy Mobile, their newest project.

Best Buy then shares with their stakeholders their goals for the year 2009. They plan to open 140 new stores, launch their first stores and websites in Mexico and Turkey, improve website services, enhance Reward Zone programs in the U.S. and they project their increase in earnings per share for the next fiscal year.

The letter ends with the thing that will keep all shareholders feeling warm and fuzzy about Best Buy. The CEO invites shareholders to learn for themselves if Best Buy's strategy of customer centricity is working. He invites shareholders to spend time in the stores, engage in the services and interact with the call centers and websites so see first hand that they are accurately portraying increased satisfaction.

This makes the shareholders feel part of the company and wanted in the company which is exactly what this letter should be doing. The CEO, Bradbury Anderson, then closes with thanking shareholders directly for their support in the journey that Best Buy has begun.

The overall tone of this letter is glowing and informative. The entire letter speaks about how wonderful Best Buy is doing, how satisfied employees and customers are, how successful they have been globally and how they plan to continue all of these successes next year. I think that it is credible because the CEO provides the exact numbers to show the increase in diluted earnings per share and examples of how consumer and employee satisfaction has increased.

The last news release related to Best Buy's earnings was released on March 25, 2010. The fourth quarter ended on February 27, 2010. The release is not reader-friendly and is written in technical language. It is written in technical language throughout and is actually very long, about 3 or 4 pages.

Maybe they should try not to make the news release sound so technical!

Community Relations 101!

Helping out in the community is a good thing, right?

Best Buy certainly thinks so! Best Buy does all sorts of community relations activities to give back to the community.

There are many things Best Buy does to help us out in our own homes. Some of them are:
- Supporting national organizations like United Way and The Red Cross to help better the communities that their employees and customers live in and work in
- Best Buy emloyees volunteer in their communities, doing things like serving meals to the homeless, building homes, cleaning parks and mentoring children
- Best Buy employees also gather to raise much-needed funds at walks benefiting organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, March for Dimes and more!

Best Buy also partners with organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of America, United Way and Mouse (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools & Education), among many others!

Does this seem like too much community service? Best Buy doesn't think so!

In addition to these community activies, Best Buy puts a lot of effort into their single focus. Best Buy's goal is to provide positive experiences that will help youth excel in school, engage in their communities and develop leadership skills. To help accomplish this goal, Best Buy developed "The Best Buy Children's Foundation".

Through their foundation, Best Buy supports programs that provide opportunities for youth. They select non-profit organizations that provide positive experiences to help teens to excel in school, their communities and emerge as leaders. They strengthen communities through national, regional and local grant making programs. Best Buy created a program that allows groups of people in different areas to decide how the foundation funds will be used in their own area! Pretty cool, huh?

Attention all teenagers!

Best Buy acknowledges that teens receive the least financial support by government, philanthropic and non-profit spending. So, Best Buy created @15 which is Best Buy’s teen-led social change platform. @15 is about giving teens opportunities to Live, Learn, Love, and Lead.

What @15 does is give teens a voice and a say in how they spend their dollars. This year, the @15 scholarship will be awarding $1,000 to 1,000 scholarship winners for undergraduate studies upon graduation.

As you can see, Best Buy’s main focus is teens. Yes, they do tons of other stuff with charities and local communities. Teens, though, are the future – and Best Buy knows it! Best Buy’s community relations program supports the mission of the company, because teens are our future and so is technology. Teens are the future consumer and the future users of all the products that Best Buy has to offer. Teens and technology go hand in hand, and Best Buy gets that.

This is great public relations for Best Buy. They are focusing on their key target market and key demographic – they’re future consumers and the future of this country. Everyone loves an organization dedicated to helping today’s youth, and Best Buy is doing a great job.

Best Buy mentions their other partners and charities and how their employees give back to their communities both locally and nationally. Something else the company could do is mention specific information on the website about a story of their community relations or a particular activity they are involved in. It is a little general because I know that Best Buy is doing tons to give back, and they should make sure it’s all known!

Go Best Buy and Go Teens!

Welcome back to Best Buy World!!

I don't know if you are aware of this, but on January 25, 2010 Best Buy announced their scholarship opportunity for college bound students. Best Buy is awarding 1,000 scholarships of $1,000 to students in grades 9 through 12 living in the United States. The students must be planning to enter as a full time undergraduate student after graduation, and can come from public, private, alternative or home school backgrounds. A total of $1 million will be awarded.

Showing committment to helping today's youth is great for Best Buy, afterall today's youth will be tomorrow's leaders! The students will be judged by their committment and involvement in community service or work experience, with high academic standing.

This scholarship opportunity was annouced by Best Buy in a press release. The press release contains all of the important information necessary for those who are interested in the opportunity and is located on Best Buy's corporate page.

Business Wire picked up the press release on January 25. Many websites picked up the release, including but not limited to streetinsider.com, smartbrief.com, msn.com, cnn.com and Reuters UK. The New York Times also picked up the press release from Business Wire.

Sending the press release to Business Wire was a good idea for Best Buy because many websites picked up the release from Business Wire. It also got the announcement released in The New York Times which has an extremely high circulation.

As far as online media hits, I would say that Best Buy was successful. Many websites picked up the announcement which is good because so many people are getting their news online instead of more traditional media. As far as newspapers, I don't think it was successful. A search of the top twenty circulated newspapers in the United States only provided the release in The New York Times and not in any other large papers.

Best Buy did a good job with this announcement overall. It is in the news center on Best Buy's corporate page and sending it to Business Wire got the release on many online news websites. To make it better, I would have tried to get the announcement into more major newspapers. Focusing on pitching editors at traditional newspapers would get the announcement in both traditional and non-traditional news media which would cover all target markets.

Could Best Buy have already tried to pitch larger online newspapers? Possibly. That is definitely the area that they could have had a higher success rate with this announcement. Overall, this announcement was well publicized. It even made it to the SAT College Prep website, which is viewed by thousands of high school students who would love a chance at this scholarship!

The New Media Phenomenon

Facebook, Twitter, Blogs ....

New Media is ALL over the place these days! It's a great way to connect with friends, new and old. Most businesses have caught on too! New media is a great way for businesses to reach a large audience inexpensively with minimal effort. Brand building, networking and customer service are three ways that businesses benefit from new media and social media.

So how is Best Buy using new media and social media?

Pretty well! As far as new media goes, Best Buy has a great website. It's very user friendly, with order support, legal information, product support and corporate information. All of Best Buy's products are listed on top of the website, with a drop down listing products. Best Buy also has an RSS feed so customers can follow them.

There's a community forum of blogs on Best Buy's website where they discuss every type of product and have an open conversation. Theres also an area to share your ideas on the website and a blog written by the Geek Squad.

As far as social media, Best Buy has been great in some aspects, like Facebook. You can become a "fan" of Best Buy, and it has over 1 million fans! The wall posts consist of people talking about positive and negative experiences with Best Buy stores and products. Best Buy writes back to posts either apologizing, explaining or giving the customer information. They respond within a few hours, which is great! Best Buy is definitely using Facebook really well, they are so friendly and casual with their customers that it gives you a really good feel for the corporation.

Best Buy also has a twitter page, called "Twelpforce". They have 23,644 followers on Twitter! They are utilizing social media via Twitter which is very positive!

With Facebook and Twitter pages, Best Buy is scoring big with consumers. Best Buy is about technology and innovation, so it makes sense that they would be technologically savvy with social media!

Best Buy is definitely using new media and social media to their advantage, interacting with their customers in all different ways from Facebook posts to blogs. If I were the PR person for Best Buy, one thing that I would do that they are not is post podcasts on the website. I would use podcasts to inform my public about helpful tips that can help make their experience with Best Buy better. For example, they could post a podcast about what to consider when purchasing a laptop or how to pick the perfect camera. It is a great way for your public to see a helpful side of the corporation.

See you later!

Come and Enter....Best Buy World!

Hello! As you may have guessed, this blog will be about Best Buy, the technology super store! Best Buy has millions of consumer products that make our lives easier. It's hard to imagine a time when there wasn't television or computers, right? Or CDS and Ipods? Remember when digital cameras weren't used and you couldn't immediately see the picture that you just took? I don't think anyone can imagine the days without a cell phone anymore. All of these technological advances are some of the many things that Best Buy has to offer, since 1966!



I want to talk about Best Buy, because it sells products that we use everyday. It's a company that everyone knows about and that most people have probably visited before. Best Buy tries to bring technology to everyone in a cheap, easy way. You can order products online or in the store, so its easy! With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Mexico and Turkey, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services.


Best Buy issues press releases at least once a week, educating consumers about their revenue, donations and programs that Best Buy is running. Best Buy offers many services to help out their stakeholders, they offer computer setup, home theater setup, car installation, gaming setup and ipod services. But those are not what Best Buy is famous for!





Have you ever seen that little white and black car that says "Geek Squad" on the side?




Thats Best Buy! The Geek Squad are available in Best Buy stores and make home visits as well to assist you with any computer needs you may have. It's quick and easy!


Each year, Best Buy donates up to 1.5% of pretax earnings through the Best Buy Children's Foundation and Corporate giving programs to give back to the community. Best Buy is currently giving college bound students a scholarship opportunity. In 2009, Best Buy raised a combined $33.4 millionto improve communities where its employees and customers live and work. Best Buy just announced a few weeks ago that they donated $200,000 to Haiti relief efforts. Best Buy focuses on giving back to the community that has been so generous to them. They also suppport national organizations, like United Way and The Red Cross.

Best Buy issues press releases to inform their stakeholders about the positive things they are doing to help the community around them. Their support of national organizations communicates a positive reputation and helps their business succeed. With an organization like Best Buy, one who may have trouble with consumers from time to time because everything they deal with is electronic, their philanthropic efforts help minimize any negative backlash. Technology can be tricky, but Best Buy is on top of it!



Best Buy has its work cut out for them! They try to keep prices low, for things like music, to prohibt pirating and illegal music downloads. They also have the difficult task of keeping up with a field that is constantly changing. Technology is always changing and people are coming out with new ways of doing everything. Think about how much technology has changed within the past twenty years. Good thing Best Buy is keeping up!






As you can see, Best Buy is very busy!