I returned from work recently to find my house ransacked. My bedroom was in such a state of disarray it took a while to realize what all had been stolen — watches, my DVD collection (except for a well-worn copy of The Devil Wears Prada), an iPod — you know, your normal, run-of-the-mill thievery.

The next morning, while reaching for one of my trusty pairs of Warby Parkers, I quickly discovered the thieves had run off with both glasses. YES — TWO PAIRS OF PRESCRIPTION GLASSES.

Seriously, you guys, THAT’S HITTING BELOW THE BELT.

Sure, this would be the case for anybody, but especially for me. Glasses are kind of my thing — and my Warby Parkers were the crème de la crème. I sat on my front porch waiting for the UPS delivery person to bring my first pair and ran out to meet him at the truck. So it’s a cruel, cruel irony that I had decided to wear contacts to work the day my house was burglarized.

I’ve been singing the praises of Warby Parker since our first interaction, when I purchased my first pair of well-made, affordable and cute-as-hell eyeglasses. Since then, I’ve been quick to tell everyone I've ever met about the brand’s killer customer service, easy-to-use website and quality products. But what the company did earlier this month was above and beyond what we as consumers have come to expect from a brand — and for that, I love them.

As a self-proclaimed "unofficial" Warby Parker brand ambassador, I had tweeted them many times in the past. Filled with grief, I had to let ‘em know my specs got snatched.

The tweet I received in response floored me — 1) because it was ridiculously nice and 2) because it was possibly one of the best marketing tactics I’ve ever seen.

I responded to the email and Warby Parker shipped me a new pair of glasses, free of charge.

This, my friends, is how a brand should interact with its customers. (I’m looking at you, KitchenAid.) Did Warby Parker have to help me? NO. The theft of my glasses wasn’t their fault and I surely would have purchased from the company again even if they hadn’t replaced my glasses. BUT THEY DID. And now I feel a deep, personal connection to the brand. Their outreach took what was a business relationship (albeit a good one) and made it a personal relationship. Now I’ll go out of my way to support and promote Warby Parker because I feel invested in the brand.

I mean, I’m writing a blog post about their customer service. I’m tweeting about it. I’M SHOUTING THEIR PRAISES FROM THE ROOFTOP. And guess what? It cost them very little.

Really, it’s not about the glasses. It’s the fact that they cared enough to reach out and follow through to help me through a shitty situation.

Instances like this illustrate how those of us in PR and marketing have the opportunity to, if only in a small way, make the world a better place. Yes, going out of your way to help a customer will likely benefit you in terms of customer retention and brand loyalty. But it’s also just a genuinely good thing to do — and that’s worth something, too.

We have the ability to make a difference in peoples’ lives that has nothing to do with a P&L statement. Sure, we may not be in a position to solve all the world’s problems, but we can do something that might mean the world to someone.

Caring is what builds brand loyalty. And thanks to Warby Parker, I can see that.

20/20 Brand Vision: Why You Should Care About Caring

An unexpected brand experience with Warby Parker and how we all can learn from it.

Regular

It’s always fun to learn you have something in common with a celebrity.

Jerry Seinfeld and I share a soft spot for the same blue Bic pens. I was pleased to learn recently that Ewan McGregor and I both play the French horn. And I once pointed Alexander Skarsgård toward a bathroom since we were standing kind of in the same area. (THAT COUNTS.)

But I’m most proud to share Pablo Picasso’s love for the monochromatic aesthetic of black and white.

Earlier this spring the MFAH hosted “Picasso Black and White,” the first major exhibition focusing on Picasso’s near-exclusive use of the color combination in many of his drawings, sculptures and paintings. Of course, we had to go see it.

The exhibit’s program told us that “Picasso once claimed that ‘color weakens’ and he stripped it repeatedly from his work in order to highlight… the language of construction.” And you know what? No one missed it. Picasso had an incredibly prolific and expressive career independent of the bright colors many artists and designers depend upon. He was free to focus on form, line, shapes, textures, ideas — without being influenced (or influencing anyone else) with color.

When Black Sheep designs logos, we present them to the client in — you guessed it — BLACK and WHITE. If a logo is strong in monochrome, it will work in most any color. We want our clients to choose a logo because they love it. We don’t need anybody bringin’ their distrust of the color purple to our logo party.

Color is passionate, divisive and influential. It can shape feelings and opinions. In the right place, that’s a powerful thing. But we don’t recommend choosing a logo simply because its color makes someone feel energized. Or emboldened. Or perky.

A logo should speak in a split second, and it needs to convey a clear idea that strikes the viewer. And from his (black) beret to his (black-and-white) striped shirt, Picasso was teaching lessons of this nature a long time before we were.

Picasso Black and White program (via Museum of Fine Arts, Houston):
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was the most celebrated artist of his time, and his influence continues to challenge artists today. However, while his work has been the focus of many exhibitions, his rigorous use of a monochromatic palette of black, white and gray has been long overlooked. Picasso Black and White is the first retrospective to bring this vital aspect of Picasso’s genius to light, surveying more than six decades of the Spanish master’s production.

Picasso once claimed that “color weakens,” and he stripped it repeatedly from his work in order to highlight what he called “the language of construction.” No single source or style defines Picasso’s embrace of monochrome, but working in black and white allowed him to concentrate on the essential qualities of his paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints. Whether testing the limits of pictorial representation or expressing his most tender feelings, Picasso brought infinite nuance to his use of a limited palette.

Opening with the somber melancholy of Woman Ironing and closing with the erotic energy of his last paintings, Picasso Black and White gathers together over eighty works from public and private collections, with many loans from the artist’s family, to shed new light on Picasso’s creative genius.