Radio shack final slide

Agenda
1. The Problem

 

2. The Strategy
3. The Plan
*Part One
*Part Two
4. The Conclusion

The Problem

Why is RadioShack
broken, and how can we
use digital to fix it?

The Problem

Thinkmap
This is where research, narrative, strategy
and insight collide. Thinkmaps are how I
solve problems through proliﬁc visual
thinking.
!
So let me tell you a story…

RadioShack was the  
perfectly oiled machine.

1

The Problem

An innovative 
history.
During the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s, they
pioneered innovations in electronic
calculators, personal computers,
mobile phones and satellite
television.

Remember the place where you and
your dad went to buy batteries for the
remote controlled car?

1

That was RadioShack.

Remember the place where you 
could geek out with your friends and
the guy behind the counter?

1


Remember the place where 
you could go in an electronic  
pinch and always ﬁnd something  
useful to save the day?

1


The Problem

A destination,
not just another store.
!
And that’s why they became the
world's largest electronics chain.
!
Thank you very much, Mr. Tandy.

The Problem

But somewhere around the
late 80’s and 90’s, the
brand began to struggle.

1

Big box retailers
like Best Buy were  
the new kid in town.

Iconic design companies
like Apple were the
hottest girls in school.

1

And innovative technologies like mobile  
were the shiny new objects.

1

The Problem

A broken  
brand?
A perfect storm of competition,
innovation and cultural transformation
sent shockwaves down Radio Shack’s
organizational spine. By the time the
new millennium came around, Radio
Shack began to putter out like the very
machines its batteries once powered.

The Problem

Shares devaluated. Sales
plummeted. Executives
departed. Competitors
advanced. Margins
dropped.

The Problem

Relevancy vanished.
Employees walked.
Customers complained.
Image deteriorated.
Executives departed.  
Debt Accumulated.

The Problem

Worst of all, enterprise
value was on a collision
course. Everyone was
waiting for Radio Shack  
to die.

The Problem

But why?
After reading 1,000 employee reviews on
Glassdoor, 100’s of customer reviews on
yelp, tons of articles and even Charles
Tandy’s autobiography, here are the
patterns I started to notice…

The Problem

Media
Did you know MSN Money reported
them as the second worst company to
work for in 2013?
!
Yep.

The Problem

Employees
Did you hear Glassdoor reported their
CEO had a 46% approval rating!
!
Yikes.

The Problem

Customers
Have you ever read the store reviews
from infuriated customers who call
RadioShack a bloated mess of a mobile
phone store?
!
Good lord.

The Problem

Investors
Can you believe for the ﬁrst time in over a
decade, Radio Shack experienced an
annual loss?
!
What the…?

The Problem

The chorus was global:  
How the hell are they  
still in business?

The Problem

Oh. Crap.
By the way, if The Onion says your
company is in trouble, your company is
in trouble.

The Problem

So, big brands
tend to panic in this situation. And
RadioShack pulled out every trick in the
book to become cool, hip and relevant:
!
Partnerships with celebrities, social
media contests, concept stores, clever ad
campaigns, hip rebranding efforts and
new executive leadership.

The Problem

And, some of
those tricks worked. Radio Shack’s efforts
did see traction for a short period of time.
Especially with the digital generation.
!
Thank you very much, Dr.Dre.

The Problem

But that’s the problem.
RadioShack doesn’t need  
tricks. They need to be useful.  

To employees and customers.

The Problem

And while box retailers like Best
Buy & Amazon may be chipping
away at their clientele, Radio
Shack still owns 3 key assets:

Ubiquity, immediacy
and memory.

1

UBIQUITY: They’re everywhere.
What’s cooler than having 
a nationwide platform?

1

IMMEDIACY: They’re right now.
What’s better than not  
having to wait for a part?

1

MEMORY: They’re nostalgic.
What’s more valuable than being a
ﬁxture in your customer’s childhood?

1

AND DID YOU KNOW: With 5,550 stores,
there is a RadioShack location within  
5 miles of 90 percent of the country?

1

The Problem

It’s salvageable.
Radio Shack isn’t the ﬁrst brand to fall. Brand turnaround
is an economic phenomenon. Just ask Dominos, Red Cross,
Xerox, Taco Bell, Pampers and Best Buy.
!
They all fell. But they also had a strategy. A digital one.

The Strategy

Take Back The Shack

 

Recreating, Rebranding  
& Relaunching RadioShack’s
Internal & External Experience

The Strategy

Overview
#takebacktheshack is a groundswell
movement that enlists geeks, makers,
techies, customers and employees in the
DIY project of a lifetime:  
 
Rebuilding RadioShack.

The Strategy

Overview
The hashtag is our vehicle for
executing each of our social media
tactics. #TakeBackTheShack is the
architecture that ties everything
together across all digital and social
platforms.

The Strategy

Overview
With a complete overhaul of their
internal and external employee and
customer experience, RadioShack has  
the opportunity to become well-oiled
machine it once was.
!
Let’s explore the plan…

The Plan

— Take Back The Shack —
Part 1: Internal!
Experience

Part 2: External
Experience

1.1 Take Back  
The Associates

2.1 Take Back 
The Store

1.2 Take Back 
The Managers

2.2 Take Back
The Marketing

1.3 Take Back 
The Leaders

2.3 Take Back
The Web

The Plan

Part 1: Internal Experience

Radio Shack sells electronics, machines and technologies. But none
of those things would function without the cooperation of their
equal parts. Therefore, when you train and treat employees in a
way that reinforces their essential contribution to the larger
machine, everything works.
!

Tactical recommendations for “taking back” the internal
employee experience with The Associates, The Managers  
and The Leaders are as follows:


1.1 - Take Back The Associates
Compensation:  
*Raise the base pay rate to well above minimum wage, offering competitive salaries that are
commensurate within other brands in the retail industry. This will attract a higher caliber, core staff
of people whose expertise extends beyond mobile phones and into technology, and whose
personalities lend to a remarkable customer experience.
!
*Replace the current 2% commission structure (and spiff incentive program) with an employee profit
sharing plan to encourage and motivate sales. Instead of pressuring associates to sell more items
and service agreements, offer employees raises for consistently hitting and surpassing realistic,
weekly sales targets.
!
*Offer incremental base pay increase for all employees who perform well. When associates perform
managerial duties such as store closings and money deposits, offer additional compensation and/or
the provision of benefits.
!
*Move from a bi-monthly payout to a weekly payout. Easier financial management for associates.


1.1 - Take Back The Associates
Development:  
*Instead of using the current assessments and online tests for employee development
(reading a five minute module and taking a quiz), implement a new associate training
program that teaches soft skills like empathy, social interaction, customer experience,
professionalism, coaching skills and positive motivation.
!
*Hire a training coordinator for each district or region. Focus on complimenting employee
achievements, not just focusing on failure. Post digital “Win Walls” online as a company wide
initiative/gamification experience so associates around the country can stay abreast, celebrate
and compete with each store’s progress.
!
*Create a true career path by retaining talented, tenured managers. Their loyalty, knowledge,
experience and relationships with customers needs to be rewarded by offering additional
benefits for longtime associates who have worked 3, 5 and 10 years, i.e., college tuition
reimbursement or paid vacation.


1.2 - Take Back The Managers
Hiring:  
*Start a campaign to hire a new class of District Managers, Store Managers and Assistant Store
Managers. Have certiﬁed interviews with multiple people about every promotion. Only hire
managers with an Associates degree or higher level of education.
!
*Promote from within instead of hiring corporate rejects from Best Buy. Offer to extend the
employee proﬁt-sharing plan to managers with proven track record.
!


1.2 - Take Back The Managers
Compensation:  
*Offer competitive wages and salaries, from $8.50/hour up to $20/hour, even before
bonuses. Reduce the weekly workload from 52-60 hours to 45 hours so managers can
experience greater work life balance. This assures we don’t overload the major driving force
of sales in the stores.
!
*Focus on training employees to have a diverse knowledge of store merchandise outside of
wireless. Offer more hands-on training instead of doing everything on the computer.


1.3 - Take Back The Leaders
Communication:  
*As an internal pilot program, we’re going to launch “Know Your Company,” a simple and
affordable software solution for organization communication, launched by 37Signals. We’ll
select ten districts across the nation to implement this program to understand how employees
feel about our business, our work, and our culture, and catalogue this feedback to nip
problems in the bud and communicate clearly, quickly and consistently. District managers will
catalogue the feedback and report back to Human Resources. And if the program is a success
after 90 days, we can launch the software for all districts nationwide, in the form of an
internal app that's easily accessible for real time feedback submission.
!
*This communication program will help district, regional and senior leadership stay in touch
with front line associates and narrow the disconnect between the upper chief executives of
this company, district managers, employees and customers. Also, adopting key organizational
principles of holacracy, this internal software system will help employees (at all levels) process
everything they sense into something meaningful. Any tension sensed by anyone, anywhere,
has some place to go to get rapidly and reliably processed into some kind of change.


Communication (cont’d):  
*Throughout their tenure, senior leaders will continue to visit stores, speak to frontline
employees, listen to customers and get honest feedback about what's working and not
working. They’ll do this once a month, at an assigned location. And report back to Human
Resources on a monthly basis.


Development:  
*Similar to the associate level, we’ll stop using the current assessments and online tests for
employee development (reading a ﬁve minute module and taking a quiz), and implement a
new associate training program that teaches soft skills like empathy, social interaction,
customer experience, professionalism, coaching skills and positive motivation.
!
*All senior level leaders will have innovative training options. First, we’ll pay for them to
attend the Zappos 3-Day Bootcamp. As participants, they’ll gain takeaways to assist them in
cultivating their company culture and delivering an unforgettable customer experience.
Second, retail anthropologist Paco Underhill’s company, Envirosell, offers Store Clinics and
Retail Workshops to understand the science of shopping. This offers an educational tour of
how the environment is conducive to, or at odds with, a smart, fun shopping experience.
!
*As part of training, every year corporate leaders will spend two weeks working in the store to
understand the customer experience, then share best practices at leadership summits.

The Plan

Part 2: External Tactics

Radio Shack’s has something other retailers don’t: 5,500 stores. They
have a massive platform of retail locations that will drive the
rebranding of their customer experience, in coordination with their
digital and social efforts. Ubiquity, immediacy and memory are
their key assets.
!

Tactical recommendations for “taking back” the external customer
experience with The Store, The Marketing and The Web are as
follows:
!

Part 2: External Experience

2.1 - Take Back The Store
Operations:  
*Initiate a complete overhaul and streamlining of the two primary technology systems. First,
by reaching outside of the company and partnering with a third-party inventory management
system to create seamless integration between store, website and warehouse inventories.
Since our specialty is electronics, not software and inventory, this new partner will help solve
widespread inventory management issues from a knowledgeable and impartial perspective.
!
*Start a campaign to reach out to the retail developer community to enlist the nation’s
brightest programmers, developers and software designers to help Radio Shack rebuild,
rebrand and relaunch the current Radio Shack Point of Sale System. By combining the
mountains of employee feedback and most innovative technologies, we’ll make the customer
experience a seamless, simple and painless transaction. That’s one hell of a DIY project!


2.1 - Take Back The Store
Operations:  
*Each district will be assigned their own Operations Associate. These employees would focus
on the core look of the store, stocking inventory, price auditing and evaluating and improving
the customer experience. They’ll be the store liaison between higher managers and senior
leadership and the frontline employees, implementing best practices from above & below. 
*Instead of making associates hard sell mobile devices, we’ll hire dedicated wireless associates
with their own wireless counter and chairs, so they can focus on mobile and not have to
compete with hourly employees.
!


2.2 - Take Back The Marketing
Inﬂuencers:  
*#TakeBackTheShack will start as a groundswell movement that enlists geeks, makers, techies and
employees in the DIY project of a lifetime: Rebuilding Radio Shack. We’ll start by using Kickstarter
as a talent agency. We’ll locate inﬂuencers who are raising money for their creations. We’ll offer to
fund their electronic projects outright. And we’ll let them tap into their army of followers to do the
marketing for us.
!
*These makers will be official partners with Radio Shack, who will also provide them with whatever
parts and accessories they need to realize their DIY innovations. By attaching our brand to the
brightest young talent, helping them achieve their maker dreams, we can win the attention and
trust of a new generation of customers.
!
*As the campaign continues, we will feature selected makers in our advertising, print, web and
other promotional efforts. And we will coordinate sponsored posts and features in their individual
blogs and social platforms.


Campaign:  
*To make a national statement about a commitment to turning the company around, Radio
Shack CEO Joe Magnacca will spearhead a campaign to become a contestant on the popular
show, Undercover Boss. Hundreds of employees made this suggestion on GlassDoor and Yelp,
and a dedicated employee can respond to all of them with the appropriate link to the
episode.
!
*Copies of the episode can be distributed to each store and broadcast on the television
screens to reinforce the commitment to a better customer experience. And through a
combination of in-store, web, social and traditional marketing efforts, the digital promotion
of the reality show will help RadioShack take the ﬁrst step in revitalizing the failing company.
!
*We’ll also chop up the Undercover Boss episode and create a series of Vine videos that are
playful, self-deprecating, entertaining and accessible to a younger audience.


Events:
*To build on RadioShack’s recently launched cobranded product line with Make Magazine;
retail locations will host monthly Mini Maker Faires for the local hobbyists, robotics,
microcontroller and 3-D printing enthusiasts who don’t want to wait until the annual event.
!
*Since the national Maker Faires take place in New York and San Francisco, we can leverage
our retail store platform throughout the nation to reach a new generation of creators and
their families, rebuilding our brand as a ﬁxture in the community. Ubiquity is our currency.
!
*Each District Manager will also cultivate relationships with local school districts to get
involved with, sponsor and/or donate supplies to student Science Fairs. This helps them
connect with the next generation of makers (and their families) on a local level. Building
nostalgia for the next generation.
!


2.3 - Take Back The Web
Flagship Site:
*RadioShack’s website already allows the user to check “In-Store Availability” of any item in their
inventory. To add greater service value to this experience, users will have the option to create a
profile via social registration, log into their account and reserve the specific item they need at
their local store. And if a customer plans to visit that location within the next business day, they
can request a particular product to be put on hold for a period of 24 hours.
!
*Store Managers would receive notifications about these hold items and reserve them
accordingly. Products on the shelves would be marked with “hold stickers” to promote the
service offering in-store. And when web users walk in the store within their allotted time period,
they will present a confirmation number to the associate, purchase their held item and walk
away with a customer experience that speaks to their sense of urgency.
!
*This digital service offering leverages RadioShack’s store ubiquity, satisfies customer
impatience and creates a customer service moment that Amazon can’t compete with.


Yelp:
*Since we can’t remove bad reviews, we’ll make sure the tip-of-the-iceberg reviews are
positive. Instead of gaming the online review system, we’ll offer information that potential
RadioShack customers will ﬁnd generally helpful and encouraging.  
*Training for managers and associates will include turning sales of happy customers into
positive reviews on Yelp, to offset the current accumulation of bad press. We’ll incorporate
this process into the Point Of Sale system whereby leaving a review is a fast, seamless and
rewarding process for the customer. We’ll even offer customers a 25% off coupon when they
share a positive review of their experience.
!
*To promote these efforts, we’ll post signage in store, on the mobile app, on the website and
via other marketing communications. Part of the manager’s weekly responsibilities will be
monitoring their store’s Yelp page regularly so they can show gratitude for positive reviews,
and appropriately respond if a negative review surfaces.


Social/Influencer:
*We will connect with key conversation leaders in the industry in a way that helps their
business and their following. Topsy has a helpful feature for finding influencers within the
electronics, maker, DIY and related communities. And we can connect with technology based
universities and organizations to recruit these people as premier RadioShack influencers.
!
*Instead of renting influencers like a billboard and hope they talk about us, we’ll turn to them
for insight. We’ll participate in the online conversation about the maker movement in a
respectful, personal manner––and leave a trail of digital breadcrumbs behind. Also, we’ll
use them on a local level––for hire or for other forms of compensation––involving them in our
monthly store events as leaders of their communities.
!
!


Mobile:
*The recently relaunched mobile site has a touch-optimized store locator with click-to-call
and GPS functionality. When RadioShack tallied the results, they found that the average order
value for mobile customers was 30% higher. What’s more, 85% of customers who utilize the
store locator and have intent to buy, make a purchase in store. 
*We’ll build on that by incorporating our positive Yelp reviews as features of the app to
encourage users to come into the store.
!

The Conclusion

It’s time.
If RadioShack follows this strategy, they’ll be
ahead of the curve when compared to big box
retailers. Over time, customers will return to
choosing RadioShack because they'll feel a
newfound connection, just like they remember.
And employees will take pride in working for a
company that treats them like essential parts
powering their organizational machine.
!

The Conclusion

Well-oiled.
And that’s just the beginning. 
 
RadioShack isn’t a squealing mechanical
dinosaur waiting to be put out of its misery.
!
It’s an impassioned phoenix poised 
to rise from the digital ashes.
!
Let’s take back the shack. Together.

The Conclusion

Welcome aboard.

Radio shack final slide

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