THE POWER OF THE PLATFORM: VISUAL STORYTELLING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS 75 Even for the most innovative companies, that speed of response is to be envied. Someone actually took time to create a custom response. Not only that, REI presented itself as a socially savvy brand. That piqued Ekaterina’s interest, and she decided to meet REI’s social media team and investigate further. REI started its social programs about five years ago. The social team is composed of three people, all passionate about working with customers. It was a natural fit for the brand because the company is a member-owned co-op. “Our mem- bers are the source of our inspiration,” said Lulu Gephart, social media team member at REI. “We love to bring our members’ outdoor inspiration and expertise to life on our social platforms.” And it shows. One holiday season, the team decided to spice it up and answer holiday questions on Twitter with video. The program was called #giftpicks. To accomplish that, they used Green Vests—the in-store employees who pride themselves on their passion and expertise in vari- ous product lines and who are always available to help. Ekaterina’s video response came from Charis, a Green Vest who works in the Bellingham, Washington, store. The team shot about 90 custom videos during the period of several days. During that time the referral traffic to REI’s site doubled. That is what we call “making marketing personal.” Brands that embrace the per- sonal touch and creative agile response through rich media and visual marketing are reaping the benefits. One of the first company videos to go viral and make a real difference to that company’s sales was made by Tom Dickson, who owns Blendtec, a company that manufactures food blenders in the United States. Back in 2006, he started making a series of videos, called Will It Blend?, shot in the style of tongue-in-cheek infomercials that simply showed him using Blendtec food blenders to blend ordinary household objects, including iPhones, credit cards, and golf balls. The videos went viral very quickly,