The ChrissiderEmployee Newsletter of CC Communications DECEMBER 2017

Contents

Keeping it Fresh 1

Innovation 2

Global Community 3

Emma’s Story 4

“I’ve got it! That’s a wrap on Nikki!” she yells, throwing two thumbs up in the air. The entire studio crew cheers as she gestures towards the lighting crew to shut the lights off, resting her camera on the wooden stool beside her. “Finally, we’ve got the shot.”

It’s a beautiful crisp Fall evening in New York. Decorative red, yellow and green leaves scatter the sidewalks, piling in the road gutters. Locals stroll down the side-walk, sipping on hot pumpkin spice lattes. A hint of cinnamon apple pie coming from a nearby apartment wafts into the photography studio, triggering Nikki to sneeze. Inside the studio, Nikki wags her tail and sits down, resting her head down onto her paws. The glasses perched on her snout slowly slide down as she looks up at Dave Gilboa, the co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker. It’s the photoshoot day for Warby Parker’s new website launching for April Fools, Warby Barker, which in-cludes a glasses line for dogs. The website includes all the features of a regular web-site—even a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’

page. When a customer clicks on the ‘Add to Cart’ button, the screen reads, “Just kidding about the doggy eyewear. (One day...) We can still help you meet your human needs at WarbyParker.com. And if you love our canine friends as much as we do, please check out (and give to) the Humane Society.”

The brilliant idea originated from one of the company’s employees in an innovation exercise. Dave slips on his wool overcoat and smiles at Nikki, hooking her brown leather leash onto her purple collar.

“Let’s go for a walk!”

Warby ParkerWarby Parker: Keeping it Fresh

Warby Parker Model

Dog with glasses

Warby Parker Model

2

Sustainable Social ResponsibilityOn top of achieving a brand that

sends a message, a large part of its business has planted its feet in helping third-world communities. According to the World Health Organization, the global visual impairment magnitude is estimated to be “76 million, indicating a twofold increase in the magnitude of visual impairment in the world by 2020.” To aid in this issue, Warby Parker’s ‘Buy a Pair, Give a Pair’ campaign, in partnership with VisionSpring, has proven to be widely successful. Customers feel that they are participating in a philanthropic cause to contribute

to the global community; simply by purchasing a pair of glasses. Instead of just donating a pair of glasses, Warby Parker creates a sustainable impact through supplying frames for entrepreneurs to sell to their friends and communities in third-world countries. Through this entrepreneurial framework, the recipients of the frames are able to better educate themselves on the vision care industry and grow their local businesses. As a result, these impoverished third world communities now have ample resources for locals to access proper vision care.

Innovation-Driven Corporate CultureIn addition to social responsibility,

Warby Parker also makes employee relations a priority. According to Neil, “Happy employees contribute to a successful company.” Warby Parker prides itself on its customer service department. Studies have shown that autonomy and innovation in the workplace helps employees think critically and engage with customers more fluidly. After all, a company is only as good as the people it employs.

The organization’s mission is to create a workplace where employees can think big, have fun, and do good. An exercise that Warby Parker has implemented involves every employee brainstorming innovative ideas for the company. Once a week, an idea from every Warby Parker

employee is written down and sent to head office. Some ideas are actually implemented through large events or campaigns run by the company (for example, ‘Warby Barker’); this reinforces the prominence of autonomy for its employees. The April Fools ‘Warby Barker’ website is applauded by its customers and many other ‘Fortune 500’ companies for its wit and humour, and remains as an active website to this day.

All in all, Warby Parker has grown significantly in all aspects since its launch in 2010. This well-rounded, forward-thinking company highlights its values and goals through its face-to-face relationships with customers, creative online store, and innovation-driven corporate culture. After all, who knew that a

dog wearing glasses could positively impact a company’s image and success?

“ Happy employees contribute to a successful company.”

Girl in India who received glasses from the Buy A Pair, Give A Pair Campaign.

Cartoon glasses

3

The Global Community“Don’t give a man a fish,

instead, teach him how to fish.” This saying stems from the fundamentals of education. In many developing countries, education is changing communities through entrepreneurship, trade skills, and critical thinking training. “Sustainable change” is a relatively new term that entrepreneurs use for change that penetrates deeper than a temporary fix.

According to the World Health Organization,

Ironically, over 80 per cent of all vision impairment can be prevented or cured.

At Warby Parker, we engage two charitable models in our business plan: the first model consists of training opportunities for men and women to administer eye exams and sell glasses for an affordable price to their community. Trainees learn tactical skills in addition to education in business operations.

Participants are encouraged to apply their training to the environment they are most familiar with – their own communities. Without training the locals and teaching the business operations, foreign volunteers would be unable to reach communities effectively as they lack familiarity with the local community. Eventually, participants are able to facilitate training on their own— ultimately creating a cycle of education within the community.

The second model involves directly providing glasses and vision care to children in classrooms. Statistics show that 1.4 million children can benefit from vision rehabilitation. Engaging teachers into this business plan is beneficial as they are active in the classroom and tend to spend more time with the children. They can detect if a child is having issues with their sight. Distributing glasses to children in classrooms prevents visual depreciation at a young age. This model gives the campaign a more tangible route through physical frames and services to address the medical need and introduce the community to the benefits of prescription eyewear. Without these donations, many children are hindered by imperfect vision; ultimately affecting their education negatively for the future. Together, the two-part model supports the community in a cycle of education both tangibly and sustainably.

Large companies ought to establish a way to connect their consumers to a movement larger than themselves. This movement may potentially start

from supporting a small business halfway across the world.

It seems naïve to think this way, but if every company contributed even a small portion of its profits to a local business or sustainable education overseas, people would come to realize that being a part of a global community does not have to be difficult. Company executives need to be aware that issues such as a lack of education and the presence of poverty prevail in our very own communities and that offering a hand is needed more than we may think. If we achieve this awareness, that, in and of itself, is enough.

“ an estimated 253 million people live with vision impairment. Thirty-six million of these people are blind and the other 217 million have moderate to severe visual damage, meaning they cannot effectively learn or work due to the severity of their visual impairment.”

Child’s eyes

Phoropter

4

Emma applied to WP because she heard through a friend about its ‘Buy One, Give One’ campaign. She had recently travelled to Asia and Europe and witnessed the lack of proper vision care practices. Her initial inkling towards applying originated from the appeal of working for a social enterprise that values innovation and growth among its employees. Since joining the WP team, Emma says that she has, “learned so much more about not just the vision care industry, but the backend behind a well-run and communicative social enterprise.” Her experience at WP thus far

has given her experience with the producers of the products, customer service skills, as well as the social impact that the company strives to bring awareness to and expand. WP also employs technologically savvy individuals; Emma has learned how to operate many different programs that help her better serve clients.

She admires the actions WP takes to build upon the social responsibility aspect of its business model, such as reaching out to local businesses interested in lending a hand. Her role as the communications director in the company has been a great learning experience

as she is, “always finding new ways to communicate to a diverse yet critically-thinking audience.” She is fascinated by the processes behind the social enterprise and WP has inspired her to start her own social enterprise one day.

Emma’s Story

About the AuthorChrisanna loves

working with individuals, stimulating her creative ideas, and fuelling her curiosity towards strategic writing.

During her studies at UBC and specifically in Sauder, she was very involved and learned a great deal in extracurricular activities within the UBC Commerce Undergraduate Society. Through clubs she has

learned a great deal about open communications, teamwork, marketing strategy, and content creation. When Chrisanna is not working, she also volunteers with various organizations. When she is not at work or school, you can find Chrisanna scaling up a mountain near you.

Chrisanna has previously worked at DAVIDsTEA as a tea guide, the Pacific National Exhibition as a candy supervisor and

lottery call centre clerk, and at UBC as a student fundraiser. Chrisanna’s personal goal for the company is to boost its presence in media and increase the consumer base across all social media platforms and make known its footprint in the global community.

“ what a privilege it is to be a part of a successful social enterprise that recognizes the need for education in vision care and acts upon a solution for this global issue.”

Emma Lam

Chrisanna Chan