Blog 201 I talked about Customer service and Culture become the focus. In this blog I want to talk about Zappos 5^th Anniversary party turns into the Vendor party.

Zappos decides to turn our 5^th Anniversary party into a party for the vendors thus the “Vendor Party” is born.  The date was the day before the first day of the WSA shoe show. I was a little nervous for the timing of it as I knew how these things usually played out. Tomorrow could be a long day. Each brand was invited with extra tickets depending on how big the brand was. We invited the reps and sales managers and VP’s too.

The party was held at the Hard Rock Café in the pool area.  As you arrived there were two people painted blue with the Zappos logo also painted on their bodies. There was also a projected Zappos image on the hotel itself as well. The pool was covered with tons of blue balloons floating in the water.

There were several bar areas so getting a drink wasn’t a chore and appetizers as well. The Ice sculptures were made so you could take a shot of vodka by pouring the alcohol from the top and into your mouth towards the bottom.

Music was pretty loud too because the band was an ode to the Hair bands of the 80’s. They sounded great and everyone was dancing and having a great time. There were also paid dancers in the pool dancing on a platform.

The reps were really enjoying themselves because most retailers didn’t do things like this.  I ran into so many reps I knew and had such a great time that night. There was a guy in a diaper walking around with a goat on a leash. I had to take a double look on this one. Wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol catching up to me or not.

The next day at the show was rough. My first appointment had lots of water and aspirin on hand lol. Every booth had something amazing to say about the party. It was the talk of the show and everyone was appreciative. I was so proud to work at Zappos I wrote an e-mail to Tony and Nick that morning

Below is an email I sent to Tony & Nick and Tony’s response:

—–Original Message—–

From: Tony Hsieh <tony@zappos.com> 

Sent: Monday, August 9, 2004 11:41 AM

To: Mike Normart <mnormart@zappos.com>

Cc: Nick Swinmurn <nicks@zappos.com>; Fred Mosler <fred@zappos.com>

Subject: Re: Party

does this mean we have to do it again next year? 🙂

—————

Tony Hsieh

tony@zappos.com

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004, Mike Normart wrote:

Nick/Tony,

 I just wanted to let you both know how proud I was to say I worked for 

 our company out of this show. I have always been proud to say it since 

 I started, but every booth I visited had such great things to say 

 about how they couldn’t remember the last time a retailer threw a 

 party for the vendors. It was definitely a “wow” experience for them as well for myself.

 the party was just so “us”. From the bar set-ups to the ice 

 sculptures, dancing girls, “blue people”, Zappos searchlight, well done! 

 The best part about it was there were no Bart trains for me to contend 

 with because “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. Just wanted to 

thank you guys for setting us so far apart from the “other retailers” 

 and giving the shoe industry a “good” buzz for a change…thanks again!

 Mike Normart

 Senior Buyer

 Zappos.com

And yes we did end up doing it every year going forward.