Kfir Gavrieli of Tieks: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
When you devote your career to doing what you love, it is easy to overwork yourself, and that can lead to burnout. I think the key to thriving and avoiding burnout is to surround yourself in business and in life with people you trust. By surrounding myself with dependable and trustworthy colleagues, I can delegate tasks and manage my workload knowing that the work will still get done and get done right.
As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Kfir Gavrieli.
Kfir Gavrieli is the co-founder and CEO of Tieks. Tieks designs and sells a line of women’s flat shoes known for its signature split-sole, Italian leather, comfort, and portability. Tieks was one of the early brands to sell exclusively through its own website and today is one of the top web-only fashion brands in the world. Kfir founded the company with his siblings in 2008, and the line officially launched in 2010. The company has been recognized by Forbes (25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands), Inc (30 Under 30), Entrepreneur (Top 30 Startups to Watch), The Oprah Magazine (The O List), and several other national publications.
Tieks is committed to women’s empowerment and, through the Gavrieli Foundation, has become the largest individual lender in the world on Kiva, sending over $10,000,000 to women entrepreneurs living in poverty around the world. Prior to Tieks, Kfir worked in the hedge fund, venture capital, real estate, and tech industries. He received his BA, MS, and MBA degrees at Stanford and lives in Los Angeles. Kfir is also an investor and is actively involved in several non-profits.
During the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, Kfir led Tieks to help increase the supply of PPE to frontline health care workers by producing masks at the Tieks factory, partnering with businesses to secure and donate critical N95 masks to hospitals and health workers, and launching Operation #SewTogether, a social media campaign that encouraged Tieks fans to produce hundreds of thousands of masks across the country for essential healthcare workers.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Around the time I graduated college, e-commerce was just taking off. It seemed like such a smart way to bring your brand directly to customers without the need for big retail partners. I had been interested in starting my own business ever since I was a kid and jumped when the opportunity presented itself.
Before founding Tieks, I had no prior fashion, retail, or footwear experience. I had just completed my MBA and wanted to create a business that would provide a useful product, maintain the highest quality standards, and also bring people joy. We did our research, and after many other iterations decided that we would revolutionize the split sole ballet flat.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The biggest marketing mistake I made in the beginning was spending too much time overanalyzing the best way to market our first shoe. The brand was what really mattered in the end, and yet, there I was obsessing over the perfect way to market this product of which I was so proud. I needed to let go of the idea of perfection because it does not exist. Now, when I get stumped by an issue, I seek insight from people I trust and look to fill a white space where we are adding value to people’s lives. It also is necessary sometimes to put a project aside for a day and then revisit it with fresh eyes.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Our heart makes us stand out as a company. We feel a deep sense of social responsibility to help others when they need it most. At the beginning of the pandemic, my friend told me that his sister, who is a physician at a major public hospital, was running out of masks. As quickly as we could, we went into action mode and launched Operation #SewTogether. We purchased a fleet of sewing machines and essentially turned our facility into a mask production warehouse, training our team to sew masks. To bring customers into the project, we offered them $50 gift cards for every 25 masks they sewed and $100 gift cards for every 50. We felt that we had to do what was necessary to help protect frontline medical workers. We ended up donating over a million face masks to frontline heroes. Tieks is also committed to women’s empowerment and, through the Gavrieli Foundation, has become the largest individual lender in the world on Kiva, sending over $10,000,000 to women entrepreneurs living in poverty around the world. Supporting women and underserved communities is at the core of Tieks ethos.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Tieks recently invested in a number of grassroots grant initiatives across the US that empower women and girls in various fields from coding to dance to business. I’m extremely proud that we’ve been able to help support young girls attend summer intensive ballet camps, provide literacy grants for business curriculum and leadership coaching workshops, and support the funding of equipment and supplies for a coding summer camp, all of which help women and girls of color. When all people are given the same opportunity, everyone wins, and Tieks is committed to supporting causes that promote these values.
Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
Branding is all about defining who you are as a company and then sharing that unique voice with the world. What is your mission, and what are your values? What makes you different from other brands? This voice pervades everything you do as a business. Social media, website design, product design, philanthropic efforts: all of these reflect your unique voice.
Advertising, on the other hand, is how you promote your brand. It is what you do to make people aware of your company and buy your product. Without effective, consistent branding, advertising cannot be sustainable. You may find immediate success with a creative ad campaign, but if the brand is not consistent, unique, and transparent, consumers will move on to better brands that embody these values.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
It is extremely important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, because that is what sets you apart from other businesses who create similar products. For example, we are not the only company to produce split sole ballet flats or even the first, but we are the only foldable flat made with Italian leather, hand-stitched and designed to fold that is durable and comfortable. Our durability, portability, and comfort are unique for the types of shoes we make, and that is what our customers associate us with.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each.
- Be authentic. Customers can tell when you are not being genuine, and they will not trust you if you come across as performative.
- Be honest. Never lie to your customers or make promises that you cannot keep.
- Be inclusive. Make sure that people from all walks of life feel welcome using your products and supporting your business.
- Listen to customer feedback and take it seriously.
- Adapt to changes in customer needs and desires. Be flexible enough to change course when something is not working or as trends change or technologies improve.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
Aspiration is a financial services company that has done an excellent job creating a believable and beloved brand. What impresses me most is their generosity and conscience. Aspiration, which brands itself a community, donates 10% of customer pay to charities helping Americans in need. The company also makes it clear that it does not use its customer’s money for projects that destroy the climate, which cannot be said for the largest American banks, which contribute billons to fossil fuel projects each year.
The financial services industry has long been tagged with the reputation of being greedy and corrupt. Aspiration contrasts itself with the greed and corruption people associate with Big Banks and Wall Street by leading the industry in philanthropic giving. The company also does this by emphasizing that it does not exist to help only the wealthy, but rather is for everyone, regardless of one’s financial bracket.
Aspiration’s inclusivity, conscience, and generosity make it feel like a community, which creates an emotional attachment for consumers. These three traits truly set it apart in the financial services field, which is bereft of all three. Aspiration also connects people’s values with the decisions they make about spending their money. Wouldn’t you prefer to support a company that shares the same ethical values as you?
To replicate these important aspects of Aspiration’s brand, one must periodically ask three questions of their company: (1) How can we make everyone feel included? (2) What values do we care about, and how can we show the public that we care about them? (3) How can we give back to the community/world as a company?
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?
The success of a brand building campaign rests on how customers view your brand. If a business sells a lot of shoes, for example, but people are unhappy with the product after they receive it, it does you no good. Customer feedback will tell you if your brand building campaign was successful. What kind of reviews are people leaving you on social media? What kind of articles are being written about your company? Advertising success can be measured easily by looking at sales, but brand building can only be gleaned through careful listening and paying attention to how people feel about your brand.
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Social media plays a key role in Tieks’ branding efforts — it’s the heart of our marketing and brand. Each of our social media channels — Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter — display our voice and what we care about as a company. By interacting with Tieks on social media, anyone can get a strong idea of what the brand is all about.
What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
When you devote your career to doing what you love, it is easy to overwork yourself, and that can lead to burnout. I think the key to thriving and avoiding burnout is to surround yourself in business and in life with people you trust. By surrounding myself with dependable and trustworthy colleagues, I can delegate tasks and manage my workload knowing that the work will still get done and get done right.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I would love to see more individuals and organizations supporting women entrepreneurs. Through the Gavrieli Foundation, Tieks has sent over $10 million to women entrepreneurs living in poverty all over the world. If my work inspires more people and businesses to help this worthy cause, I will be very happy. In many instances, it is almost impossible for those with entrepreneurial skills and good ideas who lack sufficient resources to create their own successful business. Women who live in poverty face even more barriers, which is why I have made it my life’s mission to help them succeed.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“The most important thing to do is really listen,” which was said by my favorite violinist, Itzhak Perlman.
It is not enough to hear what others say. You need to truly listen to learn from them, and there is so much to gain from others. In my business, customer feedback is everything. What customers think about your product matters more than anything else. Truly listening to customers leads to developing the best product, a process that never ends. We are constantly revisiting our products based on customer feedback to make them the best possible. Listening to experts has also allowed Tieks to constantly elevate our product as evolving technologies become available. On a personal level, I can also confirm that being a good listener enhances the quality of all relationships.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
I would love to share a meal with Oprah Winfrey. She has built an impressive worldwide brand and empire from nothing, overcoming no shortage of obstacles in the process. Oprah’s resilience and entrepreneurial genius inspire me. Plus, she is a big fan of Tieks, so I know she has good taste too 😊
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I’m happy to connect with your readers! They can follow me on Instagram (@kfirgavrieli), Twitter (@KfirGavrieli), or on Facebook (@kfirgavrieli1).
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
