There are more than 24 million accounts in the database of the Amazon-owned e-tailer Zappos, and all of them had their information accessed by a hacker recently, according to the Los Angeles Times. Luckily, the hackers did not get access to customers’ full credit-card numbers and payment data was not accessed, the paper notes. But they did get each member’s name, email address, billing address, phone number, the last four digits of their credit card, and a scrambled version of each password, the Times reports.

All Zappos user passwords will need to be reset and CEO Tony Hsieh said in a statement that the company would shut down its phone system and handle all customer relations online due to the massive amount of requests coming in. "Over the next day or so, we will be training everyone on the specifics of how to best help our customers through their password change process now that their passwords have been reset and expired,” he told employees in an email sent o Sunday. “We need all hands on deck to help get through this."

The whole thing left Hsieh worried about how the attach would affect the company’s brand: "We've spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers," Hsieh said in his email message. "It's painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident."

At the very least, it's got people thinking (again) about online security breaches.

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Bank of Scotland launches integrated campaign.Continue reading...

Gap is turning to storytelling in its new global campaign, promoting its 1969 premium denim collection with "real people" (to start with, the team behind the collection, at its Los Angeles denim studio) and some other local touches, including tapping into the mobile truck craze and even featuring the studio's resident dog.

The first major campaign by the brand's new CMO, former Ogilvy exec Seth Farbman, the "1969: L.A. and Beyond" campaign aims to tell "the story of its 1969 fall collection from the inside out. Starting with the personalities behind the denim, 1969: L.A. and Beyond gives a transparent look at the designers and how they come together each day to create the latest in denim fits, fabrics and washes. Taking it from the studio to the real world, the campaign also shows how the denim comes to life in various cities by the people who wear it."Continue reading...

Las Vegas city government is moving locations and Zappos couldn’t be happier about it. The online shoe retailer based in Henderson, Nevada, yesterday received local officials' blessing to the e-tailer's amended deal to take over the Las Vegas City Hall building and relocate its corporate headquarters to downtown Vegas.

This is part of the city’s continued attempt to redevelop itself, and revitalize its local economy. As the Las Vegas Sun notes, Zappos' plan is to make the city's "downtown and Fremont Street East a mecca for music, food, affordable housing and other cultural amenities."Continue reading...

Military financial services company USAA (short for United Services Automobile Association) is the #1 brand for customer experience in America, according to the just-released 2011 survey ranking the top 100 brands, as selected by US consumers polled by Nunwood.

Based in San Antonio, Texas, USAA ranked first with a 8.34 CEM rating for consistently delivering on its brand promise: “For those who stood tall for this country and for their families, we stand ready to return the favor.”Continue reading...

What do you do after you’ve successfully reached your brand’s goal of becoming the largest online destination for shoes…and you’ve already added handbags, eyewear, clothing, watches, and kids’ merchandise to your inventory?

If you’re Zappos, you introduce VIP customer status, including free overnight shipping, points for purchase to ascend the VIP leaderboard, a selection of avatars for onsite identity, and badges for signing up and writing reviews. And then you sweeten VIP membership with fun personalization features to enhance the shopping experience.Continue reading...

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh could have kicked back after selling his web shoestore to Amazon for $1.2 billion. Instead, he wrote a book, Delivering Happiness, which naturally turned into a bestseller. That turned into a cross-country bus tour, delivering random acts of kindness across America.

Now, as announced at SXSW, Zappos is launching a new lifestyle brand called Delivering Happiness. Zappos Chief Happiness Officer Jenn Lim (above) is heading up the new company, which is geared to spreading its philosophy and advising value-based management while creating a product line of motivational apparel.Continue reading...

The first Easter candy was thought to be chocolate eggs, which appeared in Europe in the early 1800s. Cadbury has built an entire business around that concept, with over fifteen different chocolate egg products (including the seasonal Creme Egg) available for Easter.

But one of the most recognizable Easter candies in the U.S. is undoubtedly those little yellow marshmallow chicks known as Peeps. They're Justin Bieber's favorite candy, as Conan O'Brien teased him above, and they've inspired fans (from Washington Post readers to Zappos employees) to fashion them into artistic scenes.Continue reading...