The Thing That Would Not Die

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And Lowe did. Previously, when he had read the boards, "it would be all kinds of strange subjects. I hadn't really thought it was worth the trouble," he says. But here was new evidence that the boards had built a bridge to customers unlike any that he or his managers had seen before. It wasn't lost on the CEO. Over the next few days the company made the decision to keep the online community.

"Lisa went to Tom and said, 'Pay the man," Metzner recounts. "That's basically what happened."

This was all happening just as community was becoming a buzzword in the world of E-commerce. Few companies had been able to build what Lowe already had: an active forum in which customers and the company could interact. "When we looked at the macro picture, we realized there was this base of 500-plus customers who were very actively involved with each other and the company and the hobby in general," Lowe says. "Now we know that one of the best ways to solve a customer problem is to explain it on the boards. The word then spreads automatically."

The customer community repeatedly proved its value in the months that followed. Lowe, for example, had always vowed never to re-create one of Aurora's most popular models: a guillotine. Because it actually worked -- you could chop off the head of a little plastic 18th-century French aristocrat -- it had been one of Aurora's biggest sellers. But one of factors that killed Aurora was protests from parents over its more gruesome products, including that very kit. Lowe didn't want Playing Mantis to stir up that pot again. Besides, as a father of three, he wasn't crazy about gory toys himself.

Yet despite Greco's best efforts at banning any mention of the g word from the Polar Lights board, members were relentless in their efforts to get the company to redo the kit. She brought their postings to Lowe, who began to question his original decision. He commissioned research to confirm that it was mainly adults who purchased Polar Lights kits. And he decided to issue the guillotine after all. "After I saw what Lisa and Dave were hearing on the boards, I went out and looked to see how it compared with other toys on the shelves," Lowe says. "It was tame by comparison. Besides, it was historical."

It was a landmark for the boards, which were beginning to affect not only product decisions but also the way the company defined itself and its audience.

Members of the boards came through again on September 2, 1999, when Playing Mantis launched a new iteration of its Web site. Packed with animations meant to charm visitors, the new site fizzled on the launch pad. The bells and whistles jammed up the site's works. It was a bad day in South Bend.

Well, nerdy the boardies may be, but many are professionals and some are programmers. Throughout the day, they surfed the site, identifying problems and posting recommended solutions. Some wrote code fixes and sent them in. Greco ran back and forth, delivering the information to the company's overwhelmed Web architects. Within a few days the site was running much better.

Now with 3,000 active members -- plus plenty of lurkers, who read but don't post -- the boards are a proven asset in the halls of Playing Mantis. "There's so much merit there," says CFO Miller. "This company was built on its connection to the collector, and the boards make that immediate and real."

"What better way to build brand loyalty than to have a community built by those who have a real sense of ownership in the company?" asks Greco. Even the boss is a convert. "Information flow is hugely important," Lowe says. "For a small company up against giant competitors, there's no faster way to build bridges or get information to customers."

Lowe believes the boards feed customer relationships that would be the envy of any company. Playing Mantis dominates its niche, thanks partly to the boards, he says. "The market may be small, but we've got all of it." You can almost hear the words: Rock on!

Michael Warshaw is a senior editor at Inc. Readers can access Playing Mantis's bulletin boards at www.playingmantis.com.

THE PLAYING MANTIS

What does it take for a company to create a cybercommunity for its customers? According to Playing Mantis founder Tom Lowe, it requires a few simple ingredients:

The right products. Not every company has what Playing Mantis has: cool products that customers want to talk about online. "Certain product attributes are more apt for building community than others," Lowe says. "The customer has to have warm feelings about them. If there is any kind of nostalgia attached to the products, it probably will be something people will want to get online and talk about."

The right people. "It's very difficult to find employees who can grow a board," Lowe says. "Either they have it or they don't. Lisa Greco is an experienced customer-service manager who really cares. Dave Metzner I found in a hobby shop, where he still moonlights. He's a builder and collector himself. They can really talk to these guys."

The right attitude. Lowe says the easiest way to kill a community is for management to kibitz once the first two ingredients are in place. "You get your people, and you really have to give them the power to do it themselves," he says. "You can't tell them what to do. They have to be able to be honest about what they're hearing and what they're telling you without fear of being fired. You have to believe in 'em and let 'em do it their way."

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