AUDIENCE(90)
5. Delight (The Red Velvet Cupcake)
Who doesn’t love cupcakes? Their recent renaissance from back-of-the-pantry snack into decadent, upscale treat is a testament that sometimes the smallest things make the greatest rewards. I know you have a lot of work. I know hitting the numbers and making payroll is serious business; however, every once in a while, you need to stop and thank the people who got you there—your CUSTOMERS. You need to delight them with the occasional red velvet cupcake. Here are a few brands that have done just that:
Meat Pack Hijack Mobile App: Meat Pack (@TheMeatPack) is an edgy shoe chain in Guatemala. To promote new discounts, it developed HiJack, a mobile app feature that uses GPS to determine when a SUBSCRIBER is in a competitive store. It then offers a Countdown Discount—a timed discount that shrinks from 100 percent to nothing depending on how fast you get to the store. The recovering attorney in me is a bit worried about the liability issues posed when sneakerheads run full speed through Guatemalan malls; but Meat Pack successfully “hijacked” over 600 customers during the initial test run. That’s CUSTOMER delight at full speed.10
Pepperidge Farm’s Care Package: When blogger Rob Gunther (@Strictly_Rob_G) published his post “The Milano: An Ode to Pepperidge Farm,” he thought it would get a few laughs from friends, but little else. The post caught the eye of Pepperidge Farm (@PepperidgeFarm), which liked it so much they sent him an entire case of Milano cookies free of charge. In so doing, they not only created a FAN for life; they turned Rob into an AMPLIFIER extraordinaire who shared his story with Reddit (@Reddit) and AGBeat (@AGBeat), thereby creating Earned Media impressions worth far, far more than a case of Milanos.11
The White Castle Hall of Fame: In the early 1990s, White Castle (@WhiteCastle) hired a psychologist to interview FANS and discover what drove their passion for the chain’s beloved sliders. The answer? An insatiable craving. And with that, The Craver Nation was born. Part FAN club, part email SUBSCRIBER program, the pinnacle of Craver Nation achievement is induction into the White Castle Hall of Fame. While nominations are open, MEMBERS are selected by a panel of judges and inducted in a ceremony every October. And yes, the writers, directors, and stars of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle are honored—and delighted—to be MEMBERS of the White Castle Hall of Fame.12
Delight is the icing on your Proprietary Audience Development cake (or cupcake). Done well, it serves to engage SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, and FOLLOWERS in ways that create AMPLIFIERS and increase positive sentiment about your brand. But as we all know, marketers cannot live on icing alone, and that’s why we conclude our journey down your proprietary audience roadmap with a stop in the future—one in which you constantly test and evolve your efforts.
a For a stellar (if not interstellar) CustomMade Maker story, search “R2D2 Engagement Ring” on YouTube.
1. Jay Baer, “Is Youtility the Future of Marketing?,” Integrated Marketing and Media (blog), Convince & Convert, 2012, www.convinceandconvert.com/integrated-marketing-and-media/is-youtility-the-future-of-marketing/.
2. Jay Baer, “The Key to Social Media Success Is Just 2 Letters,” Convince and Convert, 2012, http://www.convinceandconvert.com/integrated-marketing-and-media/the-key-to-social-media-success-is-just-2-letters/.
3. Steven Castle, “GE Touts the iPhone-Connected Hybrid Water Heater,” GreenTech Advocates, October 25, 2012, http://greentechadvocates.com/2012/10/25/ge-touts-the-iphone-connected-hybrid-water-heater/.
4. David Gianatasio, “Solar Panel Inside Nivea Print Ad Generates Power to Charge Your Cellphone,” AdWeek, May 30, 2013, www.adweek.com/adfreak/solar-panel-inside-nivea-print-ad-generates-power-charge-your-cell-phone-149882.
5. See the Scholastic case study at www.igodigital.com/resources/case_studies/scholastic.
6. “Dunkin’ Donuts to Recognize Employee Who Calmly Dealt With Customer Freakout,” Huff Post Business, June 12, 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/dunkin-donuts-employee-to-be-honored-_n_3428439.
7. Wohlsen, Marcus, “Why Amazon Prime Could Soon Cost You Next to Nothing,” Wired, March 13, 2013, www.wired.com/business/2013/03/amazon-prime-could-soon-cost-next-to-nothing/.
8. See http://pinterest.com/pin/38210296811402525/; Jodi Glickman, “The Best Networking Email You’ll Get All Year,” CNNMoney, February 1, 2011, http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/01/best-networking-email-linkedin/.
9. “Grilled-Cheese Victory,” Man v. Food Nation video, 2:48, Travel Channel, www.travelchannel.com/video/grilled-cheese-victory-12442.
10. “Meat Pack: Hijack,” Ads of the World video, 1:36, December 2012, http://adsoftheworld.com/media/ambient/meat_pack_hijack.