Last Thursday I launched PROJECT: Purple Goldfish. The response has been fantastic. After 5 days I’ve had nearly 60 examples of purple goldfishes.
I thought it would fun to compile my first Top Ten list from the initial list of 50. Without further adieu …
10. DoubleTree Hotels (a tri-fecta submitted by Matthew Hirsch, Kelly Leslie and Tom Haidinger) They give warm chocolate chip cookies to all guests when they check in: http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/promotions/dt_cookie/index.jhtml
9. Whole Foods (submitted by Claire Gallo) When you shop at Whole Foods in West Hartford, CT and buy fish, meat or poultry . . . they offer to give you ice for free. Very nice touch, especially if you have other errands or plan to shop around town.
8. Les Schwab Tires (submitted by Cody Goldberg) Two great examples from Les Schwab Tires. The service people jog to your car when you pull in to the service center. They fix flats for free . . . whether you bought tires there or not.
7. Trader Joe’s (submitted by Amy DeRobertis). There’s a fun theme going on here — from Giuseppe Joe’s to Trader Jose’s, the notion of no middle man is seen on its product labels as well as in the mentality of its Hawaiian shirt wearing ‘associates.’ And the ongoing bevy of free samples at its dedicated sampling stations keeps you interested in the constantly evolving choices and happy rather than devastated when your favorite entree goes missing. There’s bound to be something just as great coming down the pike.
6. Caribou Coffee (submitted by Laura Howells) Caribou Coffee gives you a complimentary chocolate-covered coffee bean with your coffee. This makes me so happy that I seek out the Caribou Coffee whenever I have a layover at the Minneapolis airport. Take that Starbucks.
5. Double shot of Starbucks to retort (from John Miller) The free cup of brewed coffee with a pound of beans at Starbucks. Not only is it a $2 perceived value, it is instant gratification and appreciation of the brand/ product. (from Peg Connor) Starbucks, in partnership with iTunes, gives away a free “pick of the week” song every tuesday…you load the code into your iphone and, bingo, you’ve just expanded your musical palate at no charge. I take pains to patronize local businesses, but this perk (pun intended) compels me to stop by Starbucks once a week.
4. Wells Fargo (from Suzanne Lainson) I’ve been going to the same savings-and-loan for years. When it was World Savings, they offered free coffee in the lobby. It wasn’t good, but it was something. When World became Wachovia, they eliminated the coffee. Now that Wachovia has become Wells Fargo, the branch I go to (I don’t know if they are all like this) is now offering GOURMET coffee. Yay!! It’s very nice to have a good cup of coffee when I am waiting in line.
3. Lexus of Greenwich (submitted by Tom Haidinger) – The Lexus of Greenwich Service Team is outstanding and delivers lagniappe in a very meaningful way. With a typical dealership service experience, the “little something extra” you receive is a grease covered paper floor mat left behind (but otherwise you can’t really tell if your car has been serviced). At Lexus of Greenwich you get your car back looking like its brand new – they wash your car inside and out and vacuum it too! It simply feels good to get into your “freshly serviced” car when its been washed as well!
2. Mario’s Barber Shop (submitted by Jeff Mard) Free lolipop w/haircut (they have cool lolipops, not just regular ones)… does the trick for my 5 yr old every time.
1. The Fillmore (submitted by Gene Willis a.k.a Chief Wahoo) One from San Francisco…The Fillmore, a famous music auditorium which has hosted everyone from The Grateful Dead to Snoop Dogg….at the end of each show they hand out a limited number of music posters….free. Each poster has it’s own unique artwork, and the date of the show and artist. People collect the posters, and sometimes look forward to getting the poster as much as the show. Generations of posters are framed and make-up the walls. Also, when you enter the Fillmore, there is a bucket of free apples and someone who welcoming you to the Fillmore. No wonder it’s one of the most loved places to see a band perform live.
Some thoughts on why I love the Fillmore example and why I think the posters + apples* are brilliant. It scores high on the four ingredients of a marketing lagniappe:
Unique – the posters are handbills that are distinctive in size
Relevant – it’s not cookie cutter, each poster is designed with the artist in mind
Limited – a limited run creates that ‘one of a kind’ special feel
Authentic – the posters are handed out when the concert-goers leave the venue. It’s a nice small gesture that leaves a positive note. A great tradition.
*In the early days Bill Graham often stood next to a huge bin of fresh apples at the front exit saying good night to the patrons and handing out apples
HELP me catch another 943 purple goldfishes for a great cause. Click here to send me your example.
Here is the third post in a series called, ‘Sharp Points – 2 for Tuesday’.
The idea behind ‘Sharp Points’ is to highlight two blogs from the Junta42 list of top content marketing blogs. This week we’ll look at #5 and #6 on the list:
#5. PR 2.0 – Brian Solis blogs at ‘PR 2.0′. I had a chance to say ‘hello’ to Brian back in May at a conference and wrote the following post about his concept of ‘Entering the Statusphere’. Solis is at the forefront of how the shifting landscape of media is changing public relations.
Sharp Point to share – Brian wrote a great ebook entitled, “Customer Service – The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media”. Check it out here. One point that especially stood out:
Customer service, product marketing and marcom must fuse into a living breathing commitment of inbound and outbound initiatives that not only answers questions when they come in, but also seek them out wherever they seek insight from peers and other experts.
#6. Marketing with Meaning – Bob Gilbreath of Bridge Worldwide blogs at ‘Marketing with Meaning’. Bob just released his first book entitled The Next Evolution of Marketing. I love the subtitle which is ‘Connect with your customers by marketing with meaning’. Bob’s book is a paradigm shifter. He talks about connecting with your customer as opposed to merely interrupting them.
Sharp point to share: How ‘marketing with meaning’ is different than traditional marketing? (from Chapter 2)
1. It’s marketing that people choose to engage with.
It involves creating something that people find is
worthy of their time and attention, rather than continuing
to look for ways to cleverly (or not so cleverly) interrupt
them.
2. It’s marketing that itself improves people’s lives.Many
a marketer goes to bed at night, proud to support products
and services that add value. Indeed, they may remove tough
stains, put a smile on faces, or enable priceless purchases,
but we too often utilize the old interruption approach to
present these products and services to our customers.
Instead, we must create advertising that actually adds
value—without necessarily forcing a sale.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) - Bob offers a free chapter of his book. Click here to check out Chapter 2 of The Next Evolution of Marketing. If you buy the book . . . he even throws in a handy iPhone app. Very cool.
Check out my one minute video. I need your help to spread the word.
I’m desperately seeking a purple goldfish. . .
I’m in search of 1001 Examples of Marketing Lagniappe for the book, Marketing Lagniappe In Search of Your Purple Goldfish.
A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish, is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a little something extra to the customer experience.
Here are the basic ingredients of a purple goldfish: Unexpected, Relevant, Unique and Authentic.
4 examples / thought starters:
1. Southwest Airlines – Grab you bag . . its on. Southwest doesnt charge for bags
2. TD Bank – TD Bank has a penny arcade in their lobby, a free service to all who want to exchange coins
3. Five Guys Burgers and Fries – Free peanuts while you wait and extra fries with your order (lots of them)
4. Stew Leonards – Buy $100 or more of groceries, the register MOOs and you get a free ice cream or coffee
REWARD: For each of the first 1,001 examples of lagniappe I will donate a can of non-perishable food to the Thomas Merton Center. The Merton Center is a soup kitchen in Bridgeport, CT that provides not only provides food, but other programs that help people move out of poverty to become self sufficient.
In addition each Purple Goldfish example will be featured on marketinglagniappe.com and the best examples will be featured in my upcoming book.
2 easy ways to contribute:
e-mail me your Purple Goldfish to stan [at] 9inchmarketing.com
or
write a comment on the Purple Goldfish Project page by going to www.marketinglagniappe.com
Bonus: If your purple goldfish makes it into the book in 2010 . . . you will receive a complimentary signed copy.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) – YouTube fact: It is estimated that 20 hours of new videos are uploaded to the site every minute.
IN SEARCH OF A PURPLE GOLDFISH
The Purple Goldfish Project:
I need your help. I’m desperately seeking a purple goldfish. I’m in search of 1001 Examples of Marketing Lagniappe for my upcoming book, Marketing Lagniappe – In Search of Your Purple Goldfish.
A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish, is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a ‘little something extra’ for the consumer. Here are the basic ingredients of a purple goldfish: Unexpected, Relevant, Unique and Authentic. Here a four examples / thought starters:
- Southwest Airlines – Grab you bag . . it’s on. Southwest doesn’t charge for bags
- TD Bank – TD Bank has a penny arcade in their lobby, a free service to all who want to exchange coins
- Five Guys Burgers and Fries – Free peanuts while you wait and extra fries with your order (lots of them)
- Stew Leonard’s – Buy $100 or more of groceries and you get a free ice cream or coffee
REWARD – For each of the first 1001 examples of lagniappe I will donate a can of non-perishable food to the Thomas Merton Center. The Merton Center is a soup kitchen in Bridgeport, CT that provides not only provides food, but other programs that help people move out of poverty to become self sufficient.
In addition – each Purple Goldfish example will be featured on the website and the best examples will be featured in my upcoming book.
3 easy ways to contribute:
- e-mail me your Purple Goldfish to stan@9inchmarketing.com
- write a comment on this blogpost including your Purple Goldfish
- go to the Purple Goldfish Project page on marketinglagniappe.com by clicking here
Today’s Lagniappe – (a little something extra) Bonus: If your ‘purple goldfish’ makes it into the book in 2010 . . . you will get a complimentary signed copy.
I had the opportunity to meet Jack Monson during my trip to PRSA International. Jack writes a blog called PR Workbench where he explores how the worlds of technology and public relations are intersecting.
It’s a small world as the company that Jack works for is based out of my hometown of Norwalk, CT. eNR Services helps communications, marketing and PR pro’s improve their performance via technology solutions.
Jack and I were talking at the conference about marketing lagniappe. He told me a great story which I will feature on marketinglagniappe.com as part of the Purple Goldfish Project: 1001 Examples of Lagniappe.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra)
One of the cool tools that Jack showed involved the AP. Essentially the AP Planner is a business intelligence tool that leverages the resources of The Associated Press. Here is a cool fact about the AP. It was formed in the 1840’s by 5 New York newspapers in an effort to share incoming reports from the Mexican-American War.
Obscure fact: The first AP news correspondent to be killed while reporting the news was Mark Kellogg. Kellogg was a stringer covering the Battle of Little Bighorn. His final dispatch, “I go with Custer and will be at the death”.
Click on the image above to view the Slideshare presentation
I just uploaded a new presentation to Slideshare. Here is a synopsis of the presentation:
- It talks about how traditional marketing is broken and the need to flip it on its head.
- It discusses Pareto’s 80/20 law and how it applies to traditional marketing.
- I put forth the Phelps 80/20 corollary on traditional marketing.
- It examines the flaw of focusing the majority of your marketing efforts on the purchase funnel.
- It discusses the poor ROI from traditional marketing and the revolving door effect.
- It introduces the idea of flipping traditional marketing by focusing on your current customers.
- It talks about the three benefits of putting your customers first: reduce attrition, increase satisfaction and loyalty.
- I define the concept of marketing lagniappe as the means to provide added value.
- It shows the net effect: new customers become repeats, repeats customers become occassionals, occassional customers become frequents and frequent customers become evangelists.
Check it out. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on Pareto’s Law and the concept of flipping the funnel.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra for good measure) – Check out the last slide on the presentation as I’ve put together a mocked up cover for my upcoming book, Marketing Lagniappe – In Search of Your Purple Goldfish
I shared a new goal this new goal with my friends and family this week:
“I will write a book on ‘Marketing Lagniappe’ by March 1, 2010″
Here is the premise of the book:
The book in a nutshell is that 90+% of marketing is in the traditional funnel
whether its the old guard ‘outbound interruption model’ or the updated ‘inbound enticement model’. Marketing Lagniappe deals with the vital 1% who make it through the funnel and actually purchase your product or service. It aims to answer two questions: How do you get them to be a repeat customer and more importantly how leverage word of mouth/mouse for your customers to reach back to the folks in the funnel?
I will be blogging at http://marketinglagniappe.com as I write the book.
A couple of months ago I posted on the concept that ‘value is becoming the new black’. There is now a study out by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, also proclaiming that “value is the new black,” predicting that post-recession shoppers will transform into “value hunters” as they look for true value and meaning from brands, rather than just discounts.
I was just reading that this trend looks like it’s going to steamroll into 2010. Here is a summary of a report submitted by Brandkeys with my thoughts in parentheses:
Brandkeys analyzed the likely consumer values, needs and expectations for the next 12-18 months and offered the following trends:
- Value is the new black: Consumer spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This may spell trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low. [Not a good time to be stuck in the mushy middle]
- Brands are increasingly a surrogate for value: What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what’s wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for. [Are you 'marketing with meaning'?]
- Brand differentiation is brand value: The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic
features continue to propagate in the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for sales and profitability. [What is your purple goldfish and where is the lagniappe in your marketing?] - “Because I said so” is over: Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but they must believably exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can’t just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement. [The age of 'tell and sell' has past. We live in low trust world where actions shout louder than words. Are your customers giving you a V4?]
- Consumer expectations are growing: Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive and prosper. [Meeting expectations is a fallacy. You either exceed or you fall short. Your choice?]
- Old tricks don’t – and won’t – work anymore: Consumers are on to brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim “we’re all in this together” when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings – such as Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values instead need to be in concert. [Be authentic]
- Consumers won’t need to know a brand to love it: As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street credibility can go viral in days, with awareness following - not leading – the conversation. [I love the idea of being able to create what David Meerman Scott refers to as a 'WORLD WIDE RAVE']
- It’s not just buzz: Conversation and community is increasingly important, and if consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. This means not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This has significant implications for future of customer service. [Customer service may be one of areas that Twitter can be used effectively for]
- Consumers talk with each other before talking with brands: Social networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. This – at least in theory – will mean more opportunities for brands to get involved in these spaces and meet customers where they are. [Fish where the fish are]
- Engagement is not a fad; It’s the way today’s consumers do business: Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods: The platform (TV; online), the context (program; webpage), the message (ad or communication), and the experience (store/event). At the same time, they also will realize that brand engagement will become impossible using out-dated attitudinal models. [Amen. The average distance between the brain and the heart is 9 inches. Brand need to take a sensory approach to engage consumers through integrated marketing]
Today’s Lagniappe [a little something extra] – Interesting bit of research
Recent research from Penn State University found that one in five Tweets is brand related, and appears to support the belief that there is an increasing desire for brand engagment and customer service on more community-based media.
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I just successfully downloaded my first presentation onto Slideshare. It’s a slideshow entitled: Marketing Lagniappe – “In Search of Your Purple Goldfish”.
[Note: If you watch the slideshow, plan on manually advancing each slide by clicking the PLAY button to the right of the green PLAY button]
Here is an outline of the slideshow:
- 5 reasons you need to consider lagniappe
- The pronunciation and origin of the word ‘lagniappe’
- The two definitions of lagniappe
- What is a purple goldfish?
- The 4 factors that determine the growth of a goldfish
- The 4 ingredients of lagniappe
- Five companies that are getting it right
- The V4 principle and the power of ‘word of mouse’
- The 2 benefits of lagniappe
- Where to get started?
Any good examples of lagniappe out there? What other companies are doing it right? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) - Goldfish joke
A goldfish walks into a bar. Bartender says, “What will you have”. The goldfish steps up and says in a slow creaky voice, “WAAA-TER”
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I live in Norwalk, Connecticut near a famous landmark. In golf terms I’m about a 3 wood up the hill from Stew Leonard’s. Stew’s is a grocery store without peer. Mark Twain had an interesting quote about the Taj Mahal,
“There are two types of people in this world . . . those who have been to the Taj Mahal and those who haven’t”.
If you are a fan of marketing . . . the same thing should apply to what the New York Times has affectionately called the ‘Disneyland of Grocery Stores’.
Here are the 10 reasons Stew Leonard’s deserves a marketing attaboy:
1. Be larger than life – Stew’s is the World’s Largest Dairy Store. It boasts an in-store dairy plant where milk is packaged in front of customers.
2. Entertain the kids – Costumed characters and animatronics throughout the store. Impossible for kids not to be entertained.
3. Be different – Stew’s is like a maze. There is one continuous aisle that winds through the store.
4. Keep it real and fresh – 80 percent of the products sold are fresh (brought in daily or prepared directly in-store).
5. Strong culture - I love acronyms. Stew’s philosophy is built around an acronym for S.T.E.W.: Satisfy the customer; work together as a Team; strive for Excellence in everything you do; and get the customer to say WOW.
6. Great place to work – A perennial Fortune 100 Best Place to Work. ”You can’t have a great place to shop without first making it a great place to work.” – CEO Stew Leonard, Jr.
7. A rock solid tagline – “The customer is always right”. Here is a picture of the 6,000 pound piece of granite inside the entrance [See the backstory in Today's Lagniappe].
8. Sampling works – Walk through Stew’s on any given day and you’re inundated with samples of fresh fruit, cake, cheese and treats. They understand that 35% of customers who tried a sample bought the product during the same shopping trip.
9. Stew’s Little Farm – The store boasts a small farm where kids can learn about and observe animals. It started because the land that Stew Sr. bought to build his new dairy was an actual farm. Stew promised the owner that he would keep part of the land as a farm so she could visit with her sheep every day.
10. Lagniappe – Spend at least $100 at Stew’s, the register moo’s and you get a free coffee or an ice cream. How about that for a little something extra!
Bottom line: Stew’s understands that ultimately the customer is looking for a meaningful experience. Everyone likes to be entertained. Is it working? Numbers don’t lie . . . Stew’s sales per square foot were approximately five times that of the average grocery store, prompting an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest sales per square foot of any food store in the United States.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) - The value of 95 cents of egg-nog
How Stew Leonard’s Customer Service Rock of Commitment Came to Be
Two weeks after Stew Leonard’s grand opening in 1969, Stew Leonard, Sr. was standing at the front door of the store greeting customers.
Suddenly a customer came up to Stew and said, “YOUR EGGNOG IS SOUR!” and thrust into his hands a half-gallon carton.
“My eggnog is sour, from my brand new dairy plant? Impossible!” exclaimed Stew, “You’re wrong! It can’t be sour. We’ve sold over 200 half-gallons of eggnog from this batch and you’re the only one who’s complained!”
The customer was so mad, veins were popping out in her neck. She said, “I don’t care how many cartons you sold, it’s sour and I want my money back!”
Eggnog was 95 cents per half-gallon so Stew reached into his pocket and gave the customer a dollar bill. She snatched it out of his hand and started out the store. The last words he heard her say were, “I’m never coming back to this store again!”
That night, Stew relayed the story to his wife, Marianne, and she, too became upset with him.
“I don’t blame her at all,” said Marianne. “You didn’t listen to her. You contradicted her and practically called her a liar. I hope you are not going to run your store like other store managers, who think all customers are trying to put something over on them. They don’t trust us — but we fix them — WE JUST NEVER GO BACK!”
After thinking about it for a while, Stew realized that he had everything in the world tied up into his dairy store. He could not afford to lose a single customer by telling them they were wrong.
He realized that most customers were honest and wouldn’t try to take advantage of him. However, if he tried to protect himself from the one percent who were dishonest, he’d end up penalizing the other 99 percent who were really good and honest!
Stew decided Marianne was right and that no customer was ever going to be wrong in my store again.
On his way to work one morning, Stew drove by a monument yard, where they were unloading granite. Suddenly, Stew got an idea. He stopped and bought a huge slab of granite from Mr. Bates. It weighed 6,000 pounds. Then Stew had him deliver the rock to the front door of his store, and had their stonemason chisel the store’s new policy into its face:
- Rule 1 The Customer Is Always Right!
- Rule 2 : If The Customer Is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1.
To this day, 35 years later, the rock still stands firm at each of Stew Leonard’s store entrances. Every single team member knows of the eggnog story, and how the rock came to be. They know that they can do anything in their power to make the customer happy. Happy customers not only come back, they bring their friends!
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The goal of marketing is to capture the mind and ultimately conquer the heart of your target audience.
The aim of 9 INCH MARKETING is to examine that journey. We'll explore 'how to' bridge the gap between traditional and social media by taking a sensory approach to integrated marketing.
