Pure Thinking

Loyalty Cards: Not So Loyal

With my sesame bagel with veggie cream cheese in one hand and my cup of green mountain coffee in the other, I made my way through the line at Bruegger’s this morning, in which I am repeat visitor. As I reached the register, I was offered yet another loyalty rewards card. “Buy 6 cups & get your 7th FREE!”

Everyone who has taken Marketing 101 knows that loyalty cards/memberships are a way to stimulate repeat purchases as well as award your most loyal or profitable customers. In my opinion, it does the exact opposite.

Loyalty cards last as long as they have not been ran through the wash, lost between stacks of unwanted bills, or dropped in the trash with the remnants of my breakfast. More so the only way to safeguard the loss of my loyalty card is to save my receipts as proof of purchase. So now, I am requesting for not only another loyalty card, but also 6 receipts to boot.

I understand that Bruegger’s will profit from the 3 cups of return visits before all forms of documentation go MIA, but at what cost? Before I have even received my stamp for the 1st cup, I am already frustrated at Bruegger’s for not delivering upon their customers underlying wants and needs.

Here’s a thought to Bruegger’s: If instead of printing multiple soon to be lost receipts and loyalty cards, why don’t you save some trees, join the green trend campaign, and take the cost savings from printing/supplies to implement a digital loyalty program that is tracked at the store with say (genius point) my phone number?

Now that would truly be rewarding to the customer…

But hey, on the bright side… I now need to purchase a larger wallet that can handle multitudes of loyalty cards and receipts, so I will be sure to tell Bruegger’s the purse manufacturer says thank you for the repeat business, stimulated by their loyalty card.

Gee Wow, it's in 3D!

3D imaging isn't my normal beat, but the amount of development in this sector in the last few years is kinda impossible to ignore. I can't say exactly how this technology will be used in advertising, but I can say that it will-- it's too creatively ripe to stay in the land of video games and virtual apartment tours.

There's are some good thoughts on this here, and for an incredible example of where 3D imaging stands today, check out this tour of France's Grand Palais-- it'll make your eyebrows dance.

Saving Time for Time Killing

If you're starting to feel less than committed to your daily blogroll, Ad Age has a super helpful ranking of over 700 of the best blogs in marketing and advertising. Only the top 150 get to wear the badge of "Power 150," but I was pleasantly shocked to note how many of those I had never visited - and MAN I love fresh meat.

The coolest thing about these rankings is that, thanks to a collective ranking system, they fluctuate daily, so there's always newbies making the ranks....even newbies like us, who somehow wound up on there with the modest ranking of 588 out of 729 (and we've climbed 17 spots, yeah!!).

Anyway, I love that the man behind the list, Todd Andrlick took the time to do this because it's giving me a lot more time to do other things. Rawk.

Start hunting for your new favorites here.

Branding is Like Dating

The Dieline published a great short breakdown of Marcus Hewitt's (CCO of Dragon Rouge USA) presentation at the HOW design conference last month. It outlines seven short and sweet steps for successful packaging design that, I would argue, are also good thoughts on building and maintaining a brand in its totality. Additionally, if you switch around the title to "Dating is Like Branding," it turns the article into some weirdly great relationship advice - strange, but true.

Kettle Ethnic

Kettle, the US brand of potato chips that was one of the first to take the standard nosh food into the realm of gourmet snacking, has just launched a new line featuring hot packaging and ethnic seasonings. I have no idea what they taste like, but this is a great example of how taking risks (in this case, exotic flavors that have never been know to be bought up with great urgency) can be positioned in a way that makes purchasing them seem more adventurous than intimidating. Kettle could have thrown these in their standard brown bag and called it a day, but instead they decided to tap into visual appeal and, subsequently, the side of human nature that likes to take risks.

Other good news: You know how sometimes you just want salt and sugar? One of these new flavors is Aztec Chocolate. Yeah. Let's get fat this weekend.

Thinking Out of the (Ugly) Box

I have thoughts on good packaging, and they go a little something like this: Have it or die.

There is too much stuff out there, too many perfectly similar alternatives to what you're selling, to not invest serious time and research into making yours the most visually compelling offering on the shelf. This is old news, but news that should still be making the front page, because some of you are still sitting in the comfortable land of mediocre design - and it might be affecting your sales.

This goes for those of you who don't even sell a tangible product - whether it's water, lighting fixtures, or something  elusive like energy, you still need to vividly wrap yourself. Websites, press materials, mailings; all fair game. And if no one else in your category is doing so, then be the first - because if just one freaking light bulb company would start covering their 40-watts in something other than yellow cardboard, God knows I would start caring about which ones I took home with me.

... And now I'll step down from my soapbox (which, I might add, is so pretty that I will have serious issues throwing it away), but I will also leave you with this, an entire blog devoted to packaging design. (And FYI, below is a picture of one of the UK's cheap new ciders, manufactured in a cheap plastic bottle... looking like a million bucks. Think about it.)

Five for Freshness

There is a new article on Adweek tracking five up-and-coming interactive agencies, and even though it's a tad dry, and a bit generic ("The Deep Focus founder blogs and uses Twitter daily"; how techy of him), it is, overall, a nice overview of a few agencies that are using new methods to spice up old means. Among the agencies featured are EVB (calling card: Elf Yourself), and Deep Focus, whose 2006 angry-wife billboard  for Parco P.I paved the way for some notable growth.

ECO-ICONIC

Trendwatching has a great new briefing up on the future (albeit short-term future) of the branding of eco-goods and services. It's succinct, non-partisan, and uses a few pics of the Tesla (yum), but before you read let me add the following addendum: One thing to notice about most of the products featured in the article is how beautifully they're designed. They mention that this range of consumers like products that scream "I'm earth-friendly!" - seemingly so their nature-loving buddies can congratulate them on how nature-loving they must be too - but here's something else to consider: While this generation of consumers is certainly passionate about reversing some of the damage done to the planet, there's another reason we're buying this (frequently more expensive) stuff - we are crazily, narcissistically, and indulgently attracted to pretty things. Make something green, make something sexy, and it is probably going in my shopping cart - even if it costs 30% more. The fact that our friends think we're cooler for it is just icing on the cake.

Ok, now read.

Reap the rewards of an email relationship

There is one interactive marketing tactic that's not glamorous, flashy or even high-tech. It's one of the oldest and simplest tactics, often overshadowed by sexier alternatives such as Flash websites, viral video and social community marketing. Despite these qualities, it remains one of the most effective weapons in a marketer's arsenal to build a profitable customer relationship.

What, exactly, is this silver bullet? It's the email newsletter, and it's often credited with providing the best percentage return on any marketing investment due to its ability to easily build relationships with both prospects and customers.

Prospects are moved closer to purchase, customers are less likely to leave, and marketing costs tied to acquiring new customers can decline. Further, you have developed a database of contacts you can leverage for future marketing activities.

...Continue reading Ken's Denver Business Journal article entitled Reap the rewards of building a email relationship.

Copywriting tips: Setups and Payoffs

Our friend Casey Demchak provides us with another installment of his copywriting tips. (You can see his past contributions entitled Why it’s good to break old writing rules and Just how important is writing good copy?)
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Print ads, sales letters, e-blasts and direct mail are all important components of nearly every marketing communications campaign. The success you achieve with these materials hinges on your ability to immediately grab the attention of your target audience. One way to do this is by creating dynamic setup and payoff combinations in your copy. 

Setups and payoffs are the vital relationship between a headline and the first few lines of body copy in a direct-response piece. Too often, lead-generation materials fall flat because a snappy headline is followed by copy that is not directly tied to the headline.

Avoid this mistake. Always think of a headline as a setup and your first line or two of body copy as its payoff. If your headline asks a question, the first line of copy should answer the question.

Example

Headline:
Why Do 4 out of 5 Doctors Want You To Use Jim’s Throat Syrup?

First line of copy:
Because clinical tests prove it reduces soar throat symptoms faster than other brands.

Setups and payoffs also apply to headline/copy combinations that do not involve questions.

Examples

Headline:
Communicate Cable Has Acquired Global Explorer

First line of copy:
But this is only our first step towards providing you the best possible Internet service. There’s a lot more to come. Stay tuned.

Headline:
We Have Exclusive, Behind The Scenes Investment Secrets

First line of copy:
Interested? Of course you are. Because you’re an investor dedicated to staying ahead of the game.

Maintain a tight link between your headline and your first few lines of body copy, and your writing will always be more dynamic, and your chances of instantly engaging your readers will dramatically increase.
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Casey offers more copywriting tips in his free bi-monthly e-newsletter, Casey On Copywriting.