Here’s an idea:
If I was an advertiser I would look for ways to surprise people in a good way. What if you ordered something from Amazon and when it arrived you were informed that the shipping had been refunded courtesy of Comcast. And while they were at it, they decided to let you know that you could sign up for HBO at 30% off?
Or, even better: You ordered Tucker‘s book on and he’d worked it out with Amazon to personally cover the shipping cost. “And in case you hadn’t heard, the book is being made into a movie and it hits theaters in Fall 2008. Here is a list of show times for your zip code.”
Seems to me like it’s better to get to the right people in the right way than ten times as many people in the easy, obnoxious way. But what do I know, a 2 million dollar SuperBowl commercial or advertising on the little conveyor belt dividers at the grocery store are great deals.
That’s actually a really good idea… consider it stolen.
Not that it is directly relevant…but a lot of the success of zappos.com is based on a policy they adopted early on- upgrading shipping for free from standard to one or two day. I am convinced that unexpected perks like that do more to spread a company’s name through good word of mouth than most traditional ads
I am telling Seth Godin you stole from him! How’s that for surprising your customers!
Hey I’m thinking about letting Fischer Stevens know that you’re interested in him directing. And maybe set Andy Milonakis up to play stripper’s son
That’s an awesome idea for marketing. I would be more likely to patronize a business that had covered some shipping for me.
Interesting idea. It’s worth noting the differences between branding and marketing programs. Conveyor belt divider ads and many TV commercials aren’t meant to move the consumer to immediate action, they’re meant to build mass awareness of a product. The question on your ideas is whether the consumer’s positive reaction to the “free” services would motivate them to act on the 30% deal more effectively than the same deal via traditional methods, like coupons, and whether “free” services would capture consumer awareness more readily.
The concept of getting in front of the right people using the right channels isn’t new. What’s exciting in marketing is pushing the envelope on considering new values which could be used to connect consumers with products.