Waiting For an Experience?

We took a little field trip to Georgetown this past weekend and after trying cupcakes from such nationally famous places as Sprinkles and Cake Love, we opted to stand in line for some local cupcakes. When we arrived around 1 p.m. there was a line around the building. Four hours later when we decided to try the cupcakes the line was around the corner and working it's way down the street. Georgetown Cupcake seemed to have quite the reputation though - good reviews, a mayor from Foursquare and recommendations from friends.

So we waited.

For 45 minutes.

For a cupcake.

Actually by the time we were heckled multiple times by passing pedestrians and people in cars for standing in line, the excitement continued to build and we ended up with more than one cupcake each. We ended up with more than two cupcakes each. Okay, okay. We bought an entire dozen for two of us. *smile*


After waiting that long, we realized that the joy, the success of Georgetown Cupcakes was a combination of not only a quality cupcake, but an entire experience. We waited in line with other cupcake lovers. We peered in through the glass windows at the trays of cupcakes. We chatted with the door person who would only allow so many people in at a time. We shared jokes with the other people in line while watching traffic. And finally we picked out our cupcakes, placed the order and watched them fill in the pretty pink box and seal it with a flower sticker. Before we knew it, we had our box of cupcakes and we were ushered back onto the street again.

One thing we never did?

We never once complained about the line or got upset because someone was taking too long. We were curious and we were rewarded for the curiosity with some excellent cupcakes.

I know I'll never stand in line at a Sprinkles or a Cake Love again. But I will stand in line at a Georgetown Cupcake again. Why? Because it wasn't just about the cupcakes - it was about the experience.

Think about it. What kind of experience does your business offer?

Can You Count The Promotions?

You might think Lady Gaga is a little odd, but you can't deny her marketing savvy. Using her talent as a pop star, she inked several marketing contracts with various products. She is even the Creative Director for Polaroid. That's right, that defunct camera company that sells the instant film hired Lady Gaga as their Creative Director. That is probably a genius move on their part, even though I wouldn't recommend that move for most companies.

The best part? It turns out that Lady Gaga's video "Telephone" is just one big ad. Well, it's actually a chart-topping song, marketing ploy and amazing video production all rolled into nine and a half minutes.



Go ahead, count the product placements. I lost track, but I'm sure you can spot all of them. And the next time you look at the products on your shelves, stop and envision them in the hands of your local celebrity. Who knows? It might just work.

Coupons! Coupons?! Coupons?

Are you a "Coupons!, Coupons?! or Coupons?" kind of business?

The Coupons! business can't get enough. Every day they design new discounts and at night they dream of better deals. Their customers are bombarded with coupons - every time you turn around there is a new e-mail with the latest sales and your mailbox is stuffed with little pieces of paper promising to save you. The problem with this style of couponing? Well, if the customer really needs something they will never pay full price. In fact, the customer probably wouldn't pay full price, even if you stopped couponing because the damage done to the brand would be irreversible - no one would think you were worth full-price anymore. Take the craft store, Micheal's, for example - most savvy shoppers know that the 50% off coupon comes along almost every week in the newspaper. These people wouldn't dream of spending $29.95 on that paint set when they could wait for a few days and pay half as much. It doesn't do much for Micheal's brand name - they are just another discount craft store.

The Coupons? business can't even imagine giving a coupon. This business is too good to lower itself to give customers a good deal - ever. They have a brand that is outside the realm of couponing and you're probably going to pay more for their products too. MAC makeup is like this. They don't coupon or have sales or discounts. They just don't. Apple is another company that doesn't offer discounts and they don't have to - people are still buying. If you're this kind of company, though, consider how hard the down economy has been on people. If there was ever a time to discount, now might be that time.

Finally, the Coupons?! business tries to strike a nice balance between the two. Couponing all of the time de-values a company. Most businesses (Not All!) don't want people to view them as a discount shop. And some businesses just can't quite get by without giving a discount from time to time. Besides, sometimes it's nice to let customers get a good deal for your products or services. Most businesses would prefer to strike this balance - give a seasonal discount or an occasional coupon, but try to stay out of the trap of overdoing it.

Perfection

I found a recipe for the "perfect" biscuit the other day.

Imagine that.

Someone spent hours trying recipes and finding the perfect combination of ingredients to make the best biscuit.

What if every business decided to spend the time to perfect their products. Not just make an average product that would just get by, but to take the time and passion required to find the perfect combination to make the perfect product or service.

Perfection isn't easy, but if you're really passionate about your products than other people will catch on to that. Take Lush for instance. Lush is a company that makes soaps, lotions and other cosmetics. The idea behind Lush, though, is that they hand make every product. In fact, when you buy a bottle of shampoo or lotion you can look on the back to see a picture and name of the person who handmade your product. These products are also made with the most natural ingredients and they're wonderful. Now that's passion. That's perfection.

And before you assume Lush is just a small business - Lush is in 40 countries with over 100 stores in the U.S. alone.

All the while this already green conscious company is striving to improve their products and packaging. Passion and perfection doesn't always have to come in small packages.

Long-Term Behavioral Changes

"Will Traumatized Consumers Ever Recover?" asks a new report from Adweek that talks about recovery from the down economy and it's long-term effects on consumers.

Taking that a step further - Will businesses ever recover? Will there ever be the excessive spending accounts from the big car companies? Will there ever be the same budgets dedicated toward advertising? Consumers have short memories compared to the long memories and deep scars companies in the US carry from the depression. The question is, will these companies learn from their mistakes and do business more efficiently? Will they show their consumers that they are willing to take the steps necessary to find advertising that appeals to them in a creative manner.

The golden age of "Mad Men" style advertising is over. All hail the ushering in of a new era of conscience and sensibility.

Shattered Glass

I dropped a picture frame the other day and shattered the glass. I was lucky enough that the picture didn't suffer any damage and that my clumsiness wasn't going to cause me seven years of bad luck. As I was cleaning up the glass I realized this was a perfect example of the media picture we're faced with in business.

Every day I get another postcard, envelope or proposal for some kind of new medium. And I'm not the only one - if you own a business, every day you are confronted with a shattered fragment of what could be a part of your media plan. It is difficult to know how to put those fragments back together.

According to a Nielsen study about Digital Advertising, "The number of television stations received by the typical household has increased sixfold since 1985. Advertising itself became more varied, spreading from the airwaves and magazine pages to become a ubiquitous presence, adorning everything from bathroom stalls to race cars."

This means it is increasingly difficult to decide where you should place your advertising and it's not getting any easier. With the introduction of digital advertising, the opportunities keep growing. The world of media is growing so rapidly that no one can keep up and the bigger ad agencies are having a very hard time moving quickly enough to account for the latest changes.

Seth Godin's "Small Is The New Big," says it all. The smaller, boutique ad agencies are going to be the place to go in this changing ad world. You already buy specialty cupcakes, gourmet pizzas, expert dog training services. You can now add specialty ad strategy experts to that list and welcome in an era of niche services.

And yes, I do suggest you hire an expert for this one - it's going to be a long, bumpy ride.