…”Thank You” for the gift…
…BUT go and read Chapter 13 of “Scientific Advertising” IMMEDIATELY!
End of memo.
This was prompted by the receipt in my mail box today of a very nice-looking small package from the tea company Twinings (of London).
Now I certainly noticed the slightly bulky package amongst the mail…
…a reminder of the effectiveness of “lumpy mail” in getting attention.
And as a tea drinker, I appreciate the gift of 8 tea bags…
…2 each of 4 of the Twinings blends…
…and I’m enjoying a cup of “Chai” as I write this.
BUT…
…as a marketer I am somewhat dismayed at this almost certainly wasteful exercise.
I referred to “Scientific Advertising” by the great copywriter and ad-man Claude Hopkins.
Chapter 13 is titled “Use Of Samples” and one of the key points that Hopkins makes is this…
Give samples to interested people only. Give them only to people who exhibit that interest by some effort. Give them only to people to whom you have told your story. First create an atmosphere of respect, a desire, an expectation. When people are in that mood, your sample will usually confirm the qualities you claim.
(More in this post “Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 13 “Use Of Samples”.)
In other words, don’t do a blanket letter-box drop!
Let me be clear, Hopkins wasn’t against the use of samples in marketing. Far from it.
What he was warning against was the careless and indiscriminate use of samples.
Couple of other things about the Twinings pack…
1) It’s labeled as “A Gift For You” with a picture of a nice red bow. Would perhaps have made more impact if the gift was linked to a specific event with a reason for this nice gift.
2) There is no strong call to action on the pack, simply a tiny, tiny “To find out more about our blends visit twinings.com.au” that hardly stands out. No incentive, no promise, no mystery. Hopeless! (I’ve given them the link, however, as they unwittingly gave me the inspiration for this post
3) There is absolutely no way to measure the results of this marketing exercise and judge the effectiveness and whether it produced a return on the money spent. Twinings may have money to burn, but even in good times this is folly. In the current difficult conditions for consumer goods companies, it’s very poor business and marketing practice.
On the positive side, as someone who is already a Twinings customer, this little gift certainly makes me feel more positive about them and it reminded me of their “Chai” blend that I haven’t had for a while. So they may get some more business from me.
But I suspect that the returns will be thin for them.
Credit to Twinings for at least doing something but I fear they’ve needlessly wasted money with this exercise.
UPDATE (9 Sep 2011):
Of course, Twinings aren’t the only company making this marketing mistake.
Some of the worst offenders are people who really should know better…
…or perhaps who don’t care about wasting money.
Step forward Coca Cola…
…as I reported in this post a while ago…