According to Dale Carnegie in his best-selling book, “How to Win Friends & Influence People”, a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Starbucks says that its new UK latte and an initiative to improve in-store experience by using customers’ first names have helped boost sales in the first three months of this year. The coffee chain says sales of lattes and cappuccinos increased by 9% year-on-year in the three months to 1 April, following the introduction of the new drink and a supporting marketing campaign.
Here are examples of two other marketing campaigns that used that principle to generate a great buzz.
Travelodge UK
Travelodge UK, a hotel chain, ran a Christmas promotion offering free accommodation to couples called ‘Mary’ and ‘Joseph’. Married couples who were registered on a special email address with proof of identity could claim a free night’s stay at a Travelodge hotel over the Christmas period.
Boost Juice Bars
Boost Juice Bars, an international chain of retail outlets that specialise in selling healthy fruit juice, ran a “What’s Ya Name Game” promotion in Australia, where first names were randomly selected each day and people with the same first name could claim a free drink.
The names were announced each day at Boost Juice stores, on their website and in the media. People with the same first name, even variations of the name, could claim on that day a free smoothie or juice (of any size - Kids, Medium or Original) or a free wheatgrass shot. To redeem the free drink, the person had to produce ID. Drinks could be redeemed only once per store, but could be redeemed at multiple locations on the same day.
By giving away free drinks only to people with the randomly selected name for the day makes people feel special. If Boost Juice gave free drinks to everyone, not only would the promotion not have the same appeal, but they probably couldn’t cope with the massive flood of customers.
So in the answer to the question: “What’s in a name?” – the answer is more sales if you do it right!
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