Dogfish Head and the power of story
Recently I’ve been enjoying the show “Brew Masters” on the Discovery Channel. It’s a show that shows the inside workings of one of my favorite breweries, Dogfish Head. While the premise of a show that shows how beer is made might not sound that interesting, it’s a rather interesting show. What makes it interesting isn’t the process of combining ingredients to make the beer, it’s the story behind Dogfish Head that makes it interesting.
Sam Calagione, the founder and CEO of Dogfish, is an excellent marketer even though I have never seen a commercial, billboard, or paid trending topic by Dogfish Head. Through Brew Masters (as well as being featured in the documentary “Beer Wars”), Dogfish has the opportunity to share the stories behind their company, their employees, and their brews. During the shows, Dogfish tells the story of how they’ve grown from a small company into what they are today, hey reinforce their slogan of “Off center brews for off center people,” and they also go in depth about how much of a story each different beer is (A few examples; Using wood from a small wood surf board company, drawing inspiration from music for a new blend of beer, and traveling the world to see how traditional “Chicha” is made). I’m sure that these stories not only drive sales of the brews they show made on Brew Masters, but also build interest in their other brews, as well as drive customer loyalty as people get to know the stories of the individuals who work at Dogfish Head.
That’s great and all, but what about you? You may not have a show on Discovery Channel, but you do have stories to tell. The great thing about technology today is that you CAN share your stories even without a tv show!
Start blogging, interact with your customers – not only on the front lines, but also on Twitter and Facebook, you can even make your own videos that share your stories. Create a connection with your customers. Show them that your brand is real people, that you put your heart and soul into your product, and that there is more to your product than a price. Become a master storyteller of your brand, your people, and your experiences. We all have these stories and others are interested in them.
Canlis’ Treasure Hunt
Over the past two plus week’s one of Seattle’s premier restaurants, Canlis, has been running a social media treasure hunt. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary, and in order to create some excitement around the event they are hiding one of their menu’s around Seattle six days a week. They then post a clue as to where the menu is via Twitter and Facebook and the first person to find the menu gets to dine ordering off the 1960 menu (including 1960 pricing, which when you’re dealing with meals in the $200-$600 range is a huge savings).
It’s been a huge success and people have been flocking to Facebook and Twitter to find out what the next clue is, when it will be announced, and who ended up solving the clue and finding the menu. I’ve seen similar promotions run at other companies, but never with as much excitement as Canlis has drawn up with this current #CanlisMenus campaign (search for that hashtag in twitter and you’ll see what I’m talking about). On top of the fans trying to figure out the clue, local newspapers have written about the campaign, radio hosts have been discussing it, there has even been a fan website created where people talk about their hunt for the Canlis menus.
What has made the promotion a success, and what I would recommend to someone else creating a similar campaigns is in the details:
- 1 clue a day (6 days a week)
- Tough to decipher clues (I have been thoroughly stumped by many of them. Even after using Google I’ve still been wrong.
- One of the owners of Canlis has been by the menu each time to congratulate the winner and update Twitter and Facebook that the menu has in fact been found
- Changing the styles of the clues (some are word plays, some are Seattle specific, some are historical, etc.)
- They have also brought to light much of Seattle’s rich history where people are learning more about their city through the clues.
- The high value of the menus. A dinner for two at 1960 prices. (I’d estimate the value at $200 as it does not include drinks)
- The fact that the dinner still costs something also adds to the nostaligia of the contest. It’s not a free dinner, but a $40 dinner for two at this kind of an establishment is an amazing value.
Some people have argued that this promotion won’t help put paying “butts in seats” and that this doesn’t address Canlis’ ideal customers and that it is therefore not a good promotion for such a high value establishment. Although I can see that point, I believe it is missing the overall point, and that it is being too short sighted.
Canlis has people talking about this. They’ve created a group of raving fans who are always following Canlis, they’ve received enough publicity to easily cover the costs of this promotion, and they’re also giving back to the local community while connecting people with the roots of the city and the old establishment that they are. It’s a win, win, win.
What’s a twittering sports fan to do?
As most of you know, or at least anyone who knows me or has followed me on twitter, I’m a huge sports fan. In particular Oregon State football is my passion. I have season tickets, my outside of work wardrobe in the fall is predominantly orange and black, and I get passionate about the ins and outs of the Beavers season, as well as other happenings around the college football world.
While this is who I am, and it’s not something I’m ashamed of, it has made me wonder how I should be tweeting during the football season. You see, I follow a few different groups of people on twitter. The largest groups of people I follow on twitter are my friends, the Seattle (and general) tech community, and Oregon State football fans. From the months of January until August my tweets are generally a mix of tech, sports, Seattle happenings, general life happenings, etc. but come September through December the balance of my tweets gets very skewed with Beavers football this, random Thursday night football game this, fantasy football the other thing. However, I also am interacting with many college football fans through the same medium, which has been alot of fun.
I know twitter isn’t about numbers, but I do like the fact that it allows me to interact with people who I don’t know that well. It allows me to keep a pulse on what is happening in different social circles and all together different areas of life. I don’t know who all follows me, but I do know it’s alot of people who don’t care about Oregon State football. They might find my tweets interesting from January – August, but I’m guessing I annoy them during any Saturday in the fall where I’m spouting off tweets every 5 minutes about this play or that call. While the same people who I share sports tweets with, probably don’t find the happenings of the Seattle tech scene very interesting in the football off-season. Do they unfollow me because of this? Some of them do. Will they re-follow me in January? Probably not without a reason.
So what’s the solution to make sure that I maintain an interesting tweet stream, show who I am, yet not overwhelm people with subjects that they don’t care about? There are lists to break up who I want to see, but no lists to break up who I want to see my tweets. Should I start a second twitter account for sports obsessed @otis and keep my main twitter handle for the more reasonable, well rounded @otis? Have any of you experienced similar issues about one of your passions overtaking your online presence where you want people to still know you’re more well rounded than that? If so, any suggestions for maintaining a balance online lifestyle?
When marketing and superstision collide
It was announced today that the Seahawks are retiring their lime jerseys. If you don’t follow the Seahawks, live in Seattle, or critique jerseys (uniwatchblog.com) you might not have even realized that these jerseys were actually worn. These jerseys were worn in one game, a humiliating defeat, and have now been put on the shelf er, taken off the shelf… presumably until the NFL wants a new marketing gimmick (see this years AFL jerseys).
I’m not necessarily a fan of the jerseys myself, but I have been intrigued by the newly found revenue stream of teams and leagues, the third jersey. Teams have found that if they wear a throwback jersey, introduce a new color jersey, or even re-brand their entire uniform that people will buy the jerseys and that these jersey sales are big money. Look at a team like the University of Oregon (Yes, it took alot for me to capitalize that) and the 5 jerseys their football team has worn this year.
However, with the Seahawks wearing the jerseys only once and announcing that they won’t wear them again, this third jersey may have been a Marcus Tubbs sized flop (I’m talking about the fact that we drafted him one pick before Steven Jackson). Around Seattle there have been billboards, bus ads, newspaper ads, basically a jailhouse blitz of advertising dedicated to these new jerseys. Without the Hawks wearing the jerseys I’m sure the sales will be drastically falling off and I wonder how long it will be until the only place to find your “Green with envy” jerseys will be the half-off rack.
I don’t have any numbers, but it appears that this third jersey may have been the first major failure in the “buy our new jersey” revenue stream. I doubt that the amount of money spent on advertisement has even been recouped in the few weeks since the jerseys were worn until today when they are retiring cutting the jerseys. You also have to consider the amount that Reebok spent to produce and distribute these jerseys (I wonder if the Hawks have a contract with Reebok into how much they have to wear a third jersey as players cannot change their name or number during the season unless they’re traded).
I’d imagine there were many meetings taking place after practices that involved the football operations saying that they don’t like the look and that the jerseys were bad (They were 0-1 in them) and the marketing department was saying that the team should wear them at least one more game to help recoup the costs. At the least I’m surprised the fact that the jerseys were being retired came out before Christmas and I’m sure the marketing team is not that pleased with Jim Mora for eating into the “Green for the Holidays” jersey sales. The advertising push, mixed with selling these jerseys off the sales rack ($25), rather than as one off authentic customized jerseys ($259-$309) is not a winning combination for anyone involved and I’m sure it will cause teams to take a longer time deciding which third/throwback jersey to wear, produce and sell.
Starbucks Gold Card review
I’ve had the new Starbucks Gold card for a few weeks now and alot of people have been asking me what I think about it and how I got in. I figured a blog entry would be good to catch people up and since I have been in charge or a rewards program before, maybe I can add a few tips for Starbucks.
I was invited into the program early, before it was open to the public, and for free. Great! I love being an early adopter, I love Starbucks, and I’m not going to lie, I like being “that guy” who the baristas say “Ohh, this is a Gold Card.”
After using the card for a few weeks I wanted to give some early feedback, and maybe some information for anybody that is thinking about buying one when they become available November 4th. Starbucks, if you want to hire me for these insights, feel free. :)
Previously to being invited to join the Starbucks Gold Card program I had been a registered Starbucks Card holder since they started giving you free syrups and milks and had been using a Starbucks Card for much longer than that. In fact I have been using the Ichiro card that came out over three years ago until I got the new, slick looking, Gold Card. All that being said, yes, I go to Starbucks a good amount.
So what does the Starbucks Gold card get you? So far it has gotten me 10% off my drinks and food. They say there will be other benefits given online over time, but I haven’t seen anything in the past few weeks. You get 10% off of other products as well and a free drink on your birthday.
Over the last few weeks I have probably earned 2 free drinks (based on saving 10% a drink). To make things easy, let’s say I buy a grande Americano everyday (which I don’t, although I do buy Americanos not the expensive drinks). That would cost me apx. $890 over the year, and with the Starbucks Gold card I would save apx. $89, or roughly 36 free grande Americanos. That’s quite the savings if you ask me, and for a free card (or even a $25 card) it is well worth it. Factor in buying for other people, snacks, gifts, and you could be making back 10X your investment fairly quickly. Sounds great, it is…but is it could easily be better.
Here are the knocks I have with the card;
- You don’t get refills, even though it is a registered card.
- You don’t get free Soy or Syrups, even if you have registered the card.
I guess those are the only two knocks that I have on the Gold card, but trying to be an elite or somewhat exclusive program they should take care of these benefits that they already offer to other “registered” card holders.
What does this mean on your bottom line? If you buy Soy drinks of any size, get coffee refills, or buy tall or short drinks with syrups the registered card, as opposed to the Gold Card, is actually is a better deal. For me, being an Americano drinker who likes refills it has actually led to me having to carry two Starbucks cards. To save money on the Americano I use the Gold Card, then when it’s time for my refill I use the registered card. You can call me cheap if you’d like, but if you know me you know it comes down to the principal of the program and the benefits.
Why doesn’t Starbucks just let the registered Gold Card members get free syrups, milk upgrades, and of course the refills? Obviously the Gold Card members are loyal and with the special invites going out Starbucks wants these card carriers them feel valued. Not taking care off these small details will hurt the overall experience for those who buy the Gold Card and make them question if they should join, or if joining was the right choice.
Overall I love the program, but would love these small changes made. Not only to save me the hassle and the money but to also make me, as a Gold Card member, feel just that much more exclusive than I was as a regular “registered” Starbucks Card holder.
About Otis
I live in Seattle, Washington. I am passionate about working with and interacting with others. My work experience includes marketing, account management, and sales.
I am a huge sports fan who on top of cheering for my favorite teams (Go Beavs!) also appreciates coaching strategy, as well as the marketing behind teams, players, and events.
Personally, I enjoys exploring new cities and areas (particularly small towns) and getting outside and playing.