What do you think of Birthday Email coupons?

Have you signed up for any restaurant email loyalty programs? If so you have probably received some email coupons for your birthday to some of your favorite eating places.

Two days ago I received 10 - yes 10 birthday coupon emails about one week before my birthday and they all arrived on the same day. So I guess the magic day to send a birthday email coupon is one week before your birthday. I did not know that but I will file this away.

Some of the birthday email coupons are pretty simple - buy one item and get another free. Some of them are kind of tricky like Famous Dave's come in and we'll see if you get a free dessert or a free entree - I'm guessing they are giving away a lot more free desserts. Or Chili's is giving away a free sundae - hey don't you often get a free dessert on your birthday anyway? Chili's needs to step up it's game here. A smart thing that each of these brands does if to give you a few weeks or even a month to redeem.

The one brand that I think does a terrible job is Caribou. They send you an email for a free drink which is really nice but then they restrict it by saying it has to be on your birthday and you have to show a Photo ID? What? So if I'm out of town and miss my birthday I'm out of luck? Come on Caribou give me a few extra days. Fail!

The best email birthday coupon that I got was from Rainforest Cafe. It is a $10 off coupon on my next visit and it is good for 3 months! Now that is a smart email birthday coupon offer and one that I will most likely use.

The whole point of any loyalty program is to reward your users - make them feel good about the brand. So some of these brands have definitely under delivered but a brand like Rainforest Cafe is providing a good offer and a very easy to use time period. So they are my winning brand in the email birthday coupon sweepstakes.

Maybe I will get a more over the next few days. What do you think restaurant brands should deliver for a birthday email coupon? Let me know what your experience is.

What I learned at AdFed - 9/22

Had the opportunity to hear Jeff Dachis speak to the AdFed on Wednesday at the Metropolitan Ballroom. Jeff is a co-founder of Razorfish and now heads up his own consulting group in Austin.

It was just 10 years ago that Jeff spoke at AdFed and made the proclamation that everything that could be digital would be digital. So after that profound statement I was very curious to what he had to say about what's next.

He talked about how IT consumerization is upon us but interestingly numerous companies still "create work in silos - still doing things the same old way."

His vision for what's next is that we are quickly shifting to a social business model that will be more agile and easier to connect with everyone. For those of us in the marketing communications business that means that we can't just buy ads that shout at people but we need to become more engaged and connected with our consumers.

His definition of social business is:

"All of the web is becoming social. All business is done on the web. All business will be social business.

Beyond influence and media, the real opportunities lie in creating a more connected, collaborative, dynamic and participatory business."

This is some pretty cool, heady stuff.

His other major theme was the four archetypes of this model:

1) Ecosystem (connection systems) - a robust, integrated network of nodes and connections

2) Hivesmind (culture) - a primary social calibration that is active participation, engagement and involvement

3) Dynamic signal (communication process) - dynamic real time signals of all nodes in the ecosystem

4) Metafilter (filter measure) - online filters that measure patterns

To sum up his talk on social business he said "integration and aggregation is the key". How true that is.

A terrific presentation and dialogue with one of the great digital entrepreneurs of the last 15 years. If you ever have a chance to hear/chat with Jeff Dachis - do it because it is time well spent.

What do you think of his forecast for social business? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Can a brand be brought back from the dead?

While reading ADWEEK this past week this headline captured my attention - "Korey Kay to Relaunch Commodore".

OK you are trying to bring back an iconic brand from the dead and do you really believe that this can actually be a success. And they are actually going to spend $30MM in marketing support starting up later this fall.

This brand was launched in the early 1980's and then went bankrupt in 1994. So sixteen years after bankruptcy they are trying to revive the brand and bring it back.

This will fail - pure and simple. My reason is based on the fact that technology brands come and go so quickly that any affiliation of the past -and yes the 1990's are the past in the technology world - is doomed to fail. People want the newest and latest thing and how does Commodore think that people will give them an even chance against Apple or Dell. So anyone under the age of 25 probably doesn't know much about the Commodore brand so maybe they will have a chance but anyone that is over 25 and has any recollection of Commodore is going to immediately think "old, tired, dead" brand - which does not exactly equal success in the the technology world.

Instead of bring back a dead brand - which certainly has been done in other categories - I think the people behind this effort should stop this attempt and start over with a new brand. I just don't think people are going to get excited about a computer brand from the 1980's unless they are going to reminisce while they see it in a museum.

With technology brands I would recommend something new and I believe that Commodore is going to fail misearably with this re-launch. What do you think?

A Tagline that connected with a 12-year old

On a recent outing to a fast food restaurant my 12-year old son stated that the phrase that Taco Bell uses "Think Outside the Bun" is pretty good.

So I asked him what does this mean? He said "Taco Bell is trying to be different than everyone else - that you just don't have to have burgers." Well that pretty much sums it up very effectively for the Taco Bell brand experts. The impression that their tag line has made with my son is spot on and I'm sure that are thrilled each and every time someone reiterates their thoughts on this tag line. It's simple and it is very clear and gives Taco Bell a clear point-of-difference in the marketplace.

Tag lines are definitely very powerful when they hit the mark. Whether it's the classics like - "Just Do It" by Nike and "Think Different" by Apple. Lines like this are worth millions for their brands and provide terrific messaging platforms to communicate to their guests.

The cool thing about a great tag line is that it can work for a big or small brand. And good tag lines can be timeless - like Hallmark's classic "When you care enough to send the very best" or from Trix Cereal "Silly Rabbit Trix are for Kids".

Tag lines are very important when you are building a brand - so take the time to uncover a powerful one.

What's your favorite tag line?

It IS all about the Brand Experience

What is a brand experience? It can be a banner ad, a radio spot a billboard and for retailers certainly the point of contact in a store is an important one.

No matter what the brand experience is - the impact it can have on a brand is enormous

I've had the opportunity to work on a fast food brand in the past. It's a fun, exciting category that is full of tough competitors. And each and every day the brand is built one guest at a time. A brand that I have often marveled at has been Sonic. My first experience with Sonic was down in Florida and each and every time they over delivered. The food was tasty, the service was prompt and courteous and overall it was a great brand experience.

This past Sunday evening we decided to visit a Sonic on the east side of St. Paul. We've been there before and have had good brand experiences. However, this past Sunday night all the good things that the Sonic brand means to me were severely damaged. One bad brand experience and all those positive impressions I've had in person and all the millions of dollars of positive marketing support were diminished.

It took about 10 minutes for them to take our order and then we proceeded to wait 30+ minutes for our food. Isn't this a fast food restaurant? And they weren't even busy - with the parking lot at about 25% of capacity. The staff seemed very nonchalant and not at all interested in serving their guests in a prompt and timely manner. I truly wonder how the store owner would have felt if he would have seen this happen.

So the Sonic brand is a quite tarnished from my perspective. And all because of one brand experience that was very disappointing. So the the next time you hear a store owner talk about how important the brand experience is - you should be listening. No matter how good the marketing is, no matter how good the food quality is - if the customer service is bad - the entire brand takes a hit.

I can only hope that my next Sonic brand experience is a little better. But I have a feeling it might be six months away when we next visit Florida. It IS all about the brand experience for retailers each and every day. Any good or bad brand experiences that you want to share?