theIdeaStudio (Customer Crossroads)

This Whopper Rocks

In Phoenix airport recently, I scarfed down a burger before boarding TED, United's bare-bones regional service.  My Whopper wrapper invited me to enjoy a free music download by entering the printed code at an AOL site, or at www.haveityourway.com. 

Nifty idea -- too bad the promo ended before I got around to downloading.  Their site is clearly working hard at the cool factor.  Clearly not targeted to my demographic (fine by me).

On a related theme, I have often wondered why more brands don't offer us unique ringtones to download, so we can more easily identify our tribe.

Postscript January 2005 -- I have been hearing a lot more about customized ring-tones lately.  I don't think I can take credit...

Friendly Reminders from FTD

A few weeks before Chrismas, I received this friendly reminder in my e-mail:

Dear Susan Abbott,

  As requested, we're reminding you that December 17 is an important date
  to remember, and you registered it as **Client Name**.

  Make the day memorable with a gift from FTD.COM.
  Choose from festive flowers, blooming plants, gourmet gifts and more!

  Plus, the holidays are right around the corner! Send cheer to family and friends
  with a gift from our Christmas Collection.

  You can earn airline miles or hotel points with your purchase. Order now!

  Sincerely,
                 
  B. Barton
  Customer Service

  P.S. To add reminders for other special occasions, sign into your Personal Account.

Friendly and useful.  And not accompanied by monthly spam-of-the-month e-mail.   Nice job FTD.     (Now could you create more creative arrangements please?)

This is all Grant McCracken's fault

I had the delightful experience of meeting Grant McCracken recently -- elegant and approachable cultural anthropologist, author and general smart cookie -- at an innovation session conducted by Sterling-Rice Group.  We had coffee over a discussion that ranged from marketing to the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid to brand building for aspiring gurus.  Net result:  I leaped over the chasm I had only been looking at, and the Customer Crossroads blog was born into the blogosphere. 

Happy birthday to us! And thanks, Grant, for your encouragement.