This is post was originally published in Fall 2011 on the now-defunct Warms blog. Tis the season, and it fits the theme since popularized in viral holiday videos by WestJet, UPS, and others.
In 2004 Ikea amused and impressed Swedish train commuters by handing out free pillows during the morning rush hour. Each pillow said “Better Sleep for everyone” and of course indirectly linked Ikea to beds and good sleep.
In 2007, as part of the largest US campaign ever for Maxwell House, Kraft Foods included a clever gift element along with its sampling program. They took over tollbooths nationwide from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and in addition to handing out millions of coffee samples they also picked up the toll tab for motorists.
In 2010 popchips launched its brand of healthier snack chips using a combination of influencer seeding and gifting to friends via social shareability. Over 2000 personalized popchips gifts were sent out and the brand has risen in profile ever since. (↬Flowtown)
In 2011, Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex brand sent over one million tissues mini-boxes as part of its “Softness Worth Sharing” campaign introducing a new softer version of the tissue. The program let people send samples to friends and family via Kleenex.com. It lifted market share at least 1.7 points (↬Flowtown).
And recently, Canadian retailer Shoppers Drug Mart has been randomly handing out to customers free surprise gift cards worth $10, $25, $50 or even $100 off a subsequent purchase. This approach employs a technique called a lagniappe – a small gift added by the merchant, in the same way a baker might throw in a 13th donut with the dozen.
Gift marketing is a concerted way for brands to make a positive impression by unexpectedly delivering something of substance or value to either a key prospect or a valued longtime customer.
Gift marketing is a combination of branding, advertising, promotion, PR, social engagement, product sampling, and customer service. It’s old in the sense that companies have long sent preferred clients calendars, holiday baskets, and perhaps some bonus reward points, but it’s new in that these activities are becoming more planned, more creative, more finely targeted and better measured (ROI), and larger in scale.
Especially since Oprah shrieked “Everybody gets a car!” on TV in 2004 marketers have grown savvy to the power of “surprise and delight”. And since then the ascendance of exceptional customer service (eg. Zappos), the deluge (and clutter) of promotional pitches, and the adoption of social media have all strengthened it’s appeal and utility.
People love receiving gifts because it makes them feel special. A gift stands out from the everyday and it often entails a certain degree of surprise. People love pleasant surprises and they associate positive feelings with those who deliver them. Just ask Santa or the Tooth Fairy. (Or Andy Nulman, who wrote the book Pow! Right Between the Eyes! Profiting from the Power of Surprise).
Marketers recognize that gifts have both the direct benefit of sampling and the indirect benefit of generating referrals via word-of-mouth and social. Although more expensive to deliver than promotional tasters (eg. cheese cubes with toothpicks at Costco) or small discounts (eg. coupons), samples sent as gifts are often the full product and are therefore truer representations and more remarkable (especially if your product is great) – not to mention of higher perceived generosity. And referrals that come from gift marketing tend to be more positive and charming in terms of brand loyalty.
12 reasons why gift marketing is on the rise:
Freemium for All
The freemium business model – providing a product or service for free but charging for premium features – has fundamentally changed consumer expectations. From Angry Birds and Dropbox to magazines and shaving razors, many brands have successfully and patiently made money by giving away a core piece of their product.
Randomness
So much of our busy 9-to-5 lives are structured and routine – for better or worse – that often it’s only the unexpected moments that stand out from the hum-drum. While we can be open to such things as insight, serendipity, and surprise, it’s really the universe that conspires to make them happen.
From a marketing perspective: “The upside of the predictable things in life is that we don’t waste any brainpower worrying about them. The down side is … we don’t waste any brainpower paying attention to them.” (ᔥPromo Magazine). Predictable loyalty programs, for example, tend to be stale loyalty programs.
Pleasure
Research has shown that gifts and pleasant surprises actually effect us physiologically. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked with reward-driven learning, is released to the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment, motivation, and loyalty towards the source of that enjoyment.
Emotional > Rational
Watch Simon Sinek’s great TED Talk How great leaders inspire action. In it Sinek discusses why people are drawn more to the why than to the what; to the story more than the specs. Perhaps more than we’d like to admit, our buying decisions and our brand preferences are based on emotion more than logic. (Also see: Apple’s share price versus its PC competitors.)
The Human Touch
The juxtaposition is that while consumers lean more towards an emotional message, brands are generally focusing more on rational aspects like automation, efficiency, and data analysis. A great gift experience is as much about art as it is science. It puts a human touch on brands, counterbalancing the great technology in the background and connecting the consumer with shared values and a general spirit of kindness.
Remarkable Wins
As Seth Godin wrote in his book Purple Cow, “you’re either remarkable or invisible.” Be more remarkable, more relevant, more random, and less pitchy. A clever gift stands out from the pack because the pack is doing the opposite: boring, not customer focused, predictable, and hard sell.
Social Goodwill
Gifts can create conversations, the fuel of the social economy. Word-of-mouth consistently yields the best referrals. And it’s through networks like Facebook and Twitter that gift marketing can scale up impressively.
Trial
As the old communications adage goes: show don’t tell. People like to get hands-on – either with an object or with real login access. “People visualize and remember tangible items better than cash, and therefore stay more actively engaged with program goals and objectives.” (ᔥChief Marketer).
Experiential
A great gift isn’t just the gift item itself; it is the experience of getting a gift. The gesture. Many marketers put a lot of effort into tactics that create engagement and interaction, and form a connection with consumers in a sensory way. Gift marketing isn’t sampling; it is the experiential layer(s) wrapped around a product or service. It’s why we love music or movie box sets, a chocolate on a hotel pillow, and putting wrapping paper on presents.
Lead Generation and Retention
Gift marketing falls somewhere in between push tactics like advertising and pull tactics like content for search. As such, it can work well for activating customers with either latent or dormant interest in a product or service. A gift works as a conversation-starter or re-starter; it plants a seed or gently opens a reminder.
Measurability
Gifts should not come with strings attached – such as redemption conditions or an expectation by the giver to get something back from the recipient. It’s a gift after all. But gifts can still be measured and analyzed. Well-designed gifts should include smart performance metrics that close the attribution loop.
Clever Loyalty
It costs less to keep a happy customer than it does to find and acquire a new one. It’s why companies invest so much into branding, community and charitable initiatives, and loyalty incentive programs. Creating positive associations fosters long-term loyalty.
But there’s more to it than that. “True loyalty – and the word-of-mouth that comes from it – evolves natural from the great experience you have with a company over time. Brandon Schauer calls this “The Long Wow”. Rather than packing in features upfront, try choreographing and unfolding new experiences – especially those that anticipate customer needs, occasions, and milestones – over time. A gift then isn’t simply a one-time hit, nor is it an entitlement to be gamed, but rather it’s a key element in developing a special ongoing relationship.
Footnote:
*I intentionally did not include programs like Kiip and Klout Perks in the lead examples. They are structured more around rewards than gifts. Rewards are generally known in advance – incentives – and are achieved with specific performance. Gifts on the other hand are not expected, entitled, or achieved.
Photo credit: loop_oh
