The Elasticity of Marketing

A spectacular marketing experience is always in the details. It is in the little things that a company does to make sure you have the best connection with their brand. It can be subtle. It may go unnoticed for while. But eventually you see it and snap out of your fog. Great marketing encourages the sharing of the story and retelling what happened to others.

This is the tale of two rubber bands. The good and the bad.

I shop at Whole Foods and yes, their products are expensive but I enjoy the shopping experience, the knowledgeable help and the attention to detail. This week as I was checking out, I observed something that they do thousands of times each day to make my experience that much better. It is a small thing but it binds me closer to them and their brand.

A simple but remarkable way to help a customer

They put a green elastic band across and around anything that might spill. Boxes of strawberries, raspberries, soups or containers of Kalmata olives all get the rubber band treatment. Why, so I don’t experience the agony of spilled produced in my bag, my car or my refrigerator.

Think about it. Each cashier is doing something special to make my shopping experience better and to prevent a spill. It is a small detail but that is how brands are built. Across all Whole Foods stores, every day, cashiers are spending moments wrapping rubber bands around produce to prevent your experience from getting bruised.

Now the bad experience.

Why can't the N&O stop throwing papers on my lawn that I don't want?

For 4 months I have tried to get the News and Observer to stop throwing newspapers on my lawn that I don’t want anymore. I cancelled my subscription 2 years ago but they still deliver a ‘free’ paper on two days a week that I don’t want. It is wrapped in a rubber band and attached to my mailbox. I have patiently tried to get them to stop using the phone, multiple email, a few witty tweets and even a blog posts. Nothing has worked. The rubber band wrapped paper and advertising junk keeps coming. Of course it isn’t a big deal to pick it up and recycle it but it is wasteful, unnecessary and they never asked my permission to send this to me.

A rubber band can be used for good or bad marketing. What details are you paying attention to with your band, I mean brand?

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