Schoolcation post makes the LinkedIn List

One of the great things about writing for Optimove is that I get to review hundreds of interesting marketing stories to select the very best ones to be featured on the PostFunnel site. My most recent one just got this LinkedIn mark of distinction:
"Congratulations! Your post was featured by the LinkedIn News team in "Home-schooling...at Disney World?"

To read the post, click on Hotels Now Offer “Schoolcations”

From Shakespeare to Starbucks: Pumpkin spice marketing mystique

Popular wisdom used to say "It's the sizzle that sells the steak." Well, today it's the PSL buzz that sells the drink. But if you know your Shakespeare, you know that it's not a wholly new idea.



Retailers don't wait until October to push pumpkin in the form of special scents and flavors. Even those who don’t sell drinks or food have hopped on the pumpkin spice bandwagon with scented candles, body lotions, soaps, and even deodorant.

In fact, the most highly-anticipated pumpkin spice of all made its grand arrival in August. I refer, of course, to pumpkin spice latte (PSL) that fans look for every year at their favorite coffee shop.

The pumpkin spice mystique is not just about the flavor; it’s about building a connection with customers that heightens anticipation and engagement. Starbucks does it brilliantly.

During August, Starbucks rides the buzz on the return of the PSL. It lets it build up with much speculation about when the first one will be poured, as the date changes each year to maintain a feeling of mystery and maximize anticipation.

That's the essence of the PR strategy that Shakespeare's Prince Henry adopts, as he tells the audience  in Henry IV Part I:

I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

What works for heroic kings in plays also works for brands that know that even pleasurable things lose their sparkle when they are around all the time, just as we take the sun for granted when it is never hidden by clouds. The perception of rarity grants the object in question a particular status that it would not have if it were always available.

For more marketing posts, see a collection of links to blogs posted on various publications here and
Marketing in Uncommon Times

For more references to Shakespeare, see The Marriage Plot: Expectations for Novel Ending Must Be Met, The Marriage of Opposites, and Happy (Early) Birthday, Shakespeare.

Have your shoe and eat it too

Anyone on TikTok or Twitter has likely seen at least one #EverythingIsCake meme. These very short videos make anything from what looks like a can of Coke, glass of water, roll of toilet paper, or even a human hand to be an actual cake that is revealed when it is cut. Yummy.

A Croc was one of the items, and perhaps that is what inspired the collaboration between Deliveroo and Adidas UK. Deliveroo delivered the news in a tweet featuring the edible version of the new  ZX 2K Boost Adidas sneaker (in England called trainer) design that would accompany the real thing for the winner of its promotional offer.

 

Does the shoe fit?

For a chance to win the twin pairs of shoes - one to wear and one to eat - those who live within a 1.5 mile of the Deliveroo Whitechapel Editions kitchen have to visit its app after noon on August 26. While cake is among the usual items Deliveroo delivers, the wearables would be a first.

So why should a food delivery service promote itself with sneakers? It’s all about capturing attention and publicity.

Read more in Have Your Cake and Eat It Too.

A nickel-and-dime trick for thousands of dollars of free publicity

One of the things that has been noticeably absent this summer due to COVID-19 is the usual run of summer blockbusters. It’s been a long road to safe reopening.

At the end of August, finally, there is good news for movie lovers. AMC Theatres announced it will open over 100 theaters as of August 20th, rolling out to open more than half of their locations by September 3.

To mark the reopening and 100 years of movies, AMC is offering 1920 prices at the theater for one day only.

Limited time bargain

This offer is only available to those fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of one of the theaters opening on the 20th. They get to snag the bargain of a lifetime: just 15 cents plus tax for any movie showing that Thursday.

This is a great opportunity to be able to echo your own grandparents in boasting “I remember when movie tickets cost just 15 cents!”

Read more in: A nickel-and-dime reopening offer from AMC

Why is offering 15 cent tickets such a win? In the first place, the people who do snag those tickets on Thursday will likely feel they saved enough to justify a splurge at the concession stand. In the second place, the offer brought AMC so much attention that just about every single news outlet in the country covered the story, giving it tens of thousands of dollars worth of free publicity.  

What's in a pen name?

We’ve all heard that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but what about the name on the cover? Should it be the author’s real name or her chosen one?

The Reclaim Her Name series is a re-release of books “with their author's real name on the cover for the first time.” To mark the 25th anniversary of the Women's Prize for Fiction, there are 25 books available for free download or eBooks (which definitely keeps costs down for printing and shipping).


It’s a fact that women have written some of the best novels ever published. It’s also a fact that some of those novels feature a man's name in place of the authors.



The question then is: are we doing a favor to George Eliot and her pseudonymous peers in stamping their birth names in place of the names they chose themselves?

Read more in A Toast to Women Writers

Related:
http://uncommoncontent.blogspot.com/2013/06/jane-austens-heroines-from-extroverted.html https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1658/

Why you need a little Christmas in your marketing earlier this year

From key search terms to AR-powered ads, this holiday season is a boon to brands that capitalize on digital opportunity and get in the game early.

Among the many shifts in shopper behavior thriggered by the global pandemic is that of thinking about the December holidays as early as April. Marketing insights from Pinterest and Facebook were already published in June, so businesses can start to gear up earlier than usual.
Dreaming of the holidays under lockdown

In June, Pinterest put out its guide to marketing with the apt title, Earlier Than Ever Holiday 2020. While pinners always show earlier holiday activity than the public at large, this year, they were thinking of Christmas as early as April.

Pinterest reports that its search volume on terms like “Christmas gift ideas,” “holiday recipes,” “Christmas,” “holidays,” and “Christmas decor” were 70% higher in April 2020 than for April 2019. Clearly this past April was different from those of other years.

By then a fair amount of us were told to stay home to stay safe under lockdown conditions with no clear end in sight. Feeling both bleak and bored at home, it’s no wonder that people felt they could use a little Christmas right this very minute.

Cue up the song from Mame:

at were t

“As the coronavirus pandemic grips us with anxiety and fear, we should all follow Mame's lead and light up the night with holiday lights and lighthearted music.” That’s the comment from April 2020 on the video.

From dreaming to planning and shopping

One major difference to note between the two guides, though is this: While Facebook does draw on some data from 2020 to account for the pandemic’s impact, it primarily draws its holiday trends from 2019, in contrast to Pinterest’s focus on 2020 for holiday searches.

Read more in
Holiday Season Arrives Early for Data-Driven Marketing

Making working from home work for your business

The number of employees working at least part time from home has been rising over the past few years According to Global Workplace Analytics: “69% of employers offer remote work on an ad hoc basis to at least some employees, 42% offer it part time, 27% offer it full time.”

Once the coronavirus pandemic struck, those numbers swelled as companies around the globe scrambled to comply with government mandates that disallowed businesses to bring in anyone to a workplace that was not deemed essential.

“The world’s biggest work from home experiment” is how Heinan Landa, CEO and Founder of Optimal Networks, describes the current situation.

Read more in  

Implementing a Successful Remote Work Strategy