If you look at the TOP of the price tags of all Safeway deli bakery items in plastic packaging (i.e. muffins), you will see a statement that reads "French Bread Hot at 5 p.m. or FREE".
Sounds great, yes?
I live on an island where some six thousand tired and hungry folks get off ferries from downtown Seattle between 4:30 and 6:30 pm. Obviously this offer is a great way to get lots of people to come into the store every single evening, right?
Well, that would be true, until you do it once or twice and find out that most Safeway bakery departments have chosen not to have staff on hand at 5:00 p.m. to ensure that the French bread is hot.
Result: free (cold) french bread for ALL at many Safeway stores!
Which, of course, doesn't actually make folks go to Safeway for hot bread, but instead has made them the subject of ridicule in the coupon blogosphere.
Moral of this story: when you come up with a listener-lifestyle driven "hot French bread" magnet of daily usage to your show/radio station at a specific time, that's an exciting thing.
Unless you stand up your fans one time when they show up for your "date."
1 comment:
You're right on the money with this, Jaye, and it extends further than we often think in radio. If you're a station that is known for traffic, the traffic had better be RIGHT and it had better be FRESH. If you're the station for local breaking news or school closings, you'd better actually DELIVER on the expectation, not just promote (advertise) it. if you're the most music station, you had better be able to back it up in a demonstrable way. If you're the station that is safe for the family, back it up with everything you do! With Safeway, the promise is not fulfilled, even though they make good on their guarantee. And even though they follow through on their offer, they lose. Radio programmers and marketers MUST come up with new ways to connect with listeners, and make a difference in meaningful ways....and we must deliver on those promises.
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