Your next cup of coffee may come courtesy of corporate marketers looking to capture your heart – and pocketbook.
Campaigns in which companies perform so-called random acts of kindness – ranging from buying coffee to paying parking fees – are increasing as marketers scramble for ways to set themselves apart, experts say.
“There’s a lot of concern that traditional marketing activities are having less and less impact,” said Margaret Campbell, associate professor of marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. “A lot of these new tactics are intended to get around people’s skepticism and create a more friendly relationship with customers.”
It’s not known how much U.S. companies spend on such “acts” – or what the payoff is. And a Portland, Ore., group warns that these campaigns threaten a backlash by turning otherwise ad-free places into marketing zones.
That didn’t keep employees of Phoenix-based Westcor Co. on Monday from passing out packets of columbine seeds outside the Boulder Justice Center.
The effort, and an earlier event in which workers gave away free Popsicles, promoted the company’s redevelopment of Boulder’s former Crossroads Mall.
“We’re not going to be generating much news aside from retail announcements, so this is a way of keeping up the excitement and letting people know we’re here,” said Patti Hazlett, marketing manager for the redevelopment, now called Twenty Ninth Street.
Other “random acts” locally:
Gap Inc. on April 15 – tax day – paid for more than 1,000 parking meters in downtown Denver to promote its newly remodeled stores. Signs on each meter advised customers: “Change is good. Keep yours.”
Radio station KJAC 105.5 FM touts a program called “Random Jacks of Kindness” in which it pays for people’s parking tickets.
To launch its budget carrier Ted in 2003, United used a marketing campaign in which “Ted” distributed coffee, newspapers and cookies. The company also sent sent flowers to hospitals from Ted and paid for home pizza deliveries that arrived with a sticker that read “this one’s on Ted.”
Random acts aren’t unique to Denver.
In January, CBS Television promoted its now-canceled “Joan of Arcadia” series by sending 50 people into the streets to give out 1,500 subway passes, 1,300 hand warmers, 1,500 lottery tickets, 1,750 cups of coffee and 750 cups of soup.
Each “gift” was accompanied by a note that read “This random act of kindness was inspired by Joan of Arcadia, Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS.”
Such efforts have two aims, CU’s Campbell said. Recipients will likely remember the effort and be more likely to think highly of the company or product behind it. And they’re likely to tell their friends, who will trust the message more than if they heard it from the company directly.
“A lot of these tactics are intended to get around consumer skepticism and try to create a relationship,” she said.
Sharon Linhart, president of Linhart McClain Finlon, a Denver public-relations firm, said such marketing increasingly is seen as a good investment. “You are making a personal connection with a customer who you may or may not reach through traditional advertising,” she said.
But it’s “extremely difficult” to measure the return, Linhart said. While scientific research into brand awareness can be conducted, the cost of such research typically exceeds the original investment. Most marketers skip the surveys, she said.
While the science behind them may be questionable, the random-act campaigns are comparatively cheaper than traditional marketing methods.
The Popsicles that Hazlett and her colleagues passed out last month cost less than $50. The implied payoff was far greater.
“People are still talking about it,” Hazlett said. “I kind of liken it to the whole ‘Where’s Waldo’ thing. After a while, people start wondering where we’re going to pop up next.”
Gap still gets positive comments from the April parking event, company spokeswoman Katie Molinari said. Based on downtown’s parking rate of $1 an hour, Gap’s all-day purchase cost the company $8,000. “We got customers excited about the new stores opening, but not in an in-your-face kind of way,” she said.
While the companies see their good-deed marketing as a lighthearted way to cozy up to customers, Portland’s Commercial Alert warns against the creeping commercialism of the campaigns.
“The backlash against ad creep is growing,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group he co-founded with consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
“As this keeps happening, it’s predictable that this sort of thing will become more and more unpopular. If you have ads on a zillion parking meters, you could understand that after a while people could get peeved about it,” he said.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
