Have any of you been the lucky recipient of a Kleenex Care Pack?

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This cold and flu season, Kleenex is engaging consumers by encouraging them to send care packs to loved ones in need of some extra TLC. Participants are welcomed to share their stories and connect with other buyers on the company's website.

Taken from the Kleenex website-

Every year, during Softness Worth Sharing, people come together to share the Softness of Kleenex Brand tissue. For some, it's become a yearly tradition to surprise someone they care about with America's Softest Tissue.

Today, the tradition continues to grow. The famous little Kleenex Brand Share Pack has expanded- into a Kleenex Brand Care Pack filled with goodies to help care for your loved ones during cold and flu season. It's yours to send when you buy a specially marked Kleenex Bundle Pack.

As a consumer, I love this campaign. I sure wish I'd had a pack on hand the other week when I was feeling under the weather. Speaking of that... try Zicam, people. Do it.

As a promotional marketer, I admire this campaign. It's a perfect example of what we do our best to teach our clients at Sonic- how to use promotional products to connect with your market and increase revenue.

Let's take a closer look at the Care Pack campaign, from a promotional perspective.

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Each Kleenex Care Pack contains lip balm, hand sanitizer, a coupon booklet, a Kleenex Brand Share Pack of tissues, and a music download card redeemable for four songs.

From a sales perspective, what are the most important items in this box?

My answer would be- the coupon booklet and music download card.

In these two items, Kleenex has ensured they'll benefit from this campaign with increased revenue, not just through goodwill and word-of-mouth. The coupons will lead to direct sales, and the music download cards will net them valuable data about their target market.

I can't be 100% sure, as I haven't received and redeemed one of the Kleenex music cards myself, but digital download cards generally require the user to visit a custom landing page and enter some basic contact information. Depending on the complexity of the landing page, there might also be a short survey required, through which Kleenex can wisely conduct marketing research to learn more about how their consumers interact with and feel about their products and brand.

All in all, the Kleenex Care Pack campaign is a very smart initiative; one that benefits both brand and buyer. For companies looking to promote a health and wellness program and engage employees, a similar care pack would be an excellent promotion. Maybe even throw in some antimicrobial phone pads to control germs around the office!

As a kid, I never understood the adage "less is more". That's probably because when we're young, we think everything is pretty great. And a greater amount of great things can only be... greater.

Two bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal was better than one. A full hour of recess was more exciting than 15 minutes. And a marathon of Saturday morning cartoons was far superior to a single episode.

As we age, we grow wiser (well, most of us do... maybe not Charlie Sheen), and we learn to appreciate the value of "less". Less traffic during rush hour, fewer bills cluttering our coffee tables, less belly fat, less stress... all good things.

Are you familiar with the "jam experiment"? It's a classic psychology study involving jars of jam; I think its findings clearly support the notion that "less is more".

The "jam experiment" was conducted by Sheena Iyengar, a researcher for Stanford University at the time of the study. Iyengar sought to understand how people make choices, and she looked to the grocery store as a prime location for observation. Her research assistants posed as jam suppliers, setting up tables for sampling.

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In one version of the experiment, the sampling table offered six flavors for tasting: kiwi, marmalade, peach, black cherry, red currant and lemon curd. In another condition, twenty-four jam flavors were set out. In both versions, customers were encouraged to sample flavors and were given a coupon to buy a jar at discount.

Can you guess what happened?

The twenty-four flavor table attracted the most attention, but it actually reported smaller sales than the six-flavor table. Only 3% of shoppers who visited the twenty-four flavor table proceeded to buy jam. Compare that to the six flavor table: 30% of visitors left with a jar in hand.

The study concluded that twenty-four was an overwhelming number of flavors for shoppers. Unable to make a decision, tasters gave up and left empty-handed.

This study teaches us that it's good to have options, but too many options can be a bad thing. In promotional products, where the set of options for a particular product category can easily reach six or seven digits, we really understand and appreciate the value of "less". In fact, limiting choices for our clients is arguably one of the greatest services we provide.

You'll notice that the number of products featured on our Signature Collection website typically hovers around 2,000. The selection is updated on a daily basis to reflect popular trends, but the overall volume of choices stays consistent. 2,000 is still a big number, but when you compare it to the millions of products to which we have access, it's not so daunting. Think of it as our version of the six flavor table.

Relying on our knowledge of popular trends, supplier capabilities, and product quality, we aim to guide our clients to sound product decisions, as painlessly as possible. In general, we define a painless process as one without an overwhelming sea of choice. Should you be a twenty-four flavor sort of person, though, just let us know. We're happy to oblige!

What are your thoughts on the "jam experiment"? Are you the kind of person who likes a lot of options? Or do you prefer a smaller consideration set?

Working in marketing, you might think that one becomes numb to the obvious attempts by corporations to sway personal opinions. 

I believe the opposite is true- I love my work specifically because I enjoy getting swept away by a campaign whose creativity, pragmatic smarts or campy appeal overwhelms my skepticism and earns my respect.

Last week I hit the coffee aisle at my local Giant. I generally spend as little restocking the Keurig as I can- ordering in bulk, applying a 20% off coupon at the Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. However, desperate times call for desperate measures, and I was ready to pay full price for some caffeinated refreshment. Then I saw this.

Perfect. Deep down inside I had no delusions that this coffee would actually lift the fog, per se, but the name so accurately described what I wanted from my roasted beans that I made the purchase feeling hopeful and guilt free. 

The same mentality applies when I walk into work and brew one of these puppies.

Oh yeah- that's some Jet Fuel in our office machine, ready to launch my day!

Now, the case may be that "a rose by any other name" would smell pretty sweet, or, in this scenario, coffee-licious. But sometimes telling people straight out that you know what they want and that you can deliver what it is, might be just enough to garner an initial buy in. 

Your product or service still has to prove itself, and the burden-of-proof bar is definitely higher when the claim is super blatant. But, if the consumer (or client) finds that your word is good, then the next time they see an over-the-top claim from you (offering a new product, proposing a unique solution, or exploring a different direction), they will be open to the idea that engagement with you begins with an assumption of trust and credibility.

If you pop over to LinkedIn today, you will probably see an article floating around titled "5 Reasons You Need to Meet in Person" by René Shimada Siegel.

Since I've been working for Sonic remotely from Austin, TX for several months now, this article immediately caught my eye. I spend at least two months out of the year in the Washington Metropolitan area meeting with clients, and René's points remind me why these visits are so critical.

Source: freedigitalphotos.net

Reposted from Inc.com:5 Reasons You Need to Meet in Person

My clients are just like yours: They want to Skype, email and text. But here's why you still need face time.

I love new technologies that allow me communicate with others more freely and quickly. But as a business owner, I try to remember customers want to work with someone they can relate to, not just buy from

Numbers 2, 3 and 5 resonate particularly loudly for me. My favorite part about meeting in person is the ease with which you can talk about non work-related topics. When conversation deviates from the task at hand, I don't view it as a negative. Rather, I see it as an opportunity to truly connect with the person sitting across from me. I like learning about your pets, your children, your taste in books. It only makes me more eager to work with you again and again.

Point 5, "learn where the action is", is especially important given that our goal at Sonic Promos it to learn your brand, your taste and your style, and to make appropriate product recommendations. Being able to meet in person and absorb the environment around me is critical to producing creative ideas.

What are your thoughts on this article? Do you make it a priority to meet with clients and vendors in person?

Last week, Jeremy Epstein from the Never Stop Marketing blog posted about a cheerful tagline on a paper coffee cup from Alaska Airlines. His positive experience reminds us that even the smallest marketing effort can have a lasting impact.



The fact that I took a picture of this coffee cup from Alaska Airlines and am sharing it on the blog is the real reason that every touchpoint matters.

It's because ANY touchpoint can be amplified (for better or for worse) by anyone with whom you come in contact.

There's a flattening of marketing impact.

It used to be that the BIG stuff got amplified because it was expensive and garnered "press" attention.

Now, everybody is the press so anything can be amplified.

I just amplified the impact of a cute little slogan on a coffee cup.

So, every and any moment we have where we have the attention of our community is an opportunity we shouldn't pass by.

And it's an opportunity to reinforce your story at the same time... which Alaska Airlines did very nicely, btw.

Jeremy's last line- "and it's an opportunity to reinforce your story at the same time..."- brings me to another point. If the imprint area will allow, make sure to include a tagline on each and every branded item.
One of the biggest advantages to promotional products as a form of advertising (compared to radio, TV, print media, etc) is the length of time a person holds onto an imprinted item. You have more than a few seconds to make a connection, so make sure your message is one that will resonate with the customer. Had Alaska Airlines only printed their logo on the cup, they would have missed the opportunity to connect with Jeremy mid-flight.