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Google recently took to the streets in Austin to promote its Photo app. How did it incentivize folks to give it a try? They did it by using the oldest trick in the marketing playbook... SWAG. Swag is an acronym for "Stuff We All Get" or according to the greedy few, "Sh-- We Ain't Got." The modus operandi for the search giant was a gourmet cupcake out of a nicely branded food truck.
Then along came Zappos down the street. They pulled the Burger King trick on Google. The BK ploy is simple. Back in the day, McDonald's would spend massive time and resources to find new places for the arches. Site surveys, traffic studies, density analysis and forecasting were all taken into account before opening a new location. What did Burger King do when looking for a new location? No studies at all. They simply found a spot across the street from McDonald's. Their arch nemesis had already done the work and traffic was all but guaranteed.
Watch Zappos in action. Delivering just a little more happiness by Giving a Little Unexpected Extra (GLUE):
After seeing Google’s photo sharing promotion Pay With A Photo, Zappos decided to raise them one better and delivered #PayWithACupcake. Setting up a giant makeshift box right next to the Google food truck, Zappos swapped out free Zappos products including headphones, watches, backpacks, sunglasses and gift cards in exchange for cupcakes. According to reports on the scene, Zappos sweetened the barter ever further by giving back the cupcakes.
Thinking Inside The Box Or Outside The Convention Center
This isn't the first time Zappos has taken Austin by storm. Zappos did something similar at SXSW in 2008. One day it monsooned at the event. That day Zappos was at every entrance at SXSW handing out ponchos. In the words of TrendHunter, “When it rained in Austin, it poured Zappos.com ads.” Another great instance of being opportunistic.
Where Was Jerry Springer?
Was Google peeved by Zappos happyjacking its promotion? According to AdWeek,
Google was pretty chill about Zappos' claim-jumping—one member of the team even ran up to take part—but are we the only ones a little disappointed? Even if it was staged, a bit of Sharks/Jets public acrimony would have been way more fun."
If I was there, I would have been chanting, "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry."
Today's Lagniappe (a little something extra thrown in for good measure) - Speaking of boxes, last year Zappos put on a video contest for employees. The short video needed to convey the values and spirit of the company. This was the winning submission, "I'm Not a Box":
