The Pro Shop

Just when you thought that national promotions built around “free” were beginning to look like invitations to disaster, someone’s pulled one off—and even managed to control the blowback when the supplies of free product ran out. more

Remember “Mr. Mom,” that 1983 Michael Keaton movie about the car executive who turns house-husband after a layoff? His wife takes an ad agency job and gets assigned to the troublesome “Schooner Tuna” account. And after assorted wackiness, she comes up with the perfect ad campaign: a temporary price cut to show that Schooner cares about its customers’ real worries and is, in fact, “the tuna with a heart.”

Brands are now rushing to prove themselves heirs to the Schooner legacy with programs meant to reassure consumers that they’ll be neither buried in debt nor cut off from vital resources if they lose their jobs. In one policy swoop, they’re acting to overcome buyers’ fears and build brand loyalty. more

Burger King’s at it again, courting controversy and grabbing up buzz by the handful.

The chain that brought you the “Whopper Virgin” campaign (loud outcry from the one-worlders who accused it of patronizing colonialism) and the “Whopper Sacrifice” (loud outcry from Facebook, which pulled the app down for violating its un-friending terms and conditions) is backing raising a ruckus. And this time the king and his agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky are dragging SpongeBob SquarePants into the fray. more

In small ways, the message that promotions need to address people’s needs beyond price is seeping out into the marketing industry.

The latest brand to try to take the worry out of buying is men’s apparel chain Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. They’re offering customers who buy a suit during their $199 sale—which lasts through April 9—the chance to keep both the suit and the cost (up to $199) if they lose their job between April 16 and July 1 of this year. more

A few months ago I posted an approving notice about the Hyundai Assurance program, which offers to let car buyers who suffer a catastrophic reversal in their finances the chance to return a Hyundai they’ve bought within the past year and sell it back to the company, as long as the depreciation was under $7,500.

I thought it was a smart idea at the time. While other car marketers were—and still are—offering “employee pricing” discounts that no one really fully trusts, Hyundai went to the heart of the problem of customer confidence. more

Sales are down at Starbucks, average tickets are off, same-store sales in the U.S. and abroad have slipped, and on Monday the company reported that fourth-quarter earnings were off 97% from the same quarter last year.

And what will Starbucks do to cut the bitterness in its cup? Add a shot of gold—a Starbucks Gold fee-paid premium loyalty card.

Anything else with that? more