Marketing blurbs on the side of take-out cups are nothing new. I remember seeing many as a kid (that was what, 100 years ago?), and they haven’t changed much since then: a witty sentence or two, maybe an interesting fact about the company, and not much more.
There have been some clever takes on the ol’ cup promo in recent years. Starbucks’ “The Way I See It” campaign featured memorable quotes from notable Americans designed to spark conversations about diversity. Instead, it received more attention for pissing people off. Doh!
Another variation on the cup theme by Starbucks was attaching one of their coffee cups to the roof of a car. When people ran over to tell the driver that he left his drink on top of his vehicle, he smiled and wished them “happy holidays from Starbucks!“. Clever.
And we can’t forget 7-Eleven’s current 7-Election campaign that asks customers to cast a vote for their candidate by buying coffee in either blue Obama or red McCain cups. Gutsy and clever. And it’s working very well.
Marketer Charlie Wollborg has a nice take on it in this video (you should read his blog, he’s good):
All of this thinking about cups and what we put on the sides of them started during lunch at our local Chipotle. Odd, yes, but I think about marketing a lot (it’s a personality disorder).
On the side of my cup was a bit about why the company uses hormone free sour cream. It was informative, friendly, and gloriously free of the hype so often surrounding food issues these days, explaining that Chipotle would rather not use products that contain them, that’s all. We’re giving you our best. Happy eating.
All of these examples, the Starbucks quotes and car stunt, 7-Eleven’s election cups, and Chipotle’s folksy business blurbs, show that you can reach people in extraordinary ways with seemingly ordinary objects and get them talking about you, your product, and your business.
You just have to be more clever than the other guy.
Look around. What can you use to reach your customers?
Are you using a common object in a clever way? Share it in the comments.
