How Failing to Keep Up With Demand Can Be a Good Thing
Knob Creek’s current ad campaign announces something shocking: they may actually run out of bourbon this fall.
The elegantly zen-like piece (above, click for big version) features a precious last drop of bourbon, the tag line “Thanks for nothing”, and some clever copy:
“For the next few months Knob Creek Bourbon is in a unique situation — our product is so popular that we cannot keep up with customer demand. As a result, our supply will be running low over the next few months, and, in some cases, we may experience temporary stock depletion. But, instead of compromising quality to meet demand, we have chosen to let the supply run low. In deference to Booker Noe and his vision for Knob Creek, we will age all our bourbon the full 9 years. The next batch will be ready in November of this year… Again, with all the success we’ve had, we’ve still come up empty. Thanks for helping make it happen.“
This is brilliant old-school marketing and I love it more than a man should love any ad. Here’s why:
- It reinforces Knob Creek’s old world, hand-crafted image: You can’t rush excellence.
- It proves they are popular. “Hey, we ran out!”.
- It spins “Thanks for nothing” into a positive statement.
- Most importantly, it combines two powerful marketing strategies in an elegant way: Scarcity and Social Proof.
Scarcity and social what, marketing guy?
I know, it sounds like marketing gobbledygook, but both approaches are real and based on serious research and Knob Creek does a beautiful job of combining them. How so? Read on.
Scarcity
The best way to make a profit is to deal in something scarce. People want what others can’t have. Crowds and lines generate curiosity. Word-of-mouth about great, but hard to attain, products creates demand (see Social Proof below).
Most importantly, Scarcity forces your true fans, those customers who will do most anything to buy your product, who obsess over it, to talk. They talk about the waiting and the searching and the longing an how it’s driving them crazy and they just can’t wait to get their hands on it already!
And people are talking about Knob Creek (Google Blog Search). In fact, the ad has generated so much interest that they are hosting a webcast on September 1st to explain how the shortage came to be and why their 9-year aging process makes Knob Creek bourbon so special, extending interest in the campaign. Nice.
As effective a strategy as Scarcity is, there’s another, even more interesting, aspect to it: Social Proof.
Social Proof
Simply put, Social Proof is the tendency to look to others for ques on how to behave–monkey see, monkey do, if you will. If Knob Creek is sold out we assume it must be great and if everybody likes it they must know something we don’t.
It’s why companies use celebrities to endorse their products, Amazon features customer reviews and TV shows use canned laughter.
Right or wrong, we often assume others must be better informed and they are acting on experience or privileged information. Often it’s just a mob mentality, group think, following the herd.
And it’s why Knob Creek’s is happy to announce they’ve sold out: If it sold out it must be good. It’s that simple.
Could it Be Even Better?
Knob Creek’s “Thanks For Nothing” ad is word-of-mouth marketing at its best. They’ve highlighted their Scarcity problem without any hype and subtly used Social Proof to show that many people think their bourbon is great. And damn if I don’t want to try it because of that.
But how could they extend this great campaign even further? A few ideas:
- YouTube videos featuring customers talking about their frustration with The Wait.
- A social media campaign that counts down the days until the next batch is available.
- A contest in which a lucky winner gets the first new bottle a few days ahead of the official re-release.
What do you think? How could Knob Creek take “Thanks for nothing” even further? Should they? How do you use Scarcity and Social Proof? Leave a comment or email blog at keithmonaghan dot com.
Thanks for reading.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article. Pretty sure Nintendo did this with the Wii. Also reminds me of the days of tickle me elmo and cabbage patch dolls.
I really enjoyed the article – however, this thought kept reverberating: what Knob Creek did was turn a potential negative into a positive. It came from a savvy awareness of spin (for the lack of a better term). I don’t think it is necessarily a good strategy to build artificial scarcity into one’s marketing. Then it just seems contrived… and annoying.
In Knob Creek’s case, at least the inability to keep up with demand was supported by a strong and compelling reason/story. It came across as genuine… and that’s the entire difference.
Hi Leigh,
I agree, one of the strengths of Knob Creek’s campaign is that it feels genuine–the clever positioning of an unfortunate event. It certainly doesn’t seem like they ran out of bourbon on purpose.
But who knows? Many companies have succeeded by creating artificial scarcity–Tupperware, Longaberger baskets and Ty Beanie Babies to name a few.
It can be difficult to tell true scarcity form artificial. I wouldn’t do it–the risk of it blowing up in your face is too high–but some do.
Knob Creek’s campaign sure smells like the real deal and, as any good marketer knows, compelling & real is always better than fake & contrived.
Thanks for the comment!
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