UPS & the cost of guerilla marketing
Posted on April 22, 2008
Filed Under Random stuff, Off the beaten path
I live in one of the those communities with a fancy name, which is another way of saying trac housing with exorbitant HOA dues. As such my neighbors and I are bombarded with every kind of marketing gimmick know to man. From ziploc bags of sand and rock from landscaping companies, to everykind of flyer you’ve ever seen, to refrigerator magnets, etc. We also get approximately 8 different free ‘community newspapers’ per week, which ultimately get wet in the gutter and eventually get thrown in the recycle bin on trash day. A great use of trees by the way.
Yesterday, I pulled a bag off our door left by my local UPS franchise. In it (see picture) were the following items; a retractable pen, a mint, a nail file and a coupon for $1 off UPS shipping. I don’t know why. My local UPS franchise is alrready my shipper of choice and I do ship probably a bit more stuff than the average person, so at first I thought maybe this was just a weird ‘thank you’ gimmick, until I noticed that everyone else got one too. So then I started thinking, what do these items mean? Is there a point? All the items were stamped ‘UPS Ground’, so I thought maybe that was the point of the nail file…grinding my nails…ground service? I know it’s a stretch, plus then what does the mint mean? It made my head hurt, so I took and aspirin and then I thought about if I or anyone would use these items.
- Mint candy; Mom always said never take candy from strangers. Even though I know my UPS people, there’s no way I’m eating that mint, not for $5 off shipping.
- Nail file; I’m married, which means my wife will undoubtedly have more and better nail files at my disposal should the need arise, so no to that one.
- Retracable pen; I’m not a pen snob , but I have better pens on my desk, so this one goes to the trash too.
- $1 off coupon; I love coupons, but this one will probably end up like the rest of my coupons, lost in or on my desk and eventually thrown out. I should have said I love coupons, but rarely remember to use them.
I have no idea what it cost my local UPS store to send this crap…er…stuff to my door, I’m guessing, less than a dollar, but still is this an effective use of marketing funds? I’m already a customer, as Renee Zellwegger said, ‘You had me at hello’.
Until next time…
LOL… you have to do a guest movie review @Popcritics… funny write-up!!
Maybe the nailfile was to ‘nail’ you to using UPS for their service? That you sned all of your ‘files’ though them? Perhaps you saw the ‘point’ of using UPS? These are guesses of course…
Perhaps the mint was becasue they thought you used Fed-Ex, and that stinks, so they gave you a mint?
I do know if you crossed FedEx with UPS you would get Fed-UP!!
OK, Scott, I didn’t know you had this level of writing humor. Loved this post! Maybe the woman at the UPS Store likes you and wants your breath to be fresh and the pen is so you can write her love notes…but I digress. There probably isn’t a woman at the UPS Store…probably a guy…named Earl. Which might explain the nail file. Perhaps Earl is really Earlene. Hmmmm….
Jay Hargis’s last blog post..Thank You Notes
Thanks guys, clearly we could go on and on with this post, which was kind of the point.
Scott - hyserial.. Who knew you were so funny? Well, I had some inkling, since I know your coworker so well. But I never woul have placed you in that inroic commentary on life kind of way. And as I consider marketing prevention messages or even staff motivation give-aways - I will keep your UPS experience in mind.
Thanks Jenn, good to hear from you!