loyalty

It was my birthday recently and during the course of it I got birthday cards.  I want to share one that I got from one of my sons:

To Papa, I wish you a happy birthday.  Love you lots and thank you for all the things you have done for me over hte years especially taking me back and forward to college. Thank you for being a great, caring and loving papa.

“Emotion is the bridge to take to cross the chasm from the early market to the mainstream market.”

That was one of the points from my address at a Women in Technology International luncheon last week. The topic of my talk was “Crossing the Digital Health & Fitness Chasm.”

There are certain marketing tactics that drive me nuts, and one of them is using any excuse to capture attention. So I regularly rail against stunts like Old Spice’s viral videos, which I liken to purposeful car wrecks on the side of the purchase funnel road. Its latest — Muscle Music, which features a guy getting his muscles shocked as if his body were playing a song — has accrued 7 million views on Vimeo and almost a million on Facebook.

Starbucks knows a thing or two about loyalty. I’m a Gold Card member, and enjoy the free refills as well as the periodic free drinks I accrue by using it. (Green Card members get the refill benefit, but not the free beverage after every 15 purchases. In addition, Gold Card members get a personalized card in that color and, theoretically, are addressed by name by the baristas.)