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Purple Cow
and paper) every year, and the people they send them to
enjoy receiving them – the recipients know the sender
doesn’t have anything to gain. They just care enough to
send the very best.
The win, it seems to me, is for Hallmark to discover
whether people getting a gift certificate are likely to turn
around and send one. If the idea of an electronic gift certificate
is remarkable enough to spread, then their challenge
is to get the core group of sneezers to spread the
word.
So here are my ideas for my friend at Hallmark:
When a Gold Crown Club member is about to send an
e-card, ask him if he wants to find out how many points
he’ll get if he also sends a gift certificate. This will be a
randomly chosen number between 100 points (a little)
and 1 million points (a ton!). Obviously, most people will
win a small number, but every once in a while someone
will be eligible to win a large number.
Most members of this concentrated, focused, listening
group will be happy to risk a click to get to the next page
just to see how much they stand to earn. Now that
Hallmark has shifted the conversation from “send an e-
card” to “talk to Hallmark about gift certificates,”
Hallmark has a chance to sell these consumers on why a
gift certificate might be a remarkable gift. And many of
these sneezers – suitably motivated, rewarded, and educated
– will go ahead and send one.
Of course, this promotion doesn’t hit a home run
unless recipients of the gift certificates start sending gift
certificates as well.
Isn’t a million points a lot to give away Exactly. It’s Purple.
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