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06.21.2006

“HartBeat” is The Hartman Group's FREE online newsletter, providing insight, analysis, information and strategy to give business leaders the knowledge and vision to build sustainable brands.

NOW AVAILABLE» Pulse Report SUGAR AND SWEETENERS FROM A CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE Sugar and Sweeteners from a Consumer Perspective documents consumer perceptions about sugar and examines in-depth the connections consumers make between sugar and juice, occasions for avoidance and use (including with children), and the dynamics of shopping for sweetened products. Click to learn more...

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For more Hartman Group articles on BRANDING, click here...

01.11.2006 "Branding Work: Bottoms Up!"

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03.17.2005 "Grow Your Business Like a Weed: Branding By Example"

02.17.2005 "Telling Stories: The Brand Connection"

12.17.2004 "Soul Logic & the Art of Keeping It Real"

11.23.2004 "The New Brand Mindset: Organizing for Cultural Legitimacy"

07.09.2004 "5 Steps to Building a Cultural Brand"

07.25.2003 "The Magic of a Cultural Brand: An Interview with Harvey Hartman"

Archives »
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Channeling Reciprocity To Build Your Brand

As analysts, consultants and commentators on contemporary consumer culture, it seems like cheating to reflect on Starbucks' assorted marketing practices and strategies. Much like a music critic writing about The Grateful Dead or The Beatles, is there really anything that new or interesting that remains to be written on the subject?

In fact, we've often fantasized of a tagline that went something like, "Reflections on contemporary branding without a single reference to Starbucks!" Who knows, maybe the "Starbucks-free" designation will someday become the mark of distinction among all reputable commentators and analysts.

So it is with some trepidation that we are here to report that Starbucks appears to be one of the only examples (in the contemporary vernacular) of a brand that seems to grasp the power of something called reciprocity.

In fact, reciprocity is acknowledged by social scientists as perhaps the most powerful expression of collective human life, and we believe that, properly harnessed, reciprocity can do equally powerful things for your brand experience.

The basic idea of reciprocity goes something like this: Jill gives me a gift, does a nice thing for me, cooks me dinner, helps me move, gives me a pig, buys me a drink, gives me the shirt off her back, whatever. In return, I feel some amount of implied social pressure to return the favor, in kind, to Jill. Think of it as tit for tat. True, there are few sanction mechanisms in contemporary social life to punish those that don't return the favor, but they're mostly not needed because right-thinking people know not to shirk. If we do, we're "one of them" - the callous and selfish gits we seek to avoid.

By extension, brand experiences that initiate the reciprocity relationship can reasonably expect a similar response, something many would characterize as brand loyalty. The trick here, however, is that the initiation must appear authentic.

Manufacturer's coupons, product promotions and free samples do not initiate a reciprocity relationship because we rightly recognize these as commercial inducements. That's commercial hucksterism and it has no business in social life. They may all be utilized as effective marketing strategies, but they are not reciprocity.

On the other hand, a spontaneous, unprovoked gift - perhaps a voucher for a free first-class upgrade or a complete dinner for two - does qualify as reciprocity provided that the gift was unprovoked and appears spontaneous. A free dinner (because the waiter spilled hot soup on your lap) or a meal voucher (because your flight was cancelled) are not the same thing. Those are commercial payoffs to make amends for a mistake.

From a management perspective, however, integrating reciprocity into the brand experience often proves a tough sell. Imagine approaching your VP and explaining "Here's my idea, we'll distribute 5,000 vouchers for free travel and tell gate agents to give them away at their discretion!"

Which, not surprisingly, brings us back to Starbucks.

Recently, while sipping our favorite drink, our conversation was (barely) interrupted as a wandering barista dropped a curious, folded card on our table. The front side read "Spread Summer Sunshine." Curious, we flipped the card over to read the following:

"Somebody's going to do something nice for you today. Maybe they'll let you go first in the register line. Maybe they'll give you some change so you don't have to break a twenty. Or maybe they'll just hold the door for you when your hands are full."

Whatever the nice thing turns out to be, return the favor by giving that anonymous benefactor this card. You'll both find a little Karma goes a long way.

This card is good for a Banana Coconut or Bananas & Creme Frappuccino blended beverage"

This, we submit, is reciprocity at its finest. An unprovoked gift that not only encourages us to respond in kind (toward Starbucks), but also encourages us to keep the spirit alive by forwarding the gift to others (friends, colleagues or even a complete stranger).

The cynical among us might question our seemingly myopic "West Coast" stance here (what with appeals to Karma and the like), pointing out that this is really a thinly veiled product promotion for Starbucks new line of banana-flavored summer drinks. To that end, American Airlines was similarly criticized when they recently decided to give fans at the last Dallas Maverick's home game a voucher for a free round-trip ticket on American Airlines. The "catch" in this case was that the vouchers were only good for travel to Love Field, a recently established service designed to compete with long-time rival Southwest Air.

Color us naive, but we submit that this is something qualitatively different; a genuinely innovative attempt to tap the power of social relationships to further product promotion goals.

True, it may be a bit contrived. And to the particularly jaded, it may seem like we're making much ado about not so much. But remember, this same strategy ("Give and you shall receive, man") served the Grateful Dead well for many years, on many different levels. To that end, we'll go out on a limb and predict that a lot more people pass these cards on than have the selfish audacity to head to the register and redeem while on site. But whether you agree with us or not, there is surely no disputing that this initial attempt to harness the power of reciprocity beats the pants off of what typically passes for product promotion strategies these days.

At this very moment, somewhere in the great conference rooms of America, there is a marketing manager droning on about coupons and samples and...

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