$5.90 Cocktails

With Hurricane Irene about to hit our area, I am quickly reminded of another force of nature that struck this week:  the 5.9 earthquake in NYC (and all along the Eastern seaboard).  Seems like a distant memory now, but it did cause quite the stir at the time ... and fueled a flurry of social media activity all day/night long.  "Where were you?"  "Did you feel it?"  "You're a bunch of wimps!" (from people on the West coast)

Me?  I didn't feel a thing and I was sitting right next to a colleague in our conference room who felt it all.  Guess it takes a lot more than 5.9 to rock my world!

For me, the best part of the experience was the instantaneous marketing, and for me Be Our Guest nailed it the best and the quickest.  Be Our Guest owns a number of great restaurants here in NYC (and in other parts of the country as well).  I swear that within minutes (or so it felt), the restaurants announced that they were all serving cocktails for $5.90.  Great timing or what?  So many people were evacuated from their buildings that they needed someplace to go!  So simple, so clean, so quick.  Great marketing.

Today, the company is announcing Hurricane specials too.  $10 cocktails all day Friday and Saturday.  And if your name is Irene, the first one is free!  Love the power of social media and spontaneous marketing ... if you can pull it off at the point of sale.

Me?  I took mine shaken not stirred.

What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
President of Lippe Taylor
Author of The Experience Effect