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The 17th Top 10List from #801-850 in the Project

The goal of reaching 1,001 examples of marketing lagniappe is now firmly in reach.

Here’s the top entries from the latest crop of 50 examples:

10. #805. Taken from a tweet by Annette Franz @annettefranz. Taken from 1to1 media’s post on Mitchell’s:

When was the last time you personally thanked a customer? Sent a hand-written note? Last year Jack Mitchell wrote 1,793 personal notes to customers of his retail stores. That’s about five notes a day, every day.

9. #821. Chevy Cruze has an app for that. Just the Facts:

Cruze will feature a smartphone app that allows drivers to control numerous functions by remote. The application through General Motors’ OnStar allows the owner to check the fuel gauge, lock and unlock the car, set off the horn and lights alarm and perform onboard diagnostics, such as checking tire pressure, by remote.

An enticing feature for a car in that price range

— Michelle Krebs, Edmunds.com Senior Analyst and Editor at Large

8. #833 comes from Oyster.com. Disney’s Old West Resort

Unlike at the more upscale Disney resorts, the service at Old Key West is a bit more sparse — room service is limited to pizza delivery and there are no business services. You do, however, get extra, personal touches. At the front desk, for example, kids get twisted balloon toys when they check-in — something I didn’t see at other Disney properties. And at the on-site restaurant, Olivia’s Cafe, I witnessed staff members gives little prizes to kids who put up artwork on the restaurant’s doors. Many of the families I spoke with during my stay explained that the friendly and reliable staff was a big reason they regularly returned.

7. #808 in the Project was submitted via e-mail by Andrew Sweet.    He mentioned an interesting use of QR Codes from Taranta and Chef Jose Duarte. Andrew talked about a segment he watched on Channel 5 in Boston (click here to watch) that highlighted the Peruvian inspired Italian restaurant in the North End.  Taranta uses squid ink to place QR codes on plates using fresh locally sourced seafood. Diners can scan the code to visit ‘Trace and Trust’.  It allows you to track where and when the fish was caught.

6. #816. Submitted by Tyson Adams of liveglocal

MIIR – Buy a bottle and one person in the developing world gets clean water for a year

5.  #823. Free Peanuts from Southwest. Taken from an article in the Economist:

It is the small things that make the difference. Southwest still gives out free peanuts, an oddly emotive subject among travelers. It lets passengers switch their flights often, for no extra charge. Most importantly, perhaps, it does not charge for checked-in luggage. Bob Jordan, Southwest’s vice president for strategy, reckons that charging for bags would have given the airline an additional $300m a year. But bag fees are so irritating that Southwest decided to go without.

Executives crow that this has allowed Southwest to poach customers from rivals, which has made up for the forgone fees. Meanwhile, Southwest has no qualms about charging for extras that irk passengers less, such as those early check-ins, and this generates a happy whack of cash.

Other airlines could imitate Southwest’s original approach to smiles and peanuts. “Anybody can copy anybody, right?” Mr Jordan concedes. But he argues that the others have grown so addicted to the extra revenue from bag fees that if they change, the hurt will linger like a jumbo grounded by a snowstorm.

4. #830 in the Project is taken from a Cool Runnings video by Sprint. Free pickup + delivery, convenience, consistency, eco-friendly with liquid CO2 and a genius use of bar codes.

Hangers Cleaners of Kansas City

3.  #849. from Chris Zane’s book, ‘Reinventing the Wheel’

The One Dollar Rule – Zane’s doesn’t charge for any parts that cost them one dollar or less. Need a master link for your chain, its on the house. In fact they typically will throw in an extra master link for lagniappe.

2. #841. Submitted via e-mail by Jim Joseph @JimJosephExp

Chick-fil-a. Short and sweet. When you eat inside of a Chick-fil-A restaurant, the manager not only walks around to see how things are going for you, but also gives free refills on drinks. Don’t see that very often in fast food.

. . . and the #1 on the seventeenth ‘Top 10′ List:

1. #818 in the Project was recommended via Josepf Haslam @josepf via a tweet:

It comes from a post by Thomas Marzano @thomasmarzano:

It wasn’t until my last trip to Palo Alto, where I stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel, that I had a firsthand experience with customer engagement through social media.

A smooth landing

Before arriving at the Four Seasons I posted a tweet where I mentioned @FSPaloAlto and expressed how much I was looking forward to relaxing at their spa after the long journey. To my big surprise @FSPaloAlto replied to my tweet fairly quickly asking me if they should make reservations! WAUW! I was impressed!

Once in my room I found the following handwritten note welcoming me.

You can imagine that this put a huge smile on my face! It made me realize how a personal handwritten message can suddenly give a big hotel chain such as the Four Seasons a human and personal feel. Most importantly I felt welcome!

Enhancing my customer experience

Although I had a basic room, I was very happy with the high quality of it. A very big bedroom with a very comfortable bed, huge TV and an awesome bathroom with a huge bathtub!

So after a lovely night sleep I woke up and tweeted the below tweet to my followers.

Again @FSPaloAlto was quite quick in their response and as you can see, next to wishing me a good morning, they also took the opportunity to “up sell” me a dinner in the hotel restaurant (which is a very good restaurant by the way). This is very clever, I totally welcomed this tweet and did not mind the up sell at all. Actually I found it quite thoughtful!

But nothing prepared me for what I found in my room when I returned during the afternoon. Another handwritten note, but this time wrapped with a little present. Based on the morning tweet I posted about the great bathroom, they gave me a bottle of bath salt to fully enjoy the bathtub experience! This really blew me away. The thoughtfulness is incredible, and I was just delighted! (and had myself a perfect bathtub chilling!!)

Service becomes great and personal with social media

Now you can imagine I was getting quite spoiled, and at the same time I thought this was the best physical experience social media ever gave me, next to meeting great tweeps in real life.

To my astonishment when checking out the sweet lady tweeting for @FSPaloAlto came to personally wish me a safe trip home, this completed the experience. People talk to people, not to brands.

What can I say; I think this is an awesome example of how social media can be leveraged by the hospitality industry. Four Seasons clearly understands how important personal experiences are and have jumped on the social media bandwagon to increase their level of service. A good investment, as they not only give people like me a great experience, they have turned me into a brand advocate.

Click here for the first Top 10 list from the first 50 examples of marketing lagniappe.

Click here for the second Top 10 list from #51 to #100 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the third Top 10 list from #101 to #150 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the fourth Top 10 list from #151 to #200 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the fifth Top 10 list from #201 to #250 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the sixth Top 10 list from #251 to #300 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the seventh Top 10 list from #301 to #350 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the eighth Top 10 list from #351 to #400 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the ninth Top 10 list from #401 to #450 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the tenth Top 10 list from #451 to #500 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the eleventh Top 10 list from #501 to #550 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the twelfth Top 10 list from #551 to #600 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the thirteenth Top 10 list from #601 to #650 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the fourteenth Top 10 list from #651 to #700 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Click here for the fifteenth Top 10 list from #701 to #750 in the Purple Goldfish Project.