Trey Bailey of Bailey’s Fine Jewelry wanted to surprise an unsuspecting passerby.
[dropcap cap=I]magine a prospective customer walking in the park, dining at a favorite restaurant, or stopping at a newsstand on the way to work. All of a sudden, she sees a neatly wrapped package. She picks it up and finds a note marked “Finders Keepers” and inside the card there is a poem: “Congratulations! This gift is for you…yes you! / You deserve it, you really do / Give it, share it, wear it / This (BAILEY) BOX is yours / We just hope to see you / Come through our door.”
She opens the box and finds earrings or a bracelet or a necklace — brand new, sparkling, and, apparently, all hers. Now that’s something people talk about.[/dropcap]
[componentheading]THE IDEA[/componentheading]
[contentheading]Play on the Unexpected[/contentheading]
Trey Bailey of Bailey’s Fine Jewelry already had the box. A black and white striped box with a neatly tied red ribbon is the object behind the advertising slogan “Every woman wants a Bailey Box.” It’s when Bailey decided to think outside the box that he was inspired. He decided to hide these boxes around the city of Raleigh, NC, where his flagship store is located. Bearing the note “Finders Keepers,” each box was a gift containing a piece of jewelry from the store to be found by an unsuspecting passerby.
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[componentheading]THE EXECUTION[/componentheading]
[contentheading]Leave Gifts Hidden Throughout the Community[/contentheading]
Since September, at least 1,000 gifts have been hidden throughout Raleigh, as well as in Rocky Mount and Greenville, where other Bailey’s Fine Jewelry stores are located. Valued at retail prices from $20 to $100, these sparkling surprises have been left in restaurants, parks, newsstands, schools, hospitals and, once, sent up to pneumatic tube at a bank.
[componentheading]THE REWARD[/componentheading]
[contentheading]Foster Goodwill; Get Press![/contentheading]
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Bailey has enjoyed giving back to the community in tough economic times. Finders Keepers has been a remarkable success as an ad campaign too. Not only has traffic in the store picked up since the campaign started in September, but Bailey’s Fine Jewelry has been featured on the local radio, in the Charlotte Observer, and on the front page of the Raleigh News & Observer. The Raleigh News & Observer also posted the article online and it proved to be the third most popular article for the week. Between the front-page story and online clicks, the story was viewed by almost half a million people. All this without one press release. By Christmas, Bailey counted 4,000 new customers, due largely, he believes, to the buzz generated by the Finders Keepers campaign. |
[componentheading]Do It Yourself[/componentheading]
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Get people talking: “The best marketing in the world is word of mouth,” Bailey said. If people are excited about your product or your name, they’ll tell everyone they know.
Spend wisely: Spending money on ads can only get you so far. Sometimes what you have is better than what you can buy.
Think outside the box: There is something very valuable about the unexpected. People like to be surprised
[span class=note]This story is from the June 2009 edition of INSTORE[/span]
