Most restaurant reservation websites are straightforward and generic — you say how many in your party, and you are added to the waitlist.
The First Watch breakfast restaurant added a clever twist to theirs. When you indicate the number of people, it populates an egg crate accordingly. It’s on-brand, distinctive, and fun.
Think about how you can infuse “you” into the small things like your waitlist software. It’s egg-xactly the kind of special touch that can make your customers smile.
Back in the day, when diners had a simple list of regular dishes, their menus came with pictures of all the offerings. As restaurant variety expanded, the photos were replaced with text descriptions of the many available items. People like me had to resort to scanning other diners’ meals as they were served to gauge what to order.
The First Watch restaurant realized that people are visual and added a QR code to their menus so customers could see pictures of the food before ordering. What a great idea! It helps to align expectations, saves time, and may entice people to try something new. And it saves people from craning their necks or guessing what the next table is eating!
Can you use a QR code as a simple way to provide more detailed information to those who are interested? A picture may be worth a thousand words (or calories!), but a thousand words can also be a feast for the inquisitive. Strive to provide your clients with information in the way they want it.
One thing that surprises some visitors to the U.S. is how prolific the American flag is. Not all countries have their flag designs on mass-market merchandise or display their flags in homes and businesses, but if visitors thought the flag was prominent before, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
As America approaches its 250th birthday on July 4, marketers have jumped on the occasion to repackage everything they can in red, white, and blue. Cereals, candies, snacks, and beverages all have changed their product colors to capitalize on the holiday. Whole sections of patriotic-themed clothing, soft goods, decorations, and party favors are popping up in stores.
Pay attention, and you’ll find dozens of items trying to gain your dollars. Before you get swept up in the 250th commercial mania, remember what the day is celebrating: our independence from tyranny and the goal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Spend your money on causes that help promote that, rather than on trinkets and repackaged food.
If you want efficient movement through the streets of New York City, using a truck isn’t the way to do it. So, rather than use the same delivery system that they use elsewhere in the country, Amazon developed an e-bike delivery vehicle to navigate the crowded streets of the Big Apple.
It would have been easy for them to say that delivery times were delayed due to ongoing congestion, but instead they acknowledged the issue and came up with a creative solution.
Do you insist on staying with the same tried-and-true system that works for most, or are you open to considering new options to address micro-needs? One size does not fit all.
Thanks, Amy!
Pet retailers have capitalized on the trend of treating dogs as family members, and almost all of them offer special branded or birthday-cake-favored treats to celebrate the dog’s big day. Of course, the pooches themselves have no sense of their birthday; this is strictly a marketing ploy to get their humans to spend more. And, I’d venture to say, it works.
My Zoe will turn one-year-old next week, and I received an early birthday card from Chewy to commemorate the occasion. It just happened to offer me 20% their “Birthday Shop” items if I “scanned (or sniffed)” their QR code on the card. Clever!
While I did not purchase from Chewy, I did get a can of wet dog food (a delicacy in my house) and a birthday-cake-flavored treat for her and her sister. Can’t celebrate alone, can we?
Think about whether there are occasions you can turn into an opportunity, even if they are silly, arbitrary, or pretend. We can all use an excuse to infuse some joy into our lives, even if it takes a pet’s birthday to do it.
I like KFC’s chicken sandwich and am a fan of the Colonel’s food, but my fondness does not extend to sporting their merchandise. Apparently, someone thinks there is a market for a drumstick-shaped purse, a KFC wallet, or a chicken bucket backpack.
To make things even stranger, these accessories were on display at the local Hallmark store, a place I do not think of when shopping for purses.
I expect that I will see the items on the clearance rack sooner than I will see someone using them around town. Before creating a product or service, ask yourself exactly who the market is for it. It’s not chickening out to decide not to do it.
The local Chipotle has a business card holder with cards for the general manager and field leader. I always thought it was a nice gesture to feature them openly so guests could contact them.
Unfortunately, I needed to do so. I sat on a bench that had been slathered in furniture polish, with residual polish remaining. I had to leave the restaurant, go home, wash my jeans, coat, and purse, along with the seat of my car, where it transferred from my pants. It also got on the back of my brand-new sweater, and after three tries at the dry cleaner, the stain remains.
I contacted the people listed on the handy business cards — and heard nothing. Not as much as a reply, let alone an apology or compensation for my troubles and dry cleaning bill. It makes me angrier that they pretend to want feedback, but in reality, ignore it.
If you have any type of comment mechanism, take it seriously or don’t offer it at all. Raising expectations that you care makes the fall harder when it becomes apparent that you don’t.
This isn’t in Las Vegas — but it should be!
A casino in Venice turned the baggage carousel into a giant roulette wheel, allowing passengers to guess where their luggage would land. Not only did it immediately immerse travelers in the city’s gaming culture, but it occupied their minds during that interminable wait for their suitcases.
What can your organization do to make waiting time less like wasting time? Can you add a video, televisions, games, or other mind-occupying tactics to help the time pass more quickly? Bonus if you’re like Venice and can tie it to your brand. The carousel roulette is a winner!
You’ve seen the typical hotel minibar—it’s the one that places the emphasis on “mini.” Tiny bottles of liquor or maybe a few small snacks. Not so in Vegas, where everything seems to be excessive.
The minibar in my hotel carried full-size bottles of champagne, liquor, and water as well as theater-size servings of candy. It also conveniently included a collection of charging cords and adapters, and, in a nod to its stereotypical audience, a “Lover’s Kit” labeled “Temptation!”
It would be easy to standardize offerings at every property across the country, but Caesar’s understood that Vegas demanded something different. Whether anyone ever used the Lover’s Kit was immaterial; it fit with the Sin City brand and immediately let you know that you weren’t at a hotel in Des Moines.
Think about the little adjustments you can include to make your place “yours.” Even the smallest detail is part of your story.
I went to Las Vegas specifically to see the Sphere—the newest entertainment venue on the Strip. This place is unlike anything I have ever seen: massive beyond words, the ultimate in high-tech, and a perfect place to see a concert.
The Sphere has the largest screen in the world — 160,000 square feet, floor to ceiling, side to side, all at 16K resolution. It has 167,000 speakers, so advanced that they can focus different languages to different sections of the venue! The outside is a show in itself, with 1.2 million lights, continuously displaying different patterns and videos. (Even the Eagles commented on the quality of the venue, and if you know anything about bands, they are never happy with the facilities or sound.)
Because the scale is so massive, the visuals at the Sphere must be filmed with a special “Big Sky” camera to achieve crisp resolution on a screen that size. Consequently, they needed to build a smaller “Sphere Studio” in Burbank, one-quarter scale of the Sphere, to create and test videos before bringing them to the giant Sphere screen.
I like the idea of having a separate space for experimentation. There are organizations that have off-site innovation labs, test kitchens, theater workshops, or proving grounds that allow them to create outside the constraints of doing so in public. Like the Sphere, this freedom allows them to think bigger (literally) and produce outcomes that likely would not be possible otherwise.
What can you do to pilot new offerings offline, relieving some of the pressure of a “live” setting where the cost of failure is higher? The sphere of possibilities is limitless if you give your team freedom to dream big.
