A few weeks ago I blogged about the KFC Free Grilled Chicken Fiasco. KFC not only screwed up the promotion — they couldn’t even get the apology right. My wife, PDX Knitterati, alerted me to a similar kerfuffle in the knitting community over an event called Sock Summit. Like the KFC promotion, consumer demand overwhelmed […]
…it’s what people hear.” So says language expert Frank Luntz, author of Words that Work. When you are writing to persuade, the words you choose will profoundly affect the way your listener or reader reacts to your message.This phenomenon has applications in advertising — and in politics. Luntz recently wrote a memo to Republican members […]
One of Robert Cialdini’s six “weapons of influence” is social proof — the idea that it is easier to persuade people to do something if they believe other people are doing the same thing. According to the Wall Street Journal, Cialdini and his colleagues at Arizona State University recently conducted an experiment at a Phoenix […]
By all accounts, Country Financial is a good company, offering products that benefit consumers nationwide. In an effort to be a good corporate citizen, the firm is sponsoring an historical touring exhibition called “Titanic, Treasures From the Deep”. The web site promoting the exhibition has a section called Lifeboat Challenge, where folks can take a […]
It’s hard to imagine a promotion as poorly planned and executed as KFC’s Grilled Chicken fiasco. If you’ve been living in a cave for the past week or so, here’s a quick review of the clusterpluck: To promote their new Kentucky Grilled Chicken, KFC offered a downloadable coupon for a free meal. And had Oprah […]
