Comments on: How NOT to Sample

By: Mike Flynn (ABM)

Mike Flynn (ABM) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:53:21 +0000

I wouldn’t have any problem with the Monster girl yelling out the side of her truck. She absolutely shouldn’t have been doing it to older people playing tennis, but would it really have been a problem if she was yelling out the side of a truck to high-school or college kids?

Although the points made in the post (and the comments on the post) are generally valid, the heavy consumers of energy drinks are likely a younger and more open to the approach used by the Monster girl.

For a 15 year-old kid, a hot girl throwing Monster out of the side of her truck is an exciting brand experience.

As always, everything depends on your product’s image and its target. The only thing the Monster girl did wrong her (at least in terms of marketing) is yell towards the wrong target.

By: To Sample or Not to Sample | Tetulia Teas

To Sample or Not to Sample | Tetulia Teas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:20:31 +0000

[...] Along with reading the tea blogs, I was also reading some general marketing blogs and one in particular really made an excellent point. Big Slice of Awesome pointed out that you can’t just shove samples down your could be customers throats. ( I encourage you to read this blog post…). [...]

By: john moore (from Brand Autopsy)

john moore (from Brand Autopsy) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:05:49 +0000

Neal … thanks for the shout-out. This sampling topic is something I worked on a lot back in my Starbucks days.

From internal studies, we knew for every 5 samples we passed out, 1 sale would be generated. We also knew that ACTIVE sampling is far better than PASSIVE sampling.

In my book on how Starbucks did what it did (called TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE and available at all major booksellers), I shared the following about ACTIVE & PASSIVE Sampling:

Perhaps the most critical factor in how you sample is whether it’s passive or active. Customers experience two types of sampling at Starbucks—passive sampling and active sampling. Passive sampling happens when customers help themselves to a product sample that is sitting on a table or near the main register. Active sampling occurs when a store partner serves samples to customers and engages them in conversation. Active sampling is by far the best way to connect with customers and drive sales.