Ecotique Spa & Salon has cooked up an interesting campaign; they’re handing out $50 gift cards to any self-confessed Vancouver rioter. Read about it here. Their argument that all the rioters need is something to help them relax, is an interesting one, but I don’t think that it’s the actual rioters that they’re targeting at all.
Looking at this campaign, it seems to me that Ecotique is targeting everyone but the actual rioters. Of course free gift cards and samples are usually seen as shaping, a form of learning that influences a consumer’s behaviour, but their seems to be something bigger at play here. I don’t think that they’re trying to actually get rioters through their doors; I think that they’re trying to spark CONVERSATION about their brand through shock value. What gets people talking more than controversy?
However, only time will tell whether the publicity will pay off. Many people are offended by the campaign, insisting that this incentive isn’t just a way to try to get rioters to turn themselves in, but that it’s a reward for their actions.
If I could, I would get inside their top marketer’s head and ask so many questions. Are you trying to approach this as a form of cause-related marketing? Is this simply a strange form of shaping? Or are you really just trying to turn on the most effective marketing tool of all: Word of Mouth?
I look forward to seeing how this campaign unfurls…