I am not usually one to increase purchasing because of large promotions, but there is something about this year’s Roll Up the Rim to Win (RUTR) promotion at Tim Hortons that really grabs me. I have never been into it in the past, so why now?
This year it is more than just buying a usual cup of coffee with the thought process of “it would be nice if I won something”, it is a competition among my friends that ironically started by negative word of mouth!
My friend Elisha Allen started complaining that she had bought 8 cups of coffee and hadn’t won anything, when the chances are 1/6. Her facebook, twitter and word of mouth was all about how angry she was at Tim Hortons; Starbucks was better. I didn’t think anything of this until I bought my first RUTR coffee and won another coffee…first try 🙂 I then followed to win a donut from that prize coffee.
I updated my facebook status to make sure Elisha and the world knew about my 2/2 success, and that is when it all took off. The war was on! Now all of our friends are buying more Tim Horton’s than usual, and updating their facebook status’ when they win, just to compete with each other and annoy Elisha …who, determined to get one win, is now at 0/11.
Tim Horton’s sales increased within my group of friends as a result of negative word of mouth!
Promotions such as this one can be a huge success, but they need something extra to really take off, something so organic that it cannot possibly be incorporated into a marketing plan. Customers need a motivation more powerful and intrinsic than winning a prize. It just happens and the corporation must RRROLL with it.