Roll With It
To launch a new product early next year, Cinnabon is considering double-dipping on a direct mail strategy from last year that got a 4.5% response rate from small businesses near its shops.
Between November 2008 and January 2009, the mall-based bakery chain sent out a test of 65,000 mail pieces to local businesses of five to 50 employees located within two miles of its 98 outlets. The mailing consisted of a wall poster with discount coupons for different size packages of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. Recipient companies could put the poster up in common areas to entice employees to try Cinnabon pastries, says Geoff Hill, president of the Atlanta-based company.
“We wanted to find a way to get the word out around the malls on a very low budget,” Hill says. “So we piloted this program with Money Mailer.”
Cinnabon chose to target smaller businesses like car dealers or locally based retailers because it feared larger companies might be less inclined to display the coupon posters, says Hill.
“It’s a matter of creating a format that has multiple coupons on it that can be stuck on a board and, quite simply, spending money on one mail piece that can be delivered to 20 people at the same time,” says Steven Gray, COO of Money Mailer, which created the mail package.
Hill notes Cinnabon generated at least a 4.5% response rate to this mailing. But he cautions the figure might be a little low, since Cinnabon outlets are franchises run by independent businesspeople who don’t always react as quickly as corporate would like.
Nevertheless, “everybody sent us something, so when I see a little over 4.5% I know that there was more,” says Hill. “We just can’t quantify exactly how much more.” Looking forward, Hill sees direct mail as part of his company’s long-term strategy and “not just a one-time event.”
Got a direct mail tip to share? Contact Larry Riggs at [email protected]
