teachthe4ps.com - teaching the 4 ps

Here’s another example of a marketer experimenting with social media.  This article (“Rubbermaid Social Media Effort Thinks Inside the Container,” ClickZ, October 8, 2009) describes how Rubbermaid gave a popular blogger (Leanne Ely – a nutritionist and author) a kitchen makeover.  Ely then blogged about the makeover experience and was able to offer Rubbermaid coupons to her 50,000 readers.  The article provides links to Ely’s blog and specific results of downloaded coupons.  This example shows how easy it is to measure results from certain types of online promotions.

“A Clip-and-Save Renaissance,” The New York Times, September 23, 2009.  There are lots of stories about how increasingly frugal consumers are responding to the current economic downturn.  Coupon redemption has declined since its peak in 1992, but in 2008 and 2009 that trend seems to be reversing.  The article offers examples that could be used in discussions of consumer behavior, the economic environment, segmentation, and pricing.