I was taken aback when reading this NYT piece on Starbucks loyalty card

Jeffrey D. Lipp, president and chief executive of Chockstone. His company helps customers, including some Starbucks competitors, build and run their own loyalty programs.

What he has found is that it doesn’t take a lot to get diners, for example, to do what restaurants want. One Chockstone gambit involves using the customer’s receipt to make an offer. Return within 10 days, perhaps, and you can get a free dessert, the slip says.

“It’s amazing this stuff works so well,” Mr. Lipp said. “What we’ve found is that people can be bought for a cookie.”

Pardon? You’re an expert in loyalty, but you refer to people being bought? It’s such a Winston Smith moment when the word loyalty – in the context of companies inducing you to return – has no connection with the actual meaning of the word “A feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection.” I guess brand and loyalty are completely divorced in the modern corporation.

Note: the picture above comes from our local Safeway store where I have developed an almost Pavlovian association with their free cookie box, which has sat behind the bakery counter to be reached into by slightly sneaky customers. Avoiding sweets most of the time has really pumped up the anticipation I feel when I head to Safeway to pick up groceries or visit the ATM.

So I was stunned to see the sign and realize the free ride was over. If they’ve got me making such a powerful emotional/gustatory association with visiting their store, isn’t that worth a few boxes of cookies per day?

And so, am I being bought for a cookie? I don’t know, really. But the timing of the outrageous quote in the article and the outrageous sign at Safeway suggest some dystopian cookie Happening may be upon us. I’ll keep you all posted.

Tags: cookie, free, loyalty, safeway, starbucks

2 Responses to “Cookie Monsters”

Steve,

It’s along the same lines as calling workers “associates” and then paying them less than you spend on dog food every week.

Well before attention deficit became a national disorder and American Idol existed, Charles Derber wrote a flawed but interesting book called The Pursuit of Attention, where he claims that Americans are starved for attention and would do almost anything to get it. I noticed I recently began re-thinking my almost total disdain form certain chain stores — but now that I live in a place that lacks alternatives, I use them — and because the service folks at the local Blockbuster and Panera are incredibly nice. You could survive for a week on the size of samples at our Panera and NO ONE says anything if you go back for seconds or thirds. In fact, they smile and encourage you. I have seen it (but not yet been brave enough to do it. besides, I’m cutting back on carbs).

To people like Jeffrey Lipp, we’re all potential stepfords. That’s not loyalty, it’s mind control.

Comment by Alice 06.12.08 @ 6:27 pm





Thanks for the impassioned response, Alice.

Certainly one of the reasons that qualitative research works as well as it does is that people definitely respond to being listened to; I feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people I meet and I try to consider them as real people and in return they respond to being listened to by really helping me understand something that will help my clients. But that dynamic could certainly be co-opted.

I like your description of, at least in part, what loyalty might feel like from the customer’s point of view.

Comment by Steve Portigal 06.12.08 @ 7:42 pm