The Story

The notion of “try before you buy” has practically been around since the dawn of the dollar. What’s different nowadays is that marketers aren’t waiting for customers to come to their house to experience and test products. No, ma’am. They’re catching consumers in captive settings that are authentic, surprising, and most importantly not so pushy.

Nike’s traveling Trial Van (currently charming the peds of hundreds of Europeans as we speak) is a perfect example. Offering its 1,000-pair inventory to test-run, bottles of water and advice, the shoe-store-on-wheels is strategically parked at popular roadsides frequently clocked by runners. That’s probably the last thing I’d expect to see on a run, but it’s sure the most welcome.

And over the recent holidays, Proctor and Gamble’s Charmin brand successfully made thousands of positive New Yorker impressions with something you typically can’t find enough of during the shop ’til you drop madness: restroom facilities completely decked-out with baby changing areas, stroller parking, seating accommodations, and of course, rolls and rolls of Charmin’s squeezably softest.

Bank marketing and credit union marketing world, where’s your special trial offers and experiences? Show ‘em what makes your whatever better.

After all, tryer’s remorse is so much better than buyer’s remorse.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 at 9:54 am and is filed under Kick Ass Ideas & Musings, Bank Marketing, Touch points, Experiential Marketing, Credit Union Marketing, Bank marketing plan, Multisensory Marketing and 5 Senses Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.