thesher 2.0

I think it is unlikely that it will work again in the same way. One of the keys to the success of the last voucher was the timing – Christmas.
We (British consumers) have been conditioned to look for bargains, particularly at Christmas, and particularly in wine. One of the things that made the “virus” work was that it fed on that herd instinct to shop for a deal. I doubt that any other time of the year would generate the same drive to shop.
Also, it relied on a misunderstanding of the every day deal Thresher offer (effectively 33.33% discount compared to 40%) and this was covered, latterly, by several media. The result was that some shoppers felt cheated. Not the best way to try and hook them in again.
Your blog, and the Stormhoek brand, are great assets, and I think you could come up with another incentive that was a little bit different this time and one that maybe focused on something other than the discount-mania of current wine marketing, no?

Discounting doesn’t seem very imaginative to me. Everybody likes a good deal, but what is it really doing to build brand value? It may actually be devaluing the brand.

Coupons like the voucher work best when they are special, unexpected, and rare. Once people begin to expect coupons, the discounted price becomes the expected price and people shift buying habits to wait for the promotions, which depresses the average price, with potentially minimal or no increase in sales.
This was the perspective that shaped Wal-Mart’s everyday low prices, which they credit for a large part of their success over the K-Mart “coupon economy”, where the coupon distribution costs more than outweighed the promotional value.
So, you might get a good response, but every time you tap the excitement, you lessen its potential. I’d wait several years before trying it again.

Too much of a good thing? I think people “went” for the Threshers voucher because they thought they were getting one over on a “big” company. Threshers were certainly happy with the PR etc no matter what they said.
Robert is right that the blog and Stormhoek brand are great assets – if you wanted some PR from this then i would consider writing up the story for a newspaper – the “My mistake cost Threshers £xm” type article. Won’t obviously have the same impact but would give you some exposure.
If you were going to do the voucher again then i think it needs to be pitched differently to consumers. The message should be along the lines of “we made a mistake before and it worked out well in the end. This time we know what to expect (so shelves will be stocked) and we want you to pass it on to as many people as possible.”
I’m not sure it is going to work but you need to be honest with consumers as to why you are running the deal again.

Make it 80% off and you’ll be on the news again.

IMHO the very thing that made the last campaign a success may be the thing that kills the viral effect .
With baked-in fame, sure you’ll get plenty of repsonse, but as good as before? I’m not so sure. People are wise to it. For me, what makes the viral concept work is the WOW factor.
Unless you came up with another totally unique viral idea, I would struggle to see how it can be anywhere near as successful as the previous version.

Hugh,
Screw the naysayers – where’s my frigging voucher….?!!
C’mon. Gimme the damned thing I need my Stormhoek fix.

Hugh, long time reader first time writer (always wanted to say that sort of thing)…
I’m unfamiliar with your previous discount (discounting your current post) but would seriously weigh the value of your objectives before doing this.
If you are trying to get publicity and eventual brand recognition for Stormhoek, then this is probably not the way to go as old news is no news. If you want to bump up your sales (at the cost of margin) then yeah do it…
I like what you have done with your blog. It’s the only means that I’ve looked at your company brand and it has a positive effect on me. Should I see a Stormhoek brand here in Mpls. MN I’ll probably give it a shot.
Overall, my advice is to improve your brand and products through what you’ve done on your blog. Any marketer worth his/her salt knows that steadily devaluing your brand is product suicide. Update us on what you decide though!
R.ed

Hmm, When I first heard about the vouchers, it wasn’t in relation to stormhoek or anything. It was apparently this voucher that had been ‘leaked’ and that normal consumers weren’t meant to have.
So a bunch of people had a go to see if they could get away with it.
If you tried it again now, I don’t think the same would happen. People would sense that it had been done on purpose more, and so I don’t think would jump at it as quickly.
It might still have an effect, but I don’t think it would be anything like the same degree.

Go for it – but with a different slant. Highly time sensative? For Stormhoek bottles only?

Henceforth this Robert shall be known as: The Bob Formerly Known As Robert
I actually prefer to be called Robert. So that is it then. I remain he, and all you other Roberts can scrap amongst yourselves for another monicker.
MacLeod, where are the bloody vouchers? Hurry up, the cellar is emptying fast!

If you can offer 40% off to everyone with a printer and still be profitable, you are probably charging too much. Why not give everyone those reasonable prices all the time, instead of pushing vouchers and getting slammed with orders a couple times a year? Even out the cash flow with steady business.

Over the last few months when I give presentations on social media, small world experiments etc I mention the voucher. I would say 50 – 60% of the audience heard of it but less than 15% took it up. Reasons for non-take up are varied but ‘never got around to it as Xmas shop in x’ is high up the list.
I would say you ‘lost’ sales as many bottles went into the main Xmas food shop at Tesco’s, Sainbury’s et al.
Try it. What have you got to lose? Even £1m in extra sales will give you a great ROI.
Put an extra Easter bonus in it. Do a Willy Wonka. Find the special label to enter a draw for a free trip to South Africa to help pick the grapes and make the wine. 10 runners up get original cartoons from you and 3 get a meal with S staff in London (WineGeeks meet TechGeeks?). Go have fun with it. Life is too short not too.

One final comment that i should have made in regard to…
Quote “If you can offer 40% off to everyone with a printer and still be profitable, you are probably charging too much. Why not give everyone those reasonable prices all the time, instead of pushing vouchers and getting slammed with orders a couple times a year? Even out the cash flow with steady business.”
Its not all about that.. for me as a manager i was faced with on the last coupon many many customers that had never been in a threshers before.. That was my opportunity to sell my shop as a business and myself as a manager.. At the time i had buy 2 get 3rd free prices around the store so i simply told them to take another 10% off.. i was honest with them from the start.. 99% of those people who had never visited did not even know we did the offer.. So i was able to make them aware… AND THEY CAME BACK…
My margin over the period was hammered.. But to me its about getting people in.. then if i do MY job i can impress them enough with my ability and my knowledge to hopefully STOP them going back to tesco or majestic or wherever it may be… THAT IS WHERE THE MONEY IS MADE.. not on the vouchers..
Again.. only my opinion.. 😀