Quality Service Marketing

Engaging Peeps

In time for Easter, I couldn't resist sharing these Peep links. Yes, I'm talking about THE Peeps (not the abbreviated form of "people" used today, but the confection), manufactured by Just Born in the Lehigh Valley, PA.

Disclaimer: My husband is head of the Lehigh Valley Convention & Visitor's Bureau, and Kim Lilly, VP Marketing, wrote this fantastic Peeps post on their blog.

Because they're manufactured here, I'm used to seeing all sorts of Peep stuff, ranging from our local newspaper's Peeps decorating contest to Just Born's bright yellow Peep Mobile (pictured below) ...and sometimes I forget that they're part of pop culture.  (Did you know that you can now buy Lenox Peeps?)

Whether you consume your Peeps fresh or slightly stale (which is how my husband and I prefer them) or you like to get creative with them, I hope you enjoy them!

Find Your Happy Place

A well-intentioned friend recently sent me one of those “chain” e-mails for women. You know the kind with sometimes uplifting, usually schmaltzy content that asks you to forward the e-mail to all your friends. (Which I rarely, if ever, do.)

Part of this particular message, however, resonated with me. It said:

“Every woman should know where to go … be it her best friend’s kitchen table ... or a charming inn in the woods … when her soul needs soothing.”

I do have a place nearby where I go when my soul & body need soothing, and I call it my happy place. It’s The Shoppes at Premise Maid, complete with ice-creamery, bakery, and chocolate shoppe – the ultimate triple header – and it’s open year round.

I go mostly for the cold “calcium” and to enjoy the wonderful, sweet aroma in the bakery and candy shop. I decompress just sitting outside (weather permitting) while I enjoy my coffee ice-cream and watch the giant inflatable pink flamingos sway gently in the summer breeze, listening to the music (mostly show tunes) piped outdoors, and watching other people enjoying the place.

It’s great that I found my “happy place” just a few miles away. Where’s yours?

Holiday Stuffing

I just finished reading Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by marketing professor Brian Wansink. The book is timely because during the extended holiday season of Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's I find it difficult to manage my food impulses - especially when there are so many wonderful treats available. (Ditto for the time between New Year's, the Super Bowl game & Valentine's Day ... as well as any time throughout the calendar year. And so I joke about being "upscale" instead of overweight.) 

Besides being a great book - it's thought-provoking and a fun read - Mindless Eating contains interesting insight on food marketing: like how our dining experience is influenced by our emotional expectations beyond the sensory ones of sight, smell, taste, and touch.

Wine from where?

My favorite example involves the presentation of the same wine, but with different labels (one from California and one from North Dakota) to two groups of consumers in a fine dining situation. The diners' evaluation of their meals (both groups were given the same food) was predictable. What was surprising, however, was the difference in the amount of food consumed by each group.

The best diet isn't one

Wansink advocates "the best diet is the one you don't know you're on." So my challenge is to be more aware of my mindless consumption and actually do something about it; i.e., take steps to minimize my tendency to consume more food than is needed or wanted regardless of whether I'm hungry.

Mindless Eating, with its companion website is a good start. And it may just kick-start that number one New Year's resolution that most of us make each year.