OK . . . if you know me, I just LOVE creative ideas.  I’m totally ENAMORED of creative ideas that work.  And I’m just NUTS AS A BUNNY about creative ideas that work and are FUN for the people involved.

That’s how I feel about a very creative (and, effective!) promotion that is being run by a coffee company (similar to Starbucks) that is located in the Netherlands.

Here’s what’s happening . . . 

The Coffee Company serves (no pun intended I assure you!) the younger audience of students who attend university or technical schools in the city of Amsterdam, Holland.  In order to generate ‘Buzz’ (oh, I see this is going to get ugly fast — my apologies in advance) about the Coffee Company, they’ve developed a series of PowerPoint slides that are, well . . . FUN.  Here’s an example of one:

The business made a number of these tongue-in-cheek images, posted them on their website and urge their target audience — University students in Amsterdam — to download them and insert them into their PowerPoint presentations at school.

The Coffee Company then asks their target market members who do this to take a picture (digital, of course) of their using these slides in a classroom setting and then upload the image to the company website or, better yet . . . make a video and upload that to YouTube!  

Check out this example:

WIIFM? 
What’s in it for me?  Excellent question!

We know from psychological studies with white rats (or, college sophomores — it doesn’t really matter!) that what you REWARD will get noticed and if you continue to reward a given behavior (like using a Coffee Company slide in your PowerPoint and posting that online) then you’ll get a COFFEE REWARD in the form of a COFFEESTRIPPENKAART — worth about 21 Euros and good for about 10 ‘Free’ coffees.

Apparently, the promotion is working quite well and EVERYONE in the local university community — and likely beyond — knows about The Coffee Company.

The Beauty in This Promotion
What I find is really commendable about this campaign . . . apart from the fact that it’s working nicely (the brand is being promoted by — and to — the very market segment this company wants as customers) is this . . . it’s ‘cost’ of acquiring all this publicity and promotion is being generated for PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR (OK, so maybe on their Dutch Guilder but you get the idea).  

Think about it . . . this company is getting students to carry out their promotion for 10 cups of coffee!!  And what is the Coffee Company’s true ‘cost’ to provide those 10 cups?  No where near 21 Euros, I know that!

The Take-Away
What I urge you to do is think about what this Coffee Company in The Netherlands has done and ask yourself, ‘How can we do the same KIND of thing for our business?”  If you do, I’ll bet you’ll find that being creative, successful and cost-effective is not only very possible, it’s entirely probable, too.