At JDM, we’re equally huge fans of customer acquisition marketing as well as customer retention marketing. Burger King’s "Gold Card" is an excellent example of both types of marketing in the same activity.
The Burger King "Gold Card" entitles its owner to a limitless supply of free food from any Burger King. The card is presented to celebrities who are "good friends" of the Brand.
Jennifer Hudson, for example, was a former employee at Burger King before becoming a celebrity. Robert Downy, Jr. received a gold card after mentioning Burger King in an interview. Jay Leno also has received one and describes the reaction upon flashing his card:
So I ordered my food, and the guy says, "That’s $11" So I say: "Fine, here you go," and hand him the card. His reaction was amazing: "Whoa…where’d you get this?" He was not impressed that I was on "The Tonight Show" or even that I was driving a Porsche Carrera GT. He was more impressed with this piece of plastic.
This is brilliant marketing from BK. It presents the Brand in an accurate light. Creates celebrity customers and uses free publicity to get the word out.
What’s smarter still is that in 2006, BK released the "Burger King Crown Card" to the public. It’s a glorified BK Gift card, but when associated with the real, celebrity-only Gold Card, it’s a powerful incentive.
Gift card and pre-paid card marketers could learn a lot from this kind of prestige marketing.
Learn more about PR as a marketing strategy by registering to download, "Easy Online Public Relations Marketing."
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