Newly branded giraffe bread has recently gone on sale in Sainsbury’s after a letter from a 3 year old girl about their tiger Bread went viral.
The letter, sent by Lily Robinson in May 2011 read:
“Why is tiger bread called tiger bread? It should be called giraffe bread. Love, Lily Robinson, aged 3 and 1/2.”
Sainsbury’s customer services staff member Chris King responded with a letter stating that “I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea – it looks much more like the blotches on a giraffe, doesn’t it?”
He went on to say “It is called tiger bread because the first baker who made it a looong time ago thought it looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they were a bit silly.”
The letter also contained a £3 gift card so that lily could “buy some bread and maybe sweets”, and was signed “Chris King – aged 27 & 1/3.” Apparently Chris King has now left the company and returned to university to study to become a primary school teacher.
While Mr King seems to be good with kids, I think he can teach us a keen marketing lesson.
Every customer interaction is an opportunity to market yourself – no matter how small. In this case, social media alone has been enough to make a positive national story out of a simple interaction with a child.
I’d be very interested indeed to find out how sales of giraffe bread are doing. Whether a tiger or giraffe, campaigns like these have legs.
