Lily Robinson – Giraffe Bread
Even though we are all aware of the power of social media, it can still take us by surprise when a story captures the public imagination.
Little Lily Robinson aged 3 1/2 wrote to Sainsbury’s about Tiger Bread. Lily felt it should be called Giraffe Bread. Quite right Lily, many of us have thought that, but have we done anything? No, it takes proactive individuals like Lily to take the lead.
Chris King, Customer Manager in Sainsbury’s got his reply so right it appealed not only to Lily but also to her Mum as she posted it on her blog. The reply is certainly charming: Chris agrees with Lily that the pattern is more like a giraffe and he thinks renaming it is a brilliant idea. Chris engages with Lily using simple language and emphasises the word long by his spelling “looong”. Chris signs the letter as a child would, using his age 27 3/4 and, to top it off, he sends a charming gift card and tactfully suggests she may be allowed some sweets. Great marketing in its own right, but when social media is involved, look what happens. The exchange started trending on Twitter but then died down, before it re-emerged on social networks last week and on Facebook it has 40,474 likes and 12,398 shares and counting.
This story has been around the world in seconds; it appeared on my Facebook with the line “I know I am advertising Sainbury’s, but this is so cute!” I have seen the post on sites in America, Hong Kong and Australia. The BBC has even reported on it.
And Sainsbury’s have renamed Tiger Bread, it is now Giraffe bread.
Now that’s what I call Social Media Marketing!
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