greatest brand promotion ever? tattoo equals lifetime discount.

the simplicity of this promotion makes it genius: get a tattoo of our logo and get 20% off for life. that’s it. the only restrictions are that the logo must be intact and that it is permanent. of course not every brand could get away with this, but it is a great fit for ecko and all thier subbrands. for me as much as i like ecko cut & sew, 20% is definitely not enough to justify getting a tattoo of the logo – even on an “unmentionable” area.

i received this promotion via email, so i’m not sure what other channels ecko is using. however, this promotion just smells of huge potential and opportunity from all angles. i think that it could become a one of the greatest brand promotions ever. it will be interesting to follow and see in which ways they decide to promote it. a recent ad age op-ed piece “do campaign failures, high-profile firings signal the end of social media?” essentially declares campaigns relying heavily on social media for dead. my personal take away has been that traditional is not dead (or even dying to the extent people think) and social media is not always the solution. rather the two need to work together in order to acheive the greatest impact to the bottom line. 100% online and offline integrated campaigns are the future.

what does this mean for the “get a tattoo of our logo and get 20% off for life” promo? have flyers of the promotion in store. encourage people to share the photos on facebook. have a contest of the best tattoos. feature the winners in print ads. the possibilities are endless.