This story appears in the
July 2001 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Your granny may call all the time, but it's not every day
you get a call from the Granny. About 5,000 corporate
gift-buyers nationwide received holiday messages from Granny
(84-year-old Pauline Goldberg) in a recent marketing stunt
orchestrated by Josh and Seth Frey, 29 and 30 respectively,
co-founders of Granny's Goodies Inc., a corporate gift-service
company in Alexandria, Virginia.
The voice mail was a comical dialog between Granny and Josh.
"After we sent [it]," says Josh, "people called
back, laughing and saying, 'We got the message; it was
hilarious.'" The campaign proved an effective way to stand
out with existing and potential corporate customers during the busy
holiday season, when most of the Freys' competitors invest in
seasonal catalogs for customers.
In a break from tradition, the Frey brothers concentrated
instead on directing traffic to their Web site via direct-marketing
pieces and follow-up voice-mail greetings from Granny. The stunt
worked. It also prompted the busiest fourth quarter in company
history.
"We thought it would be fun to do something creative that
people would remember," says Josh. If we hadn't yet
established a relationship with them, maybe they'd give us a
shot. If we had, it would at least entertain them and remind them
to buy from us again."
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