The last time we saw a queuing frenzy was during the McDonald’s Hello Kitty days and it started with one simple strategy. Put a line in place, and sooner (rather than later), people’s curiosity will be suitably piqued, and before you know it, voila! you’ve got scores of queues sprouting all over the island. Provided of course, the products being queued for are worth the backbreaking efforts. Never mind the wasted food, all consumers wanted were matching Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel (god awful creatures if you ask me) pairs, which I can bet, are currently collecting dust at the back of the store.
So recently, another queuing frenzy sprung up. Its grand opening saw people lining up for over three hours. All this fuss SANS any form of advertising, promotion gimmicks or any other sneaky marketing ploy. Donut Factory was a sleeper hit, runaway success, a 15-hit wonder (it has 15 flavours to tantalise foodies’ appetites.) Which begs me to wonder – how did it manage to get people to queue on its first day? The free smells? The aesthetics of the donuts? I took the liberty of having a profound discussion with Gary, our very able marketing manager, on the possible secret marketing tactics employed by Donut Factory. Guerilla marketing is the new kid on the block, and companies are beginning to see the effectiveness of this low-cost technique. As long as there are no legal implications, who’s stopping companies from getting creative in their publicity endeavours? So we concluded that perhaps the first 5 to 10 people have been ‘rewarded’ for queuing, given either monetary or gifts (boxes of donuts) incentives. Whatever it is, it’s interesting to speculate, observe and marvel. This little donut stand has set tongues wagging (every single small talk I’ve encountered will somehow find its way to discussing Donut Factory) and till today, queues still snake along the basement of Raffles City.
I wonder what will happen to it once the cult hit Krispy Kreme hits the local malls. But of course it takes one brave and dripping rich entrepreneur to kick start that – it costs at least USD 30 million to bring over a franchise of this American brand. Yes, that’s almost SGD 60 million to sell dough. At the risk of sounding like an African-American hip hop poseur – you need dough to sell dough, honey!
I need to score an interview with Gunter Rahim, the owner of Donut Factory.
Hidayah
