Don’t ask Johnny Earle, founder and CEO of Johnny Cupcakes, if his company sells cupcakes. It doesn’t!
Founded by Earle in 2001, Johnny Cupcakes is a successful clothing brand that uses cupcakes as the prominent design motif of its merchandise, often replacing iconic symbols with cupcakes. The brand’s insignia is skull and crossbones, with a cupcake silhouette replacing the skull.
Loyalty360 caught up with Earle to learn how his company uses mobile and social media to impact customer engagement.
How do mobile and social media play into your customer engagement strategy?
It’s worked wonders! From contests, to learning about what our customers want from us, to promoting special events and new products. More than anything, it allows me to have a conversation with our customers from around the world!
Once before going to bed, I posted on Twitter: “The first four people to show up at each of my stores with their faces painted red gets a FREE T-shirt!” So many people showed up the next day with red faces, and I totally forgot to tell my employees about this. They were quite freaked out when opening the doors to the store!
Whenever I’m traveling, I tend to bring a sack of T-shirts with me. I will post on my social media: “I’m at the corner of this street and that street! The first seven people to find me will get a FREE T-shirt of their choice!” BAM! Within minutes, our loyal customers dash over and have a fun, personal experience that they will never forget.
When I was traveling through San Francisco once, I posted online: “Show up at Blondie’s Pizza wearing a Johnny Cupcakes T-shirt, and I’ll personally treat you!” I thought maybe 12 people would show up ... Whoa! HUNDREDS of loyal customers came out with their unique Johnny Cupcakes T-shirts on. Although we could not fit in the pizza shop, I walked up and down the line of people, personally giving them dinner! This was less of a marketing idea, and more of: “Hey! I’m thankful for these customers! I want to treat them to dinner!”
How often do people think you sell cupcakes?
Every single day! You know what I say to them? “Well, Apple doesn’t sell fruit, and Hello Kitty doesn't sell pets!” I’m just kidding, haha. But yes, we do have terrible reviews on some of those food websites from upset customers. However, whether they leave upset and hungry or happy with a T-shirt, 100% of the people who leave my retail stores leave with an experience and a story to share.
On April Fools’ Day, we did hide all of our T-shirts and we decided to sell real cupcakes for one day only. We had customers who drove from NYC to Boston to visit our Newbury Street shop, and they were so confused and kind of annoyed that they couldn’t buy a T-shirt, haha. Someday, I will open up a shop across the street from my store, called ‘Johnny’s T-Shirts’ and we will only sell cupcakes!