The opening of the new shop caused mile long traffic jams and brought chaos to the city.
Now if it had been the opening of a new Apple store or Doctor Who and the Tardis making a special appearance, I could have understood. But this was a shop selling doughnuts. If people were so desperate for a doughnut why didn’t they just go to the local supermarket or bakery where there weren’t any queues?
The answer of course is that the company that owns the doughnut store have terrific branding and had done a great marketing job leading up to the grand opening. This wasn’t just about doughnuts it was about an ‘experience’.
What’s even more remarkable is that we’re living in a time when the anti-obesity message seems to be everywhere. Yet that didn’t put people off. They were prepared to queue for hours to be the first to get a taste of that experience.
So how can we tantalise people’s taste buds and get them through the protection door? No amount of marketing will turn protection insurance into an aspirational product and it’s unlikely that we will be in a situation where we’ll see hundreds of people queuing at advisers’ doors.
However, it would be good to think that there was something extra we could offer people that would make them feel they were getting real value for money and an all round service.
One way is to let people know that some protection products come with additional services such as emotional and practical support.
These services are designed to complement the financial benefits of insurance and for some people they can offer more of a lifeline than the financial payout. Protection insurance is fundamentally about peace of mind. And sometimes the extra help and support that an add-on service can offer is invaluable.
If all else fails we could always start offering a free doughnut with every protection plan bought.
Roger Edwards is managing director at Bright Grey & Scottish Provident
