By Andrés Uribe, Expedition PR
New York City’s cupcake icon, Magnolia Bakery, stepped up their marketing recently with a key partnership with MasterCard and participation in the Priceless Surprises and MasterPass programs.
Kicking off the partnership, Magnolia Bakery participated in a Priceless Surprises campaign with MasterCard on January 31st. Through the campaign, MasterCard holders were offered a free cupcake at any US based Magnolia Bakery location just for showing their card. The campaign was so successful that Magnolia Bakery saw a 38% spike in sales on that day and was able to attribute 30% of that spike directly to the campaign. Their participation was part of an even bigger campaign where MasterCard was randomly choosing customers who shared moments over Instagram with the hashtag ‘#PricelssSurprises’ and giving them anything from free tickets to the Oscars, Justin Timberlake tickets, and more. Although no stats were given, one can presume that Magnolia Bakery also enjoyed a huge social media spike as customers used their free cupcakes to enter to win some of these bigger prizes.
In an ongoing effort to keep up with the mobile payments trend and make it as easy as possible for customers to purchase a cupcake, Magnolia Bakery will be participating in the MasterPass program. MasterPass allows customers to pay for goods by simply logging into their account with stored payment methods and paying a business how they choose. To use this MasterPass option, customers will have to download the Magnolia Bakery mobile app that is currently in development. By downloading the app, customers will be able to participate in the Magnolia Bakery mobile rewards program for free cupcakes based on how much they frequent the store.
While future generations may never have seen or even hear of Sex and the City, these updated marketing efforts show big strides by Magnolia Bakery to cement their place as an iconic New York City bakery and a must stop for your cupcake fix.