7 Crazy Examples Of Limited Edition Marketing
Scarcity sells. This is an age-old belief leading brands — especially for luxury goods — to churn out limited edition products year after year. This marketing strategy is used by companies internationally and there are examples aplenty of brands who have made an effort to capture their target audience’s attention with exclusive products! From limited edition cars to limited edition perfume bottles, just how effective is scarcity as a marketing strategy?
Here are 7 Crazy Examples of Limited Edition Marketing to give you a better perspective.
1...Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon
If you are a true blue Bourbon lover, then there is little chance that you haven’t heard of Pappy Van Winkle. The bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve are available as 15-year old versions, 20-year old versions and 23-year old versions. Priced at $80-$250 in the retail market, the range of the rare bourbon can escalate up to $750-$5000.
A supreme ageing process, the blissful taste and several awards to its credit, make the bottle of Pappy’s a much-sought after product till date. Add to this the fact that the company releases a very short supply of 7000-8000 bottles per year, thus retaining its exclusivity for only a handful of people.
Such is the craze for Pappy Van Winkle, that it recently announced a lottery! The brand of premium bourbon is also the blue-eyed-boy on black markets. Sample this – in 2014, it was available for $657 for the 15-year old bottle, $986 for the 20-year old bottle and a sweeping $1,677 for a 23-year old one.
2...Coca-Cola Daft Punk Bottles
In 2010, Coca-Cola collaborated with Mika to come up with Daft Punk bottles. Launched in two different colors – gold and silver, the bottles based on the helmets worn by the French duo. Available in a collector’s box and through Colette in the French capital, Paris, the bottles still hold immense value and are available for sale on eBay.
3...Toys R Us Comic-Con Exclusives
Toys R Us regularly brings out limited edition toys for the San Diego Comic-con every year. Each year sees a new line-up of toys with 2016 convention being no exception to the rule. Avid collectors could take their pick from exclusive collection of toys including Star Wars, Halo, Transformers etc., which were displayed at a booth in the comic-convention 2016. However, items that weren’t sold were later sold online and at selected stores.
4...Limited Edition Sports Gear
When we talk about limited edition merchandise, it would be unfair not to mention anything from the world of sports, where many big brands eye bigger events to showcase their products. For Euro 2016, Puma unveiled special cleats called evoPOWER Euro 2016 Celebration Pack soccer cleats. Limited to just 384 pairs, the cleats featured silver metallic and black colors with pink and yellow touch in the left and the right shoe respectively.Available for about 300 dollars, the shoes cost about 100 dollars more than the regular evoPOWER collection by the brand.
5...Omega Olympic Collection Rio 2016
Limited edition watches are quite commonplace and they are often offered by luxurious brands. Recently, Swiss watchmakers OMEGA released three exclusive timepieces to honor the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. For people who regularly add branded watches to their collection, these special were a must-have addition.
6...Starbucks Tumblers
Starbucks is in the news again for its controversial Holiday themed cups. But this may not have any adverse effect on its popularity in Japan.
Additionally, Starbucks carries a number of special edition tumblers exclusively at their corresponding locations. These exclusive tumblers feature famous landmarks from 13 different cities in unique designs.
7...Cadbury Spectacular 7
Are you a Cadbury fan? The delicious British chocolates have whet the appetites of millions with their milk chocolate treats. Last year, the confectioners came up with an interesting concept of “Cadbury Dairy Milk Spectacular 7”, in which they offered several flavors (Caramel, Whole Nut, Fruit & Nut, Turkish Delight, Oreo, Daim bar and the original Dairy Milk) in a single chocolate bar.
While this in itself was enough to get people flocking to stores, Cadbury made just 50 of these bars and marketed them on Twitter! The reason being the fact that each of the bars is incredibly difficult to make. For this purpose, food artist Prudence Staite to ensure the chocolates were carefully handmade and curated in a studio kitchen.
From these examples, it is evident that limited marketing stands to be a clear winner. Also, when a product belongs to the luxury brands bracket, then this strategy becomes a bit easier as they already have a target user base who are willing to spend on an extravagantly priced product. This form of marketing is also tweaked to suit other industries to suit their budget and business goals.
Know of any other limited edition product examples that should be on this list? Let us know!
