Brand advocacy and Jack Daniels

From: Brand Loyalty: The Holy Grail

Each month, Jack Daniels responds to each of the 14,000 or so letters it receives from its loyal brand users.

Roger Brashears, Director of Marketing for Jack Daniels, believes in taking care of their "ultimate customers" by building community. Since 1956, Jack Daniels has been granting brand loyalists one square foot of Jack Daniels land. Every once in a while, landowners receive correspondence from the company asking permission to utilize their one square foot in some way — such as giving a neighbor the right to hike through, go fishing or hunt varmints.

The occasional acknowledgment of the consumer as stakeholder is a powerful tactic. Mr. Brashears talks about these loyal brand users as being part of the Jack Daniels family. He declined to give further specifics about the landowner program, saying that “family doesn’t talk about family.” Once part of the family, the likelihood of that Jack Daniels drinker switching brands is remote.