Have you ever received that chain letter email about Niemen Marcus charging some poor, unknowing woman $250 for their cookie recipe, when the woman understood it to only be $2.50 for the recipe? And the woman was so angered by NM’s lack of customer service, she sent the story out to everyone she knew, asking for help to spread the word? If you know what I’m talking about, be so kind as to skip down past the italics. And if you haven’t received it, here’s a version of it from my own inbox (typos and idiosyncrasies included as is) :

When decent people get screwed over, this is the result!

A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don’t know already, is a very expensive store; they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00.

Let’s let them have it! THIS IS A TRUE STORY!

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the ‘Neiman-Marcus cookie.’ It was So excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, ‘I’m afraid not, but you can buy The Recipe.’ Well, I asked how much, and she responded, ‘ Only two fifty – it’s a Great deal!’ I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my Tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus Charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf.

As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, ‘Cookie Recipe-$250.00.’ That was outrageous! I called Neiman’s Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was ‘two-fifty’, which clearly does not mean ‘two hundred and fifty dollars’ by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, ‘What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point.’ I just said, Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I’m going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus…for free. She replied, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do this.’ I said, ‘Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!
NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter
24 oz. Chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. Soda (baking)
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie Sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Yes, it’s okay to admit that you did receive it, believe it and in fact pass it along to everyone you know in hopes that you could out this big, bad, greedy department store and help this woman get her revenge. Staying true to their brand, with real finesse, this is how Niemen Marcus so appropriately responded on their website: (Pasted from Niemen’s site)

NM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven’t heard the story, we won’t perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It’s a terrific recipe. And it’s absolutely free.”

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
• 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie. Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Visit our Restaurant section for more recipes along with information on cooking classes, catering and restaurant details.

Considering I received this and immediately forwarded the email on to a bunch of my friends without thinking twice about it, it just goes to show how quickly negative PR can spread. Now that we have these global-social-networking-internet tools, information spreads faster than ever before. It’s a good lesson to keep an eye out for what’s being said about your company or brand, and who’s saying it. So you can, as Niemen Marcus gracefully did, respond appropriately. For more background and interesting versions of this “urban myth” check out this entry on Snopes.

Peter Shankman: 4 Rules to Social Media Success

1. Transparency. Be transparent. Admit to your wrongdoings. Fix a problem you caused before it becomes more of a problem. People are 4 to 1 more likely to do business with a company that screwed up and admitted it, than a company who screwed up and got caught.

2. Relevancy. What’s the best way to find out how your audience (your entire audience, everyone in your target) would like to receive information from you?

Ask them.

3. Brevity. Learn how to write. Today, the average attention span is 2.7 seconds-roughly the time it takes to read a text message. That’s all the time you have to reach your audience.

4. Top of Mind. Stay at the front of people’s minds. Take the time to keep in touch. Reach out to your network. Regularly.

Some other interesting takeaways:

. Social media IS customer service; this is the direction we are moving in. If you really want to interact with your customers and fix problems before they become big problems, be one level above mediocre. Respond.

. Raving Fans. As a society, we expect to be treated like crap. Treat your customers one level above crap; treat them well and they’ll become raving fans, and will do your PR for you.

. When something good happens we (as a society) love to be finders. When something bad happens, we (as a society) are never truly miserable until those around us are miserable too. It’s not so much word of mouth, as it is just something we do- it’s the direction we are moving in.

. Say something worth re-tweeting; the loneliest person on Twitter is the person who only talks about himself.

Some useful websites he shared, which we are now sharing.

hitmelater.com This is a great free service for busy people.

filtrbox.com This is a cool web tool for monitoring social media.

peoplebrowsr.com This is another resource for monitoring things people are saying online.

Thanks for the wise words Mr. Shankman. Looking forward to whatever it is you do next.

But the behemoth bright white tents, the freshly cut grass, the celebrity chefs, the scantily clad alcohol promo ladies- all with the wavering aroma of many a food awaiting my taste buds…I must admit it was a little overwhelming. Intimidating even. Not only was there row after row of tents awaiting our ready forks and glasses, but the event also miraculously swapped food exhibitors in and out of said rows throughout the duration of the day. Meaning, by the time you made one lap around the taste course, it was time to start all over again, with an array of new offerings. My first thought was “how are we going to try all of these things in one day?” And my second thought was “will I be able to physically persevere without falling victim to food coma?”

It really was a treat to be sampling dishes from many of the best restaurants our city has to offer, from the very chefs behind those menus. Looking at it from both a consumer and marketer’s mind, a lot of curiosity arose. You can’t ignore the effort and money that goes in to creating an event like this; I wondered, is it necessary for a food company to participate in an event like Chicago Gourmet?

For a restaurant, it’s probably not a bad idea. Although it’s going to put a small dent in your budget, it’s a great opportunity to get in front of someone and do something brilliant. There were a lot of memorable morsels, but some definitely made an impact while others fell to the wayside. It’s a chance to show what your restaurant and brand can serve up that will grab the attention of an entire city’s eating elite. Since being memorable keeps people talking and coming back, I vote yes, worth the investment in an event such as this.

If you are a food manufacturing company, might we suggest partnering with another company or a restaurant for optimal participation? For example, one of our clients donated the buns to a restaurant here in town that was sampling sliders for the day. Without making the financial commitment of renting a tent, staffing a team or putting in the hours of time, they were still able get their name and product on people’s lips, and in their hands.

If you consider yourself a food lover, buy the ticket. Eat and enjoy yourself. It’s a rare occurrence you’ll get to sample various delightful things from a collection of great restaurants (or wineries, or spirits companies, or other food companies) all in one place. Take the time to ask questions-no matter what the takeaway, you’ll learn something new. Chances are that thing you learn will taste really nice also.

In this case, General Mills has decided to develop a product for the 1% of the U.S. population that suffers from Celiac disease (OK, to be fair their research shows about 12% of U.S. households want to eliminate or reduce their gluten intake). For a large corporation like General Mills the target market for these new products would traditionally not bring in the revenue to make it worthwhile. Just ask Ann Simonds, General Mills’ President of Baking Products. She was recently quoted by AdAge.com as saying, “It used to be, as a marketer in the food industry, you needed a $50 million idea to make the business model work. Today, you can meet an unmet need that will be a $5 million business.”

So what has changed? The mass communication outlets. In the past, General Mills’ needed a huge budget for traditional media (TV, Radio, Print, etc), and to support that budget, they needed huge expected sales. Now, using social media, web sites, etc, General Mills can target smaller niches and skip the traditional methods and huge budgets that used to be necessary to promote their product.

So what can the rest of us learn from this (i.e. those of us smaller than General Mills)?

1. Well for one, don’t count the big guy out just because you’re in a niche market. Yes, historically big companies jump into niche markets then later back out, not having made the revenue to make it worthwhile. This may still be the case. But are you willing to sit back and find out? Learn from them and do it better. They may have the deep pockets but smaller organizations have the agility to respond to market needs much faster than our larger colleagues. Which brings me to my next point…

2. Marketing is changing. The old rules don’t always apply. Look at your current marketing methods and ask: “Is my current marketing leading to conversations with my customers?” “Am I broadcasting to my customers or talking to them?” Start thinking of ways that you can engage in conversations with you customers. This can include social media but more importantly research. Finding out what your customers need and want is the first step to the providing products and marketing messages that hit home.

3. Target marketing. The beauty of the new forms of marketing is that it allows us to target customers like never before. Have multiple target customers? Use new marketing tools to talk directly to these separate and distinct targets. You can develop micro-sites, blogs, social media campaigns and pay-per-click ad programs to communicate directly with your specific customers.

In the end, this news can either be a glass half full or a glass half empty proposition. Half full: I can now use the same tools as this big guys and cut into their market share. Half empty: The big guys can invade my market space using new marketing tools. Either way, realize they’re coming, and you’re not safe. So, don’t just use these tools better than the big guys. Do them first. It will be a lot harder for other companies to invade if you’re already soundly entrenched.

Here’s some rambling thoughts on the show from a food perspective:

Natural Products? No Kidding.
Hemp, chia and grass were several of the very, very natural products I saw and tried at the show. Hemp showed up in Hemp Milk. Chia in various granolas and as a topping on yogurt. And, grass? Amazing Grass was promoting its SuperFood energy bar.

Know How To Intro A New Product/Concept
As mentioned above, chia was a food ingredient being touted by several companies. “What is it?” I asked the booth rep of one such company. “You know what a chia pet is?” he asked. Well, yeah, I thought. But, I’ve never wanted to eat a chia pet. The guy manning Dylan’s Chia Granola booth had a much better explanation. It’s a seed that’s high in Omega 3 and tasty in granola. Now, that made way more sense. Dylan’s seems to understand that they’ll need to separate themselves from the famous Cha-Cha-Cha Chia pet.

Best Use of Social Media
Linda at the Tanka Bar booth was tweeting (you know, as in twitter) people’s comments after they sampled the company’s dried buffalo and cranberry bars–even the negative reviews. Why the bad ones too? Because it enhanced the believability of the positive comments, she told me. And, heck, the posts got me over to the booth to try the product.

Sample That Inspired The Longest Line
Applegate Farms’ Beef Hot Dogs. I’ve seen this phenomenon at other shows too with different vendors. What is it about free hot dogs? The line was three booths long. Makes you feel sorry for the booths being blocked.

Make Room For Stevia
The trend with the best chance of really hitting it big was Stevia. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Probably it’s already hit it big what with Coke & Cargill making Truvia and Pepsi & Merisant, the maker of Equal, producing PureVia. While at the show you could find many products touting their use of the brand, and even some independent growers selling direct, it’s only a matter of time before it ends up in actual Coke and Pepsi products and Stevia expands beyond Natural Products Expo West to grocery and convenience store trade shows.

The Functional Foods Viewpoint
Two functional food companies told me that the category is about to really take off. Their reasoning was based on the economy. Less money and healthcare meant that people were turning to functional foods as a way to stay healthy. Is this a good idea? I don’t know. Nonetheless, a current study predicts a 7% compound annual growth rate for the category through 2012, so there’s no denying the companies were on to something.

My Breaking Point
Some 20 aisles in on Sunday, I started to get a little loopy. The low point came when I walked up to someone at the Amy’s booth and said, “I like your chicken sausage. Are you sampling any?” The woman looked at me funny, “We only produce vegetarian products.” Yeah, um, oops. Turns out I was thinking of Sausages By Amylu (not at the show). So, that was kind of close.

Faux Foods
There were so many foods trying to be something they weren’t. Rice-based meat alternatives. Meatless Chicken Parmigiana. Vegan cheeses and ice creams. Plus, and this is just a rough estimate, a million gluten-free items. It’s amazing the creativity that’s gone in to these “alternatives” and how diverse they’ve gotten. But, is there really a market for all of these? No. How can there be? That’s why these companies will have to fight tooth and nail to capture the minds of those people who are the target and thus, enough market share to stay alive. But, then again, that’s the case with any brand and product, isn’t it?

“Small retailers can bolster sales by targeting wealthier shoppers who are less price-sensitive and may pay premiums for better service…”*

In addition to targeting people with more money (as opposed to those bums you usually do business with), I’d like to offer some additional pearls of wisdom:

1) Make More Money Than You Spend: Businesses often fail because their costs outweigh their income.

2) Sell Stuff For As Much As You Can Get For It: Be careful though. If you price items too high, people may not buy.

3) Keep Your Friends Close And Your Enemas Closer: Wait. That doesn’t sound quite right. But, I guess it still applies. Certainly, my friends don’t want to get in between me and my enemas.

*Incidentally, though the article offered advice for small retail businesses on how to survive this year’s expected down holiday shopping season, it did not provide recommendations on how to find these wealthier shoppers (who they should suddenly target) or give examples of better service items they could offer. Come on, BusinessWeek, you can do much better than to be so generic.