Mouthwatering marketing in Shoreditch

The past few weeks, I’ve been working in The Tea Building, the former Lipton Tea warehouse, in Shoreditch, E1, an interesting, edgy area: a mixture of dilapidation and gentrification.

There are quite a few new businesses here, but no central gathering place where everyone goes to shop and eat.

So the retailers in the Box Park across the way – literally a shopping centre made out of shipping containers – have a big challenge to attract customers.

Last week Crussh Juice Bars showed them how it’s done. The takeaway food chain, which sells fresh juice, smoothies, wraps and soups, recently opened a new outlet in the park.

Now, what do most food outlets do when they set up? They usually just hand out flyers for special introductory offers, or have staff standing outside offering samples to passersby.

Crussh took a different, bold and, to my mind, very smart approach. It arranged with the agency where I’m freelancing (BD Network) to come in and serve free lunch to all the staff. There must be at least 150 people working at BD Network, and all could sample a wide selection of Crussh’s delicious products.

Marketing doesn’t get more direct than that. And it explains why Crussh is expanding so quickly around London. I wish them luck in Shoreditch.