Insomnia Cookies

 Hello all.

For this blog post, I have chosen the cookie shop chain Insomnia Cookies. I myself am not a cookie connoisseur, but their presence stands out on Monroe street, right across from OSU (this is important for later). There are some dessert locations in Corvallis, but most of them are small businesses. Knowing that Insomnia Cookies is a franchise, I decided to do some research on their origin and presence in the marketing world. I was also curious as to why they were called that. Upon further investigation, I discovered many positive reviews on their cookies and services.

The value proposition of Insomnia Cookies is actually abbreviated in the description of all their social media platforms: "Warm. Delicious. Delivered."

The cookie chain's value proposition is warm and remarkably delicious cookies, able to be delivered at an obnoxious time of night. They represent a highlight to somebody's day (or night). They also value inclusivity, including a few vegan and gluten-free options for those with dietary restrictions, so that certain demographics are not barred from enjoying their value proposition.

Some background: Insomnia Cookies started out as a dorm-based late-night cookie delivery service 

in the University of Pennsylvania. From the start, Insomnia Cookies' primary target has been college students pulling all nighters. They have less locations than competing dessert chains like Crumbl Cookies, but often than Crumbl, Insomnia Cookies can be located near universities, as students have been their #1 target demographic from the start. Fortunately, that is not to say they don't have something for everyone.

I found that their social media presence is largely positively responded to. Most of their posts are either satire jokes/skits surrounding their products and cookie drop announcements. Shown below, on Instagram, they recently made a post where they reminded consumers that they offered a free cookie for signing up for their rewards app.

Someone then replied with 

This response indicates that not only are the cookies are praised for their flavor, but that this kind of marketing tactic is effective and thoughtful, though simple.

Another person on Insomnia's Instagram expressed some distaste about their service.

This review speaks for itself, and unfortunately, they have not replied. From a customer's perspective, this is not an example of good customer service.

Perhaps Crumbl Cookies is Insomnia Cookies' biggest competitor. They market differently and have a wider outreach and greater presence. However, it is not uncommon to see disappointment on social media when it comes to the quality of Crumbl's cookies. Perhaps, this is what the person in the TikTok comment on their page shown above was referring to. This just one of the examples of positive earned media for Insomnia Cookies.

Insomnia Cookies does most of their marketing through social media, posting trendy content while keeping themselves at the center of their page. They make posts with pop culture memes and even skits, so they incorporate storytelling in their marketing, but also they have been founded for over twenty years and have visibly made an effort to change the direction of their marketing.

While Insomnia Cookies' products generally get a good rap, and they have a regular way of marketing through social media and post relatable and engaging content, it seems as though they rarely put in effort in engaging with the customers asides from liking comments. When a critical review is written, they seem to not notice it, and the engagement in their comment sections is low. They have a friendly face and their website and menu has a personal tone to it, but still, their online presence seems to be one-sided. For this reason, I would say that their biggest challenge is to up their social media engagement. It would open up a plethora of opportunities if their customers found incentive to share their work. Crumbl Cookies, their biggest competitor, is better at this tactic, constantly responding to comments in creative ways.

If I was the brand manager, or even so much as the social media intern, I would shed a little bit more effort and time towards actual engagement with consumers, and maybe less on content creation. For example, Duolingo's social media is filled with comedic relief responses from the owl mascot, and that works very well for reaching people of the near same demographic. I think that collaboration with other brands or  celebrities would work very well in their favor, as that is another way to reach the audience of contemporary pop culture. One other key element that I think the team for Insomnia Cookies is missing is relating with their consumers more through sharing their story. Many successful companies like to share their stories through their social media, websites, or even on the boxes of their products. I think that the story of how Insomnia Cookies came to fruition is a remarkable one, because it is inspirational: a student starts a small business catering to peers' needs, which eventually explodes in popularity, turning it into a million dollar company. Insomnia Cookies isn't some industry plant. I think that if they unraveled it for the public a little more, it has a lot of potential to bring them more positive attention.