The other night, I caught an episode of CBS's Undercover Boss, a show in which, if you haven't already heard (hopefully, you have, as your CEO could be lurking--perhaps even watching you now as you read this, posing as an interested temp as he scribbles a mental note, "This guy likes to read blogs when he should be working . . . fired!") features CEOs of Fortune 500 companies—never mind—I just explained the entire premise of the show.

Anyway, this particular episode trailed Chris McCann, the President and little brother of Jim McCann, the CEO of the largest floral and gift company in the world, 1-800-Flowers. [An aside: the best scenes came when Jim treats Chris like they're both 9 years old again, going so far as to almost blow Chris' cover in a stunt to embarrass him in front of people that technically work for him. Classic!].  The episode proceeds as most do. Boss finds some bad. Boss finds more good. Boss hands out promotions/gentle coaching.  However, one particular scene made my "hey-Balihoo-could-own-that-if-given-the-chance" light bulb go off. Yes, I have that light bulb. Jealous?


Shortly after this scene was shot, Chris was almost fired by this lady! No joke!

The scene involves Chris visiting a franchise that recently went from locally-owned to a 1-800-Flowers branded florist shop. When the manager of this particular store was asked why the store was struggling, she stated simply, "people just don't understand we're the same shop, with a different name, especially since we aren't involved in local advertising." DING!  Enter Balihoo.  With Balihoo actively enabling breakthrough local store marketing, that store, and other 1-800-Flowers franchises just like it, would have been quickly outfitted with the tools neccessary to get their store performing optimally.  

So, Mr. McCann (and others just like you) . . . can I get you our local marketing playbook?