Trophy Cupcakes and Partaaay!

Caution: this next sentence is superfluously long. While I personally don't understand the (relatively) recent surge of stand-alone sugary dessert shops and the ensuing fanaticism that has followed (I personally would prefer to enjoy something like this to commemorate surviving another year on this planet) you've got to hand it to Trophy Cupcakes and Party when it comes to utilizing social media to promote their product. For years they've been ahead of their local direct competitors in terms of online customer engagement and their efforts have awarded them significant press on blogs, television and WoM.

By aggressively being both present and relevant on the interwebs (facebook, twitter, yelp, et cetera (when you write out et cetera it makes you sound extra smart)) while upholding a sort of brand cohesion they've done well. Also, you'd be hard pressed to avoid the ubiquitous references to the owner's appearance on the Martha Stewart show.

All that said, when one takes the time to peruse their tweets/updates/reviews one can't help but notice that Trophy's communication style consists of mostly one-sided promotional messages. By NOT enabling enough two-way conversations or fostering a forum for discourse between customers, Trophy is missing out on opportunities to create more WoM buzz around their brand, which is especially important to local, community-oriented businesses like restaurants, cafes and catering. Maybe that's the difference between brands that grow and brands that explode...?