Lauren and I just walked a couple blocks to Spinelli’s Pizza on 7th Ave between W. 33rd and 34th Street. We had heard there would be free pizza.Unfortunately, we were 20 minutes too late.

Apparently, Snapple is doing its tour of New York and giving away samples of Snapple beverages and on top of that, free slices of pizza to the first 500 guests. The promotion starts at 10:30 AM every day this week until that lucky 500th person is served. The company had been advertising the event on the radio and various news outlets. We only just found out about it this morning–a friend who works in White Plains, NY had sent me the link–and given that we’re usually pretty on top of anything “free” and “pizza” related, we hadn’t expected that 500 people would be there before us munching on pizza at 10:30 AM, even if it is New York.

I’m pretty sure, however, that Snapple probably didn’t even need to pay for radio ads–leak the news onto a few blogs and say the magic words, i.e., “free pizza,” and you can pretty much guarantee an audience. Expectations are up and consumers want something more for their effort and their business (especially in this annoying rain!). Retailers are saying that 30% off is the new list price (Read more about the state of retail in this month’s feature article Selling Out). Knowing that the economy is bad, consumers are taking advantage. It’s a buyer’s market and consumer’s know it–now it’s up to you to give them that deal they’re looking for,whether it’s a temporary discount, or the more lasting solution, better customer service.

So why pizza? “It’s a very New York thing,” explains a Snapple representative, who we spotted pretty easily–she was wearing a Snapple t-shirt. Not bad, knowing your audience is certainly the first step.

After this week’s over, we’ll be on the lookout for reports on how the promotion turned out.