Atkins Beefs Up Giveaway Promotion with Largest Budget to Date

Atkins Nutritionals diet program may help people shed pounds, but the brand has packed on the marketing dollars for its first campaign since changing ownership in December.

The direct response campaign centers on a smartly designed free “Starter Kit” that includes three giveaways—a Quick Start Guide, a Chef Recipes booklet, and three Atkins bars—as incentives to get consumers to participate in the diet. And if early returns are any indication, things are looking good. Some 8,000 to 10,000 orders for the kits are being placed daily.

“It’s free and that is a huge hook,” Lisa Wells, Atkins brand manager, said.

The timing for the start of the yearlong program, it began in earnest Jan. 1, catches people just as they are committing anew to start losing weight and shaping up. The strategy is meant to pique people’s interest enough for them to register to receive the giveaways and to start looking around the Web site. They’ll then discover that following the program is free and that they don’t need to buy Atkins’ products to participate, but of course, the ultimate goal is to sell products. The program also pulls in people who have dropped out of the program since they can restart in any of four phases.

“If you understand the program we assume at some point you will want the products,” said Kelly Reedy, creative director and principal, LeeReedy, Denver, which is handling the campaign.

The tagline for ongoing TV spots is, “Get off the diet roller-coaster,” and delivered by spokesperson Courtney Thorne-Smith of “Two and a Half Men.” The 30-second spot will run on 56 cable networks, including A&E, ESPN, Food, Hallmark, OWN and others. Full-page print ads are running in Better Homes & Gardens, Shape, Family Circle, Men’s Journal, Us Weekly and People. Online banners and in-store P-O-P also support.

Atkins tested the promotion last year, also with giveaways, but had a less robust version of the Quick Start Guide and no recipe booklet. About 500,000 people registered over the life of the program, which began Jan. 1, was turned off one month during the summer and in Q4.

This year, spending on broadcast is up 100% over 2010 as part of Atkins largest marketing budget to date. Also new to the Starter Kit this year is a $3 coupon, a carb-counter with an acceptable foods list and a sample two-week meal plan. The influx of budgetary dollars comes after Atkins, last December, was purchased by Roark Capital Group, Atlanta.

“We’re spending a significant amount of money to do this,” Wells said. “But we realized when we did our return on investment that it’s worth it because we’re getting these new and return consumers.”

Part of this year’s success is attributed to knowing quite a bit about the people who registered last year, including where they are located to direct media buys. Once people do join the over 1 million existing Atkins “community” members, their loyalty is encouraged through a weekly newsletter, a continuity program and communications on Facebook and Twitter.

“With the recession we said, why not give people what they need for free to get started, the starter kit,” Wells said. “It worked so well for us and we got so many people interested in the diet that we decided we would invest and to do it again this year, but enhance it to make it even better.”