Sampling enjoyed another year of growth in 2003 as marketers continued to place products directly into the hands of consumers. Spending is up 10% to about $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion in 2002, according to Russ Bowman, Promotion Marketing Association board member and co-author of All About Sampling & Demonstrations.

Over the years, sampling has spread its roots beyond in-store. Marketers now take product trials on the road to events, state fairs, malls, store demos and other venues. Retailers are constantly seeking “retailtainment” innovation (Wal-Mart’s term) and sampling often plays into that mix.

“It keeps getting better and better — it’s not your grandma’s demo,” says Caroline Nakken, president and CEO of Cerritos, CA-based Mass Connections, which creates and produces programs for CPG companies and retailers. According to Nakken, both retailers and consumers have impacted the surge in sampling.

“Retailers are asking for it. Supermarkets need to generate the excitement to get people to come into their stores versus their mass-merch competitors,” she says. “Seventy percent of shoppers are more likely to shop at a grocery store that offers product samples more frequently. Trader Joe’s is always giving away free things — consumers like trying something risk-free.”

“Sampling can form the nucleus of an integrated marketing program,” agrees Rich Greene, president of Greenwich, CT-based Maya Marketing. “It’s a great foundation for a larger campaign, especially to help drive participation with an intimidated consumer who is less apt to participate.”

Another factor contributing to the sampling upswing is its relative ease of measurement. Sophisticated tracking devices can measure and forecast sampling campaigns down to the exact time a sample sells out. Trial packs of products, which often carry a higher value than a single sample, can be bar scanned to ensure that one pack per consumer is handed out.

“I think that for an industry that’s increasingly ROI-conscious, sampling is something that will continue to grow,” predicts Derek White, executive VP-general manager media marketing for Boston-based Alloy, Inc.

Online sampling is also experiencing growth as more budget dollars are beginning to switch to the digital channel. Online sampling allows customers to request specific product samples therefore eliminating waste.

“Our business grew 70% in 2003 as customers begin to make online sampling part of their ongoing process,” says Larry Burns, CEO of Startsampling.com. “We have the ability to go back and recontact people and execute research 12 to 16 weeks after the event to determine ROI. Assuming that the product fulfills, sampling has always been a wonderful tactic.”

More and more consumers are getting a chance to interact with new products, as opposed to sitting back and observing a sterile demonstration.

“We’re seeing an increase in experiential sampling because it’s a very interactive thing — it brings the product to the consumer and there is no action required,” White explains.

Teen and young adult marketing specialist AMP has created youth-targeted sampling programs that reach 2.5 million college students at 1,700 universities by way of campus trial packs and product giveaways.

Research indicates that 63% of college students who have ever received a sample on campus say that they have purchased a product because of the sample, according to 360 College Explorer, a research project sponsored by 360 Youth/Harris Interactive. Among youth-targeted sampling programs tested, the number of purchasers increased an average of 51% in the three months following sampling, according to a different survey conducted by Burke Marketing Research.

Maya Marketing conducted non-traditional sampling campaigns for Beiersdorf’s Nivea for Men products in 2003 and the beginning of 2004. Street teams called Q Conductors handed out samples targeting male consumers at more than 792 rail and subway stations across the country. The company distributed 2 million samples.

“We conducted the campaign with no permits whatsoever,” explains Greene. “We went under the radar at train stations from five-to-eight a.m. and as a result we saw a 100% increase in sales and a 50% increase for the entire line [10 SKUs].”

In targeting pet-owners, New York-based Grand Central Marketing also employs less-than-traditional sampling efforts in an attempt to keep brand perspective fun and offbeat. The company distributed 1,000 18-ounce boxes of Meow Mix Hair Ball Control formula to New Yorkers by way of the Meow Mix Mobile, which features a wagging tail, moving eyes and music coming out of its ears.

“There are two Meow Mix Mobiles, which will embark on tour this summer as we go to fairs, festivals, malls, retailers, shelters, humane societies and even make surprise visits to the homes of some of the people who have written in to Meow Mix,” says Matthew Glass, president of Grand Central Marketing.

The Meow Mix Mobiles distribute product samples as they tour the country. Grand Central Marketing has also sampled to dogs at parks and dog runs by building an elaborate doggy bar. Hungry canines literally got to taste test Purina’s new Beneful dog food for themselves.

“With dog and cat owners it’s hard to get them to switch products, but by giving them something new to take home like Meow Mix’s Seafood Vittles, consumers can test a new product risk-free,” Glass explains.

SNAPSHOT 2003

• Total spent in 2003: approximately $1.5 billion (up 10% over 2002)
• Outlook for 2004 is continued growth, with heavy sampling efforts tied to entertainment and event marketing

WOULDN’T IT BE nice if charities that help disaster victims could get donations right after TV viewers had their hearts tugged by footage of the devastation on the evening news? Such scenarios are becoming more possible as charities and nonprofits set up Web sites allowing donors to give money almost instantly with the click of a few computer keys.

“We’re trying to demonstrate the opportunities for spontaneous giving,” says Ron Bocinsky, executive director of Give On-Line, a pro-bono concern that enables nonprofit organizations to collect electronically secure donations through their Web sites.

So far, the Alpharetta, GA-based organization has been working with about 100 charities, including the American Red Cross and American Lung Association to develop online giving programs.

>From the looks of it, the Web shows potential for broadening the definition of direct response fundraising, though not many charities are reporting gangbuster success yet. “The industry hasn’t quite grasped the opportunities for spontaneous donations,” feels Bocinsky. But this hasn’t stopped Internet services vendors from jockeying for position to get into the game, frequently by offering their services gratis, or for vastly reduced fees.

The prospect of instantaneous return definitely comes into play with one charity seen to be in the forefront of Web-based solicitation. “Within 20 minutes of our being live we got our first gift, a $25 donation,” says Joanne DelGiorno, direct response marketing director at the American Diabetes Association, Alexandria, VA.

Overall, the ADA reports some interesting results from its Web page.

The $110 million organization actually began taking secure credit-card donations last October and now gets a 6% response rate from the medium-about four times the return from direct mail says DelGiorno, director of direct response marketing.

The ADA’s site, which has also helped the ADA sell it specialized books. accepts donations through one of 11 prompts on the left hand side of the group’s home page (www.diabetes.org). Other prompts include “Learn About Us,” “Get Involved,” “Research Update” and, of course, “Shop Our Store.” Other features include specialized recipes and the tip of the day.

DelGiorno admits taking donations through secure credit card transactions on the Web didn’t happen overnight. The site was set up in 1995 but didn’t start accepting online donations until last fall. Instead it began by asking people visiting the site to send donations to a post office box.

“The financial service people were nervous,” she notes.

Despite the novelty of the Web, the ADA isn’t taking any chances. It still gets about half its revenue from the 23 million mail pieces it sends out five times a year. These mailings, which usually ask for donations in the $15 and $25 range, receive an average 1%-2% response rate. The organization promotes its Web site through these mailings.

It also gets money from door-to-door fundraising and special events like its annual marathon, which took place last year in Bermuda.

The Web is also raising questions about the way some other charities solicit funds. Take the Salt Lake City-based Children’s Miracle Network, which raises money for 170 children’s hospitals across the country through a national annual telethon. The CMN is in its second year of using its Web site, (www.cmn.org), to supplement phone solicitations during the telethon, which took place this year May 30 and 31.

The $172 million organization gets about $70 million from corporate contributions, which can often take the form of things like balloon sales at local Wal-Mart stores and event marketing. The remainder comes via the telethon and local efforts.

The Web site enabled the CMN national office to capture several thousand donor names. At press time, ???? Sorensen, ??????, says the CMN hasn’t done anything with them.

The CMN keeps a very decentralized approach to its fundraising. “All money raised locally, stays local,” he says.

But the CMN sees the Web as a potential growth area and was planning at press time to hire a dedicated staffer for the site, says spokesman Todd Ericsson. National Web-marketing efforts being mulled include e-mail efforts to telethon respondents. The national office unfortunately doesn’t have access to good lists because local hospitals-which often do their own direct marketing,-guard them jealously, says Sorensen.

CommercePay, Orlando, FL, donated time and services to build the CMN Web site, for which the CMN pays about $200 per month to maintain. But CommercePay has its own agenda. President Abner Weintraub claims the CMN site- which can accommodate electronic commerce payments – feature the industry’s first insured secure Web page. The company worked with Hamilton, Dorsey, Alston Co. and National Risk Management Services., both of Atlanta, to develop this.

CommercePay’s donated services-which ran in the $70,000 range-enabled it to ride the coattails of the CMN and reach 200 million people nationwide during the telethon at a far less expensive rate than possible through national TV advertising.

“Part of our nonprofit strategy is to build the CommercePay brand,” says Weintraub. He added that CommercePay linked the CMN site to Web sites of CMN corporate sponsors like Toys R Us and Delta Airlines.

Another nonprofit making a more involved use of the Web is the Milarepa Fund, a San Francisco-based organization dedicated to safeguarding human rights in Tibet.

In June, the organization, co-founded by Adam Youch, a member of rock band the Beastie Boys, was able to sell 4,000 tickets online in four hours to a benefit concert in June. Milarepa was working with ARTISTdirect, an Encino, CA-based company that develops retail Web sites for musical groups.

The fund, is also in the process of setting up an online store in addition to an auction site on its Web site (www.milarepa.org). Proceeds from these sales would help promote human rights in the Asian country, says Kurt Langer, Milarepa Fund minister of information. At deadline, the store, which will offer music-related merchandise in return for contributions of varying amounts, was just set to launch.

Six months ago, the Milarepa Fund set up its Web site because it realized its annual concerts didn’t bring enough in to make ends meet. A page was created to encourage people to send donations.

The organization chose consciously not to solicit money through the direct mail because it felt the medium to be too invasive and intrusive and wouldn’t differentiate Milarepa from other better-known human rights organizations.

“I get stuff in the mail every week from them and I just throw them away,” says Langer.

Not every charity is looking to break world records through the Internet. Take, for example, the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, a small, California-based organization raises money mostly through corporate contributions and special events like its annual Dream Halloween trick-or-treat campaign.

The small five-year-old charity doesn’t want its Web site (www.??????), donated by Rare Medium Inc., New York, to act heavy handedly.

“We don’t really want it to be an aggressive fundraising vehicle, it’s not really in keeping with our mission,” says development manager Deborah Feuer. “We still like to have personal contact.”

The organization’s Dream Halloween event, during which children suffering from the disease trick or treat with people costumed as popular cartoon characters, raises about $1 million.

Just the same, the Web site lets users personally download pages to buy tickets for its events. The CAAF doesn’t even solicit funds through direct mail yet.

“Now we have the ability to link to other sites looking to make a difference, extend our reach and hopefully, raise more funds for the children,” says CAAF chairman/founder Joe Cristina.

Despite all the cyber-hype and the seeming breakneck speed at which electronic commerce-related things are developing, a few words of caution may be in order.

“Some charities have been successful, most haven’t been,” says Matt Landy, vice president at New York-based watchdog group the National Charities Information Bureau. And you might want to think local instead of global. Give On-Line’s Bocinsky warns that locally based charities aren’t that likely to have hordes of untapped donors lurking in faraway places.