All Work, and a Little Play

Doctors drink alcohol, too, you know.

In the wine category, consumer tasting parties at vineyards, restaurants, and festivals is the standard tactic. But while many consumers enjoy the drink, “most people don’t know enough about wine to feel comfortable ordering it in public,” says Janell Eilers, who until recently was brand marketing manager at Rutherford, CA-based BV Wines. (She’s now Texas state manager for BV parent Diageo Estates.)

So in 1999, the winery launched BV Consumer Education, a course series designed to teach wine etiquette for work-related socializing. “We looked at young lawyers [for instance] who might have to do some entertaining as part of their job but didn’t know what wines to order,” explains Eilers.

Tastings and seminars held at professional association meetings give lawyers, doctors, pharmaceutical sales representatives, and college professors a crash course on appropriate wines for different occasions and meals. Other targets include symphony groups and gardening clubs. The program expands to 30 markets this year from 18. BFG Communications, Hilton Head Island, SC, handles.

Seminar attendees buy an average of three bottles of BV wine in the first month after a forum. “That is unheard of in this business,” boasts Eilers.

That kind of focus on consumers in their work setting reflects a realization on the part of consumer-targeting marketers that, all kidding aside, professionals are people, too. The trend parallels one in the business-to-business marketing community to better understand the consumer side of professional customers.

Tipped off, perhaps, by heavy nine-to-five Internet traffic in the workplace (which isn’t all about business research and lead generation, you know), consumer marketers are approaching their audiences more often at the office or work-related functions.

By definition, professionals are affluent, sophisticated consumers who often influence the purchase decisions of others in their social circles.

Professionals also are a captive audience. The Timberland Co. in 1998 tested a program that sent invitations to the human resource departments of large corporations offering all employees 30-percent discounts at local stores. “It was going to be a one-time offer, but it was so popular it grew into something more,” says Amy Tremblay, marketing specialist for Stratham, NH-based Timberland. The company now mails invitations directly to employees at thousands of companies twice per year.

Say Ah-ha

Tapping into the out-of-office side of professionals isn’t an entirely new concept: Healthcare brands have been wooing doctors for years to prompt personal recommendations on over-the-counter medicines (and winning them over on the prescription end with consumer-y incentives such as tickets to sports and entertainment events).

“For years, brands such as Bayer Aspirin and Listerine have marketed to physicians for their own personal use,” says Ann Devereux, president of agency DVC ActiveCare, Morristown, NJ. “It’s worth building that relationship with doctors for the name to come out of their mouths with patients.”

Morristown-based Bayer targets doctors with direct mail, medical convention activity, and ads in journals. “A physician’s recommendation for a specific OTC brand can strongly influence that patient … as a life-long brand-loyal customer,” says Robert Rubbinaccio, Bayer’s director of medical marketing.

A shining example of targeting business people as regular, everyday Joes (excuse the pun) was provided by Dunkin’ Donuts, which earned both a pro Award and a PMA Silver Reggie last year for a 2000 campaign called Bring a Bagel to Work Days.

Looking to boost bulk sales of donuts, the Randolph, MA-based chain broke up the early morning office grind by sending bagel-and-coffee-toting sampling teams to 1,080 offices in six markets over a five-day span. The unannounced visits were met favorably in almost all cases. And when lobby security guards and even more intimidating receptionists proved uncooperative, the field reps passed freebies through office windows to grateful workers. WatersMolitor, Minneapolis, handled the promotion, with field execution from GoodStuff Marketing, Manchester, NH.

An Internet overlay (touted by the field teams, along with media and in-store advertising) sent worker bees to dunkindonuts.com — there’s that non-work online activity again — to participate in a month-long instant-win game awarding such prizes as Palm Connect organizers, comfy office chairs, and product. The guerrilla effort distributed 25,000 bagels and 72,000 coupons, while the Web site recorded a 92 percent increase in unique visitors. Overall bagel sales rose 15 percent.

The Corporate Box

Professional sports teams also have long catered to their suit-wearing ticket-holders, which often comprise the bulk of the audience for weeknight games. “Our attendance skews heavily toward corporate during the week, [so] we’ll run different types of arena promotions” that will appeal to the male-dominated professional audience, like a Budweiser-sponsored shoot-out, says Anucha Browne Sanders, vp-marketing and business opportunities for the New York Knickerbockers and Madison Square Garden, New York City.

In September, the team will expand its Fantasy Day program, which rents out the Garden for corporate events 15 days a year. New York-area companies use the program as an incentive for employees. Activities will now include Dream Week, a seven-day basketball camp taught by former Knick players.

On the flip side, the team’s Chalk Talk sends representatives such as Knick coach Don Chaney out to companies for speaking engagements. “These programs help grow and maintain our customer base,” says Browne Sanders. “An experience like this builds a closer relationship with the casual fan, and may convert them to a diehard Knick fan.”

And just think of what it might do for employee morale.

Pop Overload?

One of the early winners in Pepsi-Cola Co.’s Take Home the Tickets sweepstakes opted for a cash alternative of $475 instead of four tickets to brand spokesperson Britney Spears’ concert.

Purchase, NY-based Pepsi’s Take Home the Tickets effort ran through June 23 on nearly 250 million bottles. Prizes also included tickets to the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. Tracy Locke Partnership’s Wilton, CT, office handled.

The Associated Press reported that the Washington-state boy who won the prize opted for the cash so he could share it with relatives. And, he’s a hip-hop fan.

McD Settles

McDonald’s Corp., Oak Brook, IL, this spring settled the consumer class actions that arose over last year’s gamepiece embezzlement scandal.

The suits alleged that the fast-food chain offered consumers the chance to win big prizes in its July 2001 Monopoly game, even though company execs knew the top-winning gamepieces had been stolen (PROMO, October 2001).

A suit filed in Illinois sought repayment to consumers of McDonald’s incremental revenue during the promotional period. The mid-April settlement will be funded by the insurance policy of Simon Marketing, the agency which handled the promotion. The policy covered the chain as an additional insured party.

The settlement releases Los Angeles-based Simon from further consumer claims, according to Securities & Exchange Commission documents filed by Simon parent Simon Worldwide.