Core Competencies

Here’s an example of the message I was trying to relay in my June column (“Who You Calling a Promotions Agency?”), that marketing agencies trying to distance themselves from the term “promotion” should not likewise be swearing off the discipline as a core competency.

For 15 years, Giant Food Stores, Landover, MD, handled most of its marketing program through an advertising agency of record. While “it was a very good relationship, we came to a point where we knew we had to look at our long-term strategy,” says Denny Hopkins, Giant’s vp-marketing and sales development.

Earlier this year, the grocery retailer conducted an agency search that began with a review of 40 shops, progressed to face-to-face pitches from eight companies, then was narrowed to three before the ultimate winner was named: BDS Marketing, Irvine, CA.

Giant selected BDS because it was “a marketing agency versus a conventional ad agency. We liked the way they presented their long-term strategic planning skills, their high level of experience at retail, and the fact that they were experienced in more promotional [types of] advertising,” explains Hopkins.

BDS is now helping Giant run tests on a new loyalty-card program, develop a more extensive promotional planning calendar, and take a deeper look at all in-store marketing strategies. The shop is involved in every aspect of the marketing plan – not the least of which is the creation and production of TV spots. It is even providing input into media placement, Hopkins says.

The agency wasn’t expecting to get ad duties when it initially won the account. “They liked our creative, they liked our strategies, so they gave us the opportunity,” says BDS president Beverly Ham.

Moral: Expand your horizons, but don’t abandon your core.

Incidentally, Giant and BDS first met two years ago at the Marketing Forum, an annual networking conference presented by New York City-based Richmond Events and held aboard a cruise ship. That introduction put BDS on the list of agencies Giant invited to participate in its review.

The three-night, two-day Marketing Forum brings paying agencies and marketing services suppliers together with high-level marketing executives (who come for free) for face-to-face meetings.

Judgment Day In July, PROMO hosted the judging for our annual PRO Awards, a program founded 10 years ago to recognize the best promotion marketing campaigns.

We invited some of the most well-respected names in the industry to help the magazine’s staff select the winners, which were chosen from among 176 entries in 17 categories. (That figure represents a 40-percent increase over the submission total in 1999.)

Working through that many portfolios is an arduous task, but our mission was aided by the strength of this year’s entries. There were a couple of clunkers, to be sure, but overall there was far more wheat than chaff to examine. We present an overview of the PRO Awards 2000 finalists in this month’s Agencies section (See pg. 63).

A few points for trendwatchers: Mobile marketing campaigns are especially in vogue, successful single-medium campaigns are going the way of the do-do bird, and the Internet is the vehicle for eliciting customer response – regardless of how the promotional message is communicated.

Winners will be announced at a special lunch during this year’s PROMO Expo, which will be held Oct. 3-5 in Chicago.

A special thanks to the following judges for giving freely of their time, their energy, and especially their insights: Bill McBrayer, Ryan Partnership; Darlene Chapman, Nickelodeon; Phyllis Ehrlich, Cartoon Network; Scott Fuller, Scholastic Entertainment; Dianne Graham, Kraft Foods; Rose Grabowski, Mott’s, Inc., Mickey Jardon, Marketing Drive Worldwide, and Amie Smith, Promotions.com.

Here’s a PRO Award entry that didn’t make the finalist cut, but is noteworthy for the way it used the local culture to make points for an All-American brand.

In the monarchy of Thailand, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the Queen’s birthday. Allied Domecq’s Dunkin’ Donuts leveraged that fact in a Millennium Moms campaign targeted to teens and young adults. Customers and store passers-by alike were invited to write a love message to Mom on one of 2,000 vinyl banners in stores. (In a show of governmental support not often seen in the U.S., Thailand’s prime minister signed the banner.)

More than 50,000 people wrote messages on the banners, which stretched more than a mile after they were sewn together to be carried by 435 employees and students during the country’s annual Parade to the Queen. More than 200,000 people entered an accompanying sweepstakes, which selected one winner to host a lunch for underprivileged citizens.

The campaign produced incremental sales of 13.8 million baht (that’s $373,000) for a special promotional five-pack of donuts, and increased Dunkin’ Donuts’ market share by four percent in the donut category and three percent among all fast-food chains. It also put the brand firmly in touch with the populace.