Delivering the Punch Line
It wasn’t enough to make Clamato virtually clam free. The Mott’s, Inc. brand had to uphold a quirky image in an otherwise straight-faced blended vegetable juice category. Sure, the zesty concoction makes a mean Bloody Mary. But Campbell’s V-8 Juice, fortified by sales of carrot juice-enhanced Splash, was the straw stirring blended juices.
Clamato enlisted marketing help from top radio stations nationally, a major cruise line, and Saturday Night Live comic Jim Breuer in a laugh-a-minute bid for center stage.
The brand wanted to build on the comedy-themed ideas it began rolling out in 1997, after successfully addressing the “clam barrier” problem. Focus groups showed consumers thought the drink was overladen with clam juice. Thus, the tag “99.9 percent clam-free” was born, says Clamato customer marketing manager Bruce Butler.
Clamato had already tapped French Stewart, the offbeat actor from Third Rock From the Sun, as spokesperson. Stewart judged the entries in the Just for Laughs fourth-quarter ’97 sweeps, in which the most creative joke submission won $10,000. A second-quarter ’98 Comedy Tour gave winners a week-long trip to comedy venues in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
By the time the Comedy Tour started rolling, Butler at Mott’s Stamford, CT, office and a group from Ryan Partnership in nearby Westport had already been working four months on a fourth-quarter promo. Planning began in December 1997, allowing for long lead times and the chance to “panic in an orderly fashion,” says Butler.
“We needed to add momentum to our Clamato brand-building,” he says. Specifically, Butler sought an idea that could inspire Mott’s broker sales force and retail buyers, foster trial and awareness among consumers – and keep Stewart in the picture.
The concept sprang up like a clamshell-born Venus soon after Butler handed the creative brief to Kristen Gioffre, managing director at Ryan Partnership. Gioffre’s team hatched a “trip to nowhere” idea to highlight the brand’s penchant for fun. The team at first thought it would invite consumers to show up at airports packed and ready to be spirited off to an unknown vacation spot.
But an ocean cruise offered advantages such as allowing consumers more time for planning and presenting fewer logistical risks. Plus, a sea trip was more mysterious, with infinite possible destinations. The “trip to nowhere” evolved into the Destination Unknown Comedy Cruise, with Carnival Cruises on board as an advertising partner to defray costs.
Ryan created 30-second radio spots, buying airtime in 17 major markets, and the sales force offered retailers radio tags if they featured off-shelf displays. Stations got a free cruise to give away.
“We picked the best station in each of the markets and gave them exclusivity so they felt they were a special partner,” says Gioffre. Fifteen stations hosted premiere parties for Third Rock’s season-opening episode that included three-minute video intros by Stewart.
Instead of a cursory, one-page sell sheet, Ryan developed a tabbed binder detailing all of the promo’s elements from art work to radio partners. “We wanted the salespeople to have enough ammunition. We were going up against V-8. If the buyer had a question on any aspect, it was spelled out,” says Gioffre.
In-store point-of-purchase including tear pads, bottle neckers, and header cards invited consumers to write in to win. Or they could screw off the bottle cap and learn if they won instantly by calling an 800 number. Five areas on the Yahoo search engine Web site – including the travel and leisure, and entertainment sections – carried banners linking to the Clamato Web site, where users could enter the sweeps.
Computer users, it seems, like free trips. Of the 70,000 entries during the six-week long sweeps, 50,000 came through the Clamato Web site.
“We got off-shelf support in smaller markets where we never had it before,” says Butler. The brand gained double-digit sales growth in key markets including Phoenix and San Antonio, and a five percent uptick in Los Angeles, says Butler.
After a dockside party hosted by WJRR in Orlando, 400 winners bearing Clamato T-shirts and chocolates embarked on their Dec. 10-13 cruise, with Breuer on board to provide the yuks. Those who had not asked beforehand were told once they boarded that Nassau was the mystery destination.
“There were some people at the ship who didn’t want to know where it was going,” says Gioffre. “They wanted to keep it a surprise. They were just glad to be there.”
