Door Openers

Wee football helmets, speeding tickets, and cell phones grabbed consumer and employee imaginations and garnered 2002 Gold Key Awards from the Incentive Manufacturers and Representatives Association (IMRA).

Naperville, IL-based IMRA presents Gold Key Awards annually to the most effective consumer and trade incentive programs. Judges are incentive business owners and members of the business press. Here are this year’s winners.

National Consumer Offer

Campaign: Sony Sounds Great
Marketer: Pacific Bell Wireless, Aliso Viejo, CA
Agency: Cascade Promotions, San Carlos, CA

Pacific Bell Wireless wanted to dial up sales for its new Pure PCS Digital Service, so it partnered with Sony Electronics and the Bay Area Ronald McDonald House Charities to expand its market base and create a charity overlay. The Sony Sounds Great promo offered a Digital PCS phone and free Sony Walkman to subscribers who signed up for one year of service and made a $20 donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities. Participants got their phone and Walkman — valued at $250 — in-store at the time of the transaction. Extensive in-store merchandising, TV, outdoor, radio, and P-O-P supported the promotion.

PacBell acquired more than 200,000 new subscribers and raised $4 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

“The Sony brand added significant value,” says Stu Birger, president of agency Cascade Promotions. “It really captivated consumers’ interest. The item was provided at point-of-sale, so there was immediate gratification; people could use it as soon as they walked out of the location where they signed up for cellular service.”

Regional Consumer Offer

Campaign: NFL Pocket Sized Helmet Gift With Purchase
Marketer: Coca-Cola North America, Atlanta
Supplier: Riddell Inc., Chicago

The NFL plays well in Kansas City — even at the end of the season. Coca-Cola Co. wanted to boost single-serve bottle sales in c-stores and gas stations, so it built a team of mini replica helmets for all 31 National Football League teams. Fans who bought a 20-ounce Coca-Cola got a helmet that fit over the bottle cap. Dramatic P-O-P shippers encouraged fans to collect all teams. The promo tested in Kansas City in January 2001, and then ran across the Midwest in September 2001.

“I initially thought the program was set up for disaster, since there were only a few games left” for the Kansas City test, says Christopher Cavallari, manufacturer’s representative for Riddell, Chicago. “But we saw increases that ranged from 28 percent to 120 percent per store, and when we ran the program again, we went through over a million helmets and the worst results we had were a 40 percent sales increase.”

Cavallari credits display shippers that housed 144 helmets — and fans’ penchant for collecting. “People were trying to collect all the teams,” he says. “We had collectors calling each other on cell phones, telling each other what teams were available at which locations.”

Ironically, Coke had to scrap a national execution for 2002 when Pepsi-Cola Co. outbid Coke for NFL rights earlier this year (May PROMO). Pepsi picks up the program in some markets for 2002 with plans for a national execution next year, Cavallari says.

National Sales Incentive

Campaign: Hi-Performance Super Human Crew Contest
Marketer: Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Tampa, FL
Agency: GeigerDonnelly Marketing, Foxboro, MA
Supplier: Keystone Incentives, Norton, MA

Heck, who wants a speeding ticket?

Staffers at Checkers and Rally’s restaurants. The 796-unit fast-food burger chain (stores are Checkers in the South, Rally’s in the Midwest) wanted to improve employee retention and increase sales, so it gave mystery shoppers the authority to issue speeding tickets for good, fast service. Shoppers scored each restaurant on a number of factors; the higher the score, the more tickets the crew got. Each ticket served as an entry in a system-wide drawing that awarded prizes to the winning restaurant’s whole crew: The general manager got a seven-day Caribbean cruise, assistant and shift managers got a three-day Bahamas cruise, and staffers all got inline skates. Thirty restaurants (15 units each in two regions) won prizes based on their mystery-shopper scores. The three-month program boosted sales approximately seven percent above industry norms and improved employee retention.

GeigerDonnelly sourced prizes; tallied scores and advised restaurants on how to improve their ranking; and created training guides for store managers, backroom posters for crewmember communication, tip sheets, and newsletters.

“GeigerDonnelly communicated program information to us, which allowed us to use our industry expertise and make key recommendations,” says Dan Craig, president of Keystone Incentives. “Instead of just giving us price points, they showed confidence in our good working relationship.”