Emma’s Time Has Come

If the copy of PROMO you’re holding doesn’t contain a purple-covered supplement with a fiery-hurricane logo, go into the office of the last guy who had the magazine (and obviously tore it out) and swipe a look. Promotion history is being made this month with the debut of the Entertainment Marketing Awards – Emmas for short – the first-ever awards devoted exclusively to promotions that mine the magic of feature films, home video, broadcast and cable TV, recorded music, and live events.

Okay, I know what you results-oriented, down-in-the-trenches promotion pros are saying: “Oh, jeez. PROMO’s gone Hollywood. They’re sucking up to the stars instead of keeping their noses to the grindstone.”

And not too long ago, those sentiments would have been justified. Only a few years ago, most of what passed for entertainment marketing was naught but advertising in the form of product placement in a movie or billboard space on a concert stage.

But things have changed. The forging of a symbiosis between a brand and a property has evolved into a sophisticated marketing craft. More than a few of the Hollywood types hawking for studios and networks once labored as brand managers in Minneapolis, Dallas, or White Plains. And few brand promotion managers are content to commit any portion of their budgets just for the honor of having Bruce Willis wield their shaver or dial their cell phone in an action-adventure flick.

No, today’s entertainment-themed campaigns don’t flit around cocktail parties in Malibu. They’re working the trade with displays and special offers in supermarkets, mass merchandisers, and drug stores. They’re touching consumers with premiums, samples, rebates, and sweepstakes. They’re no-nonsense promotions, directed by some of the most talented folks in the business. And they just happen to be some of the highest-profile campaigns in the marketplace.

When’s the last time canned and jarred fruit was a destination aisle at the grocery store? Mott’s Inc., one of our elite group of Emma winners, made that happen through a simple-yet-ingenious tie-in with Blues Clues. The folks at Nickelodeon had made a connection with preschoolers through a puzzle-providing, blue cartoon dog. Mott’s marketers got Nick’s clue, introducing single-serve cups of blue-colored applesauce that immediately became the official food of the show’s teeny fans.

In the dog-eat-dog world of long distance telephone service, Sprint had a premium idea. It moved quickly to exploit the landmark success of the movie Titanic, offering free copies of the home video to callers who switched to Sprint. The company even built in a loyalty feature, offering more free videos to customers who stuck with the service for four months. Sprint left its competition, well, foundering.

Great partnerships should produce outstanding results for both parties involved, and the jury is still out on who got the better of Sunglass Hut’s tie-in with BMG. A free CD sampler of BMG artists with purchase drove hordes of young consumers into Huts. But the P-O-P for the offer featuring then-unknown Britney Spears – right there on the mall floor at 1,500 locations – worked out fine for BMG. Spears’s debut album rocked to the top of the pop charts.

We founded the Emma Awards to give a special and deserved ovation to these blockbuster promotions. Though they have moved into the mainstream – indeed, in some cases, the forefront – of marketing, entertainment-themed campaigns still experience a hard road in promotion award competitions. This year’s PMA Reggie Awards, for instance, featured but one entertainment tie-in winner (Saban and Bandai’s Power Rangers Rocket Tour), though more than 40 parties submitted entries.

So please welcome, Emma. We hope you’ll like her – really like her.