Horror Story
Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co. next month teams with Los Angeles-based movie studio MGM on a national Get Your Party Vamped campaign expected to feature placement in as many as 40,000 retail outlets.
The month-long effort will be tied to MGM’s 66-title collection of horror videos and will be flagged on Miller Light, Miller Genuine Draft, and MGD Light packaging. Shoppers who buy 12-packs, 24-packs, or 30-packs can score one of three MGM movies — The Silence of the Lambs, Stigmata, or Carrie — for $3.99 (plus $1 for shipping and handling). On-pack coupons dangle additional $1 or $2 discounts off other titles.
“Retailers have created a selling window around Halloween,” says Blake Thomas, MGM’s executive vp-worldwide marketing. “We wanted to find a partner that would help us max out that window.”
P-O-P materials will include stand-ups, display cards, and ceiling hangers. Zipatoni, St. Louis, handles for Miller, with assistance from PBM Marketing Solutions, Los Angeles, on the MGM side. Miller will fulfill the primary video orders, MGM the coupon orders.
“Combining the global recognition of Miller and MGM with the fun of Halloween allows us to entertain an even wider group” of consumers, says Miller brand manager Mario Austin.
In other news, Miller and the National Football League, Washington, DC, are collaborating on a fall promotion that leverages their respective sponsorships of bowling. The Bowl Your Way to the Super Bowl campaign will seek to increase bowling league sign-ups with a premium offer and a sweepstakes. Participants receive a ball branded with the logo of their favorite football team and are entered into a sweeps offering a four-person trip to next January’s Super Bowl in New Orleans. Bowling industry marketer Strike Ten Entertainment, Greendale, WI, handles, with P-O-P and fulfillment from Leading Edge, Atlanta.
Battle Creek, MI-based Kellogg USA is letting shoppers vote on which of eight concepts based on Cartoon Network properties should become a cereal (choices include Cow & Chicken Puffs and Johnny Bravo Flakes). Kids vote via in-pack entry forms or at bigpickbreakfast.com in a back-to-school effort running through October. The effort will be tagged on 40 million packages and supported with P-O-P displays and various premium offers. The winning cereal hits shelves next summer. (Kellogg scored in the past with a Powerpuff Girls SKU.) The program kicked off last month during Atlanta-based Cartoon Network’s Big Pick weekend, a programming effort that let viewers choose which of 10 animated shorts should become a series. DraftWorldwide, Chicago, handles for Kellogg. Cartoon Network manages in-house.
Frito-Lay, Plano, TX, this month teams with Subway Restaurants, Milford, CT, on a premium effort putting Cheetos brand mascot Chester Cheetah in kids’ meals. Subway Kids’ Paks contain Cheetos Fun Bags packed with one of four Chester toys and entry codes for ePloids.com, the online home of Frito-Lay’s continuity program. Additional prizes can be obtained at a special Subway auction page on the site. P-O-P displays support. Subway handles in-house.
Hoffman Estates, IL-based Sears, Roebuck and Co. will sponsor singer Brian McKnight’s fall tour and leverage through several activities. Sears Presents an Evening with Brian McKnight kicks off in mid-October in Detroit, stops in 38 cities, and wraps in Hawaii in December. The chain will support with a cause-related overlay tied to Washington, DC-based Police Athletic League and a 25-market sweeps that sends a grand-prize winner to the tour finale for a shopping spree and backstage meeting with McKnight. TV and radio spots support. New York City-based Wunderman’s Chicago office handles, with an assist from Paramus, NJ-based Einson Freeman.
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Chicago, is running an online/offline summer sweeps for Juicy Fruit gum that plays off the brand’s “Gotta Have Sweet” tagline. Dubbed Find the “Gotta Have Sweet” Spot and Win, the campaign puts instant-win gamepieces on-pack — a first for the brand. Prizes include Nintendo Game Boy Advances, CDs, and Juicy Fruit backpacks. All non-winning gamepieces carry a code to play online for a second chance of winning. A “scavenger hunt” overlay sends players to partnering Web sites to collect “sweet spots.” The promo runs through the end of the month via TLP, Dallas, whose sister shop, BBDO, Chicago, handles advertising. BBDO digital marketing arm @tmosphere handles Web duties. Wrigley ran a similar campaign last year without the on-pack component (November 2000 PROMO).
Wayne, NJ-based Castrol North America is supporting the launch of Castrol Super Clean AccuVision windshield rain repellant with a mobile tour in which professional racer Teri MacDonald will drive a customized car (a PT Cruiser with a 600-pound cloud and lightning bolt on its roof) from Seattle to New York City. Along the way, the company will demo the product. A contest overlay lets consumers submit 300-word essays nominating great drivers. Five regional winners receive $500 and a year’s worth of product. The top winner gets the car. Castrol handles in-house.
Richmond, VA-based Circuit City last month launched an online customer service effort exchanging sweeps entries for feedback. Checkout receipts from all of the chain’s 600 stores invite customers to log onto cc.bizrate.com to take a survey and register comments on their in-store experience. Doing so provides entry into a sweeps giving away $1,000 gift cards and a $10,000 grand prize. Shoppers enter a code on the bottom of their receipts to gain access. Los Angeles-based BizRate handles the online surveying.
Scooby-Doo is headlining a back-to-school promotion for Lincolnshire, IL-based Saputo Cheese USA. The Cheese Heads instant-win game will award one grand-prize winner a family trip to Atlanta-based Cartoon Network’s Hollywood studios to see how a Scooby-Doo cartoon is made. The game will be flagged on six million-plus packages during the back-to-school and Halloween periods. TV spots, a national FSI, and online banner ads support. In addition to other prizes, Saputo is offering a $3 bounce-back coupon good for video purchases of Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. Flair Communications, Chicago, handles.
Unilever, New York City, and Bally Total Fitness, Chicago, signed a marketing pact through which Dove soap will be sold in health clubs nationwide and distributed as both samples and premiums to club members. Bally will also host free “Dove Days” fitness classes. Signage, spots on Bally’s in-club radio network, and collateral in member folders support. Ryan Partnership, Westport, CT, handles. Bally currently operates 400 clubs.
Pasadena, CA-based Danone Waters this month winds down an Upgrade to Evian sweeps in which shoppers enter codes found on label backs at evian.com for entry into a sweeps awarding use of a private jet. The winner gets to plan his own itinerary (worth up to $50,000) and $10,000 in spending money. The effort also contains an instant-win component handing out various premiums, as well as a continuity program through which shoppers collect on-pack points for branded merchandise. The evian.com home page supports with pop-up ads and animated movies. Alcone Marketing, Irvine, CA, handles.
