Off the Shelf

YEAH, THEY’RE mean all right. There’s Splat the road-kill kat, Lucky the one-footed rabbit, Fi-Do the dalmutation and Boris the mucousaurus (you can imagine what he looks like). They’re “Meanies,” a line of fuzzy collectibles for kids now being sold in stores throughout the country.

However, there’s one Meanie you can’t buy in a store-Tiger Shark, a bright orange and black monster that’s sold exclusively by Quaker Oats. You can only get him if you’ve got two UPC purchase seals from boxes of Cap’n Crunch cereal.

The $3.99 offer, appearing on 20 million boxes of the cereal, was developed in partnership with Glenn Rudin and Lance Kushner of The Idea Factory, New York, creators of the Meanies. In some ways, it’s a typical cereal promotion, one of several done by Quaker since it changed its strategy form in-pack premiums (gifts found within the box) to mail-in offers. The objective is to “incent the kids to tell Mom to go back and buy another box,” says Quaker spokesperson Debbie Brown.But there’s one element that makes it cutting edge.

The promotion will be supported by a specially-designed Web site (www.meaniescrunch.com), targeted on high-tech kids, ages six to 12. They can go to the site, featured on all 20-million Cap’n Crunch boxes, to learn more about the promotion, the Quaker brand and the Meanie clan.

Scheduled for launch in September, the site will feature a welcome screen showing Tiger Shark and Cap’n Crunch, and eventually, it will have interactive games. To get the word out, Quaker is putting the address on all 20-million boxes of Cap’n Crunch.

What’s this have to do with direct marketing? Not much-yet. For example, Quaker is not collecting any data at the site because of the fact that is targeted on children. But the firm feels that the Web may help it communicate-and build lasting relationships-with customers.

Quaker certainly isn’t alone on the Web. Nabisco, Colgate, General Foods and Nestle all have Web sites. Some, like Nabisco, offer coupons, like Nabisco (www.nabisco.com), offer coupons and other discounts online.

In the 12-month period that ended on June 30, Web site addresses were mentioned in 2,436 advertisements run by package goods firms-a 78% increase over the same period the year before, according to John Cummings of John Cummings & Partners, Armonk-NY. The ads appeared on TV, in magazines, and in the form of FSIs and direct mail, Cummings says.

But despite the increase in promotions, relatively few dollars are being poured into the Web. Procter & Gamble last year spent only $2.1 million on the Internet, out of total ad spending of $1.7 billion.

And many firms don’t appear to be doing much with their sites. Some use them to sell low-cost, routinely purchased items like toothpaste and dish soap that consumers are not likely to purchase online, says H. Robert Wientzen, president and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association and a veteran of Procter & Gamble. “That group is struggling with the Internet because direct sales are not something that most of them are doing,” Wientzen says.

They also fall short as an information medium. “How much do people really want to know about toilet paper?” Wientzen asks.

And yet, for some packaged goods marketers, the Web is a lifeline to consumers. Take PowerBar, a manufacturer of energy bars, whose Web site, www.powerbar.com, is now the firm’s primary source of customer data, according to PowerBar spokesperson Debbie Pfeifer. In addition to the Web site, PowerBar products are available in more than 75,000 outlets nationwide including supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores. The company uses the Internet to sell, to provide detailed product and nutritional information, and to capture consumer data, Pfeifer says.

Called Power Users, Web members are now listed in the company database, along with subscribers to “Just Try,” PowerBar’s mini-magazine for endurance athletes, and other customers.

The database is used to build brand loyalty and develop and announce new products, Pfeifer says. For example, a new energy bar called “Harvest” (stuffed with grains, chunks of dried fruit, vitamins and minerals) was marketed by direct mail to the entire database, some rented publishing files and a PowerBar “friends and family” list of 5,000.

What’s more, all the mailing pieces and print ads featured the company’s Web address. (Pfeifer declines to comment on specific redemption numbers but does say the company is ahead of projected sales goals for the project.)

Newcomers to the Web, like H. J. Heinz Co., are still undergoing “discussions” about the best uses for the medium. Heinz’s new site, www.heinz.com, features products and company information.

Heinz spokesperson Gail Stull says the company launched the site to remain competitive and to honor requests for a site from “a lot” of its customers.

Data is not captured on all product links but the Kibbles ‘n Bits site encourages consumers to register for coupon savings and the Good Doggy Club requests name, email address, dog’s name and birthdate.

And, an online collector’s club offers merchandise, ranging from a ketchup soccer ball to a Heinz baked beans tote bag and a pickle putter for not so serious golfers.

The Seagram Platform “Some packaged goods companies tend to shy away from (the Internet), not fully understanding the potential and power of the platform” argues Richard Shaw, vice president, marketing communications for Seagrams. “But those who embrace direct marketing can really see this as a lower cost way of doing direct marketing in the future.”

Seagrams has launched sites-“interactive communications platforms” -for seven of its brands.

Consumer data, currently collected from three sites (theglenlivet.com, www.chivas.com and the Captain Morgan site at www.rum.com), will be analyzed and mined as soon as it builds to scale, Shaw says.

And Seagram’s has plenty of experience analyzing data with its 10-million plus name database (used for brand building.) Data collected from the Web will “probably not” be combined with the mega database. “We’ll treat these names differently. The computer paradigm is different,” Shaw says.

Clubs, registration devices and surveys are popular online tools for packaged goods marketers, especially those whose products don’t sell well on the Web. Others are analyzing whatever data they can get, including click-through rates and the number of hits to a particular product.

Shaw says all this “robust” data should be analyzed and used in the same manner as data from traditional direct marketing. “We do what any traditional direct marketer would do in the mail as far as testing and evaluating our initiatives.”

There’s no question packaged goods companies have embraced direct response. Cummings says DR efforts across all types of media are up 13% from 5,390 efforts last year to 6,115 this year. Some 40% of all programs include a coupon, while 45% have an 800 number. Mail-in offers comprise 28%, or 1,710 offers, he adds.

Those percentages may shift as more packaged goods companies go online. “The Internet continues to grow and will represent a good advertising and marketing medium,” Wientzen says. “However, packaged goods are really asking ‘Is this going to be a vehicle to advertise versus a vehicle used for promoting loyalty building, direct selling and customer service? They don’t know.”