Promotion leads BRANDING

For the fourth consecutive year, PROMO’s editors have assembled their collective list of the most exciting and innovative brands on the current landscape. It wasn’t product innovation (we’ve included a potato chip company, after all) or big budgets (the retailer on the list has a decidedly “modest” — we won’t say “cheap” — marketing allocation) that got them on the list, but sheer promo creativity and smarts.

The 12 companies included here are micro examples of the larger trend afoot: They are brands that have established themselves in the consumers’ minds through strategic and tactical promotional marketing as much as (or more than) through advertising. As a result, we think you’ll be watching them grow for a long time to come.

• AXE
• COURT TV
• HARRY POTTER
• LAY’S
• MOTOROLA
• NFL
• PLAYSTATION
• POP TARTS
• REEBOK
• SUBARU
• TRADER JOE’S
• VESPA

Axe

Boy meets girl. Boy smells nice. Girl likes boy.

That’s the story line behind a widely successful promotion that delivered Axe deodorant bodyspray to North America’s young male masses. The product, already popular around the planet, arrived with a powerful promotional blue print.

“Our job was to take this blue print of success and translate it correctly into American young male adult culture,” says Steve Jarvis, senior VP, GMR Marketing, the promotion AOR for Axe.

That meant samples, music, pretty girls and a blow-out house party. Millions of college students received samples and information about the bash. Young female models toured the country or stood in-store spraying Axe on young men. Print, radio and bar media supported. “It gave you a taste of what was to come,” says Mary Drapp, manager of strategic alliances and sponsorships for Unilever, the maker of Axe.

And then, it was time to party.

The Axe House Party, the centerpiece of the promotion, was held in March on a 52-acre estate near Miami, where 100 winners of an online sweepstakes were flown in to, what else, party. Hundreds of beautiful girls were invited, all taking in musical acts from Nelly, Andrew W.K., Nicole and the Riddlin Kids. The party was filmed and edited into an hour-long show broadcast on TNN.

The spray comes in six “seductive” fragrances with names like Voodoo and Tsunami. It tops the list in U.S. sales for its category as of June 13, coming in at $36.7 million compared to its next closest competitor, Old Spice at $19.2 million, according to Information Resources, Inc. The product debuted in August 2002.
— Patricia Odell

Court TV

Court TV has repositioned itself from the O.J. Simpson trial network to the authority on forensic science. To make this shift, the network stormed prime-time cable with all-original programming focused on investigations and embraced its popular show Forensic Files. But some heavy promotion was required upon realizing that 85% of viewers associated the series with a competing cable net.

So the net added mystery to its first mobile tour. The Mobile Investigation Unit, a forensics laboratory on wheels, traveled to 21 markets and asked visitors to solve the “Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?” caper. The Michael Alan Group, New York City, produced the tour.

“Entertainment marketing is very specific; you are not selling a product, but a way of being,” says Evan Shapiro, the net’s senior VP-marketing. “When the content sucks, you will fail. When it’s good, you will succeed — so we let our content drive the promotion.”

The best way to keep good content from perishing is to let viewers know it’s there, Shapiro says. And who owns it. Proper network identification for Forensic Files increased 33%.

Court TV has also embraced marketing inside movie theaters. Trailers this summer in 150 Loews Cineplex Entertainment theaters warned patrons that incriminating forensic evidence could expose moviegoers who do not throw away their trash.

“We try to do things in ways that don’t seem like marketing and pop out of the ‘watch my show’ mentality,” Shapiro says. “The conversations and buzz is better than any kind of advertising you can buy.”

The New York City-based net is jointly owned by AOL Time Warner and Liberty Media Corp.
— Carrie MacMillan

Harry Potter

It was the muggles that conjured the magic this time.

A major marketing push by publisher Scholastic sent sales of the fifth Harry Potter title, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, soaring off to other worldly places.

The pre-launch push focused on retailers and getting the word out about the long-awaited bewitching hour: 12:01 a.m. on June 21. Five million copies sold through cash registers in those first 24 hours alone.

“It was like Christmas in July,” says Michael Jacobs, senior VP-trade division, Scholastic.

Some 15,000 retailers received kits to plan midnight events. Electronic billboards displayed the on-sale date and in-store standees with countdown clocks whipped children, and adults, into a frenzy as they watched the months and finally the minutes tick by. Scholastic partnered with four Major League Baseball teams, giving away 75,000 bookmarks to fans. The $4 million campaign kicked off with an essay contest that sends winners to London to hear author J.K. Rowling read from the book.

And it’s not over yet.

Print ads kick off at summer’s end focusing on the “tremendous review attention” the now best-selling book of all time has received. “We’re trying to appeal to the latents,” Jacobs says. “The people who wonder what all the excitement is about but haven’t quite taken the leap yet and to show them that the book is not just a kid’s guilty pleasure, but a great read.” Gift ads hit fourth quarter.
— Patricia Odell

Lays

For using the system without getting lost in it. As part of the massive Frito-Lay family, Lay’s was the master of tie-ins, often piggybacking off big brother Pepsi’s coattails. Over the last year, Lay’s started doing more of its own standalone promotions, such as Lay’s Tastes of America, which asked consumers to vote on what “regional” potato chip flavors they’d like to see introduced. Modeled after the Miss America pageant (and using the real 2002 and 2003 Miss Americas as spokespeople), Lay’s asked consumers to log onto lays.com to narrow the field to five flavor finalists, which represented five regions of the country. Consumers got to vote for a “crowning” flavor and a first runner-up. Winning flavors included Santa Fe Ranch, Chicago Steakhouse Loaded Baked Potato and San Antonio Salsa; these will rotate in-and-out of stores every six months. “It is rewarding to bring to life the essence of each region selected through the consumer vote and to then be able to distribute a small part of that local culture to the rest of the country as True Tastes of America,” says Frito-Lay VP-marketing Regan Ebert.

Lay’s boosted its profile with the National Football League when Pepsi became an official NFL sponsor in 2002. A TV and print campaign featuring the theme, “It’s How You Watch the Game” was extended to retail through in-store Lay’s/Pepsi co-branded displays and coupons. “When people buy snacks for the ‘big game’ they also need drinks. Lay’s and Pepsi were the perfect combination,” says Lora DeVuono, VP-marketing and advertising at Frito-Lay.
— Matt Kinsman

Motorola

The MO•TO Ex•pe•ri•ence 1. an expression of the experience the consumer has when using a Motorola handset and service.

Casting off it stodgy image as “your grandfather’s Oldsmobile” of wireless communications, Motorola targeted a hip young crowd with its handset. Mobile events, trendy partners and interactive contests, played off the MOTO Movement TV and print ad campaign.

Motorola leveraged its NFL sponsorship to bundle an NFL-themed face plate and inflatable chair at Radio Shack. Tricked out 18-wheelers appeared at major events across the country and a ring-tone contest with Cingular Wireless showcased the technology, says Greg Gunderson, account director, Zipatoni, Chicago, which handles promotions for Motorola.

A partnership with New Line Cinema and Austin Powers clung to the coat tails of the movie franchise’s past successes as well as one of the summer’s hottest releases, Austin Powers in Goldmember. Product and logo placement appeared throughout the movie and Austin’s image appeared on everything from P-O-P materials to a dedicated Web site to banner ads. At the Web site, consumers could interact with the new phone and play instant-win games or enter an online sweepstakes to win a Mini Cooper. A viral component allowed visitors to create movie trailers and email them to friends. The program, slated to run for eight weeks, sold through existing product in the first five weeks.

Yeah Baby!— Patricia Odell

PlayStation

For the gamers who constitute its market, its more than a brand — it’s an alternative world. PlayStation, a division of Sony, has been a leader in both game hardware and software development. Its 1,700 titles consistently top sales, according to researcher NPD Group/NPDFunworld, and PlayStation is pushing the envelope on new gadgets. The prototype for the handheld PlayStation Portable will debut in May 2004, with worldwide distribution scheduled for early 2005. Competitor Nintendo currently rules the handheld market with its GameBoy line, but its GameCube console comes in second to PlayStation 2, which has sold some 52.5 million worldwide so far. The PlayStation 3 console is due for release next year.

Feeding the frenzy has been a steady menu of promotions, especially to tweens and teens, with a heavy emphasis on events. PlayStation sponsors action sport exhibitions at venues across the country (in skateboarding, inline, BMX, Moto X, surfing and wakeboarding are just a few). Its ever-present mobile units (trucks ranging from 40- to 77-feet) let attendees virtually experience the same sports (check out Downhill Domination, Jak II or Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando). Last year, the trucks hosted over 125,000 visitors in North America. The brand is also highly visible at concert tours (especially the goth-rock OzzFest), sport stadiums and fairs, offering up tickets via local radio-based sweeps.
— Kathleen M. Joyce

NFL

Who says football is just a sport? The National Football League is trying to position the New York City-based league as an entertainment property and it’s kicking-off to a good start. Last year’s season opened with a bang with the NFL Kickoff Live From Times Square concert featuring Bon Jovi, Eve and Alicia Keyes. Clear Channel Entertainment, San Antonio, TX, produced the events and managed a contest offering trips to attend the games. Opening weekend NFL ratings were up 12% and the total viewers per game across the season increased by 5%.

“We are focusing on better understanding and articulating the NFL brand and what it stands for,” says John Collins senior VP-marketing and sales. “We’re thinking of ourselves as premiere entertainment, that we can compete with the best in prime-time television and not just the weekend sports line-up.”

In fact, the NFL has made a $100-million investment to launch a network devoted to 24-hour league coverage. Starting Nov. 4, the NFL Network will be carried on DirecTV’s basic service.

And when not hosting flashy national productions, the NFL last year teamed with the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association to kick off the NFL College Flag Football program at 32 colleges. After each Monday night game, students answered trivia questions for chances at weekly prizes, including a trip to Hawaii for the 2003 AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.
— Carrie MacMillan

Subaru

Subaru’s marketing strategy is simple: promote only to consumers interested in all-wheel drive and an active lifestyle that complements it. Subaru has 25 outdoor and professional affiliations, which broadly associate its vehicles with mountain biking, backpacking, snow sports and canoeing and kayaking. Yet the Cherry Hill, NJ-based company drills deep with its sponsorships. As the official vehicle of the International Mountain Biking Association, Subaru and IMBA sponsor Trail Care Crews to work with bike clubs and land managers to build and improve trails. Subaru also sponsors a number of flower and gardening shows where it hosts potting and other demonstrations.

The first automotive company to market specifically to the gay and lesbian community, Subaru also maintains strong ties with organizations such as the environmental nonprofit Leave No Trace.

And Subaru is revving up for a younger consumer base, dropping Aussie actor Paul Hogan this year for spokesperson Lance Armstrong. Last year’s introduction of the Baja pick-up/sedan hybrid was supported with the Baja Endurance Tour, through which consumers could win a three-year lease on a Subaru Baja Sport or products such as Dagger kayaks.

“You won’t see us sponsoring the Super Bowl or MLB, we are a small fish in a big pond,” says Beth Gardener, marketing programs manager at Subaru. “It’s more effective for us from a cost and reach perspective to home in on who is interested in our cars and who our car best suits from a lifestyle perspective.”
— Carrie MacMillan

Pop-Tarts

The 40-year-old brand stays hip by filling its pastries with a tasting of whatever’s hot in current pop culture. From Great Berry Reef Pop-Tarts with wildberry filling and fish sprinkles for this year’s Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo, to USA Olympic Pop-Tarts with strawberry filling and red and blue stars in 2002, the Kellogg brand knows how to satisfy its promotional partners.

Kellogg also lets consumers try their hands at concocting flavors. Pop-Tarts this winter kicked off its year-long anniversary celebration with a design-your-own contest. Kids obtained codes from seven Pop-Tart flavors to plug in at poptartsmachine.com and concoct their own dream version of the treats. Three winners scored $10,000 for their creations.

Through the end of the year, a card containing a rendition of the three designs will be packed in Pop-Tart packages and the person who finds the card wins $25,000. Kellogg handled in-house with ads via Leo Burnett, Chicago.

This summer, for the first time in two years, Kellogg introduced a permanent addition and its first ever yogurt-filled variety to its 28-flavor roster. Then during its second sponsorship of the American Idols Live concert tour, the brand debuted the summer-only flavor, Hot Fudge Sundae. Kids were encouraged to place the Pop-Tarts in the freezer and if the foil turned red, they won an American Idol CD-ROM game. Starcom Entertainment, Chicago, handles the tour.

“We’re always making sure we are in touch and relevant with what’s popular,” says Jenny Enochson, director of marketing communications at Battle Creek, MI-based Kellogg. “And we also must keep up with the people who grew up with Pop-Tarts and continue to eat them as adults.”
— Carrie MacMillan

Reebok

This one goes to the company that has realized that good marketing is about more than just celebrity sponsorships. While athletic apparel sales slumped for much of the industry, Reebok rode an increasingly integrated wave of marketing with a 12% increase in net sales to $803 million in the second quarter of 2003. Reebok kicked off the year with the Super Bowl introduction of its fictitious linebacker, Terry Tate. By mid-year, Tate had gone beyond TV spots to appearing in live events, such as the Terry Tate Pain Train, in which 300 college students formed a cheering squad at the Boston Marathon featuring Reebok-branded temporary tattoos on their foreheads.

When Reebok lost out to Nike in the sponsorship sweepstakes for NBA first round pick LeBron James, it bounced back with even younger talent, signing three-year-old basketball phenom Mark Walker. Television spots featuring Walker and the tagline “Do You Have a Mark Walker in the Family?” invited viewers to submit emails and tapes of their own child athletes. Reebok is also considering pitching TV networks on turning the campaign into its own reality show. “Our marketing is becoming much more integrated,” says Reebok Director of Advertising Brian Povinelli. “Rather than just run a TV spot here or a print ad there, we’re looking at the younger consumers and where they digest media.”

Reebok broke an interactive campaign this summer called “Whodunit?” featuring National Basketball Stars for its ATR by Rbk clothing line. Consumers are asked to piece together clues to solve a crime that took place “Above the Rim.” TV spots show a basketball player who has been overwhelmed by a crossover dribble. Detectives trace the crime to four NBA players and fans log onto rbk.com/whodunit to become “Sports Crime Squad Investigators” and receive e-mail and text message alerts on breaking news in the case. Fans who solve the case will be entered into a sweepstakes giving away a trip to the 2004 NBA All-Star Weekend. “If we want to keep the brand relevant, we need to keep redefining and pushing ourselves,” Povinelli says.
— Matt Kinsman

Trader Joe’s

If you haven’t heard about Trader Joe’s yet, in all likelihood you will.

A walk through one of the grocery chain’s stores is likely to turn up a taste of a good looking pasta salad, made fresh with ingredients from the store’s shelves. A “crew member” hands out recipes so shoppers can purchase the fixings for themselves.

An abundance of samples draws crowds of shoppers to the chain priding itself on selling upscale specialty food and wine at discount prices. “This is no cheese-on-a-stick program,” says Pat St. John, VP-marketing for Trader Joe’s West Coast headquarters in Monrovia, CA.

Trader Joe’s does little in the way of promotion other than its sampling program and its popular and entertaining 24-page Fearless Flyer newsletter, mailed to both customers and prospects. The flyer arrives filled with the latest on new or seasonal products and is peppered with humorous quips and illustrations. However, the two tactics, along with the low prices, have stirred tremendous amounts of flattering chatter, confirming that Trader Joe’s need spend no more on marketing its wares. “Our customers spread the word,” St. John says. “We do very little advertising.”

The rustic, nautically themed stores are small compared to their conventional counterparts. About 80% of the chain’s 2,000 products are private label, often purchased in large quantities direct from suppliers who don’t pay slotting or promotional allowances to help keep costs down.

The privately held company operates about 200 stores in 17 states and is planning to open another 12 stores by the end of the year.
— Patricia Odell

Vespa

Not since Audrey Hepburn hopped on for a spin around Rome with Gregory Peck (in 1953’s Roman Holiday) has the chic little motor scooter charmed North American audiences as much as it has this year. Manufactured by Piaggio in Tuscany, Italy, the Vespa reappeared in the U.S. in 2000, after a 15-year hiatus. It has become the vehicular prize di giorno, the latest answer to the Mini, with tie-ins to Starbuck’s recent direct mail and in-store sweeps. Absolut, American Express, Banana Republic, Campbells Soup, Coca Cola, Dasani, Dell, IBM, Keds, McDonald’s, Microsoft and Target are just a few of the other brands that have partnered with Vespa of late.

But in addition to coasting along in the wake of other brand promotions, Piaggio USA has launched its own tour and accessory lines (an experiential strategy reminiscent of that other two-wheeler brand, Harley Davidson, but with less testosterone and more chianti). Its new CEO and president, Costantino Sambuy, was previously marketing director for the parent company, and comes from a promotion agency background. “Motorcycle industry statistics show that national scooter sales have steadily increased over the past few years,” he says. “It’s thrilling to see what has become a European staple grow in popularity here in the States. We will see that statistic continue to grow.”

He’s already making it happen. For starters, he has reignited Hollywood’s love affair with the scooter via product placements in such films as American Pie, Austin Powers, Of Love and Shadows and The Talented Mr. Ripley. And the company is playing the celebrity game: It has become a premiere sponsor for Amnesty International and Children Uniting Nations, including the Oscar night Celebration at trendy restaurant Ago in West Hollywood benefitting those charities. Piaggio USA provided four new Vespas (signed by some of the 700 celebs in attendance) that were later auctioned off — providing lots of photo opps for the Hollywood elite to demonstrate their love of Vespa culture.
— Kathleen M. Joyce