Seeing red

Dogs might not eat soup and dragons don’t necessarily grant wishes, but Scholastic and Sesame Workshop are banking on said ideas as they head into the first quarter with big promotional campaigns.

For Scholastic and Lipton, the red branding used by both companies for Clifford the Big Red Dog and Soup Secrets, respectively, brought them together and grew into a year-long on-pack program. Clifford is celebrating a rebirth with a year of high ratings on PBS, while Englewood Cliffs, NJ-based Lipton is diving into its first-ever licensed character promotion for Soup Secrets. The affable dog will appear on five flavors of the soup, including noodle, chicken noodle, giggle noodle and ring-o-noodle.

Throughout this month, Soup Secrets cartons will feature activities, such as mazes and word searches, on back panels. Starting in March, the activities will be replaced by rotating on-pack premiums. First up is a Clifford bowl and spoon set, followed by a canteen offer. Both are free with two proofs of purchase, plus shipping and handling. “Moms remember their mothers feeding them Lipton soup and reading Clifford to them when they were young, so it was a natural fit,” says Chris Jacobs, brand manager for Lipton Soups.

The relationship is akin to Clifford’s three-year old on-pack partnership with Kix cereal, says Leslye Schaefer, New York City-based Scholastic’s senior VP-marketing and consumer products. “We’re always looking for ways to bring Clifford out of product and let kids interact with him,” she says.

Digging to China

Meanwhile, Sesame Workshop will be employing its new promotion strategy at this month’s 2003 International Toy Fair. The nonprofit is competing hard in the crowded broadcast and consumer product marketplace and emphasizing the halo effect it can give partner companies.

“Our message to the promotional community is that we are excited to work with you — we want to be your partner of choice,” says Bill Burke, director of marketing, global consumer products and international TV distribution for the workshop. “We have not been a part of these discussions in the past.” Previously, New York City-based Sesame Workshop had relied on licensing programs. “But we have built out our marketing department and we want more promotional activities and campaigns that extend the experience beyond the TV shows,” Burke says.

For the three-year-old show Dragon Tales, Sesame Workshop last month launched an I Wish I Wish sweepstakes that dangles a $10,000 college savings bond and Compaq computer, a trip to Universal Orlando Resort and a Yamaha piano with a year of lessons. Meanwhile, Welch’s is offering six Dragon Tales jelly tumblers and Sbarro is kicking in collectible mazes, kids meal bags and pizza boxes at its 700 locations. Kids can enter the sweeps at sesameworkshop.org/dragontales or welchs.com through May 31. The Sbarro program kicks off April 1 and goes through June 30. Ryan Partnership, Wilton, CT, handles.

Plus, Toys “R” Us will exclusively sell Dragon Tales product from Fisher-Price over the next year. Starting next month, children can enter the I Wish I Wish sweeps in TRU stores and possibly win an extra prize package of a trip to New York City and a $1,000 shopping spree in the Paramus, NJ-based chain’s anchor store.

A theme for a winter promotion for another popular Sesame Workshop show, Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat, was a no brainer. Through March, families are being asked to send a Chinese New Year card to Sagwa. By choosing one of two cards at sesameworkshop.org/sagwa, they are entered into a sweeps with a prize pool that includes a $25,000 college savings bond, family trips to Washington, DC, and Sagwa product. Ads in Parents magazine and inserts in Sagwa home videos from Warner Home Video support. Consumers can also find entries at dedicated Dragon Tales areas in Mervyn’s stores. Plus, Sagwa Chinese New Year activity books will be distributed to 250,000 Girl Scouts.

Sesame handles the effort in-house with support from Marden-Kane, Manhasset, NY.