Sweet Tooth

Slimy green sundaes keep spelling success for Baskin-Robbins. The ice cream chain again played its entertainment card for a fall 2002 tie-in with NBC to promote the network’s lineup of new and returning shows. The promotions team at Baskin-Robbins scooped deep into its recipe box and delivered a Fear Factor sundae with gummy spiders and a Pralines ‘n American Dreams flavor, along with three others offered during the eight-week promotion. It was a fitting encore to Shrek-themed goodies that earned Baskin-Robbins two EMMAs last year (May 2002 PROMO).

Slimy green sundaes are a hit at Baskin-Robbins

A “sweetstakes” dangled a trip for two to a Los Angeles taping of Fear Factor; a walk-on role in NBC’s drama American Dreams; a bowling trip with that cast of Ed; a visit at a news station built around sitcom Good Morning Miami; and a tour of the Will & Grace set, consultation with a show stylist and shopping spree at Barney’s. Fans got game cards in 2,400 ice cream shops, then went online to check codes.

NBC secured a partnership with AOL to develop, manage and advertise the sweetstakes online. Baskin-Robbins chipped in ice cream-for-a-year certificates and free scoops to the pool of more than 10,000 prizes.

It had been five years since the chain advertised on broadcast television. “We have totally re-looked at how we approach marketing over the past three or four years, and we thought partnering with some top current and new TV shows would be exciting,” says Joe Adney, senior director of marketing.

And it wasn’t so hard to convince nearly all of the chains’ franchisees to participate. “Unlike most situations where the franchisees are apprehensive of what the mothership is going to do from a marketing perspective, their field people are believers now,” says Norm Marshall, CEO of Norm Marshall & Associates, Baskin-Robbins’ AOR.

Hollywood is apparently a believer as well. “What we find interesting is that Baskin-Robbins is perceived as a player of the Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s world, which they never were before,” Marshall says. “It goes to show what a well-implemented promotion can do.”

The NBC Agency, the network’s internal ad sales group, was impressed with the creativity of past Baskin-Robbins promotions. “For us, it was about hitting people in an unusual place in an unusual way where they wouldn’t expect to hear about TV shows,” says John Miller, co-president of Los Angeles-based The NBC Agency.

Baskin-Robbins produced two 15-second spots on national cable, one of which starred two actresses from American Dreams, free of charge. The chain also ran four ads in Entertainment Weekly and featured activity at baskinrobbins.com. NBC, in turn, ran a 10-second spot featuring a call-to-action for the game cards.

Through the promotion, Baskin-Robbins gave $1 million worth of off-network exposure, an opportunity typically unavailable to broadcast TV stations, and received $1 million in exposure on the No. 1 rated network. Counter cards in stores also highlighted NBC’s entire list of prime-time shows.

Fifty thousand sweeps entries were collected and NBC had the most successful fall launch of any network.

SUPPORTING CAST

BASKIN ROBBINS: Joe Adney, Debra Newton
NORM MARSHALL & ASSOCIATES: Erin Garay, Michele Carter
THE NBC AGENCY: Barbara Blangiardi, John Miller