WatersMolitor Conquers North America World PROs

Minneapolis-based promotion agency WatersMolitor ran the table at the North American World PROs, nailing Gold Awards with each of its four entries and taking home Best in Region honors for a wide-ranging image campaign that helped turn around Nabisco’s SnackWell’s brand.

The WatersMolitor efforts were among 31 promotion campaigns deemed outstanding by a panel of United States- and Canada-based brand marketing and agency executives who met in a day-long judging session in Chicago on July 20, 1999. Winners were selected from among 142 U.S. and 23 Canadian entries. Judges represented leading consumer goods companies such as Sears, McDonald’s, Gillette, and Kraft Foods, as well as top promotion marketing agencies including Einson Freeman, J. Brown/LMC, and Impact.

The 15 regional Gold winners automatically become finalists in the World PRO Awards of Excellence, a program co-sponsored by the editors of promo and the Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide (APMA). APMA members are principals of the world’s leading promotion marketing agencies.

Major support for the awards program in the form of advertising and publicity comes from formal partnerships between promo and 17 overseas marketing and promotion trade journals.

WatersMolitor won two of its Golds and the Best in North America Prize for its work on SnackWell’s, the onetime cookie market phenomenon that was suffering from a few years of 20- to 30-percent sales declines. Focusing on the brand’s appeal to women’s self-esteem, the agency wrapped a communications program around an uplifting “Live Well, Snack Well” icon. Journals exploring the mother-daughter relationship were offered free with purchase, and female targets were invited to day-long mother/daughter workshops in 27 cities. The brand also toured with a Women’s Health Expo.

WatersMolitor’s two other Golds came for its Betcha Can’t Taste The Difference campaign, in which sets of genuine identical twins urged shoppers to compare Malt-O-Meal bagged breakfast cereals to pricier national brands at 1,200 retail locations.

A Camp Jeep program got judges revved, too. Bozell Advertising and Budco shared two Golds and two Silvers for the loyalty event, a direct-mail effort culminating in an adventure rally for Jeep enthusiasts.

A total of 53 finalists (12 from Asia-Pacific, 11 from Latin America, and 15 each from USA/Canada and Europe) emerged from 1999 World PRO regional competitions, which this year took place in Belgium (for Europe), Argentina (for Latin America), and Sydney (for Asia-Pacific) in addition to Chicago.

Finalist entries will be reviewed in September by an international panel of judges, which will narrow the field to 15 World PRO Award winners. They will be revealed at a gala reception in their honor in Chicago on Sept. 14, immediately prior to promo Expo ’99.

This year, more than 500 entries were received by World PRO administrators, the highest number in the nine-year history of the program. The World PRO Awards of Excellence reigns as the worlds largest international recognition program for professional marketers.

Again in 1999, one of the 15 World winners will be named Best Promotion in the World. That honor was claimed last year by Buenos Aires-based agency StoPromotion for a campaign that promoted the sale of recycled notebook paper to Argentine schoolchildren.

North American World PRO winners, by category

Trial Generation: WATERSMOLITOR (U.S.) employed identical twins in 1,200 retail locations to convince consumers to take Malt-O-Meal’s Betcha Can’t Taste the Difference challenge between its bagged cereals and national brands.

Loyalty/Continuity: SMITHKLINE BEECHAM CONSUMER HEALTHCARE’S (U.S.) Committed Quitters Program is a free 800-number and direct-mail support service for users of Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ.

Image Awareness: WATERSMOLITOR (U.S.) turned around a sales slide for Nabisco’s SnackWell’s with an aspirational image campaign targeted to mothers and daughters. Free journals carrying the “Live Well, Snack Well” theme could be had with purchase, and the brand teamed with Girls, Inc. and Lifetime TV on one-day mother/daughter workshops.

Display Activity: THE BOTSFORD GROUP (U.S.) doubled banana sales for Chiquita by forming the Chiquita Banana Summer Fun Club. Families picked up charts in-store to track healthy eating and exercise habits, then mailed them in for premiums and chances to win prizes.

Traffic Building: PROMOTIONAL RESOURCES GROUP (U.S.) helped Blockbuster hit a film industry record – one million videocassettes pre-sold – with its Blockbuster Midnight Sale for Titanic. Premiums and other special offers had Leo aficionados lined up at Blockbusters in the wee hours of the morning on the video’s first day of release.

Usage/Loading: LOUIS LONDON (U.S.) got things rocking for Boise Cascade Office Products with a program for sales people and customers alike. The Boise Cascade World Tour ’98 hit offices nationwide with a hippie music theme (including photo sessions and samples) and delivered company accountants to nirvana with a 22-percent sales increase.

Account-Specific: SJI, INC. (U.S.) really caught the attention of Kmart shoppers with its Get Caught with a Card in Your Cart program for Hallmark. Alerted by store standees and direct-mail BOGO offers, consumers who were “caught” with Expressions from Hallmark cards in tow by uniformed card patrols instantly won awards between $50 and $5,000.

Direct/Database: BUDCO (U.S.) winnowed down the mailing list of Jeep owners and leasers to make Camp Jeep a high-performance event. Its successfully targeted mailings sold out all 2,500 tickets more than a month before the cutoff date.

Dealer/Salesforce: FLAIR COMMUNICATIONS (U.S.) enlisted award-winning chefs to make an epicurean appeal to salespeople at Dole Fresh Vegetables’ sales meeting. The occasion was the introduction of Dole Great Restaurant Salads. Also introduced was an incentive contest with the grand prize of a tour of the great restaurants of France.

Interactive: CDNOW (U.S.) roped in more than 8,000 new customers with a Connect to the Music sweeps offering a chance to meet Shania Twain backstage at one of her concerts. The program offered thousands of other prizes including a CD a month for life.

Use of Media: CDNOW (U.S.) also struck gold for the Connect to the Music media campaign that included spots on Letterman, MTV, and the Grammy Award broadcast along with a barrage of 72 million impressions on its own Web site.

Concept: WATERSMOLITOR (U.S.) fittingly won a twin Gold PRO for its Malt-O-Meal Betcha Can’t Taste the Difference challenge employing identical siblings.

Art Direction: FLAIR COMMUNICATIONS (U.S.) increased sell-in by 30 percent for Allied Domecq Spirits USA’s Courvoisier brand with a wide range of materials highlighting the cognac’s new package design.

Copywriting: BOZELL ADVERTISING (U.S.) took the wheel and drove attendees to Camp Jeep with a series of direct mailings, catalogs, and newsletters.

Integrated Marketing: WATERSMOLITOR (U.S.) for Nabisco’s SnackWell’s.

Best in North America (by judges vote): WATERSMOLITOR (U.S.) for Nabisco’s SnackWell’s in image awareness category.

Trial Generation: TLP (U.S.) for Pizza Hut

Loyalty/Continuity: Bozell Advertising (U.S.) for Jeep

Image Awareness: DraftWorldwide (U.S.) for United States Postal Service

Display Activity: Gillette Canada (CAN) for Gillette Canada

Traffic Building: KCS Marketing Group (CAN) for Home Hardware Stores Ltd.

Usage/Loading Phoneworks (U.S.) for Gerber Foods

Account-Specific (tie): The Agency @ Marketing Corp. of America (U.S.) for Coca-Cola’s Mr. Pibb; Strategic Promotional Marketing (U.S.) for Nokia Mobile Phones

Direct/Database: Mitchell, Lindberg & Taylor for Manheim Auctions

Dealer/Sales Force: Royal Crown Co. (U.S.) for RC Edge Maximum Power Cola

Interactive: Louis London (U.S.) for Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser

Use of Media: Creative Source International (U.S.) for Okidata

Concept: Flair Communications (U.S.) for Vlasic Foods International

Art Direction: Frankel & Co. (U.S.) for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream

Copywriting: Highway One (U.S.) for Amnesty International

Integrated Marketing: Bozell Advertising (U.S.) for Jeep