WWE Backs WrestleMania 22 with ‘Big-Time’ Marketing Blitz
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is creating big time buzz around WrestleMania 22 with a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, which includes sweepstakes overlays and a host of in-store promotions.
The campaign, called WrestleMania Big Time, is WWE’s largest-ever built around the perennial pay-per-view event. To help spark buzz, cable affiliates and satellite providers are sending more than 1.2 million direct mail pieces and about 1 million e-mail blasts to fans. Consumers who subscribe at WWE.com will receive special cell phone alerts.
WrestleMania 22 takes place April 2 at Chicago’s Rosemont Allstate Arena.
In addition, WWE has launched a national sweepstakes around the event, offering fans daily chances to win more than 10,000 prizes, including trips to WrestleMania 22. Consumers can enter the WrestleMania Big Time Sweepstakes by logging on to WrestleMania.com. Consumers who obtain a game card at previous WWE events can decode their pieces on the site. Fans without game cards can obtain a virtual game piece by registering online.
Two grand-prize winners get a five-day trip for two to Chicago to see WrestleMania 22, airfare and hotel accommodations and tickets to THQ Superstar Challenge and to the WrestleMania 22 Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Five first-prize winners will receive a WWE Championship Replica Belt. Lesser prizes include Pay-Per-View Rewind DVD sets, the SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 PlayStation2 games, subscriptions to Raw & SmackDown Magazine and WrestleMania T-Shirts.
The sweepstakes runs through April 2. Online materials support. EPrize, Pleasant Ridge, MI, handles.
“It’s not just about dropping an ad a few weeks before [the event], it’s about creating excitement,” says Dan Levi, senior VP marketing, WWE, Stamford, CT. “We’ve gotten involved [with] more outside brands and promotional partners than we have ever done before.”
Candy-maker Snickers, the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania 22, is offering its own sweepstakes dangling front row seats to the event. Consumers enter the Best Seats in the House sweepstakes by completing an entry form on Snicker.com. One grand-prize winner will receive two front row seats to WrestleMania 22, airfare, hotel accommodations and unlimited Snickers bars and food during the event. The sweepstakes runs through March 20. Online materials support.
To further build excitement, Mountain Dew is distributing 6 million cans of soda, both in-pack and individual cans, in the Chicago area featuring WWE Champion John Cena and WrestleMania 22. The effort drives fans to a regional online sweepstakes. In addition, Pepsi and Jewel Osco stores have launched an in-store promotion at 200 locations in the Midwest. Consumers who buy eight packs of 12-ounce containers of Pepsi and use their Jewel Osco loyalty card will be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win tickets to WrestleMania 22 and other prizes. One grand-prize winner gets four tickets to the event; six first-prize winners get tickets to Monday Night Raw. Lesser prizes include WrestleMania T-shorts and hats. In-store materials support.
Select Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits restaurants will distribute free Big Time Mania Moments trading cards to customers who buy Pepsi products at 77 Popeyes locations around Chicago.
NBC Universal is joining forces with WWE in a $10 million campaign to drive sales of WrestleMania pay-per-view and the video-on-demand release of its film Doom, starring The Rock. Consumers who purchase both will receive two limited-edition posters of The Rock.
At retail, WrestleMania 22 will be featured in more than 5,000 retail locations through in-store promotions with Toys ‘R’ Us, Kay Bee Toys and GameStop/Electronics Boutique.
WWE is also promoting WrestleMania 22 on pizza boxes and via outdoor advertising on 12 markets tying in to its “Big Time” theme. Online materials, e-mail blasts and TV spots support.
“It’s all about demonstrating to the fans this is a big time event,” Levi says.
To tie-in the live event, WWE has embarked on a 13-week-long mobile marketing tour. Through the 20-city, interactive WrestleMania Fan Axxess Tour, fans can visit WWE stars and experience the world of wrestling on the road. As part of the experience, consumers can play commentator and record their own play-by-plays of a wrestling match on a complimentary DVD.
The tour, in its third year, ends April 2 in Chicago during WrestleMania 22. Tour information is available on WrestleMania.com. Online materials, e-mail blasts and TV spots support. LeadDog, New York City, handles.
