You’ve Got Results!

There probably isn’t anyone unfamiliar with the line, “You’ve got mail.” Heck, they even named a movie after it.

America Online had the country again mimicking the sing-songy catchphrase last year in a bid to attract new members and persuade current users to upgrade their software.

The 2001 Celebrity You’ve Got Mail sweepstakes was a revival of a successful 1997 campaign. Back then, the effort was limited to online advertising and the other tactics available within Dulles, VA-based AOL’s limited marketing assets. This time, the online giant was supported by the muscle of Time Warner and its massive reach into broadcast, print, theaters, and retail stores.

The concept was simple: Record celebrities voicing the Internet service’s well-known audio prompts (“Hello” and “Goodbye” along with the mail call), then have consumers guess who’s doing the talking.

“In 1997, the response was huge. We had the opportunity to get close to the hot celebrities at the time,” says Lisa Namerow, AOL’s senior manager of brand marketing and promotion. “This time, we had the connections to make it even better.”

The impressive collection of voice talent included Michael Jordan, Ricky Martin, Sylvester Stallone, Kelsey Grammar, and Jackie Chan. Although many of the stars had some kind of relationship with the AOL Time Warner empire, “it wasn’t so much about recruiting talent in-house as it was getting the right talent for us,” says spokesperson Jennifer Rankin.

Of course, the agreements weren’t totally magnanimous. “The celebrities gained exposure for their own projects,” notes Bill Carmody, chief marketing officer for Seismicom, San Francisco, which handled the campaign.

Take Madonna, who provided the first featured voice. At the time, AOL was lead sponsor for her Drowned World Tour, and was offering subscribers first crack at concert tickets. (Several shows sold out exclusively through AOL.)

Talking Points

The month-long campaign featured three different stars each week, which kept subscribers logging in to guess the identities. The prize pool included three Mazda Miatas, a dozen trips to the 2002 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, and Blockbuster Value Cards delivering 52 free movie rentals.

The partnership with Blockbuster, Inc., Dallas, extended into the chain’s 4,278 corporate-owned stores, which displayed endcaps containing interactive sound boxes that allowed shoppers to play in-store — and encouraged them to sign up for AOL service. That component featured four additional celebrities including Barry White and Christina Aguilera. Plus, Blockbuster mailed info to six million customers and provided a link on its Web site.

Elsewhere, AOL leveraged its Moviefone division, through which two million callers heard mentions of the contest. (The service also provided 30-second spots in 900 United Artists theaters as well as radio, TV, and Web ads.) And three Time Warner magazines — People Weekly, Teen People, and Entertainment Weekly — ran ads reaching a combined 10.1 million readers.

The contest attracted 1.3 million unique participants who entered a total of 2.5 million times. That works out to an average of 3,652 per hour, easily making it AOL’s most successful promo ever.

With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that AOL will repeat the effort again in 2002, this time featuring 32 celebrity voices in 32 days.

“In 2001, the promotion [came soon after] the merger with Time Warner,” says Namerow. “In 2002, we will be able to take full advantage of the relationship.”

Could this thing get any bigger? We’ll keep our ears open.

Supporting Cast

Lisa Namerow, Christopher Geisert, Dave Dekema, AOL
Bill Carmody, Seismicom