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The Promotional Idea Showcase - Summer 2002
- Updated
Quarterly
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Real
Problems, Real Solutions
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Levi’s
Develops Glowing Promotion For Managers
 Many
marketers use promotional products to create top-of-mind
awareness. At a recent meeting of its marketing managers,
Levi-Strauss & Co. created top-of-head awareness.
The three-day meeting, called “Season of Focus,” was held at
the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Florida. Attendees would be
discussing – big surprise — a new line of Levi’s clothing.
Levi’s made a deal with the hotel to put 300 special pillowcases
on the pillows in the managers’ rooms. The pillowcases were
imprinted with the “Season of Focus” theme. The kicker,
however, was a second message that also glowed in the dark:
“Sleep tonight, focus tomorrow.”
Other non-glowing verbiage on the pillowcases discussed some of
the upcoming meeting’s other topics of focus, including
branding, effective working relationships, good communication and
inventory maintenance. The design included autumn leaves to help
fit the fall season in which the meeting took place.
“People loved them so much they were using them as laundry bags
and taking them home,” says Brian Ledig, the counselor who
handled the promotion.
The overall popularity of the cases means the message might, right
now, be getting into the head of those marketing managers’
spouses. Better late than never….
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A
Boise-Rich Team Up
 Turkey
processor Louis Rich Inc., to promote its pre-cooked chicken
strips, co-sponsored a campaign with Boise Cascade Office
Products. “It Couldn’t Be Easier” was a contest asking
consumers to submit quick recipes for the strips. Boise customers
got involved by ordering two products from its catalog, which
qualifed them for a logoed item for each month. In June, for
example, it was a cutting board with the Boise and Rich logos.
Recipes came in by the hundreds. The winner, Dallas native Treva
Burks, got a refrigerator and gift basket. Runners-up got
microwave ovens and coffee grinders. The next 1,000 qualifiers got
a Boise apron and a CD-ROM version of the cookbook.
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Book
Promo Uses Truly Valuable Local Goods
 After
the events of September 11 last year, scores of American
businesses have rediscovered something: It’s perfectly OK to
promote a completely obvious second agenda in your advertising
when it’s for a good cause.
Roy H. Williams knew it long ago. Williams, aka/the “Wizard of
Ads,” is president of Williams Marketing Inc., a media firm that
teaches “creative thinking, strategic planning and human
persuasion” for marketers, aka/“Wizard Academy.” Several
years ago, he went to Guatemala on a speaking engagement. Shocked
at its poverty and strife but impressed with the positive attitude
of its people, he made helping the country one of his missions,
and set about devising ways to generate interest. The answer was
his latest book, Accidental Magic, a writing guide using
photographs and descriptive text. All proceeds were earmarked for
Guatemala.
To promote the book, Williams sent out several hundred mailings to
the media, university professors, business associates and anyone
he met with an interest in Guatemala. The mailings were fairly
standard, except that each was accompanied by a small product made
by the people of Guatemala. These included painted parrots, clay
whistles and colorful cloth wristlets. The copy accompanying the
bracelet noted, “We Guatemalans invite you to wear a goodwill
bracelet as a token of our friendship.” Inside were instructions
on how to tie it.
“The people there … just haven’t had the advantages of
others,” says Corrine Taylor, who did publicity for the effort.
“Nobody wants to feel like they are getting a hand-out, so we
feel like we’re working with them towards helping them.”
And so far, the firm reports, interest in the book has been solid.
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Limited
Edition DVD Aimed At Youth Market
 AND
1 began in 1993 as a little sports marketing firm with revenues of
approximately $1 million. Now it offers a complete line of
basketball gear, and has revenues of $213 million. How’d it do
it? Celebrity endorsers, charitable donations and promotions. A
recent effort was the AND 1 Mix Tape Collectors’ Edition DVD,
produced in limited quantities and distributed via Footaction
stores as a gift-with-purchase. The DVD had complete footage of
the Mix Tapes, Volumes 1-4; soundtracks from the four volumes; a
trailer for volume five; a bonus footage section; unseen footage
of Milwaukee Bucks star Rafer Alston; and lots more. As the first
four volumes are out of print, re-releasing them in their entirety
created an opportunity for those who missed out or to get more.
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Mirror
Foretells Shrek’s Fortunes
 Magic
mirrors have played a big role in fairy tales from “Sleeping
Beauty” to “Beauty and The Beast.” Now one played a role in
a promotion put together for Dreamworks Studio’s Shrek, a hip,
computer-generated movie featuring many celeb-rity voices.
Dreamworks wanted to drum up interest in Shrek via a promotion
that would grab and hold critics’ attention.
Counselor Michael Bedenbaugh developed the campaign. As Shrek
features a magic mirror, the item used was a pewter mirror with a
mysterious red button. When pushed, the mirror lit up with
an image of Shrek, the film’s “star,” and “said,” via
voice chip, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall. What movie will beat
them all? Shrek! Coming to theaters May 2001.”
A total of 1,500 mirrors were sent to film critics in North
America, with another 1,600 being sent to critics overseas.
They worked like a magic charm. “It made the strong impact we
needed it to,” says Bedenbaugh. “That’s the purpose of this
stuff. You want the first impression to be incredible. And it
was.”
The mirror also earned a mention in Entertain-ment Weekly. Dream
works called it a major part of the film’s pre-release buzz.
Shrek slayed its summer competition, quickly surging past $200
million. In pre-Harry Potter terms, that’s an excellent return.
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‘Scare
Tactics’ Generate Positive Response For Video Game
 The
industry press are a fickle bunch. They’ve pretty much seen it
all – products, promotions, perks, PR, pluses and pitfalls. So
how do you break through to this jaded audience?
That’s precisely what Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA)
faced with the launch of Disney/Pixar’s Monsters Inc. videogame
for PlayStation. It decided to use logoed doormats. Why? The
inspiration was to ask editors to place the mat outside their
closet doors to “welcome the monsters waiting on the other
side,” playing off the age-old kids’ fear that monsters lurk
in the bedroom closet.
The mats were accompanied by “scary kits” and placed in a
mailing targeting approximately 1,000 media reviewers. The mailing
went out several weeks prior to the game’s launch, and the kits
included a trick-or-treat bag filled with “monstrous munchies”
like gumball eyeballs and gummy tarantulas. Artwork and press
materials for the game were also in the package, encouraging
recipients to get in the “scaring spirit.” The packages were
distributed by FedEx to help them stand out.
Tina Casalino, SCEA P.R. specialist, called the promotion a
success. “We received a lot of positive feedback from the
media,” she says. “This included calls, e-mails and even
photos showing editorial offices with the doormats out in front.
We even received requests for extra doormats and scary kits for
their children. We’re confident this teaser promo firmly planted
the seeds for Monsters Inc. in journalists’ minds.”
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