The Promotional Idea Showcase - Spring 2003 - Updated Quarterly

 

Distribution Can Make Or Break A Promotion  
By Tonia Cook Kimbrough

 

A promotional product without a smart distribution plan is like a train without tracks – it’ll just sit there without ever truly reaching its intended destination (your target audience).  Check out these concept-building suggestions for effective distribution that can add real steam to your campaign. 

Bottom line: It doesn’t matter how cool, appropriate, useful or impressive a promotional product is. If the distribution is lame, the impact is reduced.

More than just about anything else, interaction is what sets an extraordinary product or promotion apart from an average, run-of-the-mill one – a point promotional advisor Nicki DeMattei never forgets when she plans her distribution strategy. 

For one trade show promotion, she set 5,000 stopwatches on neck-cords to all go off at the two times during the day when her client was making a presentation on the show floor. They were handed out by rollerblading employees with colorful wigs. “We’ve also had people walk through the aisles at a trade show with logoed arm bands, slapping them on unsuspecting attendees with great success,” she says.

Counselor Bruce Korn also believes in adding interactive elements to distribution. One of his favorite direct-mail techniques requires recipients to take out the garbage, so to speak. “I like mini-trashcans for mailers,” he explains. “Pre-crumpling the message before recipients throw it away. A little humor goes a long way.” Korn says recipients have to take extra time to smooth out the can’s contents to read it, thus engaging them physically and ensuring a multisensory experience.

Another time, Korn planned a Western theme for a client’s trade show promotion. Blinking sheriff’s badges were selected for gifts. Each hour a “posse” of the company’s booth personnel would walk the aisles of the exhibit hall, scouting for blinking badges. Attendees wearing them were invited back to the client’s booth to receive a more substantial gift (also logoed, of course), along with a product demonstration.

Get Personal

Person-to-person contact adds power to any ad campaign. In fact, promotional consultant Steve Slack considers hand delivery the most effective vehicle for product distribution, bar none. He remembers past campaigns that worked particularly well: 

“We hired high school bands or charity groups to assist with packing and/or distribution of promotional materials,” he says. “We hired people to wear tuxedos to deliver live houseplants wrapped with an invitation to the opening of a gas station. The client was introducing self-serve gas to a new market area. The name of the facility was the Gas Garden. The client felt women would be hesitant to pump their own gas and wanted to demonstrate cleanliness and ease of self-service, as well as highlight the cost savings.” 

Women were invited to a luncheon where hostesses demonstrated the self-serve procedure and distributed coupons for free gas in imprinted vinyl folders. The program not only met forecasted results, it tripled them within six months.

If the budget allows with a particular campaign, Slack suggests sending packages via FedEx or UPS, requiring a signature upon receipt. Not only is the package given priority as a special delivery; in many cases it’s assured direct contact with the intended recipient.

Dress It Up 

Of course, all promotions can’t be hand-delivered by someone in a tux or by UPS or FedEx. But there are other ways to dress up distribution.

“We do direct mail, but [use] ‘Open me now’ packaging,” says DeMattei. “We’ve found that many programs go in the garbage if the initial ‘wow’ isn’t there. Whether it’s just a colorful envelope, custom box or courier service that has hand-to-hand delivery, the first five seconds are critical to whether your package gets opened or not.”

Today, it’s key to label your packages as well. While dimensional mailers are still a tried-and-true delivery method, since 9/11 DeMattei urges clients to add a message such as “This package from …” on the outside to avoid recipients getting an unmarked box.

She also admits that while direct mail is effective, it’s where distribution errors most often occur. Her ironclad rules of thumb: 
  • Don’t send out mailings without the correct postage and address
  • Don’t waste money on lists that haven’t been reviewed for accuracy/potential
  • No typos in any components
  • Make sure recipients are clear about why they’re getting the package (and why you’re sending it).

Once opened, a package’s contents should be presented in a way that makes the gift sparkle. This was done well by Major League Baseball when it wanted to recognize players and participants in the annual All-Star game. The gift was 10 videos of movies with baseball-related themes. They were placed in a solid mahogany chest affixed with a brass plate noting the event and date. The packages were mailed to recipients after the game, leaving an impression of importance and commemoration the videotapes alone couldn’t have achieved.

Themes Taking Flight

Another route to creative distribution is to build on a theme. This resulted in what Slack considers one of the most effective campaigns ever: The client, HI-Q Motor Inn, wanted to invite guests to the opening of its new 16-story hotel. The central concept, given the height of the building, was to create an “air show.” A poster announced the “First Annual Inter-national Air Show Competition.” Guests were given wing-shaped nametags and trophy cup-shaped beverage containers, then escorted to the 16th floor of the hotel to view the VIP suites. Once there, balsa-wood airplanes were distributed, to be launched at targets painted on the parking lot below. Those who hit the targets received travel-related prizes. Over 95% of the hotel’s guests participated.

Another example of how a theme can drive distribution: An office-equipment supplier wanted to promote a ride-share program among its employees. The theme was “Club Commute,” and a parking lot party launched the campaign. Attendees got details of the promotion and a yellow, car-shaped car-wash kit to illustrate the prize of 50 free car washes for those who carpooled for a year.

In a third case, a Wisconsin dairy products distributor went all out to disseminate information about the state’s famous cheese. A seven-week “Cheddarcation” campaign was the framework for the firm’s salespeople to carry lunchbox-shaped sample cases bearing a “child-printed list” of products outside. On sales calls, the lunchboxes were used to make presentations. Prospects were given imprinted “Make the Grade” pencils to complete “report card” (order) forms and yellow rulers to promote the theme “Sysco’s Golden Rule is Wisconsin Real Dairy Products.”

Research First, Plan Second

Where do ideas such as Cheddarcation and the HI-Q Air Show come from? Creative counselors for one. But also from careful research of what products make sense and what routes are best suited to reach the intended recipients. To work at full creative capacity, your counselor needs as much info as possible. Consider your intended audience – not just who they are and what their needs are, but where there might be opportunities to place products in their hands. Will they all be attending the same event? Do they live in the same area? Will they be visiting a common location for any reason? Do you have an up-to-date, targeted mailing list?

How is the information applied? Say a beverage company wants to introduce a new canned fruit punch to college students. Is there a place they congregate in large numbers and tend to be thirsty? No, not the bar near campus; bigger numbers than that. At the beach during spring break, maybe? How about brightly colored imprinted can coolers? The drinks are handed out, in the coolers, by young adults hired to walk the beach in Hawaiian-print shirts and/or bathing suits. In other words, the distribution method is made to fit the target audience’s lifestyle and timed to reach them at a point when they’d be most likely to enjoy the product immediately. It’s all about making a connection.

Just as important as knowing the facts, you need to consider any limitations, too. For instance, DeMattei says there may be restrictions at certain venues: “Don’t expect to hand out water at a major convention center; it’s usually not allowed. [And] mylar balloons are a big no-no at most centers.” Other examples: Pools and beaches may have a no-glass policy. Don’t distribute imprinted chocolate bars outdoors on a hot day. If your audience will be standing awhile or walking longer distances (say at a big trade show), make sure anything you give them isn’t too heavy or awkward. It’s better to use a product that can be worn, put in a purse/pocket, or tossed in a tote bag (Of course, you can always provide the bag as well…).

With direct mail, consider the weight and size of the product. Is it properly packaged if it’s breakable? Will third- or first-class mail be required to get it to recipients on time? Pinpointing limitations is often only a matter of using common sense or knowing that if entities such as unions or licensors are involved, there will be rules you must respect. Of course, counselors with experience in similar campaigns will likely already know these limitations and be able to advise you on how to deal with them.

Finally, always keep your eye on results. “The key element to the successful distribution of a promotional product is, does it meet its goal or objective?” says counselor Bruce Jolesch. For this to happen, partner with your counselor and leave plenty of time to put together an effective plan. “Distribution is considered early on in the creative process, along with selection of the product itself. We want to make sure the selection meets the client’s objective and that we can distribute the product [correctly].” 

Tonia Cook Kimbrough is a contributing editor to Imprint.