If you want to take the pulse of promotion, ePrize CEO Josh Linkner will tell you to look to Florida. With a history of some of the strictest regs for the execution of games, contests and sweepstakes, the Sunshine State is often used as a barometer of national brand campaign frequency. In 2005, ePrize registered more programs in the state than any other agency.
As the company's name suggests, the work leveraged the burgeoning popularity of digital marketing. EPrize has seen its net revenues skyrocket 305% to $26.2 million last year from $6.5 million in 2003, largely due to the millions of dollars migrating from traditional media to interactive promotions.
To keep up with the demand, ePrize has doubled its sales force in the last two years, hiring hard-working employees who are aggressively building organic growth as well as working the phone lines. Last year, 72% of the agency's revenue came from additional business from existing clients and 28% from new business.
“We've been pretty aggressive,” Linkner says. “We're not sitting back waiting for an RFP.” Growth, coupled with some notable campaign work (the agency ranked No. 8 this year in creativity), landed ePrize in the No. 3 spot on the PROMO 100 for the second consecutive year.
Toyota looked to ePrize to differentiate its Scion brand and to generate excitement around three new models. A key goal was to collect consumer data to drive referrals and sales. The Scion eDecoder Sweepstakes was born, sending 1.5 million eDecoder game pieces into the marketplace via print ads, events and street teams. “It's an interactive way of getting people involved,” says Adrian Si, interactive marketing manager for Scion. “For us, if we're going to connect with [our 18- to 34- year-old target], it's through the Internet.”
Si says ePrize's strength lies in its willingness to push the envelope.
Sweepstakes players held the game pieces up to a computer to find out if they had won a prize, including a 2005 Scion. Three versions of the eDecoders and Web pages were created around three models. Players entered their cell numbers to find out by text message if they had won a weekly prize. Visitors played 800,000 times and Toyota captured profiles on 92,000 registrants as well as 40,000 mobile numbers. Players visited the sites an average 7.4 times. The cost per participant was less than $4. Cherry Bomb Inc., Hermosa Beach, CA, hosted that main Scion site and SMS service was provided by Mobilicious, Los Angeles.
“If I can get a consumer to come online and translate from an anonymous shopper to a registered permission-based relationship, that becomes marketing gold,” Linkner says.
The Pleasant Ridge, MI-based agency has just over 210 employees with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and London.
EPrize's client roster includes Coca-Cola, Yahoo, Dell, ConAgra, General Mills, Hershey's, Procter & Gamble and Harrah's, among others.
EPrize won a 2005 EMMA from PROMO for its work on the Crest Apprentice promotion. It also was instrumental in launching the first annual Interactive Promotions Summit, held in March in Las Vegas.
