And the Winners Will Be

The Promotion Marketing Association, New York City, last month unveiled the list of finalists for its 18th annual Reggies, one of the premier awards programs for the U.S. promotion industry.

Final identification of Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in each category will be announced this month at the annual PMA Update conference in Chicago.

The following is a list of finalists (ordered alphabetically by category).

CATEGORY: NATIONAL CONSUMER PROMOTION, BUDGET OVER $6 MILLION

Campaign: Be the Ultimate Pokémon Master
Client: Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, MI
Agency: DraftWorldwide, Chicago

Campaign: The Neal McCoy 24-7-365 Tour
Client: Fleetwood Homes, Woodland, CA
Agency: Frankel, Chicago

Campaign: Sears is Your Ticket On Stagewith Christina Aguilera
Client: Sears Roebuck and Co., Hoffman Estates, IL
Agency: Einson Freeman, Paramus, NJ

CATEGORY: NATIONAL CONSUMER PROMOTION, BUDGET $3 MILLION TO $6 MILLION

Campaign: Oreo Stacking 2000
Client: Nabisco, East Hanover, NJ
Agency: The Promotion Network, Inc., New York City

Campaign: Tamiflu Launch
Client: Roche, Nutley, NJ
Agency: Momentum, New York City

Campaign: Holiday 2000 Promotion with Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Client: United States Postal Service, Washington, DC
Agency: Frankel, Chicago

CATEGORY: NATIONAL CONSUMER PROMOTION, BUDGET UNDER $3 MILLION

Campaign: Launch of Jeckles
Client: Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati
Agency: Upshot, Chicago

Campaign: Miller Genuine Draft Blind Date
Client: Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee
Agency: Zipatoni, St. Louis

Campaign: Southern Comfort Taste of New Orleans
Client: Southern Comfort, Louisville, KY
Agency: Momentum, St. Louis

CATEGORY: LOCAL, REGIONAL OR TARGET/ETHNIC MARKET PROMOTION, BUDGET OVER $500,000

Campaign: Cartoon Cartoon Fridays
Client: Cartoon Network, Atlanta
Agency: In-house

Campaign: Chivas Adelante
Client: Seagram, New York City
Agency: SAI Marketing, Inc., Huntingdon Valley, PA

Campaign: Seize the Night — Milky Way Midnight
Client: M&M/Mars, Hackettstown, NJ
Agency: DraftWorldwide, Chicago

CATEGORY: LOCAL, REGIONAL OR TARGET/ETHNIC MARKET PROMOTION, BUDGET UNDER $500,000

Campaign: Alice Wicked Wonderland Tour
Client: Electronic Arts, Redwood City, CA
Agency: In-house

Campaign: Bring a Bagel to Work Days
Client: Dunkin’ Donuts, Randolph, MA
Agency: WatersMolitor, Minneapolis

Campaign: Rock the Mall
Client: General Growth Properties, Inc., Chicago
Agency: In-house

CATEGORY: MULTI-CHANNEL INTEGRATED PROMOTION INVOLVING CONSUMER AND TRADE

Campaign: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas National Campaign
Client: Universal Pictures, Universal City, CA
Agency: In-house

Campaign: Motorola V2397 Launch
Client: Motorola, Libertyville, IL
Agency: Zipatoni, St. Louis

Campaign: Survivor
Client: CBS, New York City
Agency: In-house

CATEGORY: BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS PROMOTION

Campaign: Sheepstakes
Client: Cartoon Network, Atlanta
Agency: In-house

Campaign: USG Rock Tour
Client: USG Corp., Chicago
Agency: DDB Worldwide, Chicago

Campaign: Life FantasTech
Client: Washington Mutual, Seattle
Agency: McCracken Brooks Maier, Minneapolis

CATEGORY: INTERNATIONAL OR GLOBAL PROMOTION

Campaign: Uncle Sam Operation Cows on Parade
Client: Dairy Farmers of America, Kansas City, MO
Agency: Flair Communications, Chicago

Campaign: Kosovo Emergency Response
Client: CARE, Lewisville, TX
Agency: In-house

Campaign: The Simpsons Global Fanfest
Client: 20th Century Fox, Los Angeles
Agency: In-house

CATEGORY: INTERACTIVE PROMOTION

Campaign: The Encarta Bee Challenge
Client: Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA
Agency: Communicator|e, Chicago

Campaign: The Intruder
Client: Cartoon Network, Atlanta
Agency: In-house

Campaign: The Kraft Foods Game of Life
Client: Kraft Foods, Glenview, IL
Agency: Promotions.com, New York City

CATEGORY: CAUSE-RELATED PROMOTION

Campaign: Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Decorate a Cookie
Clients: Pillsbury, Minneapolis; Albertson’s, Boise, ID
Agencies: Ryan Partnership, Westport, CT; The Market Connection, Dallas

Campaign: The Grinch’s First Book Campaign
Client: Universal Pictures, Universal City, CA
Agency: In-house

Campaign: Kosovo Emergency Response
Client: CARE, Lewisville, TX
Agency: In-house

In Name Only

Impiric’s door wide open after WPP buy.

Neil Contess has decided to leave Impiric after one year as president of the New York City agency’s promotion practice.

The promo veteran’s planned departure is the latest in a steady series of executive resignations that have taken place since parent company Young & Rubicam was acquired by London-based WPP Group last spring. Leaving the company late last year was chairman and ceo Jay Bingle and president Eric Larsen (the latter to become president of San Francisco online marketing shop Netcentives). In January, Y&R named Daniel Morel, formerly ceo of Euro RSCG unit The Sales Machine, to replace Bingle.

Contess joined Impiric in January 2000 as the former Wunderman Cato Johnson was undertaking a name-change designed to reposition the direct-marketing and promotion agency as the world leader in customer relationship management. That drive was supposed to include a “renewed emphasis” on promotion as the linchpin of customer relationships (February 2000 PROMO).

Those plans have not materialized since WPP acquired Y&R. “New owner, new priorities,” says one former executive.

Contess declined to comment on his decision to leave. WPP and Impiric did not return calls seeking comment.

BACK TO SCHOOLING

Agency veteran Jim Petzing last month opened Exceleration Training & Consulting, Chicago, to offer training seminars full-time. Petzing left Colangelo Synergy Marketing, where he split his time between account service management and training for clients including Kraft Foods and IBM.

Exceleration will offer integrated marketing programs for junior to mid-level professionals, as well as seminars for promotional service suppliers such as Milmour Products and NewsAmerica to better understand how marketers plan promotion strategy. That enables suppliers to “bring value to the conversation and not just try to sell a widget,” Petzing says. The company will also offer training for agencies.

Marketing manager Eileen Robiso leaves Colangelo Synergy with Petzing. The Darien, CT-based agency hired Linda Gershon to manage its Chicago office.