Better Homes and Gardens
is on a six-month road trip visiting 20 markets coast to coast.
The tour compliments and promotes the magazine’s three-month special editorial series, Your Best Summer Ever, which began with the June issue. A 42-foot trailer and side tents set the stage for a 5,000 square-foot interactive event space. Field reps work a main stage, kitchen, garden landscape and custom work area offering free seminars and demonstrations. Gift bags with product samples (Purex and Pepcid), special offers and sponsorship information will be handed out, as will lots of “paper” take ways such as tip sheets and shopping lists, spokesperson Leah Karliner said.
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| Better Homes and Gardens kitchen “experience” |
Wal-Mart and Mattel’s Barbie brand sponsor the first half of the tour. Mattel participated in a similar tour last year with Better Homes & Gardens that visited malls.
“This year, we wanted to host it at one retailer’s,” Lisa McKnight, director of marketing for Barbie Consumer Products, said recently. “We worked with Wal-Mart to make sure it tied into our core values and that it brought moms and daughters together.”
The Barbie-specific tents will feature craft and beauty activities as well as a Barbie Fashion show and a Barbie Fashion Café serving pink lemonade. A Barbie model will read from an abridged Random House version of Barbie of Swan Lake and a movie trailer based on the book will be shown as well.
GMC steps in for the second half of the tour. To generate interest in the second phase, 20,000 direct mail invitations dropped in 10 waves to targets within a 20-mile radius of the events, Karliner said.
The event is expected to reach 3.5 million consumers. The promotion was created in house with an assist from Pierce Promotions & Events, Portland, ME. Print advertising supports.
In a separate promotion, Meredith Corp.-owned Better Homes and Gardens, New York City, has partnered with Delta Airlines to develop in-flight programming as part of its American Homecomings marketing program. The 60-second spots will air in November to generate interest in an editorial special that takes at how American families and friends celebrate the traditions of coming home appearing in its November and December issues.
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