AFTER HANDING OUT 100,000 co-op giveaway bags to departing Super Bowl fans in January, Bob Perlstein, president of LCC Inc. in Atlanta, was so enthusiastic about the program that he formed a company devoted to sampling at sporting events.
That’s not to say the response at Pro Player Stadium in Miami proved the validity of the idea. On the contrary, response rates are uncertain. What the experience did prove is what Perlstein did right, and what he can do better at upcoming events.
It also sealed his notion that fans are a demographic worth targeting.
“Sports and entertainment fans are passionate people,” Perlstein says, “more [so] than typical consumers. The people likely to buy are those who make this part of their lifestyle. They are people who take time out of their schedule to spend time at a sport or entertainment.”
Sampling at NASCAR Events The new company, Sports and Entertainment Direct, is mining for clients and finalizing plans for sampling at two NASCAR automobile races: the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC at the end of this month, and the Pocono 500 in Long Pond, PA in June.
One arrangement worth replicating is the formation of a partnership with the event sponsor, says Perlstein, adding that he’s still negotiating pacts with NASCAR promoters.
At the Super Bowl, the company teamed with the Florida Sports Foundation in Tallahassee, the group responsible for attracting sporting events to the state. It gave the foundation a free ad on the sampling bag. “We were the largest sponsor of the Super Bowl,” says Larry Pendleton, the foundation’s president. But “we don’t advertise. It exposed us to [thousands of] people.”
In return, Perlstein’s outfit got instant credibility and a leg up on the competition.
The bag’s contents had to be approved by the foundation, which made the giveaways “an added value of their sponsorship,” Perlstein points out. “If there are two vendors [at the gates] and we are one of them, it is in [the sponsor’s] interest to have us. We’re going to be the last ones the fans remember. Most of the companies that give away sampling bags buy a vendor’s license and are panhandlers.”
How fans felt about the bags as they exited the stadium is unclear. About 400 recipients turned in a survey, but it focused on their interest in football rather than what they thought about the samples.
At car races, Sports and Entertainment Direct will set up a tent by the stands’ entrance to pitch products. Staffers will mingle with fans, handing out bags, while sweepstakes drawings lure others in the tent. There, staffers will survey recipients about the bag’s contents, discussing product preferences and doing “one-on-one gathering of information,” says Perlstein.
For example, in addition to receiving the cat food pack in the bag, the recipient may be asked, “Do you have a cat?” If the answer is yes, they’ll be handed a coupon.
“Advertisers don’t have to wait for a response,” he says. “We’ll create it. We’re going beyond the bag.”
This strategy will work well at NASCAR events because both races are held over four days. “If you’ve spoken to someone one day about a product and then they return to the tent, that’s good,” he asserts. Nearly 200,000 spectators are expected.
Unlike the typically well-to-do Super Bowl attendee, the NASCAR fan tends to be blue-collar, following the stock car racing association like a rock ‘n’ roll devotee, even planning family vacations that coincide with the racing schedule. Products planned for the bag include samples of fuel and oil, pet food and coupons for auto racing miniatures and collectibles.
The group is not prosperous, but, according to Perlstein, they have money to spend on their sport: “They go home having spent thousands of dollars on what they have passion for.”
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