Boxed In
Redmond, WA-based Microsoft Corp. is taking its shows on the road this year with mobile tours supporting the rollouts of digital video recorder Ultimate TV and the Xbox gaming system.
A four-week Ultimate TV mobile effort ended tours through 11 markets including Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City last month. Traveling units (one for each market) spent five days in each locale, with trucks that unfolded into demo living rooms filled with TVs and other digital gadgets. Staffers educated consumers on Ultimate TV’s features, which let users record and pause live television and access the Internet (but is compatible only with the DirecTV service). “It’s a hard thing to explain,” says Sam Klepper, Microsoft senior director of corporate marketing and sales. “We tuned this entire program around educating the consumer.”
The units hit retail stores, festivals, and metro workplaces. Guerrilla teams invaded markets with aerial banners, video projections on buildings, and collateral left on household doorknobs. San Francisco-based Seismicom’s Chicago office (formerly The Event Group) handled. Microsoft may repeat the campaign this fall.
This month, Microsoft launches a $500 million marketing blitz for Xbox, which reaches retail shelves Nov. 8. The massive campaign (it’s bigger than the one the company ran for Windows 95) will feature several marketing partners and also focus on a mobile program. “This brand will be around for a long time,” says Xbox group manager-national promotions Cindy Spodek-Dickey. “But we only get one launch.”
Norwalk, CT-based Pepsi unit South Beach Beverage Co. this month becomes the first partner to join in, adding Xbox demos to its fleet of sampling Love Buses. The alternative beverage maker is also hosting a sweeps and will roll out “other phases as the program builds,” says advertising and promotion director Mike Joyce. SoBe handles in-house.
Irvine, CA-based Taco Bell, meanwhile, will break an effort in the fourth quarter that will likely feature an instant-win game and other activities tied to specific Xbox videogames. New York City-based Wunderman’s Irvine office handles. Other partners are expected to join the fray later this summer.
GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, handles Xbox consumer promotions, which include a relentless Xbox ON Tour breaking in October. The campaign is expected to run at least two years on a 44-week schedule. Two 18-wheelers and an inflatable dome will combine to create “something that has never been built before,” says GMR senior vp-general manager Rick Arnstein. The unit is tricked out with DJ equipment, 54 game stations, Internet connections, and a green room for local radio tie-ins and other special events.
GuinnessUDV, Stamford, CT, last month launched its second annual Malibu Loves Fruit tour. The 10-week West Coast campaign targets women aged 21-29 with a cast of costumed characters as well as music and activities. The company this year abandoned the typical trailer truck used on most mobile tours in favor of a funky branded convertible and added Portland and Seattle to the itinerary. A new component of the tour this year called “Fruit Loves Malibu” targets gay males 21-36. Target Marketing & Promotions, Boston, handles.
Radio Disney, Burbank, CA, launched Live! World Tour 2001, a series of free family events held in eight markets featuring musical groups Baha Men, Aaron Carter, Krystal, and Plus One. At each venue, an area is set up where consumers can play videogames and sample wares from such sponsors as Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Gum, Hershey Foods‘ Jolly Rancher, Disney Interactive, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and the Centers for Disease Control, which is running an on-premise program on bone health for young girls. Disney handles in-house.
Nickelodeon, New York City, teamed with camera manufacturer Olympus, Melville, NY, for a Backstage Photo Pass contest supporting the launch of the i snap camera. Through August, contestants submit photos to nick.com, with one finalist chosen in 40-plus markets to receive four tickets and backstage passes to a concert featuring singer Aaron Carter. Finalists then submit three photos taken at the concert for a shot at a grand-prize trip for four to Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando to appear on Slimetime Live. Lime, New York City, handles.
20th Century Fox, Los Angeles, taps into the budding Internet craze of “geocaching” to support the July 27th release of Planet of the Apes. Project A.P.E. (Alternative Primate Evolution) is a high-tech, worldwide scavenger hunt in which players hunt for hidden storage caches using coordinates posted on the Internet as well as through Global Positioning System (GPS) units. Fox is leaving eight caches in the U.S. and five more around the globe at the rate of one per week. Players can find location clues at www.planetoftheapes.com. Each cache contains a prop used in the film that the first finder gets to keep, as well as a disposable camera for geocachers to record the find. GPS manufacturer Garmin is also randomly giving away its eTRex units.
Toy maker K’nex Industries, Hatfield, PA, last month launched the 2002 K’nexpert Panel Search Challenge. Ten panel members will be selected from contestants aged six to 14 who build construction models using only K’nex pieces. (Past winners have constructed models of the Sydney Opera House and the Seattle Space Needle.) Entries must be submitted by Sept. 7, with the winners announced Nov. 2. During their year as panel members, the winners will have their own personal Web pages at www.knex.com, and score free toys, discounts for online purchases, and a birthday present.
Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, this summer is hosting the “Pringles Pop Quiz,” a music-themed game show, at concerts taking place at 31 amphitheaters across the country owned by SFX, Inc., New York City. Prior to each show, attendees are invited to tackle music trivia questions to win such prizes as tickets to SFX concerts and Six Flags theme parks. On-site signage includes a giant Pringles can serving as the show’s scoreboard. SFX unit CMI, East Rutherford, NJ, handles execution.
Heaven Hill Distilleries, Bardstown, KY, tips one back with the Evan Williams Summer Barbecue Promotion. Citing research that says bourbon drinkers are 28 percent more likely to grill than non-drinkers, the company is offering consumers $10 off the purchase of two pounds of smoked pork loin ribs from Omaha Steaks when they buy a 750 ml or larger bottle of Evan Williams Bourbon. Mail-in entries are found on tearpads in-store. The offer will also be cross-promoted on displays for Evan Williams Gourmet Barbecue Sauce and Weber kettle grills. The brand is also offering free aprons on 1.75 liter bottles (where legal).
Kraft Foods, Northfield, IL, will put its new Nabisco brands on the Nickelodeon bus along with Kraft Kids in a back-to-school sweeps breaking Aug. 1. Turn School Time into Slimetime centers on an on-pack instant-win game awarding one grand-prize winner a Nickelodeon-themed day at school, at which the cable net will air Slimetime Live and host a private concert with an unidentified “hot musical talent.” Other prizes in the $1.5 million pool include cash payouts ranging from $5 to $500. P-O-P displays shaped like a school bus (a Nabisco favorite in past back-to-school campaigns) feature Nick characters. Participating brands include Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Post cereals, and Nabisco cookies, crackers, and fruit snacks. East-West Creative, New York City, handles.
Ortho Dermatological, Skillman, NJ, is helping teenagers cope with the trauma of adolescent acne with What’s Popping, a monthly e-mail newsletter that provides information on beauty and skin care. Teens register for the newsletter at www.pimpleportal.com. Ortho currently is keeping the newsletter strictly informational, with no additional ads or promotions. What’s Popping had 1,000 subscribers in early June. Promotions.com, New York City, handles.
