You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown Mr. Schulz may be gone, but the Peanuts posse is thriving in licensed promotions.
Snoopy’s in the frozen-food case. Linus is in the baking aisle. Charlie is checking into a hotel. The death of creator Charles Schulz earlier this year has not slowed the property down.
Peanuts-themed promotions are getting heavy play on marketing schedules in late 2000 and early 2001, as brands tie into the property’s 50th anniversary in hopes of simultaneously reeling in parents and kids.
In a campaign running September through December, Parsippany, NJ-based Days Inn Hotels will give travelers one of four Peanuts videos free. (Guests mail in receipts and receive the flicks a few weeks later.) Members of the Automobile Association of America also receive an AT&T prepaid calling card. Decker, Glastonbury, CT, handles.
Later this month, Pillsbury Co., Minneapolis, will roll out the first of several Peanuts-shaped frozen cookie dough SKUs tied to the Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day holidays (August PROMO). “These are strong characters,” says Pillsbury brand manager-holiday shaped cookies Eric Galler. “People’s memories of Peanuts are often tied to specific holidays.”
A sweeps overlay offers a trip to Schulz’s hometown of St. Paul, MN, where the winners will get involved in a civic display of Snoopy statues (similar to the cow displays that ran in Chicago last year and New York City this summer). P-O-P, FSIs, and tags in Peanuts videos will support. Westport, CT-based Ryan Partnership’s Minneapolis office handles.
Beginning in October and running for six months, Camden, NJ-based Vlasic Foods International’s Swanson brand will inject the Peanuts gang into Fun Feast frozen kids meals. Twelve Feast varieties will boast one of four packaging schemes featuring characters outside and games inside. Swanson will extend the program to its 7-oz. frozen pot pies as well. Thirty million pot pies will have Snoopy on them. An in-pack insert adds a coupon and a sweepstakes entry for a trip to Camp Snoopy at Mall of America, confirms associate marketing manager Debora Borenstein. The effort is handled in-house.
Elsewhere, Wendy’s just wrapped a late summer kids’ meal effort, it’s third tie-in with the property. Determined Productions, San Francisco, handled. Other efforts, not yet announced at press time, will roll out this fall from New York City-based Unilever’s All laundry detergent and Concord, MA-based Welch Foods. All the campaigns come via deals with Peanuts license manager United Media, Kansas City, MO.
Eden Prairie, MN-based Best Buy will promote its upcoming invasion of the Big Apple (it’s opening 15 stores in the New York City market this fall) with a free Sept. 12 concert in Central Park starring Sting. The consumer electronics chain is distributing tens of thousands of tickets on city streets via staffers who will hand out electronic cards. Consumers swipe the cards to find out if they’ve won tickets, store discounts, etc. An online sweeps will serve trips to the concert as well. Momentum, St. Louis, handles.
Sony Computer Entertainment America, Foster City, CA, is running a mobile marketing tour to support the upcoming rollout of its highly anticipated PlayStation 2 videogame system. A custom 68-foot tractor-trailer allows 60 consumers to simultaneously sample PlayStation 2, which will debut Oct. 26. About 30 TV screens ensure that others can check out the action. At night, the vehicle transforms into an open-air platform to allow viewing by passers-by.
BIC USA, Milford, CT, is running a back-to-school premium effort at retail. Consumers who purchase four products can mail in proofs to receive BIC Extreme Sports, a CD-ROM featuring games of rock climbing, skateboarding and jet skiing named after BIC products, such as “Velocity Jet Ski, “Grip Matic Mountain Mission” and “Jumbo Air Skate Park.” BrandGames, New York City, handles.
Bowling industry marketing company Strike Ten Entertainment, Greendale, WI, is teaming with Kraft Food’s Post Cereal division to put offers for free bowling games on cereal boxes. In a Go Bedrock Bowling program slated to run October through December, certificates for a free bowling game will be placed inside millions of boxes of Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, and Cinna-Crunch Pebbles.
Visa USA, San Francisco, is rolling out activation plans for its sixth season as sponsor of the National Football League. The company’s first effort will be a sweepstakes breaking this month offering trips to Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, FL, next January. Cardholders are entered to win when they charge goods or services at 1,000 participating merchants. Other prizes include $500 worth of Visa/NFL-branded gift cards, footballs, and NFL leather jackets. The effort, which ends Oct. 31, sports Visa’s “It’s Everywhere NFL Fans Want To Be” tagline. Among the many market-specific campaigns in the works is an October-November sweeps in New York City that will dangle a Super Bowl trip to cardholders who buy NYC Transit Authority MetroCards. Customized MetroCards will feature NFL players and carry discounts for NFL merchandise at local sporting-goods retailer Modell’s, New York City.
Beer importer Beck’s North America, Stamford, CT, next month will host a second-annual “Beck’s Spotlight Concert Series” featuring rock band Third Eye Blind. This month, the brand will launch a national sweepstakes at retail backed by radio spots, P-O-P materials, print ads in men’s and music magazines, and a section on www.becksbeer.com.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, homebuilder Pulte Corp., Bloomfield Hills, MI, will run a “watch-and-win” effort giving away a $250,000 home during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. TV viewers find clues presented on the company’s float, which will have a “Three Little Pigs” theme. The location of the big bad wolf is the key to determining finalists in the Dream Home sweepstakes. Consumers can enter either online at pulte.com or at any Pulte residential community. Other prizes include Macy’s shopping sprees and gift certificates.
New York City-based Golden Books Family Entertainment is back with another incarnation of last year’s successful Read In program, which wowed one million kids through 6,000 simultaneous storytelling events in retail stores around the nation. This month, the book publisher takes to the streets with a mobile Read In tour featuring, among other attractions, a 100-foot-long living board game (kids are their own playing pieces), a gigantic walk-through computer (which introduces kids to Golden’s Web site), and a photo booth that puts kids on computerized book covers. The tour will hit nine markets in conjunction with retailers Barnes & Noble, Borders Group, Harris Teeter, HEB, Kroger, Target Stores, and Wal-Mart. US Concepts, New York City, handles. The program runs though mid-November.
Discovery Health Channel, Bethesda, MD, and the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Alexandria, VA, are teaming up to educate students and their families on healthy eating habits. A new Food For Fuel program includes a “food pyramid obstacle course” that will travel to 16 markets and feature local celebrity athletes, a national classroom initiative, and a Web-page design contest that awards one school a visit from members of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team. Discovery Health introduced the program in May with a mailing to more than 100,000 elementary school health teachers; 124 schools signed up. The Web-design contest began in August and runs through Jan. 31. In addition to the grand-prize soccer visit, 10 first-place winners will receive cable modem installations in their classrooms from a local cable affiliate.
San Francisco-based SoftCoin, an Internet-based currency provider, later this month wraps a national effort supporting Procter & Gamble’s Olay brand. Demonstrators at retail locations around the country are handing consumers $20 worth of SoftCoin cash with the purchase of P&G’s Olay Daily Facials. The currency is redeemable towards purchases with two online retailers, gourmetmarket.com and proflowers.com.
Outlet shopping center operator Tanger Outlets, Greensboro, NC, is offering discounts to the more than 43 million AAA members at 30 outlets in 21 states. Tanger is the first major shopping center developer to sign on with AAA’s Show Your Card & Save program. The agreement provides AAA members with Tanger coupon books and $5 gift certificates redeemable at any of 1,100 outlet stores.
Miami-based Burger King will launch a late summer/early fall kids-themed initiative tied to The Backstreet Boys. … Levi Strauss & Co., San Francisco, this fall breaks a new branding campaign themed, “Make Them Your Own.” The company will tour music events and overlay broadcast and print ads with new online content. … Unilever will launch Wisk dual action laundry tablets in the fourth quarter with a slate of promotions as well as TV, print, and online advertising. … Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines’ Delta Express economy fleet will partner with neighbor Cartoon Network in October on a month-long birthday program to celebrate Delta Express’s fourth year in the air and Cartoon Network’s eighth anniversary on air. … Sears Portrait Studios, St. Louis, is teaming with BirthdayExpress.com. The e-tailer is putting Sears inserts in more than 300,000 packages of party supplies and Sears coupons in three million catalogs. … Eastman Kodak Corp., Rochester, NY, is running an Ultimate Slumber Party sweeps to support camera covers called Max Wraps. … Westport, CT-based Allied Domecq Spirits’ Hiram Walker Liqueurs this month will support the rollout of new Lava hot cinnamon schnapps with its largest-ever product introduction. On-premise events, bar nights, trade efforts, and sampling by lava “goddesses” will be featured. … Heinz has teamed with Marietta, GA-based Sports & Entertainment Direct to distribute one million Heinz 57 samples at 15 NASCAR events through April.
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