Cannes Day #4

So I’ve noticed that a lot of the promo entries include media placements to expose the brand in a surprising way, with or without big offers. I sat down and examined the entries ignoring the media placements, looking only for compelling, differentiated offers. Buy one, get one, win, free, etc. I’m happy to report that while they are a bit of a minority, the ones in the competition are among the best I’ve ever seen.

I’ll start with what I think is the best: Buy a Popsicle, Win an iPod. From Sao Paulo, the marketer decided against printing prizes on the Popsicle stick, or the wrapper, because there’s really no surprise there. And the young target for these icy treats demands instant gratification. So they invented a fake, plastic Popsicle with an iPod sealed inside of it, then wrapped and randomly inserted those pops amongst the normal ice cream. The iPod popsicles, felt the same, weighed the same, and were virtually indistinguishable from the real ice cream. Because they were sealed, the freezer didn’t affect the electronics. Which was important, because I’m certain somebody at the client was shaking their head conjuring up a thousand reasons why the never-been-done-before program would fail. But they did it anyway. And the result is a huge hit. In fact, I heard about this promotion before I got to Cannes, and was really anxious to see it up close. Every one of us has pitched an iPod idea to our clients. But none of us have gone the extra step to make it turnkey, with built-in product excitement like this. I hope this program gets recognized in the awards ceremony. It’s a rock-solid “free with purchase” offer that seems like a brand new idea. Brilliant.

The Popsicle product is from Unilever Brazil. Another unilever promotion I like is for Rexona antiperspirant. The brief asked for ideas to get users to sweat more. The idea is to sign up a leading Aussie Footballer, Ricky Ponting, and have him distribute a million sports balls free, just for the asking. Use a ball, sweat more. It became a big event when the agency promoted it as Ricky’s Million Ball Mission, kind of a tongue-in-cheek charity that fits perfectly with the product’s attitude. Another time-honored approach—free with purchase—executed in a fresh memorable fun way. Come to think of it, there are a lot of antiperspirants entered in this year’s competition. Right Guard placed products in emergency boxes, like fire extinguishers. Another offered t-shirts with preprinted sweat stain levels to demonstrate the plight. And Axe is present with the usual mix of titillation, all of it well executed regardless of the market. They are a great example of maintaining the voice of the product despite cultural differences.

But my favorite of the deodorant promotions is for Secret, in Hungary. To demonstrate the subtlety of the product (excellent underarm wetness protection, as they like to say), they invented crystal tattoos, which are applied to the underarm and worn to clubs. They claim it had never been done before—I know I’ve never seen it. Consumers, of course, loved it, and so did retailers, giving Secret additional retail facings to accommodate the promotion.

Another typical promotional approach is product demonstration. This year I found a couple really surprising entries. In Mumbai, shoppers were encouraged to throw tomatoes at a white t-shirt set up in the store. The tomatoes were actually gel-filled balls that stuck to the shirt initially, then slid off, just like stains slide off a shirt washed in Tide. Throw in an incentive to buy the product, and you have a compelling program that actually engages consumers. Another detergent, Ace, in Argentina, dressed models in white costumes and had them stroll around the market pushing a cart full of product. The costumes were part of the gag: a white ghost, a white angel, a white mummy, and, of course, a big white Elvis in his jumpsuit. A memorable way to get the same tired point across—our detergent gets your things whiter. Gillette, in China, did live product demonstration of its shaving cream . . . on balloons. Shoppers loved it, and it got the point across.

Heineken had a basic idea I liked: pack exclusive Heineken iPod speakers into a case of beer. Easy, simple, and really well executed. The design was smart, and the program was self-contained, proving that you don’t have to reinvent the world in order to make a difference. You just have to be smart, clean and compelling.

There are a few other package designs worth mentioning, too. For the first time this year, there is a separate category for design, so you have to be critical when judging these as “promotions,” but I’m tired of writing about that. So just move along, please. A Swedish company placed high fashion design onto sanitary napkins, so women would feel a little more comfortable carrying them around in their bags. Its one of those programs you look at and say “how come nobody has ever done that before?” Stabilo markers used line art on paper bags to encourage buyers to create their own “fashion bags” with Stabilo markers. Very simple, but retailers appreciated having an interesting—and free—satchel to distribute. Philips designed their energy-saving lightbulbs packaging to look like smoke coming out of a smokestack, so that the display got the point across—visually—that the product helps reduce co2 emmissions. (with any luck there’s a picture of it here. Without it you’ll just have to take my word for it.) and I imagine it qualifies as a promotion, because the shipper case design got Philips extra placement . . . and probably a design Lion.

My favorite product demonstration was for a Durex condom. The USP is it makes the user last longer. So they distributed pillowcases with an ugly old woman’s face imprinted on it—the only other thing that might delay your exuberance.