Doctor’s Orders

It won’t be a sleepy summer in Plano, TX. Dr Pepper/Seven Up, the No. 3 carbonated beverage company, has a full marketing slate planned for its top brands to shake off a sales slump that has dogged the whole category.

Carbonated soft drink sales inched up only 0.5 percent in 2001 as per-capita consumption fell for the third straight year, down to 55.4 gallons, per Beverage Marketing Corp., New York City. But a suite of movie, music, and sports promotions could put some fizz in Dr Pepper/Seven Up sales.

Flagship Dr Pepper will spend summer with Spider-Man, which premieres May 3 via Columbia Pictures (March PROMO). An under-the-cap instant-win sweeps will award 50 grand prizes of a trip for two to New York City for an “insider party” and private screening in October. Bottlers get additional trips to offer retailers who commit to case purchases or display support, or as consumer prizes in regional overlays. Launched mid-April, the sweeps runs through July.

An exclusive deal with Wal-Mart Stores puts Dr Pepper on the map (alongside Spidey partners Hershey Foods and Kellogg Co.) for an in-store treasure hunt that puts coded clues on product displays; kids get clue sheets and decoder glasses when they enter the store. Dr Pepper’s display includes a voice chip of film villain Green Goblin.

Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper will field six collectable cans bearing Spider-Man images. A mail-in offer on 20-ounce bottles swaps a free T-shirt for 12 labels. Square One, Dallas, handles promos; Young & Rubicam, New York City, takes care of ad support.

Elsewhere, Dr Pepper taps its five-year-old NASCAR sponsorship by giving its car a cross-over paint job — a first for the brand’s sponsorship. That kind of extension will keep interest through summer, says brand promotions director Jeff Porter. Plus, “Sony is pulling out all the stops” with its own campaign, he says.

Movie Buffer

The Doctor is no stranger to movie tie-ins, with A Bug’s Life, Flubber, 101 Dalmatians, and Mission to Mars under its belt. For Spider-Man, the brand team approached Columbia via parent Sony, and “Spider-Man captured the salespeople’s and bottlers’ imaginations,” says Porter. The tie-in “has grown legs other than the eight the spider has.” There’s even a cameo for the Doctor in the film: Spider-Man (played by Tobey Maguire) first tests his powers by fetching a Dr Pepper can from across the room with his web.

Dr Pepper scouted high-profile events and identified Spider-Man as “a very targeted vehicle” to reach teens, but with broader appeal and recognizable characters, adds vp-marketing Cindi Clark.

The brand needs a boost: Packaged sales were down for the first time in 18 years (although fountain sales had a record year). Dr Pepper sales fell 1.7 percent to 617 million cases in 2001, per Beverage Marketing. The brand accounts for half of parent Cadbury Schweppes’ North American sales (which total 500 million-plus cases). Dr Pepper/Seven Up’s 2001 sales fell 0.8 percent as market share dropped to 14.2 percent from 14.4 percent, per Beverage Marketing.

For fall, Dr Pepper will field a college football promo in September-October, then offer bottlers a rodeo campaign tied to the Las Vegas championships. (Bottlers also get NASCAR activities including five show cars for retail visits, a Block Shaker Tour vehicle for African-American events, and Hispanic activities pegged to the Latin Grammys.) The Dr Pepper brand spent $64 million on media advertising last year, per Competitive Media Reporting, New York City.

7UP Steps Up

Sister brand 7UP taps its three-year Grammy Awards sponsorship (now in year two) for a summer under-the-cap game dubbed Party on TV. The grand-prize winner will host a Grammy-watching party next winter for 100 friends and 7UP spokesperson Godfrey. A film crew will film the party, then edit on the spot to air a commercial that night during the awards ceremony.

The almost-live idea tested very well with teens: “They thought they’d be the coolest kid in school if they could host this,” says Carol Duncan, director of promotions for Cadbury Schweppes/7UP. (Last year’s inaugural sweeps, Sit Your Can at the Grammys, simply gave away a trip to the show.) TV and print support run May through August. 141 Communicator, Chicago, handles.

The Grammys are a great way to reach 12- to 24-year-olds because there’s “a great range of music,” says Duncan.

Music is also the backdrop for 7UP’s 30-city Step Up Tour with nonprofit Rock the Vote. The six-month effort runs through August, with a voter-registration drive and a booth in which teens can videotape a message to Congress. The Step Up Music Challenge lets kids lip-sync a Grammy tune onstage to win branded goodies (and get a videotape of their performance). 7UP also will sponsor a men’s cycling team, with races and bike-care clinics going on into fall. The brand spent $40 million on media ads last year, per CMR.

Meanwhile, little sister Diet Rite steps up this year with its first-ever sports sponsorship, a women’s professional cycling team via Boulder-based Podium Sports Management, Inc. Diet Rite replaces Procter & Gamble, which sponsored several of the racers last year.

Coke Tanks

Elsewhere in the beverage world, Coca-Cola Co. this month unveils the Coca-Cola Ticket Tank, a 14-foot curved bottle with a high-powered floor fan that will travel to concerts, sporting events, and stores this summer. Consumers stand inside and grab for gift certificates for Coke products, concert tickets, and other goodies blown around by the fan.

The tank makes its debut at Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival May 3-5 and will tour venues owned by marketing partner Clear Channel Entertainment. (Clear Channel and sister agency CMI, East Rutherford, NJ, collaborated on the program.)

The tank should do 100 to 150 events this year, says Coca-Cola regional marketing manager Gus Eurton. Radio stations are clamoring to use it, and Coke had to turn down two spring events because the tank wasn’t ready. Past event tie-ins that relied on signage didn’t let consumers “experience Coke in meaningful ways,” says Eurton. “This is the first time in our system that we can think outside the box.”

Coke and New York City-based Clear Channel are 17 months into a five-year alliance that gives the soda maker access to Clear Channel’s numerous entertainment events (which include concerts, sports, theater, and family tours). Coke has pouring rights at 130 venues and sponsorship rights for such events as motorsports (with the PowerAde brand). It also gets first dibs on promotion and sampling opportunities at Clear Channel venues.

“Coke wants to activate their brand with live experiences. It’s more than refreshment, it’s about lifestyle,” says Richard Lobel, Clear Channel senior vp-alliance marketing. Promos kick into gear this summer with more strategic collaboration being planned for 2003, he says.

Separately, Coke ratcheted up its seven-year-old partnership with Blockbuster, Inc. in March when the two signed a five-year joint marketing deal that splashes Coke across the chain’s in-store TV network, direct mail programs, and point-of-sale coupon system.

Coke can bring in other partners, too, such as Universal, Disney, and Six Flags, which gives Blockbuster more visibility outside its own stores.

The first joint promo, Steal the Scene, put instant-win gamepieces on 90 million Diet Coke bottles and fountain drinks in 1,400 movie theaters. Grand prize is a trip to Hollywood and a walk-on role in a movie; other prizes include Club Med vacations, DVD players, and free rentals. TV, print, and in-store displays support.

The Blockbuster deal could benefit Clear Channel’s work with Coke, says Lobel: “We’re helping Coke navigate the world of live experiences. Blockbuster would fit that.”

Everybody drink up.

Schwepped Away

Dr Pepper’s sister Cadbury Schweppes division, Snapple Beverage Group, this summer will retain its core grassroots marketing strategy but also give the flagship Snapple brand its largest TV ad push ever.

“Snapple was the alternative market, but then it became mainstream,” says Michael Sands, chief marketing and operations officer for the White Plains, NY-based Snapple, Mistic, and Stewart’s Beverages brands. “We’re constantly trying to find the new alternative and, while we’ve always been down to earth, we’re getting back to that even more.”

A series of TV spots running through July across nine Viacom, Inc.-owned networks along with E!, Cartoon Network, and ESPN feature bottles dressed as people. A corresponding What’s Your Story contest at snapple.com asks consumers to submit a 100-word story; the two best will be “performed’ by the bottles in a future spot. The grand-prize package includes a party with 20 guests in the winners’ home and a large-screen TV for the spot’s premiere. Messages on 432 million bottle caps and a June 9 FSI drop to 44 million households supports.

Meanwhile, a Dye Hard Snapple team will hit 13 markets June through August to offer makeovers by Manic Panic hair gel stylists. Deutsch, New York City, handles the advertising, contest, and street-teams.

Meanwhile, at other Cadbury Schweppes brands:

• Yoo-Hoo’s 2002 Stinkin’ Summer campaign includes sponsorship of the Vans Warped and Pop Disaster tours, which run consecutively in about 45 markets each. An under-the-cap game May-through-August on 16 million-plus bottles lets consumers “pick your own stinkin’ prize” from more than two million choices. Caps are labeled with “winner” or “prize,” and consumers need one of each to win. A garbage truck with a “trashy” rooftop lounge will travel with the concert tours. Bochanis Rogan Zoom, Wilton, CT, handles the contest and tour.

• The 78-year-old Stewart’s brand capitalizes on the current retro trend with a six-week effort offering discounts on Radio Flyer sleds and pool floats with two proofs-of-purchase. Decker, Glastonbury, CT, handles.

• Orangina, which was acquired last summer (August 2001 PROMO), gets its promo feet wet with dealer incentives. “The key is making sure things work first,” says Bruce Bollinger, vp-marketing for Orangina, Stewart’s, and Yoo-Hoo. “Awareness in the U.S. is very low right now.”

• Mistic sends Mistic Mayhem street teams to 11 markets for sampling, and this month breaks an under-the-cap sweeps dubbed Get a Life that dangles a trip to a national fashion awards ceremony next year. Vigilante, New York City, handles.

• Enhanced water brand Elements is exclusive beverage sponsor for Intel Corp.’s 12-market Area: Two music tour this summer, as well as title sponsor for the 2002 Mountain Boarding Team. Deutsch handles.