Hollywood and Vines
For a 50-year-old licorice brand, Red Vines is looking pretty plugged in. The candy ran its first online art contest in 2006, soliciting users’ drawings to appear in the tray inside its 5-oz. packages. It then launched a virtual dance party and art gallery in Second Life.
For its second art contest, this one commemorating National Licorice Day (April 12), Red Vines tapped into the viral power of widgets. Users can download the mini-app at www.RedVines.com. In return, for the next year they will get a daily chance to win a 4-lb. jar of the candy and a daily helping of trivia questions about it.
For example, the candy is about 30 years older than the name. It was born in the 1920s as “Raspberry Vines” but switched in the 1950s to the name most of its fans used anyway.
Nicole Walleen, assistant brand manager for inter-generational marketing at American Licorice, says the company wants to expand awareness of the candy beyond the baby boomers, its core buyers, and thus the Web 2.0 promo tactics.
“We want to show that it’s a hip, cool candy, and there’s a reason your parents love it so much,” she says.
Widget users will also get to see some of the tray art submitted for the second contest, which runs until Sept. 30.
“For our core audience it’s about fun and sharing, and that’s what we want to bring down to the 20-something consumers,” says Kevin Chianta, senior vice president at The Regan Group, which is managing the contest.
Of course, online is not the only way to reach that audience. Through product placement team Rogers & Cowan, the company has gotten Red Vines placed in movies (“Alving and the Chipmunks”) and on TV (“Rules of Engagement”). That effort hit a peak when they sent a batch to the Academy Awards ceremonies. Host Jon Stewart handed them out in the audience, and presenter Anne Hathaway talked them up on the red carpet for the cameras.
“That just speaks to the fact that we’re a word-of-mouth success,” says Walleen. “We’ve never had to advertise, but people love us.”
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