Middle-Earth Bound

Coupon books are so Middle Ages. But Web-based loyalty programs, now that’s Middle-Earth. At least New Line Cinema thinks so.

The studio’s home entertainment division this year ditched the traditional coupon book — which it used for the home-video release of the first film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy — and went with an interactive Web site to market The Two Towers DVD.

Adventure Cards, each containing a PIN to www.lotradventure.com, will be packed inside 12 million two-disc DVD and single VHS copies of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. At the site, the main partners (Dr Pepper/Seven Up Cos., Air New Zealand, Chrysler, Duracell and Verizon Wireless) offer various sweepstakes, discounts and other offers. Among 10 licensing partners participating in the promotion are EA Games, Houghton Mifflin and The Noble Collection. The Adventure Card program runs for six months, starting with the Aug. 26 DVD release, and partners can refresh or change offers each month.

With the card, marketers can also track redemption and keep the trilogy on consumers’ minds in time for the final film, The Return of the King, which releases theatrically on Dec. 17. Visitors receive monthly e-mail alerts with updated partner offers. EastWest Creative, New York City, developed the Adventure Card program and manages the Web site and partner programs for New Line.

“We had a comprehensive campaign for the first DVD, but this is much bigger,” says Lance Still, executive director of promotions for New Line Home Entertainment, Los Angeles. “Retail is huge — we have all major mass and grocery outlets involved in some way, with lots of account-specific programs.” For example, Target, Best Buy and Circuit City are customizing Adventure Cards so that customers are greeted with offers specific to their stores when they log onto www.lotradventure.com.

Plus, a Web-based promotion was cost efficient and easier to manage compared to producing and distributing a 32-page booklet, which would have needed to be published months in advance. “And once it’s printed, that’s it,” Still says.

The Lord of the Rings, given its huge fan base, was a good property to test the online angle, Still says.

Ringing up at retail

For the first time with the trilogy, the studio picked up a beverage partner in Plano, TX-based Dr Pepper/Seven Up. The match was ideal since the Adventure Card strategy is similar to DPSU’s loyalty program with eBay, LiquidLoot, where consumers obtain codes from soda products that they convert into points at www.liquidloot.com to bid on CDs and concert tickets (June PROMO).

The campaign is the biggest Dr Pepper/Seven Up has done outside of its typical summer promotion time frame. “It’s a unique promotion for us and is something our competition can’t replicate,” says Megan May, promotions manager at DPSU.

Through October, food, mass, drug and club stores carry Two Towers packaging across 7 UP, Diet 7 UP, Cherry 7 UP, dnL, Sunkist Orange Soda, A&W Root Beer and Canada Dry Ginger Ale 12-packs and 2-liter bottles. Each 12-oz. can will be linked with a character from the film. P-O-P items via Zipatoni, Chicago, include character standees, tear-off movie posters and corrugated castles.

At the Adventure Card site, consumers receive LiquidLoot starter points to vie for Two Towers memorabilia, licensed merchandise and a trip to the Dec. 1 world premiere of the final film in Wellington, New Zealand.

Through account-specific programs, DPSU is teaming with Duracell to offer consumers buying The Two Towers a free 2-liter bottle of 7 UP and a coupon for Duracell products.

Meanwhile, Duracell this month wraps up a $5 mail-in rebate campaign good for the Two Towers DVD with the purchase of two Duracell saver packs, Copper Top Ultra or High Power Lithium batteries. An FSI and tearpads featuring Frodo (Elijah Wood) at retail support. DVC, Morristown, NJ, handles the FSI and Marketing Drive Worldwide, Wilton, CT, handles P-O-P displays.

Television spots communicating Duracell’s “Trusted Everywhere” tagline via Acme Idea Co., Norwalk, CT, promote the DVD.

“You have to be a strong brand to match The Lord of the Rings without becoming overwhelmed, and it will be a tough act to follow,” says John Jansen, business manager for Duracell, a unit of Boston-based Gillette.

Verizon Wireless, Bedminster, NJ, a partner since the theatrical release of The Two Towers, is rewarding customers with a free DVD of the film when purchases are made at www.verizonwireless.com. Through Sept. 29, consumers can also enter for a trip to the film’s New Zealand world premiere, download ring tones and games and join Rings mobile chat groups. Lowe, New York City, handles supporting TV spots.

Packaging Middle-Earth

Air New Zealand is orchestrating all prize trips to New Zealand. In total, the airline will dole out at least 14 trips to the country where the entire trilogy was filmed.

The El Segundo, CA-based U.S. division of the airline teamed with New Line to promote the theatrical and home-video release of the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring. The company’s global force out of Auckland came on board with a two-year marketing partnership with the theatrical release of The Two Towers.

The airline worked with Newmans South Pacific Vacations Travel and Tourism New Zealand to put together Journey to Middle-Earth packages for two including round-trip airfare, a seven-night hotel pass and an eight-day car rental. The package retails for $2,800 to $4,200 and highlights locations shown in the films.

One trip will be awarded each month for six months at the Adventure Card Web site.

And Air New Zealand is not keeping its Lord of the Rings connection secret. Since last December, a Boeing 747 bearing a 5,000 square-foot decal of the character Frodo has circled the globe nearly 100 times. In January, a Boeing 767 featuring images of Aragorn and Arwen (Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler) took to the skies and a new decal is planned for the final film. A film highlighting the trilogy and New Zealand is shown on flights.

Already 9% of international visitors to New Zealand surveyed this year cited The Lord of the Rings as the reason that brought them to the country, says Rebecca Weaver, Air New Zealand’s manager of partnership marketing, The Americas.

Journey to Middle-Earth packages are also being sold at www.lotrshop.com. The first 40 consumers to book trips receive a free Twin Towers video game.

Separately, Air New Zealand formed a partnership with Discovery Communications’ Travel Channel. TV spots plug a sweepstakes at www.travel.discovery.com dangling a trip for four to New Zealand.

Back in the U.S., Auburn Hills, MI-based Chrysler is using the relationship to advertise a free rear-seat DVD player across its new Platinum Town & Country line of mini-vans. By going to the Adventure Card site, consumers receive a $500 cash allowance for the vehicles. (See related story on the following page.)

P-O-P materials at dealerships support. Visitors to www.lotradventurecard.com can also click through to the Chrysler site to enter a sweepstakes awarding a Chrysler Town & Country at the end of the promotion. Through January, Chrysler will use the Adventure Card site to highlight offers for other vehicles such as the PT Cruiser and the Sebring Convertible.

A direct-mail companion to 400,000 prospective buyers offers a free copy of The Two Towers DVD with test-drives through the end of October. TV and print ads via BBDO Detroit support.

“At first blush, you would ask if The Lord of the Rings is an appropriate property for a minivan owner,” says Bonita Stewart, director of brand communications for the Chrysler Group. “But the Town & Country is really a luxury vehicle for a family that has older children and that really fits with the film’s target audience.”

Meanwhile, between the Two Towers DVD and The Return of the King debut, New Line releases a four-disc extended version of Towers on Nov. 18.