When Netscape Communications went looking for a property to help raise the profile of its free Netscape Mail service among a younger demographic, it never even had to leave the house.
Then again, as a unit of AOL Web Properties, Mountain View, CA-based-Netscape’s house is more of a mansion, and includes the vast resources of the AOL Time Warner empire. Thus, Netscape’s prospects for aligning with a broadcast TV property were pretty good.
“Netscape is an important cross-promotional engine for AOL Time Warner and a natural connecting point for our online brands,” says Netscape executive vp and chief executive officer Joel Davidson.
In August 2001, Netscape partnered with sister network The WB and its new series, Dead Last, which followed the paranormal adventures of an aspiring rock band (sort of a Scooby-Doo for Generation Y).
The resulting campaign targeted existing Netscape Mail subscribers as well as prospects. Netscape was looking for a spark for summer, the time when online usage is at its lowest — particularly among young people.
“The most important part of this promotion was getting people in the habit of using their accounts once they had them,” says Bill Carmody, chief marketing officer at San Francisco-based Seismicom, which handled.
A sweepstakes called Dying to Be on The WB ran for six weeks from August through September, dangling a grand-prize trip for two to Los Angeles and the option of a walk-on role in either Dead Last or another WB series.
Both existing and new Netscape users could register for the sweeps at www.sweepstakes.netscape.com. Links to that site were peppered throughout AOL Time Warner’s Web properties. Once they entered, participants received weekly e-mails delivering interactive instant-win gamepieces. The effort included a “tell-a-friend” component that awarded extra gamepieces for referrals.
Ten different creative spots ran on The WB to promote the sweeps. “We created a nice balance between online and offline promotion,” says Davidson. “This allowed us to appeal to a broader base of consumers and re-circulate traffic.”
Netscape kept consumers coming back by offering the weekly prizes, which included 12 first-place packages of a $100 check, a WB Jacket, and an autographed photo of the Dead Last cast; and 1,800 second-place prizes of $10 CDNow gift certificates provided by partner Bertelsmann, New York City. The total prize pool budget was valued at $26,400 including the $6,000 grand-prize trip. (The winner ultimately took the L.A. vacation but passed on the walk-on role.)
The sweepstakes was chugging along nicely until Sept. 11, after which most promotional efforts were temporarily halted. “There was a huge drop, off as might be expected,” says Carmody. “But while we thought there would be no activity, there were some people participating as they tried to get back to normal.”
By then, the campaign had been in play long enough to leave its mark anyway. “Thankfully, the bulk of our efforts to promote the sweepstakes came before the tragedy,” Davidson says.
Despite its limp across the finish line, Dying to be on The WB exceeded Netscape’s original projections for usage by 100 percent, boosting both new registrations and overall usage. The momentum continued in both areas even after the sweeps concluded.
The campaign fared better than Dead Last, which pretty much lived up to its name in the ratings and ceased production shortly after its debut.
Supporting Cast
Joel Davidson, Steven Yee, Kristy Duncan, AOL Web Properties
Bill Carmody, Doug Litwin, Seismicom
Network
