Pool Party
St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch is putting the final touches on a three-month summer blitz set to break in May for its flagship Budweiser brand.
The multi-million dollar True Summer campaign, which begins just before Memorial Day and runs through Labor Day, will stay refreshed with three creative flights timed to break on summer’s three holidays. The heart of the promotion is an instant-win sweeps on Bud and Bud Light cans and bottles. A $4 million prize pool is filled with 7,000 prizes including digital music players, barbecue grills, televisions, and vacations at Anheuser-Busch’s new Orlando Discovery Cove theme park. The sweeps will be outlined for shoppers in Your Guide to True Summer booklets distributed at retail.
New Bud “spokesmodel” Elsa Benitiz — this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover model — will grace promotional collateral (coming in English and Spanish), which will be updated monthly as the program progresses: a “Dive In” to summer theme for May and June, a “Red, White, and True” Fourth of July motif for late June through mid-August, and a “Last Call” for the end of the season. The many components will hopefully “help the Bud Family make a major impact at retail,” says Dan McHugh, A-B director of retail sales promotion.
Branded True Summer merchandise will roll out next month to distributors and retail accounts. Busch Creative Services, St. Louis, handles.
The multi-flight summer promotion has become an annual activity for Budweiser. Last year’s Bud Summer effort also featured a P-O-P triple play featuring SI supermodel Daniela Pestova and a Grab a Taste of Paradise sweeps with $3 million worth of prizes. (May 2000 PROMO).
Stamford, CT-based Guinness Bass Import Co. last January launched a new paid loyalty program for stout fanatics. The “1759 Society,” named after the year in which Guinness was first introduced in Ireland, is being dubbed as a “fellowship” celebrating the heritage of the brand, says brand strategy manager Leslie Arcesi. A payment of $17.59 gets Guinness lovers a golf shirt, a brass keychain, and a certificate of “lifetime membership” promising newsletter mailings and invitations to exclusive on-premise events. Consumers looking to sign up must first log onto Guinness.com and answer a five-question trivia test. If they answer the questions correctly, they receive a PIN number and log-in code to access a special section offering exclusive merchandise, information, and travel packages. Colangelo Synergy Marketing, Darien, CT, handles.
The Food Network, New York City, this month wraps a Chef for a Year sweeps giving one winner 52 meals (one per week) prepared and served in their home by a professional chef. Five first-place winners receive espresso/cappuccino makers and 1,000 second-place winners get cookbooks. Sponsors include AT&T, Sargento Cheese, and Ramada Hotels. Consumers enter via P-O-P forms or foodtv.com. Promotion Network, Dallas, handles.
Omaha, NE-based ConAgra Foods’ Banquet brand this month begins an in-house Try Me Free effort set to run through the end of the year. Shoppers mail in coupons on boxes of Banquet frozen pizza boxes with receipts and UPC codes to receive a refund or a $1 coupon for a future purchase.
Plano, TX-based Dr Pepper/7 Up, Inc., which last winter signed on as “official soft drink” for the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Grammy Awards, next month begins a three-month promotion offering tickets to next year’s show. The Sit Your Can at the Grammy’s instant-win game will hand out 10 trips to the show and such other music-themed prizes as CD players and music CDs. Gamepieces will be located under caps of 20-ounce bottles and inside 12-packs. Communicator Worldwide, Chicago, handles.
Meanwhile, 7 Up sister brand Dr Pepper will launch Dr Pepper Rocks, a summer effort tied to Rollingstone.com. Top winners receive various concert prize packages including a digital camera and backstage passes. Others earn Sony MP3 players, tour T-shirts, subscriptions to Rolling Stone, and free soda. Gamepieces will be housed under the caps of 20-ounce bottles and inside multi-packs. Square One, Dallas, handles.
Space fanatics last month headed to MirReentry.com to win the privilege of paying $6,500 to see the destruction of the Mir space station first-hand. New York City-based Herring Media Group ran a sweeps that gave 120 winners a chance to buy seats on a 747 flown to the edge of space to watch the fiery atmosphere re-entry of the Russian Mir, which was destroyed March 12. No marketing campaign — even one not of this Earth — would be complete without at least one sponsor: Fort Worth, TX-based RadioShack gave flight passengers mini-DVD players and co-branded “Mir Re-entry” jackets. The Dallas-based consumer-electronics retailer also broadcast the event on its Web site.
Through the end of the year, New York City-based Hilton Hotels’ low-price Hampton Hotels chain is awarding one million Hilton HHonor points to one member each month. Guests enter by booking hotel stays online. The hotelier is hoping the giveaway will incent customers to “see how easy it is to book any one of 1,000 Hampton hotels online,” says vp-brand marketing Judy Christa-Cathey. Roth Graham. Minneapolis, handles.
Bardstown, KY-based Heaven Hill Distilleries this month launches a Picture Perfect Moment sweeps to support its Christian Brothers brandy brand. The campaign asks consumers to send in pictures of their favorite “brandy moment” for a shot at a grand-prize seven-day cruise to Alaska; other prizes include cameras and T-shirts. The campaign runs through the fall.
Meanwhile, sister brand Lazzaroni Amaretto in May will slap a free CD compilation of love songs on 750 milliliter bottles. Keller Crescent Co., Evansville, IN, handles both programs.
The Certs arm of Morris Plains, NJ-based Warner-Lambert Consumer Group (a unit of Pfizer, Inc.) is hosting an online Get Close instant-win game dangling the chance to meet one of the rock stars from the new IMAX film, All Access: Front Row. Backstage. LIVE! Consumers visit certs.com to download a virtual gamepiece. Other prizes include autographed guitars, tickets to see the film, and Certs products. All cybersurfers, winners or otherwise, are entered in a grand-prize drawing for a trip to meet a rock star. Marlin Entertainment, New York City, handles.
One music fan and three friends will win a chance to live like rock stars in an online sweeps run by Cutty Sark whiskey, a brand of San Francisco-based Skyy Spirits. The Cutty Sark Ultimate Guy Road Trip sweepstakes launched in February and runs until May 24. The grand-prize winners will travel from Las Vegas to San Diego in their own tour bus for seven days and six nights. The prize includes round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations, and spending money. Other prizes include electronics products from The Sharper Image, Alpine CD receivers, and T-shirts from Maxim and Stuff magazines. Contestants enter at cutty-sarkusa.com, at select bars, or through forms in the April issues of Maxim and Stuff. Ultimate Guy Nights at 1,000 bars will support. The A Team, New York City, handles.
Venice, CA-based American Honda Motor Co. presses into the event marketing arena this summer by sponsoring a concert tour featuring rock band Blink 182. The Honda Civic Tour 2001 is designed to align the newly designed Civic with the young-adult market. The band was asked to custom-design a Civic to be given away in an online sweeps at a special tour Web site (civictour.com). The site provides information about the tour, the bands, and a chance to win a trip to a concert to meet the group. Marketing Factory, Inc., Venice, CA handles.
