Pops in Tops Again
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. is reviving last summer’s successful pop-top promotion, this time bringing Diet Coke and Sprite on board with the flagship brand for an instant-win game dangling five $1 million grand prizes, thousands of $25 cash prizes, unique “experiences,” and free product.
Consumers find prize-winning messages under faux can tops or bottle caps. Labels carry coupons for free soda. In addition to the cash and product giveaways, Coke is dangling “behind-the-scenes” experiences including a music video shoot with pop star (and Coke endorser) Christina Aguilera, a trip to Hawaii with ESPN’s Chris Berman for a football game, a family reunion in the Florida Keys, a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, and a trek to the 2002 NBA All-Star Game to meet Kobe Bryant. St. Louis-based Momentum handles, with help from D.L. Blair (an Interpublic affiliate), Garden City, NY, on administration.
Coke executive vp-coo Sandy Douglas says this year’s effort will outshine the original: “Involving additional brands and awarding more innovative prizes will take the enthusiasm of consumers and our customers to a new level.”
The promotion is being supported with national and local TV spots, radio ads, and print and electronic ads that broke mid-May. Ads feature Aguilera and carry the tagline, “Why not you, why not now?”
Participating retail accounts will run a complementary fountain program featuring peel-and-win cups and similar prizes. Vienna, VA-based America Online will chime in with an Internet promotion still being developed at press time via Seismicom, San Francisco (with an assist from Promotions.com, New York City).
Nabisco, Parsippany, NJ, is searching for the nation’s best baseball fan. Through June 18, consumers send nominations of kids aged five to 17 via postcard to Ritz/Oreo America’s Greatest Baseball Fan. Entrants are required to explain how devoted the nominee is to the sport. The winner receives a family trip for four to the 2001 All-Star Game in Seattle this July. Rogers & Cowan, New York City, handles. The contest complements an instant-win game Nabisco is running on packages of Ritz and Oreo SKUs. Two winners who find the phrase “Play Ball” imprinted on a cookie or cracker win a personal visit from Major League Baseball superstars Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. The Promotion Network, Dallas, handles.
BMW of North America, Woodcliff Lake, NJ, has recruited an A-list of film directors for a series of short Internet films called The Hire to be shown on bmwfilms.com. Each film prominently features BMW automobiles and motorcycles interwoven in the story. The films are underwritten by BMW and produced by Anonymous Content, Los Angeles. Featured directors include John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, and Guy Ritchie. Featured actors include Madonna, Mickey Rourke, and Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima. Viewers can also find information on the BMWs depicted in the films at the site.
Hudson’s Bay Co., Toronto, launched HBC Rewards, The Great White North’s biggest loyalty program. The effort celebrates the 331st anniversary of the company (that’s right, established in 1670). Shoppers can earn HBC Rewards points at any of the chain’s 500-plus stores, as well as at hbc.com and Zellers outlets. Points can be redeemed for gift certificates or items in an HBC Rewards catalog. Members of Zellers’ own Club Z loyalty program are automatically enrolled in HBC Rewards. Support includes in-store signage, direct mail, outdoor advertising, and a national TV, print, and radio effort. Toronto-based Wolf Group handles.
An Internet-based game developed to promote the upcoming Steven Spielberg film A.I. is taking on a life of its own. Developed by Warner Bros. and Microsoft Corp. (with Spielberg reportedly closely involved), the game entices players to follow a series of Web links as they try to solve the murder of a character from the movie. Rather than tagging posters and TV trailers with URLs, access to the game is surreptitiously hidden on the film’s promotional Web site. The game is expected to continue even after the movie’s June 29 release. Players are expected to participate for the pleasure of unraveling the mystery; no prizes are being awarded.
“Extreme” ad agency startup Turtle Transit sought to raise eyebrows in its native Boston this spring by tooling around town in a Volkswagen Beetle customized to look like a 3,000-pound turtle. Turtle Transit was spawned by the merger of agencies Alternative F/X, Fitchburg, MA, and Jackrabbit Design, Boston. Clients include Crayola, Disney, Harley Davidson Cafés, The House of Blues, and Boston’s favorite rock band, Aerosmith.
Atlanta-based Holiday Inn’s low-price Express chain is giving consumers the chance to create their own TV spots in an Express Your Smarts contest. Through July 15, consumers can submit 30-second “Stay Smart” commercials along with written scripts and entry forms. All spots must contain the tagline, “No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” Consumers get applications online at expressyoursmarts.com, in hotel lobbies, or at Venice, CA-based partner Gold’s Gym locations across the country.
An advisory board will select five finalists who will earn three-day trips to New York City in October to view the winning entry. The grand-prize winner gets an electronics package worth $5,000 and a trip to California in addition to having his work aired on the Discovery Network.
Genesee Brewing Co., Rochester, NY, launched a Tough Stuff Sweepstakes in its primary markets of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Running through July 7, the sweeps offers a prize pool geared toward the outdoor enthusiast, including a grand-prize GMC Sierra truck, five first-place prizes of adventure vacations in Lake Placid, NY, and 1,000 second-place prizes of $25 L.L. Bean gift certificates. P-O-P materials feature world-champion lumberjack Dave Jewett, who will make personal appearances. Interpublic’s Jay Advertising, Rochester, NY, handles. Genesee overhauled marketing efforts this year by upgrading its logo and packaging, creating new radio, outdoor, and P-O-P, and commissioning a new theme song.
Labatt USA’s Sol Cerveza, Norwalk, CT, will celebrate the summer solstice on June 21 with market-specific campaigns around the country. In Newport Beach, CA, Sol teams with Hard Rock Café and Star 98.7 FM for live music and a countdown to sunset in a Longest Day of the Year effort. In Denver, the brand will sponsor a listening party with KTCL FM at the Lodo Bar & Grill. A total of 10 bars on Austin’s popular Sixth Street will host events throughout the week, culminating with a sunset party on the 21st. San Antonio will host the Longest Radio Remote at a Dave and Buster’s including giveaways of trips, shirts, hats, and flip flops. Creative Alliance/AIM, Southport, CT, and DVC Group, Morristown, NJ, handle.
Taco Bell, Irvine, CA, will pony up heavy media support for a joint promotion with Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, to launch the latter’s Xbox videogame system this fall. In-store promos will target teens and young adults. GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, brokered the deal. Other Xbox promo partners are expected to be announced by summer.
Redmond, WA-based Nintendo of America has prepared a $75 million marketing push to launch Game Boy Advance, the follow-up to the company’s hit handheld videogame player. The company will spend some $25 million on pre-launch activities and another $50 million post-launch. Print and TV ads via Leo Burnett, Chicago, will blanket the nation this summer, while a mobile campaign from Big Fat Promotions, New York City, will send field marketers wearing Game Boys on their outfits to high-traffic locations to offer demos. (Talk about hands-on.)
Plymouth, PA-based Half.com, a fixed-price online consumer trading portal owned by Ebay, in April packed tiny ads and coupons into roughly 20 million fortune cookies through a deal with Queens, NY-based fortune cookie maker Wonton Foods. Instead of Oriental wisdom, the slips of paper announced, “Save a Fortune at Half.com” on one side and offered a $5 discount on the other.
