Rewind

So much for glacially paced evolution. Promotion marketing took defined strides this past year: with new media technologies, new approaches to creative content, new metrics and new definitions of success. When it reviewed a year’s worth of news coverage, research data and brand marketing campaigns, the PROMO editorial team identified the following developments as the prime movers of 2006.

Consumers are grabbing — or accepting — the star role in marketing: Whether it’s via the reworking of digital marketing in ways that subvert the original message, as more straightforward contenders for a chance at brand creative direction, or as sweet-faced spokespersons plucked from the crowd, the average man-woman-boy-girl-on-the-street is engaged in marketing as never before.

Chevy’s truck division, for example, thought it could cleverly engage drivers by inviting them to combine digital images and messages to create online ads for the Tahoe from a prescribed bank of components. Imagine its shock when video clips and banners ads begin popping up which used glamour shots of the trucks — with banners asking, “So if you want a gas-guzzling, globe-warming road hog, buy the Tahoe…” (Actually, some observers have speculated that Chevy may have engaged in some Machiavellian anti-marketing to build buzz and interest among the targeted male demographic that thoroughly enjoys political incorrectness. Go figure.)

More straight up have been calls by brands for consumers to develop and submit marketing concepts. For example, consumers will get airtime on the broadcast of the 2007 Super Bowl: a Doritos video contest will put a consumer-made 30-second spot on during the game. And watch for the results of a Jeep sweepstakes that has promised to take winning consumers’ ad ideas and then let the Jeep creative agency shoot these for future viewing via TV and the Internet.

Then, there is a new popularity for using real people in campaigns. McDonald’s this year launched its first-ever global casting call to put everyday people on their packaging.

Mudd Jeans ran a campaign this summer featuring real-life teens. Mudd Girls Move the World showed how teens make a difference in their communities. The brand ran its own casting call and selected six teens out of more than 2,000 entrants to feature in a print campaign. In one ad, a Katrina survivor pledged to help rebuild New Orleans. The print ad reads, “This fall, I will rebuild my city.” Mudd donated $5,000 to each girls’ cause. The company used the promotion through a print and online campaign to inspire other teens to take on their own cause.

The big agencies are finally giving promotional marketing its due: Witness the outcome of the Draft and FCB merger in June.

Need more evidence of how “new realities” are affecting the ascendancy of promotion agencies? Look at the PROMO Agency of the Year, Arnold Brand Promotion. The Boston-based firm is part of Arnold Worldwide, itself a division of international conglomerate Havas. In 2004, Arnold Worldwide adopted a single P&L, and now tracks its business results by client, not by agency division. That lets brand insights — not budget allocations — drive the work.

When an RFP arrives at Arnold Worldwide, the agency forms a pitch team that includes an Arnold Brand Promotions exec. The pitch team collaborates on research to hone brand and consumer insights, then the ad and promo divisions brainstorm separately. The team reconvenes to share ideas, then build out the best few to pitch.

“Once we took away the financial hurdle, it became easier and faster to get to the right answer,” says Beth Rice, executive VP and director, Arnold Brand Promotions.

Of course, perspective hasn’t shifted in all quarters: While promotion advocates were delighted that the international Cannes Lions awards included a slot for best promotional marketing campaigns for the first time this year, the top prize in the category went to — you guessed it — an ad agency. Crispin Porter Bogusky took the Lion for the “Fast” campaign executed for VW; it was CPB’s first rollout for VW since winning the account away from Arnold in September 2005.

Top Stories from 2006

January: Parents and advocacy groups file suit against food manufacturers, including Kellogg, and media company Viacom. The plaintiffs complain that spots for products such as Fruit Loops “directly harm kids’ health” when promoted via Viacom’s Nickelodeon and other TV channels….The Winter Olympics staged in Torino, Italy, provided dozens of brands (including those as diverse as Visa, Kodak, Panasonic and McDonald’s) with a 2 billion-plus international audience for integrated campaigns.

February: Coca-Cola Co. launches its My Coke Rewards loyalty program, which asks consumers to collect on-pack codes from Coke products, then redeem merchandise online. During the year, however, participant backlash builds, as complaints arise over the high threshold for reward redemption….Glad steps in as a sponsor for New Orleans first post-Katrina Mardi Gras celebration, bringing in NFL quarterback Eli Manning as part of its “clean up crew”….U.K. grocer Tesco announces that it will enter the U.S. market in 2007 with a string of West Coast convenience stores….

March: Microsoft says it has earmarked $500 million for a global marketing and sales campaign geared to woo B-to-B customers….ConAgra says it will add $75 million to its 2007 budget to support the marketing of its core brands….Pontiac’s “Catch a G6” campaign, which asked folks to snap pix of the new car with their digital cameras, wins top prize in PROMO’s first annual Interactive Marketing Awards.

April: The U.S. consumer promotions industry tallies up at $342 billion, according to the PROMO Industry Trends Report; event marketing, direct mail and premiums and incentives get the highest spending estimates….Wal-Mart kicks off a Fresh Start for Spring event tour to 1,000 stores, highlighting brand sponsors Sunkist, Weight Watchers, Suave and others….Pepsi signs Mariah Carey to write and record original downloadable ringtones for a summer promotion….McDonald’s launches an international casting call for real consumers to star in upcoming promotions.

May: Brewer Corona targets urban consumers in a summertime promotion in partnership with Playboy; the hook: a sweepstakes that offers a weekend in a luxury home with a Playmate.

June: Sunkist and Sesame Workshop join forces to encourage children to eat more fruit via a retail promotion that includes P-O-P, coupons, on-pack offers and sweepstakes, all starring Muppet favorites Elmo and Cookie Monster….Boston-based Arnold Worldwide is named Promotion Agency of the Year on the basis of work for clients Fidelity Investments, Volkswagen and Tyson.

July: Nestlé USA signs a deal with Major League Baseball, making its Baby Ruth candy brand an official sponsor….Jeans brand Mudd rolls out a back-to-school program that showcases real-life girls and the charitable causes that are most important to them….Despite a building wave of battery recalls, Sony is named “best brand” for the seventh consecutive year in an annual Harris Interactive consumer poll….Seven companies (including Microsoft) announce they have partnered to promote HD digital-video discs, putting a combined $150 million into trade and consumer marketing of the technology.

August: General Mills announces it has created separate marketing platforms for brands across its portfolio to target Hispanic and African-American consumers.

September: U.S. spending on consumer incentive marketing declines slightly this year, to $1.45 million, according to PROMO’s annual benchmark report; B-to-B incentive marketing is also down….Commercial Alert accuses Hasbro of toying with kids health by featuring brand tokens in the new edition of the Monopoly board game; among the new icons are a Starbucks coffee cup and a pouch of McDonald’s fries.

October: Coca-Cola Co. begins a wide sampling program for its new Enviga green tea beverage, touting its calorie-burning properties….Kellogg put cartridges for Xbox 360 games in 80 million cereal boxes in its highest-value promotion ever….Rock legend Bono launches Red, a marketing initiative that encourages consumers to support specific brands (Gap clothing, Converse footwear, American Express financial services, etc.) to support AIDS relief in Africa.

November: Online video and Web 2.0 (a shorthand term for consumer-generated networked Web content) are the central themes of autumn marketing conferences, fueled by Google’s high-profile $1.65 billion acquisition of video-defined site YouTube….Chrysler Dodge pushes its new Nitro SUV via a macho-themed promotion that it hopes drives both men and women to showrooms….Holiday film releases (The Santa Clause, Happy Feet, Casino Royale, etc.) get big-buck support from marketers, including Burger King, Blockbuster, Valpak and Heineken.

December: Among projections for 2007, video ad spending is expected to soar 89% to $775 million in 2007, according to an eMarketer report….While traffic is expected to be up over last year in most retail channels during this holiday shopping season, consumers spending is forecast to be conservative in light of a slowing housing marketing and uncertain fuel costs.

Legal Notes

• FTC Chair Deborah Platt Majoras responds to Congressional complaints about abusive and deceptive gift card practices; she promises stricter enforcement of federal standards.
• A committee of state attorneys general urges the FTC to take a hard look at the role that alcohol marketing plays in promoting under-age drinking.
• A judge in Delaware Chancery Court begins hearings in the case of Valassis Communications vs. Advo, Inc.; the suit stems from a $1.3 billion merger gone bad, which began in the spring.
• Governments ramp up their attempts to legislate “good” behavior: Sometimes ham-fisted (if you’ll pardon the high-sodium term) and occasionally deft, efforts by local, state and federal agencies to control marketing reached new levels in 2006.
• Mid-year, the Federal Communications Commission announced it was forming a task force to examine youth obesity, media and advertising. The task force is led by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a known media critic, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and commissioner Deborah Tate.
• Just before Congress started its summer break, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) introduced the Children and Media Research Advancement Act (CAMRA), to establish a $90 million program to research the effects of television viewing and other media, videogames in particular, on children. In September, the Senate passed that bill authorizing funds to go forward with the research and experts say the research could be the prelude to some form of federal regulation of sales for video games.
• Alcohol marketing has gotten lots of scrutiny this year, with concerns that marketers are not complying with voluntary guidelines that bar ads on media where 30% or more of the audience is between 12 and 20 years old. The Federal Trade Commission is readying work on its third study in about eight years on alcohol marketing. The FTC gathers data from the alcohol companies themselves and submits the reports to Congress, which requested the studies. In addition, a committee of state Attorneys General urged the FTC to take a hard look at the role that alcohol marketing plays in promoting underage drinking. The committee said that it was in the public interest for the FTC to collect updated information from alcohol advertisers, including spending on TV, radio, print, Web, outdoor, sponsorships, P-O-P materials, product placement, college marketing and bar promotions.
• The Federal Centers for Disease Control continued the verb yellowball program, which has given 50,000 playground balls to kids to play with, blog about, then pass on. By early September, kids had registered 10,000 of the 350,000 balls distributed so far — and passed on 22% of them, judging by the 13,000-plus blog entries from ball handlers at VerbNow.com. That’s about a 4% response rate, better than the 1%-to-3% rate that CDC projected for its 9- to 12-year-old audience.