Unilever this week tapped Alcone Marketing Group to handle promotions for SlimFast, whose promotion spending is estimated at $10 million to $15 million.
Unilever names Alcone its promotional marketing AOR after a review of four agencies. Alcone is SlimFast’s first promotions AOR; the brand handled promotions in-house, hiring outside shops for some projects.
Alcone begins with 2006 planning and execution. Unilever this month moves SlimFast management to its Englewood Cliffs, NJ, headquarters from Slim Fast Foods Co. headquarters in West Palm Beach, FL.
Alcone’s “ability to identify meaningful consumer insights that lead to relevant and profitable Consumer Activation programs will be especially helpful to SlimFast,” said Unilever Senior Integrated Marketing Manager Stephanie Kovner-Bryant in a statement.
Irvine, CA-based Alcone will handle the account out of its Darien, CT, office.
Unilever spent $42.8 million on measured-media ads for Slim Fast in 2004, and $36.8 million for January-October 2005, per TNS Media Intelligence.
Unilever’s 2004 SlimFast Challenge was a PRO Awards finalist for loyalty marketing; the 12-week, Wal-Mart exclusive campaign registered 300,000 participants and boosted same-store sales 22 percentage points (September 2004 PROMO). The J. Brown Agency, Stamford, CT, handled.
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