Taking a Different Route

Cadillac travels many roads for Escalade.

Detroit-based General Motors’ Cadillac division is sending its new Escalade luxury SUV down alternative marketing roads this year in an attempt to target younger, more affluent drivers.

The multi-channel campaign features 45 billboards in 14 markets containing transmitters emitting broadcast signals to a four-mile radius. Billboard copy directs passing drivers to a frequency on which “Radio Cadillac” DJs will praise the Escalade while spoofing conventional radio formats. D’Arcy, Masius, Benton, & Bowles, Detroit, handles.

On the more traditional side, a 60-second commercial from D’Arcy is airing on TV and in movie theatres with the tagline, “Escalade makes obstacles obsolete.” The spot broke on TV April 7 during CBS’s broadcast of the Masters Golf Tournament, and hit theaters April 20. Other 30-second spots will run during Wimbledon tennis and NFL football coverage later this year.

This month, Cadillac mails a DVD game to 500,000 prospects. Called Escalade Power Play, the game lets players use the vehicle’s features to overcome obstacles. A sweeps overlay sends them to cadillac.com for a chance to win a free Escalade, a motorboat, a motorcycle, or Bose products. Clarion Marketing, Greenwich, CT, handles.

Elsewhere, the brand targets cell phone and Palm Pilot techies with ads that appear as they check airline information at the Online Airline Guide, a business travel service from Reed Business Information Group, Oak Brook, IL. NOVO, New York City, handles. And newspapers in upscale neighborhoods are wrapped in brand bags carrying the message, “So responsive, it even brings your paper to you.” Livonia, MI-based Valassis handles.

Kmart Corp., Troy, MI, has turned the Blue Light back on, launching a private-label brand and reviving its classic in-store merchandising tack, BlueLight Specials. The moniker is planned as a mega-brand for quality items at low prices to drive shopper frequency and loyalty.

To launch it, Kmart revived BlueLight Specials in store and online at bluelight.com, with several programs to follow.

BlueLight branding is “a critical milestone in the current revitalization of Kmart,” says ceo Chuck Conaway in a statement. BlueLight gives shoppers “an opportunity to reconnect with Kmart.”

BlueLight Specials began in April, running daily in all of Kmart’s 2,109 stores and online, on national brands in all departments. Merchandise is displayed for a limited time in BlueLight Special Zones near the middle of stores under suspended canopies with flashing blue lights and music. Limited quantities give shoppers a sense of urgency. At BlueLight.com, merchandise appears with a flashing logo on the site’s top navigation bar. The site features different items than store displays, and the channels cross-promote.

“While [the program] was originally used to move clearance merchandise, we are now using it to give our customers the products and brands they really want at incomparably low prices,” says exec vp-chief marketing officer Brent Willis in a statement. BlueLight gets Kmart’s biggest marketing push ever, with national TV and radio, print, in-store, and outdoor ads via TBWA Chiat Day, New York City.

BlueLight Specials first launched in 1965 but were dropped in the early ‘90s. While the tactic plays to Kmart’s heritage and could help differentiate the chain, some analysts question whether limited-time price deals can succeed against everyday-low-price competitors such as Wal-Mart.

Call it a sweepstakes for slackers. Kraft Foods, Northfield, IL, is running its biggest-ever promo for DiGiorno Pizza with a sweeps that plays off the “It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno!” ad tagline. The Be a DiGiorno Delivery Guy Game dangles a grand-prize package of a $100,000 “salary,” a Chrysler PT Cruiser, $1,500 towards cell phone service, a custom-made uniform, and a year’s worth of pizza. The punchline is that there is no delivery with DiGiorno frozen pizza.

The promo “further builds on the brand’s consumer communication with the concept of a DiGiorno Delivery Guy who has nothing to do,” says senior associate brand manager Duane Hart. From April through August, 10 million boxes carry a game code inside. Players call a toll-free number and punch in their code. The top prize-winner will hear a recording that says “You’re hired!” Other prizes include $100 “tips” to 500 winners and free pizza to thousands more. Communicator, Chicago, handles. TV support runs mid-April through mid-May via FCB, Chicago. Radio, P-O-P, and FSIs round out the plan.

Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble’s Pringles turned the key on its first mobile campaign in March as the Pringlesmobile, a 53-foot trailer featuring a 30-foot-long Pringles can and mini-dance club, hit the road. The tour will visit outdoor venues across the U.S. through August along with a smaller cargo van bearing an eight-foot roof can and a cab-load of samples. A sweeps overlay will give away the Spud Bug, a Pringles-logoed Volkswagen Beetle. The vehicles will stop at such spots as concert venues owned by SFX, Inc., New York City, and Six Flags theme parks. Visitors can audition for the “Mr. Pringles’ Posse Casting Call,” a dance contest that will select the cast of an upcoming TV spot. Pringles is donating 10 cents to nonprofit SHINE (Seeking Social Harmony in Neighborhoods Everyday) for every mile traveled. Grey Worldwide, New York City, and Porter Novelli, Chicago, handle.

Cincinnati-based Chiquita Fresh North America this summer hosts a sweeps at retail dangling minivans from Ford Motor Co., Detroit. The Miss Chiquita Summer Fun on the Run program runs July 5-31 in the U.S. and Canada. Forms on P-O-P displays encourage consumers to send in their entries along with three labels from Chiquita products. Other prizes include cash, electronics, and watersports merchandise. Radio spots and Internet activity support. A trade overlay awards prizes to retail produce managers who send in photographs of their P-O-P. The Botsford Group, Atlanta, handles.

Harvey Entertainment, Los Angeles, has scared up various promotional partners for Casper the Friendly Ghost as it continues celebrating the character’s 60th birthday. Wendy’s Restaurants, Columbus, OH, will host a Halloween campaign in September and October featuring kids meal premiums, P-O-P displays, and 20 million tray liners in 5,400 stores. A 30-second TV spot supports. The fast-food chain will also distribute coupons for a new Casper videogame being produced by TDK Interactive for the Sony PlayStation II. Hershey Foods, Hershey, PA, will host an October sweepstakes in 40 million snack-size candy bags giving away 25,000 PlayStation games. FSIs support. Later, Canadian family restaurant chain Swiss Chalet will use Casper as official spokesghost for a kids meal program in early 2002. Los Angeles-based Hearst Entertainment handles the licensing deals for Harvey.

Plano, TX-based Dr Pepper/7 UP goes the co-op route this month as the Dr Pepper brand jumps into a barbecue-flavored cross-branding campaign from Oakland, CA-based Clorox Co. Coupons for a free two-liter bottle of Dr Pepper will run on bags of Clorox’s Kingsford Charcoal. Clorox also offers a free eight-ounce bottle of Hidden Valley Salad Dressing with the purchase of either fresh chicken or its own KC Masterpiece marinade. A 43 million-piece FSI supports. Theme Co-op Promotions, San Francisco, handles.

Also at Dr Pepper/7 UP, the Sunkist brand invites drinkers to “Ride the Rays” through July in an under-the-cap instant-win game offering branded go-carts and scooters. Elsewhere, 12-packs carry 55-cent coupons. Harwood Marketing Group, Dallas, handles.

Mazola Corn Oil, a brand of Englewood Cliffs, NJ-based Unilever Bestfoods, activates its tour sponsorship of Latin pop singer Christian Castro with a Noche De Gala con Christian Castro sweeps offering a grand-prize trip to a concert and a private reception with the star. The trips include round-trip airfare, three-night accommodations, limousine transportation, and $1,000 cash. Other winners score gift certificates. Entry forms are available in 2,000 retail outlets on posters and shelf pads. MASS, Miami, handles.

Out to celebrate the 35th anniversary of mascot Shamu, Orlando, FL-based SeaWorld launched a mobile campaign featuring a fleet of 30 whale-shaped Beetles. The “Pod Squad” will travel to more than 70 markets in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico through summer. The tour kicked off in March in St. Louis after it was unveiled at a press conference in New York City. Momentum, St. Louis, handles. SeaWorld is owned and operated by St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Entertainment Corp.

Woodbury, NY-based Polar launched a nationwide mobile effort to introduce a line of heart-rate monitors to retailers and consumers. Using specially equipped and branded Nissan Xterras, the “Get Fit Force” is visiting five retail accounts each day until the end of the year. Other stops include marathons and local fairs for free fitness tests and product trials. Catalyst, Fairfield, CT, handles.

Morristown, NJ-based Bayer Consumer Care last month unveiled a trio of animated sisters dubbed The Mighty Midols in a campaign targeted to teenage girls. The cramp medication brand uses the characters to host an interactive game on teen site Alloy.com teaching girls about the menstruation cycle. Visitors can take a personality test and participate in activities designed to take some of the stigma off menstruation. “We wanted to send a message that you can have your period and still hang out with your girlfriends at the mall,” says Midol brand manager Heather Shirley. New York City-based Alloy.com in April sent members targeted e-mails publicizing the game, which moves to midol.com in July., Whippany, NJ handles.