TOOLS APRIL 2001
You’re Still More Likely to Get Hit by Lightning
Online sweepstakes specialist ePrize, Inc., Farmington Hills, MI, scratches the get-rich-quick itch with eLotto, a program that enables marketers to reward customer behavior with a $1 million drawing. Clients purchase eLotto tickets in bulk, then offer them to customers through a banner ad, Web site, or e-mail. Viewers go to the eLotto registration page to choose their numbers. Entrants receive e-mails announcing the winning numbers (drawings are held weekly), as well as encouragement to try their luck again. Marketers receive the consumer data collected through the registration process. More info: 877-837-7493 or eprize.net.
Selling Hot Air
Football, basketball, baseball — hot-air balloons? Balloon Festival Group, Fairfield, NJ, currently produces annual balloon/music festivals in Readington, NJ, Shirley, NY, and Columbus, OH, that have become quite popular with local grocery chains and other sponsors. The programs provide more than just “your name in the sky” opportunities: In Ohio, title sponsor Big Bear created an in-store vendor campaign including end-of-aisle displays, prominent shelf space, and special price discounts to drive traffic. Balloon Festival Group also partnered with local beverage distributor Hill Distributing to promote featured bands. Pricing for presenters is in the $75,000 to $90,000 range with a multi-year contract. Marketing partners pay $40,000, participating partners $15,000 to $20,000, and associates $5,000 to $7,500. More info: 201-445-0996.
Star Gazing
Los Angeles-based Backstage Creations lets corporate clients rub elbows with the stars by getting them backstage at television award shows and specials through “The Lounge.” Marketers can introduce their products and services to performers and presenters who visit the hospitality room during rehearsals to choose their own promotional swag. They can also meet with the famous and glamorous directly to get feedback on the products. Backstage Creations has run programs at the Grammy Awards and The Billboard Music Awards featuring items from such companies as Coach, Gucci, Christian Dior, and Ralph Lauren. At January’s American Music Awards, celebrities such as Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, and Jennifer Lopez picked through merchandise including Maurice Lacroix watches, Briggs & Rilet travelware, and Aramis grooming products. More info: 310-396-7807.
Simple Logic
Market Logic, the direct marketing unit of Catalina Marketing Corp., St. Petersburg, FL., introduced Sample Logic, a targeted at-home sampling program that uses customer-specific data from frequent-shopper cards to deliver trial-size products. Sample Logic received initial approval from 20 retail chains representing 6,000 stores. More info: 714-254-6783 or catmktg.com.
Scratch N Win
Dismar Corp., a Pennsauken, NJ-based manufacturer of sales promotion materials, introduced “This Could Be Your Winning Ticket,” a scratch-off game designed to spice up retail promotions. The product features a perforated sheet of tickets containing one grand-prize, one first-place, eight second-place, and 80 third-place winners. The game sells for $89.95. More info: 856-488-0100.
Family Bag
Bristol Myers/Mead Johnson Nutritionals, New York City, is recruiting marketing partners to be included in its Enfamil Family Beginnings Diaper Bag. The bags contain Mead Johnson Nutritional Samples, safety tags, informative literature, and high-value offers and target 2.7 million mothers of new babies annually. The bags are distributed nationally in more than 3,000 hospitals. Precision Marketing Group, White Plains, NY, handles. More info: 914-693-0245.
