Value Ads

It’s ironic, really, to see an image ad for Happy Meals.

McDonald’s turned up the emotional volume on Happy Meal ads last month, breaking its most extensive image campaign ever for the promotional brand. TV and print ads show Happy Meals as the catalyst for an emotional moment with kids. That’s a new high-water mark for the chain: the promotion has become a brand worthy of it’s own image spots.

Promotional advertising is increasing — and improving. PROMO estimates that one-third of media ads — from TV and print to the Internet and outdoor boards — will carry a promotional message this year.

Marketers last year earmarked 23 percent of their ad budgets for promotion-driven messages, up from 18 percent in 1999, according to a PROMO survey published in May 2000. At that rate, promotional ad spending in the U.S. will top $57 billion this year, up from an estimated $18 billion to $24 billion in 1996. (Total ad spending will reach $250 billion, projects Nostradamus-in-gray-flannel Robert Coen, senior vp-director of forecasting for McCann-Erickson Worldwide, New York City.)

Advertising has become more of a workhorse for two reasons. Tight budgets require a better — and therefore more quantifiable — return on investment. And more promotions (with total spending up 42 percent over six years to $93.4 billion in 1999) means more clutter, which means more ad support.

“The big ‘Aha!’ is that marketers finally understand you get an amazing lift in participation when you communicate the offer,” says Pam Church, executive vp-director of client services at promo agency Frankel, Chicago. “QSRs have always understood this. Others have caught on in the last two or three years.”

“The best that general advertising can do is put a brand in someone’s preference set. That proposition is far too long-term in today’s marketplace,” says Bob Chimbel, chief creative officer at Dallas-based shop TLP, Inc.

Budgets are up, but spending is so splintered that even ad dollars are accountable for boosting sales. “Marketers see the need to surround consumers with a consistent message in all communications,” Church says. “Very few companies have the money to put behind just advertising, and they all still need to drive sales.”

Increasingly, promotional spots take the softer tone of pure image ads.

“In today’s environment, a brand spot can be equally as motivating as a retail spot,” says RJ Milano, McDonald’s vp-marketing U.S. “There’s no longer the thinking that you have to hit consumers over the head with a hard-sell retail spot.”

“THERE’S NO LONGER THE THINKING THAT YOU HAVE TO HIT CONSUMERS OVER THE HEAD WITH A HARD-SELL RETAIL SPOT.” — RJ MILANO, MCDONALD’S

Few promotional ads are as soft-sell as McD’s Happy Meals spot, but they all tackle three tasks: capture attention, communicate the offer, and reinforce the brand.

Big Mac and lead agency Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, spent two years prepping for this year’s emotional pitch. “We wanted a more emotional connection,” says Burnett vp-account director Mark Burgess. “Moms understand Happy Meals from the food-and-widget perspective. We needed to raise the bar. [This campaign] hits a chord with them in a new universe.”

“It’s a gamble, but we want to be completely different from what all other advertisers are saying to Mom,” Milano says. “For parents, Happy Meal means happy memories; for kids, it means fun, favorite toys and [entertainment] properties, and favorite food. The area between those is ‘special moments,’ which gave us the line ‘Happy Meals for happy times.’”

McD added the emotional overlay gradually, starting a year ago with soft-focus black-and-white print ads; TV kept a more practical tone. This year, TV and print coordinate to tug heartstrings: One spot shows a kid climbing on grandpa’s lap with a Happy Meal toy in hand.

“Focus groups told us, ‘This is believable from McDonald’s. If another chain did this, it wouldn’t ring true,’” says Burgess. Ads will showcase current promotions: The grandpa spot showed House of Mouse, in stores Feb. 2-22, and McD’s second spot, which broke Feb. 23, highlights Tiger Electronics’ Robo-chi toys, in stores through March 22. McDonald’s core ad budget funds the youth marketing push. The chain chose Burnett because it’s lead agency on McD’s kids business.

The strategy isn’t ‘soft sell,’ Milano insists. “We see it as cementing our emotional relationship with parents.”

First at Bat

Century 21 broke its first-ever promotional TV spots last month to support a three-year-old Home Run Derby sweeps, part of the realtor’s Major League Baseball sponsorship. The campaign expands this year to include eight finalists (up from two) who fly to Seattle to team up with eight Major League sluggers at this year’s All-Star Game. The finalist paired with the derby winner gets $250,000 toward a home. A 30-second support spot stars Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken (who first appeared in Century 21’s Real Estate for the Real World image campaign in 1998) joining a long line of ordinary folks waiting a turn at bat. Each hits a home run, then is handed the keys to a new house. A voice-over proclaims, “If winning a new home were this easy, you wouldn’t need Century 21 Home Run Derby.” Then a little girl points to Ripken and says, “He was here yesterday.”

“I wanted a promotional ad that fits our core campaign, so we went with our lead ad agency, Lowe Lintas,” says Century 21 executive vp-marketing Steve Savino. The company tapped its ad budget, not promotion coffers, to fund the spot, which rotates with image ads in flights through May.

Infielder Ripken has become the realtor’s star pitcher since his TV cameo three years ago (alongside Emeril Lagasse and Dr. Joyce Brothers). He’s been featured in promos and appeared at franchisee functions. In fact, Century 21 added TV this year primarily to boost broker participation. “This is the one promotional program we’re asking them to focus against,” Savino says. “We’re creating consumer pull; it’s important for them to display the P-O-P and partner with local establishments.”

Century 21 hooked up with Ripken through MLB, but his two-year endorsement contract is separate from its four-year league sponsorship, now in its third year. The company is also adding an online Home Run Derby game this year at century21.com (via Blue Dingo/GB, New York City), with surfers obligated to enter the sweeps before playing. BFG, Hilton Head, SC, handles the sweeps, which added more finalists “to give ESPN more reason to talk about Century 21,” says Savino, who created the promo — Century 21’s first — when he joined three years ago after brand management stints at Anheuser-Busch (snacks), Hublein (Smirnoff), and Time-Warner (Six Flags). “We’re in the game right from the start.”

The Magic Is Backed

Frito-Lay faced an impending actor’s strike while planning for last summer’s Magic in the Bag campaign. The instant-win sweeps put cash awards (ranging from $5 to $100) in 110 million packages, a first for the snack industry. An estimated $4 million TV campaign explained the offer to shoppers. Frito-Lay doesn’t usually spring for extensive TV support of promos (1999’s massive Star Wars tie-in notwithstanding), but this campaign had such a broad reach, so many brands, and such a unique offer, it had to drive awareness outside the store.

Frankel pitched some ad ideas during the planning stage. “We had a fabulous concept that required actors, but we needed a backup concept in case they went on strike — and they did the week before the shoot,” Church recalls. Frito went on-air with a fun, simple spot from Frankel: A Frito-Lay delivery truck zooms up behind an armored car and swallows it whole.

More recently, Frito-Lay tapped its ad agency, New York City-based BBDO Worldwide, for a TV spot supporting a Find the Winning Plays sweeps around Super Bowl XXXV. As lead agency on the campaign, Frankel developed the promo, then handed the idea to BBDO to create the spot. That’s fine with Frankel, Church says: “We believe in playing nice in the sandbox, because the end goal is to make the marketer’s money go farther.”

In the past year, Frankel has produced TV spots for United Airlines, Fleetwood Homes, and Replay TV as well as Frito-Lay. The United spot, which supports the airline’s New York Knicks partnership, breaks this month.

The shop’s spot for Replay TV started as in-store collateral: A 10-minute tape loop ran on TVs in electronics stores to explain how the recording system works. “This wasn’t a black-and-white film strip like we had in high school,” says Church. “This had to be high quality because it’s the brand we’re putting out there.” Mountain View, CA-based Replay TV liked the loop so much, executives asked Frankel to cut a 30-second spot from it. That ad ran alongside image spots created by sister shop Publicis Hal Riney during the Olympics last fall.

Who’s Behind the Camera?

Promo shops are increasingly finding more opportunity to produce ads. Harrah’s Entertainment, Las Vegas, recently tapped TLP to handle all marketing after a year without an agency of record. “We do everything from national ads to swizzle sticks for them,” TLP’s Chimbel says. The shop is creating an umbrella image campaign that lets Harrah’s 21 properties add a regional promotional message.

“We’re looking to integrate our brand message with properties’ own messages,” says senior vp-marketing Rich Mirman.

TLP will also market Harrah’s Total Rewards card-based loyalty program. Players use the cards on casino machines to earn credits for such perks as free food and room discounts. Harrah’s launched the program last April with a sweeps that culminated in a December drawing simulcast to all properties. Players got a sweeps entry for every 50 credits earned.

“MARKETERS FINALLY UNDERSTAND YOU GET AN AMAZING LIFT IN PARTICIPATION WHEN YOU COMMUNICATE THE OFFER.” — PAM CHURCH, FRANKEL

TLP has produced 47 TV spots in the last year, up from just a trio three years ago. The shop created print ads for JC Penney’s back-to-school Pop the Lock sweeps last fall, and helped American Airlines raise its profile with a More Roommobile sweeps giving away the airplane seats left over after heavily advertised cabin upgrades. “It gave us an excuse to advertise beyond general image,” says Chimbel. American plans more sweeps-based advertising this year, via TLP and ad shop Temerlin McClain, Dallas.

Promo spots don’t always get big production budgets, but are held to the same standards. “You don’t do this at the a/v house down the road,” Church warns.

One-stop shopping can cover some legal cracks, too, by eliminating the errors sometimes caused when promo and ad shops aren’t perfectly coordinated. “Too often, the promotion agency writes the rules and does P-O-P, and then the ad agency takes over and never submits ad copy to the promotion agency to make sure it has the proper disclosures and isn’t misleading,” says Joe Silverman, partner at law firm Cohen & Silverman, New York City.

It’s still more common for a brand’s ad agency to produce the ads. Kellogg’s tie-ins with Pokémon and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000 started with promotion. Then Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, created ads. Kellogg’s promotions department served as liaison between the properties, Burnett, and the brand managers who oversaw advertising. That’s a delicate role. “We help Burnett understand the promotion and we try to guide them, but we really have no control,” says Kevin Smith, senior vp-marketing services.

Packaged goods companies, traditionally focused on measurable results, are experimenting more with ad support for promotions while marketers in other segments forge ahead.

As for ROI, marketers measure consumer participation as well as sales; some, including Century 21, also measure trade participation. “We’ll look at what percent of brokers participate, whether we get more entries, and Web site traffic” to gauge how the spots perform, Savino says. “This year is a test for us.”

The trend could foster tighter collaboration between ad and promo shops. Burnett works with McD promo agencies The Marketing Store Worldwide and Simon Marketing “as a cross-functional team,” Burgess says. “Along the process, different people take a leadership role.”

Along the way, the role of advertising is changing, too.