Weaving Art and Commerce

It’s becoming a valid question: Where does entertainment end and promotion begin? Earlier this year, Coca-Cola President and COO Steve Heyer created a sensation when he frankly addressed what he called the “convergence of the trinity in brand building — content, media and marketing.” Now more than ever, marketing must entertain consumers to be effective, and entertainment properties must hit every marketing button to be profitable. “Popular culture…has proven its ability to sell products and services, to transform brands and images to define what’s relevant to facilitate transactions and relationships,” Heyer told the audience at an advertising conference in January 2003. Sure, it can still be art, but entertainment is also commerce.

A look at the 2003 EMMA winners will tell you that the line between the two endeavors is fading fast, and marketers know it. This is the fifth year PROMO has recognized the best in entertainment marketing, and we’ve seen a steady increase in participants — up more than 20% this year over last. Campaigns submitted to the EMMAs are judged on both their measurable sales results, brand enhancement and creativity, and this year’s top entries scored big on both counts.

The Webbed Wonder

Swinging over them all was the multi-faceted campaign tied to Sony Pictures/Columbia TriStar’s Spider-Man. The web-slinger roped in our Best Overall EMMA for carefully calibrated work that reached multiple audience demographics, via partnerships with Cingular Wireless, Carl’s Jr./Hardees, Kelloggs, Dr Pepper, Hershey and Reebok.

Sony is somewhat unique in that it provides partners with access to the studio’s entire marketing team: research, media, creative advertising and p.r. Partners’ own media planning teams were brought into the campaign, drawing upon resources that strengthened their own sales message while helping to develop a roll out that maximized audience awareness without dulling the impact through overplaying the Spidey Sensation.

With each partner, the Sony promotions team began by discussing product placement opportunities; these are then adapted to the partners goals. “It’s a joint process. The objectives of the partner lead to a morphing of our original ideas,” explains George Leon, Sony’s EVP of global promotion and product placement (pictured at left center with some of his winning team). “We challenge each other to find creative approaches that have never been tried before.”

The results were knockout: Spider-Man achieved the biggest opening weekend of all time, with $114.8 million in box office revenue, and became the fastest film in Hollywood history to reach $500 million. Kelloggs sold through 300% of its forecast on breakfast foods during the campaign, with many retailers reporting 100% sell-through. Hershey redeemed 300% of its initial forecast on its poster promotion. Reebok had 100% sell — through on its special edition Cobra shoes, with Spidey design details. Backing this all was significant spending: Combined TV, print and billboard ads were worth some $60 million. Promotion spending by partners reached $95 million. (For more on the campaign, see page 58.)

We Can’t Fail to Mention….

The winners were top of their class, but we were impressed by a few other noteworthy entries

Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival

Brand(s): Chrysler, Universal

Agency: Hypnotic

With strong online and p.r. components, this annual event is built on a competition for a million dollar film production and distribution deal. Filmmakers submit short film entries; 25 are selected to exhibit on the Web, where consumers get to view and rate the results. Ten then produce a movie using the Chrysler Pacifica or Chrysler Crossfire vehicles. The grand finale is held in Toronto, where the judges declare one winner, whose deal gets the green light. Is this where Ben Affleck and Matt Damon got their idea?

Capture the Blues in Kodak Black & White

Brand: Eastman Kodak

Agency: Entertainment Marketing, Inc.

Everything old is new again, and black and white photography has regained its cool, thanks to this attitude-heavy campaign from Kodak. Geared toward habitues of the downtown club scene, it partnered with the House of Blues (which was celebrating its 10th anniversary). Kodak provided free film at tribute concerts held in HOB venues across the country. Street teams distributed coupons, fans posed before a branded photo-backdrop for a special memento, then downloaded the photo from kodak/blackandwhite.com. Radio promotions gave listeners a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas for the HOB 10th Anniversary Show. Finally, Kodak provided schools in the key cities with free film and cameras so students could take photos of their communities. Students and local media were invited for a private viewing of student work and interviews with the headlining bands.

Q’s Gadgets

Brand(s): Heineken Beer and MGM Studios

Agency: Norm Marshall & Associates

The tie-ins with the latest Bond adventure, Die Another Day, were many, but few were as witty as this campaign that adapted the Heineken beer can to several gadgets developed by Bond’s technical wizard Q (played in the film by John Cleese, who actually worked with the agency on development). There was the beer can as camera, as microscope, as radio, etc. It was product placement to die for.

Visit Churchill’s England

Brand: HBO

Agency: Civic Entertainment Group

Churchill as a romantic figure? That was the context for promotional tie-ins for the HBO docudrama The Gathering Storm. It turns out that the great curmudgeon’s favorite tipple was Champagne Pol Roger, so the first partner tie-in bubbled up quickly. US Airways, with direct flights between U.S. cities and London, came on board with a trip as a sweeps prize, and in-flight promotion. With a modest budget, the campaign generated 45 million impressions among air travelers and over 2 million among wine drinkers.