Donna's Promo Talk - Promotional Marketing that Creates Excitement and Gets Results

Fred Claus Naughty or Nice Giveaway Promotes Movie, Time Warner and Circuit City

The holiday season is gone into full swing this week now that Thanksgiving is behind us. As promised, I'm trying to cover as many holiday interactive promotions in this blog as I can between now and Christmas. Since today's the start of one of our holiday weekends, I thought I'd blog about an interactive promotion that falls into the entertainment marketing category... The Fred Claus Naughty or Nice Giveaway.

Time Warner Cable and sister company Warner Bros. Pictures have partnered to promote the movie FRED CLAUS which was released in theaters back on Nov. 8th. It stars Paul Giamatti playing Santa and Vince Vaughn as his bad brother Fred. These are some downloads and "buddy Icons" I found on the official website.  The interactive promotion includes a microsite with games based on the film, vignettes of the movie plus a sweepstakes offering consumers a chance to win weekly prizes including a $10,000 home theater system provided by Circuit City. Instant-win prizes include Road Runner mouse pads, Aqua computer mouses, and a notepad.

When you first visit the microsite the elf encourages you to register which automatically enters you in the sweepstakes. The entry form includes some additional questions such as "Are you a Time-Warner customer?", "What services do you have?", "Do you have a HDTV?" and "Have you ever watched shows or movies On-Demand?" which enables the sponsors to gather consumer data. The last question requests separate opt-ins for future emails and offers to be sent from Time Warner, Road Runner, Intel and Circuit City. So they are definitely using the power of online sweepstakes to build their database and start a dialog with these consumers based on their answers.

I didn't win the instant prize today, but I can come back every day now till the promotional period ends on January 3rd and try again. I am entered in the sweepstakes for a chance at the grand prize which is the $10,000 Circuit City home theater system as well as the weekly prize which this week happens to be an Intel powered laptop.

There are also ways to gain additional entries into both the weekly and grand prize drawings by "exploring the environment" and playing the games. Each week features a different game with this week being the North Pole. When you play the game you get an additional entry plus there are bonus entries hidden in the game. I came across some dancing elves that were kinda a scary looking.

Besides the games, visitors can send holiday e-cards and choose between a "Naughty" or "Nice" greeting. A drop-down menu provides additional word choices that comprise the final message. This makes up the viral marketing component of the campaign.

Visitors to the microsite can also view Fred Claus movie clips and trailers. The movie has gotten so-so reviews with Vince Vaughn being Vince Vaughn (naughty) and Paul Giamatti (nice) actually bringing some talent to the screen. However, whatever you think about the movie, this promotional campaign appears to be right on target.

Gap and Yahoo Create User-Generated Holiday Greeting Contest

A new record was set this past Cyber Monday in which Holiday sales hit $733 million for one day online spending according to Comscore. Cyber Monday sales increased 21% over 2006 also easily exceeding Black Friday online spending of $531 million. However, traffic to brick-and-mortar stores from Thanksgiving through Sunday was up only 4.8% from last year, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Foundation. The study also showed that spending offline on average dipped to $348 from $360 last year as shoppers focused on heavily discounted items

GAP decided to launch its digital holiday campaign on Cyber Monday which is called GapTIDINGS. This interactive promotion incorporates user-generated videos with an viral e-mail component enabling users to send personalized greetings to family and friends. Gap has partnered with Yahoo who is hosting the microsite, GapTIDINGS. Users are invited to create and upload their video holiday greetings and enter the contest for a chance to win one of three limited edition Vespa LX50 scooters.

The Gap is reducing the risk of users violating music copyright laws that are associated with user-generated content promotions by providing clips of remixed holiday tunes that they can add to their videos. Users can choose from artists like Dean Martin singing Jingle Bells to a Louie Armstrong and Velma Middleton version of Baby It's Cold Outside. Gap also provides some tips and tools for making great videos. Users can then personalize a greeting card with a written message and send the card with the video to those on their list.

The microsite also lets visitors view and rate other videos, including greetings uploaded by Gap ambassadors like Saturday Night Live comedic duo Amy Poehler and Will Arnett. There are also Tiding Tools were users can create a widget that can be imported to their MySpace or Facebook Page or download the GapTIDINGS Wallpapers.

Videos submissions will be accepted up till December 12th either through the microsite or by recording a video at one of the GapTIDINGS Mobile Studios that are now touring the U.S. After that date visitors to the miscrosite can view all the submissions and vote for their favorite. Of course you have to be a registered member of Yahoo to participate in any of this promotion.

Conn Fishburn, Yahoo's director of social media strategy, says "We have a group that works to help make promotions like this a reality. A brand will have a fairly fleshed out idea, or sometimes even just a set of marketing objectives, and we'll work with them to take the best advantage of all of Yahoo's on and offline assets to help them reach their target audience."

At the conclusion of the voting period, fifty finalists that received the highest number of votes will be reviewed by a panel of judges who will select the three top entries according to originality, creativity, and the highest number of "favorite" designations. These three winners will receive a 2007 Limited Edition Vespa LX 50 in a custom "Crazy Stripe" design by Gap. Sounds like this promotion should be a hit with Gap's target audience.

Dell's Viral Marketing Campaign Helps Holiday Wishes Come True

Well will today's online retail sales be greater than Black Friday's in-store sales, or will it just be another Monday after a long holiday weekend?

The term Cyber Monday started back in 2005 when online retailers noticed an increase in shopping online the Monday after Thanksgiving. So now we have special discounts and promotions tied into this day as well. According to a recent AMA consumer survey, nearly 50% more consumers are looking online for information about products and services than were last year. So, this holiday season will bring a significant jump in the number of consumers turning to the Web for gift ideas, but will more actually buy online?

I haven't done any shopping online yet today, and I really don't plan on it. However, when I opened my mailbox this morning there were quite a few emails from online retailers offering free shipping and other specials trying to get me over to their websites to buy something today.

This offer from Dell did catch my eye though since my daughter's recent Black Friday experience in which she failed at trying to get her hands on a new laptop door buster special. Dell's "Wish for the Perfect Gift/Deal" theme has one-day specials on select items, free shipping, and a free Dell Holiday Gift Card Promotion up to a $200 value.

Dell also is extending the "Wish Theme" with an interactive, viral marketing promotion that includes a Holiday micosite called Yoursishere.com. Visitors can create funny, personalized video e-mails, featuring celebrities, that encourage friends and family to help fulfill their dream during the holidays.

Burt Reynolds greets visitors and tells you how to get started. Celebrity clips includes Reynolds as well as Chuck Liddell, Brooke Burke, Estelle Harris, Ice T and Vivica Fox each with a different selling style. They'll either request that you buy the sender a Dell or donate money toward it through a "virtual piggy bank," that's linked to a PayPal account. The piggy bank can then be published on Facebook and MySpace pages.

"It's principally a viral marketing campaign around the idea of getting what you really want for the holidays," said Dell Consumer Group Representative Jay Pinkert. He and Dell Global Director of Marketing Communications David Clifton said the "viral" part of the campaign will come into play when those who receive the e-mails also give it a try.

"The idea is if you send it to 20 friends and they chip-in and contribute to your computer, we want them to say, `Well, if I'm giving him 20 bucks, how about him giving me 20 bucks?" said Clifton. "As they receive it, and think it's cool, they're going to send it right back around."

I created one myself requesting an Inspiron Notebook with Estelle Harris as my "Star Power". Here's the link to view my message. I also added it to my Facebook profile. So, check it out and feel free to contribute. My current Dell laptop is getting pretty old.

Another Black Friday Story

Well today's what they call Black Friday and considered the official start to the holiday shopping season with many retailers offering deep discount specials. According to BIGresearch they predict that many retailers may have to extend the sales throughout the season as 33.5% of consumers said they are worse off than a year ago and 50% said there is “too much month at the end of their paycheck”. 

"Consumers’ intention to stick to a budget (37.1%), do more comparative shopping via circulars/newspapers (26.7%) and use more coupons (27.8%) may further impact retailers’ margins. Another recent phenomenon retailers will have to contend with which may impact their bottom lines is the growing popularity of gift card purchases which creates a spending shift beyond the traditional holiday season,” said Gary Drenik, President & CEO of BIGresearch.

My two teenage daughters got to participate in their first crazy "Door Buster/Be the First to Get There" Black Friday specials. Since my older daughter now has her senior driver's license they decided to stay up all night and go hit the stores. They spent a good amount of time Thanksgiving Day going through the sales circulars and cutting out the items they wanted and developing their strategic plan of attack.

My daughter wants a new laptop, and even though I told her I planned on getting her one for her graduation from high school coming up this June, she still was intent on getting this deal from Best Buy that was only advertised on TV. So, we went to BestBuy.com to see if it was for real and they did list the details. It was for a Toshiba Laptop Computer with a Cannon Printer Package for $229, a $650 savings. However, in order to purchase this special you needed a ticket. Tickets would be given out a 3am outside the store and then you could purchase this item between 5am when the store opened and 9am this morning.

So, both my daughters went out about midnight to get in line. Unfortunately it was the coldest night of the year so far with a cold front that came through yesterday bringing down Canadian air with temperatures only in 20's. They ended up No. 104 and 105 in line and Best Buy didn't let them know till sometime almost 5am that they only had 25 tickets to hand out and they were gone! So, no computer. I'm extremely disappointed that BestBuy would let all these people stand in line all night knowing that they had only 25 tickets. You think they would of told them sooner. I'm going to cut up my BestBuy Rewards card and not venture in that store for quite a while.

Well they finally got home a little after 10am this morning. They had gone to the mall and did some clothes shopping instead. They also stopped at Kohl's, which opened at 4am, but didn't buy anything since the register lines were to the back of the store. They also made it to Target to try and get one of the Guitar Hero Game bundles that comes with the game and two gaming guitars. I told them if they could get it Santa would pick up the tab for that one. However, these sold out in 15 minutes after the store opened up at 6am.

So, I haven't decided if I'm going to venture out to any of the stores today. My sister is here from out of town, so we may hit the mall. My daughter already told me they won't be going back out to do any shopping. I'm sure they'll be either in bed or on the couch watching movies the rest of the day. Everyone has their "Black Friday" story to tell and now they'll have theirs. What's yours?

Let's Say Thanks This Thanksgiving

As we all start to unwind over the next few days for the Thanksgiving Holiday and spend time with family and friends enjoying good food, watching some football and of course doing some holiday shopping, let's remember to say thanks for all that we have and for living in a great, free country.

I wanted to make you aware of the "Let's Say Thanks" program sponsored by Xerox, one of our local corporations here in Rochester, NY. They are providing a free and easy way for anyone to send postcards of encouragement and thanks to our servicemen and women.

Xerox originally launched this interactive website in June of 2006 that allows visitors to select from a range of postcard designs created by children and add their own personalized message to a soldier. Here's one I particularly like because it has a "Happy Holidays" message on it which was created by 10 year- old Megan from Knoxville, Tenn. The cards are then printed out on Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Presses at various partnering printers and delivered to soldiers deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations. 

The response to the program has been great with the latest numbers reported back in August of some 11 million messages submitted. While at the website you can also view messages sent to the troops from other visitors as well as those back from the troops expressing their gratitude. So, it's just a very easy way for us to recognize these great men and women as we start off the holiday season. It would be wonderful if we could pass the word and have everyone we know send a card.

From now till Christmas I plan on writing about the many holiday interactive promotions and marketing campaigns being executed this season, and there are some very interesting ones. They say that every year the ads and marketing messages start to hit earlier and earlier, and this year it has rung true with consumers now searching online for information much earlier than previous years.

So stay tuned and for now I wish you and your family a Very Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy and please don't forget to submit a card.

FTC Focuses on CGC, Targeted Advertising, Ads to Children...PMA Law Conference Update

I promised in my post last week to give you an update on what we learned at the PMA Marketing Law Conference when Lydia Parnes from the FTC gave the keynote luncheon address on Friday. Ms. Parnes is the Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection and her appearance was very timely considering all the latest announcements from Facebook and Google on their new ad platforms.

Ed Kabak, the Chief Legal Executive of PMA, introduced Ms. Parnes and noted that during the 29 year history of their Promotion and Marketing Law Conference there have been many speakers from the FTC, but never a Director. So, this was a first.

Ms. Parnes was very well spoken and started off joking that she has been working for the FTC for many years, which means that she must have "started there straight out of high school". She took us back to 1978, when the first PMA Marketing Law Conference took place. Most of the topics on this year's conference schedule were "science-fiction back then and the FTC has been working hard to keep up with all the changes".

There was no Internet Marketing to speak of back in 1978. Instead what we did have was a booming telemarketing industry fueled by the break up of the baby bells along with new technologies. Ms. Parnes reminded us that with new technologies there are those that will try and abuse the system and we had our share of spammers and fraudulent companies back then as well. The FTC got involved at that time with new rules and regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 which lead to the National Do Not Call List that we have today.

Ms. Parnes job is to protect consumers against those that abuse the system and she shared with us the bureau's top three areas that they're currently focusing on: 1) Consumer-Generated Content 2) Targeted Advertising 3) Advertising to Children. Here's what she said about each of these issues:

1) Consumers today are content providers and the FTC has been working with WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) on some new industry guidelines. These have helped to establish a code of ethical principals which include clearly disclosing who the message is coming from. Consumer endorsements that are not true will be looked upon very negatively. Refer a Friend programs which have false from and subject lines will be subject to the largest penalties under the CAN SPAM act. Ms. Parnes referenced Jumpstart Technologies, an Internet marketing company which was offering free movie tickets and disguising it's commercial email messages as personal. They were fined $900,000, the largest penalty to date for illegal spam.

2) Regarding targeted marketing, Ms. Parnes didn't specifically mention Facebook or Google, but instead referenced "these online technologies that enable individual consumers to serve up ads to other individuals. This growing practice is somewhat invisible to most consumers and they need to make sure that the consumer stays in control." Also, she noted that the FTC will question how data will be used and how it will be secured. She did state that the "FTC does not intend to stifle innovation, however is seeking flexible approaches that will give the consumers more control while preventing any problems with the data storage".

3) The top concern with advertising to children is the privacy of those under 13 years of age. Kids are sharing information on social networks and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is being violated. She specifically mentioned a case with Xanga.com that was fined a million dollars in violation of this rule.  Obesity with our children is another issue that the FTC is focusing on. There is currently a group of twelve major food companies that are partnering with the FTC to address this concern and establish advertising guidelines. I was sitting at the luncheon next to counsel from Campbell Soup who said that they are one of the participating companies. Lastly, the FTC is again focusing on the labeling of movies, videos and music that are inappropriate for children which is not always consistent.

Ms. Parnes ended her talk by saying that we all need to provide better education to consumers and encourages us to engage with the FTC and suggest new ideas. She referenced the FTC Town Hall Forum on E-havioral Advertising that they just hosted on Nov.1-2. This event brought together consumer advocates, industry reps, technology experts, and academics to address the issues raised by tracking consumers' online activities to target advertising. The "Do Not Track" list proposal is an outcome of this forum.

It appeared that the consensus from those that I spoke to at the conference thought the "Do Not Track" list was a good idea. The majority of attendees at the conference were lawyers and they weren't all too familiar yet with the new ad platforms recently announced by Facebook and Google. From what I've been reading, the advertising industry isn't in favor of this proposal. So, it will be interesting to see where and how far this idea goes. I would love to hear further thoughts on this issue from readers here and any other suggestions that you may have.

Mobile Marketing Promotions: Latest Developments Shared at PMA’s Promotion Marketing Law Conference

Linda Goldstein followed the opening session on Day 1 of PMA’s Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference with a great presentation updating us all on the latest developments in sweepstakes, games and contests. Linda is a partner with the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP and is known in the business pretty much as the Sweepstakes Diva.

Linda started off by getting right into the issues regarding mobile promotions. Currently there are two class action lawsuits pending, one in the state of Georgia and one in California. The outcomes of these will set a precedence as to whether or not text messaging can be used as the primary means to enter a sweepstakes or contest.  Mobile promotions currently require an alternate means of entry (AMOE) and most are using an online component to comply.

The promotions in the suits are against the shows Deal or No Deal, The Apprentice, and American Idol. Some of these promotions required a premium text messaging charge to enter along with the standard text messaging fees that the carrier charges. In most cases when a premium fee was charged, 70% of the entries came through online vs. mobile since the Internet was the AMOE. A few years back the states finally agreed that the Internet was mainstream enough that sweepstakes and instant- win promotions could be executed using only online as the means to enter. This is when we started to see an explosion in interactive promotions.

So the question now becomes, is online sufficient to use as the only AMOE? It is widely assumed that most cell phone users have Internet access, so using online as the AMOE for a mobile promotion does make sense and should be a low risk. However, using the Internet as an AMOE for a standard on-pack promotion still possess a risk since Internet access may not be as accessible with this broader market of consumers.

The other question remains is if just standard text messaging rates constitute “consideration”, and if so, that would make them illegal lotteries if they didn't have any AMOE. Even though many consumers have unlimited texting plans, they still pay an additional fee for this service so the "no purchase necessary" rule is being challenged here. Regardless of which way they rule, with technology changing so rapidly in a year from now it may all be a mute point and go the same way that Internet entry eventually did.

Later in the day at the conference there was a breakout session specifically on Marketing to Wireless Devices with a panel that included counsel from Verizon Wireless among others. They gave us some great advice to follow in executing mobile promotions. What came through loud and clear is that you need a good amount of lead-time for approval, with an average of at least six weeks.

The first step you need to take is to obtain a short code, the numbers and letters that the consumer types in on their mobile device to enter the promotion. These codes are similar to acquiring a domain name on the Internet.

Once you have a short code then you need to get the promotion provisions from each wireless carrier. If the carrier doesn’t approve the promotion, the short code won’t work on their network and that carrier would have to be excluded from the promotion. There are certain companies that specialize in getting these provisions from the carriers whom I am familiar with since there are not too many of them. The problem is that each carrier has it’s own approval process and timeline, which can make the marketer's job very difficult.

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has issued a Best Practices Guidelines that was referred to by a few counsels during the conference. They recommended that marketers should become familiar with these guidelines before they start to execute a mobile promotion. We all expect to see many more mobile promotions in 2008 and for now the advice to marketers is to work with a team that is staying abreast of the most recent regulations and state laws in order to lower your risk as much as possible.

PMA Marketing Law Conference Asks "Who's In Control?" A Year in Review

PMA's Promotion Marketing Law Conference got underway this morning at the Downtown Chicago Marriott. The main ballroom was packed with a record number of attendees for this 29^th annual event who ranged from legal professionals, regulators, brand marketers and major suppliers in the industry. I haven'€™t been in a room full of so many lawyers since I attended this same event last year.

"Who's in Control Now? Navigating Tumultuous Marketing Changes"€ is the theme to this year's conference. The opening session carried this theme throughout which was presented by Ron Urbach, Esq. Partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP. Ron gave us an entertaining review of the year'€™s major promotional marketing campaigns and developments that would be covered in more detail in the sessions to follow. He even created his own fictional online media site, Ron Tube, which he utilized to showcase video content that he had created for the presentation.

Ron asked the underlying question, "Who'€™s In Control? The consumer or the marketer?"€ His answer was no one and everyone. "It€'s not about control. It's about relationships...relationships with consumers, third parties, and the world that ebbs and flows like a lava lamp in a constant state of motion."

Consumer Generated Content - The Doritos Super Bowl ad contest was by far the most famous of them all and has now gone down in history. We got to see both spots again that Doritos ran and they still got a laugh from the crowd. The Chevy Super Bowl ad was also highlighted. Ron'€™s belief is that CGC is really just another form of content creation and it won't be replacing marketing generated content by any means.

Guerilla Marketing -€“ We all learned this year from The Cartoon Network's promotion that the threat of terrorism is a very seriously issue and you can't play around with anything that even remotely may be associated with it. Ron compared the panic that happened in Boston from this promotion to the famous The War of the Worlds radio broadcast by Orson Wells that was used to promote the premiere of the movie many years ago.

Viral Marketing -€“ Is this the new :30 TV spot? Trust, emotion and the human need to interact really made this tactic take off this year. We were treated to watching Dove'€™s infamous Evolution viral video one more time and were reminded that it won this year'€™s Cannes Grand Prix Award. Ron pointed out that the big buzz really was that this viral video won instead of a TV ad.

Email Marketing - It'€™s still alive and kicking. Ron highlighted the Refer a Friend option as a very popular tool that was utilized very much this past year. However, there are privacy issues that need to be taken into consideration. Users of MySpace had their privacy violated when they received unwanted email messages from a third party that misused this option.

Blogs and Social Media -€“ These became the new media this year. But, just because it'€™s written in the digital world, doesn'€™t necessarily always make it real. Daniel Lyons from Forbes became a celebrity by creating the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs Blog in which he wrote posing as him.

Mobile Marketing -€“ Media is now going portable. This is the new frontier and we'€™re all waiting to see what the courts rule on two class action lawsuits regarding text-messaging promotions will be. Should premium text messaging fees as well as just standard fees be ruled as consideration? If so then it'€™s an illegal lottery. Georgia and California will both be reviewing this soon.

Rebates -€“ After many complaints about delayed fulfillment as well as those that are just too difficult to receive, new rebate best practices were released this year.

Gift Cards -€“ These are great for retailers, but have received negativity from consumers who don't understand some of the limitation issues. More disclosures are now required with these programs which should help eliminate misunderstandings.

So this is a very, very quick overview of Ron's presentation. I didn't even get a chance to tell you about his Ron Tube video with guest Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch and Al Gore. Ron summarized at the end by asking us what's at the end of the tunnel, around the bend and is the next thing to change our world. He treated us to this new rap song that was created just for this presentation called "Who's In Control?" by Music 145 on the RONRAPS album produced by D&G Records (Davis & Gilbert). You can view it on the dglaw website. Thanks Ron for a great start to Day One. Day Two'€™s opening presentation has a very hard act to follow.

The FTC's Focus on Privacy Could Affect Online Marketing Including Promotions

be heading back to Chicago this week to attend PMA's 29th Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference as a guest blogger. It will be such a timely event with all the discussions taking place recently regarding privacy issues on the Internet and now just last week from Facebook's announcement regarding their new advertising platforms. Everyone will be waiting to hear from Friday's luncheon keynote speaker, Lydia Parnes who is the FTC's Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Under Ms. Parnes direction is the Division of Marketing Practices who's primary mission is to respond to the problems of consumer fraud in the marketplace. One of the rules that this division enforces is the Telemarketing Sales Rule which initiated the Do Not Call list. Recent articles and discussions mention that a similar rule is being proposed which would offer consumers the option to be on a "Do Not Track" list. This would enable consumers to basically opt-out of behavioral ad targeting.

The notion of a "Do Not Track" list becoming real is a clear wake-up call to the online marketing industry that we must address concerns of privacy and fraud or else the regulators will do it for us. It would be a terrible blow to the online marketing industry, who according to projections just reported by eMarketer, online advertising as a share of total ad spend will reach 7.4% this year, more than 10% by 2009, and at least 13.3% by the end of 2011. It totaled $16.4 billion in the United States last year and is expected to reach $36.5 billion by 2011. So obviously an approach like the Do Not Call list would hurt the growth of online advertising spending tremendously.

The FTC received further complaints last week from several advocacy groups after Facebook revealed plans of their new ad platforms. The questions being raised included whether sending ads to consumers based on their online behavior violates people's privacy. And it's not just Facebook they are after. MySpace's expanded targeting, which has an even larger audience of minors, is also under attack.

Collecting data on consumers has been the "Killer Ap" of the Internet for marketers. By consumers giving marketers information on their preferences, it enables marketers to give them back more personalized, relevant information and offers. This is a win-win for both groups and has also been one of the major objectives of interactive promotions, such as sweepstakes, contests and games. So, what's the problem?

All these concerns now fall under the FTC's newly created Division of Privacy and Identity Protection also under Ms. Parnes direction. She made the following remarks when the division was announced back in May, 2006.

"This new division -- which consists of more than 30 staff members with expertise in privacy, data security, and identity theft -- addresses emerging consumer privacy matters through aggressive enforcement, as well as rulemaking, policy development, and outreach to consumers and businesses. To be sure, all eight divisions in our Bureau of Consumer Protection adeptly tackle privacy issues, but they also do other, critical consumer protection work. At DPIP, it is all privacy and security, all the time."

I don't know if Ms. Parnes has added to her staff of 30 since then, but it would certainly seem like they have their work cut out for them now. How they plan to enforce a Do Not Track list policy and how much is it going to cost us all is my big question. So, it will be interesting to hear Ms. Parnes' remarks and what she'll actually be be able to share with us come Friday on these topics. So, stayed tuned and I'll be sure to give you an update here.

A Timeless Promotion That Thanks our Veterans

In honor of Veteran's Day I thought I'd write about this promotion that I was involved with during my agency days. It didn't have an online component, but was a highly interactive promotion nonetheless that started back in 1999 while I was working with Eastman Kodak and the Wal-Mart photo teams.

Wal-Mart wanted an in-store promotion that would help its customers and store associates express their patriotism and pride around Veterans Day. The Wal-Mart photo department was the perfect place to host this in-store promotion and we were asked to propose some ideas to help reach this objective. The Kodak Picture Kiosk was at the time still a fairly new service and Kodak's objective was to get people to try it as a way to make photo enlargements and reprints. 

So we proposed a Veteran's Day promotion in which invited Wal-Mart customers to bring a photo of their favorite veteran into Wal-Mart and make a complimentary sheet of reprints on the KODAK Picture Kiosk. One 5" x 7" reprint would be displayed on the "Wall Of Honor" to celebrate local veterans and the other 5" x 7" print the customers would keep. To add additional value a special photo holder was created which was used to showcase the photos both in-store and to give to the customer.

The promotion highlighted Veteran’s Day and created a sense of patriotism and pride in Wal-Mart shoppers and associates while reinforcing the local “hometown” culture. It was a huge success and store participation was tremendous. Some stores displayed more than 1,000 photos. One year a store built a scale model of the Washington Monument for their photo display. Wal-Mart´s Director of Photo Center operations praised the promotion as "the most successful Veterans Day event of the past years."

The promotion was recognized as a finalist in the 1999 PRO Awards that first year and then in 2002 it won Best of Show in the Account Specific Category. That was of course a year after 9/11 and we were now at war in Iraq. So the promotion was extended to include not only veterans but also current men and women enlisted in the armed forces. Then in 2004 the theme of the promotion was tied into the yellow ribbon which was used as the picture holder.

I am no longer working with the Kodak and Wal-Mart teams, but I understand that this promotion is still going on in some of the stores this year. It's a promotion that is timeless and perhaps Wal-Mart will consider incorporating an online element into the program sometime in the future. I am very proud to have been involved in this promotion for so many years and today being Veteran's Day I would just like to take the time to remember and thank all our veterans as well as our current service men and women.