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

Pixar & Disney's UP Partners with Northwest Airlines on a MySpace Sweeps

Today's Friday and new at the box office this weekend is the much anticipated animated film "UP" from the folks at Pixar and Walt Disney Studios. So let's take a look at who ended up as the prime entertainment marketing partner associated with this family film.

Northwest Airlines WorldVacations teamed up with Disney to create the “Up Adventure of a Lifetime” Sweepstakes. To enter, users have to be registered on MySpace and then list the UP MySpace profile page as one of their top friends on their own profile page. Next they need to add a comment to the UP MySpace profile page. The winner will be chosen randomly and receive a three-night trip for four to any European location serviced by Northwest Airlines. The sweeps is open till June 8.

Besides offering a way to enter the sweepstakes, UP's MySpace page let visitors view trailers of the film and watch short episodes with the movie’s main characters, learn more about the characters, read a plot synopsis, view a gallery of stills, and download wallpapers, posters and buddy icons. The MySpace profile page links to both the movie’s official page and to a dedicated movie page on Yahoo with videos, stills and a countdown widget.

Reviews from both the critics and the viewers are both giving UP an A- so far. So it should have a great weekend at the box office. Walt Disney Pictures also has some surprises for their guests who attend a Disney movie on opening weekend. The Jonas Brothers are scheduled to show up at radom at a few select theatres.

So let me know if any of you go to see the movie this weekend, and if you run into the Jonas Brothers!

Digital Moms Survey Part 2 - Connecting through Social Networks

A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post on Lipsticking which was Part 1 of the "Digital Mom" study conducted by Razorfish and CafeMom. They surveyed 1,500 online moms who are reported users of at least two Web 2.0 technologies and have actively researched or purchased online within the last three months. Part 1 told us about the ways moms are consuming media and the range of emerging technologies they have embraced. Most of the findings fortify what we already know, so it's great to have some third-party findings to back them up.

Today I wrote again on Lipsticking regarding Part 2 of the report which deals mostly with Connecting with Moms through social networks. It includes an overview of the five core segments of socially connected moms that they have profiled that represent a diverse mix of varied life experiences, values and motivations. For this part of the survey a random sample of CafeMom active users were asked to complete an in-depth survey in which these key findings are based on 1,740 members who completed it.

Moms today are spending more time on the Internet and dedicating an increasing share of that online time to social networks than ever before. The majority of moms indicated that their use of the Internet has increased over the last 24 months, and that this increase in web usage has come at the expense of traditional media. Moms reported spending 18.5 hours per week online, including an average of 8.1 hours on the social networking site CafeMom.

Night at the Museum Teams Up with Hershey's & Post for Chances to Win Sleepovers & Cash

Hope everyone is having or had a good Memorial Day Weekend. I meant to continue my Friday blog posts on summer movie promotions but I was a little busy that day. We hosted the before and after party for my daughter's senior ball in which there was a total of 33 kids all going together in a limo bus that they chartered for the evening. Which meant that we ended up with over 100 people on our side lawn for photos! Anyhow, all went well and everyone seemed to have a good time.

So now that it's Monday morning and I've had a chance to get the house back in order I thought I'd visit the computer again and start writing. It appears that Ben Stiller beat Christian Bale in the North American weekend box office duel between their respective "Night at the Museum" and "Terminator" sequels, according to estimates issued on Sunday.

The 20th Century Fox comedy "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" sold $53.5 million worth of tickets during the three days beginning Friday, far exceeding the $30.4 million debut of its 2006 predecessor.

Hershey's is a major sponsor of the film and leveraged this with the launch of several promotions. First is an on-pack, instant-win game titled “Win a Night in the Museum” that will give five winners a night at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum that includes a sleepover in the gallery associated with film, a VIP after-hours tour and $500 in spending money.

Specially-marked packages of the following Hershey’s products are participating in the promotion: Hershey’s Kisses Brand Chocolates, Reese’s Pieces Candy, Whopper Malted Milk Balls, Good & Plenty Candy, Milk Duds Candy, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures, Hershey‘® Miniatures and 8-packs of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat Wafer Bars and Almond Joy Candy Bars.

Hershey's also has an online promotional component that consists of the Unleash the Loot Sweepstakes.  Visitors can experience a fun and interactive way to "explore the museum" and enter the sweeps for a chance to win cash prizes which include a grand prize of $50,000 or one of 10 first prizes of $1,000 Visa Gift Cards. The sweeps runs through Oct. 31.

Hershey's also had been running a national TV commercial for their Hershey’s Kisses where the candy appears in a museum setting and movie characters Rexi the Dinosaur and Dum Dum the Easter Island Head eat them up.

Post Cereals also teamed up with 20th Century Fox to promote the film with an online instant win game, Win A Smithsonian Sleepover. One Grand Prize winner wins a four-day trip for six to Washington, D.C. with a one night sleepover at the Smithsonian museum, private screenings at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Imax Theater, guided tours of Washington, D.C. and at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and $1,700 in spending money.

Other prizes include 300 first prizes of $100 Museum Cash™ Card to spend at any museum or any merchant that accepts any major credit or debit card and 1,000 second prizes of glow-in-the-dark tee shirts. The promotion runs till June 30. There is also a Wonder Widget available for download on the promotional website.

Anyhow reviews seem to be mixed on this fim with critics giving it mostly a C, but users a more favorable B+ commenting that it is entertaining. It's a sequel and it's Ben Stiller, so you can't take it too seriously, just have some fun.

New American Idol Chris Allen Singing Falling Slowly

American Idol Finale. Did Google & Twitter Get It Right?

Well I'm doing what many others are tonight, watching the season finale of American Idol. I have been hooked on this show and last year I wrote this post the day after David Cook won the title. This season has been very entertaining with many talented contestants as well as a new addition to the judging panel.

Digression to my train on thought...Carlos Santana is playing his guitar magic with the various contestants providing the vocals. How cool! No one has that unique style like he does.

Well earlier this week it was reported that Simon Cowel told Oprah Winfrey on Monday's episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show that his money is on Lambert because the contestant is fearless, unique and "he's got swagger."

Another article appeared earlier today on Mashable that predicted that Adam Lambert with be this year's champ. By looking at Google search trends – volume, demographic and geographic – from March through May for the top three finalists of prior seasons they were able to spot patterns in the data that seem to predict the eventual winner of American Idol Season 8. It wasn't as simple as looking at who has the most search volume, they also looked at past seasons to see the trends.

So can search engines now predict the future? Will Adam Lambert be the next Idol champion? One thing that is really new from last year is that by looking at search trends we can reveal a lot about what people are interested in right now.Twitter is also a great tool for predictions. You can see the search volume for both Adam and Chis on Twitter Trends. In fact Twitter co-founder Biz Stone came right out and said here that he doesn't see advertising as their business model but instead selling "light analytics" to companies, maybe doing revenue-sharing with mobile phone companies so we can Twitter our way, using our mobile devices, to distraction.

Mashable went on to say that for marketers, this type of data can be viewed as “votes,” helping to gauge the impact of their marketing and product positioning efforts, as well as providing insights into where they currently sit in the competitive landscape. Looking at search trends might not equate to looking into a crystal ball – but it can be a powerful resource for brands who want to keep their finger on the pulse of emerging trends online.

Okay, now for the final votes. They set a record with over 100 million votes. And the winner is......Chris Allen!!!!!

What? How can that be? Even Chris seemed extremely surprised and confused. Oh well, looks like we need to go back and review our search data. Either way, both Chris and Adam will both do extremely well I'm sure. Google and Twitter will also. So let me know what you think of these results. How surprised were you?

Will Twitter Change Marketing? Some Local Businesses Think So After Their Successful Twitter Promotions

There has been so much talk about Twitter lately that there isn't a day that goes by were you don't read someone's point of view about the micro-blogging site. Today there was quite a few articles that I tweeted about so I thought I share them with you here.

First there was this commentary on Media Post's Online Media Daily blog written by Will Akerlof who's president of Liquid Advertising Inc., a marketing agency based in Venice, California. Will doesn't seem to think that Twitter will really change marketing and he started off his post with the following "A couple of years from now, we'll look at Twitter as another online flash in the pan that the press and digerati got all excited about until they found the next new thing." Hmmm...he thinks we'll soon be embarrassed to be tweeting right now since all of us internet marketing folks are really just talking to each other.

Another point that Will makes is that Twitter is not particularly young or hip. In the March 2009 Nielsen Netview, Twitter has an index of 40 against the demographic of kids 12-17, and below-average index against full-time students. The highest indexing demographic group on Twitter is Males 35-49 (167). Well Twitter is still fairly new and if you read my post on the Digital Moms Survey that I wrote last week it shows just how powerful social media is with women who are the major purchasers online. What influences them the most? Product recommendations made on social networks and from bloggers. Now most bloggers today are not teens or full-time students. They may have started out being predominately male but now have shifted to include many women with "mommy bloggers" being a major force.

So you can read Will's post which he goes on to make other points to help reinforce his case that Twitter is mainly just a fad along with the many comments from those adding their perspectives. So yes, I do agree with Will in a way. Twitter will not change marketing. I still believe in the basic principals that apply to marketing and it's the way you use the social media tools that we have at our disposal today that can help marketers succeed or fail.

Verizon Promotes Nokia Phone with a Star Trek Augmented Reality App

TGI Friday, so let's talk about a movie and a brand that's got a cool entertainment marketing promotion to go with it.

Paramount Pictures's Star Trek movie opened up last week to a huge draw which dominated the box office taking in over $79.2 million during it's opening weekend in North America, the biggest opening for a Star Trek movie to date. Seems like we have a whole new generation of Trekkies out there now.

Verizon Wireless has launched a campaign themed around the Star Trek movie to promote the Nokia Intrigue 7205 phone and V-CAST. They partnered up with Total Immersion to develop an augmented reality app which can be found at joinstarfleetacademy.com/discover. The goal is to drive "Star Trek" fans to this site and blend physical with digital worlds. Fans download the app from the site, print out a jpg file and hold it up to a Web camera to see on the computer screen a teleport effect that turns into a Nokia Intrigue 7205. The phone opens and closes before it disappears.

"I'm holding this piece of paper that projects a triangle on the screen in front me that starts to spin in my hand as I move," said Shawn Moore, VP, Group Creative Director, Moxie Interactive who manages the brand for Verizon Wireless. "By spinning the triangle, I can look at different content on each side." But you have to have a web cam for this to work.

Digital Moms Survey Reveals How Much We Engage Online and How Marketers Should Take Note

Another Wednesday guest blogging over at Lipsticking.com. Here's today's post:

According to Nielsen NetRatings, there are 32 million women in the U.S. who have children under 18 and go online, which translates to about 40% of all women online in the U.S. today. Since moms are typically the key influencers and purchasers for both themselves and their families this group of women is so critically important to most marketers and the brands they represent. So how have these moms changed with the way they utilize today's media and what is the role of digital technology in their lives?

 "Digital Mom", a two-part study conducted by Razorfish and CafeMom, surveyed 1,500 online moms who are reported users of at least two Web 2.0 technologies and have actively researched or purchased online in the last three months, to try and answer this questions and a few others. What they found is by far nothing that we "digital moms" don't already know, but it is interesting to read that we're not alone. Since this blog is focused on marketing to women online it seems appropriate to report on this survey's findings.

Yes, us moms today are the ultimate multitaskers and we're utilizing online and emerging technologies more than ever before because they help to make it all easier. According to they survey, more of us today are interacting with social networks (65%), SMS (56%), instant messaging (55%) and gaming (52%). These join email (94%), search engines (74%) and news sites (51%) as major parts of our digital lives.

Happy Belated Mother's Day - Post Holiday Insights

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I did actually take the day off and I was away from my computer for most of it. I checked in on Facebook though in order to wish my friends and family members there a happy Mother's Day. I did not get to spend it with my mom unfortunately, but I did spend it with my two daughters, my mother-in-law and my husband and we had a very nice day.

So I still wanted to wish all my readers that are moms a Happy Mother's Day. I hope you enjoyed the day. As I mentioned, I had both my two daughters home with me which was the best present I could ask for since we just brought my older daughter home from college the day before. She finished her first year of college at NYU and is now part of the household again for a few months. I did receive some gifts such as three hanging flower baskets for the patio from my husband, who also cooked us another fabulous meal, and the girls gave me a digital picture frame which is really cool since I've been wanting one for awhile for my office.

Now according to a release from industry research firm IBISWorld, many moms missed out this year since gift giving was down an estimated 14.7%. The recession apparently has impacted Mother's Day as consumers scaled back purchases to $12.9 billion. They reported that those who did make purchases were staying away from department stores and specialty retailers and instead shopping in discount outlets. Their data also showed a strong trend of shoppers downgrading their gift purchases to smaller, lower-priced merchandise and services and choosing to make a home-cooked meal for mom, like at our home, rather than go out to a restaurant. This chart shows the  percentage by category for this years gift spending.

Sortprice.com, a fast-growing shopping search engine, reported higher traffic and user visits compared to this time last year, indicating that more consumers were utilizing the internet to find Mother's Day deals. They included a full list of gift ideas on their site here. Sortprice compiled data on traffic and user searches between April 27 and May 4 which the following data on the most popular categories and products is based on:

• Flowers - Mother's Day
• Women's Fragrances - Daisy by MarcJacobs
• Digital Picture Frames
• MP3 Players - iPod Touch
• KitchenAid Mixers
• Hugs for Mom Gift Set
• Vacumm Cleaners - Hoover Platinum
• Chocolates - Godiva Chocolates
• Women's Sleepwear - Bath Robe -
• Women's Handbags - Prada Handbags

Since flowers are the biggest selling gift item for Mother's Day I just wanted to mention this fun, interactive promotional website that Telefora created for the holiday. Their  Mother's Day Gift Guide includes different "Mom Types" such as the Super Mom, Classic Mom, Stylish Mom, Gourmet Mom, Modern Mom, Down-to-Earth-Mom and even Grandmother. Each type has a collection of different gifts associated with it.  

Teleflora also maintained a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, and its website linked to this flower blog. They offered bloggers a special promotion that enabled them to give away a mother's day bouquet to their readers, providing they gave Teleflora credit in their blog. They also have this sweepstakes going on now that anyone who makes a comment on the blog will automatically be entered for a chance to win a bouquet of flowers.

Lasting, my blogging buddy, Yvonne DiVita, included this in her Mother's Day post on Lipsticking which I utilized to send to both my sister and my mother-in-law and wanted to share here as well. It's very cute and a clever use of viral marketing to help celebrate the holiday and you can still send it today. "Visit this link and have your Mom recognized on TV! Thanks go to Moms Rising for that one".

Happy Mother's Day!

DMB Promotes New Studio Album with a Facebook Listenting Party Contest

I'm sitting here watching American Idol as I'm writing this post. I missed last night's show and tonight is when they will reveal the top three for this season and send someone home. We've always been a family that really enjoys music. I've been pretty proud of the fact that we raised our two daughters exposing them to good music. It's great to be able to say that we all enjoy listening to some of the same artists with The Beatles being our all time favorite band and the Dave Mathews Band one of our favorites during their lifetime.

My husband and I took both our daughters with us to their first concert to see DMB perform. It was at a summer outdoor concert on the lawn at Darien Lake which is a theme park with a performing arts amphitheater that's right off the New York State Thruway between Rochester and Buffalo. Our daughters were both pretty young then, but old enough to appreciate the experience and to be actually familiar with the music. They were however wondering "what's that funny smell?".

My oldest daughter Kelsey is just finishing up her first year at NYU and was lucky to attend the DMB concert a few weeks ago in New Jersey which was the band's second performance after kicking off their new tour at Madison Square Garden the night before, April 14th. She was still singing Satellite the next day and amazed at how great a band they are.

Now after a long break from the studio the band traveled down to New Orleans to complete work on their much anticipated new studio album, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King, which is slated to be released on June 2. They have put together a great promotional campaign utilizing social media to launch the album and since I'm a "fan", I have been receiving regular email message regarding the promotion which is called:

DMB BIG WHISKEY AND THE GROOGRUX KING ADVANCE LISTENING PARTY CONTEST - Party With the King For a chance to win the GrooGrux Grand Prize'!

Fans are invited to host a listening party and create a Facebook Event page scheduled for Memorial Day weekend and invite all their friends. Be one of the hosts of the 100 event pages with the most attendees and they win a personalized advance watermarked copy of the new album to use for the listening party. Hosts must submit an entry form on the Advance Listening Party Contest Page by the May 12th deadline.

Hosts are encouraged to promote their listening party by:

• Posting notes to their Facebook profile with the Event link
• Post photos and comments on the Event page
• Tweet the Event link on Twitter
• E-mail and AIM friends

The host of the best listening party will win a trip to meet Dave Matthews and see DMB perform live from the front row at Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, FL on Saturday, August 15th!

To enter this stage of the contest hosts must post a video to their Facebook Event Page after their party. Videos will be judged by a combination of:

• The number of guests at the party
• Degree to which the album thematic elements are incorporated (artwork, songs, New Orleans, etc.)
• The degree to which music is creatively presented

I'm going to try and talk my daughter into entering the contest. I figure she'd have more luck getting a good number of guests to attend them I would. So we'll see. DMB will be on tour till the beginning of October. They are one of the best bands to see live. The album is available for pre-order and comes with a bunch of different packages that include some extra tracks and other promotional merchandise as well. I'll be one of the many listening to the album on June 2nd!

BTW - Allison just was sent home from American Idol. Looks like my eariler predication of the top three was a little off. We're now down to three guys, Danny's in instead of Allison. Well at this point it's Adam's to loose! He did perform an amazing rendition of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love!