Donna's Promo Talk

PROMO 100 2008 Agency of the Year - Digitas

As is tradition, PROMO Magazine reveals it's PROMO 100 annual list of the top promotional agencies every June 1st which this year happened to be a Sunday, so the announcement was made on Monday, the 2nd instead. Last year they started a new tradition by holding a live webinar to announce the top 10 agencies along with the Agency of the Year. This year they again had a live webinar which was on Monday morning and presented by Patty Odell, Executive Editor of PROMO. However, I was not able to log-in for what ever reason that day, but it appears to be working fine now. If you want to see the presentation you can do so here.

PROMO changed up the model in which they selected their top agencies. As in the past there were three different factors which made up the rankings; two-year growth, creative and revenue. This year they went strictly with total revenue which I find odd and a bit disappointing.  So it's no surprise who really ends up in the top 10 anymore.  PROMO concluded that editors aren't creative directors, so their creative judgment was not fair.

This year's agency of the year went to DIGITAS, chosen mostly for it's work in interactive marketing. "€œIt has been a fabulous year for us," says Laura Lang, CEO of DIGITAS, USA who is featured here in this image. "I tell everyone that I couldn'€™t have imagined a better outcome."€

DIGITAS was purchased last year by advertising giant Publicis for $1.3 billion which added interactive talent to their mix as well as accounts such as American Express, General Motors and IBM. Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis announced in late April that digital revenue was the strongest growth element in the company's Q1 2008 financial picture and he expects digital sales to make up 20% of his company's total revenue by the end of the year.

DIGITAS' promotions VP, Jackie Stone, highlighted the Buick Tee Off with Tiger online campaign their running this year. Entrants are asked to predict Tiger Woods' score on each hole of each round of each tournament of the 2008 PGA Tour in which he participates through the end of September. At the end of each tournament, the registered participants with the top ten scores will be considered finalists and will each receive one entry into the grand prize drawing for a chance to win a round of golf with Woods as the caddy. Each finalist will also win their choice of Tiger's actual Buick vehicle from that tournament or a new 2008 Buick vehicle up to $48,000 retail value.

There is also an instant win game that is giving away 20 gift certificates per tournament worth $25 each at either Nike Golf or PGA TOUR Superstore.com. "€œThese golfers are fascinated with how the game is played," Lang says. "€œSo the conversation around the promotion is how Tiger'€™s playing each hole, what club he's using and what strategy. We had insight into the consumer, and then we acted to bring that to life with a campaign that starts a broader conversation inside the group."€

The next stop on the PGA Tour that Tiger will be playing is the U.S. Open Championship being held June 12 -15 in La Jolla, California at Torrey Pines Golf Course. So, join in and see how well you predict how Tiger will do.

Another interactive promotional campaign launched by DIGITAS in the last year included the American Express Members Project, which asked cardholders to suggest worthy social projects. It pledged a $1 donation for every member who voted for the idea (to a $5 million limit).

So congratulations to the team at DIGITAS for being the first Interactive Agency to be awarded this coveted title. Last year it went to Ryan Partnership, one of the few independent agencies in the top 100. Here's links to the posts I wrote last year about them and the promotions they ran for Dove, Heineken and Campbell's.

Insights on Interactive Promotions from ePrize CEO

The post I wrote earlier this week entitled "Interactive Promotions Together with Blogs Create a Winning Combination" speaks about the amazing growth we've witness over the past year in both interactive promotions and the blogosphere. My post goes on to say that perhaps in 2008 we'll start to see more social media vehicles, especially blogs, integrating with interactive promotions. Personally I'm excited about this since these are two areas that are specialties of mine.

One way to measure the growth of interactive promotions is to look at how well the interactive agencies are doing. Since marketers are being pressed more then ever to justify ROI for their advertising spend they are turning to online and interactive marketing strategies which can provide definitive results.

Last week ePrize, the industry leader, announced their 2007 sales results in which they saw a 38-percent growth in net sales to $49.6 million. On top of that they added 174 new clients and launched 1,366 promotions nationwide last year, nearly 70-percent more promotions than they launched in 2006. Just prior to releasing their sales numbers ePrize announced their ToyBox™ 2.0 Software-as-a-Service offering.

With these two recent announcements back to back I was able to obtain a briefing with ePrize founder and CEO Josh Linkner. I asked Josh a few questions about the industry and where his company is going which I'm happy to be able to share with you here.

Donna: Since ePrize's sales last year resulted in a 38% growth for the company, what’s going to drive your growth this year and what do you see as some of the biggest trends going forward into 2008?

Josh: 2008 will be another record year for ePrize. We see our innovation as the dictator of all trends in the interactive promotion industry. Our ToyBox™ 2.0 software-as-a-service offering will be a significant revenue generator for ePrize. We refuse to rest on our laurels and will continue to pursue new technological breakthroughs to keep ahead of trends. 

Donna: Are clients asking for more user-generated contests, interactive instant win games, traditional online sweepstakes, or something new?

Josh: We have found clients are not all asking for one thing. That’s one of the reasons we developed ToyBox 2.0. We know through experience that different types of interactive promotions deliver different results. For example, if a client is looking to increase site visits, we’ve found advergames results in the most frequency. ToyBox 2.0 is that virtual “toy box” that allows marketers to find the perfect solution for the specific marketing objective.

Donna: Can you elaborate a little more on what you mean by referring to ToyBox 2.0 as the “Intel Inside"?

Josh:  ToyBox 2.0 has been designed and positioned for use and re-selling to third-parties as the paramount software-as-a-service of interactive promotions. No one else can offer a service like this and we plan to maintain our position on the leading edge of innovation and further increase this margin by consistently producing first-class advancements to make ToyBox 2.0 the premium interactive promotion software. Our technology was developed based on knowledge gained by creating more than 4,000 interactive promotions. We’ve found a way to channel those best practices into this proven software.  Like Intel Inside defined the important role of the microprocessor for consumers, ToyBox 2.0 defines the importance of the technology on the back end of promotions that ensure a smooth promotion flow, secure data capturing and no downtime for marketers. 

Donna: Will ToyBox 2.0 include different modules to choose from such as a sweepstakes, a UGC contest and an instant-win game component?

Josh: Yes, all of the above. We expect incremental updates including more sophisticated technology for highly targeted campaigns to address client interests and needs. We will provide these upgrades, including new products, features and services every 90 days.

Donna: How much growth does ePrize expect to see integrating SMS into the mix as a method of entry?

Josh: More than half of our clients have expressed some level of interest in SMS and mobile promotions, but we’re finding that less than 10 percent actually execute and invest in these types of promotional campaigns. Beyond simple SMS, mobile promotions will grow when the consumer adoption of the technology required to support it hits a critical mass. 

Donna: Lastly, How’s Caffeine doing and what plans do you have going forward for this service? (You can read more information about Caffeine in this post that I wrote back on April 1st of last year shortly after it launched.)

Josh: Caffeine has been highly successful. We’re now broadening our range with this tool and working with Dell and a major financial institution to offer Caffeine to their small business customers.

Thanks Josh for your input and for sharing your thoughts and insights with us. We'll be looking forward to seeing some of the new promotions that will be built on the Toy Box 2.0 software platform as well as how this new business model is accepted within the industry. I'm very interested to learn more myself as a prospective third party reseller. Keep the innovations coming.

I'll be Blogging at PROMOLIVE! in Chicago

PROMO Magazine is again holding it's annual promotional marketing conference which has been at the Navy Pier in Chicago since I can remember. This year it's taking place a little earlier than normal, September 17-19th, and it's been named PROMOLive!, the Promotional Marketing Event for Brand and Agency Marketers.

I'm having a hard time remembering the first PROMO event that I attended (which tends to happen more and more after you hit a certain age) but I can tell you that it was when the magazine was still owned by a small, private publishing company and run like a family business. The industry has certainly changed since then. Over the years I've attended as an attendee, an exhibitor, a speaker, a workshop participant and some years all of the above. This year however I'm very excited since I'll be attending as a blogger covering the event here on Donna's Promo Talk along with of course the editors from PROMO Magazine reporting via PROMO Xtra.

Ideas Take Center Stage for this year's event which promises new ideas for both brand and agency marketers to attract and engage their audiences. The Center Stage Forums will kick off in the mornings of each conference day with "PROMO Aloud: The Innovation Interviews" on Day 1 hosted by Daniel Levine, executive Director of Avant-Guide and with "Powering Up Your Creative" on Day 2 from Jim McCafferty, President & CEO of JMP Creative. I'll be writing more about these two guys and their companies over the next couple of weeks leading up to the event.

Each afternoon will feature a SPOTLIGHT Session focusing on trends. Day 1 Spotlight is PROMO's Annual Industry Trends Results which the editorial team will review the findings from PROMO's annual report which will be a first at this event. Day 2 Spotlight is on Virtual Worlds where Brent Arslaner from Unisfair, a leading virtual event solution provider, will discuss this growing marketing trend.

In between these sessions are break-outs to choose from with marketing subjects including: Ideation: Experiential; Social Media; Guerilla; Sponsorship; Loyalty; Interactive; Measurement & Metrics; At Retail. There is an area to meet with exhibitors called "The Hub" where you can also review case study demos from a selection to choose from. The Hub also serves as the networking/mingling/schmoozing/eating/drinking spot.

And of course an event like this wouldn't be complete without giving out some awards...PROMO's PRO Awards 2007 will be awarded on the evening of September 18th at a party in the Grand Ballroom that includes food, drinks, music and the awards presentation. All the finalists will be presented and the winners announced for each of the 22 categories. Two new categories have been added this year which are; Best Use of Consumer-Generated-Content and Best Use of Targeted Direct Mail or eMail. All the finalists will also be showcased in "The Hub" area to view anytime during the event.

Now what's new this year is a special mircosite that's been built called ThePromoEvent.com. On this site you can not only review the detailed schedule and registration information, but also read about all the speakers and their bios and have the opportunity to send them a message. Plus they've created a PROMOLive 2007 Blog which the speakers have been given access to post. There's currently a post by Daniel Levine from an interview with Michael Stipe, frontman for the band R.E.M., one of my all-time favorites. The developers of the Microsite are still in the process of getting me set up to have access so that I can post to this blog as well and they've also promised to include a link to Donna's Promo Talk. So, I'll keep you informed as we move forward.

I'm not only looking forward to covering all these great topics at the event, but I'm also  excited about reconnecting with many people in the industry that I've know over the years as well as hopefully meeting many new people. So if you are planning to attend, please let me know and I'd love to meet up with you sometime over the course of the event.  And, if you can't make it let me know what topic or session you are specifically interested in and I'll try and cover it. Between now and then I plan on trying to connect with some of the speakers in order to give you a little more perspective on who they are and their backgrounds. So, please plan on visiting  back to my blog often, or better yet, subscribe so you don't miss out. 

PROMO 100: Henieken Light's Promotional Launch is Irresistible

Part of Promo Magazine naming Ryan Partnership the PROMO 100 Agency of the Year was the promotional campaign they created in launching  Heineken's Premium Light brand last year. At the time Ryan didn't have their own experiential marketing staff, so they originally hired an outside firm to help them do on-premise sampling and launch parties. This wasn't very efficient so it lead to Ryan forming it's own experiential marketing agency, Stage. They convinced Heineken USA that this new agency could handle the account by turning their conference room into a bar serving up what else, but Heineken Light to the clients.

The launch also consisted of giving the brand it's own highly interactive consumer website, HeinekenLight.com. This site nows plays off the new tagline introduced earlier this year "Irresistible" where visitors are first greeted by a very refreshing bottle of beer. They can learn about the brewing process and the brand's history. They can experience the beer by playing the "Taste the Difference" interactive game where they have to focus on the details of two very similar photos. They can download something irresistible such as kaladiscope screensavers and images of the unique bottle design. There are also Heineken light interactive invitations that they can use to "invite some friends over". Plus they can see the national advertising campaign and find out where the next events will be held.

To tie in with the current campaign, Ryan created Mission Irresistible, which included sexy women in trench coats and fedoras handing out samples of Heineken Light. The women took photos and collected e-mail addresses of the tasters then e-mailed the pictures along with a link back to the website to those who opted in.

Heineken ran this TV ad which includes the music by the Pussy Cat Dolls which I found on YouTube and included it here. Their latest ad featured on their website is set to the song "Beautiful", sung by Snoop Dogg and Pharell Williams. The most recent ad was created by Berlin Cameron United after an agency review. "What we've been trying to do strategically is introduce the market to the glamorous side of beer" said client brand manager Andy Glaser. "Building off our Dontcha spot we've tapped into a contemporary branding ethos. People want great product, great design and great taste".

I got the privilege to work on two Heineken promotions this past year that were both associated with two of their corporate sponsorships in which I managed the sweepstakes fulfillment portion. I'll save this and follow up with more about these sweepstakes promotions in one of my posts for next week. For now I just wanted to congratulate Ryan Partnership again for their great work and in being named "Agency of the Year".

PMA Conference Update - Howard Draft on how the Draft FCB Agency Model is Changing

Well we arrived back home over the weekend after our family trip to Myrtle Beach to be blessed by the arrival of a Nor'easter pounding the coast. It's brought us very wet and icy snow to Western New York this morning. Gotta love Spring Time. Well, at least we arrived home safely before the bad weather hit. Can't say the same for many people stranded in airports today.

I've been catching up on my reading since back and there is quite a bit of chatter going on regarding Google's announcement on Friday to acquire Double/Click. An article on MediaPost by Laurie Peterson quotes Jordan Rohan, Internet analyst and managing director at RBC Capital Markets: "Search and display on the Internet are converging. The evidence is everywhere. The lines between search and display are faint today and will be gone tomorrow." I thought this was a great lead in to the post I started to write on the way home in the car in which I pulled from notes I had taken at the PMA's Annual Conference that I attended a few weeks ago in Chicago.

Howard Draft, Chairman and CEO of Draft FCB, started the second day of the conference with a discussion entitled "How Integrated Agency Structure is Changing Everything". Howard started off saying "we must kill the word integration as well as all the lines in today's agencies". Tom O'Keefe, Chief Creative Officer for Draft FCB Chicago Office joined Howard on stage and added that "the answer" is focusing on what you have to say and who to say it to. The more focused and precise we are, the better the creative."

As with many of Double Click's clients who will be very apprehensive about Google taking over, so were many of Draft's clients when they merged with FCB. They had taken a direct marketing agency and merged it with a traditional agency. Howard said he had to personally visit the top 25 accounts of both agencies and assure them that they will now have an agency that's best for their business, not an agency that specializes in one function or another. Clients are not organized by the specialty model, so why should they work with agencies this way.

So Draft FCB has been working on changing the model. They bring in the right creative people at the right time and have team members that have specialties. They're building rooms in their office were the five people on the team will work on the account, not just the account person. They have brought the media planning function back into the agency.

Howard continued to say "the world of marketing going forward has no lines and agencies have to have no lines. The world changes too quickly, it's now global, it's flat, so we have to destroy the lines and not create silo's. The Draft FCB University is working on creating holistic people who now need to know all categories and also work with specialists".

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt said when announcing the deal on Friday with Double Click "Users will benefit by seeing more targeted and relevant ads; online publishers will get access to more advertisers to monetize inventory; and agencies and advertisers will get a new way to manage search and display ads in one place, with a common set of metrics."

So, it's really coming together quicker than even Howard Draft probably thought when he made his comments at the conference. But as he summed it up "we have to get it right, or else what's the value that we bring to our client's business. We have to constantly change our business model in order to keep up. It all comes back to the work...change to make it better." I'm sure the teams at Draft FCB we'll be discussing this week how they need to now change it even more to keep up with Google.