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

Atlas Shrugged Video Contest Winners to be announced Live on "Stossel"

The Atlas Shrugged Video Contest was one of the most interesting promotions that I had the opportunity to be involved with during 2010. For those that aren't familiar with Atlas Shrugged, it is a novel written by Ayn Rand that was first published over 50 years ago in 1957. It was on many high school reading lists back then and the book has been gaining popularity again, now with a whole new generation.

The Ayan Rand Institute (ARI) sponsored the contest as a way to help promote the new website they launched for the novel and to create awareness of the story and encourage new readers. I started discussions with one of ARI's agencies, Emerge Partners, who I had worked with earlier on a promotion for Microsoft's 2010 Office launch. The Microsoft promotion was the first that we did on Facebook, so they came to me for guidance with this promotion as well. 

At first ARI said they were interested in running the contest on YouTube. Instead I recommended to the team at Emerge that we use the Wildfire White Label application which enables videos to be posted utilizing both Facebook and YouTube accounts. I have not yet done a YouTube specific contest and it appears you have to have really big pockets and a really big brand name for anyone there to even answer your inquiries. I've tried several times with no success.

This user-generated contest launched on October 1 and submissions were taken up until December 8th. ARI invited people to submit a video 3 minutes or less that described how Ayn Rand’s epic story relates to current issues in today's society or in their own life. The novel's title is a reference to Atlas, a titan in Greek mythology. Atlas carried the weight of the heavens on his shoulders and in the novel, the thinkers, the innovators, and the doers of the world must carry the weight of a world gone wrong.

One of my roles was to manage the submission process. So I reviewed each entry that was submitted and either qualified it so that it could be viewed on the contest site or disqualified it. There were some that obviously were existing videos that someone wanted to promote that had nothing to do with the novel. A few others went over the maximum length or had some clear copyright issues. However, I was amazed at how many really creative and high-quality videos were submitted. It was clear that participants read the book and then created a video that expressed their views and opinions. You have to take a look at some of them here.

I also had helped the participants that had trouble uploading their video. As with any program, no matter how simple you think the directions are, they can be misunderstood or not clear to some. I developed a reply email that contained additional upload details that I sent to some and then continued the dialog with others one-on-one. I write this because if you are thinking of running a contest, especially a video contest, you need to have someone in this type of role.

I wasn't sure how many videos to expect because ARI is not the type of organization that promotes itself much. They did have it on the Atlas Shrugged Facebook page and there was a link to the contest off of the home page of the Atlas Shrugged website. We received about 125 videos which I was very pleased with this result. Remember, you had to read the book, create a script and shoot the video specifically to meet the contest criteria. So quantity wasn't the goal, but quality and engagement where.

The good news was that ARI was contacted by John Stossel who offered to announce the winners on his show. ARI agreed and the viewer's choice, runner-up, and grand prize winners will be announced exclusively on "Stossel" on the Fox Business Network, January 13 at 9 p.m. and 12 midnight (ET). Apparently all the winners are being flown to the show to appear in person.

So I invite you to view the videos, watch the Stossel Show and read the book. I'll be following up with news on who the final winners are here.

Jeffrey Hayzlett utilizes social media to create buzz for his new book, The Mirror Test...Is Your Business Really Breathing?

Here's a copy of the post I did today that first appeared on the Lip-sticking Blog from my interview with Jeffrey Hayzlett:

Being from Rochester, NY, I have worked with Eastman Kodak over the years and know many people who have and still work there. The company has been going through a huge transformation as the world has moved on to digital. We all in Rochester are very familiar with the company's challenges to become a digital company and have seen what it has done to our community.

Jeffrey Hayzlett has been Kodak's Chief Marketing Officer for the past several years and has become somewhat of a celebrity. He has embraced social media for the company and has been a regular speaker at many marketing and social media conferences. He even has appeared besides Donald Trump on the Apprentice. I first wrote about Jeff in this blog post almost an exact year ago when he spoke at a Rochester Ad Council luncheon on the subject of social media. If you read this post you'll get a good sense of Jeff's personality.

Jeff just recently published his first book, The Mirror Test...Is Your business Really Breathing? It hit the bookstore shelves on May 5th. He had a book signing at the Barnes and Noble here in Pittsford that Friday which I couldn't attend, so instead I asked for an interview, which he happily granted. But before I could interview him he announced on May 14th that he was leaving Kodak and his last official day is this Friday, May 28th.

So I picked up my copy of The Mirror Test at the Barnes & Noble and read it on the way down and back from our trip to New York City that we took to pick up our daughter from NYU. Yes, my husband was driving, not me.

In the book Jeff encourages all business professionals, especially small business owners and entrepreneurs, to take the mirror test and ask yourself...Is your business still alive and breathing? Does it fog the mirror? If your company is not growing, then it's dying. Here's some of what Jeff and I spoke about.

Hungry Girl's Book Promotion is so Simple It's Ingenious!

I was the guest blogger over at Lipsticking.com again today. Here's my post:

There are many of us women just like me that have struggled with weight issues our whole lives. Up and down I've gone like a seesaw depending on what my priorities were for that year. Right now my short term priority is trying to shake off a couple of pounds from those robin eggs, white chocolate bunny and a weekend of constant food.

Last year I finally joined Weight Watchers for the first time in my life and I've now reached my goal of a "Healthy Weight". I'm just two weigh-ins away from becoming a lifetime member which means I've maintained this weight for six weeks. Weight Watchers has taught me how to think differently about everything that I put in my mouth and how to live happily doing this. Now don't get me wrong. I love food (and wine). My husband's a great cook and we eat very well. Just a bit differently now.

But this is not a plug for Weight Watchers. It is however one for Hungry Girl. A women in my WW group turned me on to Hungry Girl by forwarding me one of their daily emails. I signed up after the first reading and I now get my daily dose of Hungry Girl's "Tips and Tricks for Hungry Chicks" delivered right to my inbox which include recipes, food substitution suggestions and all around support. They are constantly giving me ideas on how I can maintain a lifestyle that consists of a healthy diet and fewer calories whether we cook a meal at home, buy some prepared foods from our local grocer or go out to eat at a restaurant. A recent study has again confirmed the fact that no matter what diet you choose, it all comes down to burning more calories that you take in.

Today is a big day for Hungry Girl because they are launching their new book "200 Recipes Under 200 Calories". Yes that's under 200 Calories! They've been telling us about this new book now for the past month and it finally arrives in bookstores today. What I found truly unique is a very simple promotion that they've developed to stimulate sales and awareness of their book. Any author (and I know we have a few of them that read this blog) please take note. 

They're giving away "DOZENS and DOZENS of cool prizes" to get all the Hungry Girls excited. All they're asking their readers to do is email a photo of themselves holding the book at a local store. They will also accept just an email message for those that possibly don't have a camera or camera phone that describes their store visit or something related to getting the word out about the book. They're going to randomly select people who email in and award the prizes which will be five a day for the first week. The book can be found at these participating retailers which include Barnes & Noble, Borders, Target, Walmart, Amazon and others.

I do have Hungry Girl's first book and I love it. It even gives you low-cal cocktail recipes for "Girls Bite Out"! So I'm sure to grab their new book as well. As I said, my husband's the cook in our house. So if I put a new recipe in front of him and buy the ingredients he's usually always willing to give it a try.

Hungry Girl claims not to be a nutritionist. She's just "Hungry", like the rest of us. You can meet Hungry Girl's Lisa who started her book tour yesterday. She'ss at a Barnes & Nobel in Long Island today and end up in San Diego on June 3rd.  So please take my word and check her out!

Winner of Samsung and NFL "That's How I See It" Stories To Become a Super Bowl Commercial

As I'm writing this post I'm watching Game 2 of the NFL Playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers are the favorite to win, but so were the Eagles who lost to the Cardinals earlier today. So the Arizona Cardinals are headed to Super Bowl XLIII to play against the winner of this AFC Championship Game.

Super Bowl XLIII will take place two weeks from today on February 1 in Tampa Bay. If the Steelers don't win this game the predictions are that there will be little interest in who actually wins the Super Bowl since the Steelers are the only team left in the running that has a big national fan base. So, we'll soon see.

Besides the ad from Dorito's Crash the Super Bowl Video Contest that we will see during the Super Bowl which I just wrote about in this post. We will also see another consumer-generated commercial that will air during the Pregame Show on NBC that's a fan's story from Samsung's "The NFL. That's How I See It" promotion.

For eight weekends, Samsung, the Official HDTV of the NFL, and NFL Films toured various NFL markets stopping at Best Buy retail locations and NFL stadiums across the US to capture stories of how fans see the game. Hundreds of fans shared their stories such as a New York Jets fan who had his wife sign a contract before marriage allowing him to catch every home game; a superstitious Washington Redskins fan who can't be bothered during games; a New York Giants fan who won over his future brother-in-law with tickets to a game; and a faithful San Francisco 49ers fan who calls the game following September 11, 2001 the most memorable she's ever seen.

There have been two rounds of voting. The first round of 24 videos was posted on nfl.com/howiseeit from November 20 to December 3. Then the second group of 24 was posted December 4 to December 17. 275,000 votes were cast and the final nine videos that included one wildcard were announced on December 18. Final voting took place up till January 4. The winning story, determined by the number of fan votes and a panel of NFL and Samsung judges, is now being transformed into a commercial to air during the pregame show prior to Super Bowl XLIII.

"Samsung and the NFL developed this campaign to involve the all-important fan. The stories collected truly exemplify the unique passion fans possess for the game of football," said Tim Baxter, VP of sales and marketing at Samsung Electronics America. "We are excited to open these stories and look forward to turning the winning story into a commercial for all to see on Super Bowl Sunday."

This Super Ad promotion is part of Samsung's "That's How I See It" campaign which includes four unique commercials showing how fans experience the NFL through their Samsung HDTV and an interactive microsite that contains fan stories, and even purchasing advice from notable celebrities and athletes like NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, Rich Eisen of the NFL Network, legendary rocker Alice Cooper and television personality Regis Philbin.

We now have a score of 16 to 14 with the Steelers over the Ravens in the 4th Quarter. So, I gonna go now and watch the rest of this game. Go Steelers!

PROMO Live Welcomes Daniel Levine From Avant-Guide

PROMOLive begins this Monday, Sept. 17 and runs through Wednesday, Sept. 19th again being held at the Navy Pier in downtown Chicago. This is PROMO Magazine's annual Promotional Marketing Event for Brand and Agency Marketers which I wrote about in this post last week and that I'll be attending as a guest blogger!

Beginning first thing Tuesday morning when I arrive at Midway Airport I'm going to head right over to the Navy Pier in order to catch Daniel Levine, Executive Director of Avant-Guide Institute. He'll be opening up the first session of the conference with "PROMO Aloud: The Innovation Interviews". They describe this session as giving us an "exhilarating look forward to the most fascinating and profitable trends heading our way." Daniel will be questioning before our live audience some of this year’s leading-edge creative thinkers about major cultural developments driving promotional marketing into the next decade.

So I checked out Avant-Guide's website to learn more about Mr. Levine. It says that he's a Conference Speaker, Global Trends Consultant and a TV and Radio Guest. A quote from CNN says: "Daniel Levine is the ultimate guru of cool.... He has a remarkable ability to distill cool to its essence and articulate it in a way we can all benefit from." Now that's not the way we typically describe us marketers, although some us would like to be!

The site says that Daniel's "Tomorrow Today" speaker session is "brimming with to-the-point examples of where culture and business are headed. This one-of-a-kind presentation reveals the latest international developments in your own industry, as well as the newest advances in other industries that will substantially impact your businesses."

Daniel's done work with a wide range of businesses such as MasterCard, Samsonite, HBO, NBC, Saatchi and Saatchi and Deutsche Telekom AG. He's the founder of Avant-Guide, which claims to be the leading resource for style. They are in the process of assembling an influential community of consumers along with a select network of destinations, merchants and service providers that caters to them. Their seminal product, the highly-acclaimed Avant-Guide city series, is one of the fastest-growing guidebooks in North America and Europe. They also have the Global Trends Blog that welcomes you to the world of Avant-Guide and includes an interview with Michael Stipe, from R.E.M., one of my all-time favorite bands.

So, I'm really looking forward to Daniel's session Tuesday morning. I'm going to try my best to catch up with him while at the conference and ask him a few questions regarding where he sees our industry heading. If you have something specific that you'd like me to ask him please let me know. You can also send Daniel an email directly off the PROMOLive Microsite where he's listed under speakers and where he's posted the Michael Stipe interview in the PROMOLive blog as well.  And yes, I've been added to the Microsite as a Conference Blogger along with access to post on their blog with a link back to this blog. So, I hope to get the conversation going one way or another.