Donna's Promo Talk

Unilever Digital Marketing Campaigns top PMA's Summit

Yesterday I attended PMA's first annual Digital Marketing Summit which was held at an interesting location, the Bridgewaters at the South Street Seaport. It was a beautiful day so it was great to have a location like this that allowed the sun to shine through the windows and skylights as well as having a wrap around terrace that enabled us to walk outside during the breaks. It was however a bit technology challenged with sun glares hitting the presentation screen, videos not running on queue and mics that left somewhat to be desired. But all in all it was worth the trade-off.

Rob Master, North American Media Director for Unilever kicked off the morning with a history of some of the most successful digital marketing campaigns that all came from Unilever brands. Rob shared with us that overall Unilever has shifted from digital being just a part of the media plan to this year it being the centerpiece of their strategy. They've made an organizational commitment to this strategy and have agreed not to plan online in isolation. Their key driver is consumer engagement and they have consistently reached this goal through rich storytelling that has helped to bring their brands to life.

Their journey first began with the Axe brand when they created some entertaining and engaging content specifically for online which ended up going viral. They first showed these short form films, "mini-stories" as they were calling them, to focus groups and tried to explain what these online programs were. This resulted in the term "webisode" first being put on the map.

Dove's Calming Nights products followed up next with a campaign which featured three original webisodes directed by Penny Marshall and starting Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman. These webisodes which could be viewed on dovenight.com showed Felicity dreaming of visiting classic TV moms such as "Leave it to Beaver" mom June Cleaver, "The Munsters" mother Lily Munster and "The Brady Bunch" mom Carol Brady.

Next followed the birth of the "Viral Video" with the creation of Dove's now famous "Evolution". This video had legs way beyond their wildest estimates and proved that consumers are in control. 

Rob then shared with us an Evolution video parody that was posted here on YouTube.  Instead of a quick progression of a woman getting more beautiful, it was of a man getting fatter, older and uglier. Dove embraced this video instead of trying to shut it down.

Unilever’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter brand created an animated webisode series which turned its main character, Spraychel, into a star. Spraychel ’08 used political humor and asked the public to vote for her vs. butter and “demand 0 calories and great taste”.

Klondike Bar ran a consumer-generated video contest asking "What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?". Some great videos have been submitted that can be viewed here which prove that there are some huge fans out there that love their Klondike Bars. Final winner should be announced this week.

“In The Motherhood” is a program developed by the Suave brand which started out by asking women bloggers to write about funny moments of being a mom. From these posts Suave has turned these stories into scripts and created a series of webisodes. They showed these at ABC’s upfront presentation this year since they will be moving them to primetime on the network this season. Here’s a great example of content starting online and moving to TV vs. TV shows going online.

So Rob wrapped up his review of the past and present digital marketing campaigns by giving us his recommendations on the top three ingredients that should be included:

1.    Provide a cross section of media that helps to bring the program to life

2.    Include relevant links to pop culture that provide opportunities for engagement and amplification

3.    Make sure you have rich and innovative storytelling at the center of the idea

Thanks Rob for sharing all this with us and kick-starting our day.

Stay tuned here to read more from some of the other great presenters PMA had lined up for us this day. I’ll be reviewing what we learned from McDonald’s, Borders.com, Digitas as well as those mobile experts who told us how to start implementing mobile into our online campaigns.

Baby Ruth's Video Contest Winner Sings at MLB All Star Game

Last night they played the 79th All Star Baseball Game in what could be the last nationally televised event at the old Yankee Stadium. The game lasted 15 innings and almost 5 hours moving into the early morning hours. The American League finally won the game, 4-3, but it really wasn't so much about who won or lost, but the event itself.

  Back in April during MLB's opening week I wrote a post about this promotion, The Baby Ruth "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" Video Contest. Nestle's Baby Ruth and MLB teamed up and invited fans to submit their own consumer-generated content in celebration of the song's 100th anniversary. The lucky winner was given the opportunity to lead the song during the 7th Inning Stretch at Yankee Stadium during last night's game.

Well Adam Wilbur, a high school band teacher from Medford, NY, won the contest and got to lead 56,000 fans in singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

Adam competed the day before against two other finalists, Chad Gunderson of Sherman Oaks, CA, and Robert Huffman of Birmingham, AL, at the MLB FanFest held at New York City’s Javits Convention Center. Each had to sing the song for the three celebrity judges; actor William Peterson from “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, “Extra” entertainment reporter AJ Calloway and former Yankees centerfielder Bernie Williams, an accomplished guitarist, who said “They were all great”.

Once the judges announced Adam was the winner he said “I feel good. I didn’t come here expecting to win,”  and then described his immediate reaction as “excitement, followed by extreme fear”.

More than 620,000 fans voted in the selection of the three singers last month from among several hundred who submitted videos to the promotional website at MLB.com/babyruth. On the video submitted by Adam he not only sang the song but also played the ukulele and was accompanied by his twin brother Fred who played the tuba and is also a high school band teacher. Fred was a little disappointed that he couldn’t get to share the spotlight with his brother and said “The fact that we won is just awesome”.

Nestle's Baby Ruth gave out samples of the popular candy bar at both the FanFest and at the All-Star Game. Asked whether the winning video might have a post-All-Star afterlife, Tricia Bowles, brand manager for Nestlé Brands, said “It just might now. Who knows? We’ll see what happens from here.”

Adam and his brother Fred made sure they included several Baby Ruth mentions in the video arrangement which improves the odds that it may end up as a TV ad or at least reach a wide audience on YouTube. The song was originally written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Pilzer in 1908 which has had many other notable vocalists, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin as well as Harry Caray, Chicago's famous sportscaster.

Congratulations to Adam and Fred Wilbur as well as the other finalists.

Coca-Cola Launches Integrated Olympic Marketing Camapaign

Coca-Cola is not only the world's largest beverage firm but also the most recognized and valuable global brand. The company is a top sponsor of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games and the longest-running corporate supporter of the Olympics, going back to 1928 (Eastman Kodak would of been but they missed one year).

With now less then a month to go till the August 8 opening ceremonies, Coca-Cola has presented a series of new Olympic advertising, marketing, promotions and interactive activities. All of it centers around the theme of unity, cultural connections, and the celebration of Olympic Spirit around the world. The Coca-Cola China Olympic programs use the Mandarin expression "Shuang", meaning complete physical, emotional and spiritual refreshment, to describe the tremendous passion, pride and excitement felt by all Chinese as hosts of the 2008 Olympic Games.

"The common theme in all these Coca-Cola initiatives is to celebrate the global connections and magic that occurs when the world comes together in friendship at the Olympic Games this summer here in China." said Kevin Tressler, Director, Worldwide Sports and Entertainment Marketing for Coca-Cola.

Three new TV commercials are being launched in China around the games. You can watch this one titled "Shuang City" and see Beijing transformed into an Olympic playground, featuring Olympic basketball athlete Yao Ming.

You can visit YouTube here to see a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Shaung City" and also check out the other two TV ads,  "Bird's Nest" and "Yao and LeBron".

Bombay Sapphire Integrates Online Contest and Blogs

Now that I've been blogging here for almost a year and a half about interactive promotions I've made the list of a few PR firms who have been sending me information about their clients' latest promotions. Most of them I have found interesting and try and write about. This one I received from the folks over at Terpin Communications that I just couldn't pass up for a few good reasons: 1) They have an awesome promotional website 2) They've got a separate contest just for us bloggers! 3) I love a good Bombay Sapphire Martini!

Bombay Sapphire's "The Spirit of Exploration" contest is sending a lucky winner on a trip to the Sky Bar in Bangkok, Thailand! Once you get through the regulatory website pages and tell them your birth date and country you're told that "the most extraordinary brand introduces an interactive experience like no other". You're then greeted by the bartender of the Sky Bar, an exotic spot located on top of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, the second tallest building in Bangkok.

To enter the contest, consumers need to write a 50 word essay saying "What the Spirit of Exploration means to them". They may also include photographs and/or videos to go along with their essay or insert a link to their Flickr, MySpace, Facebook page that contains them. A panel of judges will review all the entries and choose a winner based on the persuasiveness of the entry, their ability to communicate their explorative spirit and their relevance to Bombay Sapphire. Entries are accepted up till July 15th.

The grand prize winner receives a 7-day trip to Bangkok along with some tours and an English-speaking sightseeing guide. The winner get to fly on Cathay Pacific airlines either out of New York's JFK airport, Los Angeles' LAX or San Fransisco however, they need to find their own way to one of those airports on their own expense. Either way, the trip is valued at $8,000, so it's worth it.

Now the Spirit of Exploration blogger's contest is asking for blog posts that focus on the same question of what the spirit of exploration means to you. So, that's not really what I'm writing about here. I guess I'll have to come back to it and write about it in a different post if I want a shot at this. But what's really cool about what they've done here is created a blog in which they're generating content for it by the promotion itself. You can read all the posts that have been submitted (and accepted) and then vote for which one you think should get the title of "the Spirit of Exploration Blogger"!

The bloggers can't win the trip to Bangkok just by posting, but they can take their blog post and also enter it as an essay in the contest. Each blogger can submit a link to their actual blog which gets added to the Bombay Sapphire blogroll. They also supply the blogger with a downloadable badge that they can place on their own blog which invites their readers to vote for them. I counted 11 posts on the blog as of today. Soon to come will be a Sapphire Explores Community on Facebook that I guess they don't have up yet.

So, if you read my previous post here on the reported growth online promotions will be experiencing in the next five years I also did my own forecasting. I stated that integrating social media, especially blogs, with interactive promotions is one of the ways in which I think this growth is going to happen. The Bombay Sapphire promotion is a great example of how they've brought the two mediums together. Stay tuned for my Spirit of Exploration post. I really want that martini now!

Sex and the City Style Video Contest Winner Attends Movie Premier

Today I'm going to ask to you hop on over to Lip-sticking.com where I'm the featured guest blogger to read my post. It's about Sex and the City, the Movie which is scheduled to be released in theaters this weekend. I originally wrote this post on my blog a month ago about my anticipation of this movie and the consumer-generated promotional video contest that this really cool online retailer, Bag Borrow and Steal, was doing to tie-in with the movie premier.

Well, Bag Borrow and Steal announced the winner of the video contest yesterday who actually got to attend the movie premiere which was held last night at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Here's a photo of the ladies from New York taken at last night's premiere which I was able to grab off of E!Entertainment's website today.

So I invite you to please visit Lip-sticking here to read more about this interactive promotion, see the winning video, give us your thoughts and read some of the other women's posts all about marketing to women.

Online Promotions: The Big Shift

I wrote this post a week and a half ago about a report by Borrell Associates which states that the online promotions category is expected to nearly triple over the next five years from $8 billion last year to $22.8 billion, surpassing all other online advertising categories (paid search, banners, e-mail, audio/video advertising). Since I wrote this post Borrell Associates was gracious enough to send me a promotional copy of the report. So I would like provide you some more detail and well as some of my observations.

To recap, the report states that as in offline promotions, most of the value of online promotions is the cash value of incentives that are given to motivate short-term sales. The report also states that online display ads (Web page banners, pop-ups, etc.) have lost their luster and that spending on them has been generally flat for the past two years. They believe it will peak this year at $12.6 billion, and then begin a precipitous decline to less than half that amount over the next four years. They also state that paid search advertising is likewise facing a luster-loss and they foresee it hitting its peak next year at $16.9 billion, followed by a gradual decline.

Currently online promotion spending is only 22% of the total $37 billion overall interactive marketing pie. Overall promotions account for about 60 percent of all dollars spent annually in global marketing. The Borrell report says that the composition that makes up online promotions spending will continue to evolve over the next five years. Spending for online discounts and rebates (for example, the reduced ticket prices offered by some airlines) will continue to dominate the category, however, it will decrease in share going from 41.4% in 2007 to 38.7% by 2012. Spending on online games and contests however is predicated to grow from 10.5% of the online promotions pie in 2007 to 28.4% by 2012.

As I said in my previous post, to many of us in the interactive promotions business this is great news. We now have a report that helps to confirm what we've known all along...online promotions, specifically sweepstakes, contests and instant-win games, produce highly measurable results. By putting the right incentive in front of the right audience, you can get them to act! So while this report may contain predictions that seem strange to some, it makes perfect sense to us promotions people. We all know that marketers today need campaigns that can provide measurable results, and online promotions are an effective way for them to achieve this.

What I believe is an up and coming trend which will help fuel the growth of online sweepstakes and contest promotions is integrating them with social media. The strategy of combining these two marketing tactics is bound to become a big part of the increase that is predicted over the next five years.

Social media, including blogs and social networks, has dramatically increased the speed and coverage of word-of-mouth, also known as viral marketing. Blogs are powerful socializing tools that connect people from all over the world and build relationships, therefore can easily get the message out about a promotion. Bloggers like giveaways and contests and integrating a chance to win promotion into their blog provides added value plus excitement for their readers. Bloggers and social networks also help to spread the word quickly about an online promotion that a marketer may currently be conducting. To help get key bloggers involved with a contest promotion, marketers might want to consider inviting a few to be on their panel of judges 

A survey from BIGResearch, cited in the Borrell report showed that 38 percent of people that were online were also watching television; more than 20 percent were listening to radio; 9.5 percent were reading a newspaper; almost 7 percent were reading a magazine. The local medium best positioned to take advantage of the trend could be local TV.

The report goes on to suggest that the local media companies can capitalize on this trend by focusing on creating “promotions” for their advertisers. This may include establishing a special promotions team to develop promotional campaigns that will deliver measurable results for advertisers. These campaigns can include quarterly contests and give-always, weekly or monthly half-price gift certificate sales, “best-in-town” online voting campaigns for restaurants, dentists, ice cream parlors, golf courses, etc. Holidays and sporting events (College Bowl, Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament games, etc.) are all prime promotion periods.

An example of a local promotion sited in the report was created by WAVE-TV in Louisville, KY.  The “Win, Place, Show” promotion was a contest tie-in with the Kentucky Derby sponsored by the Kentucky Lottery. Contestants were invited to choose their three favorites in order for the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. The person with the highest number of points – awarded for each correct choice – won a color television.

Another WAVE-TV advertiser, the Louisville Zoo, had been running a discount season pass promotion for the past six years. Its most recent promotion was a “Name the Baby” contest in which visitors to the site could enter suggestions for the zoo’s baby elephant and other baby animals. Both this promotion and the Kentucky Derby contest drove people to WAVE3.com to participate.

A further example was a contest run by WKRN-TV in Nashville, TN, in which they tied in to the 2007 College Bowl games.  The goal of “College Bowl Frenzy” was to increase page views and unique visitors for WKRN and to offer some fun interactivity for their viewers. Jamie Camp, Internet sales manager for WKRN said “It puts us in touch with participants at a more personal level.” With more than 32 College Bowl games last year it was a great fit for them. The contest received 1,000 participants which offered WKRN the chance to gain more knowledge about their audience.

WKRN offered their sponsor advertisers 15-second video spots on the site before the news and weather clips. Advertisers included KFC and RJ Young who were able to choose among three different level packages. These sponsors had online tile ads and displays on the College Bowl Frenzy pages. All the sponsors had the opportunity to create a sign-up survey to collect user information. They were also able to offer giveaways of their own. Since implementing contests, WKRN’s website traffic has quadrupled.

Local newspaper website sites are also offering opportunities to advertisers looking for an online presence without buying standard online advertising. Buffalo.com, owned by The Buffalo News, has been running contests for advertisers since the site launched in 1999, but rather than use contests as a way for advertisers to gain sales leads, Buffalo.com offers them more as an incentive program for advertisers who place ads in The Buffalo News, and as tie-ins to events such as movie premieres.

One promotion they created was an interactive game for Basil Cars called “Hidden Treasures”. Participants could look for Basil Treasure coins in the Basil ads running in the Buffalo News and also on Basilcars.com. When they collected all six coins they could then attach them to a game board and mail them in for a chance to win a two-year lease on a car or $7,000 in Basil Bucks.

What this report is basically saying is that we need to take a look backwards at some of the basic principals of marketing that have worked for years offline (nationally and locally) and effectively make them work online. Here are the three main drivers behind what they believe is the cause for the big shift to online promotions from traditional advertising.

1. Advertisers are demanding larger and more measurable returns from their marketing investments. New technologies are increasing marketers’ targeting and tracking capabilities as well as their expectations. Even within online advertising there is demand for more targeting, more measurement, and better ROI.
2. The Internet is better suited for research and fulfillment than for conveying emotion and excitement for a product. While the Internet does contribute to brand and product awareness, its uniqueness is that it’s interactive, which makes it a perfect media for promotions.
3. Online promotions are primed to closely mirror their offline counterparts. The ratio of non-ad spending to ad spending for total marketing expenditures (local and national) is 60:40. For online marketing, the ratio is 22:78. The online spending ration is out of synch because the Internet is still a relatively new medium and businesses are still experimenting with its marketing capabilities.

So while we all don’t have crystal balls that can look five years into the future, we can always look backwards. It’s an exciting time to be in the interactive, online promotions business. I’m looking forward to the next five years.

New Study: Interactive Promotions to Triple by 2012

Yesterday a new report was released by Borrell Associates which states that the online promotions category is expected to nearly triple over the next five years from $8 billion last year to $22.8 billion, surpassing all other online advertising categories (paid search, banners, e-mail, audio/video advertising). It states that as in offline promotions, most of the value of online promotions is the cash value of incentives that are given to motivate short-term sales. Sounds like the basic principals of promotional marketing that we all know and love.

The report states that online display ads (Web page banners, pop-ups, etc.) have lost their luster and that spending on them has been generally flat for the past two years. They believe it will peak this year at $12.6 billion, and then begin a precipitous decline to less than half that amount over the next four years. They also state that paid search advertising is likewise facing a luster-loss and they foresee it hitting its peak next year at $16.9 billion, followed by a gradual decline.

To many of us in the interactive promotions business this is great to now have a report that helps prove what we've known all along...online promotions, such as sweepstakes, contests and instant-win games, are highly measurable and when you put the right incentive in front of the right audience, you can get them to act! So while this report may contain predictions that seem strange to some, it makes perfect sense to us. Marketers today need campaigns that can provide measurable results, and this is a way for them to achieve this.

"Online contests, giveaways, coupons and sales of half-price gift certificates are proliferating, many of them bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and generating warm partnerships between the media company and the advertiser," the Borrell report said. "The utility of the Internet holds fascinating possibilities for local businesses. Local media companies that are genuinely helping those businesses grow, rather than merely selling advertising to them, are well positioned to succeed in this brave new world of marketing."

The full report includes some case studies of local promotions that were implemented successfully. The local medium best positioned to take advantage of the trend could be local TV. A survey from BIGResearch, cited in the Borrell report showed that 38 percent of people that were online were also watching television; more than 20 percent were listening to radio; 9.5 percent were reading a newspaper; almost 7 percent were reading a magazine.

Currently, online promotion spending is only 22% of the total $37 billion overall interactive marketing pie. Overall promotions account for about 60 percent of all dollars spent annually in global marketing. What I believe is an up and coming growing trend is the integration of promotions with social media. The strategy of combining these two marketing tactics is bound to become a big part of the growth that is predicted here over the next five years. I'm interested to see the full Borrell report and if this is in fact one one of their recommendations. It certainly is one of mine.

If you would like to learn more, please contact me. And as always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Sex and the City "Purse-onality" Contest & Sweeps

Right now we are in a pretty ho-hum time of year for new theatrical movie releases. Everyone seems to be more focused on renting DVD's to catch up on movies that won Oscars this year. But give it about another month and it'll be the start to the summer movie blockbuster season. One that I'm personally very eager to see is the return of the ladies from New York with the release of "Sex and The City", the movie on May 30th. I'm a big fan of the series and I have to admit, I really miss these characters.

Apparently I'm not alone in loving these characters...here's an interactive promotion that began on April 1 from an online retailer that has partnered with New Line Cinema to promote the premiere of the movie.  BAG BORROW OR STEAL is a unique business which lets women borrow designer handbags and jewelry online. What an interesting business model this is. They have developed this consumer-generated content, "Style Profile Contest" which invites women to submit videos in which they identify which character whose style most resembles their own, as represented by the handbags and accessories found in their closet. So, entrants need to explain if they think they're like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda and why.

The videos can be submitted on YouTube and as of today there are only 16 videos to view. Some women have chosen Charlotte for her classic style and her favorite Chanel designer handbags. Other have chosen Samantha based on her desire to stand out in the crowd and have bags that are bold and colorful. Carrie's style is described as spunky, spontaneous, energetic, a real individual, so her bags are always unique. Miranda was chosen because she's a polished career-woman with a child, so the bags that she needs have to be stylish, but also be able to carry a few necessities, like extra diapers!

So, let's get some more videos up there (I'm really tempted to do one myself). Videos can be submitted up until May 9th. The first 50 people to enter will receive a $250 borrowing credit to BAG BORROW OR STEAL. One grand-prize winner will be chosen around May 14th to receive a $500 credit along with tickets to the movie premiere in New York City along with airfare, hotel, transportation and $500 spending money! They also will provide the winner with space to document her own experience in a blog which I'm interested to learn more of how they're going to go about this.

Five judges from the fashion world have been recruited to pick the winner. They are:

• Carol Han - Market Editor, Elle.com
• Jennifer Sherry - Fashion Producer, E! Entertainment
• Lesley Scott - Editor-in-Chief, Fashiontribes.com
• Marissa Rubin – Fashion Market Editor, People StyleWatch Magazine
• Pamela Pekerman – Founder and Editor-in-Chief, BagTrends.com

They'll be choosing the winner based on creativity, presentation skills and entrant’s expression of his or her passion for handbags and Sex and the City as well as the overall video quality.

A separate sweepstakes lets people take an online quiz to find their “Sex and the City purse-onality” for a chance to win additional credit, movie posters and T-Shirts.  BAG BORROW OR STEAL's website also offers a “Sex and the City” shop filled with a collection of luxury accessories inspired by the four ladies of the movie. They also have a viral marketing component that you can forward to friends and of course they have a link to the movie trailer. Kudos to BAG BORROW OR STEAL for developing a great promotion that really ties nicely into their brand as well as to the movie.

So, the hype is really going to start heating up over the next month for this movie release...Will Carrie end up marrying Mr. Big?  Check out the official movie website for more fun. There's icons and wallpapers you can download, a great soundtrack you can listen to and there's even this Official Movie Blog. It all looks great!

I'll be Featured Guest on Blog Talk Radio

This Saturday afternoon I am going to be a guest speaker on Blog Talk Radio on the premiere show for The Contest Queen...all things sweepstaking, contesting, lucky and fun.  Now I have listened to some shows on Blog Talk Radio before, but this will be my first time as a speaker.

If your not familiar, BlogTalkRadio is a social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using both a telephone and a computer hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows that are also archived and made available as podcasts. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers. This network has produced tens of thousands of episodes since it launched in August of 2006.

Carolyn Wilman is the host of this new show and since it's her first one, she and I will be learning it together. The show is scheduled to be live at 4pm EST on Saturday and then will be available as a podcast for downloading so people can listen to it at anytime. I agreed to do this when Carolyn asked me (even though it's in the middle of the weekend and I'll be hurrying back from my daughter's high school softball game) because quite simply, I like her and I was flattered by the fact that she invited me to be her first guest speaker.

Carolyn and I have never met in person yet. She's from Canada, just the other side of the big lake from Rochester, and she found me through this blog. She writes a blog called From the Contest Queen and while my blog focuses on interactive promotions from a marketer's point of view, she reports on them from a consumer's perspective. Carolyn's background is similar to mine... she's been running her own marketing business, Imagination Edge, for the past several years and has assisted many companies with developing and executing sweepstakes and contest promotions.

Carolyn says her main objective is to teach others how to have fun. Besides her blog she produces a free bi-weekly e-newsletter called The Winning EDGE that includes contesting stories, tips, tricks and links to new contests. She also runs workshops: How to Win Cash, Cars, Trips and More…Online and Attracting Luck for hundreds of people annually. Carolyn has written a book which she just made available in the U.S. which is called You Can't Win if You Don't Enter. You can both download the first chapter for free as well as order the book here online.

There are many so called "sweepstakes" portals on the web, and some do offer added-value content such as Carolyn's, while others exists just to make money. Us marketers in the business refer to the later types as "sweepstakes whores". Most interactive promotions that involve sweepstakes and contests are initially developed to help build brand awareness and to attract potential customers to a website in order to build up the brand's database. If consumers come to these websites through a sweepstakes portal that have absolutely no interest in the brand's product or service, then it does the brand absolutely no good. But as always, the 80/20 rule is true here and marketers just have to work harder to weed out those non-customers and identity who their top ones are.

So, I'm interested to hear what types of questions consumers will ask me on the show tomorrow and I thought this would be of interest to other marketers as well. I believe Carolyn has a list of questions for me just in case we don't have a big live audience. So, if you can't make it there live tomorrow, perhaps you may want to download the archive and listen at your leisure. I have been considering doing some podcasts myself, so I also thought this would be a good way to test the waters. Let me know what you think...either of how I did as a guest or the idea of doing one myself. Thanks.

Bertolli's Romantic Nights Contest and Sweeps

Over the weekend I received an email from Bertolli informing me that the time has come to choose a winner in their Dinner and Your Movie contest! They have chosen four finalists who have submitted videos in this user-generated contest that began back in early February. The email was inviting me to view the finalists and vote for my favorite for a chance to win a trip to New York City.

Now to participate in the contest the submitted videos needed to explain what a romantic night means to them, what ingredients go into making a romantic night as well as they had to use Bertolli's Frozen Dinners as one of their ingredients. They then submitted these user-generated videos that were all posted on this microsite, www.BertolliNightsIn.com. From what I can tell there are a total of 328 videos submitted.

Well I watched the four videos that are posted on the site as the chosen finalists. I honestly wasn't too impressed by them, expect for one that I voted on which is clearly the favorite. So, please check it out and guess which one I voted on. You have up until the end of this month, April 30th, to vote and enter the sweepstakes.

So, now since I voted and filled out my online entry form I'm entered into the random-drawing sweepstakes for a chance to win the trip to New York. Not only does it include airfare and hotel accommodations for two, but it also comes with a chance to meet celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito and two invitations to the Bertolli's premiere and party. The finalist that has the most votes at the end of the voting period will also win the same New York City trip package. The other three finalists will receive $1,000 each.

Bertolli has also partnered with NetFlix and is sponsoring a weekly sweepstakes in which they will draw 20 names each week to receive free dinner and NetFlix movies for a year. There is a separate online entry form for this sweeps, however, since I had to supply my email and a password to vote on the contest all I had to do was sign-in and I was automatically entered into this as well. So, they've done a pretty good job of collecting my personal data and asking me to opt-in to receive future info on Bertolli as well other Unilever products, who is the parent company.

The last part of this interactive promotion, which is being administered by ePrize, offers consumers a $2.50 coupon on any Bertolli's frozen dinner. Unfortunately I had to fill out another form to get the coupon, I couldn't just log-in. This form asks for additional information regarding which Bertolli products I've purchased in the past and how much. Well I haven't purchased any of the frozen dinners, but now that I have a coupon, I'll try one and then I'll probably receive future offers from Bertolli as well. Now isn't that what these interactive promotions are all about?

If you do vote, let me know here in the comments which one is your favorite and what you think overall about the promotion.