Donna's Promo Talk

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.

Forrester's Five Year Interactive Marketing Forecast

Being a member of the American Marketing Association I get invited to all of the many webinars that they put on with various sponsors. Webinars don't normally hold my interest and instead I find myself reading or sending email or looking online at something else. However last week I signed up for one that actually kept my interest so I thought I'd share it with you here.

The title of the webinar was "The US Five Year Interactive Marketing Forecast" which was presented by Shar VanBoskirk, Principal Analyst for Forrester Research and sponsored by IMPAQT, a search-engine marketing firm.

The forecast predicts that interactive marketing will reach $61 billion by 2012. What's really significant about that number is that it will become 18% of all marketing spend which right now it is only at 8%. So by that time we should see interactive as a part of an everyday marketing campaign budget and integrated much more with traditional media. For example this year we saw many more Super Bowl advertisers using URL addresses in their ads (64% I wrote about in this post) and integrating the ads with websites. So by 2012 that percentage should reach 100%.

The biggest trend is that consumer behavior is changing and technology is adjusting consumer media time. Emerging media is commonplace for the younger consumers. These 18-27 years are spending more time online then they are watching television and almost as much time on their cell phones. This is all not surprising, however, the thing to note is that they, Generation Y, are the mainstream consumers of tomorrow. Interactive will become more effective than some traditional channels. The lesser media channels of today will most likely have double penetration a year from now and we'll see new media activities that aren't even here today. So the real question is, what will consumers be doing tomorrow and will marketers be willing to invest in these new media activities.

Interactive Marketing was broken down into the following categories:

• Search Marketing is expected to triple in 5 years to over $25 billion.
• Online Display ads will reach almost $14 billion. The ability to create reach media ads will help this growth.
• Email marketing spend will shift to integration which means that email will start to be more integrated with other mediums.
• Online video has the steepest growth curve of any of these channels because it has a very low adaption of around $450 million today. It's an easy medium for marketers to understand and something that they're familiar with. Interactive videos will also help see this medium grow.
• Emerging Media which Forrester defined as social media, mobile marketing and in-game advertising and states that social media is poised to have the most significant growth of these three elements. Social media is providing many marketers with a way to help get them interactive.

Next Shar gave her most controversial statement in saying that she doesn't think mobile marketing is an immediate priority. All the other tools outlined in this presentation should have priority over mobile. She believes, and I have to agree with her, that we still have a couple of years for mobile players to work out the mechanics of how to make it work in a cost effective way. By 2009 it should then be a viable marketing priority.

So, what should marketers prioritize?

Top of the list are the mainstays that most marketers are using today...email, search marketing and online ads and absolutely search marketing which is the #1 way consumers find websites: 72% of adults are coming to websites via search results and 57% of youths - they use social media more than adults.

Social Media tools are the up-and-comers...social networks, blogs, consumer-generated content, online video, RSS, podcasts, are all tools that marketers should start to integrate into their marketing mix.

Interesting media that nobody is really investing in yet is mobile, in-game ads and virtual worlds.

Shar summarized the presentation by saying "The world of interactive marketing is just beginning to unfold in terms of the kinds opportunities it can provide to marketers and their customers. This opportunity is still not completely unfamiliar though...the consumer is still the same type of consumer, but the tools are different." Here are a few of her recommendations:

• Focus on the mainstays: email, search and online ads
• Experiment with social media and online video
• Think about mobile in the next 18 months
• Grow your keyword list
• Beef up your search analytics
• Refocus on SEO

Sounds all like good, sound advice to follow.

American Express Holiday Online Promotions Make Gifting Easy

As we're finalizing our Christmas gift shopping this Holiday season, we may want to consider giving gift cards. According to the American Pulse™ Survey conducted by BIGresearch 52.1% out of 4,069 respondents say they would rather receive a gift card or cash. One reason may be that consumers don't like gifts that were chosen for them (45.4% of those who received clothing as a gift in the past didn’t like or didn’t wear it). Another possible reason is that 46.3% of those who participate in gift giving/receiving during the holidays say they hate to return gifts because it is a hassle.

American Express is capitalizing on this trend with an online promotion enabling shoppers to receive a free Gadget Lover's Card worth $25 from American Express Incentive Services when they purchase five American Express Gift Cards. Shoppers can take advantage of this online promotion by visiting the website, purchasing any five American Express Gift Cards in one order and then submitting a rebate form. 

The Gadget Lover's Card can be redeemed for three months after the date of issue at U.S. locations of participating electronic retailers, including f.y.e., Sam Goody, The Sharper Image and Suncoast.

"With consumer electronics in such high demand, American Express is looking to make the holiday shopping experience simpler and more rewarding," said Stefan Happ, VP and General Manager, American Express Gift Cards. "With our Gadget Lover's Card, we are offering American Express Gift Card customers something extra to use when shopping for the hottest new gadgets this year."

Besides purchasing the gift cards online they are also available at participating retailers such as CVS and Albertsons as well as through a new partnership with Bank of America, however the promotion is only good with online orders.

American Express is also making it easy for their Cardmembers to give rather than receive through their GivingExpress program which connects them to more than one million charitable organizations. Cardmembers can make a donation in another person's name and then notify the person via email of the contribution through the GivingExpress program website (or find their own unique way to present the gift). Plus the Cardmember then earns double Membership Rewards.

American Express earlier this holiday shopping season brought back it's popular interactive My WishList cyber-storefront which was open Nov. 27 - Dec. 13. My WishList's storefront offered all Cardmembers the opportunity to buy limited quantities of some of the season's most wished-for items and experiences at unbelievable savings. From the luxury lover, to the gadget geek, to the adventure seeker, it provided must-have gifts for everyone plus it also featured dream experiences like a VIP shopping spree in 10022-Shoe, Saks Fifth Avenue's enormous New York shoe department, and a trip around the world with Continental Airlines.

Cardmembers were able to sign up for e-mail alerts that notified them when their My WishList items were available and also were able to pre-register their card info for quicker clicking. New to the site this year was a "tell a friend" viral marketing component that passed on the My WishList invite karaoke-style. Cardmembers also could send a holiday rock star greeting simply by choosing a song, styling the singer and dedicating it to the person receiving the e-card.

Past My WishList promotions have been overwhelming successes; last year, My WishList experienced over 7 million visits to the site. "Our merchants are thrilled with past response from Cardmembers to My WishList, noting significant spikes in sales after the promotion," said Penni Berns, VP, Network and Merchant Marketing, American Express. "It is these strong relationships with the world's top merchants that allow us to offer new and amazing wishes each year."

Well American Express sure seems like the closest thing to being an online Santa this year. Maybe next year I'll get luckier with the My WishList promotion. However this year I am going to take advantage of that Gadget Lover's Card. I still have a few more people on my list I need to check off today!

Register for PROMOLive's Interactive Marketing Online Conference Tommorrow

I'm going to take a short break today from writing about interactive holiday promotions to tell you about a free Interactive Marketing Online Conference that's taking place tomorrow, December 13th. PROMO Live, in association with Penton Marketing Media Group, publishers of PROMO Magazine, are sponsoring for the first time ever this virtual conference.

This full schedule provides best practices and thought leadership in 5 cutting-edge areas of interactive marketing --- consumer generated, mobile, games and contests, web, and email. Here's the agenda:

10:30 - A keynote presentation kicks off the conference with Karla Lacey, Director of Integrated Marketing Communications, Strategy & Planning, Cisco Systems. Karla's talk is entitled: The Customer Grows Up - Marketing in the Interactive World

11:00 - The Do's and Dont's in Developing, Launching & Marketing Online Games, Contests and Sweeps -  Sponsored by Bossdev

12:00 - CtoC Marketing (consumer generated marketing)

1:00 - Email for Brand Marketers - Sponsored by Campaigner

2:00 - Interactive Bonding ---- are you 365?

3:00 - Mobile-izing Your Brand

Each session is 45 minutes and you can click on each link above to read more details on each and to register. One registration allows you to attend all or just one session for free and also lets you come back any time through March of 2008 to view them.

So don't miss out. If you can't spare the day tomorrow, at least register and sit in on one session and come back later, maybe over the holidays when things slow down, and listen to some of the other sessions. Also, if you do attend, please feel free to comment here at let me know what you think. The organizers of the event are looking for feedback and would like to do more of these in the future, so let us know how you liked it, or didn't like it.

And don't forget...if want or need advice on developing and launching online games, contests and sweeps, please remember to contact me. That is by the way what I specialize in as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winning the Acquistion Game with Interactive Promotions

My friend Tom over at WME Blogs brought to my attention a post that appeared on Media Post's Email Insider Blog on Monday titled "Sweepstakes as Acquisition Tool:  What Do You Really Win?". Since he knows that I am blogging about sweepstakes he figured I'd be interested in reading this and possibly commenting. Which he was right.

I read the post by Jamie Schisser and immediately had to leave a comment. Which now is leading me to expand on this topic more in my own blog. I do agree with Jamie in that email marketing is still "hot, hot hot" and that "Mass media is on its way out — at least mass media as we know it. Relationship marketing is in."

Going back to the first time I heard Seth Goodin speak at a the DMA Days in New York, back when he was promoting his first book "Permission Marketing", he said there's no question that sweepstakes are a great tactic to invite customers to opt-in and ask there permission to BEGIN the dialog. He further engaged me by saying " But it's also true that Opportunity Seekers are not the core group of people participating!". I was so excited after listening to him this first time that from there on I knew the Internet was going to be great for my business... which focuses on executing sweepstakes.

In my comments back to Jamie I said that I work with many brands as well as their agencies and I believe that interactive promotions, those that contain sweepstakes, games, and contests, if done correctly are one of the most powerful ways to connect with key customers and grow those relationships. With interactive promotions you can motivate behavior by connecting with an unidentified person and converting them into a registered prospect. This enables the start of a dialog for a permission-based, data-driven relationship.

However, I caution marketers on not asking for too much information at first. The amount of personal data requested during the initial contact should be minimal to avoid turning people away. One or two closed-ended questions together with the personal data collection are all the first stage should include. It is better to learn more about your new prospects over time than all at once.  The idea is to at first just get that little bit of information along with their permission. Then you can invite them to tell you more about themselves by further offering value and new incentives.

Jamie does brings up a good point in that "you have to have a program to support those people who sign up. If you ask your target to opt-in to receive valuable information and discounts, you must have a communication plan in place to deliver on that promise. Budget for, plan, and set up your ongoing email program before soliciting names."

A promotion as well as an email blast should not be done in a vacuum. It's about pulling it all together just like any other tactic used in the marketing mix. Where I disagree with Jamie is that I believe sweepstakes can be a great PART of your aquisition strategy. 

And as far as costs, new technology today is making it much more affordable to offer chances to win. See my previous post on Caffeine, a great new promotions platform for marketers to run sweepstakes and instant win games for literally dollars. Also, consumers today are more willing to provide some personal information for as little as a chance to win a $20 gift card.

So, to sum this up, if done correctly, interactive promotions (including sweepstakes) are a very powerful way to connect with key customers and grow those relationships. They can....

• Initiate a one-to-one dialog with permission-based programs that open a direct line of communication with customers
• Engage customers through online experiences that build the brand and the product/service features and benefits
• Gather customer intelligence accurately and cost-effectively to build databases
• Connect online and offline messages into an integrated campaign
• Motivate customers to take action: register at a website, visit a retail location, demo/try a new product, refer a friend/associate, complete a survey, train and educate, build brand loyalty and increase purchases

And of course the whole consumer-generated content phenomenon is another conversation to have regarding online promotions. So please share with us some successes you have had using email and promotions as part of your acquisition strategy.