Donna's Promo Talk

Subway and Vespa Promote with GET SMART

Another theatrical release hit the box office this past weekend which, like Indiana Jones, tugs on the heartstrings of us baby boomers. GET SMART was updated for the big screen starring Steve Carell as the bumbling Agent 86 and Anne Hathaway as the smooth Agent 99. It did pretty well grossing an estimated $39.1 million over the weekend although the critics weren't very positive. Those of us that remember the TV series will agree that it was all based on some silly comedy that may not translate as well into today's entertainment world. But you have to admit that casting Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart was a great choice.

Vespa and Subway have teamed up with Warner Bros. for this entertainment marketing tie-in. In addition to making a cameo appearance in the film, Vespa is also giving away scooters to 10 lucky winners. Consumers can enter at any Subway restaurant or register online at subwayfreshbuzz.com or at VespaUSA.com. Customers can also receive a $5 coupon for Subway if they test drive a Vespa scooter at a participating dealership.

The Subway "Get Smart. Eat Fresh." interactive promotion is both a sweepstakes and an instant win win game. Over a $1 million dollars in prizes is up for grabs with a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger Series I Convertible as the top Grand Prize. This car is valued at $58,500 and the winner gets an additional $25,072 in spending money that can be used to cover taxes. That is a pretty cool prize with a total value of $83,572. The winner will be randomly chosen in a drawing at the end of the promotion which concludes on August 10th.

The instant win game is where they're giving away the Vespa GTS 250 as the top prize. The second prize is a  VIP Warner Bros. Lot Tour which includes a trip package to Los Angeles along with some spending money. Nine yellow Vespa LX 50 scooters will be given away as third prizes, and several other secondary prizes that include Apple and Best Buy gift cards along with Get Smart DVD's and "Movie Money" to see the Get Smart movie.

To play the instant win game consumers have to first enter the sweepstakes which allows them one game play per day. They need to enter the secret code which can be obtained several ways such as visiting a participating Subway restaurant and making a purchase which will be then included on the register receipt. Codes will also be found on in-store displays, hidden in the Subway and Vespa websites and also obtained via an email request. The promotion is being administered and hosted by eprize.

So I hear that the shoe phone makes an appearance in the film which of course having mobile communications isn't a stretch today as it was back in the '60's. But I'm wondering why some of today's big mobile phone brands didn't get on board with this - where is our Verizon "Can you Hear Me Now?" character? I think he'd fit in very well with Agent 86, don't you?

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.

Dr. Pepper Explores with Indiana Promotion

Well today is Memorial Day, the day we pause to honor those who have lost their lives in pursuit of freedom and love of our country. It is the designated day to pay tribute to these Americans and celebrate with ceremonies, parades and family gatherings since most of us have been given the day off from work.

It is also the unofficial start of summer. Women can now feel comfortable wearing white pants and shoes. Those of us living in the northern part of the country can rest at ease taking our houseplants outside and planting annuals. Being a three-day weekend, it is the biggest movie weekend of the year with box office records to break. This year the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull drew in a huge audience that put the film on its way to become the second-biggest Memorial Day movie opening ever.

The fourth installment of this saga grossed an estimated $101 million from Friday to Sunday, plus $25 million from its opening Thursday according to Paramount Pictures. They expected to earn another $25 million today. This puts them just behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End which had a Friday-Monday total of $139.8 million during last year's Memorial Day weekend.

I already wrote two posts on this theatrical release: this first post regarding the promotional partnership with Major League Baseball and the second post about a major promotional and advertising campaign from Burger King. Another brand that put their entertainment marketing dollars to work with an innovative partnership with Indy and Paramount is Dr. Pepper.  The Dr. Pepper Passport to Explore with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull promotion centers around the adventure theme and will send 23 lucky winners on an adventure of their own-Indy-style!

Everyone who enters an instant win game code online is eligible for the grand prize sweepstakes and an opportunity to channel their “inner Indy” on an adventure to one of four exotic destinations: Egypt, India, Jordan or Peru. All places that Indiana Jones himself has visited during his adventures! Each trip package is provided through Expedia and consists of a 10-12 day adventure with a local tour guide who takes winners horseback riding, boating, hiking and other Indy-style excursions.

Game codes can be found under the caps or inside the wraps of specially marked Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper. This interactive promotion is being supported by a TV spot with ads that began running on May 1. Additionally, scratch off game codes are featured in print ads which started appearing on May 9. Online banner ads have also give out game codes which have been running on the Yahoo! Movies section on Yahoo.com.

One-in-six codes will win a prize! Fans enter these codes online after they register or by texting them in to learn if their codes are instant winners and redeem their prizes. In addition to the adventure trips, prizes include T-shirts, hats, movie tickets and free Dr Pepper product.

“Dr Pepper is Indiana Jones’ biggest fan, so we are thrilled to add even more excitement around an event that is 19 years in the making,” said Andrew Springate, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper. “With the 23 flavors of Dr Pepper, there is always more to explore, and we’re bringing fans more ways to explore and experience Indiana Jones this summer.”

23 iPod Nanos are also hidden inside specially marked cans randomly placed in 12-packs. The Nanos are pre-loaded with “Raiders March” — the Indiana Jones theme song by composer John Williams, as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes photo from the movie set. Fans will also have the opportunity to collect six limited edition Dr Pepper collector’s cans featuring scenes and characters from the new film.

“By working with Dr Pepper, we wanted to create a rich experience for Indiana Jones fans, both old and new,” said Kayleen Walters, director of marketing for Lucasfilm Ltd. “Dr Pepper is an American institution, making it a perfect partner for the new Indiana Jones film.”

Well I did not go see the movie this weekend, but my 18 year-old daughter did with some of her friends and they were not impressed at all. Maybe this generation just doesn't get it. I guess I'll have to see it for myself. Let me know what you thought of the film if you were one of the many who helped make it a box office hit this weekend.

Burger King's Interactive Promotion Digs Indiana Jones

All you have to do is turn on your TV or go online this week and your bound to see an ad promoting this Thursday's theatrical release of  Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". This past weekend I wrote my first post about it and ever since it seems I've seen Harrison Ford's Indy character just about everywhere! I wrote in my first post about the partnership Major League Baseball has formed with Paramount over the release of this movie and I mentioned that there were another nine brands that have also gotten on this entertainment marketing bandwagon. So I picked Burger King to write about next.

Burger King has launched a national Indy-themed campaign that includes an interactive promotion that you can find on their website... the "Reveal the Secret" scratch-and-win game and the "Big Dig" online game. They also have introduced for a limited time a series of Indy Kids Meal toys as well as a new burger, The Indy Double Whopper, which comes with an extra kick... spicy Cajun mayo and pepper jack cheese.

"Reveal the Secret" game players have a one-in-two chance of winning each time they play, and prizes include $1 million, a 2008 Hummer H2, a trip for four to Peru from Expedia.com (another Indy partner), and free food items from BK.

The game consists of two parts, and in-store game and an online game. "Reveal the Secret" Game pieces are given out in-store and consumers can receive up to three game pieces per visit depending upon what BK items they purchase. Players can scratch off the skull area on the game piece to reveal if they've won and if so what.

Free online game codes are available online at bkindy.com where visitors must first register and can then receive up to three codes per day to play.  Each day, a $10,000 prize is hidden on the site. Site visitors enter their code and press the "Dig" icon to stop the roving searchlight and start digging for the prize. Each day the $10,000 prize goes uncovered, an additional $10,000 is added to the total prize. As of today, Courtney B. "dug up" $10,000 on May 14th. So the pot is growing!

Now the odds of winning the $1 million dollars or the 2008 Hummer H2 (valued at over $59,000 U.S.) are one in 278,689,720. So this appears to be an insured prize game and BK pays for the prize insurance based on these odds. Since it is an instant-win game, not a drawing, these prizes may never be awarded. If there is a winner for either prize, then the insurance company will pay to fulfill the prize. The Official Rules state that the winner of the Hummer has the option of taking $55,000 cash instead. With gas prices as they are, who can afford to drive a Hummer these days!

There is also a series of eight adventure-themed Kids Meal toys based on key scenes from all four "Indiana Jones" movies, as well as a Kids Meal bag printed in invisible ink. Each bag is printed with Indy trivia, and answers can only be revealed using the invisible ink pen, one of the Kids Meal toys.

TV spots on network and cable have been scheduled. The children's ads were created by Campbell Mithun of Minneapolis and are running through June 8 on children's cable channels such as Nickelodeon and Disney. The adult spots, created by Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky, are running on major network and cable stations in prime time.

"The cross-generational appeal and cultural phenomenon of the 'Indiana Jones' series make this one of the most coveted entertainment partnerships," said Brian Gies, VP/marketing impact, Burger King Corp., in a statement. "The sponsorship allows Burger King Corp. to give our customers and fans of the movie the action and adventure they love."

Now I read that the movie debuted this past Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. Most people would agree that this movie wasn't made for critics, it's for the fans, so why did they do that? You can read about what some of the critics are saying here in this article MSNBC picked up. MSNBC also has provided a slide show which includes photos of many of the stars from the Indy movie as well as others that attended the film festival. So, that's worth checking out in itself. Again, let us know what you think of the movie after you've seen it!

Godiva's Valentine's Day Promo for Chocolate Lovers

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and most people will buy their sweethearts a gift sometime between now and then. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average consumer plans to spend $122.98 on Valentine’s Day, similar to last year’s $119.67. Total spending on Valentine’s Day is expected to reach $17.02 billion.

Godiva Chocolatier is offering all last minute shoppers the opportunity to order online today for delivery tomorrow (hurry up though, you must place your order by 3pm EST). Every year Godiva runs a Valentine's Day promotion and this year the company says they've come out with their biggest ever...the chance for a chocolate lover to win the ultimate chocolate fantasy!

The Grand Prize Winner of the 2008 Godiva Valentine's Day Promotion will receive a deluxe trip for two to New York City and will be the first to stay in the exclusive Godiva Decadence Suite in NYC's Bryant Park Hotel. This once-in-a-lifetime experience will be created especially for the winner and deconstructed upon their departure; no one else will ever share the same unique privilege. Every wall in the suite is made of chocolate and includes a luxe daybed decorated with Godiva chocolate.

Additional chocolate décor highlights include two pieces of art reinterpreted in chocolate by Godiva, exclusively for the suite which are Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" and a Jackson Pollock-inspired abstract. In the living room there is a coffee table filled with chocolate designed to mirror Godiva's iconic Gold Box, fashionable chocolate "Pucci" armchairs and a chocolate fireplace. The dining room is illuminated by a chocolate and amber crystal chandelier and several dark chocolate candelabras with a  chocolate mosaic table and chairs and a buffet toppling with an abundance of Godiva pieces. You can view more photos at Godiva.com.

In addition to a weekend in the lavish suite, the winner will also indulge in several chocolate-themed activities, including a private chocolate tasting led by Godiva Executive Chef Chocolatier Thierry Muret, a chocolate spa experience, and a private gourmet meal and wine pairing created by one of New York's finest chefs especially for the couple in the suite. In addition, upon their return home, the winner will receive a year's supply of Godiva chocolate.

To play the Godiva Valentine's Day Game consumers must first obtain a game piece which are included in specially marked Valentine’s Day gift boxes that have this heart symbol (♥). Free game pieces can be obtained through the mail by requesting one by March 1st. 100 first prizes of a Special Collectors Gift Box consisting of an assortment of Godiva chocolates will also be awarded. If not all prizes are awarded through the instant-win game, consumers can also enter the sweepstakes through a second chance drawing that's noted in the Official Rules.

The NRF survey also stated that traditional gifts, such as candy, flowers and jewelry will see a slight decrease in popularity this year with more consumers preferring gifts of experience and gift cards. Almost half (48.2%) of all consumers plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special night out, compared to 45.3 percent last year, and 12.3 percent will give a gift card, compared to 11.3 percent last year. Greeting cards still remain the most popular choice, though the number of people planning to purchase one is down from last year (56.8% vs. 62.8% last year). Nearly 48.0 percent of consumers will buy candy, 35.9 will buy flowers and 11.8 percent will buy clothing.

Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch stated “Consumers are expected to invest time and money on gifts of experience this year, in addition to staple Valentine’s Day gifts,” “Whether it’s a weekend getaway or a night out on the town, consumers are looking for quality rather than quantity.”

Godiva must have been clued into this research when they developed this year's promotion to include such an experiential grand prize. Anyhow, you still have time to get those last minute gifts, so get shopping and Happy Valentine's Day!!

64% of Super Bowl Ads Promoted their Website

What a football game! While it was not a high scoring game, Super Bowl XLLI was close throughout all four quarters and turned out a truly unbelievable ending. Sorry Patriots fans, but the Giants winning the Super Bowl and beating what was the undefeated Patriots is one of the best thing to happen in this country in awhile. It may just come right behind 2008 being the year we're finally going to elect a new President.

Anyhow, my initial opinion and from what comments I've read so far today, the NFL did a much better job than the advertisers. Yes there were a few good ads but also some pretty lame ones. There will be many different personal opinions regarding who liked what, and there should be since we're talking about an audience of over 90 million people. But all in all not many that will be remembered by next year's Super Bowl.

In my last post I wrote about the Super Bowl ads and how well they were integrating offline with online promotions. I drew from MediaPost's Joshua Stylman who pointed out that nearly one in five ads in last year's Super Bowl failed to include a URL and 90% of them lacked any call-to-action! So, my prediction for this year was that we'd see URL's in close to 90%, if not all of them and that half would have some type of call to action.

So I reviewed all the ads this morning which I watched from Advertising Age's site. Here's what I came up with...of the 50 national TV spots that ran during the actual game time, 32 included URL's at the end. That's only 64%, not the 90% that I guessed we'd have, but it's sure much more than last year. Surprisingly the big brands were the ones that didn't include their URL addresses. Could that be that they're big enough that they don't need to or care to? Or do they still just don't get it?

Anheuser-Busch was the largest advertiser with seven different spots, all but one for Bud Light. Now with seven spots you'd at least have to end up with one or two on the top favorite lists today. I've read some reviews that really liked the Fire ad. That one was pretty clever and one of my favs. Others, mostly Will Ferrell fans, loved his spot and I'm sure we'll hear the "suck one" phrase being repeated for awhile. But why didn't A-B at least end their spots with www.budbowl.com? Visitors could go to the website during the game and vote on which of A-B's Super Bowl ads they liked the most. Today the site shows the voter's choice being the Clydesdale Team ad. It was the only one of theirs that pulled on the heartstrings.

Coca-Cola was the other major advertiser that didn't include any URL's. They had three TV spots, two for Coke and one for Vitamin Water. The Coke spot with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons fighting over the Coke bottle balloon was clever and emotionally sweet, but it didn't make me want a Coke. I think they could have done a lot more with that storyline and extended it online. If you visit the Vitamin Water website you are invited to "Horse around with Shaq" where you are redirected to a MySpace Interactive Promotions page where you can watch the ad again, play the interactive game "Race in the Shaq Derby", download a widget, upload your photo and become a jockey in "Put on your Racing Face". They've got lots of fun, interactive stuff here that they should have promoted more. 

Pepsi-Cola was the second largest advertiser with a total of four TV spots. They are split with two spots having a URL address and two not. The Pepsi Stuff promotion I've already written about in an earlier post which used the Justin Timberlake ad to drive people to the PepsiStuff website. The spot they ran for SoBe Life Water ended with www.Thrillicious.com where you can engage more with the So Be Lizards.

Pepsi didn't include a URL address for the Diet Pepsi Max which I was surprised by. The other was the "Bob's House" ad which will probably be the most memorable ad since it was the first time a brand recognized the deaf community in a national TV spot, much less on the Super Bowl. There was no sound during the 60-second ad just sign language which was captioned. I live in Rochester, NY which is home to RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf, so we have a pretty huge deaf community here. The spot includes Darren Therriault, an NTID graduate and Wayne Betts Jr., another alumni who was a production assistant. To see the commercial and a “making of” the video, visit www.pepsi.com/bobshouse , but they didn't bother to include this info at the end of the spot. Too bad.

The other non-URL ads were P&G's Tide Stain, Gatorade's Jeter, GM's Why Push?, McDonald's Ronald McDonald's House, Hershey's Ice Breakers and Victoria's Secret. At least you'd think Victoria's Secret would have sent guys online to shop for the women in their lives or if they don't have one at the moment, to look at the VC Models! Gatorade's site today is congratulating the NY Giants and Eli Manning and offering a limited edition NY Giants Super Bowl XXLII bottle. TIde actually has the My Talking Stain website where you can play Be the Stain Instant Win Game and also a consumer-generated content contest where you can upload your own stain ad.

GoDaddy.com was probably the most successful at integrating the web with their TV spot. Their server must have been prepared for a mad rush to their website to view race-car driver Danica Patrick's "Exposure" ad. Too bad it was for such a sexist ad. I already mentioned the Pepsi Stuff online promotion, as well as Unilever's Sunsilk Life Can't Wait contest. SalesGenie.com had an interesting offer. While I wasn't crazy about their two ads, both offered 100 free sales leads by visiting salesgenie.com/tv. Toshiba also had a offer advertising their HD-DVD  player for $149 and listing the participating retailers.

BTW - The winner of the Dorito's "Crash the Super Bowl" online contest was announced by airing the winning music video created by 22 year old Kina Grannis from Austin, TX singing “Message  From Your Heart. Good luck Kina. She definitely has some talent. 

Reprise Media just released preliminary results that show how well these advertisers integrated search engines and social media into their mix. So, check it out. All in all promotions and the web played a much bigger role with this year's Super Bowl advertising than in the past. However, I'm still surprised that it didn't play an even larger role. Hey, there's always next year - and maybe, just maybe the Buffalo Bills will make it to at least the playoffs! You know they still hold the record for the only team that's made it to the Super Bowl four years in a row! Unfortunately they didn't win the championship in any of them.

One last note - Thank god we didn't see any KFC Hot Wings Chicken Dances.

Oreo Grabs Manning Brothers for DSRL Interactive Promotional Campaign

Well I first have to share some exciting news with you before I begin today's post. I’ve been accepted as a contributing author with ADOTAS... a publication focused on the online advertising and media industry. It features a daily email newsletter that reaches over 100,000 advertising professionals monthly. I will have a monthly article that will run on the 2nd Tuesday of each month beginning Feb. 12th. My focus will be similar to this blog...current interactive promotions.

In the meantime they invited me to submit an article so I sent them the Doritos Super Bowl post I recently wrote and it ran yesterday as the top feature! Here’s the link. I'd like to welcome Adotas readers to Donna's Promo Talk.

Speaking of the Super Bowl, did anyone see the ad that ran last night featuring both of the Manning brothers? I was wondering how quickly a brand was going to get these two famous quarterbacks to appear in together. I didn't think it would be Oreo though!

Now we have the young Eli Manning premiering in his first ad campaign right before he makes his debut in Super Bowl XLII. Then we have last year's Super Bowl winning quarterback, Payton Manning, who's become a TV celebrity over the past year, competing with his brother to see who licks their Oreo quicker! I'm not sure sure if I like seeing these two tough guys licking cookies! Watch the ad here.

Anyhow, the folks from Kraft have created this Double Stuf Racing League (DSRL) - a fierce competition that involves twisting, licking and dunking your Oreo cookie. Visitors to the DSRL promotional website are invited by the Mannings to join the league and then try and out-lick them through an interactive instant win promotion. 10 grand prize winners will receive a trip to New Orleans this July for a chance to compete against Payton and Eli in a DSRL match. The one that wins the match will receive $10,000!

Well I played the game and I wasn't an instant winner. However, once registered you can come back to the website and play once a day up until 5/21/08. There's also another instant-win game which is giving away 2,000 Official DSLR Training Kits that include a cooler, two milk glasses, a DSLR jersey and a headband. This game is open till 12/01/08. There's lots of other "stuf" to do on this interactive website to help you get good at licking Oreos. You can even create a "Yobble" (you'll have to visit the website to find out what a Yobble is).

This DSRL interactive promotional campaign is the first of its kind for the Oreo brand which was created by Draftfcb New York. Besides the website, the ad campaign features the entire Manning family, with parents Archie and Olivia supporting their sons' decision to become "two sport" athletes. I learned that a series of teaser ads kicked off back in December along with an unbranded teaser website. The Mannings' "second sport", the DSRL, was revealed online Jan. 9 and in TV ads during Peyton's playoff game on Jan. 13.

I think it's a great campaign, however, it's really going to be hard for me now to watch Eli in the SuperBowl without that image of him licking an Oreo coming into my head!

Fred Claus Naughty or Nice Giveaway Promotes Movie, Time Warner and Circuit City

The holiday season is gone into full swing this week now that Thanksgiving is behind us. As promised, I'm trying to cover as many holiday interactive promotions in this blog as I can between now and Christmas. Since today's the start of one of our holiday weekends, I thought I'd blog about an interactive promotion that falls into the entertainment marketing category... The Fred Claus Naughty or Nice Giveaway.

Time Warner Cable and sister company Warner Bros. Pictures have partnered to promote the movie FRED CLAUS which was released in theaters back on Nov. 8th. It stars Paul Giamatti playing Santa and Vince Vaughn as his bad brother Fred. These are some downloads and "buddy Icons" I found on the official website.  The interactive promotion includes a microsite with games based on the film, vignettes of the movie plus a sweepstakes offering consumers a chance to win weekly prizes including a $10,000 home theater system provided by Circuit City. Instant-win prizes include Road Runner mouse pads, Aqua computer mouses, and a notepad.

When you first visit the microsite the elf encourages you to register which automatically enters you in the sweepstakes. The entry form includes some additional questions such as "Are you a Time-Warner customer?", "What services do you have?", "Do you have a HDTV?" and "Have you ever watched shows or movies On-Demand?" which enables the sponsors to gather consumer data. The last question requests separate opt-ins for future emails and offers to be sent from Time Warner, Road Runner, Intel and Circuit City. So they are definitely using the power of online sweepstakes to build their database and start a dialog with these consumers based on their answers.

I didn't win the instant prize today, but I can come back every day now till the promotional period ends on January 3rd and try again. I am entered in the sweepstakes for a chance at the grand prize which is the $10,000 Circuit City home theater system as well as the weekly prize which this week happens to be an Intel powered laptop.

There are also ways to gain additional entries into both the weekly and grand prize drawings by "exploring the environment" and playing the games. Each week features a different game with this week being the North Pole. When you play the game you get an additional entry plus there are bonus entries hidden in the game. I came across some dancing elves that were kinda a scary looking.

Besides the games, visitors can send holiday e-cards and choose between a "Naughty" or "Nice" greeting. A drop-down menu provides additional word choices that comprise the final message. This makes up the viral marketing component of the campaign.

Visitors to the microsite can also view Fred Claus movie clips and trailers. The movie has gotten so-so reviews with Vince Vaughn being Vince Vaughn (naughty) and Paul Giamatti (nice) actually bringing some talent to the screen. However, whatever you think about the movie, this promotional campaign appears to be right on target.

New Scratch-and-Win Photo Card Goes Social

I was just introduced last week to a unique, fun interactive promotional tool that I thought I’d share. It’s a Scratch-and-Win Photo Card that was recently launched as a Facebook Application. It includes consumer generated content by allowing the users to create a personalized scratch-card. All they have to do is upload their own photo, add some text, choose some graphics styles and then post their Scratch-and-Win Photo Card to their Facebook profile. Friends can then play this instant-win game for a chance to win cash prizes and send it to their friends to play. Plus, they’ve built a viral incentive right into the game…if your friend scratches your card and wins, then both of you win the same prize.

Now I have to admit, I’ve been slow to get on board with Facebook. I became a member a few months ago and then never did anything with it. So, by being introduced to this Scratch-and-Win Photo Card, it gave me the incentive to get my profile up to date, which it is now somewhat. So I added the Scratch-and-Win Photo Card application to my profile so my friends can play. You can visit me on Facebook here and just send me a message and let me know you want to play. Once you play you can then make you own Scratch-and-Win Photo Card and send it on to your friends.

If you don’t want to visit me first, you can go directly to Facebook here instead and play. If you aren’t a member of Facebook and don’t want to deal with becoming one, you can create your own card directly online here. Also, to make it even easier, I’ve pasted in a copy of my card below. You can play it, but it’s not a live game. So, there’s no chance to win anything here, it’s just a sample for fun.

Now the game that’s on Facebook is currently being sponsored by the developers. They want people to experience the game and hopefully attract some interest. They are offering this as a Facebook application and also outside of Facebook in which the HTML code can be placed directly into a blog (as I’ve done here with my sample) or on a website. 

They’re looking for brands that would like to create a custom branded Photo Scratch-and-Win Card and include what ever prize pool they wish to offer. They did this custom card for Coke which you can play. This scratch card widget outperformed all of Coke’s other widgets, despite the fact that Coke didn't even give away any prizes in this version!

So for brands I think this is a great opportunity to create a fun, interactive promotion that users can personalize and can become a viral hit if done right. Another opportunity I’ve discussed with the developer is to create a generic Scratch-and-Win Card for bloggers that would enable them to customize with their own prizes. They would need some assistance with creating new rules, which would be part of the package. For those bloggers that sell products it would be an ideal way for them to give some away as prizes. Another opportunity would be for a marketer to partner with a blogger and donate their product as a prize.

This new tool has quite a lot of possibilities and I think a really cool way to attract new readers and traffic. So, if any of this catches your interest, please contact me and let’s discuss. Or, if you just want to play, hurry up and visit me on Facebook since the promotional period for this game is almost over!

I'll Be Blogging at PMA's Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference

I started off this week with a post written by promotional marketing lawyer, Ed Chansky, which I hope will be a regular featured guest blogger here. New rules and regulations affecting the marketing industry today are constantly in a state of motion and it's an area that we marketers need to keep a close eye on. So with that said, I wanted to announce that this year I will be a guest blogger at PMA's 29th Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference taking place Nov. 15 & 16 in Chicago. Since my business, DDC Marketing Group, focuses on helping brands and their agencies develop interactive promotions, such as sweepstakes, contests, and games, this event is a must attend for me. Last year's event was very informative and this year's I expect it to be even more.

"Who's in Control Now? Navigating Tumultuous Marketing Change" is this year's event title. The Conference will feature 95 speakers, 40 sessions and 16 roundtables giving special attention to new rules and developments in marketing law including:

• In Depth Coverage on Sweepstakes, Contests and Games on the Internet
• Extensive Coverage on User-Generated Content                            
• The Latest on Wireless and its Impact On Privacy, Sweeps and Contests
• Insights on Cause & Green Marketing      
• New Developments in Advertainment & Sports Marketing    
• A Unique Panel on Promotion and Advertising to Children

Plus, additional topics such as the Olympics/sports marketing, new rules and strategies for the Internet, wireless and mobile marketing, product placements, future technologies, viral and guerilla marketing, celebrities/talent, regulatory enforcement, the gaming/gambling interface, branded entertainment, retail marketing, targeting & profiling, privacy protection, federal and state regulations and rebates and gift cards.

Keynote speeches will be from Congressman Bobby L. Rush, Chairman, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection; Lydia Parnes, Esq. from the FTC; and Brett Yormark, President & CEO of Nets Sports and Entertainment.

Many of the country's major brands will be represented and of course there will be some networking and socializing time. So, I'll be on my way back to Chicago to try and keep up with this fast changing world of promotional marketing law. This way my readers can stay up to date as well as I can help my clients comply with the new laws, regulations and policies. I guess it's up to us to keep some control.