Donna's Promo Talk

Haiti earthquake relief fund gets huge boost from texting donations and social media

Since I only write once a week, Wednesdays, on The Lip-sticking blog I felt I needed to include a post related to the Haiti earthquake that hit the island a little over a week ago now. Since I wrote this post earlier today a huge aftershock of 6.5 has hit Haiti making the situation there even worse. So donations are still needed more than ever. Here is my post:

As this week's news of the horrendous Haiti earthquake unfolded it solidified the fact that social media has become an invaluable tool for keeping the lines of communication open between people around the world especially when hit with a natural disaster such as this. The Internet, social media and mobile have helped to bring people emotionally and visually closer to this event like never before which resulted in a huge outpouring of financial support.

Making a donation to the Haiti relief funds has never been easier through text messages, Twitter posts, blogs and social networks, such as Facebook. Microsoft, Yahoo and Google also donated resource as well.

Texting donations emerged as the quickest and easiest way to donate money. We all have gotten emails or seen tweets urging us to donate money to support the relief effort in Haiti. The American Red Cross has been working with mobile donation company mGive and said on Monday that it has received $22 million in donations via text messages. All you need to do is simply text “Haiti” to short code 90999, and a $10 donation to the group’s Haitian relief fund gets added to your next mobile phone bill.

Weight Watchers uses social media to help fight hunger & RAMA Mobile Marketing event is a hit

I haven't written here since the weekend, but it doesn't mean that I haven't been blogging. Here are two recent posts I wrote.

The first one is my Wednesday guest blogging gig over at the Lipsticking blog which is a post about a great campaign Weight Watchers is currently running in which they're using social media to help a couple of charitable causes. I actually intended to write about this yesterday, Tuesday 9/15, here on this blog because they had a one day event going on called Lose-A-Palooza.

However, the reason I never got around to it was because yesterday was our first RAMA event, the Rochester Chapter of the AMA, which I currently serve on their board as VP of Communications. The event was a presentation on Mobile Marketing by Dan Miller from Neighborhood America which I wrote a recap of it here on my Social Media Marketing Examiner page.

Anyhow, here's the Lipsticking post:

For those readers that follow this blog regularly you may recall that I wrote this post earlier this year about the success that I had in joining Weight Watchers. I've always struggled with my weight and thanks to Weight Watchers, along with a great website called Hungry Girl, they have taught me how to eat well and healthy. I reached my "healthy weight" goal and am now a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. All I need to do is weigh in with them at least once a month and maintain my weight. I'm coming up on my first year anniversary of when I initially started the program and through their help and a good exercise routine I'm in the best shape than I've been in since before I had children.

But anyhow, today I wanted to share with you a great program that Weight Watchers has recently kicked off for the second year in a row. The Lose For Good campaign was created to raise awareness about two global epidemics - obesity and hunger. Between August 30th and October 17th, as Weight Watchers members and online subscribers lose weight, the company will donate up to $1 million to two organizations - Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.

Last year the campaign impacted more than 250,000 children and families domestically and actually represented the difference between life and death for more than 6,000 malnourished children abroad.  Over 4 million pounds were lost and $1 million was donated. Also local food drives at Weight Watchers meeting locations collected 1.5 million pounds of food to distribute to families in need.

It's Back-to-School Shopping Time. Check out JC Penny's BTS Marketing Campaign

Well I've neglected my blog all week because I've been on vacation with my family. We've been down in Myrtle Beach staying with my parents and also visiting with my sisters and their family. We'll be heading home tomorow, Monday morning. It's been great to get away and see my family, swim, lay on the beach and yes play some golf. But it's always good to go home.

It's also been tax-free weekend here in South Carolina which they do this time every year for back-to-school shoppers. So since we're here with our two college-bound daughters, we took advantage of it. We picked up a new laptop for Alex, our younger daughter, since we still needed to get one for her. For Kelsey, our NYU drama sophomore, we picked up some kitchen stuff since she now needs since she'll be living in a dorm with a kitchen this year and will not be doing the meal plan. Yes, they both did get a few new clothing items as well.

While I haven't been on this blog all week I did write my weekly guest blog post for Lipsticking. It was about back-to-school marketing and a campaign that JC Penny's is executing this year. So, in case you didn't see it, here it is. I promise that I'll be getting caught up I'm my blogging sometime this week once home.

As a mom of two teenage daughters you can’t help but be part of the back-to-school shopping season. It seems to start earlier and earlier every year and this year I believe I started seeing ad messages as soon as the 4th of July holiday was over. This year I have the younger of my two daughters heading off to college, so I’m more experienced now knowing what essentials she really needs to get her off to school and her dorm room fully stocked. Last year we went through the season for the first time with my older daughter getting ready to start college, so as the say, the second time’s a charm (and it also helps when the second child is much more easy-going then the first.)

This year the retailer that really stands out is J.C. Penny which has launched their “Schooled in Style: Smart Looks for Less,” integrated marketing campaign which combines digital, social, mobile and traditional media with unique special events and promotions. The campaign works to keep with the JC Penny brand positioning that being that they are the national back-to-school headquarters offering teens the fashion brands and styles they want at prices they can afford.

Central to the “Schooled in Style” campaign is JC Penny’s website, jcp.com/teen, which is the “hub” for teens. It allows them to connect with each other, create their own looks and explore JCPenney’s style offerings through a digital runway experience that highlights several styles for juniors and young men. It links to their JCP Teen Facebook page which features interactive games as well as connects Ryan Sheckler to JCPenney fans. The site also allows teens to sign-up to receive text messages on their mobile phones about back-to-school sales and special offers.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Film Embraces Emerging Media Marketing

It's Wednesday, therefore it's my day to guest blog over at the Lipsticking blog. So while I usually write about promotions associated with entertainment marketing on Fridays, it appears to be the norm this summer to release movies on Wednesdays instead of Fridays. So of course I just had to write this post today about the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie which was released today. So please read my post which I've included  here:

For any us mothers with teenagers we are all aware that today is the official release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth Harry Potter film in the series. My daughter and her friends attended the midnight show last night and didn't get to see it at their usual movie theater location since that one was already sold out. Now that my daughter has friends that are old enough to drive at night, we don't have to worry about which parent is going to go with them or stay up late enough to pick them up. They drove themselves all back to my house and I woke up with four young bodies sleeping in our living room this morning.

My older daughter is currently away this week attending a summer drama camp, so I don't know if she's seen the movie yet. If not she probably will by tonight. Since she came home from her freshman year in college she's been talking about this film and reread the first three books to get back into the story again. She even got her dad reading the books now. He just finished the second book and she's thrilled that he's reading them. My turn is next which I promised I would do when we go on our summer vacation this year.

Both of my daughters, who are just a little over a year apart in age, really grew up with Harry. It has been an really wonderful experience and they can't thank J. K. Rowling enough for inventing these characters and the world that they live in. They constantly are throwing out character names and phrases that leave me bewildered. Even though I haven't read the books, I have seen the movies, so I'm not completely ignorant about what they're talking about. I wrote about Harry Potter before in this blog post back in July, 2007 which was Harry Potter Month since the 5th movie was released, Order of the Pheonix, followed 10 days later with the release of the last book, Deathly Hallows.

Wildfire's Online Promotions App Helps Promote AT&T's Favorite Foursome Sweeps on Facebook

I first wrote this post called Interactive Promotions Together with Blogs Create a Winning Combination back in February of 2008. Well now that social media has really gone mainstream, it's not just integrating promotions with blogs, but also with social networks like Facebook, which is now the largest social network, and Twitter, which has become the fastest growing web brand. Back when I wrote this post I coined the term "Social Sweeps" and I've seen quite a lot of these types of promotions make their appearance since then.

Interactive promotions are highly measurable and most of the time can be very effective when integrated with the right incentive, however they certainly can't achieve defined objectives if proper awareness of the promotion is not created. Well now this new company called Wildfire Interactive has created a web tool and Facebook application that can help do just that. With the Wildfire App you can create an integrated promotional campaign for your brand on Facebook, Ning, MySpace and your website that includes a sweepstakes or a user generated contest.

Wildfire is currently in beta and it's been by invite only. I requested an invite, so I'm on board and just dying to try out a first promotion utilizing it on Facebook. I've got a couple of small programs I'm working on that may be a good fit for this.

A current promotion that I entered and have promoted on my Facebook Page is for an adventure travel agency called Access Trips that's based in New Zealand. They are utilizing the Wildfire App to promote their Brazil Surfing Trip Sweepstakes. So I entered the sweeps and invited two of my friends on Facebook to join me if I win. Then I invited some of my other Facebook friends to enter the sweepstakes.

AT&T has integrated the Wildfire App into one of their big summer promotions. Up until just yesterday, June 22, golf fans could enter the AT&T “Favorite Foursome” sweepstakes to win a VIP trip for themselves and three friends to the final two days of the 2009 AT&T National Tournament, to be played July 4 and 5 at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD.

AT&T offered three different ways to get into the game. One was through mobile using any wireless carrier in which fans could text TRIP to 21234 to be automatically entered for a chance to win. They could also visit AT&T’s Facebook page in which they could enter using the Wildfire App and they could also choose to invite three of their Facebook friends to join their own “Favorite Foursome” and in exchange could get a special AT&T national sweepstakes graphic posted to their Facebook Wall.

The third method of entry into the Favorite Foursome Sweepstakes was by clicking through a banner ad at the AT&T Fan Zone web site and filling out an entry form there. The winner will be selected by a random drawing from all the entry methods and win four round-trip flights to Washington DC, two nights of lodging, transportation passes and access to the Grey Goose lounge at the event, and a $400 gift certificate redeemable at the competition’s Front 9 merchandise area, among other perks. I entered, so wish me luck!

The new twist that the Wildfire App brings to the promotion is the viral marketing component on Facebook. Those that have hundreds of friends on Facebook can promote it on their wall and very easily invite their friends. So I believe it is this type of brand awareness that is a perfect fit for social networks. If anyone would like more information you can contact me or Wildfire. I would be happy to toss around some ideas on how it may be a good fit with your marketing objectives and get one of these started!

Taking Another Look at Mobile Marketing

Yesterday we had the formal announcement of the new G-phone by T-Mobile who unveiled their new G1 mobile phone which is powered by Google's Android operating system and is bundled with Google software including search, Gmail, Maps and YouTube. This announcement gave me the incentive today to get back to writing about PMA's Digital Marketing Summit that I attended about two weeks ago in downtown NYC. We spent much time discussing mobile marketing during this day, so here are some of the highlights.

One of the sessions at the summit was a panel discussion titled "The World is Changing in the Palm of Your Hand: Make Mobile Marketing and Digital Out of Home work for you". Out of the three people on the panel I was most impressed with what Anthony Iacovone, Chief Strategy Officer at Augme Mobile, had to say. His presentation was focused on how to integrate mobile into our traditional media plans.

This was the first time that I had heard the term 'Traditional Media" referred to as online display ads vs. non-online (TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor, etc). It made me realize that now, 2009, is the time to really start looking at mobile seriously. That coupled with the fact that I have two teenage daughters that show me everyday that their phone is the center of their universe, makes me even more clear that we need to start the integration.

And integration as Anthony said is the key. Just don't set out to "do a mobile marketing program" because the client wants to. The same as we just can't do a viral marketing program because that's the cool thing to do now. But instead look at our current plan and see how we can integrate a viral component, or in this case, a mobile component. We don't necessarily have to recreate the wheel and start from scratch to do this.

Anthony went on to say that mobile can be overlaid to help invigorate your "traditional" media plan. But you shouldn't look at it as just another place to display your banner ad. He called it a "Physical World Bookmark".

Today now with the announcement of the first G-phone we have a new member of the "touch screen" iPhone family. The phones are advancing and the networks are now ready to embrace the growth. However, there are still many barriers and complications, just as there are with serving up video and rich media online today. Anthony referred to this as the "mobile maze"....hundreds of devices with different systems, screen sizes, etc. and with four different major operators.

Here are some of the stats that he shared with us:

• 195 active SMS users in the U.S.
• 65 Million U.S. Mobile Internet users in 2008
• 97% of consumers carry their phone at retail
• It's not just kids who are using the advanced functions
• 100+ brands have used mobile in 2008 advertising plans
• $1.6 billion spent on mobile advertising in 2008 so far
• 34% of brand will use mobile in 2009

I sat in on a presentation earlier this year from Forrester on their Five Year Interactive Marketing Forecast. They predicted at that time that mobile was 18 months out. Now that presentation was back in early March, so second half of 2009 is where we should see mobile really start to trend upward quickly.  I think we better start putting mobile into the 2009 plans now.

The Dark Knight Breaks the Box Office Record But Who Are the Marketing Parnters?

Dark Knight has been the topic of conversation since it's theatrical release last Friday and I've been meaning to write about it all weekend but just haven't had the chance. So at least now I'm able to report that yes, it did indeed break the box office record as expected by selling $155 million worth of tickets. It was reported that moviegoers were surfing eBay and Craigslist for tickets, sometimes paying five times face value for them.

Now that The Dark Knight has become this summer's biggest  blockbuster, the question is should your children see it? The film is definitely "dark" and is more true to Frank Miller's view of The Batman than the TV series or the DC comics that we remember from our childhood. Both of my teenage daughters and their friends went to see it over the weekend and loved it. But they're not children nor are they the ones that grew up with the TV series or the comic books either.

So, why did Kmart decide to become the entertainment marketing partner with Warner Bros on this theatrical release and turn their stores into the “Official Batman Headquarters”?

Dads, Grads, Brides and...The Hulk!

It was a weekend of "Dads, Grads and Brides" for me which mirrored the way most retail marketers define the month of June. With all that I had going on this weekend I never even got a chance to get to my computer except to briefly check my email before I went to bed last night.

Saturday we started the morning at an 11am wedding ceremony for our nice, Elizabeth, which was held at a beautiful outdoor setting with Lake Ontario as the backdrop. The rain held off for the most part... just a few sprinkles came down on us which no one seemed to mind too much. After the lunch reception we headed back home to change clothes and out the door again we went to a high school graduation party. Then Sunday was Father's Day which I got to spend at home catching up on the usual weekend chores and watching Tiger Woods march on to force a playoff round today in the U.S. Open Championship against Rocco Mediate.

The Incredible Hulk was also released in movie theaters and grabbed the top spot at the box office with $54.5 million in sales for the weekend. However, it didn't come anywhere close to Marvel Entertainment's other movie release this season, Iron Man, which brought in $104.2 over the Memorial Day weekend, the second-best premiere ever for a non-sequel. Universal Pictures is Marvel's distributor partner on this movie which stars Edward Norton as the scientist who turns into the Hulk when maddened.

Kmart used up some of their entertainment marketing dollars to partner with The Incredible Hulk. Their "Incredible Dads" Father's Day Promotion takes advantage of the "Dads" day timing. Consumers are invited to purchase "Incredible Dad" Hulk-themed gift cards, and those who purchase at least $50 worth can receive "movie money" for two general admissions to see the film.

Additionally, Kmart is running a mobile marketing segment of the promotion that includes a text-to-win sweepstakes that gives consumers a chance to win a trip for four people to the Universal Studios Orlando theme park. Other prizes include Kmart gift cards and THE INCREDIBLE HULK merchandise which is also available for sale at Kmart.

I can not finish this post if I did not mention the loss of Tim Russert this past weekend which has deeply saddened so many people, especially those of us in Western New York. Tom Brokaw said on NBC Friday evening that if we were to morn and celebrate the life of Tim there wouldn't be a more approriate weekend than Father's Day. Thank you Tim for all you have shared with us. You will be greatly missed. It's hard to imagine going forward with this year's presidential election without you.

So, as for my closing remarks, Happy Father's Day to all and as Tim would say....."GO BILLS!" 

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.

Iron Man's a Hit - Promotions include Audi and LG Mobile

Well it looks like the summer blockbuster movie season is upon us quicker than I thought. The news today says that "Iron Man was pure gold at the box office" during its opening this past weekend. It brought in $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a non-sequel. The film also scored overseas with $96.7 million in 57 countries where it began opening Wednesday, putting its worldwide total at $201 million.

Iron Man is the first release by Marvel Studios and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, billionaire arms designer Tony Stark. He's described as a boozy womanizer who builds a high-tech suit and becomes a superhero, mending his ways after he's taken captive and sees firsthand the devastation his weapons cause.

Audi is one of the brands that has teamed up with Paramount and Marvel for the theatrical release. In the film Tony Stark drives the new Audi R8 sports car. In the weeks prior to the film’s release Audi launched a new global campaign featuring this special promotional microsite. On it visitors got peaks at eleven exclusive video clips including behind-the-scenes content, interviews with the cast and crew, Audi Iron Man commercials, background on use of Audi vehicles on the movie set, etc. Now I'm a huge BMW fan, but this Audi does look totally awesome.

LG Mobile Phones is another partner who has created an integrated campaign for the film that reaches across multiple media platforms. A mobile marketing component that ties into a sweepstakes is running now through May 15. LG Mobile Phones is working closely with Slifter on the text messaging aspect of the campaign who has built a wireless sign-up site that links to local LG Mobile products. Slifter's mobile shopping tool, GPShopper, enables millions of mobile users to search and share nearly 250 million products and promotions at over 150,000 U.S. locations, straight from their cell phones.

Consumers can text “LG” to 42229 or go online to http://m.lg2win.com for a chance to win a $7,000 LG Electronic Makeover and daily prizes ranging from LG Mobile Phones to movie tickets. They can also enter this Tony Stark Ultimate Giveaway Sweepstakes on LG Mobile Phones website and can print out a form to mail-in. I'm assuming they're offering this mail-in entry option as a way to make sure that they are complying with no purchase necessary since text-messaging as a means of entry is still being questioned in the courts.

Anyhow, it's the beginning of the summer movie season for sure. I wrote this post last week about my much anticipated return of the ladies from Sex and the City. I'll be writing here about more of the entertainment marketing partnerships as the season moves along. If you've seen Iron Man yet, let us know what you thought.