MK Promotion Rx

Location, Location, Location: foursquare is Everywhere!

2010-06-18T14:20:00.003-04:00

Is the dream of one-to-one marketing finally “reality”? With more and more smart phones in the hands of consumers, geo-location-based marketing seems to be the industry’s flavor du jour. The most talked about platform is foursquare.

Foursquare is part friend-finder, local city guide, and interactive mobile game. Using the GPS locator on your phone, foursquare allows you to “check-in” at various venues in order to earn badges or the coveted “mayorship” at a given location after you’ve checked in the most.

The question then is how can foursquare (and its ilk) draw from the vast audience who; albeit, see no use for ”badges” in their lives?

ANSWER: 10% off, just for loitering in front of our store. Now that’s something even the laziest social networker can buy into! We are entering into a new shopping age equipped with geo-selective couponing, instant promotional offers and real-time statistics for all!

foursquare’s stars have aligned but they’re not prepared to move at light’s speed anytime soon. Having boomed so big, so quickly foursquare has hired staff for the specific task of responding to their 3 month backlog of email. For awhile, it seems, they’ll be working retroactively on business’ email requests to become featured or offer specials when users check in at proximate locations. We can agree that this is a very good problem for a fledgling company to have.

Recently, our clients have been asking how to tap into the realm of geo-based marketing accessing a customer base by their proximity to retail. Take sweepstakes to the street and add a level of physical participation in your promotional marketing activities. Talk about driving user engagement!

Guest post by Jenna Hanlon. Jenna is a Promotion Coordinator in Marden-Kane's NY Office. Jenna can be reached at jhanlon@mardenkane.com.

Using Ustream to Streamline your Brand Connections

2010-04-19T11:32:00.006-04:00

Is your company in search of a dynamic, personalized brand experience that your customer will remember for a long time to come? Read on:

MK recently worked with a client who was sponsoring a major event. They wanted to include their customers who weren’t able to make the trip out to attend. The answer was to integrate two emerging social media platforms – Ustream and Twitter to provide virtual participation. Ustream is a social networking site that offers a company friendly tool that broadcasts streaming video from anywhere to anyone who has an Ethernet connection. It has incorporated Twitter as a staple on their platform with a feature called “social stream”. Social stream enables users to login into the site with their Twitter account information and participate in a real time – chat room like discussion with other users and the channel moderators (who are usually broadcasting live from the event) while watching live video.

Ustream hosts everything from P. Diddy in the studio to a nest of an owl about to hatch. Our client's promotion went better than anyone could’ve anticipated proving there is a hidden audience out there ready to engage your brand. Artists, like Bon Jovi and celebutants like Tila Tequlia use Ustream effectively as a means to provide face-to-face access and hold conversations with their fans. What are you offering your viewers?

Is it talent/performance? Make it exclusive – something they can’t see anywhere else. Is it information presented at a convention? There needs to be value – no one wants to watch your company picnic (we’re sure it’s fun).

An impromptu discussion with your CEO, COO or social media guru?

Additional features like polling provides free consumer feedback and real time results. One to one dialogue gives insight. Learn about what your users like, dislike, what is important to them and what is not. Fans of your brand will remember the unique opportunity you’re giving them, access to something they couldn’t participate in otherwise – due to location, age, etc. – not to mention, Ustream lends itself to valuable “time on site” that is linked back to your brand – that’s a Win-Win!

But watching a concert on your laptop at home, alone in your room is probably about half as exciting as physically being there and rocking out with 10,000 of your closest friends – so this is where MK’s experience can help. You want to engage your online audience with a task that will keep them tuned into your Ustream brand channel. Perhaps run a Twitter-based Trivia game contest?

Finally, analysis of previous programs shows you can’t leave it up to the virtual gods to find interested individuals to attend your party from inside their living rooms and stay the whole time. Advertising support needs to be in place prior to your event and continue throughout. Ustream is not a “set it and forget it” type promotion but it is one that will raise the bar and establish lasting relationships with your audience.

Guest post by Jenna Hanlon. Jenna is a Promotion Coordinator in Marden-Kane's NY Office. Jenna can be reached at jhanlon@mardenkane.com.

Meme-orable Marketing

2010-03-22T15:43:00.014-04:00

Lately, your company has been in think tanks discussing ways to deliver in the realms of social media. Your Facebook page and Twitter accounts aren’t driving the interest you anticipated. Seeding viral content on a regular basis is difficult. You need a next step and searching for a new social media platform seems redundant (and it is). But before you go running to re-departmentalize your PR division to have them solely focus on exercising a major viral campaign, consider – viral marketing campaigns have no set formula or recipe to ensure their success. The measurables of digital marketing are still being quantified. Metrics include everything from hits, time spent on site, retweets, sharing, forwarding, digging, liking, views etc. And so far, marketers are unsure how many YouTube views = a Twitter retweet. So, before you spend any amount of company $$ or resources on your next digital marketing campaign, review the successes of others’ attempts at viral grandeur.

Today, an Internet phenomenon or “meme” is a piece of information that reaches a vast group of people strictly by word-of-mouth, person to person sharing. Not limited to video – memes come in all shapes and sizes, from Facebook groups to trending topics, almost any virtual avenue with multiple engaged users can be a springboard for the next meme. Famous memes become Internet inside-jokes shared exponentially like YouTube phenomena “Rick Rolling” and “David After Dentist”. WOM marketing has no measurable or formulaic approach. There are, of course, best practices to follow in order to reach your potential audience of millions – but in some ways, luck has a lot to do with it. One thing that can be agreed upon is the emotion any Internet phenomenon evokes upon first watch. The reaction is always strong. Although some may argue otherwise, humor doesn’t define viral potential but categorically, it doesn’t hurt. Most viral videos are humorous because humor is an easy way to incite strong emotion from users – and users pass it on because of their desire to share experiences with others– in the same way myth and ritual, fads and trends have existed organically throughout human culture.

The anatomy of a meme:

1. Memes are first and foremost, memorable.
2. Usually, displayed on a medium that has a tell-a-friend feature.
3. No formulaic approach to meming, but if there is one – it’s humor.

Memes are the unconquered marketing domain. They are measured in hilarity, absurdity, or shock value. Getting your next advertisement to go viral is invaluable. It places your brand in front of an audience of millions with little to no legwork after its initial production. Turning your digital campaign into a recognizable meme allows your brand an opportunity to have major social impact, placing your company on the tip of everyone’s tongue for a period of time. Not to mention that your viewers (new and old) will be more likely to link back to your brand page.

But there’s no need to reinvent the wheel to produce viral content. Best leave meming up to the amateurs and become a distributor, a discoverer of fresh viral content rather than a creator or producer of it.

Take these campaigns for instance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_6tdoaIdKM
http://www.youtube.com/user/itsthegecko#p/u/7/HItwu7PNdNo

Both Visio and Geico recently capitalized on the success of Gary William Brolsma AKA “The Numa Numa Guy” by incorporating him into their latest advertisement campaigns. The younger demographic responds well to recognizable icons of Internet culture due to their own potential to become famous in the same way Gary has become famous – by being completely original. Hiring a model or actor to represent your brand is dated and expensive. Instead, consider hiring that kid on YouTube who has had a few million hits and thousands of subscribers. Utilize Google trends/diagnostics to estimate the staying power of the viral content you wish to capitalize on and be sure to quickly mobilize your resources for a trend that has a large audience, but may be fleeting.

A social media department will be key down the road, but don’t go out and hire the most impressive twitter-er on your block just yet. Bring in a 3rd party marketing specialist to assess your needs and viral potential. For now, extrapoloating on what America’s Funniest Home Videos has done for years is a best practice: have your users create the viral content for you with a video contest and award prizes to the best of the bunch. This strategy will bring you a pool of fresh content and who knows, one of them may be the next meme.

Guest post by Jenna Hanlon, Promotion Coordinator in Marden-Kane's NY Office. Jenna can be reached at jhanlon@mardenkane.com.

Driving User Engagement: A Roadmap to Online Sweepstakes Success

2010-02-19T15:33:00.004-05:00

Before you embark on your journey to a successful online promotion, take some time to map out the checkpoints that will help you along your way! A solid roadmap in the form of a scoping document is crucial to the overall success of your promotion and will ensure your arrival at your intended destination without lost time and money.

• First, figure out where you’re going – what are your success metrics? Is the goal of your promotion to increase page views? Click-throughs? Average length of time spent on the site? Are you looking to gain more Facebook friends and fans? Would you like to see increased user engagement with your brand? Gauging your company’s expectations before you hit the road will help your chances of arriving at your destination successfully.

• Don’t throw up roadblocks – create an entry method that is as straightforward as possible for your consumer. Make it easy to use, but relevant and engaging.

• Yield to pedestrians– too many steps, difficult rules and boring content will deter through-traffic from entering. While the overall aim may be to increase brand awareness, avoid utilizing a direct sales pitch to your consumer, keep it subtle to keep their interest!

• Offer exciting new vistas to your consumer – the site experience should be fun! Not copy heavy, but rather like a road sign: direct and to the point. Provide the required legalese, no more and no less on the entry site but be sure to point the user in the direction of the official rules/terms and conditions.

• Determine what is the carrot driving your horse – is there something unique/different about your promotion? Is the prize relevant to your brand? Is the prize something a consumer would be interested in winning? Turn on the high beams; make sure it’s clear for all to see why they want to be involved in your promotion AKA, what’s in it for them. Whether it’s fame or fortune – it should be fun!

• Detour regular traffic to your entry site – use media outlets your target audience interacts with on a daily basis. If your target demographic uses social media such as Facebook and Twitter, it will serve you well to advertise your promotions directly on those platforms.

• Get their plate number! – collect all of the information necessary for you to contact the winners. Some agencies believe that collecting "PII" (personally identifiable information) such as mailing address or phone number will discourage users from entering but asking a user to provide additional contact information assures that they are entering a legitimate promotion and will not be spammed. Provide a link to your privacy policy so entrants can see how their information is being used. Complete contact information will make notifications and prize fulfillment more timely and cost efficient down the road!

• Signal before changing lanes – include relevant messages throughout the experience such as thanking entrants for coming as they exit the site. Remind them that they can come back anytime, whether it is to enter again tomorrow or check back for a new content and features.

• Never take your eyes off the road –just because your promotion has launched does not mean you can operate on cruise control. Select backseat drivers to champion the QA effort throughout the promotional period. It is a good idea to have mechanics on-call should the entry site malfunction after-hours.

• Watch your speedometer – use market data you collect daily to measure your promotions performance.

• Check your blind spots – work off of your market data to optimize the promotion’s goals. If your promotion is not meeting your expectations, jump start it with a PR push through your company’s social media channels or remarket to those who have already opted-in. Offer additional entries for every new friend, fan or follower referred by your original entrant to drive traffic to your entry site.

It is important to run diagnostics for your promotion after it has completed its journey. Be sure to backtrack through this roadmap during your project evaluation to gauge your mileage. Did you meet your final destination? If not, where were the bumps in the road? This debriefing process will help you better navigate any challenges your next promotion may experience.

MK calls “Shotgun” on your next marketing adventure!

Guest post by Jenna Hanlon, Promotion Coordinator in Marden-Kane's NY Office. Jenna can be reached at jhanlon@mardenkane.com

Cause Related Marketing = Social Media

2010-02-12T15:50:00.007-05:00

Easily extending the reach of a consumer promotion has been the goal of marketers for years. Now, the leading Social Media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, allow marketers to do just that.

The question posed is how? Create a promotion-centric Facebook Fan Page or Twitter Page or utilize the brands’ (if one is available)?

For a Sweepstakes, Instant Win Game or Special Offer (e.g., coupon or BOGO) which is designed to raise awareness for a moment in time, incorporate the promotion into the current Fan Page and Twitter Page.

However, for a cause-related program which will be in the marketplace for months, and perhaps years, it makes sense to create its own “identity” and related Fan Page and Twitter Page.

Some tips:

1. Define objectives, key performance indicators and ensure consensus amongst all stakeholders!

2. Provide value. Give a reason for people to visit and to become a Fan or Follower!

3. If you are also including a contest as a means to raise awareness, provide guidance on entry submission dates and remember to merchandise your winner and finalists. If entry submission is also available on the Fan Page make sure that you have obtained Facebook permission - www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php. Guidelines change often and without notice!

4. Promote the Fan Page and Twitter Page via URL mentions, virtual gifts, Facebook ad buy, social media integration on the campaign microsite (incorporating Bookmarks, Share and Facebook connect)

5. When utilizing a celebrity spokesperson, ensure that the celebrity utilizes their Fan Page news feed and Twitter feed to spread “the word”. You also want the celebrity to add the campaign’s Fan Page to their Favorite Pages!

6. Create an editorial calendar to ensure new content is published on a regular basis. This includes relevant tweets. Ensure that the Fan Page and Twitter page are tightly integrated.

7. Moderate and respond to Fan and Follower comments and messages in a timely manner. The goal is to ensure that the communication flows in a 360 degree manner. For Pharmaceutical companies, the FDA has yet to provide regulations on social media usage, so you should work with your legal department to determine the appropriate strategy.

8. Continually measure and optimize your efforts.

What was cooking at this year’s PMA Law Conference

2009-12-10T09:27:00.002-05:00

Recently, I attended the PMA Law Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.

The conference itself was very Digital/ Internet/ Mobile focused, with traditional sweepstakes and contests placed on the back-burners. One presentation however, given by Linda Goldstein (Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP), offered a “what if” look at a merge of the old and new.

Surrounded by one-click solutions and “There’s an app for that.” messaging, Linda’s presentation showcased a hypothetical “Promotion Risk Assessor App” – push the button, input some specs, and voilà: a quick and easy recipe for a legal promotion is served. A tour of the App gave some insight into its different features: laws, regulations, and even a smart function that would create the entire promotion for you…just push the button.

The idea was intriguing to say the least. Being in the industry, it’s easy to fantasize about how much time could be saved if all we had to do was drop in a few details, sprinkle in some eligibility, and add a dash of winner announcement. In a microwave world, authoring rules (and the successive versions thereof until they’re “FINAL”, “FINAL_REV”, and, of course, “USE THIS ONE_FINAL_REV_REV”) can sometimes feel like crock-pot cooking.

In the end though, everything boiled over when Linda pushed the button – it turns out there was a glitch in the program. The fictional App had created a promotion that was completely illegal (on a number of fronts) and would surely end up with the Sponsor in some hot water.

The moral of the story: “There is no App” for promotions. Promotions require knowledge, guidance, and experience. Each new ingredient has the ability to change the entire flavor of the promotion; and knowing how to combine those ingredients so that everything mixes together correctly is critical for all parties involved. Now, here at Marden-Kane, we’ve been cooking for over 50 years making promotions our bread and butter.

Guest post by Matt Bonatti an Account Executive in Marden-Kane's NY Office. Matt can be reached at MBonatti@MardenKane.com.

Newly Revised Puerto Rico Sweepstakes Regulations

2009-11-13T10:10:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the recent amendments to the Sweepstakes and Games of Chance Regulation in Puerto Rico, effective November 27, 2009 promoters and advertisers will be able to conduct promotions in Puerto Rico without the previously restraining legal barriers. Until now marketers were forced to void promotions and exclude residents of Puerto Rico in participating in stateside promotions. This benefits both the 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico and promotion marketers.

Changes in Puerto Rico’s Sweepstakes and Games of Chance Regulation align the Commonwealth’s rules and definitions with regulations in the United States promulgated by the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and individual States.

Highlights of the new regulation include:
• Rules certification by a notary is no longer needed.
• Notarized certification of drawing procedures is no longer required.
• Notarized certification of game piece security codes is no longer needed.
• Odds statements have been simplified to conform to typical odds statements.
• Tax liability, which was placed on the promoter, is now on the entrant.
• Requirement that full rules appear in print ad that covers more than two-thirds of the page is no longer needed.
• The requirement that the rules be published, announced and disseminated into Spanish is no longer needed. Now, you just need to publish the rules in the same language that the advertising appears in.
• An express provision defining "abbreviated rules" has been added, the regulation provides for the use of abbreviated rules in advertising as long as they point to where the full rules are published.
• Although rules still need to be published you can now satisfy that requirement by posting them to a website.
• The timing of which a winner must claim prize (from which he/she is notified) is still listed as 30 days, with and added exception of ”unless otherwise specified in the official rules”.

To view the full Regulation, please visit the Department of Consumer Affairs in Puerto Rico (DACO) at: http://www.gobierno.pr/daco/inicio.

Guest post by Gina Staffa an Account Supervisor in Marden-Kane's NY Office. Gina can be reached at Gina@MardenKane.com.

Contest Best Practices

2009-10-14T16:04:00.006-04:00

Want to run an online contest, but not sure what to do or where to start? This is a quick primer:

Bring in Marden-Kane early

Define objectives and select best contest "processes"

Keep the contest simple!

Offer prizes that resonate with the target audience

Run contest for 6 to 8 weeks

Have Official Rules follow process flow

Limit number of finalists to 10

Offer finalists a "tool kit" with necessary elements to generate more views / votes and free media impressions for the brand

Open voting for 7 to 10 days

Hide public vote count

Monitor blogs

Allow 3 to 5 days for winner clearance

Minimize legal vulnerability with appropriate release forms

Fulfill prizes quickly

Analyze results

Optimize

Repeat!

Remember the goal of the promotion should be to engage your target audience while reinforcing brand attributes.

Communication… In today’s world what does that word really mean?

2009-09-14T16:30:00.009-04:00

Email, text and other electronic communications allow us to conduct business without ever having to speak to someone. We can delegate projects, assignments, tasks, etc., all by email. In some cases I actually feel like I participate in an entire meeting via email. When I look back at the 30+ emails that have gone back and forth between colleagues all on the same topic, I ask myself, “Why didn’t we all just call a quick 5 minute meeting to resolve this issue rather than these 30 non-emotional, non-vocal, non-face-to-face emails all flying back and forth and crossing over?”

Yes, there are benefits to email. It is instant. It gives us a chance to think about and research what we want to say. It allows us to communicate with someone even when they might not be available. You can assign projects and tasks to a group of people and everyone knows who is responsible for what. Etc…

Email has its down side as well. It gives us the ability to ignore something. To say it got lost in SPAM. It makes it easier to “pass the buck” by just forwarding the email on to someone else and asking them to take care of it. Without facial expression or tone of voice, many emails get misunderstood and/or misread.

So it makes me wonder... Will our voices become extinct? Have we forgotten the power of face-to-face communication? Eye contact, body language, and tone of voice are very powerful tools that will never come across in an email or text message!

Guest post via Peggy Seeloff, a Vice President in our NY Office who is responsible for account management and promotion administration. Peggy can be reached at Peggy@MardenKane.com.

Marketing to a Latin Beat

2009-08-19T08:53:00.003-04:00

“Oye Como Va” (Hey what’s up?) was asked by Carlos Santana in his 1970 hit song. Now more than 46 million Latinos/Hispanics living in the US (as per the 2008 US census) are asking us marketers the same question. As they should be, especially since they are quoted as being the fastest growing consumer segment, with an annual spending power of more than $863 billion.

Although the Hispanic market can be broken down into distinct segments or national origin they are all unified by a common language. Spanish is likely to remain the language of preference among US Latinos. In fact, Univision is now the #5 network in the US behind ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. 56% of Latino adults respond best to advertising when it is presented in Spanish. They consume every type of media, but have a special attraction to television and radio. And, overall Hispanic households are 3.5 times more likely to respond to a direct mail solicitation than a non-Hispanic household. However, they only receive 1/10 the mail than the general market does.

Hispanic marketing is on the rise or it should be! Marketers shouldn’t just translate and transfer their ideas that work for their general market to the Hispanic market. Hispanic consumers are in a different category whereby more awareness and sensitivity to their brand usage, cultural, religious and market/product attributes should be taken into consideration. What is important to them may not be important to the general public and therefore that is what we should target and market.

Hispanics are becoming increasingly salient in communities all across the US. They are influencing tastes and changing the ways in which society overall enjoys and consumes products, services and media. The sheer number of Spanish speakers in communities reinforces the use of the language and its value for communication. It represents an emotional attachment to the culture. Would you believe that there are more Spanish speaking people in the US than in South America? Hence, the English message is not reaching the market, neither through broadcast or Direct Mail.

Marketing to Hispanics in Spanish and English is the smart thing to do. But knowing your target is the critical first step toward truly understanding whom you are marketing to and the basis for developing a communications strategy that will effectively deliver that audience. As the Hispanic market grows it reinforces its identity and emotional connection with the language and culture. Also, continued immigration is likely to reinforce the importance of the Spanish language in the US. Marketers are advised to consider the Spanish language as an important cultural bonding mechanism with Hispanic consumers.

What research tells us about the Hispanic consumer?
· They spend approximately $120 billion on food and beverages
· They spend 19 to 48% more than non-Hispanics on dairy products, fats and oils, beef, poultry and fresh produce.
· They also make more than twice the number of trips for grocery shopping than the average US shopper and spend 34% more on groceries than the average shopper.
· They are purchasing new cars at four times the rate of the general population.
· They frequent malls more than other ethnic groups and tend to stay the longest.
· They do more social shopping and often shop in groups
· They are avid department-store shoppers. Stores including J.C. Penney and Sears have been actively courting this segment of the market with bi-lingual Web sites and advertising.
· They depend on their cell phones as their primary means of telephone communication.
· They tend to acculturate, not assimilate, and show a strong preference for keeping their cultural traditions and language.

What can marketers do?
· With Hispanic consumers representing an increasingly larger share of food and beverage sales in the US, retail and food service operators can offer products that cater to their distinct taste and ingredient preferences.
· Commit more dollars doing original creative work in Spanish and seeking more strategic insights into the US Hispanic consumers.
· Talk to the Hispanic market in its language – there is a 61% increase in ad recall by using the Spanish language.
· Promote cross-over work (culturally relevant English advertising).
· Focus on highly populated Hispanic areas.
· Use in-store bilingual signage and communications.
· Be sensitive to Hispanic relationships, unique values and customs with brands, product, store and sellers.
· Attempt to be more contemporary, urban and ethnic.
· Use messaging that is culturally relevant.
· Recognize the role that your Hispanic consumers have in educating other consumers and setting trends.

And before I go any further, let’s not forget the Hispanic Youth, which represent 20% of the total U.S. teen population. In fact, more than one-third of all U.S. Hispanics are 18 or younger, and half of all Hispanics in the U.S. are under 26. They are an “economic force to be reckoned with” having a purchasing power of $25 billion. How do we reach them? The top three media consumed by Hispanic youth are the internet, TV and radio. They listen to 23% more radio per week than the general teen market. And, strangely enough they don’t read newspapers, rarely pick up magazines and don’t watch Spanish-language TV. Start with social and music, use multiple platforms and target often and early.

Who has stepped up to the dance floor?
Wal-Mart - is readying a new concept store aimed squarely at the needs of Hispanic consumers. Supermercado de Walmart will carry specialty foods as well as an in-store cocina (kitchen) where families can dine. Through Wal-Mart's store-of-the-community program, stores are merchandised to meet the diverse needs of local customers in each community. By listening to their consumers, they are able to design a store to include the products and services they need and want. The store will also include an in-store cocina, where traditional Hispanic food will be served with seating area for families to relax and enjoy meals together.
Best Buy – completely embraced one of the greatest benefits of the Internet -- its global distribution -- and created a U.S. Hispanic and international e-commerce success story by building sales with U.S. Hispanics and Spanish–speakers internationally. Best Buy embraced visitors from Mexico and Latin America, encouraging them to buy online with foreign credit cards and pick up in-store when they visited the U.S. While the site generated e-commerce sales, Best Buy also heard from their store associates that many U.S. Hispanics printed out pages from the site and visited and made purchase in-store with a better understanding about what they wanted.
Unilever - Their ViveMejor (“Live Better”) program now in its third year continues to evolve. This multi-brand campaign addresses the personal care and cooking needs of Hispanic women through such avenues as expert advice and valuable coupons from popular Unilever brands. As well as their ongoing beauty and food campaigns they also include national television integrations on morning and evening shows shown on Spanish-language television network Univision, public relations outreach, print advertorials in best-selling Hispanic magazines, direct mail, and retail events in the top Hispanic cities across the United States. All of the content from the ViveMejor magazine is now available online at ViveMejor.com. The newly redesigned Web site aims to enhance consumers’ online experience through a fresh, simple-to-use layout allowing quick access to recipes, cooking demonstration videos, beauty tips and high-value coupons.

Post via Fae Savignano, a Senior Vice President in our NY Office who leads our Security Printing and Seeding Team as well as our Hispanic Marketing Department. Fae can be reached at Fae@MardenKane.com.

The Premium Industry – Then and Now

2009-08-14T10:38:00.003-04:00

Back in the day ….when there were no computers (that’s right there was a time without computers!) and you did not have accessibility to the Internet for shopping and sourcing of merchandise and new products, we relied on premium representatives to do the leg work for us. Premium Reps acted as the sales force and direct agents for various manufacturers (big and small). They went literally door to door to industry members hauling their large catalogs, binders and samples around to show us what was new and exciting. We trusted and depended on them to do the research, find a specific item the client was looking for even before it became available at retail, provide merchandise at lower costs than what was advertised, find vendors who would customize whatever it was, and even drop ship to anywhere possible. What we couldn't find in their binders was usually only a phone call away. They would jump at the call and start the search for us – and be able to find that proverbial “needle in a haystack”!

So what happened? The World Wide Web took over! While this did not occur overnight it definitely had a huge impact on the premium business and how it was, and is now conducted. Can we still find a million widgets customized with your clients logo, blister packed and shipped to 10,000 locations by the end of the month? Sure you can. It’s not “the what” but “the how” that has changed. The Internet provided a million versions of “how”. It offered instant access, research and purchasing of merchandise online - sometimes at lower costs and in many cases with free shipping. Our dependency on Premium Reps lessened as comparative shopping and product sourcing became easier and quicker. The print catalogs and large binders were replaced by online icons, jpegs, etc.

Merchandise as well has gone through a similar transition; much of the merchandise that was popular back in the day became outdated as consumer electronics took over. At first it was the bigger TV now it’s the smallest computer. Items that were once only a luxury are now a necessity.

Yes, the years and progress has changed the industry. We no longer need to meet face to face with premium sales reps; we no longer need them to bring in their catalogs, binders and samples. We can almost always find anything we need by researching the item by just going to a website.

Yes, the Internet is a wonderful source for research and in many cases provides us with instant gratification when we are looking for a particular item. This transition from how it was then and how it is now has provided us many advantages and we cannot stand in the way of progress - but we also cannot forget that it does not exclude the fact that these Premium Reps who have serviced us for many years and continue to provide their expertise are still a vital part of our industry and we still, more often than not, turn to them for help.

Post via Jessie Auletti, a Vice President in our NY Office who is responsible for prize sourcing and procurement. Jessie can be reached at Jessie@MardenKane.com.

“Cash for Clunkers”

2009-08-07T12:46:00.004-04:00

Quite a buzz has stirred up recently about the Federal Government’s new “CARS” program, affectionately known as “Cash for Clunkers”, where motorists are given cash incentives to trade-in old or obsolete cars for new, efficient ones. Sadly, the marketing and promotions industry has been undertaking its own cash for clunkers program for some time. In this case, the cash is thrown AT the clunker, in the form of a faulty execution of what are often very solid promotion concepts.

How many times have you seen a promotional budget blown to bits for a clunker of an execution? Messaging bogged down by creative that wasn’t thought through, confusing entry forms, website code that crashes browsers or sloppy rules missing information regulators require? And when it comes time to fulfill the offer, how many times do the ugly effects of miscalculating projected response and fulfillment costs rear their heads?

In this day and age, marketers simply do not have the budgetary margins of error if something goes wrong. And regardless of the state of the economy, the monetary costs of a poor execution pale in comparison to the damage done when an otherwise enthusiastic customer turns sour trying to make his way through a clunker. A confusing form that wont load or receipt of a premium months late and damaged means an unhappy customer, at best. A lost one, at worst.

To avoid turning an otherwise fantastic promotion concept into a clunker, it’s important to recognize the need for strong and professional resources to provide the support necessary to make sure your promotional execution shines. With budget pressures higher and higher, there is temptation to take a “do it yourself” approach. But agencies like Marden-Kane not only take the work off your hands. They possess the expertise and experience necessary to ensure your promotions are executed properly and efficiently. They guide you through the possible pitfalls, legal and execution ally to ensure concept meets reality with great results.

Post via Richard Fascianella, an Interactive Account Director in our NY Office. Rich can be reached at RichardF@MardenKane.com.

Establishing Emotional Connections & Personal Interactions Between Brand & Consumer

2009-07-28T11:09:00.005-04:00

The methods to reach consumers have expanded over time and consumers have grown tired of the proliferation of advertising and marketing intrusions. Hence, the popularity of TiVo, Pop-Up blockers, Opt-Out and Do- Not –Call. Yet, consumers will respond to marketing initiatives that humanize their experience with the brand and establish a personal and meaningful connection.

The current marketplace offers many innovative ways to establish a positive connection through advertising, in-store, on-site events and the web.

Advertising: My list of the top Super Bowl ads includes Coke-“Mean Joe Green”, Budweiser Clydesdales “Respect” ad, the subsequent “Heroes” ad, and the most recent 2009 Budweiser “Fetch” ad. They all have an “emotional” human component as do the Hallmark commercials for special occasions and any commercial that makes me laugh or just plain feel good.
Technology: Brand-specific web sites that allow for customers to build cumulative value over time, surveys, loyalty club, tell-a-friend, and community. Connect with consumers on multiple levels and encourage frequent, habit- forming interaction. Many marketers encourage consumers to “enter once a day” for the duration of a Sweepstakes program to bring them back to their site.
Retail: The Intellifit Design Studio is a pop-up store that includes a virtual fitting room, samples of products and swatches for look and feel, customers can create and purchase custom made products –both off-line and on-line. More at: http://www.it-fits.info/CustomApparelCenter.asp. Another custom site is: IndiDenim.com. Trendwatching.com talks about British clothing chain TopShop that has installed self-photography. Customers can check their pose in a large mirror and receive a digital photograph. Build-A-Bear Workshop allows consumers to create their own bear and other stuffed animals by choosing stuff, stitch, fluff and dress: http://www.buildabear.com/aboutUs/contactUs/findastore
Experiential: Experiential event marketing is effective across many product categories and across gender and age. Destinations include shopping malls, local fairs, concerts, sports arenas, transportation terminals and heavily trafficked rush hour locations. This marketing tactic allows consumers to participate in an “experience” where they can try a product in conjunction with some form of entertainment or event with friends. Cell phones (text-messaging campaigns at select venues), cars (parked outside lifestyle events and venues) or special invitation test -drive venues that include food and fun are some examples.

Personalize my experience with your brand. Emotional and meaningful connections will build brand loyalty and should guide marketing initiatives.

Post via Marden-Kane Vice President Rosemary Stein from our Chicago office. Rosemary can be reached at Rosemary@MardenKane.com.

Rethinking Your Homepage?

2009-07-27T15:12:00.022-04:00

With over 250 million users, has the time come to migrate the corporate web site (and by extension, the brand and promotion microsites) to Facebook?

At the moment, it makes perfect sense:

Companies / brands can now get vanity Facebook URL's
Available publishing tools, many of which are free, limits spend and the need to utilize in-house technical or agency resources.

Conversations can be continuous

Acquired Fans can be rewarded (or remarketed to) with special and/or targeted offers, rewards and promotions (see my earlier post on Starbucks). Fans can also easily "share" information with their friends and family, etc. This sharing extends the reach further and perhaps includes a "qualifying" message from the sender.

Content is dynamic (versus static web copy) with the business user (a resource in Marketing, PR, etc.) responsible for its delivery.

While seeming to be beneficial, there are risks to this direction. What is popular today may not be tomorrow. Just look at Netscape and AOL (plus tons of other leading firms) whose popularity was eclipsed by new entrants. Marketing focused technology solutions designed and delivered smartly are truly a destabilizing and enabling force in the marketplace.

So what is an organization to do?

My advice is to simply do both -- maintain the corporate or brand presence, but extend the reach and frequency of the conversation. Use the social media platforms to provide value with "real-time" content and perhaps conversations. However, keep in mind that it is important to ensure those who do not Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn can still engage and be engaged with the brand.

Today, brands need more than a "push/pull" strategy to engage and retain their most loyal customers. They must bring the message to the place(s) where the customer resides online and in the near future, to their device of choice.

Yesterday (or it seems like yesterday) it was all about MySpace, today it is Facebook.

Thoughts on tomorrow?

Promotion Trends - Like Fashion, Everything Old is New Again

2009-07-22T10:21:00.003-04:00

In the early 1960’s a Broadway show came out, followed by the movie with the same title “Stop the World - I Want to Get Off”. Haven’t we all felt this way at one time or another, just Stop The World and let us catch our breath on what is happening around us; but we cannot, the evolution of time keeps marching on in a circle of life “La Ronde” (the round), from birth to death the same cycle repeats itself since the beginning of time. Sure, we have improved the quality of life through science, medicine, and technology; which subsequently has impacted our working conditions, retirement packages, and vacation travel. But the basic circle of life continues.

We in the promotion industry are caught up in a similar cycle which I call the “promotional cycle of life”. If we look back to the early 1960’s, the cradle of civilization for the promotion industry, there were but a handful of promotional agencies, trying to discover new and effective ways to promote promotional concepts. We at Marden-Kane came up with an idea of placing a thin layer of latex ink on a piece of paper and an instant win game was created, was this a flash in the pan…..hardly… almost 40 years later every state lottery is using this concept to generate billions of dollars in revenue.

In the early days of television the networks were dying for programming. Quiz shows started popping up like; the $64,000 Question, Twenty One, Password and Let’s Make a Deal, then within 10 years they faded. Fast forward to today, Password is back bigger than ever, Deal or No Deal is a mainstay at NBC, and the Price is Right has been running for over 20 years, in fact currently a whole Game Show Network has been created and operating.

To gain greater viewership in television, Watch and Win Programs were developed. Today this Watch and Win technique has translated to Text Messaging and Public Voting utilizing the Internet.

So the need to Stop the World today is not necessary, just look into our bank of 50 years of promotional innovations…..Yes ….. Good ideas never grow old

Post via Marden-Kane guest blogger, Paul Goldman EVP & Partner. Paul can be reached at Paul@MardenKane.com.

Is Social Media Free?

2009-07-22T09:26:00.001-04:00

There has been a lot of discussion with clients about the value of integrating Social Media into promotion plans. Some clients believe that since all the tools are widely available ("free"), that the efforts around Social Media should be provided for "free". This is where the disconnect often starts. While clients are correct in stating that creating a Facebook Fan Page, or Blog, or Twitter presence is relatively easy, they often forget that those efforts often need to be maintained / monitored on a 24/7/365 basis. Clients need to guide the agency on what they want their Social Media presence to be (or not to be) prior to jumping into this medium. Clients who utilize their Social Media presence for promotional activities or customer service inquiries need real-time resources (and possibly in-country resources) behind those efforts. For instance, while observing Dunkin Donuts most recent Facebook sweepstakes, I was curious if Dunkin responded to the myriad of questions Fans asked on products, store hours, locations, etc. If the Fans did not get a response back (or did not get the proper response), would they no longer be customers? A campaign is no longer "turn-key" when the participant can respond in a real time manner and tell their friends, who in turn tell their friends, and so on, and so on, and so on....

Loyalty programs rise as the economy declines …

2009-07-21T16:56:00.000-04:00

Participation in loyalty programs is on the rise, a sign that consumers are looking to make the money they spend work harder to stretch household budgets. Consumers clearly see the value in program participation and continue to leverage their activity seeking added value and using rewards to stretch dollars. According to Jupiter Research, more than 75 percent of consumers now have at least one loyalty card, and the number of people with two or more is estimated to be one-third of the shopping population. The greatest engagement increase is among 18 to 25 years old. This same group, were also most likely to enroll in rewards via new media mediums (social networking and text messaging).

Currently experiencing the upside of loyalty programs are Grocery and FoodService establishments such as Q Mart Marketplace, Albertson's, Brookshire's, H-E-B, and Winn-Dixie. In addition, Qdoba mobilized their loyalty program making activation easier and Wal-Mart has become more relevant to its Hispanic customers.

Brands, marketers and retailers alike have all been hard hit in this recession and are striving to find that silver lining within this never-ending storm. One thing we can all agree upon is that it is vital that we offer our customers a high level of service and convenience. Therefore, loyalty initiatives offered to customers who are eager to join programs, build relationships with their favorite brands and engage with new media channels may be our silver lining and the key to new revenue growth. Who doesn’t want to experience more frequent visits by regular customers, bigger average transactions, better margins and a stream of new faces drawn to attractive deals.

Starbucks Free Pastry Day

2009-07-21T12:24:00.005-04:00

Kudos to Starbucks (and not because they are a Marden-Kane client) on their recent Social Media efforts (and wins!). While Brands (and Agencies) are assessing the available platforms and their go-to-market strategies, Starbucks is walking the walk, and in a relatively short time frame.

In today's economic climate where "gourmet" coffee could be considered a luxury, Starbucks is using Social Media to drive relevancy and loyalty for the brand and the in-store experience. From the free ice cream coupon (delivered using an Instant Win Game platform) to today's Free Pastry Day coupon (print and mobile versions), their efforts have been smart.

Don't take my word for it, just look at their 3.5 million Facebook Fans and the references in Social Media blogs such as Mashable - http://mashable.com/2009/07/21/starbucks-free-pastry-day/. A quick Google search for Starbucks Free Pastry returned over 250,000 search results. Furthermore, Starbucks was named the most engaged brand in a report recently issued by Wetpaint/Altimeter Group (available at www.ENGAGEMENTdb.com).

How did they do it?

From what I can glean, they first did their homework by listening and responding to their customers. They turned this feedback into new products and opportunities to drive deeper relationships with customers. They gave customers a reason to engage in two-way conversations. Most importantly though, they had organizational support coupled with top-down champions in leadership.

I will be curious to see how these efforts impact the bottom line and what the respective ROI's are, but am reminded that repeated tactics (or what Paul Slovak the Marden-Kane COO refers to as Catalysts) are required to acquire and retain share of consumers wallets.

A Seat at the Table

2009-07-18T09:48:00.003-04:00

As most promotion professionals will attest, no two promotions are created the same. Even a "simple" sweepstakes has unique variables, such as:

Relevancy to target audience
Duration
Prize pool
Seasonal factors
Means of entry
Awareness vehicles
Mobile
Social Media extensions....

Too often, clients ask "how will our promotion do?" when the concept has been fully baked (by others) and collateral is about to hit the marketplace. As such, it is important that clients engage their promotion partners at the earliest phases of the planning process (e.g., ideation, brainstorm, etc.) and include them on discussions on possible media tactics / mediums.

While the industry has yet to provide meaningful benchmarks to help derive promotion success (due to what I believe is the hesitancy on clients to provide proprietary data), promotion agencies (such as Marden-Kane) have the implementation experience (and battle scars) to help guide the discussion.

In presentations to clients, I always include a "Field of Dreams" slide to remind clients that just because you launch a promotion, that in and of itself, will not guarantee participation. Clients need to utilize available media (paid and unpaid) and tools to drive awareness for what is really a brief moment in time. Technology has enabled brands to bring the promotion to where their target resides (think Facebook Fan Pages). Furthermore, viral extensions, such as virtual branded gifts (with embedded content), can help engage your target audience and prompt pass along to friends and family.

Promotions do not need to be complicated. They just need to be relevant , timely and smartly executed.

This gives new meaning to the phrase Face Value.

2009-06-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

Are you winning the race to expand your number of personal friends on Facebook, Linkedin connections, Twitter followers? Are you setting a goal for your brand to do the same? Be careful. There is a service out there that is trying to make sense of your personal value within your network. It’s not quantity, it’s the quality of your network and the interactions within it. Comments you receive, tags, posts, invites you get, and general chatter within your network that drive the score. You'll have high Face Value when the content you put out there matters (according to this tool). Right now limited to Facebook but no doubt soon to be expanded.

http://tinyurl.com/qek9s3

Marden-Kane ranks #9 for Interactive Agencies in the 2009 Promo 100

2009-06-04T10:08:00.000-04:00

The rankings are just out in the 2009 Promo 100. Marden-Kane is ranked #59 overall and #9 for Interactive agencies.

Other agencies on the Interactive list:
1. Digitas
2. Hawkeye
3. ePrize
4. Big Communications, Inc.
5. Mr. Youth
6. Gage
7. Full House
8. Oddcast, Inc.
9. Marden-Kane, Inc.
10. Renegade

For the full list go to: http://www.b2bmarketingtrends.com/Webcasts/2009_Promo100.pdf

Don't Be A Twitter Quitter

2009-05-29T09:27:00.000-04:00

Twitter is a place to build your personal brand. Who you are and what you stand for professionally and personally. It is a land of experimentation in messaging. It provides near real time ability to see response to a specific comment. As with any branding campaign you can't expect to be noticed with one, ten or perhaps 100 updates.

Same goes for cracking the code with promotional tweets. It is a channel that takes time and a lot of experimentation to see what message will be meaningful to twitter users. Much is being written about whether or not social media messaging can influence consumer behavior toward a product brand or service. No one knows the answer yet but there are insights to be gained using experimentation in building your personal brand. If your designated twitter person is having trouble nailing down who they are, how can they be expected to effectively communicate on behalf of a brand?

More here.

http://econsultancy.com/blog/3908-are-you-a-twitter-quitter?utm_medium=email&utm_source=topic

Good luck and good tweeting.

2009-05-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

Twitter need not be a lonely place

Here is a common experience. You create a twitter account, for you, your brand etc., and post something of what you believe to be of immense interest. Then you wait. But nothing happens. So you dial it up a bit and go for the heart strings; often of the cute, or cuddly variety. I mean who isn’t interested in helping raise money for Animal Shelters just for clicking a link. Turns out you need a little help from your friends, in this case friends that are making it their business to help take away the loneliness of new twitter users.

Mr. Tweet is ready to become you own personal networking assistant.

http://mrtweet.net.

On top of finding like minded individuals happy to read your tweets you’ll get some reporting tools that can help you understand who is reading, responding or otherwise seeing value in your existence (on twitter at least).

My sweepstakes got picked up on the blogs. Is that bad? No it's good!

2009-04-30T11:11:00.000-04:00

When a sweepstakes generates a million entries it is likely caused by the inclusion in many major online sweepstakes gaming sites. Sites of this variety have increased exponentially with the monetization of page views for online advertising purposes. An initial investigation of a recent sweepstakes turned up the following placements which is probably a small subset of the total number of sites where the sweepstakes appeared.

powersweepstaking.com; vacationstakes.com; freesamplesite.com; bigbigforum (blog).com.

Do we consider this good?

Yes, and it may be made better. Many of the entries came from borrowed interest from the prize offered. Although the initial interest was not in the product, is fair to conclude that each entry can be seen as an advertising impression for the product. The relative effectiveness of the impression is determined by brand messaging, logo and design elements on the registration page.

How do you take advantage of this?

To increase engagement from these large universes consider placing promotional advertising on these sites through display ads and paid search. These placements take advantage of the organic traffic the sites generate. Provide links to your home page instead of the promotion registration page or in some cases include home page navigation functions in addition to the sweepstakes registration information. This strengthens the brand messaging and also gives opportunity to add offers, product information etc.

Acknowledging this universe of “browsers” in structuring the promotion and the creative of the registration page can leverage this audience involvement and redirect it towards your brand messaging.

Let the (House) Party Begin!

2009-04-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

I never like being one of the first guests at a house party. For one thing the hosts are usually still putting finishing touches to the décor and most importantly still chilling the beverages. I find the coldest beverages can be found about an hour into a party. After that the replenishment bottles mix in with, well you get the point. Here is maybe a way to get past the warm drinks.

http://corp.houseparty.com/

Today may not be the best day to mention viral in any sense with the Swine Flu concern and all but this does add some pieces to the whole viral marketing puzzle. Event marketing and sampling have always been about authenticity. Having someone you know as the party starter is arguably even better. Or is that; event better?

The latest "So-sational"Story features two things that should never go together.

2009-04-16T10:26:00.000-04:00

Well the latest example of knuckle heads creating user generated stupidity has spread through social media. Truly a So-sational story! This story features bodily fluids and pizza; two things that were never intended to mix. Bad news swims with the social media current, flowing freely. The more disturbing or disgusting the faster the current flows.

http://tiny.cc/zJKum

So you think your brand is social? But how social?

2009-04-08T15:47:00.001-04:00

This is a way cool tool for finding out the social index of your brand.

http://vitrue.com

For fun check out your own personal brand against colleagues & friends.

See your results instantly.

Rule # 1: Stay Clear of Disingenuous Posts & Tweets

2009-04-06T11:40:00.000-04:00

Lack of measurable ROI in the near term is the main reason senior marketers remain unsure about the value of social media. To accelerate the idea of accountability many marketers are being tempted test the limits of what is genuine content and what is an outright solicitation. Recently the CEO of a major corporation twittered a link to a new TV spot. The feedback was less than friendly. So it seems that the more well known the brand the more difficult it is to slip in any sort of sell message.

Kids get away just fine with hand made signs selling lemonade; it is cute. It is not so cute when big brands hang out for sale signs on Twitter / Facebook etc. It's no surprise organizations are undecided in solving ths challenge.

More here: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/digital/e3ie2a94edbc5b0a7c1150d6cbf4741dede?pn=1

Back to rule #1

Whew! Good News in Online Media & Promotions

2009-04-01T16:22:00.000-04:00

Finally some numbers that don't make you wince. This report on media spend mirrors our experience over the last several weeks, that requests for quotes and the desire to build more integrated promotions is starting to drive conversations again.

http://chiefmarketer.com/advertising/0401-online-advertising-grows-2008/

Another benefit from the budget tightening is the increased emphasis on measurement and analysis. We are emerging smarter and tougher!

CBS Cares -- Not Your Typical PSA Sweepstakes Promotion

2009-03-31T11:21:00.000-04:00

CBS flush with new ideas for PSA
Network promotes colonoscopy sweepstakes
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

CBS is promoting a colonoscopy sweepstakes in primetime.
As part of its CBS Cares public service initiative, the network is offering a four-night stay in New York to one lucky winner. Oh -- and a free colonoscopy, to be performed by Dr. Paul Miskovitz, a leading gastroenterologist and expert on colorectal cancer.
The tongue-in-cheek (pun intended) spots feature over-the-top "Late Show With David Letterman" announcer Alan Kalter, along with Broadway star Patti LuPone, lying smack down on a hospital bed.
In other words, they don't look like your normal, snooze-inducing public service announcements But the contest is very real.
"We've done a lot of PSAs surrounding getting a colonoscopy, and all the things Katie Couric has done," said CBS Corp. planning/policy/government relations exec VP Marty Franks, "but there was also a feeling from the medical community that we ought to try humor."
Franks said CBS has gotten some blowback from people who don't like the idea of such topics being freely discussed on TV. And the Eye has been cautious about when the spots air (they've been seen during such sitcoms as "How I Met Your Mother" and reality shows like "The Amazing Race,"). But otherwise, the reaction has been "terrific," he said.
"We don't want PSAs to be part of the background noise," Franks added.
The contest itself is open to U.S. residents between the ages of 40 and 79 only. Take that, younger viewers!
Anyone entering the contest because of the free trip to New York ought to first brush up on what exactly a colonoscopy entails. Warns the network: "The hardest part is the preparation the night before when you drink a laxative."

The Most Important UGC Video Contest Ever!

2009-03-19T11:13:00.000-04:00

Over 10 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every hour. Who can argue how much fun it is to grab your guitar, and give it the old college try at covering the latest from Avenged Sevenfold. UGC sites were born to reward these creators who offer no promise of quality and no excuse for lack of practice. Which raises the question; how do you get to Carnegie Hall? No it's not just practice, practice, practice. It’s entering the YouTube Symphony Contest.

http://bigfatmarketingblog.com/2009/03/19/how-do-you-click-to-carnegie-hall-youtube-shows-the-way/

This promotion captures all that is great with the platform. Inclusive with few limitations on what you can and can't do providing consistent creative interpretation across languages and cultures. The scale is overwhelming; 23 countries with nearly as many individual language and legal requirements. Having been an integral part of the structure makes it easy for us to see this as the most important video contest ever!

Social Media Marketing Is A Contact Sport!

2009-03-12T09:49:00.000-04:00

And the number one messaging strategy for social media... Just Be You! Wow that sounds simple. But to put it into some context it is you the marketer, keeping a live connection with your customers establishing credibility in a more authentic way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/business/smallbusiness/12social.ready.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

You've twittered and someone cares about your brand, now what?

2009-03-11T11:21:00.000-04:00

Great news, you've broken the ice with reciprocal tweets. Here is the OMG moment when you are speaking not to the autonomous masses but to a real person expecting to hear, and maybe see something of interest. If you are tempted to use the line "do you come here often" we can suggest the following alternative ideas and coaching tips.

Http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22181.asp

On the tactical front we are seeing success using sweepstakes, contests, and instant win devices to build Facebook fan groups, spread viral content and most recently distribute coupons. Now that we have made eye contact with users we're learning how to insert these devices into the conversation without disrupting it over the long term. It is a channel specific promotion strategy that compliments the way social media is consumed.

Online grocery shopping can't touch this technology.

2009-03-09T15:01:00.000-04:00

Sure I have ordered groceries online but I miss hand picking many items. The meat department, deli, produce and bakery items. The satisfaction I get in picking up and putting down a dozen or so steaks before I pick the "one" is equal to having gone out and tracked it for days. So I'm going "old school" and hunting down my dinner even if it comes packaged in a bag, box or carton. Standing in my way of course is the unnatural act (to me) of waiting in a check out line. So was I glad when Stop N' Shop finally rolled out "Scan It" to my local store.

http://www.physorg.com/news139225121.html.

Now I am touching and feeling my way to a full cart knowing that when I'm done my Scan It skips the lines and lets me escape with the booty. It's like pulling away from an EZ Pass tool plaza, looking back at the cash lines and thinking they just got owned. You'll need your Stop N' Shop card to get started. Next, grab the device from the kiosk located near the check out lines. Scan the bar code on your card and you are in business. All the sale items from from the card plus more that are unique to the device itself calculate savings as you shop. When you are done hunting and gathering find the Scan It reader at the self service desk to electronically transfer what's in your cart. Follow some simple instructions on the credit card terminal and you are out of there.

Smart Marketers Advertise During A Recession. You Should Too - Adrants

2009-03-06T17:16:00.000-05:00

Smart Marketers Advertise During A Recession. You Should Too - Adrants

FT.com / Business Life - Coupon clippers go digital

2009-02-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

FT.com / Business Life - Coupon clippers go digital

PROMOTE U.S.

2009-02-25T09:27:00.000-05:00

FROM THE DESK OF MARC WORTSMAN

Promotion marketing is all about “stimulus”. From a cents-off coupons to multi-year incentive programs we as promotion marketers help our clients sell their ideas, products and services to diverse groups nationally and often on a global scale.

The State of the Union address highlighted a number of critical challenges facing our country. We listened to the President speak in part about the economy, housing, job creation - and it got us thinking about how promotion marketing can be used to help stimulate our economy.

In response to the State of the Union here are some promotion tactic thought starters from our staff:

JOB SEARCH

Idea: When you spot a “Help Wanted” sign in a store window Twitter the ZIP Code, store name and address.

Idea: For Internet access providers, provide subscribers with “free internet access days” to help those using the Internet to job search.

RESTORING CONFIDENCE

Idea: Hollywood directors/studios create trailers highlighting examples of what’s being done by individuals to help create a “New America”.

Idea: Provide a tax credit to persons who volunteer a minimum number of hours monthly in their communities.

CONSERVING RESOURCES

Idea: Recycling centers offer free fluorescent light bulbs in exchange for empty bottles and aluminum cans.

We’ll be adding more ideas to the PROMOTE U.S. list so check this page again soon. It’s our goal to offer tactics that collectively create a better future for all of us.

CBS Sweeps Administered by MK Offers Unique Prize: a Colon Exam

2009-02-25T09:20:00.000-05:00

From PROMO Magazine:

http://promomagazine.com/contests/news/cbs-colon-exam-0225/

Promotion marketing agency Marden-Kane celebrates 50 Year Anniversary.

2009-02-23T12:22:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 23, 2009 -- Marden-Kane, Inc., a breakthrough promotion marketing agency is celebrating their 50 year anniversary in a year long celebration. Marden Kane is synonymous with the creative development and implementation of all forms of promotional games of chance including sweepstakes, contests, and instant win games. It has won industry recognition and has received multiple awards from the Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) for work done on behalf of their Fortune 2000 client roster.

To honor the milestone Marden-Kane is launching a new website www.mk50in09.com where visitors will find a wealth of information including a sampling of their work, biographies of the staff, some fun and games plus an innovative sweepstakes. Visitors will earn points by interacting with the site and can then use points to enter many different drawings for prizes. The sampling of the sweepstakes application provides an interesting and compelling way to demonstrate to clients and potential new clients how this may fit with their 2009 promotion plans.

For more go to http://www.prweb.com/releases/Marden-Kane/50Anniversary/prweb2001064.htm

Women Over 55 Take Facebook by Storm

2009-02-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

Women Over 55 Take Facebook by Storm

Better thinking beats bigger spending

2009-02-11T10:17:00.000-05:00

It’s Q1 2009; budgets are freshly minted and everyone is off happily executing strategic plans created six months ago. Not likely. The current consumer malaise is spawning breakthrough approaches. They DON’T need to cost more, just work harder. Great evidence is Intuit Turbo Tax and their use of Twitter, MySpace and Facebook as platforms to run a trivia contest; www.superstatuscontest.com. It’s a brilliant way to get the DIY tax prep crowd to talk up the simplicity of Turbo Tax. Creating questions that directly reinforce the product benefit and posting answers in their status updates adds an element of authenticity. Best yet is the extra leverage created by linking the three most popular social networks together by increasing chances of winning. An experiment of sorts but a pretty safe bet this mobile army will respond enthusiastically. Better thinking beats bigger spending any day.

The Big Fat Marketing Blog » A New Virtual World Symphony

2008-12-23T14:23:00.003-05:00

The Big Fat Marketing Blog » A New Virtual World Symphony

iPhone Applications Even Santa Can Use

2008-12-22T11:44:00.001-05:00

Santa has a lot of last minute stuff to "buy" after all the elves can't make everything. It helps if he shop in route!

A friend of mine was in giving me tutorial on the applications available for iphone recently. On a train ride back from the Big Apple he said check this out. He used his iphone to take a pic of his wrist watch. Then he sent the pic through an amazon app and waited.

In 5 minutes an assortment of buying choices appeared on the screen based on his input. You have to admit it is very interesting platform to deliver promotional messaging.