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How to Promote Customer Relations

1-800-Flowers.com has developed a wonderful promotional platform which should serve them for years. They are collecting and promoting stories about how people have reconnected with friends and family. The web site with the contest is okay, but the best part are the community promotions they run. They will go to a school or community center and run an after-school workshop where kids and senior citizens learn and practice using online tools to stay connected with friends and family. Flower arrangements and coupons are distributed at these events, of course.

• 1-800-Flowers micro site: Share your story at Reconnections.com
• Promo Magazine story about community promotions: 1-800-FLOWERS.com Brings Kids, Seniors Online and Together (2007-Dec-21)

Our mission is to help people connect with the important people in their lives. Reconnect today!

Nissan Takes Over Heroes

Nissan will use "Heroes" as ground zero for an integrated effort around its forthcoming crossover, Nissan Rogue. The launch will be the season premiere of "Heroes." It will be sponsored by Nissan, which will "own" the show, so no other marketer will advertise. The Rogue will also be driven by the main character in the premiere. from Mediapost Marketing Daily: Nissan Ties Rogue Campaign to NBC's 'Heroes', 2007-June-22, by Karl Greenberg

My comment: Sponsorship continues to replace advertising as companies look for a way to make a meaningful connection with their audience without interrupting them. Nissan is lucky they can afford to not just hop on the bandwagon but also push every other advertiser off as well. Sometimes I think we may be returning to the arts patronage system that supported artists during the Renaissance.

Ask for Natural Synergy

Okay, so Ask.com and Ask A Ninja each have a target market of just about anybody, so when that happens it's easier to, like, hook up, but those Ninja are rather wily, and you should maybe ask yourself "Is there some entertainer my company should hook up with?" (This will all make more sense and be more fun if you follow the links.) And don't miss the totally awesome metrics at the bottom of this excerpt.

ChasNote: Ask.com Enlists Ask A Ninja For Brand Campaign at ChasNote. 2007-May-19, by Chas Edwards

The campaign is smart at one (very simple) level in that it ties together banner ads with integrated, co-branded messages in the video programming. At another level, it's even smarter in that the Ninja (the featured act) rather than Ask.com (the marketer) makes the call-to-action. The data from the campaign's first 20 hours are astounding. One out of every twelve viewers of the Ninja's 'Ninja Sayings' video skit went to Ask.com, queried 'ninjuice' and watched the bonus video that the Ninja produced especially for those 'certified search ninjas' who completed the assignment. An 8.3% rate of conversion. For comparison, imagine a conventional banner that delivers a terrific click-through rate, say 0.4%. Then assume a whopping 25% of those clickers actually test-drive the product. Even that record-breaking performance would add up to only a 0.1% rate of conversion. The team effort by Ask.com and Ask A Ninja did 83 TIMES better.

Funding Decencies

Instead of sponsoring a charity event or a sports team, how about a fund-raising drive which asks people to pay for the privilege of using something they get all the time for free? New York ad man David Droga came up with the idea of restaurants collecting $1 from patrons for each glass a water. Tent cards on the tables promote the progam, which funds fresh water projects around the world. What commodity could you and your customers provide for others less fortunate? For instance, conferences are always handing out pencils. Maybe attendees could contribute $1 for school supplies for needy children.

BusinessWeek: UNICEF: Tapping the Power of Water, 2007-Mar-20, by Karyn McCormack

Tap water, Droga explains, is a "brand that no one owns" and is available in many metropolitan cities around the world. Plus, since the campaign rests on people making donations for their tap water, there are no costs for packing, bottling, and shipping the water. Marketing tap water is "a sustainable idea—that's why I like it so much," says Droga.

Kraft Takes People into New Territory

Kraft has been sponsoring a special holiday edition of People magazine for a few years but this year they are deepening the experience by adding scent-filled food ads, as well as scent to one of the editorial stories. This special edition will go out to about a million family-cooking oriented subscribers, and the People web site doesn't have anything about it so far. They promise the technology is much better than what's been used for perfume ads so far, with less unintended bleeding of the scent. Whether or not the technology takes off, the level of engagement with this issue of the magazine should still be powerful.

WSJ: Kraft Vies for Eyes -- and Noses, 2006-Nov-13, by Brian Steinberg

...Kraft believes the more a reader can play with the ad, the better the recall of its message, says Gary Gruneberg, director of media buying for Kraft Foods. The company is "challenging ourselves, our brands, our agencies to come up with creative ways to interact with consumers," he says....

T-Shirt Marketing

Two non-competitive marketers who share an audience have made a neat flip on the sponsorship concept. California-based surf/skate equipment supplier Split is supplying hip t-shirts to casual restaurants based in Hawaii called Wahoo's. A wide variety of trendy shirts are supplied free of charge to the restaurant with the clothing supplier's name writ large and the restaurant's name in small type on the sleeve. Split also hangs banners around the restaurant and the two companies may collaborate on some events soon.

Honolulu Star Bulletin: Uniform Decision, 2006-Aug-27, by Allison Schaefers (via Extra Texture)

Angela Malo said customers regularly ask where she buys her trendy T-shirts. "Customers always want to know where I shop and my niece begged me to send her my uniform -- I finally had to tell her that I couldn't give away my work clothes," Malo said. The pride Morales and Malo express in their uniforms is a two-for-one advertising win for Wahoo's Fish Taco and for Irvine, Calif.-based Split USA, both of whom reap equal benefits from a guerrilla marketing tactic that has reversed traditional sponsorship patterns.

Sponsoring Authenticity

The hip-hop music business is finding more opportunities to snag sponsors for their artists, but they are also very sensitive about creating partnerships that unleash the best for their artists. Ludacris is especially pleased to help promote the Pontiac Solstice, the type of car he loves, and partly because they needed visuals for a commercial, Pontiac funded a video.

BillboardBiz: Artists Finding 'Authenticity' In Brands, 2006-Sep-7, by Michael Paoletta

...Valerie Graves, chief creative officer of the Vigilante agency, which helmed the Solstice campaign, [says] “We’re living in an age of authenticity,” ... “When you saw Ludacris in the Solstice commercial, you really saw Ludacris".... Music World Entertainment founder/CEO Mathew Knowles... shared stories of his own dealings between brands... members of Destiny’s Child. Brand partnerships must be the right fit, Knowles said. During the early days of Destiny’s Child, he said he was bombarded with branding offers, the bulk of which he turned down. “You must always keep the artist’s reputation, image and credibility in mind when considering partnering with a brand.”

Sponsoring an Experience

When the internet media company Flavorpill got together with Anheuser-Busch, they didn't just place Budweiser Select ads on the sites or in the email newsletters which go out to hip urbanites looking for the coolest music and art shows. Instead, Anheuser-Busch funded the work of several artists to decorate the site and emails with beautiful images that contain understated references to the Budweiser Select logo. You can see all the artwork at www.flavorpill.com/select. BusinessWeek Jon Fine says that it's unusual for a media outlet to produce ads for a marketers, but newspapers create ads for their local clients all the time. What's really amazing is the breath-taking quality of the artwork. Were the artists happy to use the logo in exchange for exposure?

Flavorpill co-founder Sascha Lewis got his audience involved, too. Now they are voting on which artist should have their work for Select translated onto billboards.

This project is more than a "blurring of the line between media and agency." It's an amazing collaboration that benefits the players in every direction.

BusinessWeek: The Accidental Ad Agency, 2006-Sep-4, by Jon Fine

"One of the goals," says Lewis, is "to create as close as possible a seamless relationship between the media partner, aka the advertiser, and our content and our product." The Web "has created a [more] collaborative effort between the media vehicle and the creative content...than any medium in the past," says Tony Ponturo, vice-president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch.

Museum at Starbucks

Starbucks has marketed itself with museum sponsorships before (Houston, for instance), and now one museum has offered to supply Starbucks with posters and programming. The Cleveland Museum of Art is mostly closed for renovation, so they needed a way to reach out to the local community. We hope all the coffee shops get on board eventually. I've seen coffee shops close because their traffic is uneven, and this would be a good way to maintain an audience.

Plain Dealer: Museum's Deal with Starbucks Irs Local Vendors, 2006-Aug-19, by Steven Litt

The museum's co-marketing program with Starbucks grew out of a relationship with the company that started last year, when the firm agreed to sponsor the summer evening concerts in the museum's Outdoor Garden Court. ...and the new outreach program was the museum's idea -- a fact museum officials confirmed. Hodson also said Starbucks had no problem if the museum also marketed itself through local coffee stores or companies.

Sole Sponsorships Raise Esteem

Philips Electronics is currently one of the most innovative global advertisers, trying many ways to make media consumption more convenient for the audience. Now we have evidence that their efforts are paying off. IAG Research verifies audience attitudes toward Philips have improved. Now we have to see if Philips revenues and market share improve as well.

WSJ.com: Questions for … Alan Gould, 2006-Aug-2, by Suzanne Vranica (pay)

CBS did a deal with Philips Electronics and became the sole sponsor of '60 Minutes' so there was lot less advertising and basically all of the ad time was dedicated to Philips. We saw much higher levels of recall and likability. But most importantly, positive viewer opinions of Philips increased substantially.

Sponsors, Choose Your Niches

The Wall St. Journal notes that TV networks are testing all sorts of narrow-audience video programming in an attempt to avoid what happened in the music business, where demand for artists who got little support from the big labels did an end-run around them, straight from the audience to the artist. The economic model is still developing, and prices are in flux. Sounds like opportunity--the networks need economical ways to promote these niche sites. Could your customers be the answer?

WSJ.com: Big TV's Broadband Blitz, 2006-Aug-1, by Brooks Barnes (pay)

"Either we move quickly into this space or we leave it open for others, and that makes us very vulnerable," says John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks. Scripps, which owns such TV properties as DIY Network and Food Network, has so far launched three of its 12 planned broadband channels. Gaining traction online with videos is likely to be a hard road for the networks, media analysts predict. One key reason is that TV companies are still trying to figure out how to market these Web channels. They aren't eager to spend a lot of money to push them because the sites currently aren't generating much profit.

Houston Lexus Dealers Driving People to Theater

Okay, last sponsorship post for awhile, but I just spotted an interesting announcement in Downtown Happenings, the email newsletter of the Houston Downtown Management District:

Lexus drivers heading to events at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts can relax when it comes to parking. Courtesy of the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts and your Houston area Lexus dealers, Lexus drivers can valet for free.

In addition, the Houston Lexus dealers have donated a car being auctioned on eBay with all the proceeds going to Uniquely Houston, the Hobby Center's development program for emerging performing arts groups in Houston.

Houston Hobby Center: Lexus 2007 ES 350 Drive for the Performing Arts, 2006-Jun-23

Your Houston area Lexus dealers, through the online resources of eBay and its MissionFish program, are banding together to take the lead in supporting innovative arts in the Bayou City.

Svedka Sponsors Literature on the Future

Nerve.com, the online magazine of sex, relationships and culture, has accepted a sponsorship from Svedka vodka to produce a edit and publish a series of articles on what the world of politics, sex and science will be like in 2033. Authors tapped so far include Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette fame, Jay McInerney, Rick Moody, Walter Kirn, Will Self and Joel Stein. Svedka does not request the authors to include any mention of the product or related issues. Svedka also promises a book compiled from the articles and a book tour at a future date.

NY Times: Blurring the Lines in a Fanciful Leap to 2033, 2006-Jun-23, by Stuart Elliott

"We've always gotten along well with advertisers that are related somewhat to the vices, and this whole project is about the future of misbehavior," he added. Besides, "if race-car drivers are sponsored by Shell motor oil and athletes by Nike, writers should be sponsored by liquor brands," [Nerve publisher] Mr. Griscom said. "It's a natural fit."

Sponsorships as Opportunity to Engage

Sports sonsorships are less about awareness and parties, more about listening, learning and shared activities these days. Those very expensive major sporting event sponsorships are now required to show an ROI by resulting in new prospect lists and audience participation. Market research may be conducted at the event.

When considering an event sponsorships, you can increase your return by planning on interacting with your audience during the event.

inside 1to1: Sports Deals Score with Customers, 2005-June-5, by John Gaffney

The interactive approach to sponsorships also allows companies to gain insight about prospects and customers. For the upcoming soccer World Cup this summer, Pepsi has a strategy tied into interactivity with soccer fans who might otherwise be anonymous. There are plans for 3-D marketing campaigns, downloadable Web content, and even a reality show about soccer. "This type of marketing is about building stronger relationships and understanding that communication will be two-way now and forever," said Antonio Lucio, Pepsi's senior vice president of insights and innovation.

All Snapple, All the Time

Snapple will be sole sponsor of a radio station for two months. DJs will announce Snapple as the audience "benefactor" and no other advertising except concert announcements will run.

Why: To bond with the hard-to-reach market of 18- to 39-year olds, tying in with music events and monopolizing the give-aways at all radio promotional events during the period.

Where: Boston and adjacent areas, with online and related media support. Other promotions include a "guitarmeter" placed outside a convenience store in Copley Square where, if the temperature is over 85 degrees at noon, passers-by will get free Snapple beverages.

When: Memorial Day through July 4.

NY Times: A Station With a One-of-a-Kind Campaign: All Snapple, All the Time, 2006-May-25, by Stuart Elliott (free reg, $article a few weeks after pub date)

Such initiatives offer marketers "a high level of presence, but also deliver something to the consumer," said Jay Coleman, president at EMCI in New York, an agency that works on projects for Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages.

"The concept is to weave Snapple through the fabric of WFNX," he added, "in a way that fits the personality of the station and the brand."

Starbucks, starmaker?

1. Sponsorships are becoming more important
2. Starbucks first made money by promoting select music in its stores, then tried promoting a movie
3. Now Starbucks has to figure out how to select future entertainment partners that fit their image.

NY Times May 1, 2006: A Small Step at Starbucks From Mocha to Movies  by Sharon Waxman

Howard D. Schultz, the company's chairman, said that in the wake of promoting "Akeelah," it had been deluged with material from film distributors who hope to be Starbucks' next movie partner. It became clear, he said, that the company needed more expertise in handling that work. "We're not prepared in terms of our core business" to respond to such approaches "in a way that is timely," Mr. Schultz said from Seattle, explaining the plan to work with William Morris.

Advertisers Want to be Publishers

Publishers and producers create "content" (newspapers, magazines, movies, tv shows) and advertisers either sponsor or buy ad space. Right? No longer. Since traditional advertising channels are no longer getting the job done for a lot of marketers, they are trying to attract an audience by creating their own content. The employment options for creative professionals are expanding rapidly. You can work for a publisher or take a contract or job with a marketing company and do the same tasks. If your editor or producer can't see it your way, look for a sponsor who does.

Online Publishing Insider: Welcome To The Next Seller's Market by Mike May, April 6, 2006

Only a few years ago, ... I would have taken Coca-Cola's Webmaster as a conference keynote, and allowed him to spend 45 minutes talking about meta tags and referrers. A few weeks before OMMA Hollywood, by contrast, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the director of media and communication at Coca-Cola about his proposed role at the show. He noted that he was looking forward to telling the Coke story on stage.

"We're doing amazing work with wireless and gaming in Europe and Asia, and it's time we get some credit for it, instead of it all going to Yahoo," he said. One of the world's biggest advertisers chomping at the bit to steal an online publisher's thunder? Times have changed.

Faith Popcorn Announces the Age of Cultural Marketing

At the end of last year, trend watcher Faith Popcorn published an article about the 'death of advertising.' Twin problems: the splintering of audiences across media and the sinking credibility of most advertising messages, have led her to recommend that companies move into sponsoring activities for their target audience.

Chief Executive: Cultural Relevance by Faith Popcorn

You can buy media, but you must invest in culture. Consider Tylenol, a brand that my colleagues and I have worked with over the past few years. Executives at Tylenol wanted to improve their ability to reach 18- to 29-year-olds. So we delved into the culture of this demographic.

Recognizing that pain was frequent companion in many athletic recreational activities, Tylenol set out to connect with people who risk injury. The Tylenol Bowl skate boarding video is still accessible, although "Ouch. The Website" is being redeveloped.

Concert Movie Showing Low-Risk Way to Draw Fans

Sponsoring music performances is an excellent way to generate good will and awareness. Does sponsoring a rock concert seem too risky and expensive? Then consider sponsoring a movie-theatre showing of a rock concert movie. Heck, you could sponsor the airing of a classical or jazz music performance tape if that's more appropriate for your audience. Don't forget to choose a theatre where your audience can enjoy the social benefits of revisiting a tried-and-true performance together.

Trendcentral: Concert Movies at the Cineplex

Rock concert movies have been popping up across the country: there was Bruce Springsteen’s in-theater DVD screening of a 1975 concert which coincided with the release of his Born to Run: 30th Anniversary box set; Bon Jovi launched their Have A Nice Day album and tour with a concert that was simulcast live in 100 movie theaters in 50 U.S. markets; and Phish’s last two shows in Coventry, VT were watched by 40,000 fans in theaters in 54 cities. Most recently, Coachella, a documentary about the famous Indio, CA music festival, was screened for one night only in 115 theaters nationwide.

Dunkin' Donuts Catches a Ride on JetBlue

JetBlue will start serving Dunkin' Donuts coffee (not donuts) on its flights. Most people see this as a boost for JetBlue, but as a devoted coffee drinker who prefers their taste, I think this is a coup for Dunkin' Donuts. Many, many more people from outside Dunkin' Donuts current market areas will discover the smooth brew.

HappyNews.com: JetBlue to serve Dunkin' Donuts coffee, AP story by Lauren Villagran (via ExtraTexture)

A recent survey of passengers by JetBlue found that roughly one-third considered the coffee served on airlines worse than their daily cup, and most named coffee as the drink they'd most like to improve, JetBlue said.

Some analysts believe that offering DirecTV, XM satellite radio _ or a cup of name-brand coffee _ can draw passengers. Kent Grayson, an associate marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management who has studied the airline industry, said a traveler's choice of airline centers on three things: schedule, price and brand. "If JetBlue associates itself with well-known partners whose brand image has some redundancy with theirs, at the margin, a customer may choose JetBlue over another airline whose brand is not as strong," he said. "On an abstract level, it makes people think JetBlue is a better brand."

JetBlue and Dunkin' Donuts aren't the first to create such a partnership. United Airlines parent UAL Corp. has had a similar deal for years with Starbucks Corp., a relationship that was recently extended for another three years.

Who is Sponsoring Whom?

Orawave doesn't take its highly innovative oral hygiene products to the grocery store without an escort in the form of a charity, the better to compete with P&G and OralB. While many companies have tried charitable tie-ins from time to time, it appears to be the main marketing strategy for Orawave and all its products.

The Detroit News: Orawave creates buzz with marketing tied to nationwide events by Barrett Kalellis 

As of October of this year, Orawave began selling a specially packaged Pink Ribbon 2-minute TwinSpin toothbrush and the manual Care whitening toothbrush with retailers to benefit the Komen Foundation. Orawave will donate to the Komen Foundation 10 percent of retail sales of each product sold, up to $125,000 annually.

Amazon Plans Own Talk Show

As part of its effort to grow the entire category market for books, music, and dvd's, Amazon is testing all sorts of methods to attract new audiences to writers and artists. All creative types, media outlets and publishers should be watching closely to see which of these methods work, so they can climb on board.

In one such effort, they are launching their own web-based talk show program to be hosted by Bill Maher. It will actually run during the summer. (Try this link for more information.) Amazon is defraying part of the production cost by having the show be sponsored by UPS, who will have a live commercial that consists of real-life footage of an Amazon customer receiving a delivery.

NY Times: Heeere's Bill Maher, Live on Amazon by Saul Hansell

"We can give customers authentic and very provocative insight with the artists that they know or that they may not know," said Kathy Savitt, an Amazon vice president responsible for the Web site's content. The end result, Amazon hopes, will be that viewers will "want to sample them, discover them and actually buy them,...

"All of our original programming," she added, "will be to offer these innovative and interactive ways for customers to discover digital content, artists and, ultimately, products."