I recently shared some thoughts on marketing and promotions with Stuart Crawford of Ulistic Orange Files.
If you agree to the comments, let me know. Or share your experience on what is needed to make promotions stickier.
CF Marketing sources and delivers unique, innovative promotion solutions that will ensure your next marketing promotion is memorable and interactive. Just as important, you will be able to measure the results generated from your investment. We specialize in delivering sports, auto and retail contests and promotions. Contact me at 403.452.2699 or email me to discuss your upcoming sponsorship event, game day contests, trade show promotion or direct response campaign.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Clever Sports and Auto Cross Promotion
Just ran across a clever cross promotion idea for an English football (soccer) team. Anyone driving an Audi can apply to have a FREE parking spot at any game during the current season. The article doesn't say if this promotion is sponsored by Audi or a local dealer but it is a brilliant activation strategy for the sponsor.
Assuming the fan profile closely aligns with the Audi owner profile, it provides great profile for Audi, provides a high perceived value for the fan and offers a great way to cross promote both parties throughout the season.
This type of promotion offers real value to the sponsor as they get more than simple name recognition at the game. Among the Audi owners, there will be a willingness to promote this among friends through social media including Facebook or Twitter. For Audi, this will help solidify the relationship with customers and reinforce positive opinions about the brand.
It is likely many sports franchises don't have surplus capacity to offer free parking. There are other ways to execute this idea that still offer opportunities to add value to their sponsorship packages. These might be free shuttle service to and from game from an offsite parking area, exclusive seating area in arena or stadium, or exclusive pre or post game networking event with members of the team and sponsors.
This type of promotion is really well suited for product or service brands which customers already have a strong affinity to. It is more likely to be of value where there is an existing core of customers that "love" the product (e.g. Saturn owners would have been a great target) but is exclusive enough to offer value to the sponsor (Jeep owners, Volkswagen Jetta owners, etc).
This example clearly highlights the opportunity to stand out and offer sponsors something different. I'd be interested in hearing of other creative sports sponsorship ideas you have deployed or have run across.
Assuming the fan profile closely aligns with the Audi owner profile, it provides great profile for Audi, provides a high perceived value for the fan and offers a great way to cross promote both parties throughout the season.
This type of promotion offers real value to the sponsor as they get more than simple name recognition at the game. Among the Audi owners, there will be a willingness to promote this among friends through social media including Facebook or Twitter. For Audi, this will help solidify the relationship with customers and reinforce positive opinions about the brand.
It is likely many sports franchises don't have surplus capacity to offer free parking. There are other ways to execute this idea that still offer opportunities to add value to their sponsorship packages. These might be free shuttle service to and from game from an offsite parking area, exclusive seating area in arena or stadium, or exclusive pre or post game networking event with members of the team and sponsors.
This type of promotion is really well suited for product or service brands which customers already have a strong affinity to. It is more likely to be of value where there is an existing core of customers that "love" the product (e.g. Saturn owners would have been a great target) but is exclusive enough to offer value to the sponsor (Jeep owners, Volkswagen Jetta owners, etc).
This example clearly highlights the opportunity to stand out and offer sponsors something different. I'd be interested in hearing of other creative sports sponsorship ideas you have deployed or have run across.
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Importance of Aspiration in a Promotion or Contest
There are lots of reasons to run a contest or sales promotion - increase brand exposure, create customer database, test market new product, encourage trial, or drive web/store traffic. Whatever the objective, a key element of a successful promotion is offering something of high perceived value to consumer. This can be cash, trips, merchandise, or unusual experience.
The Honey Nut Cheerios is a great example of a contest totally missing this aspirational component. Win a year supply of cereal doesn't inspire or motivate. What's worse, the prize is actually only one box of cereal per month - a total value under $100.
This example really looks like the idea was generated in the boardroom without any consideration of the customer. What would motivate them to participate? How can we stand out? What is the return on promotion we want to achieve?
It also appears to have been developed with an eye to minimizing cost rather than maximizing results.
The Honey Nut Cheerios is a great example of a contest totally missing this aspirational component. Win a year supply of cereal doesn't inspire or motivate. What's worse, the prize is actually only one box of cereal per month - a total value under $100.
This example really looks like the idea was generated in the boardroom without any consideration of the customer. What would motivate them to participate? How can we stand out? What is the return on promotion we want to achieve?
It also appears to have been developed with an eye to minimizing cost rather than maximizing results.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The impact of real world experience on social media campaigns
I know, you probably have heard enough about the Old Spice viral marketing campaign. It has consumed the marketing world and is all over the internet with over 100 videos touting the advantages of this old brand.
CR562PVEQHFSThe results to date have been quite underwhelming. Sales have dropped by about 7% since the campaign's inception despite the unbelievable amount of exposure in all forms of social media and traditional media sources.
I won't try to analyze the campaign or identify the reasons for the failure to generate increased sales (this had to be the primary goal). I'll leave this up to others. But the campaign does highlight a few misconceptions about the ability of social media to convert awareness into sales success.
While working with clients and in discussions with other professionals, it is clear there is a growing belief that "owning" social media (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc) is a sufficient strategy for generating increased sales. But as the Old Spice campaign highlights, it isn't enough. There still needs to be a real world component - instore couponing, product trial program, purchase incentives that build on the exposure provided by the online communication.
This is especially true for a tangible product and old brand like Old Spice. It has name recognition but also lots of baggage - grandpa's after shave lotion, your dad's brand,or what you buy when you can't think of anything else. Not exactly inspiring.
Along with the super awareness of generated, a key piece of the strategy has to be to get it into the consumer's hands. Let him experience it first hand through samples distributed by direct mail, instore sampling, and trial offers. This allows her to provide approval or reject the notion of the campaign.
And until an alternative delivery vehicle is discovered, this has to happen in the real world, not the virtual world.
CR562PVEQHFSThe results to date have been quite underwhelming. Sales have dropped by about 7% since the campaign's inception despite the unbelievable amount of exposure in all forms of social media and traditional media sources.
I won't try to analyze the campaign or identify the reasons for the failure to generate increased sales (this had to be the primary goal). I'll leave this up to others. But the campaign does highlight a few misconceptions about the ability of social media to convert awareness into sales success.
While working with clients and in discussions with other professionals, it is clear there is a growing belief that "owning" social media (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc) is a sufficient strategy for generating increased sales. But as the Old Spice campaign highlights, it isn't enough. There still needs to be a real world component - instore couponing, product trial program, purchase incentives that build on the exposure provided by the online communication.
This is especially true for a tangible product and old brand like Old Spice. It has name recognition but also lots of baggage - grandpa's after shave lotion, your dad's brand,or what you buy when you can't think of anything else. Not exactly inspiring.
Along with the super awareness of generated, a key piece of the strategy has to be to get it into the consumer's hands. Let him experience it first hand through samples distributed by direct mail, instore sampling, and trial offers. This allows her to provide approval or reject the notion of the campaign.
And until an alternative delivery vehicle is discovered, this has to happen in the real world, not the virtual world.
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