Monday, August 23, 2010

GameStop Surprize Attack


Agency: The Marketing Arm
Client: GameStop

Video game retailer GameStop wanted to dominate the market in the key six-week period leading up to the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and achieve 2 million pre-orders despite the down market.

To capitalize on the 18-34 male audience’s interest toward anything exclusive or limited edition and also keep their offer unique against the competition, the agency developed a program called “Surprize Attack”, including a sweepstakes with thousands of prizes and multiple chances to win. 


A mobile game, Task Force 141, was created to add a supplementary level of engagement. Missions drove players to social media sites to gather intelligence and text it back to TF Intelligence. Each of the 10 missions was its own sweepstakes.

The promotion was supported by in-store, online, email, mobile, print, social media and television. In addition, more than 42,000 employees were turned into walking billboards.

The tagline, “Be ready to play. Be ready to win.” reinforced the idea that consumers had to be ready multiple times a day to enter. The sweepstakes required consumers to pre-order Modern Warfare 2 at GameStop. A code on their receipt drove them to enter the sweepstakes online. As the main hub of the promotion, the microsite teased all of the prizes that consumers could win, including a Polaris snowmobile, a Ducati motorcycle and a tricked out Hummer H2, as well as numerous smaller prizes.

A scratch game – in which the villain Vladimir Makarov’s bank account had been seized and players were being offered a cut of the loot – was created to push sell-through of the game and create a final way to engage the consumer over the 40 days.
 
During the 40-day promotion, surprizeattack.com received nearly 1.7 million visits from 1 million unique visitors. A total of 830,790 entries were received and 91,240 visitors were sent to GameStop to pre-order the game. The final pre-order total was just over 1.9 million. 

Lay’s Local


Agency: The Marketing Arm
Client: Frito-Lay


Lay’s core potato chip business, along with potato chip sales in general, had been slipping in a health-conscious environment, and Lay’s had become a symbol for junk food. At the same time, threats from private label and regional competitors were intensifying. To overcome these challenges, Lay’s wanted to change consumers’ perceptions of the brand as junk food.

The Marketing Arm introduced the Lay’s Local campaign, emphasizing that Lay’s potato chips are grown and made in local communities across America. Desire for freshness and taste, among other things, had increased local food sales by 20% over the year. The Lay’s Local campaign was designed to leverage this trend and change the target’s perceptions by strengthening their emotional connection with the brand.

The campaign was based around in-store displays, including farm stand displays, farm truck displays, bridgewraps, pre-packed displays and shelf strips, danglers and clings. Along with POS, regional teams partnered with retail initiatives to make efforts bigger through custom retail media and advertising equaling more than 65 regional customer ad pieces. Cross-section couponing with offers like “Buy Two Bags of Lay’s, Get $2 off Local Produce,” further customized the message, gaining more facings and floor space in new areas of stores. In addition, an insert that historically featured only a generic price point and bag shot was now featuring in-store displays, local farm messaging and a hot price point.

Lay’s partnered with Save Mart and Lucky stores to be featured on Bringing It Home, a 30-minute television show focused on cooking with local ingredients. The summer grilling and burger-themed segments depicted the entire Lay’s chip making process from farm to factory and featured Frito-Lay North America executive chefs preparing recipes with produce and other farm-fresh products.

In 2009, the Lay’s Local campaign made Lay’s the strongest performing brand in the Frito-Lay portfolio and helped Frito-Lay earn the title of Fastest Growing CPG Company in the U.S. in Candy and Snack Today (Feb, 16, 2010).
Most importantly, the campaign succeeded in changing consumer perceptions, generating a 127% increase in net sales, reversing a 15-month trend of Frito-Lay North America display losses.

Littlest Pet Shop Pets on Parade


Agency: BARD Advertising
Client: Hasbro

Hasbro, the second largest toy manufacturer in the world, produces the Littlest Pet Shop (LPS). Since its redesign in 2005, the sales of LPS products have increased from $60 million to $600 million. However, with the addition of category SKUs, growth of new products for girls and continuing growth of new retail channels, Hasbro was challenged with maintaining its category leadership.  

Hasbro asked its agency, BARD Advertising to develop a Walmart-specific LPS promotion for February 2010 that would complement the national LPS Pets on Parade website, www.lpspetsonparade.com running January thru July 2010. On the website, girls could create and build their own LPS parade, upload photos and enter to win prizes. The goal was to drive existing and new LPS consumers to Walmart to increase sales and showcase the entire brand line.

BARD developed the LPS Pets on Parade Event – a one day, three-hour, in-store parade in 2,000 Walmart Supercenters. To drive awareness, a targeted direct mail campaign was sent to 1.4 million households and a back-cover ad was placed in women’s magazine All You. In addition, the Walmart.com LPS brand page was used to promote the event.

During the parade, girls received premiums including free Walmart-exclusive LPS Pets on Parade bags, flags, posters, sticker sheets and official LPS diary stickers. A Sales Specialist dressed in a pink LPS Pets on Parade apron greeted girls and their families at the store entrance, then led the parade of children throughout the Walmart store pointing out the LPS products including Nintendo DS and Wii games in the electronics department owned by partner Electronic Arts. The LPS parade ended in the toy department where the girls and their families were greeted by a second Sales Specialist and were introduced to the newest and Walmart exclusive LPS pets.

To increase traffic and fun, Hasbro partnered with EA to promote LPS licensed Nintendo DS and Wii games. Each child received a 10-day trial membership to lpso.com. To add excitement and value, a photo opportunity allowed girls to get their picture taken in front of an LPS Pets on Parade 10’ x 6’ backdrop which would print out at the Walmart Photo Center and be placed in a custom frame. Other LPS-branded items were cross-promoted to parents to increase purchase.

Overall, the LPS Pets on Parade event produced the highest total sales for any Hasbro toy or game brand for a Saturday, with Walmart stores generating a 61% lift in sales from the previous month. More than 210 million impressions were generated, while lpso.com saw a 307% increase in unique visitors over the previous month.

LYSOL® NASCAR® Sponsorship at Target®


Agency: Catapult Action-Biased Marketing
Client: Reckitt Benckiser


Lysol and Target are major sponsors of the Chip Ganassi NASCAR racing team. In 2009, growing public concern over the pandemic H1N1 flu virus and other germ-borne illnesses made the importance of Lysol’s virus-killing ability – and its visibility at Target Stores — more important than ever. Driving home LYSOL as a relevant brand to highly loyal NASCAR fans, while leveraging its NASCAR sponsorship, was an important step in the brand’s revitalization plan.

Specifically, the company wanted to increase purchase of LYSOL Wipes, which were losing distribution at Target stores, educate consumers on the importance of both cleaning and disinfecting to prevent the spread of bacteria and flu viruses and generate consumer awareness of LYSOL and Target brands as NASCAR sponsors.

LYSOL used a comprehensive set of marketing programs across several venues and formats, including product promotions, at-track marketing and customer hospitality initiatives.

LYSOL transformed women’s restrooms at events to “LYSOL Clean” environments, each  maintained by uniformed LYSOL brand ambassadors. LYSOL product was displayed, with bathroom signage showing the entire line. Interior messaging drove fans back outside to visit the brand ambassadors to receive LYSOL coupons redeemable only at Target.

NASCAR fan guide track maps featured LYSOL logos showing the location of the “LYSOL Clean” bathrooms. Jumbotrons ran “LYSOL Clean” ads. PA announcements cited the program and websites carried the LYSOL logo where fans could click through to visit LYSOL’s brand website.

At the All-Star race, the credentials trailer was wrapped in LYSOL branding. In addition, sidewalk decals led fans to pit road where LYSOL banners were featured.

Online, LYSOL and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered to create cdc.gov/ounceofprevention, to arm families with information and tips needed to prevent illness and disease through simple hygiene routines.

The efforts generated a 32% increase in sales over Target’s forecast; drove more than 1 million on-site impressions and resulted in 15% coupon redemption at Target.