• by Aaron Baar , March 13, 2009

Kraft Foods took home the top award at the Promotion Marketing Association's annual meeting last week for its Oreo Double Stuf Racing League marketing campaign.

The campaign--a multi-agency effort--employed several media, including print, online, TV, digital and social, as well as public relations and experiential marketing. The campaign involved creating a fictional sports league in which teams competed in "lick racing" to remove the white filling inside the Oreo cookies.

It launched in January 2008 with a television spot in which NFL quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning announced that they had become "two-sport" athletes. While the second sport was not initially revealed, a few weeks later, the brothers announced they had entered into the Double Stuf Racing League and encouraged other fans to follow suit. By the end of the promotion, product sales were up 6%.

"The Oreo Double Stuf Racing League campaign from Kraft and its agency partners is an amazing example of how marketing can truly make a difference in a company's bottom line," said Bonnie Carlson, president of the PMA, in a statement. "Integrated marketing is not just about building 'buzz,' it's about building brands."

Kraft has continued its Double Stuf Racing League promotion this year, enlisting tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams to battle the Mannings in a "lick race."

The agencies that contributed to the Grand Reggie-winning campaign were: Draftfcb (general and promotional advertising), Razorfish (digital), Digitas (digital media), IMG (experiential marketing) and Weber Shandwick (public relations). The campaign also won a gold for a national consumer campaign with a budget over $5 million. AT&T (with agency The Marketing Arm) won silver in the category for its Team USA soundtrack, and Verizon Wireless (and Momentum Worldwide) won bronze for its How Sweet the Sound promotion.

In the national consumer promotion with a budget between $1 million and $5 million, Kmart (and agency Draftfcb) won gold for its Spring Style Showoff campaign; Unilever (and agency Lunchbox) won silver for its Soundcheck promotion. And GMC (with agencies Leo Burnett, Digitas and SMG) won bronze for its Whuuttt the February Acadia Launch promotion. The GMC promotion also won the PMA's Kiss & Text award, which was voted on by attendees.

In the national consumer promotion with a budget under $1 million, Heineken's Dos Equis brand (and agency Mirrorball) won gold for its Most Interesting Show in the World campaign; Orbitz (and GMR Marketing) won silver for its Fill the Plane promotion, and Sony (with agency PowerPact) won bronze for a Vaio PC design contest.