• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, August 12, 2009

Nestle's Butterfinger is extending its comedy-focused marketing strategy via a four-month, multiplatform deal with The Improv spanning 28 nationwide Improv and Funny Bone clubs.

The campaign includes a sweepstakes, a branded video featuring name comedians, online and social media efforts and on-site collateral materials packaged by Medium, the branded entertainment division of Improv majority owner Levity Entertainment Group, working with Nestle's promotions group. Medium also oversees the execution of branded campaigns, working with Levity's video production, digital marketing, talent management and live comedy booking arms.

The Butterfinger/Improv Comedy Tour Sweepstakes offers a grand prize of a comedy tour vacation package for four to see, consecutively, one comedy show in four different U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Denver, New York and Miami) over a nine-day period. In addition, 250 first-prize winners will receive two tickets to any U.S. Improv or Funny Bone club.

Wrappers for single- and king-size bars of Butterfinger, Nestlé Crunch, Baby Ruth and their respective Crisp versions, as well as 100 Grand bars, will carry a code that can be redeemed for one sweeps entry online at Butterfinger/Improv or by texting the code to LAUGH (52844).

Through the end of the year, all Improv and Funny Bone clubs will run a three-minute video sketch at the beginning of each show that plays off of Butterfinger's humorous ad campaign, "Nobody's Gonna Lay a Finger on My Butterfinger."

Featuring Owen Benjamin of "House Bunny" and "Mad TV" and "Last Comic Standing" finalists Amy Schumer and Ron G, the video also serves as a live-event extension of the brand's existing online comedy presence via the Butterfinger Comedy Network on Yahoo. That portal, which features videos and other comedic forms, draws an average of 3 million visitors per month.

Online video and brand impressions will be generated through Web and social media components from E-Comic Branding, Levity's digital marketing service -- bringing the campaign's overall reach to more than 2 million comedy consumers. Other elements of the campaign include on-site signage, product sampling and bounce-back coupons.

The comedy clubs' audience demographics range from young college students to people in their 50s, depending on the comedians being showcased, according to Claudia Cahill, EVP of corporate development for Levity. In Butterfinger's case, the demographic "bull's eye" is the young adult around 25, who is just entering the business world (hence the office settings of the brand's TV spots), she notes.

Butterfinger's fans "love clever, irreverent humor," confirmed Nestlé Confections & Snacks spokesperson Tricia Bowles.