• June 24, 2008

The makers of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter are dangling $400,000 in an integrated marketing program for the product. Chances of winning the "presidential salary" increase with visits to a special Web site through July 27.

"Spraychel for President" features the brand's heroine in a "presidential race" against the sinister Maxwell Butterman and includes an animated webisode series, interactive election, and gaming area. The series is at VoteSpraychel.com, and showcases the celebrity star power of Mark McGrath of "Extra."

The campaign builds on last year's "Sprays in the City" effort, which the company says garnered more than "a million unique visits and a greater-than-50 percent boost in unaided brand awareness among campaign visitors."

To further reach consumers and build word-of-mouth buzz, Unilever is joining forces with Comcast Interactive and DirectTV to air the webisodes along with a special TV commercial made just for the interactive TV platforms. The campaign is also partnering with MSN to promote the "Spraychel for President" games within the MSN Games community. Spraychel is also getting a page on Facebook, with a behind-the-scenes campaign blog by McGrath, who lends his voice as Spraychel's big brother and campaign manager, Mr. More.

--Nina M. Lentini