Red Stag by Jim Beam, the first major product launch under the Beam brand name in more than a decade, has enlisted Kid Rock to help achieve its aim of appealing to an expanded customer base. Red Stag -- traditional Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey infused with natural black cherry flavors -- will be the headline sponsor for Kid Rock's 25-city 2009 Rock N' Rebels Tour this summer. The new spirit and Kid Rock, a long-standing supporter of U.S. military personnel, will contribute to Operation Homefront ¬-- a non-profit that provides assistance to veterans returning home -- by donating 50 cents from each ticket sold to the organization. Red Stag launches in June. Kid Rock (a Detroit native) will kick off the marketing push by serving as Grand Marshal of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock 400 race at Michigan International Speedway on June 14. The concert tour starts June 26 in West Palm Beach, Fla. The celebrity tie-ins include a "Call of the Wild" sweepstakes (to run from July 6 through Aug. 31) in which the winner and three friends will receive an "all-access" weekend to see Kid Rock perform live in Las Vegas, as well as other prizes. Fans can enter through the Jim Beam and Red Stag sites (JimBeam.com and TheRedStag.com), their Facebook fan pages, or via SMS mobile messaging. Throughout the tour, legal-age consumers in select markets will be offered access to an exclusive, free Kid Rock download, opportunities for VIP passes and post-show meet-and-greets, Red Stag merchandise, at-concert samplings and giveaways of premiums such as inflatable bottles. Kid Rock cocktails, table tents, coasters, shelf talkers and POS guitars are also part of the marketing mix. Red Stag is intended to appeal both to current Jim Beam drinkers and "new consumers who may not have previously considered the Bourbon category," Jim Beam sponsorship manager Brian Gallagher confirms to Marketing Daily. The aim is to "extend and deepen the brand's relevance" to men and women in their 20's and 30's by emphasizing mobile and interactive outreach within the integrated marketing strategy, he added in comments provided by email. Kid Rock, a "long-time Jim Beam loyalist with an authentic affinity for the brand," was a natural ambassador choice, and meshed with the campaign's goal of "moving beyond merely talking about Red Stag" to "actually showing consumers what it stands for," Gallagher notes. "As one of the most versatile and influential contemporary musicians today, Kid Rock spans multiple genres and appeals to a diverse fan base. He helps our brand resonate directly with our core consumers in a meaningful way." House-infused Bourbons with flavors ranging from bacon to mint have been common for years at trendy bars, and a growing number of infused offerings from major distillers have been cropping up within brown spirits as well as vodkas.
Levi Strauss & Co. plans to buy 73 Levi's and "Dockers Outlet by MOST" stores from Anchor Blue Retail Group, a denim chain which just filed for bankruptcy. "This proposed acquisition is a natural next step in our long-term growth strategy," says Robert Hanson, president of Levi Strauss Americas, in the company's release. "The outlet channel is poised for continued growth over the near- and long-term. We believe that this transaction will strengthen our ability to manage our brands' positioning effectively in the outlet channel." NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y., says that while outlet sales represent a small portion of the total market, they are skyrocketing -- gaining more than 36% in the last 12 months. Levi's move comes at an interesting time, because while both jeans marketers and specialty retailers continue to struggle, there's plenty of evidence that the denim market is much tougher than other types of discretionary spending, and shoppers just aren't letting the recession scare them away from buying new jeans. NPD says that the women's denim market gained a healthy 4% in the last 12 months to $8.03 billion, even as most stores posted dismal results. (Men's denim sales were flat at $5.32 billion.) And it makes sense that bargain jeans are the hottest segment right now, gaining 46.9% in that period. But sales of pricier jeans are also rising -- with a gain of 6.5% in women's jeans that cost more than $50 a pair to $1.51 billion, and a 9.5% gain for men's jeans in that price category, with sales rising to $725.8 million. Levi's, which is the No. 1 brand for both men and women, has also done well with its Levi Strauss Signature line -- ranked No. 3 for men, report NPD, and No. 8 for women. In its most recent results, the San Francisco-based company reported that net revenues fell 12% to $951 million.
Activision is looking to stress the variety of bands and music represented in the fifth iteration of its successful Guitar Hero franchise with an online scavenger hunt for consumers to identify all of the 85 bands represented on the game. "We have a very active fan base," Amy Longhi, director of global brand management for Guitar Hero, tells Marketing Daily. "We wanted to do something that engaged them and got them to participate as we prepare to launch 'Guitar Hero 5.'" All this week, the company has been announcing band participation via news, gaming and entertainment programming (both Web and television). Through the game's official site, GH5.GuitarHero.com, consumers are encouraged to find these news items. Properties involved in the announcements include Rollingstone.com, IGN.com, Yahoo News, G4 (and G4TV), as well as the sites of the bands themselves. "We look at the franchise as more than a gaming platform; it's a social platform to experience music," Longhi says of including the bands' sites (and fan bases) in the promotion. After finding the news story, fans can answer a question about the news story to enter a sweepstakes to win five tickets to five different concerts in major metropolitan areas near their own hometown. The sweepstakes is in keeping with the franchise's commitment to variety, Longhi says. "The number one thing consumers tell us they want from these games is music variety," she says. "The concert ticket giveaway really helps drive that variety. We want them to experience as much variety as possible." Activision is promoting the sweepstakes through the news stories on partner sites, as well as through its own site, Facebook fan page, Twitter feed and other public relations outreach. The "Guitar Hero 5" game will launch in September. Activision also plans to broaden its audience with launches of other games such as "DJ Hero" (which will employ hip-hop and house music through a turntable controller) in October and a more family-friendly "Band Hero" (featuring well-known hits) to launch in time for the holiday season, Longhi says.
The American Legacy Foundation's (ALF) nine-year-old "truth" campaign wants to help Big Tobacco hire new "Big C" Suite executives. The youth smoking prevention campaign, known for guerrilla theatre and dark parodies of the tobacco industry, is launching a new effort, "Do You Have What It Takes," that mimics job-recruitment interviews. The campaign -- comprising television, print, cinema and online advertisements, social networking and a new Web site -- plays on the idea that even in the recession, there's always employment at the cigarette factory. The campaign -- timed with the "truth" campaign's annual summer grassroots tour, which hits over 30 states and starts late June -- will run from June through early 2010, with a hiatus from November to January. Three TV spots are based on real videos taken in a mock recruiting office for tobacco companies in New York City. The interviews are with real job seekers interviewed for executive-level positions, with actors posing as interviewers. The TV spots show how interviewees react to such questions as whether they had a problem with selling a product that kills 1,200 people every day or one person every 6.5 seconds; whether they thought changing the name of the company was a reasonable way to avoid bad publicity; and if they could "plead the Fifth." The interviewer then informs the job candidate that a tobacco industry executive pled the Fifth Amendment 97 times during a deposition in 1997. One spot has the interviewer impressing the candidate with his description of a potential opening for a job in a successful industry that spends $13 billion in the United States alone on marketing a year. He then goes on to say that worldwide, the industry's products kill 5 million people annually. The interviewer describes the great benefits package, but is interrupted by the candidate: "You snuck in, 'It kills people'; I heard that." Each spot ends with the campaign's central question: "Do you have what it takes to be a tobacco executive?" Eric Asche, SVP Marketing at ALF, says the cinema verite approach is what "truth" has done along with street theatre campaigns and guerrilla marketing activities. "It's so much better than anything we could possibly script because it's genuine; you can't replicate the shock people have when they learn the facts." He says that the campaign ran online ads for recruitment, invited some 40 people in, and used multiple hidden cameras to capture the conversations. Only afterward did the invitees learn the truth. "And," says Asche, "afterward we had a real recruiter on hand to help them with job placement." He says that of the 16 interviews shot, six will air and the rest will run online, including out-takes. One ad will run in Screenvision theatres and in cinemas in 38 regional markets before teen-focused films, with a twist: the audience can use SMS messages to interact with the ad. Asche says interactivity is key in all elements of the campaign. "That's the whole idea," he says. "It's hard to get teens to pay attention for a nanosecond, but when we presented it to teens in focus groups they actually stopped; they were processing what they would do in that situation. We want to replicate that model wherever we can." The truth.com Web site will have a video "recruiter" asking site visitors multiple-choice questions. As the user interacts with the questions, online games and videos, the Web site keeps track of the user's score to encourage visitors to retry games, or retake tests to top their old score. At the conclusion, the recruiter comments on the performance, assessing whether the user "has what it takes" to work for Big Tobacco. Two other spots will break on Monday on channels like MTV, G4, VH1 and Fuse, and other youth-centric channels. Print ads ask show laboratory jars containing organs and body parts, with labels like: "The stones to say that cigarettes are only as addictive as sugar, salt and Internet access." They will run in books like Alternative Press, TransWorld Snowboarder & Skateboarder and Rides. The digital elements include banners and social media elements on MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi-5 and imeem.com including a "poll widget" that includes questions that were conducted during the online interview process for the television spots.
Southeast and Mid-Atlantic grocery store chain Food Lion is launching a new ad campaign focusing on its competitive pricing and neighborhood convenience. "In the midst of a tough economy and (with) various retailers focusing on price messaging, we want to remind our customers that they do not have to hunt from store to store for great prices," says Ken Mills, Marketing VP at Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion LLC, a subsidiary of Brussels-based Delhaize Group. The six-week campaign is themed "Great Price Hunters" and includes two TV spots. They show that it's not necessary to travel to multiple stores to for good prices only on certain items since Food Lion has everyday low prices on all the grocery staples. One ad, titled "Cheddar," features a mother and her children in the forest with nets, chasing down a wedge of cheddar cheese that is on sale. The second spot, "Carts," features shopping carts mingling around a watering hole, while a family waits for the perfect moment to pounce on their prey -- a full shopping cart within their budget. The fully integrated marketing campaign also includes print, radio, online and outdoor advertisements. A new Web site, http://www.foodlion.com/pricehunters/, includes links to the TV spots. There's also a Food Lions Brand Matching Game where consumers can win coupons while getting to know the store brands that the grocer carries. Radio and TV will run in markets including: Raleigh-Fayetteville, N.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Greensboro, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; Charlottesville, Va.; Columbia, S.C.; Myrtle Beach/Florence, S.C.; Greenville/New Bern, N.C.; Harrisonburg, Va.; Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va.; Salisbury, Md. and Wilmington, N.C. "Despite competitors' claims, we consistently provide savings on all the groceries a family needs -- every day and in a one-stop shopping experience -- which saves customers time and money," Mills said. "We expect the campaign's message will be extremely relevant to our customers during this time and we believe the ads will set us apart from other grocery retailers." Food Lion partnered with Atlanta-based Ames Scullin O'Haire on the campaign. Food Lion has worked with the agency since 2000. Food Lion frequently advertises specific promotions and products. The last campaign that did not focus on a product or promotion was the company's "Good Neighbors" campaign, which aired last year, according to company spokesperson Christy Phillips-Brown. Food Lion LLC operates more than 1,300 supermarkets, either directly or through affiliated entities, under the names of Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar Food, Harveys and Reid's. Food Lion LLC employs approximately 74,000 associates in 11 Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
Heralding potentially broader sales, netbooks are gaining traction among the digerati in cities such as San Francisco, New York, Miami, San Diego and Los Angeles. New data from market research firm NPD Group shows that major coastal markets are driving netbook sales, which in turn are boosting overall sales of laptops. Netbooks, which NPD defines as notebook computers with 10.2-inch or smaller screens, are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to larger, more expensive models that may cost $1,000 or more. Typically selling in the range of $300 to $350, they now make up nearly 10% of total U.S. notebook retail sales tracked by NPD. That share, however, goes up to 12.3% in New York, 11.4% in San Francisco/San Jose and 11.3% in Miami. "It is apparent, by where the most robust early adoption has taken place, that the netbook concept is resonating best in the traditional trend-setting coastal technology markets," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. That suggests that the primary appeal of the devices isn't necessarily their price. For early adopters, "portability has a value over price," he added. Keeping the focus on convenience and away from pricing is especially important for key netbook players such as Intel and HP as they seek to usher in new, higher-end product lines selling in the range of $600 to $700. "The question is, are people going to gravitate toward something more expensive if they're just looking for portability, or if price morphs into a more important driver here?" said Baker. Intel said in a news report Wednesday that netbook cannibalization of laptop sales is already at 20% in Europe and as high as a quarter of sales in countries such as Britain and Italy. Overall Windows notebook sales increased 15.7% for the seven months ending April 2009, according to NPD's tracking of approximately 60 retailers and 17,000 stores nationwide. Without netbooks, the research firm estimates sales would have only increased by 3.6 percent.
Top 10 DMAs in which live adults who used bacon or breakfast strips in the last six months: 1 Chattanooga, Tenn. 2 Mobile, Ala./ Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach), Fla. 3 Tri-Cities, Tenn./ Va. 4 Louisville, Ky. 5 Birmingham (Anniston and Tuscaloosa), Ala. 6 Jackson, Miss. 7 Knoxville, Tenn. 8 Huntsville/ Decatur (Florence), Ala. 9 Nashville, Tenn. 10 Memphis, Tenn. Source: MRI's Market-by-Market study, www.mediamark.com
When the Facebook Platform was launched in 2006, it immediately became a hot property as thousands of eager developers rushed to launch the next great Facebook application. A few brands made the early leap as well, with some successes and a few total failures. It quickly became clear that if brands were to succeed on Platform, their applications would have to provide value, and not use Facebook as just another medium to push advertising messaging. Over the past two years, some brands have failed, and moved on, some have succeeded in establishing a strong presence on Facebook. Many brands are still in test mode or taking that first leap. For those brands, these recommendations will increase their chances of developing a successful Facebook application. 1. KISSApplications should focus on one simple idea and execute it well. Don't try to pack every campaign asset into the application canvas page. Don't link multiple interactive and content hooks, no matter how clever you think. 2. Start with the familiar Don't reinvent the wheel. Build on social concepts that people are familiar with. Introducing a new idea requires a much longer learning curve. For example, Red Bull's take on the classic Rock-Paper-Scissors game was a runaway success. 3. Provide value Your brand must add value (i.e. utility, entertainment or convenience) to a user's Facebook experience. A greeting card company might want to consider developing an app to tracks friends' birthdays rather than digital cards. 4. Make it social (duh) Apps that simply push content or ads at people or gets them to sign up for some service will not work, period. To be social (read shared) your app must entice users to use the Stream to share things they've created with your app. On the flip side, Facebook is a part of many users' daily lives so don't annoy users with excessive notifications, messages, and invitations. 5. First Step, Homework Dig into the Facebook directory to see what apps are most successful, then try to understand why. Look for apps based on ideas that relate to your brand as a jumping off point. For example, an alcohol brand might want to consider developing an app that allows friends to send a drink to a friend. However, don't just copy it, add your own spin to make it different enough to feel fresh. Failing that, sponsor an existing app with a significant user base. 6. Budget is to your advantage Most Facebook apps are created by independent developers on shoestring budgets. As a result, most are poorly designed, buggy, and pretty unsophisticated. Users appreciate the production value of a well-designed and developed application and that will reflect positively on your brand. 7. Packaging your app Leverage all available tools on Facebook. Before launching an application allocate resources to develop a public profile Facebook page for your brand. This is a good place to house content and assets from the campaign or from brand archives, as well as post custom content sections to drive traffic. The profile page should build a fan base that the brand can engage time and again long after the life span of a specific application. 8. Promote. Promote, Promote With several hundred thousand apps on Facebook, marketers must allocate dollars to catch the attention of Facebook users. Contact Facebook when you are interested in developing an application and get the company on board. Facebook reps can help you determine the best way to cut through the clutter when launching your app. 9. Find an agency that's been there, done that Your AOR is not likely to have a clue about building Facebook applications. Find a shop that has experience building Facebook applications then listen to thei recommendations. Or have your agency outsource the application build to an experienced developer. 10. Maintain your application Facebook is constantly changing to meet users' needs. This means its API (developer toolkit) is constantly changing. A single change to the API can dramatically affect how your application works. Choose a partner that can keep up with these changes, and be prepared to listen to, budget for, and follow recommendations in an ever evolving media environment. Editor's note: If you'd like to contribute to this newsletter, see our editorial guidelines first and then contact Nina Lentini.