In a first for a package delivery company, United Parcel Service is giving away samples from major brands to its customers. The company is piloting a program in Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Miami, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., in which people who get UPS' Direct-to-Door home delivery also get offers and samples from a roster of brands. It is expected to go nationwide in 2010. The offers will be packaged in a custom-designed "UPS Direct-to-Door Pak" -- white with an image of a UPS delivery van -- and delivered to residents in the test ZIP codes who are receiving a small package shipment that day. Each Direct-to-Door Pak can contain approximately 12 offers and samples from UPS customers. Brands participating in the program include Williams Sonoma, Bed Bath & Beyond, FTD.com, Pottery Barn, The Finish Line, Sephora, West Elm and Zappos.com. A spokesperson for UPS tells Marketing Daily that about 12 brands are involved now. "We are asking brands to put in discrete offers you wouldn't get with other marketing channels," she says. Zappos.com, for instance, is giving recipients an invite to its VIP club, whose members get free shipping, among other perks. The company is not promoting the program at this point, per the spokesperson. "Right now, there's no advertising in place, but we actually will be getting metrics from feedback and talking to customers. Like any pilot, we have to go through evaluation." The samples will come in a separate, uniquely designed pack. The spokesperson says UPS developed the idea after doing focus-group research on direct-mail marketing that suggested people are too inundated with offers to notice them. The focus group attendees said they would feel differently about it if a sample package were delivered by hand by a familiar person. "They trust a familiar face, the UPS driver, and they are more likely to accept something from them that's a surprise or gift." "As marketing channels evolve and consumer choices increase, we need new touchpoints to connect with customers," said Pat Connolly, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Williams Sonoma, in a statement. "With a UPS Direct-to-Door delivery, we're reaching an active consumer, an important factor for increased response rates."
Gillette is embarking on a new ad campaign to introduce its latest five-bladed shaver, the Fusion MVP. The campaign follows a multi-year deal that P&G signed with the NFL that, among other things, makes Gillette Fusion MVP an "Official Locker Room Product" of the NFL. The push includes online, print and TV ads starring Matt Ryan, quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons. The TV spot, via BBDO New York, starts this week on network and cable television programming. It touts the razor as a solution to sensitive skin by making Ryan's mug the poster-face for skin abuse. The ad has Ryan getting pummeled on the gridiron under a harsh sun, in a downpour, in the snow and in wind while it extols the virtues of the shaver's multiple-blade surface. P&G's multi-year sponsorship deal with the league also gives NFL Official Locker Room Product shelf space to brands like Old Spice and Febreze. As part of the deal, which makes P&G one of 21 marketing partners, the brands can use the NFL logo on packaging. The company also signed a deal with Major League Baseball that extended for a 70th year and beyond -- the longest sponsorship deal in history, the relationship between Gillette and MLB. A Gillette spokesperson said print ads show the whole Gillette razor lineup. He says the TV ad will run on NFL broadcasts plus network and cable sports programming and other male-skewed programs. Disposable razors, power shavers, and non-disposable razors are the top three segments in the shaving category, which is dominated by Gillette, Schick and BIC Corp., per Chicago-based marketing firm Mintel. The firm says competition is from spas and salons offering old-fashioned barbershop shaves, and up-market shaving products. The firm says growth opportunities may lie in introductions of natural/ organic/environmentally friendly products with marketing that touts green qualities. Mintel's most recent segment study, conducted last year, found that triple razor blades are used by more than half of the respondents who use razor blades, and Gillette is used by 84% of the respondents. For those men who use electric shavers, Norelco is the preferred brand, reported by 52% of respondents, followed by Remington and Braun. Men with lower incomes are more likely to report using disposable razors. When it comes to disposable brands, Gillette is used by 45% of men, BIC by 31%, and Schick by 15%.
Depending on how irritating consumers find their current cell phone carrier, Sprint is making it a little more fun to say goodbye. As part of its new Any Mobile, Anytime feature, customers can get unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling from the Sprint Network to any U.S. wireless carrier, at any time. To celebrate, consumers go to www.mobilegoodbye.com, and select the carrier they want to ditch. People looking to lose Verizon get a spoof of Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings," those hoping to leave T-Mobile get a funny version of Madonna's "Like a Virgin," and the "Dear AT&T" letter is set to Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susannah." And of course, consumers who think the videos are amusing can email them to friends, as well as post them to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. While a TV campaign supporting the new program broke last weekend, "our creative team thought it would be funny if we had an online component about people dumping their existing carrier," Tracy Palmer, Sprint's director of national advertising, based in Overland Park, Kan., tells Marketing Daily. "So we added this viral piece." Sprint feels that using humor is the best way to get to people who find restrictive calling circles particularly vexing. "There's a great opportunity out there," she says, "to reach people who just don't want those restrictions. These fun videos encourage viewers to say goodbye to restrictive calling circles and switch to Sprint." The videos were created by Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Sprint Nextel currently has about 49 million customers; the new offer enables customers to call any of the 250 million other cell phone users in the U.S., starting at $69.99 a month.
Sonia Rykiel is scheduled to be the next guest designer for H&M, and for the first time, the partnership will extend to lingerie. The Sonia Rykiel 2009 holiday line is scheduled to arrive in 1,500 H&M stores by Dec. 5. At the same time, the lingerie collection will also be launched in Sonia Rykiel's boutiques around the world, a tandem offering that is another first for the Swedish cheap-chic chain. The deal includes a line of bright knits for 2010, for both women and girls. That collection is set to launch in a much smaller group of stores -- about 250 -- on Feb. 20. "It is a hallmark of Sonia Rykiel to think of all women because fashion is about a certain spirit more than a question of means," says Nathalie Rykiel, president and artistic director of Sonia Rykiel, in the company's release. "This collaboration fits perfectly with our philosophy. The 'Sonia Rykiel pour H&M' lingerie collection is the ideal way to offer the essence of Rykiel to a great number of women around the world, and a beautiful way to close the year. The knitwear collection is perfect for welcoming a colorful new season." Sonia Rykiel's style, christened "la démodé," or unfashion, back when it launched in Paris in the late 1960s, includes inside-out stitching, colorful stripes, plenty of black, and knit pullovers, and is a favorite of such celebs as First Lady Michelle Obama, Chloe Sevigny and Nicole Richie. Past H&M guest designers for the Swedish chain have included Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, Comme des Garçons, and Madonna. A small collection of shoes, bags and ready-to-wear from Jimmy Choo, the chi-chi shoe designer, are scheduled to go on sale Nov. 14. While H&M has gotten a few bumps and bruises from the recession - August sales fell 3% in local currencies, and 11% in comparable units -- its fast-fashion formula has held up better than many other apparel retailers. In the nine months of its fiscal year, sales gained 18%, including a 5% gain in local currencies. (In comparable units, sales fell 4% for the period.)
In another example of the power of free coupons combined with the Internet word of mouth, the J.M. Smucker Company launched an online promotion offering 20,000 coupons for free four-packs of Smucker's Uncrustables Sandwiches this morning, and the coupons were gone within hours. The promotion stated that the offer was valid through Oct. 30, or while supplies lasted. "We weren't sure how fast this would happen-we were certainly surprised at just how fast word of mouth travels," noted a spokesperson for Smucker. The giveaway was positioned as helping busy moms provide their kids and the whole family with a wholesome, satisfying and convenient snack. The first 20,000 adults to go online (uncrustables.com), register and submit an "after-school organizational tip" were eligible for the coupons. "We're letting consumers know that they can still go in and submit tips," even though the coupons aren't available anymore, said the PR representative. The promotion's premise is based on a survey of 1,520 moms (84% with kids under 14) conducted for Smucker through MomCentral.com, a nationwide network of mom influencers, bloggers and grassroots community organizers. The survey found that 68% of moms feel stress or pressure "when trying to prepare wholesome snacks for their children." In terms of influencing snack purchases, nutritional balance was the factor most cited by mothers (39%), followed by their children's preferences (25%) and cost (11%). However, 43% acknowledged that they usually serve cookies or chips as after-school snacks, and 32% reported using restaurant drive-throughs one to two times per week. The promotion also looks to raise awareness that there are now seven Uncrustables varieties, including two new PB&J varieties that are on whole wheat bread (one with grape jelly, one with strawberry jam).
United States Marine is not a title given lightly, and a new recruitment campaign emphasizes the "The Few" that make it into the Corps to become "The Proud." The new campaign, called "America's Few," features national print, television and online advertising as well as digital mall signage, placement on in-school television networks and social media Web sites. The effort, from JWT Atlanta, is intended to build on a previous campaign called "America's Marines" that depicted Marines in their dress blues standing at iconic American landscapes. The new effort takes that a step further, stressing the quality of recruits and the Corps' training program. "We had been talking about the purpose of service, with a symbolic line of Marines standing from sea to shining sea," Marshall Lauck, management director of JWT Atlanta, tells Marketing Daily. "That showed [recruits] what they would do as Marines. Now we need to show them what it takes to be a part of that." The new television commercial features three actual Marines: LCpl. Oscar Franquez, Jr., LCpl. Benjamin Lee, and LCpl. Martin McCallum. The commercial begins with each of them running in their home neighborhoods -- a cornfield, the suburbs and a city street -- before quick-cutting to the grueling training that recruits must endure, including running, swimming in full combat-gear, hand-to-hand combat and obstacle courses. "Many will hear the calling, few will earn the title," says a voiceover, before ending with the Marines' familiar "The Few. The Proud" tagline. "It's in your face. It's gritty and it's more in your face than the previous advertising," Maj. Christian Devine, the Marines' national director of public affairs, tells Marketing Daily. "We want to give people a sneak peek of the challenges they'll face." The commercial has been airing during professional and college football broadcasts and will continue through the fall season. CBS' "NFL Today" show also has intercut scenes of the recruitment commercial with NFL footage for more integration, Lauck says. JWT redesigned the Marines' home page to feature stills from the commercial and to direct viewers to a series of online videos (which have been available on the site for about six months) called "12 Weeks," a series highlighting the 12-week training program. "It's a natural fit that as we showcase the experience of training to walk them through that program," Lauck says.
MTV is launching a new short-form supernatural mystery series called "Valemont," which will combine TV, online and mobile story-telling. The collaboration with Electric Farm Entertainment, set to premiere today, features prominent brand integrations for Verizon Wireless, further highlighted by Verizon's role in the mobile distribution of the content. The protagonist of "Valemont," Sophie (Kristen Hager) is determined to discover the fate of her brother Eric (Eric Balfour), who went missing while attending Valemont University, an elite East Coast school with Ivy League overtones. To do this, Sophie must infiltrate Valemont, where she makes a series of discoveries about the school, its student body and her own family's past. For the first six weeks of the series, a succession of 2.5-minute segments will appear in place of ads in the commercial pods before MTV's show "The Hills" and after "The City," book-ending MTV's 10 p.m.-11 p.m. programming block. The concluding 23 episodes will be posted on MTV.com, as well as on Verizon's V Cast Video. Verizon phones are featured in the story line. Each episode begins with a video clip or text message from Eric's mobile device. The phones will provide clues to characters in the show. Verizon will also get five-second billboards opening and closing each TV episode, promoting additional content available on V Cast. At the dedicated Web site, ValemontU.com, visitors can interact with the story in various ways, finding clues, performing tasks, decoding messages and drawing connections between maps, photos and fictive blogs maintained by various characters. John Shea, executive vice president of integrated marketing, MTV Networks, said in a statement: "What's great about this integration with Verizon Wireless is how the mystery of "Valemont" unfolds for its characters across platforms, mirroring the way the audience receives information and interacts with the show."
These are the "Holiday Hot Dozen" toys, selected by independent experts and parents and tested by children: 7n1 Maxus Drago Bakugan, Ages 5+, $39.99, Spin Master Crayon Town, Ages 3+, $9.99+, Wild Planet Disney Netpal, Ages 6+, $349.99, Disney Consumer Products/ASUS Girl Gourmet Sweets Candy Jewelry Factory, Ages 8+, $29.99, Jakks Pacific Nanovor Nanoscope, Ages 7+, $49.99, Smith & Tinker Princess and the Frog "Just One Kiss" Tiana, Ages 3+, $24.99, Mattel Printies Design Studio, Ages 6+, $19.99, Techno Source Scene It? Twilight Deluxe Edition, Ages 13+, $29.99, Screenlife Games Star Wars Battle of Endor, Ages 9+, $99.99, Lego Star Wars Clone Turbo Tank, Ages 4+, $99.99, Hasbro Zhu Zhu Pets, Ages 3+, $7.99, Cepia LLC Zippity Learning System, Ages 3+, $79.99, LeapFrog Source: Gareb Shamus' FunFare Magazine
The seismic shift in distribution from outbound push channels to networked pull channels has created a new phenomenon that can only be compared to the profound discoveries of Albert Einstein, himself. Consumers can now perpetuate content at a new speed, the "speed of share." With the click of a mouse or a mobile phone, consumers can advance a great story/ad/video/news bite to vast, networked communities of hearts and minds. The speed of share renders the speed of traditional content distribution obsolete. It's like comparing real time to slow motion. But, there's a catch: Content will only travel at the speed of share if it is worth sharing in the first place. Marketers must heed the following five lessons to thrive in the speed of share: 1. Don't focus on social networking. The speed of share doesn't require another infrastructure, e.g., a marketer's Twitter feed, Facebook page, or iPhone application. Rather, it requires an accelerant to travel through an already robust social networking infrastructure. Only great content that is engaging and contextually relevant to both the sender and the receiver will travel. Now, more than ever, marketers must focus their energy on delivering great content. I don't care where it comes from: Hollywood, Madison Avenue or a consumer's webcam. Marketers must foster an environment of creativity where great brand ideas can come from anywhere and can flourish inside and outside the organization. 2. You can't copy test your way into this phenomenon. We have a wealth of learning about to how to optimize messages that consumers love to skip. Until we start measuring importance, contextual relevance and "worth sharing," we won't have the proper benchmarks to determine whether content has what it takes to travel at the speed of share. One thing is certain: Average is the kiss of death in this model. You stand a better chance with something really awful; at least it will travel (marketers, please don't try this at home). 3. No single medium has a lock on the speed of share. It doesn't matter where content first appears: if it has the right ingredients, it will travel. No need to launch a widget or a viral video to create this effect. Content can start on television, land on YouTube, bounce around Facebook/Twitter and create a frenzy right back on the television screen in literally seconds. 4. Traditional media planning time intervals no longer make sense. "Average four-week" or "weekly reach" seems less relevant when an entire network of hearts and minds can be engaged within a matter of hours, minutes and seconds. But speed comes with a catch: How can marketers sustain top-of-mind awareness when messages travel so quickly? A suggestion: Create something memorable. In the spirit of the late Simon Broadbent, think of a great idea in this model as "Adstock" on steroids. While messages can travel at the speed of share, they need to remain in my heart and/or in my mind for some time to come. 5. Reach and frequency only matters when you plan to hit me over the head with a dull message. Reach is only an "opportunity to see." The message that I will truly see is one that is important, one that is contextually relevant, one that I will remember, and one that I care to share across my network. And, frequency only matters when you have to beg me to pay some form of attention to what is otherwise dull, boring, and/or irrelevant. I should be able to fall in love at first sight.