Premium chocolate maker Lindt is taking an unusually humorous tack in its new TV spot featuring Swiss tennis star Roger Federer. The new commercial, created for Lindt USA by agency of record Gotham Inc., is Federer's first ad for Lindt since he became global brand ambassador for Swiss parent Lindt & Sprüngli Group last October. The 30-second spot, which is initially airing in a two-week national flight corresponding with the U.S. Open (Aug. 29 - Sept. 12) -- which Federer has won five times in the past six years -- shows two female airport security agents taste-testing the athlete's stash of Lindor Truffles and confiscating them for further "investigation" (as well as checking out Federer's well-toned posterior and considering a strip search). The somewhat naughty ad is designed as a complement to Lindt's more traditional, ongoing "Do You Dream In Chocolate?" campaign, which shows Lindt's Master Chocolatiers creating the rich chocolate Lindor Truffles. An extended version of the new ad and a behind-the-scenes video showing outtakes from its creation will also be featured on Lindt.com and YouTube, with social media/viral efforts, including Twitter promotions, to continue beyond the Open. The ad will also be seen internationally starting in November, when it will air during the Swiss Indoors Basel tennis tournament. Lindt & Sprüngli chose Federer as the 165-year-old company's first celebrity spokesperson because Federer "uniquely embodies" the company's "fundamental values of 'Swissness,' 'premiumness,' quality and passion," making Federer and Lindt "the perfect match," comments Lindt USA president/CEO Thomas Linemayr. In addition to showcasing Lindor Truffles in "a fun way," the new campaign is designed to employ Federer's likability and global recognition to extend and reinforce the popularity of Lindt chocolates in global markets, Linemayr says. On Lindt's site, Lindt/Federer fans can also enter a "Perfect Match" sweepstakes. The contest features daily chances to win prizes such as a trip for two to New York City to see Federer play, as well as a grand prize of a trip for two to Zurich to meet Federer, tour the Lindt & Sprüngli plant, and attend the Lindt Holiday Lighting Ceremony. In addition, the brand's site provides links to videos of Federer playing, his site, and his Facebook page.
Gearing up for the coming season of hot new video game titles, Best Buy says it is expanding its video game trade-in service. The program -- first announced back in June -- is rolling out to 600 Best Buy stores this week, with additional stores to soon follow. It is offering a $20 video game gift card as an incentive. Eventually, the Minneapolis-based chain says, it will also offer pre-owned games for sale. The company says the rollout is timed to coincide with some highly anticipated new-product launches, with gamers around the world salivating over such products as Microsoft's "Halo: Reach for Xbox 360," currently Amazon's No. 1 most-craved product, out within weeks. "The fall will be an incredibly exciting time for gaming," Dave Benson, Best Buy's merchant director for gaming, tells Marketing Daily. "Besides 'Halo,' fans are eagerly awaiting 'Call of Duty: Black Ops,' 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II,' 'Medal of Honor,' 'Fallout New Vegas' and 'Donkey Kong Country Returns.' We expect the new releases to drive trade-in volume as customers will use their old games as currency toward the new ones they want." He says the company will promote trade-in across all of its marketing channels, including online advertising, the Best Buy insert, and its loyalty program, Reward Zone Club for Gamers. It has been offering a similar program online at BestBuy.com, which allows customers to get estimates, mail them in for free and receive a Best Buy gift card in the mail. Trade-in prices in-store will match the prices shown online. The used-game market was pioneered by GameStop, a retailer based in Grapevine, Tex., and has become an increasingly important factor in game sales. In its second fiscal quarter, just announced a few weeks ago, GameStop says sales of used video games accounted for $565.5 million, or 31.4%; in the same period a year ago, used games comprised 32.3% of sales. BestBuy's trade-in program is the latest in its efforts to increase its gaming edge. Its magazine, @Gamer, is already sold in all Best Buy stores and by subscription, and offers discounts; it also offers the Best Buy gaming app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. It also offers product discounts.
Red Vines is looking to spread a little goodwill, one licorice strand at a time, with a new social media campaign that encourages people to write enough positive affirmations to circle the globe. The campaign, "Red Vines World of Sharing," plays off the company's tagline, "The World Could Use a Bit More Red Vines," encouraging people to write a positive affirmation, which takes the form of a Red Vine candy on a Google Maps-enabled globe. Each strand is intended to represent one mile, meaning it will take 24,000 statements to make it around the world. (The chain starts at the company's Union City, Calif. plant on the virtual globe.) "We wanted to build something that would be unique and wouldn't be [typical] 'marketing'" Mike Kelly, consumer communications manager for American Licorice Co., tells Marketing Daily. "We wanted to keep [the campaign] going in a positive direction, 'How could we make sharing unique?'" The site, which went live Friday, is closely tied to Facebook and Twitter (users can use Facebook Connect login to begin posting), and a concurrent contest (which awards a prize for every 100 miles of virtual Red Vine created and a $5,000 grand prize to help one winner take a trip around the world) is tied to Facebook and Twitter response, Kelly says. "The [virtual] Vines with the most views win," he says. (He adds that the affirmations do not need to reference the product to qualify for prizes or make it into the chain.) The company is relying on the viral nature of social media -- as well as its 15,000 Facebook fans -- to spread the word, Kelly says. He's also hoping the positive nature of the campaign will work to its advantage. "When you put good content out there, it tends to get forwarded and forwarded and forwarded," he says. The social media effort is a big step for American Licorice Co., the parent of Red Vines, Kelly says. Although the company has been around for more than a century, it produced its first television commercial only a few years ago, he says. "Historically, it's been a manufacturing company," he says. "Our [recent] direct consumer marketing has led us to be focused on the consumer, rather than having the inertia of being a 100-year-old company."
TripOutGayTravel.com, a division of MTV's Logo network, is getting its list together of the best destinations and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) travelers. The nominations lead up to a series of awards in the fourth quarter based on consumer voting online and through Facebook and Twitter. When people vote, they can alert and encourage friends or followers to cast their votes as well on things like "Sexiest Place on Earth," "Best Breakout Destination," "Ultimate Luxury Hotel" and "Best Gay Bar in the World." The initial nominations have already been made by journalists and gurus covering the LGBT travel market, per the site. Readers can vote for best gay destination, tour operator or hospitality service starting now at TripOutGayTravel.com, with results to be announced in early November. Chicago and London were nominated for having the best gay bars. The former also was nominated for best U.S. destination; the latter for best global destination. Las Vegas is also nominated for best U.S. destination as well as "Sexiest Place on Earth." The city's SkyLofts at MGM Grand is up for "Best Luxury Hotel." Dallas is nominated for "Best Breakout Destination" and "Best Gay Bar" for the Round-Up Saloon. Other nominees for best global destinations are Berlin, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Montreal and New York City. Nominees for best U.S. destination include Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, Provincetown, Mass., and San Francisco. American, Delta, JetBlue, LAN, Southwest and Virgin America were nominated as best airlines for LGBT travelers. Hotel nominations were Ace, Andaz, Axel, Four Seasons, Hyatt and Kimpton. Sexiest places on Earth for LGBT travelers? In addition to Vegas, Barcelona, Key West, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv and Palm Springs, Calif. also were nominated.
Chrysler Group LLC says it has hosted 400 Chrysler Group dealers to outline the requirements to becoming a Fiat dealer in the United States. The automaker is bringing the Fiat 500 subcompact to the U.S. market later this year. Chrysler says the dealers met with the team responsible for establishing a Fiat retail network by the end of this year. The company wants Fiat dealerships in about 165 locations, in metropolitan areas. Per the automaker, dealers were given parameters for submitting a competitive proposal for a Fiat franchise. Proposals must be submitted by Sept. 22, with Chrysler Group planning to name Fiat dealers in the fourth quarter. "The Fiat brand offers our dealers the opportunity to be part of a unique experience," said Laura Soave, head of Fiat Brand North America. "Our dealers will be able to interact with a group of individuals that are not part of their current customer base." In her prepared statement, she said the Fiat intenders are interested in Italian automotive design. A spokesperson for the automaker says the company invited the dealers from 119 regions in 38 states and that final decisions will be based on sales performance, the plans they have to create separate branded spaces for Fiat, "and how comprehensive their plan is to market the car. We are also going to be looking at compliance with dealership standards in their existing operations, and we will make sure they are properly capitalized." "What we did was to identify markets with high concentrations of small-car registrations," he says -- adding that California was the biggest market, with 14 regions identified as optimal Fiat markets because they are already heavily represented by people who buy small cars. "We also see the Northeast and Florida; Florida has 15 market areas we identified for Fiat." In the Midwest, he said, Illinois is a strong candidate, principally because of the Chicago metropolitan area. Ohio has six markets in places like Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, he says. The spokesperson said that while the company can't talk specifics about marketing programs and the extent to which dealers will carry the advertising load for local markets, "the overriding sentiment of the dealers we interviewed on breaks during the meeting was that if they came unsure about the program for the Fiat 500, they now got the big picture, the product, and the plan. They said it all made sense for them." With plans to launch the car by year-end, dealers who are chosen will have less than four months to develop facilities to get the car and brand on the floor. The spokesperson says that is enough time to do the job. "At this point we are looking for separate showrooms only; down the road as we roll out the full line of Fiat vehicles, we will be looking for separate facilities for the brand. Right now, a lot of dealers marketing all four brands have a used car building already in use that could easily be converted to a separate showroom for Fiat."
Julie Roehm will be turning the tables and helping to shape the news about marketing, instead of making it, and she can use your help. As guest editor of the October issue of Media magazine, and conference chair of Marketing Daily's CHANGE: The Digital Transformation Summit, Roehm is looking for some good stories about marketers who are leveraging digital technology to change the world of marketing. If you are one, or know a marketer who has an innovative story to share, or case study to present, please let us know. You can reach Julie at roehm.julie@gmail.com. Or contact MediaPost Editor-in-Chief Joe Mandese at joe@mediapost.com.
For the first time in history, brands are trying to navigate a two-way channel of communication. Social media requires a value exchange between the consumer and the brand. Here are some reasons to think of it as one giant party. 1) Social Media is one giant party. Let's set the stage. Imagine the social web as one huge cocktail party. In one corner of the room, a group of moms are talking about education and parenting issues. In another corner of the room, a group of recent college grads laugh over Will Ferrell's latest movie. Different groups of people are enjoying themselves, sharing stories, discussing current events, pop culture, trends, etc. All the groups are mingling, making new "friends," and the most influential people in the room have the most "followers" hanging on their every word. Sound familiar? Social Media is a true reflection of society today -- and what better representation of social behavior, fragmentation, hierarchy and influence than a giant party? 2) Lead with "people stories," not "product stories." Marketing has taught us to always lead with our "product story": distilling our message down to a "unique selling proposition" and driving it home with features and benefits. If you only have 30 seconds to sell your product using a canned message, "showing" and "selling" can be effective. If you walk into that party and the first thing you do is try to sell your product, don't expect an invite back. To become the life of the party you can't lead with product stories; you need to lead with people stories. Enter the conversation on their terms. Start a dialogue with something that is important to them, not what's important to you. People need to like you first; then they'll ask what you do for a living. This means it's critical to have the right "opening line" -- a way to enter the conversation that starts with the consumer's agenda but can seamlessly migrate to your agenda. 3) Use content to make connections. The right story, joke or anecdote at a party goes a long way, and social media is no different. If those moms are talking about parenting issues, turn them onto a parenting expert who can help with their problems. If those grads are laughing over Will Ferrell's latest movie, recommend another movie for them to see. The right content will allow you to make instant connections. Think of your fellow party-goers as audiences rather than consumers. Like a publisher, you need to help or entertain first; showing or selling comes later. 4) Embrace fragmentation. Just like a party, social media is made up of many interest groups; you can't use the same opening line with moms that you used with those college grads. You may need a few different "opening lines" if you are going after different audiences. "Work the room" by breaking your audience into segments. Naturally adjust your talking points based on who you are speaking with. If you are interesting, relevant and sociable, people will remember you and be willing to learn more about you (and your products). 5) Leverage the influencer. Have you ever walked into a party where you didn't know anyone? It's not impossible to meet people, but you certainly have to work hard at it. What if you walk into the party with the most popular kid in school? You get instant credibility, everyone in the room knows who you are and talking to them becomes that much easier. Simply put, leveraging the right influencers makes you "cool by association." You don't have to work as hard meeting people, you get to talk about yourself more and instead of trying to figure how to start a conversation with people, they will talk to you. 6) Engagement trumps impressions. Brands are obsessed with impressions. For them, it's always been about reach and frequency. Social media, however, is about engagement, not impressions. If you walked into a party and just stood against the back wall, people might "see" you standing there. You may even make eye-contact with a few of those moms you so desperately want to talk to -- but what good will that do? The Social Media Party is not about making eye-contact (impressions); it's about shaking hands (engagements). It's about meeting people, talking to them, sharing with them -- it's about engaging with them and participating in the conversation.