Gillette is giving shaves at Monday’s Gillette Home Run Derby, but it is also giving money. The event has traditionally had a charity component where each home run means a donation by MLB and the game's sponsor. Charities like Boys and Girls Clubs and MLB Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) benefit. The P&G grooming brand is adding something to its title sponsorship of the event, which happens this Monday at Target Field in Minneapolis. It will link the charity component to literal product placement of its Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall razor. Gillette will have two LED “Hit It Here” targets featuring an image of the #FlexBall: one in left-center and the second in right-center field, per the P&G brand. If either target is hit during the Derby by one of the participants, the baseball league and Gillette will give a one-time donation of $300,000 from Gillette. The company says the goal is to beat the $615,000 number set in 2012. There is also a custom orange "#FlexBall" baseball that will be introduced toward the end of each participant’s at-bat. Each time a participant hits a home run with the orange ball $10,000 goes to charity. Gillette and MLB will combine to make an additional donation of $5,000 for every non-FlexBall home run hit throughout the program, per the company. As for the free shaves, Gillette will offer them, performed of course with the new razor, at a "#FlexBall Grooming Lounge" on the centerfield concourse. At T-Mobile All-Star FanFest during MLB All-Star Week, the brand will have a batting set-up with an orange #FlexBall dangling prizes like tickets to the game, products and coupons. On social media, Gillette is activating on Twitter @MLB with #FlexBall and #HRDerby hashtags. People who tweet are entered for giveaways. Gillette, which has the longest consistent sponsorship relationship in sports, signed on as an MLB sponsor for the 1939 World Series. The company says its ads featuring MLB players date back to at least 1910. Gillette will also benefit from in-game coverage as the Home Run Derby airs on ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN and ESPN Radio and ESPN International as well as MLB digital properties.
If there’s two things that can unite youth around the world, it’s sports and music. With that in mind, Samsung is using music to excite young people around the world for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. The marketing effort, entitled “Life the Beats, Love the Games,” will allow fans worldwide to enjoy sports and music through a Galaxy S5 device. The campaign begins this month with sponsored performances from popular musical acts intended to connect with other young fans throughout the world. “Through this campaign, Samsung hopes to inspire young people around the world to enjoy the fun and exciting moments of the Youth Olympic Games,” Jamie Park, director and head of experiential marketing group, IT and mobile marketing at Samsung, tells Marketing Daily via e-mail. “Music and sport have the power to bring people together regardless of where they live, and Samsung is harnessing that collective passion through its innovative technology, exciting musical performances and interactive experiences that allow fans to feel closer to the spirit and joy of the Games.” Samsung is granting a group of fans to embark on a journey to five cities in China and use their Galaxy devices to share experiences in those cities. These “Young Mobilers” will be selected by the company based on their passion for technology, knowledge of Samsung products and interest in sharing their experiences, Park says. Samsung will also work with with the International Olympic Committee to provide Galaxy devices for the Games’ Young Ambassadors and Young Reporters program. Samsung has been a supporter of the Youth Olympic Games since 2010. This year’s activation is the company’s biggest to date related to the sponsorship. The special focus on music came about through the “important role music plays in inspiring creativity and self-expression,” Park says. Samsung will be promoting these efforts through its social channels on Facebook and Twitter, Park says.
The cost of keeping the kids amused this summer is going up: A new study from American Express finds that parents are spending $958 per child this school vacation, up 12% from last year, and up 59% from 2012. Day trips remain the most popular activity for families, with 77% of those with kids under 18 planning at least one such outing, an 8% increase from last year. (They intend to spend an average of $292 on these adventures.) And 48% have kids participating on sports teams, a 9% increase. (That costs an average of $187.) About 41% have ponied up for either a pool or club membership, up 14%. (That one costs $132.) Some 37% have enrolled their kids in an education or arts program. And there’s always camp, either day camp (used by 34% of participants) or sleep-away (chosen by 25%). Those cost an average of $273 and $234, respectively. And while 98% of the survey, based on an online sample of 1,253 adults, say they are assigning kids chores this summer, fewer parents of teens expect them to pursue a summer job (30% vs. 35% in 2013). The Boys & Girls Clubs of America are hoping to be part of that summer fun, and provide plenty of action with its “Million Minutes in Motion.” The mobile tour, which combines hula-hoops, sack races, jump ropes and obstacle courses, is heading to 20 cities around the country, with a goal of logging one million minutes of exercise with kids this summer. Corporate partners include Coca-Cola and WellPoint Foundation. Separately, the organization says it will partner with Mattel for a new toy and game program called “Share the Play.” For every online order placed at its online toy stores, Mattel plans to donate a toy to BGCA, distributing a minimum of 200,000 and up to 250,000 toys to the organization’s 4,100 Clubs, through the remainder of the year. Since last year, Mattel has donated more than $1 million to BGCA.
Johan de Nysschen came to Infiniti from Audi two years ago to help make the Nissan Motors division a global luxury brand, and truly distinct from Nissan in all ways. He was part of Infiniti’s move to Hong Kong and drove big changes to Infiniti’s alphanumeric vehicle naming system. Now de Nysschen is moving in with Cadillac as its new president with an aim to make the GM division a truly global luxury brand. De Nysschen, who ran Audi U.S.A. for eight years and Audi Japan for five, starts in September. Analysts say he’s leaving Infiniti too early, and arriving at GM not a moment too soon. Jesse Toprak, chief auto analyst at Cars.com tells Marketing Daily that it's something of a ‘strategy interruptus’ for Infiniti now. "Their program is nowhere near complete. They have begun doing things there toward making Infiniti a separate entity, versus Infiniti as souped-up Nissans, but two years is not nearly long enough to accomplish much." Current global Caddie chief Robert Ferguson will move back to Washington, D.C., where he is probably more comfortable — he was AT&T’s lobbyist there for many years. He will be GM’s SVP of global public policy. While Cadillac products like ATS and CTS have gotten strong reviews, Cadillac saw a 4.5% drop in June retail sales versus the month last year. Year to date sales of all GM’s other divisions have been up, but Cadillac U.S. sales are slightly down. Jim Sanfilippo, auto executive and consultant, tells Marketing Daily that whatever they did to get de Nysschen to jump ship at Infiniti, GM has just hit a home run for Cadillac. "Kudos to [GM CEO] Mary Barra for replacing a lobbyist with a proven leader," he says. "If I were a Cadillac dealer I'd be celebrating as if I'd just won the World Cup. I'd be planning to be 1,000% behind [de Nysshen], a proven leader, a proven turnaround guy who knows how to build a brand." GM says de Nysschen will handle Cadillac global sales, pricing and network development, strategic brand development and marketing and product portfolio planning. He also has input for product engineering and design. He will report to GM President Dan Ammann. In his official statement on the move, the incoming Cadillac executive said, “I have for some time now been impressed by how the new General Motors has been transformed into a formidable force in the industry.” He cites corporate leadership and "exceptional engineering resources," global brand recognition, and product progress as forces to restore Cadillac as a worldwide premium brand. There is some good news for Cadillac, thanks to China: global sales improved 30% last year. Both Cadillac and Infiniti share global ambitions. Infiniti aims to grab about a tenth of the global luxury market within six years, and is about to go hell for leather in China, the biggest auto market, and where it's about to start making cars. And like Infiniti, Cadillac is also ramping up its presence in China, where it plans on growing sales by 40% this year. Company has already seen sales in China grow 71.7% so far this year.
FirstBank’s smartphone banking is so easy, even the Amish could figure it out — if they were allowed.That’s the premise of a TV and online campaign created by TDA_Boulder for the Lakewood, Colo.-based bank. The three product-specific 15-second spots break serially. In “Elders,” an Amish spokesman explains how he deposits a check by smartphone (“Mobile Check Capture,” FirstBank calls it): “I enter the amount, position the magic box over the check, then bury it in the ground, so the elders don’t find it.” In “Rules,” the spokesman talks about how easily some other mobile users can view their account balance using FirstGlance, where there is no need to log in: “Just swipe the screen, then let its sorcery do the rest. I’d show you, but I’m not allowed to touch this thing.” In “Manure Bill,” the spokesman is shown relaxing in the bathtub, daydreaming aloud about settling his accounts by phone, whether one-time or recurring, all from just a snapshot of a paper invoice (Photo Bill Pay). “You can pay your manure bill, your buggy bill, your blacksmith bills...” “Most banks have a mobile banking app. We wanted to illustrate that FirstBank’s is very user-friendly and convenient. Customer adoption of the app has been outstanding,” Brian Jensen, SVP Marketing, FirstBank tells Marketing Daily. All three short spots end with the tagline: “User friendly, no matter who’s using it. The FirstBank mobile app.” The campaign targets early adopters, ages 18–34. It will run on all broadcast networks, typically with the 15-second spots in a “bookend” buy (first and last in the commercial pod), and weighted towards live sports, such as PGA, Tour de France and MLB. It will also run on 24 cable channels, such as ESPN, Discovery, A&E and MTV, mainly first-run, summer programming (yes, including “Amish Mafia”). Online will appear as pre-roll on video networks Hulu, YuMe and Tremor Video, and as Facebook promoted videos, in a targeted buy via Kinetic Social, New York.
With the Paleo Diet in full swing, and protein content being pumped up or spotlighted in all kinds of packaged foods and beverages, and on casual and fine-dining menus, it's no surprise that QSRs would also look to capitalize on the trend. Taco Bell is responding by turning its Cantina Bell Menu into a protein-focused Cantina Power Menu, and testing new, high-protein breakfast options. The Cantina Power Menu, launching nationally on July 17, features burritos and bowls with 3 ounces of grilled chicken or steak (about double the amount in core-menu items), and 29 grams and 28 grams of protein, respectively. The items' ingredients include lettuce, cheddar cheese, reduced-fat sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo; the bowls also include black beans and rice. In total, the burritos and bowls deliver 29 and 28 grams of protein, respectively, and under 500 calories. As was true of the original Cantina Bell Menu, launched in 2012, the Power menu is a premium, higher-priced offering. The new burritos are priced at $3.79 for chicken and $3.99 for steak; the bowls are $4.99 for chicken and $5.19 for steak. Vegetarian options are available at $3.79 for the burrito and $4.99 for the bowl. Taco Bell created the new items after testing a protein menu last year in Ohio. Consumers indicated that they didn't see much difference between that menu and the existing Cantina Bell offerings, so the QSR developed high-protein item variations under the Cantina branding. The new menu will be marketed through social, digital and mobile efforts; no television ads are planned. In addition, on Aug. 4, Taco Bell will begin testing a Greek yogurt and Power Breakfast steak bowls and burritos in Omaha, Neb. The yogurt, including a vanilla bean-with-granola-topping variety, will have 17 grams of protein and 240 calories, and sell for $2.49. It's being produced in partnership with premium boutique brand Three Happy Cows. The breakfast steak bowls and burritos will be priced at $2.79. The new breakfast items could roll out nationally in early 2015, said Taco Bell president Brian Niccol, who is in line to become the QSRs CEO next year.