• by Kate Kaye , April 30, 2004

America Online today expanded its relationship with college savings company Upromise, Inc., announcing a $30 million dollar online and offline marketing blitz to support the effort. Through the promotion, AOL members enrolled in the program will earn double the amount of college contributions or student loan payment funds garnered from the service. In addition, Upromise partners--including Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Kellogg, and McDonald's--will boost their rebates to participants in May.

"This is far and away the largest undertaking that we've ever organized," said George Bell, president and CEO of Upromise.

More than 4.5 million families have registered for the free college savings program, which provides rebates for purchases made at the 75,000 Upromise-affiliated grocery stores, retail outlets, hotels, eateries, and gas stations. Upromise members use credit and shopping cards as they normally would at participating businesses, and in return receive contributions that can be stored in a rebate account or government-sanctioned 529 college tuition savings account. Funds can also be used to pay down student loan debt.

Since its genesis three years ago, Upromise has been connected to AOL as a result of a previous business relationship between Bell and AOL, according to Bell. The family-focused Internet media company wanted a loyalty program "to put them on the right side of family issues," Bell recalled. The more than one million AOL members already participating in the Upromise program can connect their AOL and Upromise accounts in order to collect the added AOL contributions.

The multi-pronged campaign kicks off today, and is aimed mainly at families with young children who have Web access. According to Bell, mothers are a special focus because they are more apt to register for such incentive programs, and tend to do the majority of grocery and retail shopping.

The campaign will also target people with student loan debt. According to Dennis Gonier, senior vice president, member retention at AOL, 17 percent of AOL members have taken out student loans. "AOL is a medium built on families with children," Gonier says, which makes the Upromise promotion an ideal match for the Internet media giant.

Online ads featuring Macromedia Flash and Viewpoint technologies--as well as standard banner ads--will run in AOL's welcome screen, in addition to contextually relevant site sections such as parenting, education, and money and finance. AOL members can sign up for instant message reminders and alerts regarding their Upromise balance or savings opportunities; the messages will announce: "You've got savings."

The campaign will also use AOL's Buddy Lists and e-greetings to promote a program feature allowing friends and relatives to designate funds to benefit a particular child. A partnership with Mapquest will enable members to enter a ZIP code to find Upromise partner locations nearby. Online ads will run on sites other than AOL, although Gonier declined to name the specific properties.

The offline campaign is extensive, and includes TV, radio, and print buys. Prime time network and cable television spots will account for 70 percent of the TV budget, while 30 percent will go toward morning and daypart television buys. Radio ads, inserts in Sunday newspaper circulars including Parade Magazine, and posters on gas tanks at service stations will also promote the effort.

Throughout the first month of the campaign, Upromise's 31 Consumer Packaged Goods partners representing 9,000 products will raise contributions to 5 percent. AOL members purchasing selected items in May will receive double that rate, or 10 percent of the purchase cost.

Over the next three weeks, 11,000 grocery store partner locations will display channel strip ads beside prices on store shelves to alert Upromise participants that buying specific products, like Unilever's Skippy brand peanut butter, will earn them more college cash. As a permanent addition to the service, Citibank will refund 20 percent of grocery and drug store purchases of partner products when consumers use the Citi Upromise Card.

The campaign is scheduled to run through the end of June, while a second back-to-school push is planned as well. Both Bell and Gonier emphasize that the program is not a one-stop solution to college tuition savings. "We just want to help; our goal here is to get people started," Gonier added.

The ad campaign is handled by Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide, New York. The first TV spot breaks on May 5.