• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 3, 2008

AdPack has achieved a 20% redemption rate with ticket discounts distributed via its free, branded tissue packs promoting "Legally Blonde: the Musical," the company announced today.

The enviable rate of return was achieved in partnership with Brand Marketers, a guerrilla marketing company, by employing lookalikes for the Broadway heroine, Elle Woods, to hand out 10,000 free tissue branded packs with a special pink offer of a discounted ticket ($67.50 versus $121.50). Of these 10,000 free handouts, 2,025 resulted in the recipient getting the discounted ticket.

The campaign proved so successful, in fact, that the show's producers are ordering another round of branded tissues. They will boost distribution to new channels that reach the travel and tourism industry.

Last year, AdPack partnered with the New York City Opera to promote its fall 2007 season with a similar 10,000-pack campaign. The company has also produced campaigns for the U.S. Army and Commerce Bank.

While still relatively small in the U.S., the prevalence of free, branded tissue packs has virtually eliminated the market for regular tissues in Japan, where the concept originated in the 1970s. About 4 billion free promotional tissue packs are distributed every year in Japan, at a total cost of about $1 billion. AdPack is a subsidiary of Itochu, a giant Japanese manufacturer with a substantial paper goods business.

And AdPack isn't alone. Although technically a different kind of disposable paper hygienic product, a company called Napads operates a "napkin network" covering popular nightlife venues, extending its distribution to cover the country's major markets. It has also forged a new partnership with US Airways to deliver as many as 9 million impressions per buy. NapAds has created napkin ads for Absolut, American Express, Bacardi, CW2 and Finlandia, among others.