National Consumer Promotion: Budget over $5 Million
April 6, 2009
Consumers have long observed the snacking rituals of twisting, licking and dunking Oreo
cookies. But with the introduction of Double Stuf Racing League in 2008, Nabisco turned
those popular pastimes into a sport (of sorts).
Seeking to differentiate its creamier Double Stuf Oreos from the original Oreo cookie and boost sales of the newer product, Nabisco and its multiple agency partners established DSRL—a fantasy-style “sport” in which famous athletes vie for top dunking/licking honors. The promotion rolled out in two phases, with football’s Manning brothers and tennis’ Williams sisters locked in some seriously entertaining cookie competition.
A teaser TV spot in January featured NFL quarterback siblings Peyton and Eli Manning
holding a mock press conference to announce their decision to become “two sport” athletes. The mystery was kept alive (the ad had directed viewers to a Web site, whatsthesecondsport. com) until a subsequent spot revealed DSRL during the NFL playoffs later that month. The ad touted DSRL.com while a sweepstakes offered consumers a chance to win a trip to New Orleans, where they could enter a “Lick Race” with the football stars for a $10,000 top prize.
In July, tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams joined the fray. A new national TV
spot featured them challenging the Mannings to the ultimate lick-off. Talk about a golden marketing touch: Just as Eli Manning’s New York Giants won the Super Bowl, Serena Williams notched her third U.S. Open title. Following both victories, the DSRL ran congratulatory full-page ads in USA Today. DSRL’s results were just as sweet. All told, more than 208 million PR impressions included some 1 million views on YouTube; 2.3 million sweepstakes entries; and 1 million visits to the promotional Web sites through November 2008. Most notably, sales of Double Stuf Oreos increased by 7.6 percent in January/February and 6.9 percent in September/October at the height of the promotion.
AT&T had a plumb marketing platform thanks to its sponsorship of Team USA during the 2008 Summer Olympics. But the brand’s core consumers (18-24) were much younger than that average TV audience of the Olympic Games. Thus, with help from The Marketing Arm, AT&T created a splashy music promotion called “Team USA Soundtrack” to draw in those younger viewers.
On each night during the two-week Games, NBC ran sponsored segments featuring the day’s competition highlights from Team USA set to music from artists like 3 Doors Down, Goo Goo Dolls, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift and Sheryl Crow. Full-length music videos featuring the athletes and artists were made available through AT&T’s Web sites, where consumers could download songs and ringtones. All proceeds went to support Team USA. Additional buzz came from behind-the-scenes content provided by AT&T and NBC.
The results were impressive. AT&T received a combined 1.375 million page views on its Web sites, and video content received over 2 million views. A total of $1 million was raised for Team USA. The Team USA Soundtrack promotion was the most-recalled Olympic sponsor feature (per Nielsen) and generated more than 60 million PR impressions during the promotional period.
An 11-city gospel choir tour formed the centerpiece of this promotion from Verizon Wireless and Momentum Worldwide. The goal: to build loyalty within the relatively untapped African American market and increase consumer interaction with mobile phones. The competition moved from application submissions to live regional events with appearances from popular gospel performers. Using text to large screen capabilities, congregations urged on their favorite choirs and voted for the “V-Cast People’s Choice Award.” A finale in Atlanta capped the event, whose total attendance of 83 choirs and 4,000 performers comprised 78 percent African Americans—one-third of whom expressed increased purchase intent.