NowThis and Corona Promote a Sustainable Beach Experience With Box'd

The days of mailing in cereal box tops for a toy are long gone. But the sweepstakes concept is very much still alive. Group Nine Media has continued to remix the sweepstakes idea with its Box'd series, launching a new sustainability campaign with Corona using the slogan "Protect Our Beaches." As part of the sweepstakes, Group Nine is giving away 250 prize packs of eco-friendly products such as a Turkish cotton towel and a coral reef-safe sunscreen in biodegradable packaging. One grand prize winner will take home $5,000. The NowThis x Corona Box’d sweepstakes runs from Aug. 23-31. Both brands’ goals align perfectly with this release. Corona launched the “Protect Our Beaches” campaign earlier this year, pledging to clean up 100 beaches and remove a million pounds of plastic from its supply chain and through cleanup efforts by 2025. “The 'Protect Our Beaches' program has intrinsically changed the way Corona views packaging and promotional products, and has inspired us to explore new ways to further our mission," said Ann Legan, Corona's vp of brand marketing. "The Corona 'Protect Our Beaches' Box’d is designed to raise awareness of our efforts by putting eco-friendly items directly in the hands of consumers so they can be exposed to various ways to make an impact.” Corona Employs AR to Show How Plastic Is Destroying Oceans and Beaches NowThis generated over 600 million video views on sustainability content as well as coverage of the climate crisis, according to Group Nine chief revenue officer Geoff Schiller. Using Facebook Audience Insights from last year, NowThis found that audiences are 2.1 times more likely to interact with sustainability content on social than any other media. In the past year, 68% of NowThis audiences have recently performed an environmentally friendly action according to COMscore. "It's a win-win for all," Schiller told Adweek. "It's a win for consumers. It's a win for our brands because we can actually connect with our consumers from a one-to-one [relationship]. It's also a win for our brand partners. They can include product when it organically makes sense and create an overarching story outside of the content that we're creating." Collaborations un-Box'd Group Nine Media started Box'd, a direct-to-consumer package of goods curated to a theme, in Q4 of last year during the pandemic as a way to connect with readers and viewers. The first Box'd campaign was a partnership between Group Nine website The Dodo and Resolve Brand, drawing 1,000 sweepstakes entrants and 350 winners. "That kickoff really provided the proof of concept relative to when you give back to your consumers and flash audiences, they appreciate it," Schiller said. Box’d promotions have received over 100,000 sweepstakes entries and 130,000 pageviews, with nearly 5,000 products gifted so far. The NowThis and Corona Box'd 'Protect Our Beaches' Package Box’d has been a successful avenue for Group Nine to align its media properties with the right brands, collaborating with clients like Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Discovery+, Campbell's, V8 and Folgers. "Group Nine as a whole media company-publishing house is uniquely consumer-first all of our brands," Schiller noted. "We provide a consumer need and serve them through a program like Box'd [as well as] constantly exploring other ways [to engage them] is a vital part of our strategy, and will be for the foreseeable future." An alternative connection For Box’d, the team at Group Nine Media curates a list of items using audience insights, shopping data and staff tastes that align with their goals for the campaign. Almost like a real-life Pinterest board, they collaborate and cut down the original list to find the perfect mix of items. The DTC aspect is important for connecting with audiences in a different way than video or written content. "It creates a new level of direct audience engagement for us and for our brand partners when consumers are going to open up that 'Protect Our Beaches' box and see the sustainable beach essentials," Schiller said. "All the products that are in there, they're going to be able to use those things so it actually can change their lives in more profound ways than consuming content."