Stuffed Dragon Drives Consumers to Enter Sweepstakes

Valpak, a leader in print and digital coupons, targeted families and savings in a national campaign, which aired in September nationwide. Valpak's traditional Blue Envelope, Valpak.com andValpak savings app all took center stage in the new Valpak consumer commercial, Coming Home. The commercial showed the story of a dad-daughter duo that used Valpak to find savings in unexpected places. The commercial was featured on digital and social messaging through October 31 and ran on Valpak-partnered television stations TNT and TBS in October.

The commercial also drove viewers to Valpak.com where they could watch "The Dragon Balthazar," a video that completed the commercial's story. Consumers could enter a sweepstakes to win the five-foot stuffed Balthazar dragon that appeared in the commercial. "There was a chance to win the mini Balthazar dragon and a $25 gift card each week, along with the grand prize of a life-sized dragon," says Marsha Strickhouser, public relations manager for Valpak. A total of 15 first-prize winners received the mini dragon and gift card.

Valpak also sent out a direct-mail piece to media, which included a press release and mini Balthazar dragon. "The smaller versions of the dragons were produced for the sweepstakes," says Strickhouser. "We also shared them with our employees and about 1,000 franchise owners and sales reps from around the U.S. and Canada at our national convention."

When done correctly, direct mail can be a highly effective resource for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Make sure to provide real incentives. Direct mail works by getting your prospect to respond to an offer. Whether that is a coupon, a sweepstakes entry or a special deal, make sure you're including an incentive. Contact your distributor for help.
*successful promotions-asi*

Cookie Jar is Centerpiece for Iconic Brand's Anniversary Promo

This year, the food industry celebrated a significant milestone – the 100th birthday of the famous Oreo cookie. Since 1912, Oreos, originally a knockoff of Hydrox biscuits, have become the best-selling cookie in the United States; over 362 billion have been sold since they were first released. Over the past century, the detail on the chocolate disks has changed slightly, but the Oreo has remained unaltered since it was introduced to the public.

To commemorate its centennial anniversary, Kraft Foods, the distributor of the Oreo, launched a major nationwide promotional campaign which involved a consumer on-pack offer. A limited-edition, custom Oreo 100th Birthday Cookie Jar was chosen as the premium item to be distributed. According to a company spokesperson who worked on the campaign, the cookie jar made sense from a promotional standpoint, and the lid design also reinforced the core equity of the brand.
The offer was placed on 16 million packages across the country and, as of this writing, actual redemptions were still being calculated. By mid-October, 69,000 jars had been distributed.
Have a milestone you’d like to promote? Contact your distributor partner for ideas and products that will make the celebration last longer than a one-day event. Like the Oreo cookie jar, your logo on a special promo item will be a pleasant reminder to customers who will want to hold onto it as a keepsake for years.

From Successful Promotions

Bag That Hangover

Bag That Hangover
San Francisco-based wine producer Cameron Hughes recently sponsored a booth at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival, a not-to-be-missed annual event for foodies, wine and culinary celebrities and industry leaders, held high up in the Rockies.

“It was the first time we attended the festival,” says Jessica Hughes, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Cameron Hughes. This year marked the company’s 10th anniversary as well as the 30th anniversary of the Aspen festival.

“We offered festival guests 12 different wines from around the world. Since we source wines globally, the wines hailed from Bordeaux to Napa, all under the Cameron Hughes label,” she says. “We are little people, and we wanted to have the greatest presence possible there.”

Wine trade tasting events are very intense; sometimes there can be 1,000 wines under one tent, Hughes notes, adding, “If we didn’t spit, we wouldn’t be able to get through the first hour.” Also, it’s easy to get inebriated more quickly in a location like Aspen due to its high elevation and lower oxygen levels. “You can get a ferocious hangover if you’re not careful,” says Hughes.
To combat the perils of tasting at high elevation, Cameron Hughes created a “wine-tasting survival kit” to promote its brand to event VIPs. The reusable red pouch, bearing the name of the winery and its website address, included such essentials as Aleve, teeth whitening strips, Emergen-C vitamins, breath mints, Blistex and Wet Ones.

The items were carefully thought out. For example, Blistex soothes the inevitable chapped lips that result from tasting red wine. Alka Seltzer helps tackle the acidity of wine tannins that can cause an upset stomach, and Emergen-C provides a vitamin infusion. “In the wine industry, we all take Aleve with Emergen-C in the evening, combined with a big glass of water. This guarantees no hangover,” Hughes says.
The versatile pouch had a hook and eye to attach to belt loops, and was small enough to fit into a back pocket. It also had a zipper piece that allowed it to be hung from a lanyard, worn by many attendees at the festival for identification. The pouch also contained a slit for credit cards and a license, and could be used as a wallet.

It was the first time the wine merchant had ever done a giveaway like this, and Hughes wanted the kit to be “smart, innovative and well thought out.” Cameron Hughes distributed 450 pouches to industry VIPs, and an additional 4,500 Chapsticks were distributed in the event’s registration bags, as well as at its booth. “People loved the pouches,” Hughes says. “Some said it was ‘genius,’ and the Chapsticks were also hugely popular
-ASI Successful Promotions

Bank Snags Tweens With Backpack

These days, attracting any new business can be tough, let alone business from tweens, who tend to stash any money they haven’t spent yet in their desk drawers.

Still, one credit union that a distributor was working with wanted to try tween client development. The way to do that would likely center on finding the ideal promotional product with which to attract tweens looking to open a savings account, and also draw in their parents.

Rather than a T-shirt, the distributor suggested using a wearable accessory – in this case, an Ogio backpack with an iTunes gift card slipped inside. The multi-pocket backpack with a blue cassette pattern printed on it would be hipper, more desirable and more user-friendly for tweens. The backpacks came in the colors of the credit union’s logo.

The credit union execs agreed with the distributor’s suggestion, and they also agreed not to put their logo on the bag – a potentially less valuable promotional move, but, with a tween audience that’s possibly less keen to carry a bag with a bank’s name on it, the move made sense. The young recipients could always talk about the bag and where they got it. And, the thinking went, if they were more likely to wear it sans logo, it would be a better branding move in the long run.

All 400 backpacks were given away almost immediately during the promotion, and it was so successful they did a reorder for another 50.

www.aapromotions.com

Building Relationships With The Help Of Promo Products

Ubiquitor Inc. acts as the IT department for companies that don't have their own. "Everything we do is at a low, fixed, monthly rate, and we're all-encompassing," says President Doug Grabowski. "It's what I like to call location independence, so our clients can do anything from any place."

As Grabowski's career has evolved, so has his understanding of the importance of using the right promotional items in the right settings. "What I learned is it's all relationship-driven," he says. "I try to do things with my business that will be lasting and won't have my logo all over it, but while people are using the products, they'll be pleasantly reminded of our company."

Grabowski makes sure to give his customers products that won't be thrown away. For example, he mails every new client a four-gigabyte USB ballpoint pen. "Two weeks into the agreement, they'll get a lumpy envelope in the mail – I'm a big fan of lumpy envelopes," he says. The pen has the company logo on it and is preloaded with all the system tools.

"People really get into it because it's a thicker pen vs. just a normal pen, and they like the idea that we had the forethought to preload it with our system tools," he says. "Those are the types of things that give me positive word-of-mouth."

Grabowski has also utilized high-end pens with clients' names on them for his top customers. "They're all black with a thick barrel. One end has our laser-etched logo, and on the other end, we laser-etch the client's name," he says. Personalizing the pen makes it less likely people will throw it away. "Since it has their name on it, they're prone to use it more than other pens for no other reason than it's got their name on it," he says. "It's expensive, but it's worth it."

And Ubiquitor's 12-pack cooler bags have been an unexpected hit with clientele, according to Grabowski. "The first holiday that we were in business, I invested in the cooler bags. They were all black and said ‘Ubiquitor' on the side," he says. "People really took toward that more than a lot of the other stuff. I got a lot of requests like, ‘Can you get one for my wife?,' which I didn't expect coming out of it, but it's really been a nice side effect."

Bottom line: Grabowski has learned that investing in higher-end promotional materials that people use and keep is always worthwhile. "If we take our clients to play golf, we give them a $100 shirt vs. a $10 shirt, or the Titleist golf ball vs. the cheap golf ball," he says. "Trade show junkie guys walking around with their little bags trying to get all the free stuff – there's really no relationship there. It's a favorite thing of mine to do the unexpected."

Get Students' Attention

Each year, SandRidge Energy visits college campuses across Oklahoma and neighboring states in search of talent to keep their company competitive.

In the spring and fall, SandRidge recruiters attend career fairs to talk with students majoring in engineering, IT, accounting and other business specialties about internships at the company. To stand out amid a crowded auditorium, SandRidge knew that they needed to have something special to give attendees. “The students swarm to the cool items,” says Ashley McDaniel, a recruiter for SandRidge. “We’ve used water bottles the last couple of years, so I wanted to do something different this year ... something we haven’t seen before.

The SandRidge Communications Department worked with its distributor partner to design a new, doublwalled tumbler that works for both hot and cold beverages. They selected a Triton 16-oz. tumbler. Whatreally sets it apart, though, is the custom-woven patch with the SandRidge logo encapsulated inside the tumbler. A rep for the distributor firm says they used a woven patch to make a really sharp logo. It was the company’s first order of this particular product and with over 1,000 tumblers already sent, the rep says SandRidge is extremely pleased with the product and is planning to order more in the fall when they start attending career fairs again.

Biz tip: Give them what they want
If you’re working in the education market, make sure you’re pitching useful items to your target demographic. For instance, flash drives and organizers are great items for college students. Trendy apparel and technology accessories are must-haves in the high school market. Make sure you’re staying on top of what’s hot for this trend-oriented demographic. Contact your distributor partner for creative ideas and appropriate promo products.

THE LURE OF INCENTIVES

While travel awards are almost always used for the highest level of sales performers, motivating the middle 60% of the sales force is the key to an organization's success. Especially through a points-based recognition program – where reps can redeem points for electronics (the most popular category), jewelry, sporting goods, home goods, and other items with brand-name cache – companies can do well in a slow economy by progressively rewarding reps' incremental improvements.

To wit: If a rep rang up $100,000 in revenue in Q4 last year, hitting that number in Q4 this year earns 200 points; 10% above the number earns 300 points, while 20% above the number earns 500 points. And remember that the top 20% of your sales force is eligible for these awards too. So using product to drive monthly or quarterly goals will even boost their performance.

In fact, incentive programs can be structured to change behaviors that will lead to revenue in future quarters, too. Getting sales or customer service reps to increase their engagement with clients and prospects will help fill the sales pipeline – even as sales reps tap into that pipeline near the end of a quarter in order to qualify for incentive-award points.

Takeaway Tip: Motivating the middle 60% of the sales force is the key to an organization’s success, so think outside rewarding just the superstars.

Take a Trip

A Society of Incentive and Travel Executives survey showed that incentive programs can boost individual employee performance by 27% and team performance by 45%. As we mentioned, superstar employees are often rewarded with travel, and if that's the route you want to go for your top performers, you aren't alone.

Global performance improvement company Grass Roots notes that a high percentage of its clients are incorporating travel incentive programs into their employee rewards plans and the firm predicts incentive travel to grow throughout the year.

"When a sales incentive runs for several weeks or months, the buildup generated by teasers about the destination through an ongoing communication program can play a huge part in motivation to achieve targets, as can the brag factor of wanting to be able tell friends and colleagues about a place they have not visited before," Kathryn Hulse, communications consultant for Grass Roots, told Travel Daily News.

Of course, you can play an integral part in these teaser packages by offering your employess pre-trip gifts, such as passport holders, luggage tags and other items that would be useful and create excitement about the destination. Once they arrive, have room gifts, such as T-shirts, caps, beach towels and sunscreen, all imprinted with "President's Club 2011" or whatever the event happens to be.

Wellness Programs
Besides the engagement and goodwill wellness programs foster, they also serve to lower insurance premiums, sick time and medical costs at a moment when employer-sponsored health plans face legislative uncertainty.

One firm recently built a program where people earned even more points for placing step counters on their sneakers to verify that they were exercising as much as they reported they were. The program was turned into a game of mild espionage, where one "mole" was planted among each team of program participants to verify claims of increased exercise, decreased smoking, etc. Anyone who could positively identify the mole received additional points, and a new mole was chosen to keep the game going. It pushed people to tell the truth, but in a fun way.

"Seventy percent of firms say they have a wellness program, but too many don't get it right or make a half-hearted attempt," says one distributor rep. "They have a gym; they hold a biggest loser competition; they're in a volleyball league; they have a walking club at lunchtime. Those are good, but a true program requires constant communication plus incentives on the back end. You won't get everyone involved, but if you get even one quarter of your people to be active in it, you'll see cost savings and improved morale."

Takeaway Tip: Wellness programs are a prime opportunity for incentives. Similar to safety programs, besides the engagement and goodwill such programs can foster, they also serve to lower insurance premiums, sick time and medical costs at a moment when employer-sponsored health plans face legislative uncertainty.One idea that works is using wellness teams in which people can earn reward points for being active. To keep track, the firm monitors event sign-in sheets and online participation in lessons and quizzes about specific ailments. The program regularly doles out unannounced points as a bonus. Unannounced rewards can also make a strong impression. For instance, Ford recently ran a program for its Explorer line – buyers received collapsible chairs that fit perfectly into the SUV's storage compartment. The best part: The branded chairs arrived at buyer's homes a few weeks after the purchase, extending the excitement period for new owners.

Motivate Staff
When executives of the Seattle arm of Comcast, the cable-communications giant, wanted to cut the company's insurance premiums and medical costs by reducing the number of injuries among its field workers, they turned to a local distributor to create a super-successful safety program for the operation's 700 outside employees.

At the outset, Comcast didn't have a program concept in mind. They simply wanted to keep their people more focused on safety by rewarding them for keeping hardhats on, wearing their boots, following rules for working with cable and electric, and more. The first move of the program involved personal and specific products that employees chose themselves.

The online points-based program that was created rewarded individuals and teams alike after spot checks plus random calls to customers (who earned a free movie). Consisting mostly of items between $5 and $25, the program was diverse, offering items like flashlights, picnic packs, personalized pen sets and watch sets.

The program's results came rapidly. Just two months into the program, safety incidents fell to 17 from 54 versus the same period one year prior. What the program unquestionably saved was money: The number of incidents over the full year was low enough that the firm paid $125,000 less in insurance premiums, and saw many fewer sick days used. Total cost of the items redeemed in the incentive program: $65,000.

Takeaway Tip: Incentives don't have to be super-expensive. This safety awards program which included items from $5-$25, resulted in a decrease in safety incidents from 54 to 17 during the same period; $125,000 less paid in insurance premiums and the cost of items redeemed was $65,000.