Class:
Business to Business Promotion/Budget
Objective:
To generate traffic at a vendor's booth
during a meeting of its franchisees and prospective franchisees, and
to communicate the value of using a particular line of computer
hardware products.
Strategy and Execution:
When the
manufacturer decided at the last minute not to provide demonstration
units - leaving the advertiser with an empty 20x30-foot booth -
officials elected to go with a tropical theme tied to the Beach Boys
(investors in the parent company) and offered prize tickets to their
show that weekend. Supplementing the theme would be a "volleyball
game" and grass hut. The 250-person target audience (current
franchisees, non-franchised computer store owners and sales
managers) may have come to the booth out of curiosity over rumors of
a volleyball game, but stayed when they saw what the specialty
advertising distributor and the advertiser had created. Volleyballs
were given to booth visitors, and customers who talked to company
representatives received a "Mr. Gumby," a caricature fashioned from
a rolled beach towel, sunglasses and radio
earphones. Results:
"A potential
disaster was converted into a major success and I credit that to the
"Mr. Gumby' promotion," said the marketing manager. Five new
franchisees worth $2 million in annual revenue were reported to have
signed with the advertiser.
|
