"Choosing the Right Media"

Beverage Industry
October, 2001

“[TruckSide] billboards are strategically placed to hit the target market”

Clever TV, print and radio promotions do a great job of reaching out to potential new consumers, but many beverage companies have expanded their marketing approaches, seeking new and creative ways to convey their messages.

New roving billboards for Mistic Brands, Inc.. add a mobile twist to the typical static billboard advertisement. Mistic devised provocative, eye-popping imagery designed to appeal to the MTV generation, and then consulted Mobile Ad Group, New York, to devise a unique way to promote its campaign. The result was an on-truck billboard.

"The 18 to 25 year old age range is a demographic that everybody wants to reach now, so we"ve displayed Mistic"s high-definition images in a four-sided framing system that is totally flat and conceals the truck underneath it", says Sam Kaplan, senior account executive, Mobile Ad Group. "The result is a billboard that is right in your face as your walking down the street."

What"s more, the truck ads are displayed on third-party trucks, not Mistic delivery vehicles É that are fitted with GPS devices that allow companies to track where the truck has been and chart its advertising process. Kaplan contends this new mode of on-the-go advertising allows companies better penetration into convenience stores, mom-and-pop groceries, and urban markets, because the trucks that display the billboards are strategically placed in that market.

"Stationary billboards are super if you can secure a great location, but tour billboards are strategically placed to hit the target market" he says, "we have thousands of third party trucks in our inventory, to which we apply the graphics frame, the billboard and a GPS device, and it only costs one to two dollars per thousand".

This summer, Powerade, part of the Coca-Cola Co, Atlanta, also used delivery trucks to unconventionally convey the launch of the sports drink"s bold new look and vitamin-enhanced formula. But rather than having the tractor trailer trucks drive to the event, they were pulled by two 300-pound strongmen down 17th street at Union Square Park, while some of New York"s best street basketball players "hooped" it up alongside skateboarders and BMX bike riders. All of the athletes ere painted in Powerade-themed designs by professional body painters.

The event was kicked off by Masters of Ceremonies, Stuart Scott and Rich Eisen, both of ESPN. The event was a celebration of Powerade's new approach to sports drinks in America and the athletes represented the fusion of traditional sports and action sports that define what our new approach is all about". According to Rohan Oza, Powerade"s senior brand manager.

Powerade"s new and improved formula features vitamins B3, B6 and B12, which play a role in energy metabolism. In addition, the brand has added Powerade Light to its line-up, a new beverage with 50 percent fewer calories that the regular formulation. In addition to the launch event, the line will be supported by an extensive advertising campaign, including television, print and out-of-home media.

TAPPING INTO FAN FAVORITES.

When inventor Maurice Kanbar devised a quadruple-distilled, triple-filtered process for removing vodka impurities, his invention was translated into the 1992 formation of Skyy Spirits LLC, San Francisco. Back then, he had no idea his new company would grow to incorporate his passion for film. In fact, not long after the company"s humble beginnings, it targeted independent films as its integrated communication platform. Nine years later, the company is a premiere sponsor of a variety of independent film events, spanning film premiers, screenings and festivals, to internally generated and funded film-related programs.

A sponsor of the renowned Sundance Film Festival, Skyy recently latched onto one film, MOMENTO, and created a 10-city tie-in that supports its screening program. "This gave us great sampling opportunities while tying into something that was really hot", says Sue Hearn, public relations/even manager, Skyy Spirits. "Independent films are a great way to reach the urban consumer who is culturally aware, savvy and social. And, let"s face it; part of the film festival allure is the parties. There"s definitely a glamour, sophistication and sexiness associated with independent films."

Skyy Spirits also commissions short films “ Skyy Shorts ” that feature the portrayal of various cocktail moments. The films, viewable on the company"s web site (skyy.com) feature the work of directors that range from Indie unknowns to well established filmmakers. The web site also contains a host of information for film related sponsorships and practical tips for up and coming filmmakers. Along the same vein the company launched the Skyy Vodka Short Film Awards, a direct to consumers celebration that rewards the efforts of over-21 graduate film school who submit films falling into one of 3 categories: cocktail moments, fiction and animation.

"This business is a relationship business," says Hearn. It is important to support Hollywood not only in the form of in-kind products, but also to commission works of art".

Skyy Spirits" print advertising campaign, dubbed Skyy Cinema, features no copy but portrays cinematic moments through rich, technicolor images that look like they were taken from a film. The company recently scored a major advertising coup when a call from actor Ben Stiller"s promotional group requested the use of one of Skyy Spritis" ads for the actor"s upcoming Paramount movie "Zoolander". The original ad featured a male model whose head was later replaced with a superimposed image of Stiller"s head. The new ad is now used as an advertisement for the movie and is posted everywhere in major cities across the nation.

Each beverage segment has a distinct consumer niche and it is up to the people who devise new promotions to come up with unique ways to address the needs of each niche. Gatorade, a sponsor of NASCAR racing, has had great success with a convenience store trading card promotion.

"We"ve created custom, high-quality NASCAR trading cards around the Gatorade Frontrunner Awards", says Rich Feitler, executive vice president, The Promotion Network, Chicago. "From what we know about C-store consumers, they aren"t the type of people who stop by to pick up a drink, fill out a form and wait ten weeks to see if they"ve won something. With this promotion, we tried to peel back the complexity of promotional programs by asking does this consumer like and what will motivate them?"

"We concluded the cards have to be high quality and should feature drivers they like. It is got to be available, with no work for the retailer or consumer, and it is got to be a value-added offering that leverages a premier sponsorship", he adds. It"s worked extremely well for Gatorade.

Feitler says that when a company sits down to design a promotion, they must think about an objective other than building sales. "You have to define who you are trying to motivate and you have to define what the promotion will drive and where it will fit. There must also be sensitivity about what else is in the mix of what a company is selling, then you can work to design a program that pushes those buttons and makes it happen".