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Iris Dorbian
Co-Winner: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and My M&M’s – “Your Holiday, Your Way”
A winner in both conception and execution, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s multiplatform program for client Mars and its My M&M’s initiative leveraged brand equity for all those involved while surpassing advertiser expectations. Dubbed “Your Holiday, Your Way,” the campaign was devised to generate awareness of the new M&M’s technology that allows consumers to put images on custom-made M&M’s and generate incremental sales during the 2008 holidays. The target audience was “the creative woman who believes everything is improved by her touch—she makes the everyday unique.”
Aligning the client’s product with MSLO holiday content across all platforms, the team created ornaments and gifts using My M&M’s, offering enticing reasons for consumer purchases. Highlights of the integrated effort included:
• My M&M’s sponsorship of the Martha Stewart online Holiday Workshop on MarthaStewart.com;
• An editorial story featuring a My M&M’s craft project in Martha Stewart Homemade Holiday special interest publication;
• Advertorials adjacent to My M&M’s ROB creative in the November and December 2008 issues of Martha Stewart Living Everyday Food;
• Branded online advertising;
• A tour of the My M&M Factor on “The Martha Stewart Show”; and
• Sponsored holiday-related segments featuring a My M&M’s “expert” during a call-in program on Sirius Satellite Radio
In order to gain final client and agency approval, MSLO needed to commit to ROI, something MSLO had never been tasked to do or was particularly comfortable with given it is a content-based and not a direct-response vehicle, according to Wendy Robbins, Midwest digital sales director and Megan Carnes, publishing sales director for MSLO. “This was also a challenge because we were not privy to or in control of the ordering process or the consumer experience once they entered the My M&M’s site where all the MSLO platforms were driving and the actually ordering took place,” says Robbins.
The results of this comprehensively detailed, multimedia effort were a 27% increase in traffic to the My M&M’s Web site; 12% increase among consumers in orders; 36% increase in consumer intent to purchase; and 167 million impressions during the holiday season.
For both Robbins and Carnes, the primary lessons learned while working on this initiative were:
• Success measurements need to be communicated and clarified up front and set into place and proactively monitored.
• The execution phase is paramount and process is critical. The execution phase is where the rubber meets the road and is what makes or breaks the future relationship. There is so much manpower required in making these programs a success, they cannot be one-offs.
Co-Winner: Meredith Corporation - Kenmore Country Escapes
Meredith Corp. teamed up with Kenmore for the months of September to December 2008 to reach out to busy moms and provide them with advice on how to make family life run more smoothly. The rooms of focus were the kitchen, laundry and patio. Leveraging its expertise, Meredith created “Country Escapes,” a program which paired designer and Kenmore home expert Eric Cohler with Meredith’s BetterTV.com’s “It Moms” Holly Resnick and Marni Renison. The trio then set out to offer invaluable tips to moms.
The content extended across several platforms (print, online and broadcast) to generate additional engagement with Kenmore products. Components included a five-part video series chronicling Holly and Marni taking a break to visit Eric in his newly renovated home, complete with Kenmore products; and a custom 8-page booklet that brought to life the video content of the series and ran in eight Meredith titles, including special interest publications targeting home enthusiasts. Another highlight was a national sweepstakes to win a weekend country getaway.
The program garnered more than 12.5 million online impressions and more than one-third of the sweepstakes entrants opted to receive more information from Kenmore.
Honorable Mentions:
American Express Publishing and Time Inc. – Travel + Leisure City Guides for Infiniti: American Express Publishing and Time Inc. Corporate Sales & Marketing teamed up in February 2008 to produce Travel + Leisure City Guides, a fully integrated marketing program to elevate brand awareness and maximize profits for shared advertising partner Infiniti. Thanks to advertising content on CNN networks, TravelandLeisure.com, CNN.com, an online sweepstakes, and other promotions, Travel + Leisure City Guides contributed to a huge jolt in brand awareness.
House Beautiful – The House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year 2008: On July 15, 2008, House Beautiful introduced “Kitchen of the Year,” a three-day celebration featuring the fully functioning dream kitchen designed by famed designer Christopher Peacock, in Rockefeller Center. In honor of its belief that the kitchen is the new American living room, House Beautiful fulfilled its goals of engaging its readers and audiences with onsite, online, in-book and television promotions such as a showcase of Rockefeller Center eateries and chefs, a custom podcast on iTunes, and sponsors on the Today Show.
Forbes – Intelligent Investing with Steve Forbes: Keeping in mind its goal of positioning its brand as a credible source for financial and investment information, Zurich Financial sponsored Intelligent Investing with Steve Forbes, an integrated editorial platform headlined by Forbes, providing users access to insights from Forbes himself, as well as from the savviest minds in business from Wall Street and beyond. The creative execution and components of the program, which included a video series with Forbes, a dedicated section on Forbes.com, a Zurich custom microsite, features in Forbes magazine, a Twitter feed and iPhone application, strengthened Zurich’s image as a credible source for financial insights.
Women's Health/Men's Health, Rodale – The Men’s Health Urbanathlon & Festival: Operating with the objectives of delivering sponsorship value, quantifiable ROI and positive brand associations, as well as bringing the spirit of Men’s Health to life, the Men’s Health Urbanathlon & Festival took to the streets of New York and Chicago for the third time in fall 2008. The program not only established a valuable three-year marketing relationship for Men’s Health and Dodge, but also delivered measurable sponsor value for all participating brands, and attracted more than 20,000 fans at the event.
Sports Illustrated Group – SI Swimsuit 24/7: In an effort to integrate SI.com, SI Mobile, Swimsuit on Demand and the official Swimsuit Launch Party into a systematic campaign fostering opportunities for individual messages to reach key audiences, SI instituted a campaign theme—Sports Illustrated Swim Suit 24/7 New York to Las Vegas. In February 2009, SI developed an event/experiential platform, involving a cover model reveal, satellite events, a Nissan Viral Video Shoot and other special programs to generate SI Swimsuit media impressions and establish a benchmark of success for 2010 and beyond.
Successful Farming – Farmers for the Future: In an effort to provide young and beginning farmers with the tools they need to succeed in farming, Successful Farming launched Farmers for the Future, a social network for new and young farmers to gather and exchange information on topics ranging from finance to succession planning to new business strategies. Since its November 2008 launch, Farmers for the Future, with sponsorship from DeKalb and the Farm Credit Foundation, boasts over 1,600 active members who post photos, videos, blogs and forum comments.
Vogue – Clairol Perfect 10: To support Clairol’s Perfect 10 launch from Nice ‘n Easy hair color, Vogue leveraged its brand equity to create a peer-to-peer marketing campaign designed to elevate the brand’s credentials, drive consumer awareness and trials, and to engage consumers at multiple touch points. Thanks to print ads throughout the months of January, February and March in Vogue, promotions on Vogue.TV’s “Behind the Lens” and a custom mini site and national sweepstakes, the campaign generated approximately 4.1 million impressions and established the Vogue/Clairol partnership as a benchmark that P&G uses to set the bar for other marketing programs across various beauty brands.
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