When looking at your next foray into the world of self promotion, it might be worth taking a second and finding out what works for others and why.
Promotions, like anything in life that you’re hoping to get some return out of, are worth the research.
Today’s blog will focus on some big name brands and what they’ve done to promote themselves through the years.
Coca-Cola:
The Coca-Cola name is synonymous with good marketing technique and identifiable branding.
My first introduction to the power of the promotional product was actually in primary school when the Coke promotion including the ‘Coca-Cola’ yoyo was at the peak of popularity.
All of my friends had one and everyone my age wanted one.
The catch, you had to buy Coke products.
Over the years the ‘free gift with purchase’ marketing strategy has done wonders to increase the Coca-Cola brand and influence.
Whether it be the Frisbees, beach balls and towels through their ‘Coca-Cola Beach’ at the Sydney Cricket Ground through to the free collectors glass available through Macca’s, the result has been powerful.
There’s even an unaffiliated collectors club for past and present Coke memorabilia!
Love them or hate them, you can certainly learn a few things from Coca-Cola’s marketing and the quality of their promotional products.
McDonalds:
One of the most recognised and long running promotional campaigns can be attributed to McDonalds through their Happy Meals.
The ‘Happy Meal’ acts to tie the McDonalds brand in with the latest children’s movies and TV shows by offering a themed collectible toy as a give away with purchase of the product.
This is not the only way that the toy acts as a brand reminder; it also creates a powerful market influence from the children wishing to own the toys driving family business through the door.
In this case McDonald’s creates a link between a movie/TV show with the same target demographic (non competing crossover business), provides a quality promotional product, and encourages repeat business by providing them in a collectable set.
EA Games and Video Game collectors editions:
Now for something a little closer to my personal likes: promotions for video games.
While it has become common practice for intricate ‘collectors editions’ of games to be available at launch with many and varied promotional bonus goodies, there has also been an increase in promotional marketing for said games months before their releases to encourage talk, hype and hopefully generate sales.
One of the best incarnations of this in recent years is the promotional marketing campaign for “Dante’s Inferno” conducted by Electronic Arts.
Their 9 month campaign featured a different ‘level of hell’ each month including Gluttony, Greed, and Treachery etc and included some of the best targeted marketing to date.
You can read up about the full campaign here:
The fact that people in gaming circles and the wider marketing community still refer to this almost 4 years after its inception shows how effective it was as a promotional tool.
As also mentioned, the same ‘gift with purchase’ approach is used with the collector’s editions to add value to the game itself.
The most recent application of this which drew a lot of publicity was from the Game ‘Saint’s Row IV’ which touted a $1M collector’s edition including a Lamborghini! (link)
So what can we learn from these big brands and they’re sometime excessive marketing strategies which can be applied on a smaller scale?
- Know your target market! The shotgun approach may reach a broader range of people, but you’re more likely to turn promotional dollars spent directly into sales by focussing on a specific demographic.
- Who’s the decision maker? If your target market is business or office oriented, aim your promotion at the higher ups, the purchasing/marketing department or the people who will actually be buying your products.
- Make something unique and memorable. A pen, stubby holder or stress ball might be cheaper to produce, but ultimately will be forgotten.
- Don’t be afraid to get creative! Turn your promotional item into a wider spanning marketing opportunity and create some buzz about it, and follow up with future campaigns to keep your brand fresh in consumers’ minds.
Above all, remember that your promotional item itself should be working for you by creating a talking point and getting others talking about your business.
