First Quarter 2008

Sales Trainer has Calculated Plan for Success

How does a wildly successful sales consultant and author of a New York Times bestseller (The Ultimate Sales Machine) promote himself to his top prospects? With promotional products, of course. "I call this the ‘Dream 100 Sell,' " says Chet Holmes. "Basically, what we do is pick out dream clients we'd love to work with, and we send them one of these little gifts every week for five or six weeks in a row. Then, when you call them, they come right to the phone."

For someone like Holmes, a dream list consists of 3,000 names, including the entire Fortune 1000, the 500 fastest-growing companies in the country, 200 associations, and some hand-picked smaller companies. To promote his book, he sent this list a series of mailings, starting with an orange calculator (the same color as the book) along with a sales letter that said, "You're going to need an extra calculator to calculate your sales increases, once you apply the concepts in the new book, The Ultimate Sales Machine."

The calculator was followed by a shoe-polish kit, a highlighter and a magnifying glass, each in separate mailings. Though only the calculator had mailed when we spoke with Holmes, he said he'd already received calls, and he expected the program not only to sell his book but consultations: "I'm expecting that we'll get more business than we can possibly handle – you know, honestly, that my time will be so sold out that I'll just keep raising my prices."

A free online preview of Chapter 4 of the book is available at chetholmes.com/book

Modell's Teams Up Online

Many a member of the football, soccer or softball team relies on Modell's Sporting Goods for their equipment. That's why when the national retailer decided to launch its first-ever online sweepstakes, it opted for a team-based effort. Its "Holiday Team Getaway Sweepstakes" uses a new patented technology created by Cohen-Friedberg Associates, Framingham, Mass. In order to enter, a consumer must recruit a team member to also enter. This is fitting because the grand prize is a trip for two to St. Petersburg, Fla. to catch a Major League Baseball spring training game.

"Modell's is all about team so it's fitting that its first online promotion would be centered around that concept," says Eric Friedberg, co-founder of the marketing agency that created the technology which can be scaled to include any number of amount of team members (although he said four or five should likely be the max).

Modell's partnered with St Petersburg/Clearwater Conventions and Tourism, Trade Winds Island Resort on St. Pete Beach, JetBlue and the Ted Williams/Hitters Museum. An exec "from the museum sat next to me at game two of the World Series and he heard me talking about the technology and he said 'I want in,'" says Friedberg. "It's hard to innovate on the Web these days. It's all about being viral. How can you get your brand in front of as many consumers as possible? This accomplishes that."

Napkins Get Creative Juices Flowing

While Abraham Lincoln may have written the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope, many a moment of inspiration was jotted down on a cocktail napkin. So much so, that Esquire magazine created a promotion asking people to pen some words of wisdom on these white paper goods.
Esquire mailed 250 napkins to writers all over the country. In return, they received 100 short stories that ran in the magazine. Knob Creek, meanwhile, created a program called "Words to live by" where it offered poignant snippets of prose like "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

On Nov. 12, the two joined forces to launch "The Esquire.com Napkin Project with Knob Creek." Consumers who visit Esquire.com can view interactive napkins featuring the words from both efforts. The virtual napkins can be zoomed in onto and flipped over. Other content from interviews with Knob Creek Whiskey Professors aimed to educate consumers about the joys of whiskey.

This is "a great example of how we create interactive content inspired by materials that originally appeared in the magazine. Because advertisers are funding added functionality on the site, users get a richer experience while being exposed to brands in unique ways. Advertisers are able to engage in a conversation with users in a forum that isn't overly commercial or intrusive," says Chris Johnson, vice president of content & business development for Hearst Magazines Digital Media.

The interactive content, with subtle Knob Creek branding, was available on Equire.com through December. No word if the paper towel project is next for longer stories…

Pigs on the Wing

You know the cliché "yeah, the day pigs fly." You've probably even used it yourself at one point or another. Well Capital One is taking the term literally.
In November Capital One, the financial services company that asks: "What's in your wallet?" had 100 Columbus, Ohio Skybus Airline passengers asking "what's on that airplane?" The answer would be six illustrated pigs, 10-feet high with a wingspan of 13-feet decked out in bomber jackets, scarves and navigator goggles.

The Capital One-sponsored Airbus A319 will fly across the country for six months in celebration of the company's "too good to be true" Rewards Money Market Account. This pink carpet event involved plenty of promotional products. Passengers on the inaugural flight at Port Columbus International Airport received a logeod piggy stress ball, glass flying pig Christmas ornament, a certificate celebrating the day as well as pig snouts.

The Capital One Rewards Money Market Account rewards consumers with travel miles for saving their money using this financial services provider rather than their piggy bank. They earn one mile for every $20 of average balance per month including interest.

"Many consumers think that a product that rewards you for saving sounds too good to be true," said Capital one Direct Banking spokesperson Pam Girardo in a statement. "So we decided to drive the message home in a visual way. … We think that consumers across the country will get the message loud and clear when they see flying pigs – smart savings strategies can really take you places." This promotion begs the question: Does this now mean a snowman has a chance in hell?