CASE STUDY

Garnier Green Room

The target: Broad. 18 +, both genders.

The goal: To encourage interaction with the brand and to associate Garnier with memorable concert experiences.

The goods: Garnier has teamed up with House of Blues to set up special ‘Green Rooms’ at 11 different concerts throughout the year. The only confirmed artist thus far is Maroon 5. Entrants can win a backstage VIP experience to Garnier’s Green Room online, in-store, or through SMS by texting the word ‘VIP’ to ‘ACCESS’ (222377). Garnier Canada’s marketing manager Scott Moon decided to include a mobile aspect to avoid slippage – losing consumers who are exposed to the message but forget about the promotion by the time they get to their computers. ‘With mobile, they can enter as soon as they see the message,’ he explains.

The it factor: The VIP concert experience. All-access backstage passes, free food and drinks and the best seats in the house. ‘It’s a money-can’t-buy experience,’ says Moon. Garnier will also set up tents open to the public at each of the concerts, to allow concertgoers to have their hair done with Garnier products and interact with the brand.

The impact: The contest kicked off on March 15. By the end of March, Garnier had received over 15,000 entries. ‘We’re very pleased with the response,’ says Moon.

The players: marketer: Scott Moon, marketing director, Garnier Canada, Montreal; events: Dan Ewing, account manager, Libby Biason, director, corporate partnerships, House of Blues Concerts Canada, Toronto; mobile: Drew Pitts, sales representative, Impact Mobile, Toronto; creative: Brian Curtis, creative, Big Image Studios, Toronto AB

West 49’s allstar promo

The target: The contest targets girls 13-20, but West 49 marketing manager Cindy Mielke hopes girls as young as 11 will be interested in looking at the resulting spread in Fashion 18 (girls must be at least 13 to enter).

The goal: To grow West 49’s female customer base.

The goods: This is West 49’s first female-specific large-scale promotion. Girls can enter online for a chance to model in a West 49 advertorial spread in Fashion 18, the promotion’s media partner.

The entry process is somewhat labour-intensive: Entrants must include photos and fill out a questionnaire, including a 50-word description of their personal style. ‘It’s like the anti-model search,’ says Mielke, adding that West 49 is looking for healthy, athletic girls with a punk-rock or surfer edge to their look.

The promo drives potential entrants to the contest Web site with in-store postcards and displays and online ads on popular Canadian teen Web site Nexopia and the sites for teen shows Degrassi: The Next Generation and Instant Star. And, of course, the contest is being pushed in print ads in Fashion 18, as well as on the magazine’s site. Mielke is featuring the contest on West 49’s main Web page, and plugs it in her e-mail bulletins, which go out to a database of 150,000 customers.

The it factor: West 49 is one of the first national advertisers to tap into Nexopia, a hugely popular Canadian social network that has 330,000 register users – including 100,000 who check the site at least once daily.

And, of course, the money-can’t-buy experience is a sure winner: a chance to model in a popular national magazine.

The impact: In the first couple of weeks, over 1,000 girls had entered. ‘That’s phenomenal, considering the amount of work that goes into the entries,’ says Mielke. ‘We’re really impressed.’

The players: marketer: Cindy Mielke, marketing manager, West 49, Burlington, Ont.; Web site and print spread: Jacqueline Demchuk, acting director, advertising marketing, style group, St. Joseph Media, Toronto; Jennifer Sage, national account manager and interactive marketing director, Fashion 18, Toronto AB