CASE STUDY
Sprite’s in the house, Habbo you?
The target: 12-24 males and females. Bull’s-eye: Males 16-18.
The goal: To seamlessly integrate the Sprite brand into Habbo’s online community.
The goods: A branded environment in the virtual hotel called ‘Club Thirst.’ Users can access the ‘Lime Lounge’ and the ‘Lemon Lounge.’ Waiters push Sprite with pre-programmed one-liners and, once a week, users are invited to spokesdude Miles Thirst’s penthouse suite.
The it factor: The Sprite brand is totally integrated into the community, so it’s impossible to miss. Plus, it’s the only soft drink with a presence at the Hotel.
The impact: Participation rates have exceeded original goals, and Miles Thirst gets thousands of visits to his penthouse every day.
The players: marketer: Nicole de Larzac, Sprite brand manager, Coca Cola Canada, Toronto; microsite: Heather Gordon, sales manager, CHUM Interactive, Toronto; creative: Nick Barbuto, interactive media director, Cossette, Toronto AB
CASE STUDY
Dentyne’s Much microsite: Chew on this
The target: 15-34 males and females who are social, youthful, and dating.
The goal: To give the Dentyne brand an online presence in a fun, entertaining way.
The goods: While Dentyne has partnered with MuchMusic.com for five years now, its microsite is frequently rejigged to promote new flavours.
Its most recent incarnation launched in February and promotes the new fruity Dentyne Tango flavours. Themed content includes the Passion Test, a quiz to reveal your perfect romantic flavour match that leads to a contest entry page to win the his ‘n hers grand prize of two iPod minis and two digital music sound systems.
The it factor: Great music-related prizes. Key when linking off of a music Web site.
The impact: The Tango microsite is averaging thousands of unique contest entries each week and click-through rates ranging from 2% to 15%.
The players: marketer: Ali Karbassi, associate brand manager, Dentyne/Clorets, Cadbury Adams, Toronto; microsite: Heather Gordon, sales manager, CHUM Interactive, Toronto AB
CASE STUDY
Label finds Nexopia Universally appealing
The target: All Nexopia users (average demo: 15-18 Canadian males and females). Edmonton-based Nexopia is Canada’s hottest new online community for teens.
The goal: To boost exposure for Gwen Stefani’s album Love Angel Music Baby.
The goods: This was Nexopia’s first contest. Universal’s sales & marketing rep John Dunham was impressed with the number of registered Nexopia users, so he approached the site about becoming a promotional partner. He offered up a Gwen Stefani prize pack, and Nexopia promoted it on its main page. The contest ran from April 8 to 25.
The it factor: Tapping into Nexopia’s 300,000 registered Canadian users – including 100,000 who visit the site at least once daily. Plus, the prize was cool; it included a limited-edition 12′ picture disk of the album.
The impact: The contest attracted just over 2,000 entries in less than two weeks. ‘That, to me, is great exposure,’ says Dunham.
The players: marketer: John Dunham, sales & marketing representative, Universal Music Edmonton; Web site: Rob Davy, commercial manager, Nexopia, Edmonton AB
