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Strategic Entertainment Alliances: Doing It Right
by Scott Pansky, General Manager, Allison & Partners PR and President of the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society
When developing a cause-related marketing campaign, one of the biggest challenges is involving major stakeholders i.e. customers or end consumers, your local community, and employees. Making a program stick can be very challenging because advertising dollars, point of purchase, direct mail and public relations can’t always influence the purchasing power of the public. These tools establish awareness for the campaign and or alliance, but the true key is creating elements that influence the end user to participate in the campaign.
One consideration, add a flare of entertainment! Whether it’s an alliance with a film property, television show, music label, actor/actress/performer; professional sports organizations, teams, athletes, or comic book characters, entertainment can truly help make your programs a success.
The key to developing these programs is finding the proper fit, just as difficult sometimes as creating your cause-marketing campaign with your partner. If you have a women’s product, it makes sense to partner with a women’s charity and television show with primarily female viewers. If it’s a youth product, finding youth entertainment alliances like cartoon shows, comic book characters or sports teams would fit. Picking the most well-known celebrity doesn’t mean it’s a good fit for your brand, as we have recently seen after the past Super Bowl.
Another key is YOUR CREATIVITY. Good ideas find homes. If you have an entertainment cause-related marketing promotion, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call a director of promotions or marketing, a publicist, or agent for your concept. This may sound strange, but some of the best programs come from a single phone call. While working with the American Library Association (ALA), we were able to develop an alliance between NBC’s TNBC programming (Saved by the Bell, City Guys and Hang Tim) with the ALA’s Teen Read Week. As both groups were targeting teens, it made good sense. However, the concept came up because someone on the staff knew of the Saturday morning programs.
The following are 10 tips on how to utilize entertainment vehicles to make a difference in your campaigns and strategic alliances:
1) Access to a celebrity for a program spokesperson - Celebrities pitching products is not new, but when tied to a charitable promotion, the celebrity’s fan base provides access to a new audience as well as reinforcing a specific message point to a mass audience. The Archie Comics character, Archie, served as the ambassador to United Cerebral Palsy. Through this relationship, a cause-marketing relationship was then created with Ore-Ida Foods. This included strategic marketing of freestanding inserts and print public service announcements where Archie was able to clearly communicate the partners’ messages as well as help increase the sales of Ore-Ida Foods’ Tater Tots.
2) Utilizing property images on advertising and collateral materials - As demonstrated with the Archie campaign, utilizing property images draws new attention to the products used in the promotion. Another example is the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Hunger Free America campaign in which they teamed up with Unilever Best Foods and developed a celebrity Cookbook with 62 celebrity recipes, including recipes from Jeff Bridges, Bo Derek and Larry King. The campaign reached more than 64 million consumers through its Web site, public relations and advertising.
3)Sweepstakes and contests - Whether its swag from a television show or film; a walk-on role or the opportunity to be drawn into a comic book, these are prizes that have extreme perceived value. Angel Flight, a non-profit based in California, was celebrating its 10-year anniversary and teamed up with Southwest Airlines and the NBC Thursday night series, Wings. The cast of the show agreed to support the charity. Southwest Airlines held an employee fundraising program in which they sold “Herbie Bucks” in honor of their former CEO, Herb Kelleher. The incentive to their employees was the opportunity to bowl with the cast of Wings in Los Angeles, and a walk-on role for their CEO. The employees alone raised more than $30,000.
4) Product placement - In the film, About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson’s character adopted a child from Tanzania after watching a commercial on television for Plan USA (formerly ChildReach). This brief spot significantly enhanced awareness for this children’s charity. In addition, this product placement also carries on to home video and DVD releases with a public service announcement.
5) Public Service campaigns - Television shows, such as Touched by an Angel, will create a public service announcement to support a charity message delivered in one of their shows. If you do due diligence, i.e. read industry related trades, you may uncover a particular actor’s cause. For example, on Days of our Lives, Nadia Bjorlin’s character, Chloe Lane was suffering from Leukemia. In real life, the actress’ father died of the disease. In 2002, Nadia served as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night ambassador. She donated her time to appear at walks and shot a national public service announcement.
6) News release hooks - Often times, once an announcement is made about an alliance, the story dies until the results of the campaign can be announced. By working with celebrities, you can tie in to public appearances by working with their particular travel/booking schedules. They can be booked on morning shows such as Today and Good Morning America, in addition to talk shows like Ellen and The View. Celebrities can share their commitment to the cause and also talk about the corporate partners involved as part of the campaign.
7) Special appearances or performances - Whether you read People or US, USA Today or Time magazine, how often do you hear about concerts to benefit causes? Bono is internationally known for supporting causes. He helped put NetAid, an organization fighting poverty worldwide, on the map by participating in a concert that aired on television and online. Celebrities’ most valuable asset is their time. If they are committed to a cause, they may be willing to donate time and waive appearance fees. If the celebrity is not initially touched by the cause, there may be fees attached. If it’s a meet-and-greet, talent might donate the time but you must expect to pay expenses and transportation fees. If there is a performance, expect to pay fees including those for supporting staff.
8) Online marketing – Web sites are being turned to more than ever for information gathering. Cross promotions online will allow charities and corporations to link to entertainment sites that receive much higher consumer traffic. In addition, outbound email campaigns can be created with celebrity elements.
9) Premiums – Swag, swag and swag, people love to get products whether it’s a film poster, autographed scripts or pictures, t-shirts or ball caps, and a cause-marketing relationship is something in which the partners can tap into for the resources of its partners. These premiums could be used just for contests, or new premiums can be negotiated and created from scratch, utilizing an entertainment image and associating it to the cause program.
10) Stakeholder buzz – Finally, everyone is accountable to someone, whether it’s the non-profit in raising funds or whether it’s the corporation trying to increase sales or traffic. Creating buzz with the assets of entertainment partners can add to the perceived value through co-branded awareness and goodwill in the community. The association of these relationships, whether locally or on a national basis, can create a buzz unlike any other.
Scott Pansky, General Manager/Partner, Allison & Partners, (www.allisonpr.com) has more than 15 years of experience in entertainment and cause-related marketing alliances. Scott leads the Cause Marketing Forum’s pre-conference Cause Marketing 101 workshop for Business. He also serves as the President of the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (www.eppsonline.org).Learn More
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