Cartoon Network used Alloy Media & Marketing's AMP Agency, 360 Youth media services, catalogs and Web sites to launch its Powerpuff Girls retail line and create buzz around the property.
The Time Warner Inc.-owned cable network also sought to drive awareness of its Powerpuff Girls television property with females ages 6-18, audiences served by Alloy, New York.
“The newly minted merchandise extension of the Powerpuff Girl characters is slightly more sophisticated, allowing the characters to traverse both 'tween' and teen audiences,” said Samantha Skey, senior vice president of convergent marketing at Alloy. “The network and the retail line were also looking to connect with the older teen — fans growing with the trend.”
Powerpuff Girls merchandise includes shirts, accessories, games, puzzles and DVDs.
Many channels were deployed. Promotions appeared on www.alloy.com, www.delias.com and www.ellegirl.com. E-mails to the Alloy Informers Network — a group of 1,700 young influencers — urged children to visit www.ppgstyle.com to enter the Style Heroes Model Search Contest June 9 through Aug. 11.
The model search contest was the heart of the program. The goal was to have the three winners bring life to the Powerpuff Girls. They would be featured in three photo shoots for ElleGirl magazine and the Alloy and sibling Delia's catalogs.
Girls were invited to join the Alloy Informers Network to spread the word on the new retail line and contest. Feedback was shared with Cartoon Network.
Other channels contributed to the push. Consumers were reached through 200,000 postcard bag stuffers in Delia's merchandise at 62 stores nationwide. Posters in Simon Properties' malls — Alloy is the company's agency of record — in Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Irving, TX, supported the campaign. Radio spots in Minneapolis pitched in, as did print ads in Alloy, Delia's and ElleGirl and trade shows in New York and Las Vegas.
Also, Cartoon Network partnered to feature and sell Powerpuff Girls merchandise in Alloy and Delia's catalogs and sites. Four Powerpuff Girls T-shirts were produced. The Cartoon Network Fridays program promoted the contest.
The marketing generated 2,000 entries for the contest. Winners, chosen from peer voting online, won not only the photo shoots for Alloy, Delia's and ElleGirl. They snared a weekend trip to Cartoon Network's headquarters in Atlanta Sept. 23-26, a guest appearance on Cartoon Network Fridays and a $1,500 donation to their favorite charity.
Cartoon Network's use of Alloy's audience and influencer base is something it shares with other Alloy clients like Virgin, AT&T Wireless and Digital Lifestyles Group for its Hip-e line of teen-focused consumers.
“The program was tailored for the client using the most beneficial assets to accomplish Cartoon Network's goals,” Skey said. “There was a need to reach influencing tweens and teens in their natural environments to reposition the Powerpuff Girl characters and appeal to a wider and slightly older audience.”
