Konica Minolta
Sports sponsorship scores
Situation
Konica Minolta wanted to reestablish a connection with consumers after dropping out of the photographic business in early 2006. When the opportunity to sponsor the Gator Bowl Classic arose, Konica Minolta saw a way to reach college football fans while promoting its office printers and IT products.
“The demographics of college sports fits Konica Minolta’s target audience extremely well,” says Kevin Kern, VP of marketing at Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA.
After signing on as the sponsor on October 1, the company had three months to rebrand the event and create a campaign.
Approach
Working with DM2, Konica Minolta developed a microsite, KMBSsports.com, to provide information about the 2008 Gator Bowl and expose prospects to the company’s products. Konica Minolta already had branding elements in place at the stadium and on TV and was looking for a tactical program to reach the fan base directly, Kern says. So, the company also developed a sweepstakes with a grand prize of an all-expense paid trip to the game.
“Konica Minolta felt that if it could reach those people, it could get more opt-ins to its site,” he says.
These efforts were supported with links and banner ads on Web sites for the University of Virginia, Texas Tech University and the Gator Bowl. The two universities also sent e-mail blasts about the sweepstakes to alumni and season ticket holders.
Results
The site received about 13,000 visits, 6,000 people entered the sweepstakes and the opt-in rate was 10%. –Chantal Todé
Austad’s Golf
Getting personal about golf shoes
Approach MyBuys developed a personalized product recommendation program for multichannel golf equipment merchant Austad’s Golf that lets shoppers pick the categories from which they’d like to see product recommendations, either on Austad’s Web site or via e-mail alerts. The program launched in late 2007.
Results Austad’s e-mail conversion rate has risen more than 130%, and recommendations now account for more than 5% of overall site sales. –Nathan Golia
3M
Direct mail campaign goes the distance
Approach In March 2006, 3M chose Promotional Alliance, a member company of Promotional Products Association International, to develop a direct mail campaign to introduce a line of disposable respirators and build sales. The eight-part mailing, including promotional products and samples, was sent out over 17 months to 800 safety equipment distributors.
Results Sales achieved were 103% of the goal. –Mary Hurn
Privateview
Paul Mouer, VP, group creative director, Hawkeye
Konica Minolta was very smart in how it leveraged its sponsorship to tap into an enormous audience base by utilizing a sweepstakes that, in turn, created a lead generation tool for its sales force. I think it truly got the most bang for its buck with the microsite. It’s the perfect blend of Gator Bowl fan information and Konica Minolta product information all wrapped around the attraction of a generous sweepstakes. The look of the microsite is a bit boring, though, and did not totally encompass the bowl game experience. Next time I would pump up the look and feel to more fully envelop the feeling of game day.
Austad’s Golf sure made the right move to partner with MyBuys. The results in a very short time are quite amazing. It just shows how smart utilization of personalization can have incredible results on a company’s bottom line.
Kudos to 3M for a stellar channel marketing campaign. Making respirators fun, engaging and memorable is not an easy task, but 3M accomplished that and was rewarded with some pretty incredible results. I love how it exemplified each product benefit with a promotional product; hence, a visual really is worth a thousand words. The bright colors and lighthearted mascot illustrations help tie everything together into one well-thought-out, well-executed campaign.
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