DoubleClick Inc. debuts its “Work Smarter, Not Harder” contest with more than 50 top clients including ad agencies, marketers and online publishers.
The effort publicizes enhancements made this year to DoubleClick's ad management products. Recent improvements were upgrades to its reporting systems, streaming video for DART Motif and a new inventory manager feature for Web publishers.
Nearly 1,000 boxes are being mailed to the clients. Delivery is planned for the week of Nov. 15. Renegade Marketing Group, New York, conceived and executed the campaign.
Recipients are urged to nominate themselves or subordinates for the “Work Smarter, Not Harder” prizes. Bosses can nominate subordinates, but not themselves. Employees can nominate themselves.
Two types of boxes will drop. The one for bosses has a mirror, answering the question posed on the package's exterior, “Who is the Smartest Boss of the Year?” The contest brochure and information are included for awareness and employee nomination purposes.
For employees, or the end user, the front of a different box states: “Boss-Influencing Devices Enclosed.” A humorous image of a person shining another's shoes accompanies the text. The message continues, “Use the Kit and you Could Win a Week Off in Cancun.”
Inside the employee's box are items such as freshly sharpened pencils, an apple, a paper coffee cup and shoe polish. These allude to influencing the boss as employees try to win his or her vote as smartest employee of the year.
Each product in the employee's box has a hang-tag. One message on the hang-tag from the employee to the boss reads, “Dear [Boss' name], In the time it takes you to eat this apple, I will have generated customized DART reports for our clients' latest campaigns! Just another way I'm working smarter, not harder. Signed [employee's name].”
The package's messaging and contents imply that the DoubleClick product enhancements help recipients work more intelligently to achieve their Internet advertising objectives.
An e-mail campaign will supplement the direct marketing effort.
DoubleClick is awarding four prize winners vacations at the Mexican resort of Cancun. A boss cannot win. Only a DART end-user employee can.
