FTD.com has partnered with Victoria's Secret and Yahoo to create Valentine's Day promotions.
The site kicked off its first holiday effort today by partnering with Victoria's Secret's “Dream Gifts” section to offer a $500 shopping spree contest. Ten randomly selected winners will get to spend half of their winnings at FTD.com and half at Victoriassecret.com. Additionally, any customer that purchases a dozen roses earns a $50 gift certificate redeemable at either site.
“It's a joint promotion that takes our flowers and their great products and puts them together for customers for Valentine's Day,” said Bill Van Cleave, vice president of marketing at FTD.com, Downers Grove, IL. “Teaming up with other great brands is a great way to create excitement and drive people to the site.”
FTD.com will run banner ads across Yahoo, the Microsoft Network and other portals and sites it currently has agreements with to advertise the promotion.
The site will begin a second online contest Jan.30 when banner ads offering a romantic trip for two to Hawaii will appear across Yahoo. If a consumer clicks on the banner they are taken to a jump page where they can enter the contest as well as purchase select items. There are also links to FTD.com.
“This is part of a seasonal agreement we have with Yahoo. We ran a contest during Christmas and the banner drew the second highest impressions on the Internet that week,” said Van Cleave. “We're excited about the exposure.”
To complete its holiday push, new television and radio spots that will air Feb. 1 through Feb. 14. The commercials will run on cable networks and well as national network radio stations.
FTD products will also begin appearing at Egreetings.com this week. The “FTD Floral and Gift Boutique” is the first phase of the agreement that was struck between the two companies on Jan. 13. Egreetings, San Francisco, will offer its branded online greeting cards at the FTD site as well beginning in March. The cards will be free.
Under the agreement, FTD.com has also agreed to buy advertising and promote Egreetings in its marketing efforts.
The site's marketing budget for 2000 is $40 million. Van Cleave would not quantify what percentage of this budget would be spent on the Valentine's Day blitz.
