As part of a repositioning exercise across various media, Kinko's Inc. has partnered with CBS SportsLine.com Inc. to sponsor the Kinko's $10 million Bracket Challenge during the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
Basketball fans, Kinko's has surmised, are the perfect target for Kinko's new brand positioning and resultant tag line, “Kinko's. Tap into the Network.” Through integrated marketing, Kinko's aims to convince businesses that it is more than just a place to make copies.
“Kinko's is primarily known as a corner copy shop, and instead what we're attempting to do is position the brand as a network of 20,000 professionals and more than 1,100 branches all connecting,” said Laura Kurzu, vice president of marketing at Kinko's.
Indeed, few know that besides its core photocopying services, Kinko's offers a range of services: posters and banners, digital photography, video conferencing, computer rental, in-store Internet access and online document printing.
The ad campaign from GSD&M Advertising, Austin, TX, is meant to convey that breadth of offering. This marketing comes three months after the privately held Kinko's moved from its Ventura, CA, home to Dallas.
Kinko's online sponsorship accompanies efforts like national television, local radio, print advertising in newspapers and magazines, in-store merchandising, promotions, sales support and, soon, direct marketing and print advertorials.
Once on http://cbs.sportsline.com, basketball fans select which teams they think will advance through the tournament. There is no entry fee. Prizes include $10 million for selecting the winner of every game, $1 million for only one wrong pick and $25,000 for most accurate picks.
Kurzu said CBS SportsLine.com pays for the prizes. She would not say how much Kinko's is paying for the online or offline exposure.
The site expects Kinko's will get 12 million impressions on co-branded promotional creative. This covers the home page, fixed position on content, rewards home page, run of site and e-mail newsletters for contests, rewards and fantasy player bulletins.
Twenty million impressions are expected for a fixed position on all brackets content. Logo placement on printable brackets is part of that. Another 6 million impressions are estimated for Kinko's branded creative. Included in that are skyscrapers, pop-up ads and banners.
A welcome e-mail promotion is expected to yield 380,000 impressions. The Kinko's logo and text promotion in the welcome e-mail will be served to each entrant.
And opt-in registration is expected to garner 57,000 e-mail leads. Details extracted will include name, address, telephone number, date of birth and e-mail address of people seeking more information on Kinko's.
Once the e-mail database from this exercise is built, opt-in registrants can expect messages and promotional offers from Kinko's.
“Business, cable and sports properties like the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament deliver quite efficiently against our business target,” Kurzu said.
“And so in making that March Madness buy with CBS, we took a look at other opportunities to extend our reach against this very important audience, and that's where the online component came in with CBS SportsLine.com.”
