PARTNERING A TOY COMPANY AND A LEARNING NETWORK

Growing up I use to play Transformers with my brother in return for him playing My Little Pony's with me. I secretly actually liked playing Transformers so that trade off was definitely in my favor.

But in early childhood, games and toys like G.I. Joe, Transformers, Battleship, My Little Pony, and Fragglerock were staples of my brother and my childhoods, and also home to famed toy manufacturer, Hasbro.

Fast forward to 2010, Hasbro has partnered with learning and entertainment network, Discovery, to create "The Hub," which premiered today on the small screen to bring these famed toys to life for the next generation and to re-hash memories for the rest of us. This partnership shows a great opportunity for a company with valuable brands to further its reach and growth potential by tapping into another distribution outlet--TV. But because Hasbro does not necessarily have the infrastructure and experience to go out on its own, partnering with an established network provides value to them. And for Hasbro, what better partner than one that already reaches an audience that craves learning and entertainment opportunities for the family. Discovery Communications epitomizes the Hasbro brand's demographic, but provides a platform that is open and doesn't necessarily have competing shows like a Nickelodeon might have for Hasbro.

With the launch today, 10.10.10, we are curious to see how the network succeeds. Hopefully it will be like a Spider-Man success story and not The Hulk.

Barnes & Noble and HP partner for e-book store

"We expect that there is going to be a lot of digital reading that is consumed on devices that aren't specifically targeted to e-reading, such as laptops and netbooks."
-Kevin Frain, B&N EVP of e-commerce

Barnes & Noble and Hewlett-Packard launched a co-branded eBookstore. And from our assessment it looks like a nice partnership to help both defend against changes in the digital marketplace.
HP is providing:
-link to the store on new HP computers
-some preloaded Barnes & Noble reading applications on some devices

Barnes & Noble is providing:
-its e-commerce platform
-flexibility to HP to tailor the site's content how they choose
-providing HP users that download the e-reader application, the LendMe technology that allows HP users to share e-books with friends for free for up to 14 days.

Barnes & Noble is obviously looking to reposition themselves as a provider of digital content to replace the lagging brick and mortar sales; and HP is looking to catch up to Apple's iPad as a provider of digital content as well.

HP doesn't have the sophisticated e-commerce infrastructure that a retailer like B&N has or even its rival Apple who benefits from iTunes store, so needs B&N for this technology. And B&N needs new channels that reach the digital reader to gain awareness about its eBookstore.

Partnering with Cinemas

In any down economy, movie attendance has always kept up, and in many ways has increased as a relatively cheap form of entertainment. That was no different this past year, where worldwide ticket sales increased by 7.6% to $29.9 Billion (Reuters 2010).

The US/Canada market saw a 10% growth in admissions to $10.6 Billion from 2008 to 2009.

-MPAA 2009

This growth makes movie theaters an increasingly attractive place for marketers to connect with their consumers. Not only are people in an enjoyable environment, but with the increasingly creative ways marketers are engaging with their consumers via mobile coupons, interactive booths, and interactive ads, you can make a memorable impression.

PRE-COMMERCIAL ADS

THINK OUTSIDE THE TV BOX

Take it from the studios--before a trailer runs nationally on TV, it usually will run teaser campaigns on the big screen. Now of course the studios are reaching people who like to go to the movies; however, keep this in mind 75% of cinema patrons eat out either before or after a movie, and most people in the U.S. go to the theater at least once each year.

When Taco Bell launched their Roosevelt campaign they first debuted it on the silverscreen before rolling it out on TV a week later.

MOBILE PROMOTIONS

WITH COUPON REDEMPTION UP 27% FROM LAST YEAR, SAVING MONEY IS A HUGE PRIORITY FOR CONSUMERS NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE

Last fall, to reward its customers, Sprint set up 500 in-theater bCode mobile coupon kiosks.

During the pre-roll ads, Sprint customers could text in various discount offers that appeared on the screen. Once they received the confirmation they went to the kiosks and printed their coupons out for 50% off popcorn, or $2 off their soda. What a nice treat!

SHOWROOMS

MOBILE TOURS AND SHOWROOMS ARE POPULAR PROMOTIONAL TOOLS AND NOW THEY ARE AVAILABLE IN THEATERS

When Hewlett Packard launched its "Touch the Web, Print the Web" multi-media campaign in late 2009, the team quickly determined consumers needed to physically touch its products to truly experience it.

To achieve this, HP rolled out a cinema campaign with in-lobby demos. These lobby dominations were in 15 theaters and included holographic kiosks, banner signage, and booths for live demonstrations.

To demonstrate the printer and make the connection movie tickets were printed.

Co-Creation of Products- Motorola and Burton

Influential Events vs. Advertising

People are influenced more by promotion/sponsorship than from traditional forms of advertising!

To that I'm bringing back the 90's and saying duh! Of course people are going to be influenced more by something that engages you and provides you some value.

If you are a kid and you are told what to do are you going to do it? Maybe, but if you are given an incentive like ice-cream, an allowance, or some play time, the kid is much more likely to do it.

It is the same with marketing, if you provide an incentive to people, something of value, they A) are going to remember you more than the brand that didn't and B) may even incentivize you to make an additional purchase of that product

So that wasn't a shocker to me when I read this article about events being influential: http://promomagazine.com/eventmarketing/0401-events-engaging-consumers/.

However, there are some great stats in here for any marketer needing to "sell in" an experiential marketing idea to their bosses.

For instance promotions/sponsorship was most highly valued by consumers for:
59.7% fast food
56.2% snack food
55.2% household cleaning products