Marketing Masters — October 2008 - (Page 13)

❚❙ neW event New Event Program Time Inc. – Winter Heat Winter Solstice To generate awareness and buzz for Miller Chill beer during the winter—despite its strong association with summer—Time Inc. launched the “Winter Heat” event-based franchise, which aligned the brand with music, entertainment and sports during a fivemonth period that began December 2007 and ended April 2008. Eye of the Storm Targeting young adults, ages 21 to 29, the project team sought to leverage the brand equities of Entertainment Weekly, People and Sports Illustrated under a unified themed event. As a result, the “Winter Heat” event was born, with the aforementioned titles acting as a host. Highlights included a performance by singer/songwriter Josh Kelley and appearances by Olympic gold medalists (for beach volleyball) Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. commentary, and an Evite invitation to subscribers/Web visitors of Entertainment Weekly, People and Sports Illustrated as well as EW.com, People.com and SI.com Challenges “The main challenge was the time frame in which we were all required to develop and execute the event,” says Leslie Picard, senior vice president of corporate sales and marketing for Time Inc. “Between the beginning of January and March 2008, we had to conceive the overall branding and design of the program platform.” Thunder and Lightning The event spanned the print and digital/viral platforms. Details of the print campaign included in-book features in Entertainment Weekly and People that referenced the participation of each Time Inc. brand and Miller Chill. Also, full-page Q&A advertorials with Kelley and May-Treanor and Walsh ran in EW and Sports Illustrated, respectively. Digital/viral components included a clip of Kelley’s performance at the event posted on YouTube, replete with user-generated Crashing Finale The inaugural “Winter Heat” event was a smash success, garnering 265 million gross impressions and coverage by major media outlets. ■ ❚❙ onlIne event Online Event United Business Media – Everything Channel’s Virtual Trade Show Virtually Everything United Business Media’s Everything Channel wanted to translate their success in live events to host a virtual trade show. With this in mind, they searched for an ideal venue that would provide a high level of customization, rich features and a reasonable price point for exhibitors, while targeting an audience comprised of technology sellers and system integrators from around the country Sullivan, Everything Channel’s vice president and managing director. “We’ve had to set up a new process to make sure that the strengths we bring to the event are the content we can produce, the audience we can attract and the ability to sell sponsorships. “ Digital Bull’s Eye The goals of the program more than exceeded expectation. Attracting 2,000 registrants and 773 unique attendees, the virtual trade show secured nine sponsors for the event as opposed to the intended initial aim of seven. ■ Ready, Aim, Launch Signing on with Unisfair, a provider of virtual events, trade shows and conferences, Everything Channel offered three levels of sponsorship— platinum, gold and silver—with varying levels of benefits that included a virtual exhibit hall and book; a featured NetSeminar held during the event and ability to upload vendor content (i.e. white papers, job applications, etc.) and links. Sponsors, which included Toshiba, Sybase and Catalyst Telecom, received registrants’ information for future follow-up; they were also able to chat with visitors in real time inside their virtual booth in the exhibit hall. The virtual trade show was held on November 8, 2007, although the preliminary research began early in the year. Challenges “The virtual trade show is a new medium for us,” admits Chris October 2008 ❚ minonline.com min ❚ Marketing Masters Issue 13 http://www.EW.com http://www.People.com http://www.SI.com http://www.minonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marketing Masters — October 2008

Marketing Masters - October 2008 Customized Web Site/Microsite Retail/Merchandising Tie-in Top Integrated Marketer Top Integrated Marketing Teams Custom Publishing Project Multiple Magazine Title Program Sweepstakes/Contest New Event Program Online Event Special Advertorial Section Print/Online Bundle Print Bundles: TV/Video/Mobile Total Integrated Program: B2B Total Integrated Program: Consumer Event

Marketing Masters — October 2008

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