Promo - May 2008 - (Page 12)

The Players B rian Q uinton Interactive Comfort Virally Hanes pushes underwear online with humor Social media campaigns have been used to fight every While humor may drive visits to the site, community is scourge from global warming to genocide in Darfur. But let’s intended to keep them coming back. The site lets visitors face it: Some problems strike closer to home much, much submit their own stories of unfortunate wedgies. They can closer, in fact. read others’ tales of woe and rate them using an interactive Underwear maker Hanes is betting that men and five-point Blush-O-Meter; the more embarrassing the wedwomen will identify with and take comfort from two gie story, the redder a cartoon icon gets and the more dire the interactive campaigns centered on underpants that don’t background soundtrack. ride up. Both efforts use Web video, celebrities and humor Visitors can also register and return weekly for “Wedgieto engage their target audiences. And taken Free Wednesdays,” with a chance to win one of together, they suggest an interesting con500 free pairs of panties the company is trast in the way interactive elements giving away each week throughout the can be used to capture the interest year. They can also send e-cards to of male and female consumers. their friends inviting them to the The initiative aimed at women site—mailed every Wednesday. is tied to a specific new product The Wedgiefree site is part rollout, a line of No Ride Up of an integrated campaign panties in the Hanes Comfort that will also include print Fit collection. It explicitly ads featuring Chalke in sets out to point out and women’s fashion and lifesolve a problem that, accordstyle magazines through ing to Hanes, many women the year. All the TV and have but few acknowledge: print advertising directs the dread wedgie, a/k/a the consumers to the microsite. “Melvin” or “hinder binder.” Hanes brand communicaThe campaign shows several tions director David Robertson videos of actress Sarah Chalke says that thanks to consumer doing entertainingly indiscreet research, the company has known calisthenics to shake out her secret for some time that panty creep is Hanes and Sarah Chalke underwear woes. the biggest comfort issue in its women’s help women ’fess up to their wedgie woes. Two of the videos on the campaign’s apparel category. Having designed undermicrosite, www.wedgiefree.com, are actually wear to combat the problem, Hanes was then TV spots. The first debuted March 11 on “American Idol.” But faced with the issue of getting women to acknowledge it. they’re joined by a made-for-video clip called “Sarah’s Wedgie “Having this problem is not just about physical disDance” that has already garnered 500,000 views on YouTube, comfort; it’s also about that risk of social discomfort,” where Hanes posted a roadblock ad to coincide with the TV Robertson says. “We felt it would be important to talk launch and where it also maintains a branded channel. The about the issue in a way that was light hearted and engagWedgiefree.com microsite also offers a “filming of” a video ing, to defuse the embarrassment.” clip that shows outtakes and gags from the Chalke ads. The campaign was the first one from Hanes to break online and offline simultaneously. “We wanted an idea that would work across media channels,” Robertson says. W For more articles on interactive marketing go to “Our consumer watches TV, but she also spends a lot of www.promomagazine.com/retail time on the Web—not just shopping but using it as a comNewsletter RSS Conference munication tool.” Web Webinar Podcast Continued on page 14 12 may 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.Wedgiefree.com http://www.Wedgiefree.com http://www.promomagazine.com/retail http://WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - May 2008

Promo - May 2008 Contents Editor's Note Eyeballs All the Same... NBC Makes 'Law & Order' a Mobile Game Recession Rewards Comfort Virally Toaster on Wheels Commentary Ay Caramba! The 2008 Interactive Marketing Awards Winners How Bulletproof? Q&A: What a Ride Resource Center The Agency Center Blogging 101 Index of Advertisers

Promo - May 2008

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