VBR: Staycations

With the already established MixFunGuide.com and TheFanGuide.com websites, the trend toward families cutting costs by reducing the travel and expense of their family vacation is a prime marketing challenge for our advertisers and real revenue opportunity for the creative account executive.

The latest buzzword for the trend mentioned above is "Staycation" and here is some information that can help you craft a compelling VBR that gains the attention of your prospects...

Let's start with Weber, the grill-maker, which released some survey results last month that say this is the summer of staycations and grilling. They surveyed over 1,000 people and received some interesting results:

• Among grill owners planning staycations, a whopping 80% plan to grill weekly
  
• 41% plan to grill at least several times each week
  
• Once having the term explained to them, 51% of the respondents said they plan to take one or more staycations this summer
  
• 24% who are changing their traditional summer vacations to include a staycation this year
  
• 40% say they plan to try new grilled foods or grilling recipes
  
• 13% plan to purchase a new outdoor grill this summer
  
• 7% plan to update or improve their current grill
  
• Others plan on buying grilling accessories (11%) or a grilling cookbook (8%)

What about state tourism organizations as a target?

• In Pennsylvania The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia is pushing its staycation not only as inexpensive and educational, but as a green-friendly trip.
  
• Connecticut created a web site that highlights staycation destinations in the Constitution State and offers discounts to many of those places.
  
• The Arlington (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau has a local and regional campaign designed to get the locals to go to Six Flags Over Arlington and spend the night with the family in a hotel.

Retailers can be Staycation destinations, too!
Wal-Mart is making things interesting for consumers, with its subsite makeyourdollarstretch.com and a downloadable desktop Widget called 101 Days of Summer Staycations.

The Staycation trend may have been created the need to cut spending on the rising cost of gasoline (and everything else!) but it may also have been created to help the innovative marketing professionals earn additional profits this summer!

Best Present This Season? GIFT CARDS.

Here are some VBRs for use in pitching advertisers to promote the sale of Gift Cards this season...

According to the American Pulse™ Survey of 4,069 respondents, 52.1% say they would rather receive a gift card or cash. One reason for this preference may be that consumers do not like gifts that were chosen for them (45.4% of those who received clothing as a gift in the past didn’t like or didn’t wear it). Another possible reason is that 46.3% of those who participate in gift giving/receiving during the holidays say they hate to return gifts because it is a hassle.

Other key findings regarding the Holiday season (of those who participate in gift giving/receiving during the Holidays):
82.4% say gift cards are a smart gift alternative for people they don’t know well
10.5% have “re-gifted” gift cards received
22.5% have “re-gifted” gifts received
22.7% like to exchange gifts for things they would rather have
13.5% have received gift cards that they’ve never redeemed
16.1% have received gift cards that they’ve only partially redeemed
53% of gift card users often or always spend more than the original card value, and most likely redeem their cards over two visits

Read more findings here.

PS: MixMarketplace is another great way to promote gift card sales while requiring no cash outlay from the client.

The Biggest Retailer's Biggest Marketing Tool

Arguably the nation's biggest retailer (perhaps the world's biggest retailer) is Wal-Mart, but what does this industry giant consider it's biggest marketing tool? Their website.

Walmart.comhas become the physical store's marketing megaphone. The retailer plans to tap the web site to announce several online and in-store promotions that will run from Thanksgiving Day through the following week.

Wal-Mart expects 800 million visits to its web site, but Wal-Mart execs are smart enough to understand that not all consumers coming to the site will make purchases, especially around the holidays. Many will go online to research potential buys. In fact, Walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez estimates many of the 10 million people who visit Walmart.com on Thanksgiving Day will end up in the store on Friday.

Tapping into their online audience, WalMart.com will start running about 100 special sales, rather than the 50 items featured last year. The site will reveal new "secret sale" items daily. But, before the secret items become available online, consumers who opt-in by texting the keyword "save" to 96278 (WMart) will receive a text alert when WalMart.com reveals the product information on the site.

With so many businesses chasing after Wal-Mart's successes, a strong internet strategy can be the great equalizer. There's nothing in Wal-Mart's game plan that can not be duplicated (or improved) by one of our own advertising clients.

Promotional News/Sales Opportunities

Lots of news about new promotional pushes from advertisers. Should spark lots of ideas for VBRs and half-baked ideas to pitch!

Black Dog Ale
Partnering with humane shelters to publicize October as national Adopt-a-Dog Month by adding a splash page to its Web site that offers visitors information about the program and lets them find the addresses of participating human societies in 16 states. The brand, from Spanish Peaks Brewing Co., features the founder's black Lab "Chug" on its packaging and logo.

Boboli
New product push via In-Store Merchandise. George Weston Bakeries is launching a national merchandising program around a new Boboli product that includes recipes, coupons and healthy-living tips in-store.

The company is pushing Boboli 100% Whole Wheat personal size crusts with "Build-a-Better-For-You Pizza" in-store displays starting Oct. 1. Each will feature a child topping a Boboli crust. Recipe take-ones and healthy living tips will be part of the P-O-P offering.

Gillette Pushes Razor in Video Contest
Gillette is challenging college football fans to get their 'game face' on in a new promotion to push its Fusion Power razor.

The company has partnered with former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn in a sweepstakes that encourages guys to create videos or photos that show their own game face. A grand prize package includes a trip to New York City to meet Quinn.

People can enter at www.gillettegameface.com where they will be directed to join the Gillette GameFace group on Facebook and to check out Brady Quinn's GameFace video with advice on how to create their own.

Gardenburger Hunts for 'Real Man'
Wholesome and Hearty Foods Co. has launched an online contest to find a 'real man' to promote its meatless products. People can nominate themselves or the man in their lives they believe defines the company's official "Real Man" title. The goal behind the campaign is to show that Gardenburgers, a 100% natural meatless product, aren't just for vegetarian or women, but for men, too.

Dollar Stores Worth an Ad Buck or Two?

A discussion at RetailWire.com shares some info on Dollar Stores as an industry -- they are not the dirty and dingy places that many might associate with the old five-and-dime stores.

Most the chain versions of these stores are stocked with brand name merchandise, and some even have fresh produce, refrigerated and frozen foods. The article doesn't pretend that a consumer would do all their shopping at these stores, but there are several categories where real savings can be had: school/office supplies, holiday and party supplies, household cleaners, paper products, and snack foods.

Deals found at dollar stores are drawing a larger portion of the population. According to ACNielsen, 70% of households shopped at a dollar store last year.

Want to hear another surprising statistic? The top four chains in this retail channel have a combined sales revenue of almost $20 BILLION dollars, and three of them rank among the top-ten retailers in the Unisted States.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Don't forget the Audience DNA statistics we received, and look deeper than just being able to save our audience money.
  
• What if they sponsored our Mix Marketplace / 50%-Off page?
  
• If you've read this far, here's a reward: The first person on the RadiOhio, Inc. Sales Team to stop by Don's desk and mention this post will received a $25 restaurant certificate.
  
• Is there a snack food ad buy in which they might be paired-up?
  
• How about sponsoring a pet adoption promo? (These stores sell a lot of pet supplies.)
  
• What about cleaning supplies for a "home for the holidays" or "spring cleaning" connection?

You can read the full article and comments at this link, but you'll need to register as a user on the site (but it's free and well worth the TON of information you can find in just about any retails category.)

Butterfinger Points Out Video Contest

Nestle USA teams with YouTube.com for a Butterfinger consumer-content video contest that will award a grand-prize Ultimate Mobile Movie Studio package.

The video contest, "Make the Most of Any Moment," broke last week. Entrants will submit videos that show how Butterfinger (and its orange "Finger" icon) can perk up any mundane moment.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Our stations can easily put out an invitation for the same sort of contest using our listener base and host the video on our sites for voting.
  
• This could be executing as a cross-company Convergence project.
  
• I would suggest also posting the vids on YouTube.com -- their user base could only increase response.
  

Kinds of companies/videos?

• Customer testimonials
• User reviews
• Capturing a memorable event (engagements, anniversaries, vacation)
• Auto Dealers
• Jewelry Stores
• Cleaning Services
• Repair Services
• Handyman
• Restaurants
• Travel Agents
• ...need more ideas?
  See DON!

Back To College Spending Stats

College students and their parents plan to spend $36.6 billion for the return to campus, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s a 3.6% increase over last year's spending, and more than double the NRF's projected $17.6 billion spending for the K-12 back-to-school season. This year's combined spending for back-to-college and K-12 back-to-school will rank second only to holiday spending.

The NRF expects spending on electronics (including flat screen TVs, Xboxes, iPods and notebook computers) to jump 27.5% to $10.46 billion, and spending on dorm furnishings to rise 5.4% to nearly $4 billion. Incoming freshmen will spend the most, averaging $1,112, mostly on electronics and dorm furnishings, and seniors will spend about half that, averaging $558.

Here's a link to some great charts/graphs showing 'who's spending what'.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• A virtual shopping list of clients/prospects and categories to approach.
• Opportunity for second-hand stores?
• Close-out sales?
• Perhaps some discounting through Mix Marketplace.
• Malls/Shopping Centers.