Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Promotion Of It Business W/ New Movie Release

Posted by Anonymous on 2/7/2006 at 9:49 PM ET 250 Points
I am VP of Marketing at an IT services company that refocused and renamed our company about 18 months ago. There is a new movie being released this month with a topic that would help raise awareness for our network security services.

We are looking at doing a local mailer to raise awareness to our company and service, and the movie (which stars a big name actor) is very relevant to what we do and could really help us get some visibility.

My question is, how do I best approach this to leverage the movie? There are two local theaters showing the film, and I assume it will be around for 3-4 weeks. My thought was to do a mailer that references the movie, and invite people to contact us for a free ticket to the film, which we would mail out after gathering some contact information and a few other pieces of information from them. This would be going to the heads of companies, and key IT people in the target companies.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Do a mailer to target prospects, have them visit a link on the website and fill out a short form to request a ticket. The ticket could them be either mailed out, or dropped of with literature where practical.

2) Do mailer, have them call in, ask a few brief qualification questions, and send out a ticket.

3) What rate of return should I target on this mailing to estimate how many people will request a ticket?

4) Do I need to mess with the tickets at all, or should I just do a special discount or other promotion of our products and use the movie as a draw to connect them to our services?

5) I would like send a significant quantity, should I consider a postcard vs. a letter? This is somewhat a timing issue, the movie opens in a few days and I might be able to turn a postcard with simple addressing or label quicker than a letter as I do not have enough printed materials to do the mailing on hand. Sending letters could add 2-3 days to my timing on the mailing, and would be a bit more expensive, but would be a nicer finished product.

Note due to logistics we have already ruled out trying to get people to a private showing of the film. My cost on the tickets will be about $5-$7 each, buying in quantity could be risky without knowing the number we will need (must buy in blocks of 100).

Any thoughts on this appreciated!

Steve
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  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 2/8/2006 at 1:52 AM Accepted
    Steve, you had a whole bunch of questions.. but here are some thoughts....
    1) I like the postcard with a link back to your sight for gathering the information. Here are a couple of reasons why, junk mail is often filtered by a secretary or some other staff person. A postcard offering the boss a free ticket (I suggest 2 not one) will most likely be passed on. Second, the movie may already have some promo postcards made up. They are easy to then have just one side printed with your short message.
    2) If the movie is a monster hit, you may see results much higher, but I suspect you will see a response in the range of 10-15%. That is 5 times higher than just a blind mailing.
    3) If the movie is really a "monster hit" then you might want to offer a chance to win an autographed movie poster as a "grand prize".
    4) For everybody who accepts a ticket, I would call them back and ask how they liked the movie. And, while you have them on the line ask if they want to buy anything.....
    5) If by chance your movie is controversial, (and a whole bunch are) you may want to rethink the idea.

    Good Luck, if you have any questions you can contact me through my website...
    Frank Hurtte riverheightsconsulting.com
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