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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
IMC PERSPECTIVE 16-2
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
Using Contests to Build Brand Equity
Building and/or maintaining brand
equity has become an important
goal for marketers as they develop
their sales promotion strategies.
Companies are asking their promotion
agencies to think strategically
and develop promotional programs
that can do more than just generate
short-term sales. They want
promotions that require consumers
to become more involved
with their brands and offer a
means of presenting the brand
essence in an engaging way. Many
marketers are recognizing that a
well-designed and -executed contest
can be a very effective way to
engage consumers and differentiate
their brands. Contests are experiencing
resurgence as marketers focus less on
awareness and more on ways to engender consumer
interaction and get their branding messages across.
One of the reasons for the growing popularity of
contests is that they can be used to get consumers to
think about a brand and how they can relate to it.
Some companies are using contests rather than
sweepstakes as the latter are seen as less involving
and less motivating. Because of the additional work
involved in participating, contests attract brand loyalists
who are not just entering to win a big prize. The
right type of contest can also transcend its role as a
promotional tool and help build the brand franchise.
For example, the Pillsbury Bake-Off, which has been
around since 1949, requires participants to whip up
their favorite dishes featuring Pillsbury ingredients.
The contest has been adapted to fit the times, and
now includes an “Easy Cook Night” for contemporary
on-the-go eating habits and a $1 million grand prize.
The final round brings 100 chefs together for a televised
bake-off, and thousands of recipe books are distributed
annually. Eighty percent of the female
entrants now have careers, and 10 percent of the
entries in recent years have come from men. The
director of corporate promotion and marketing for
Pillsbury notes, “Prizes are certainly part of the incentive,
but the real motivation is the fundamental desire
for recognition.”
Contests can also be helpful in rejuvenating struggling
brands by creating interest and excitement that
can get consumers to become involved with them.
When the Georgia-Pacific Corp. acquired the Brawny
paper-towel business a few years ago, it inherited a
declining brand. As part of its effort to rebuild the
16. Sales Promotion © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
brand, the company wanted to
leverage the Brawny Man icon as
well as gain insight into the
modern-day woman’s opinions as
to what makes a man brawny. In the
summer of 2002 Georgia-Pacific
conducted the “Do You Know a
Brawny Man?” promotion, which
included a contest asking women
to send in photos and 150-word
descriptions explaining why their
guys are as rugged as the product.
More than 40,000 entry forms
were downloaded from the Brawnyman.com
website, and over 4,000
people wrote to the company to
nominate someone to be the
Brawny Man. Five finalists were
selected, and consumers were able
to vote online and through the mail to choose a winner,
whose picture appeared on the package for a few
weeks. Information gathered from the entrants was
used by the Brawny marketing team to develop a permanent
Brawny Man image to replace the smiling lumberjack,
who was long overdue for a makeover.
Marketers feel that contests can often provide them
with insight into consumers who use their brands.
Campbell Soup Co. has run a “What Do You Do With
Your Pace?” recipe contest for several years as a way of
understanding how its customers actually use the
salsa brand. The contest averages about 12,000 entries
and has produced some interesting tidbits into how
consumers use the product. A recent grand-prize winner
submitted a recipe for banana bread that included
salsa as an ingredient. Thales Navigation, manufacturer
of the Magellan GPS navigation system, ran a
contest requiring entrants to write an essay about
their off-road adventures. The winner was sponsored in
the Jaos Adventure Road Rally, an annual high-tech
scavenger hunt that sends participants into the
Nevada desert looking for cues with GPS devices.
More marketers are realizing that contests can get
consumers to think more about a product than about
the prize they might win. As the brand manager for
Brawny paper towels notes: “For the winner, the contest
provides 15 minutes of fame. For the consumer, it
provides a better opportunity to relate to the brand
than just seeing it as they walk down the aisle.”
Sources: Evan Perez and Chad Terhune, “Today, ‘Brawny’ Men Help
with the Kids and the Housework,” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 4,
2002, p. B2; Matthew Kinsman, “May the Best Brand Win,” Promo,
August 2002, pp. 45–47.
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