BACKGROUND

Marketers with an eye for muscular promotions are turning increasingly to the entertainment industry for solutions. It's no surprise, given the increasing number of promotional options available in the industry and entertainment's ability to reach consumers of any age, ethnicity, or income level. Entertainment crosses over lifestyle categories like no other industry, giving marketers the ability to saturate a targeted demographic group at work, rest, and play, often over a period of many months. The export strength of American entertainment products often makes them ideal vehicles for building brand identity overseas through tie-ins. And, thanks to the extended life provided by TV reruns, movie video rentals, and concert films, entertainment can be the marketing gift that keeps giving for years to come.

OPTIONS IN ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING

There are many promotional opportunities available in entertainment, and sorting them out is a critical first step in determining which ones will work best for you. Here are some of the most important:

• Product placements. Anytime a product can be seen as part of a movie, a TV show, or a CD-ROM, you have a product-placement opportunity. What used to be merely set dressing is now the basis for some of the biggest money deals in the industry. Witness the celebrated example of the BMW Z3. The German automaker paid to have its new sports car become James Bond's ride in the film Goldeneye, and the association between car and movie became the basis for BMW's entire launch campaign. A lesser known, though equally potent, example is the successful program of Gardetto's Inc. The snack-food maker features its products on various TV game and talk shows, including Wheel of Fortune and Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, a strategy that has put its brands before 310 million viewers. While the Federal Communications Commission prohibits TV studios from accepting money for placements, just making products available to TV producers can often result in valuable exposure.
  
  
• Event sponsorship. We've all witnessed the degree to which corporate tie-ins have become a staple of superstar concert tours. There's a reason for this: Concert tours became major losers for record companies in the 1980s, and corporate partnering was the only way to make them profitable. The benefit to marketers? Adweek reports that research by Chicago's PS Productions reveals that marketers of products as diverse as soap and salad dressing saw sales gains of between 52 percent and 1,454 percent during sponsored events.
  
  
• Co-pack promotions. You've probably noticed the many coupons and special offers contained in recent movie offerings on video. They cover both video sales and rentals, with such companies as Blockbuster Entertainment increasingly using their boxes to sell advertising.
  
  
• Direct-to-consumer promotions. Top movies and music hits are available to marketers for a number of consumer promotions, including on-pack offers, sweepstakes, and premiums.
  
  
• Customized CDs and tapes. Given the enormous, music catalogues owned by major record labels, marketers have little trouble finding selections with special appeal for a given demographic group. These can be customized music collections on CD or audiotape that are made available under the sponsor's imprimatur. Example: New York area Cadillac dealers offering a Sony Music collection to buyers of new cars.
  
  
• Gift certificates. One of the easiest ways to take advantage of entertainment's appeal is through gift certificates, which are widely available for everything from CDs to movie rentals. Certificates are ideal for incentive awards, contest prizes, and gifts, and they can be used effectively as part of an integrated promotional approach.
  
  
• New media. There are an increasing number of ways in which marketers can take advantage of such new media as interactive CDs, video games, and even entertainment offerings on the World Wide Web. One way is to advertise on the products themselves. For example, when Creative Multimedia released the interactive CD-ROM "Golf Digest's Best Places to Play," it interspersed ads from three companies throughout the presentation. The advertisers, one of which was diamond syndicate DeBeers, thus got exposure plus the chance to provide detailed product information to those viewers who chose to click on the appropriate icons in the ad.

TYPES OF SUPPLIERS

The entertainment industry is a maze of fiefdoms interconnected through corporate ties. For example, today's entertainment conglomerates own movie studios, record companies, TV syndicators, and publishing companies, and some have even formed their own multimedia divisions. Each area of the entertainment business has its own distinct culture. Thus, for the uninitiated, negotiating an integrated promotion involving, say, movies, music, and publishing can be a trial. Even when you are dealing with a single company, there can be numerous parties on both the East and West coasts who are each responsible for a particular aspect of your promotion. For simple things, such as gift certificates, all it may take is a call to a division's special products department. But when you get into cross-media promotions, you often need the expertise of a specialized promotion agency.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Linking a promotion with some sort of entertainment requires special skills plus an understanding of which media are best equipped to boost your product or service. Here is some basic advice:

• Work with professionals. More than one otherwise savvy marketer has been sold a bill of goods when they tried to catch a promotional ride in the entertainment industry. That's why it pays to work with a promotion or advertising agency that knows how to fit your products or services with the right media options. Experienced pros will know how, and with whom, they should negotiate to get you the best results.
  
  
• Make the right fit. Entertainment promotions work best when your product fits not only the demographic profile of the audience but the creative content of the entertainment product.
  
  
• Get the right kind of exposure. Always check out the context in which your product is to be featured. There is often a conflict of interest in the entertainment industry between, on one hand, those exercising their creative freedom (filmmakers, musicians, and others) and, on the other, executives trying to cover the growing cost of production. For marketers looking for product placements and other tie-ins, the rule is: Don't get caught in the middle. For instance, it won't help sales of your car if the hero can't start the thing during a critical scene in the movie. Similarly, it might offend consumers of your soft drink if the musician whose tour you've just sponsored gets lambasted by some dignitary for singing X-rated lyrics. In short, beware of any deal in which you don't have satisfactory control over how your products, corporate identity, or reputation are to be represented.
  
  
• Build synergy with an effective cross-media strategy. Using the right mix of targeted media options can really put added muscle into your campaign.

ASSOCIATIONS

International Events Group (IEG) is a for-profit organization that provides information on sponsorships in sports, arts, entertainment, causes, and events. Its comprehensive services include an industry newsletter, sponsor locator service, books, conferences, workshops, consulting, and nearly 30 boilerplate contracts for a variety of sponsorship situations. Call 312-944-1727; fax 312-789-6488; go to http://www.sponsorship.com

Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) has an annual event on entertainment marketing, called "Star Power." Call 212-420-1100; fax 212-533-7622; go to PUBLISHING SERVICES

The Sponsorship Report is geared primarily to people who make event marketing a full-time profession, but its concise format makes it quick reading. $415 a year, $340 for nonprofit organizations. Call International Events Group, 312-944-1727.

Entertainment Marketing Letter is a monthly newsletter published by EPM Communications. It provides industry data, such as cost analyses of entertainment marketing, a calendar of events, industry news and trends, and listings of contacts at key companies. $319. Call 212-941-0099.

Promo monthly. PROMO defines promotion trends, presents critical "how-to" information and case studies about promotion, and serves as a meeting ground for companies and professionals in the industry. Free for qualified subscribers, or paid subscription is $65 p/year. Visit http://www.promomagazine.com.

FIND A SUPPLIER

To find a supplier, go to #9520, Supplier Finder.