GM's $50 million Give-Away

General Motors Corp. is dropping $50 million on a give-away promotion to generate traffic in its showrooms and build awareness.

The automaker plans to give away 1,000 2004 cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles in 56 days.

Some 5.5 million people are expected to participate in the Hot-Button program, which ends Feb. 29, the company said. Participants play by visiting a dealership and pressing a blue OnStar button in a designated vehicle. The communications system captures the last four digits of the consumer's driver's license, Zip code and home phone number. An OnStar operator will immediately tell entrants whether they have won.

Former NFL star and CBS broadcaster Boomer Esiason kicked off the program on a Sunday CBS pre-game show for Wildcard Weekend. Esiason demonstrated how the game is played and claimed a prize: a 2004 Cadillac SRX to be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The game can be played in English or Spanish.

Media support includes TV, print, Internet and direct mail. The direct mail campaign — mailed in several waves last month targeting 6 million prospects — featured information on both the Hot Button and 24-Hour Test Drive programs. The test drive campaign — where consumers can take participating vehicles overnight — was scheduled to end in December but was extended until March due to its success.

“We're trying to weave existing campaigns into the Hot Button program,” said Monica Neville, senior VP, Momentum North America, Detroit.

McCann Worldgroup, Detroit, handles. Momentum is a division of McCann Worldgroup.

American Airlines hopes to tempt passengers away from competitors, including discount flyer JetBlue Airways, with a free-ticket offer that runs through April 15.

American will give its AAdvantage frequent fliers a free ticket to any domestic or international destination when they buy two AA round-trip tickets from New York City or Boston — both JetBlue markets. New York City-based JetBlue began service from Boston's Logan International Airport last month.

American's offer applies to round trips to California or Florida from New York or Boston. Travelers earn two free tickets with four round-trip flights. It's an unusually rich offer, and a different tack from head-on price competition that the major airlines have used to compete with upstart low-fare airlines like three-year-old JetBlue.

The promo overlays a first-quarter bonus miles offer that gives AAdvantage members up to triple miles for travel through March 31.

By comparison, JetBlue began a Happy New Year sale last month that puts select routes on sale for travel through Feb. 10.

JetBlue took to the air Feb. 11, 2000, with service between JFK airport in New York City and Fort Lauderdale, FL. The airline now serves 22 cities around the country.

Starbucks Coffee Co. broke a Meet Your Friends at Any Starbucks sweeps last month that awards a trip for four to any of Starbucks' 7,000 stores in the world.

Customers are entered automatically in the sweeps each time they use a Starbucks debit card or Starbucks Duetto Visa card, through Feb. 17. Weekly prizes of $10 will be automatically loaded onto winners' cards. Two grand-prize winners get trips for four, with accommodations by Hyatt and Westin Hotels & Resorts, as well as $50 loaded on their card each month for two years. Customers register their cards with Seattle-based Starbucks to participate in the sweeps.

Yahoo, Inc. last month broke a new campaign for its Yahoo Personals classified ad site with online and outdoor ads and an eye-catching off-line stunt.

Themed “Project: Real People,” online and outdoor ads feature singles who advertise on the site, not unrealistic models more commonly used for dating-service ads.

One subject, Los Angeles resident Julie Koehnen, spent three days atop a Sunset Strip billboard bearing her photo. Koehnen surfed Yahoo for dates, and each day picked three men to join her for a date on top of the billboard. On Friday night, Koehnen picked her fave guy for a high-visibility date.

Yahoo ran a live Webcast of Koehnen each day at the Yahoo Personals site. The Sunnyvale, CA-based Internet company handled the campaign in-house.

Laundry starch isn't generally the stuff of cowboy lore, but Faultless Starch is playing the niche anyway. The tiny Bon Ami Co. brand hitches up with VF Corp.'s Wrangler jeans to woo rodeo fans at the San Antonio Rodeo Feb. 6-24 with plans to add other Southeast markets later this year. Rodeo sponsor Faultless runs a contest to find the best “Texas Starched Jeans” in the crowd. Contestants are photographed in their extra-long, heavily starched jeans; judges pick five finalists who catwalk the center-ring dirt during intermission. Audience applause picks the winner, who gets a trip to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. All finalists gets a $100 Wrangler gift certificate. Spot radio and live remotes support. The campaign got retailers to pony up display space in 200-plus San Antonio and Ft. Worth stores. J. Brown Agency, Stamford, CT, handles for Kansas City, MO-based Bon Ami.