Live From PROMO Expo: Cadillac Under 5 Takes Top Award

The Cadillac Under 5 campaign took the Best Overall Promotion 2005 Award at Tuesday night's PRO Awards Gala.

The campaign, by Arc, Chemistri, and Leo Burnett, touted Cadillac's zero-to-60 five-second rule with a contest for five-second films. The grand prize was a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V. The promotion pushed site traffic up 358% including 43,000 incremental requests for dealer information. The promotion also won for Best Multidiscipline National Campaign.

Other top category winners are:

Boru: Clarity from Ireland (Best Multidiscipline Regional Campaign)
Agency: Fathom Communications
Client: Castle Brands
Irish vodka Boru hosted "Nights of Clarity" for Boston and NYC premise accounts, with coasters, posters touting Boru-isms; sales kits to 900 accounts. Distribution rose 48%; case sales grew 82%; dollar sales up 206%.

Pontiac Apprentice Early Order Program (Best Use of Promotional Advertising)
Agency: Digitas
Client: Pontiac
An Apprentice cameo pre-sold Pontiac's roadster Solstice. The 1,000 special-edition cars sold in 41 minutes after show. Of 41,000 registrants, 16% visited dealers. Solstice sold out 2005 production in 10 days.

CNN Diner (Best Use of Event Marketing-Five or Less Venues)
Agency: Civic Entertainment Group
Client: CNN
CNN hosted politicians, newscasters and attendees of the Republican National Convention in NYC diner, (also a set for shows). CNN closed two major ad sales over milkshakes.

You+HP Experience (Best Use of Event Marketing (More than five venues)
Agency: Infinity Marketing Team, Inc.
Client: Hewlett-Packard
HP wooed families and empty-nesters with demos of 40+ products via 12 interactive concourses. Sweeps added 400,000 to HP's database; on-site and incremental sales topped $20 million.

WaMoola for Schools (Best Vehicle-Based Experiential Campaign)
Agency: Strottman International
Client: Washington Mutual
Bus toured L.A. and Seattle to get parents behind WaMoola (school donations for each check-card transaction). Card use jumped 42%.

Toon Tour of Mysteries (Best Sponsorship or Tie-In Campaign)
Agency: Draft
Client: Kellogg Co.
Scooby Doo starred in five DVDs packed in 20 million cereal boxes (and on 75 million packages). Sales rose 38%; volume jumped 52%.

Gatorade High School Athlete Award Program (Best Use of Direct Marketing)
Agency: TPN
Client: The Gatorade Co.
Coaches registered for kit to honor top high school athletes (all sports): pins, certificates, Gatorade gear, samples. Nearly 32% response rate; 56% of active coaches re-enrolled.

The GM Hot Button (Most Innovative Communication Strategy)
Agency: Momentum Worldwide
Client: General Motors
Shoppers sat in a GM car, pushed OnStar Button, talked to a live operator; 1,000 won the car. Some 2 million called in 56 days; GM sold 8,000 more cars than in the prior year.

VERBnow.com (Best Use of Interactive Media)
Agency: Arc Worldwide
Client: Centers for Disease Control
CDC extended its VERB campaign with a 100-city tour pitching play. Engaged 840,000 kids; hit 73% national awareness (goal: 40%); gave away 850,014 premiums.

The Truth (Most Effective Long-Term Campaign)
Agency: Arnold Worldwide
Client: American Legacy Foundation
Anti-tobacco tour recruits kids (ages 12-18) via music, videogames, DJ contests, branded gear. "Truth" directly responsible for 22% of 2000-02 decline in teen smoking.

Jeep 4x4 Cache-In Action (Best Niche-Targeted Campaign)
Agency: Rodale
Client: DaimlerChysler
Geocachers used Jeep GPS to track goodies stashed worldwide via online coordinates. A sweeps awarded three Jeeps. Nine million geocachers played; 1 million entered the sweeps.

The Meow Mix Café (Best Campaign Generating Brand Awareness and Trial Recruitment)
Agency: Grand Central Marketing
Client: Meow Mix
Meow Mix launched wet cat food with a NYC storefront serving cats and humans. The 12-day stint sold $20,000 (donated to ASPCA); hosted 2,000 visitors a day; earned 140 million U.S. media impressions.

M&M's Brand Shrek 2 "Ogre-Size" Candies (Best Campaign Generating Brand Volume)
Agency: Thomas J. Paul, Inc.
Client: Masterfoods
The Shrek sequel inspired 50% bigger M&Ms in "swampy" or "pretty" colors; M&M Minis got collectible dispensers. Earned $21.3 million in incremental sales (goal: $20 million).

Captain for President (Best Campaign Generating Brand Loyalty)
Agency: BFG Communications
Client: Captain Morgan
Captain Morgan led "Americans for a Better Party" with politics-free happy hours. Garnered 13.7% volume growth and accounted for 30% of all rums' dollar growth.

The Smarter, Not Harder Awards (Best Dealer, Sales Force or Business-to-Business Campaign)
Agency: Renegade Marketing Group
Client: DoubleClick
Tongue-in-cheek mailings let staffers flatter the boss into nominating them for Smarter, Not Harder award (Cancun trip). Response rate: 12%.

Xtreme Nutrition (Best Co-Marketing Campaign)
Agency: CoActive Marketing Group
Client: Kroger Stores
Krogers' chain Ralphs had kids track fruit/veg eaten to earn prizes. A special edition of SI for Kids from Fresh Express pushed its sales 59%; up 60% for Naked Juice, 100% for Marianni; Yoplait sold 1 million units in a month.

Tostitos Family Connection (Best Small-Budget Campaign)
Agency: The Marketing Arm's Millsport
Client: Frito-Lay
Reunited a military family during promo at Fiesta Bowl: dad's surprise appearance ran on live TV. A :40 spot (part of Tostito's Bowl sponsorship) grew to two-minutes worth $405,000.

Sundance Film Festival Sponsorship (Best Creative)
Agency: Arnold Worldwide
Client: Volkswagen
"Support the Movies" tent let fans tout their fave films on T-shirts, e-postcards. Drew 15,000 to tent, 5,000 to lounge; vw.com/jetta traffic up 230% over 2004.

Unexpected Summer-You Can Win, But You Can't Hide (Best Idea or Concept)
Agency: Momentum Worldwide
Client: Coca-Cola
Coke turned 45 pop cans into GPS-cell phones; winners called via the can, then search teams tracked them to deliver prizes. Radio tie-ins and P-O-P supported. ROI beat goal by 26%.