Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
Honey marketing: madma members go bee-hind the scenes
By Bill Roberts
Marketing a product that’s been around since ancient times can call for some of the most modern media and methods, attendees learned at the Sept. 5 luncheon meeting of the Mid-America DMA, held at the Regency Lodge in Omaha.
Sue Bee Honey’s recent marketing strategies include reality TV, NASCAR racing, animated movies and interactive Web techniques, according to Todd Sanning, vice president for SKAR Advertising, the agency for the Sioux City-based honey cooperative.
“Today’s consumer has a hectic lifestyle,” Sanning told the marketers. “So we’re constantly coming up with innovative ways to reach them.”
Traditionally, honey was advertised primarily in women’s magazines, Sanning said. The first big break with tradition came when Sue Bee Honey decided to hop on the NASCAR bandwagon.
"Why NASCAR? Because of its reach,” Sanning said. “It matches up well with our customer targets.”
With a fanbase of 75 million, NASCAR is the number one spectator sport in the U.S. Its demographics are 48 percent female and 52 percent male, and 40 percent of fans have children under age 18.
NASCAR WITH CARE
Sue Bee Honey aligned itself with NASCAR, but in a cost-conscious way.
Rather than spend millions to slap a big Sue Bee Honey logo on a racing car, the honey cooperative bought the right to use the names and likenesses of driver Kyle Petty, his father Richard Petty (retired from racing, but still a NASCAR legend), and Bobby LaBonte, another popular driver on the Petty team.
Sue Bee sponsored sweepstakes contests offering street-legal versions of Petty team cars as prizes. The contests have attracted attention, boosted sales, and gained names for the Sue Bee Honey database. Sanning said his client sponsored the contests for five years.
“Sweepstakes entries grew from 75,000 the first year to over 500,000 last year,” he said. “Honey Club membership grew from 10,000 the first year to over 80,000 last year.”
Honey Club members are loyal customers who have signed up to receive special offers, recipes and information via e-mail from Sue Bee Honey.
For its next big marketing tactic, Sue Bee Honey starred on an episode of The Apprentice. This is the reality TV show in which millionaire Donald Trump stages a business contest for young people eager to work for him. Those who lose hear Trump tell them, “You’re fired!”
In the contest, two teams of eager young entrepreneurs harvest, package, label and sell Sue Bee Honey in stores. Whichever team sells the most honey wins. The prime-time NBC show, broadcast in February 2007, became “a 48-minute conversation with millions of consumers,” Sanning said.
He explained the 11-month process of doing the show, from negotiations in March 2006 to shooting in June (one contestant was stung by a bee) to rescheduling throughout the fall to finally airing it the week after the Super Bowl. SKAR had to fly staffers to Los Angeles to help produce the show.
MAXIMUM EXPOSURE
Sue Bee Honey made maximum use of the publicity by placing free-standing inserts in newspapers nationwide, timed to appear on the Sunday the episode was aired. In-store materials also promoted The Apprentice.
Results were phenomenal, Sanning said.
“Same store sales peaked with a 12 percent increase,” he said. “Our coupon redemption rates set a new record, and we had an 850 percent increase in hits on our Web site.”
Sue Bee Honey’s latest marketing tactic is an alliance with Bee Movie, a new film from DreamWorks Animation. Starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger, the movie will be promoted at its theatrical release in November and its DVD release next March.
Again, the honey marketer will capitalize on its association with well-timed in-store materials and FSIs and continue to build its Honey Club database. Marketing to this database has been a continuing key to the Sue Bee success story.
Sanning said the biggest challenge he and SKAR Advertising face now is figuring out how to help Sue Bee Honey top its marketing successes in NASCAR, TV and movies.
“They’re looking at us and saying, ‘So! What are you going to do next?’ ”
Presented by:
Todd Sanning
Vice President
SKAR Advertising, Omaha
