HONG KONG: Two marketing services agencies are using the internet
to take the decades-old scratch-and-win cards from the realm of simple
promotional tool to the status of brand builder.
Promotions agencies Marketing Drive Worldwide and its Australian partner
Loyalty Marketing have developed an advanced, high-tech marketing tool
to take the scratch-and-win application a step further.
At the heart of the new system, called Instant Rewards, is a unique code
hidden behind the label of a product.
By going to a designated website and keying in the code, consumers will
discover if they have won a prize in the promotion.
Coca-Cola has used the system in Australia and generated sales of 400
million bottles within a two-month period, according to the
agencies.
But Marketing Drive chairman Karen Loh said the new tool offers
marketers another option to chose from for their brand building
activities.
"Before there was no customer relationship management component. Now
there is because people can go to specific websites not only to find out
if they had won anything, but also to navigate around it and see all the
branding.
"To get more details on anything, they might give their email address
and that opens up a new marketing avenue," she added.
Simon Roach, Loyalty Marketing managing director, said consumers could
even dial up a number and key in their code via their mobile
telephones.
"It's taking something that has worked before and adding technology to
give it a branding dimension," Roach explained.
Loh added that Instant Rewards allowed promotional efforts to grow into
a long-term marketing campaign.
"Companies must constantly talk to their customer base. It has to be an
ongoing dialogue.
"It is also important that customers feel the impact quickly because
this generates more interaction, which in turn creates greater
excitement."
